Asus S5200N: Almost Too Pretty to Use

10. Conclusion

Asus' S5200N offers features, in addition to a sleek form factor, that unequivocally places it in the upper-echelon ultra-portable notebooks category. Its not-so-hefty price tag of $1950, including WindowsXP Professional, makes it just that much more attractive. Performance-wise, we couldn't fault the top-of-the-range 1.7 GHz Pentium-M model with 512 MB PC2700 DDR memory and 60 GB hard drive we tested. Also convincing were extra features, such as the external USB 2.0 combination-drive with separate on/off switch and the wireless mouse (also with on/off switch).

Together with the included carrying case, Asus has put together a very attractive-looking package that, however, won't only appeal to the male species. For $200 less, Asus gives users who can do without 200MHz processor speed, half the RAM and 20 GB of fixed-disk space, model alternative to the S5200N.

It goes without saying that the S5200N also has one or two shortcomings. This includes its relatively short battery life of just over two hours and quite clearly the lack of an IR or even Bluetooth interface. For customers for whom the battery life is far too short, we advise ordering an extra battery with double the capacity when buying the device.

Although this only adds an extra 150g/5.3oz to the weight of the bag, it also "lightens" your wallet by around $165. The fan could be a little quieter, too: although barely audible when using standard Office applications, it kicks up a lot of a acoustic fuss when handling processor-intensive tasks such as playing a video stored on the hard drive.

At the end of the day, though, we award the device a "good".

Under the name S5ne, the manufacturer sells a somewhat less powerful (ULV 1 GHz Pentium-M), but otherwise identical model, for $1700 in some countries. Its lily-white case shell appears to be directly aimed at female customers-taste, of course, is subjective.

Furthermore Asus reports that it revised its marketing strategy in the US again: Beginning this year, Asus will have two ASUS notebook product lines. One will be ASUS "factory configured" and ready to run. Products like this, including the ASUS S5Ne, are marked with the ASUS logo. These will be backed by a full ASUS warranty.

The other notebook product line will be the "Built on ASUS" line of reseller-configured, barebones notebooks, which will have the "Built on ASUS" logo (reseller will still have the option using their own brand logo). Resellers can tailor these notebooks for their end-customer's needs by adding the CPU, memory, hard drive and OS.

This flexibility should help resellers minimize costs as they can purchase components just before the notebooks are configured - freeing them from having to carry a large inventory of price-volatile components. Ultimately, these cost savings should result in better value for the end-user. In addition, ASUS backs this line of barebones with a full warranty, an advantage compared to other non-branded whitebox notebooks.

In contrast, Asus Germany offers an international warranty for 24 months, in addition to a pick-up and return service for 36 months. Unfortunately, this more generous warranty is available only in Germany.