13. Images Of The Test System, Continued

On the left side of the device are the VGA connection, a PC card slot, and the Firewire port. The V6V does not yet have a slot for the new ExpressCard standard.

On the outside of the case, on the right, are four USB ports, audio in/out ports, the modem, and the Gigabit network connector. Asus rejected Intel's HD audio for this machine, in favor of the proven and low-cost AC97 sound solution. There is even space for a 5-in-1 card reader on the left side near the front. The battery takes up most of the space on the back of the device.

Unscrewing a somewhat large cover for the WLAN module on the bottom reveals the two memory slots and the cooling system. This consists of a broad cooler made of aluminum, and a small copper fin cooler with a heat pipe system (HPS). The former is for cooling the GPU and Northbridge, while the HPS keeps the CPU from developing heat stroke.

The fan for transporting heat out of the case is found on the left-hand edge of the aluminum cooler. It also ventilates the cooling elements of the little copper fin cooler located at the outer left edge of the case. A heat pipe conducts excess CPU heat to this very same mini-cooler. The processor sits beneath a small copper contact plate, through which it transfers heat to the flanged pipe.

If you remove the aluminum cooler you can see the GPU on the outer right edge, and to the left of it, the Northbridge. As is typical of samples, the Pentium M does not display any official markings...