12. First Impressions Of The Asus A7J

The case for the A7J gives this notebook an elegant, high-value appearance. The frame around the LCD, and the base of this unit, are made of aluminum. The front edges have been highly polished to give the notebook a special look. At a price of around $1,700 the A7J costs nearly the same as the HP nx9420. In exchange, the notebook offers an integrated TV tuner including an FM radio, a 1.3 megapixel video camera, plus a Windows Media Center compatible IR remote control.

The Core Duo T2400 processor in the A7J is clocked a bit slower than the HP unit, and its 17.1" glossy display supports WXGA+ resolution (1440 x 900 pixels) with contrast-rich color output. But Asus pushes the graphics processor and memory clock of the A7J's ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 to 445 MHz and 396 MHz, respectively, thereby upping the ante against the HP notebook. How this affects frame rates during game play is addressed in our benchmarks sections later in this story.

In addition to the MCE compatible IR remote you'll also find an optical mouse (not shown) bundled with this notebook...

...along with a TV/FM antenna.

Because Asus positions this notebook as a convergence device/mobile multimedia center, the Taiwanese company outfits the mobile computer with Windows XP Media Center Edition and four loudspeakers. This may help account for its heavy weight (nearly 9.5 pounds, 4.3 kg). Those nutty enough to schlep this multimedia monster from point A to point B are well-advised to use the rather nice custom Targus bag that's bundled with the A7J. Because the front of the device includes status LEDs, AV control buttons and a very quick start button for Windows Media Center (labeled WMC), the bottom half of the notebook clamshell is slightly larger than the top half. As a result the real estate this puppy consumes on a tabletop or other surface is downright impressive.

AV control buttons on the A7J

To the right above the keyboard you'll find four additional buttons. One of them lets you to toggle among the power schemes on the notebook, while another activates or deactivates the touchpad. The third button launches a telephony application that supports Skype-based voice over IP (VoIP). With the fourth button you can switch among four different display settings, for color saturation, gamma values, color temperature, and so forth. In addition, under the fourth button you can use the Splendid Video Enhancement Technology tool to create and save a personalized set of display parameters.