Asus B43J-A1B

These days, business notebooks have a wide range of needs. Professionals require a machine that delivers computing, networking options, links galore, and hours of the battery. The Asus B43J-A1B fills most of these needs, but battery life is a major concern, then this notebook will disappoint.

Design

Although a large number of manufacturers, including Asus, have led to some fantastic business laptops on the market, such as the Dell Vostro 3300, most laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad T410s tend to stick to the basics. The Asus B43J-A1B keep a conservative look, but puts a fashionable twist on the basic black black tie turns into something more.

The frame around the screen and the bottom of the chassis is matt plastic, but the lid and palm rest gets a stylish and protective aluminum case that resists scratches and will not attract fingerprints. The 14-inch widescreen display offers a resolution of 1366 x 768 resolution for 720p video viewing, and is finished with a 2-megapixel webcam, which has a built-in lens cap. It weighs a substantial 5.46 pounds.

The full-sized keyboard alerts the chiclet-style design that is so popular in consumer laptops, opt instead for a more traditional design. The keyboard is spill resistant, so you can have lunch at your desk now without the fear of a spilled drink, your computer at work to destroy. The touchpad is smooth and comfortable supports multi-touch, allowing two fingers to scroll and zoom your work machine.

Features

Connectivity is one of the most important aspects of a business laptop and the Asus B43J-A1B offers a variety of ports. There are three USB 2.0 ports (including a combined USB / eSATA port), optical drive, and connections for both phone and Ethernet. Connecting to an external monitor is also easier thanks to the VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. ATI Eyefinity also allows the connection of up to two additional monitors, so much more visual real estate.

Security options abound, such as B43J-A1b comes with several built layers of protection. A biometric fingerprint scanner makes-based security. A Smart Card reader makes use of security-card-based authentication of users. Intel vPro IT provides remote access and automatic blocking of lost or stolen laptops.

Our test unit was 4GB DDR3 memory. The 320 GB 7200 rpm hard drive will probably plenty of storage space on its own, but users will still want to use the USB / eSATA port to be taken when connecting an external hard drive. The A1B B43J-34 also has an ExpressCard expansion slot for greater flexibility. Docking station support allows a quick connection to peripherals, power and communications equipment, but requires the purchase of a separate docking station.

For quick access to the web, the Asus has the same B43J-A1B ExpressGate instant-on environment that is used in several other models from Asus this year as the Asus U52F. A special express gate button allows you to express gate of a powered-down state, skipping long Windows boot times for direct access to the web has to offer.

Performance

Although B43J-A1B features a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 560M processor, it is only 6,310 points scored in our PCMark Vantage benchmark, a score that left competitors in the same business area. Although the Asus B43J-A1B is still a competent machine that will handle the demands of professional computing performance is available for a comparable price. It laid the HandBrake video encoding test in 2 minutes 36 seconds and plowed through our Photoshop benchmark in 4:28. While those scores will not meet graphic designers and video editors, they are more than good enough for regular business professional.

The A1B-B43J performed better when tested in the graphics processing, earning scores as well or better than competing laptops. It scored a respectable 4797 on low settings, and 3,345 native resolution on our 3DMark06 test. The A1B-B43J success in the 3D test is partly due to its discrete ATI Mobility Radeon 5470 graphics chipset. The A1B-B43J our gaming tests completed with a reasonable but unplayable scores. Despite the i5 Core processor and discrete graphics, this laptop is simply not the chops for high-end gaming, but it was not intended.

The Asus A1B B43J-Stream comes with ATI, AMD automatic switching technology, the laptop between the ATI Mobility Radeon 5470 chipset change for 3D taxing tasks and Intel GMA HD (i5) integrated graphics for lower-end office tasks possible. In addition, Asus power management tool reduces energy consumption by automatically switching to Intel integrated graphics when drawing power from the battery.

While there is plenty to love about this laptop, it could not squeeze out enough 48Wh battery life to last through a cross-country flight or even lunch. On MobileMark 2007, the B43J-A1B lasted only 2 hours and 20 minutes. While battery life will not be a problem sitting stationaire at a desk, plugged into a socket or docking station, it means you definitely will not you using a cross country flight, and able to struggle through a working lunch.

B43J-A1B Asus offers a powerful set of features and hardware, but falls short in performance and battery life flat on. The result is a laptop that most will find it sufficient, but some will find frustrating. As long as you do not stray from the wall power for more than a few hours, the Asus B43J-A1B offers everything you need.