LabsDesktop replacement laptops
Compared to the sleek lines of the Dell and Sony, Asus' A7S seems a little dated. But look past aesthetics and the A7S gives its rivals a lot to worry about. Just glance through the specifications, and you'll see it's a real bargain. It may cost £847 when Toshiba's P200 is only £511, but the A7S offers a far superior combination of power and features, which makes it an excellent desktop replacement. The 17in TFT doesn't have an HD resolution like the Dell, but its 1,440 x 900 pixels are more sensible on a panel of this size and it's just as bright as the Dell's. Plus, Asus thoughtfully provides an HDMI output so you can connect the A7S to a larger HD screen, and there's an optical S/PDIF output for surround sound. The
Power-wise, the Core 2 Duo T7500 matches the pricier Dell, as does the 2GB of DDR2 memory. With a 200GB hard disk running at 4,200rpm, overall 2D application performance was a little slower at 0.98, but the A7S still feels responsive. Likewise, the GeForce 8400M G graphics card with 128MB of RAM isn't a storming performer, but does offer some gaming potential - we recorded 19fps in Call of Duty 2 at 1,024 x 768. Many will appreciate the five USB ports, one of which cleverly doubles as an eSATA port, so you can easily connect the latest external hard disks. There's also a media card reader, an ExpressCard/54 slot, mini-FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet. Battery life is a slight weakness; under light use it lasted 2hrs 18mins, but only 1hr 4mins with heavy use. Asus finishes the package with a 1.3-megapixel webcam, a two-year collect-and-return warranty, a carry case and an optical mouse. If you can live with the looks and don't need spectacular battery life, the A7S is great value.
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