Product Reviews

Asus has built an enviable reputation for speed when it comes to motherboards, and if the W1000N Deluxe is a sign of things to come then the same will soon be true for notebooks. With a score of 1.92 in our benchmarks, it's by far the quickest 1.7GHz Pentium M notebook we've seen, with a fair chunk of the credit going to a healthy 1GB of PC2700 RAM.

This speed is all the more incredible as Asus uses a Banias Pentium M, not the new Dothan version - as such, it lacks 1MB of Level 2 cache compared to the newer chip (see p31). If you're willing to wait, Asus will be launching a version of the W1000N with a Dothan-core Pentium M in the next two months. But given that our review sample was even rivalling the 3.2GHz notebook from Rock (see p106) when it came to CPU-intensive tasks like video encoding, we doubt you'll be disappointed.

What makes Asus' decision to opt for a Pentium M processor a little surprising, though, is the sheer size of this notebook. It's no ultra portable, tipping our scales at 3.2kg and measuring 375mm wide. The weight is a fair reflection of the build quality though, with solid metal palmrests that look up to industrial standards. The lid is made of metal too, but our cautious tests suggest it won't survive a harsh, direct knock.

Most people in the PC Pro office liked the metallic look, but it won't be to everyone's taste - the Sony VAIO VGN-A197VP (see p57) has a more universal appeal due to its smoother curves. The Asus does have the upper hand when it comes to working on the move, though, lasting for three hours, 44 minutes under light use - an hour longer than the Sony.

Where it can't quite match Sony is for 3D speed. Asus chooses ATi's slightly older Mobility Radeon 9600 chip, which helped the W1000N to 13.8fps (frames per second) in Halo and 36fps in Unreal Tournament 2004 at our normal test resolution of 1,280 x 1,024. Dropping the resolution down to 1,024 x 768 and sacrificing detail settings increased the frame rate to 27fps in Halo, indicating that the latest games will be just about playable with some serious sacrifices in resolution and detail settings.

This is good news, as we found the screen was superb when gaming. Asus couldn't confirm the response time, but it was low enough to avoid much blurring in fast action. Thanks to the widescreen ratio, 16:10 to be precise, DVD videos also looked good. There are a lot of artefacts obvious to the

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eye if you look close up, but from a distance we've no complaints.

Where a widescreen really comes into its own is in everyday use. The ability to view two windows side by side is something you miss as soon as you drop down to a lower-resolution screen. This is particularly true of the W1000N Deluxe, as it boasts a phenomenal 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution. Some people find this level of definition simply too high, as individual pixels are so small, but if detail is your priority you'll find all that Desktop space quite liberating. We were also impressed with the TFT's brightness, and providing you look at it head-on, colours look even all across the screen.

The keyboard can't quite match this quality. Although the keys have plenty of travel, there's no real feeling of substance, and they also have a tendency to rattle. But the wide layout means there's plenty of space for big character keys and there's little function doubling either. The only disappointment is the single-height Enter key.

Asus is very proud of the touchpad, with its sealed design allegedly promising no 'annoying dust accumulation'. This hasn't been a major issue in our experience and, although it looks great, we found the touchpad more difficult to use than most due to its metal texture - fingers simply don't slide along it so easily.

Fortunately, there's a grand total of three USB 2 ports into which you could plug a mouse, and Asus doesn't skimp on other connectors either. On the front, there's an S/PDIF-out along with an AV-in and the usual 3.5mm jacks. And hiding behind a flap on the left-hand side of the chassis lies an abundance of ports: four-pin FireWire, composite video out, S-Video out, VGA out, V.92 modem and gigabit Ethernet ports, plus slots for Memory Stick Pro and SD/MMC cards. Hiding away in the single Type II PC Card slot, there's even a remote control - the main hint that there's a TV tuner lurking inside this notebook.

Unfortunately, Asus couldn't supply us with a copy of the software required to take advantage of the tuner before we went to press, but assures us it will be ready by the time the notebook goes on sale. Asus is clearly aiming to entertain too, with a subwoofer built into the base of the chassis. No-one will be blown away by the notebook's fidelity, but the extra bass helps to overcome the natural tinniness of built-in speakers. We'd be quite happy listening to music on the W1000N if a dedicated stereo system wasn't to hand.

With a dual-format DVD writer capable of writing to both +R and -R discs at 4x, 802.11g WLAN, plus an 80GB hard disk and a two-year global warranty - albeit only return-to-base - there are several good reasons to buy the W1000N Deluxe over its numerous 'power notebook' rivals seen elsewhere this month. We also appreciate the inclusion of Windows XP Professional rather than Home. If money was no object, we'd still recommend the VAIO, but the Asus offers the best balance of speed, design and features we've seen for under £2,000.