DTR notebook ASUS A4500D
The trends of progressing Russia's market of
notebooks and the popularity of ASUS trademark have made it possible
for the company to gain outstanding success in this walk.
According to the data for the 2nd quarter of
2005, the share of ASUS on the market amounted to 13.1%, which allowed
the manufacturer to become the second after Acer, losing merely 5.9% to
it and take a 1.7% lead over RoverBook (Russia).
Due to known reasons, it got the third place.
According to the forecasts of analysts, there is
the probability that the difference between ASUS and RoverBook in
future may turn even narrower. RoverBook
is not going to give in its positions and is doing its best to attract
the buyer with Russian price and availability of models.
Anyway, the companies follow different
approaches in winning the market. While
the "soap-box" of RoverBook is again the low price for the produce,
ASUS offers the topmost quality of maintenance, assembly, and of course
unmatched reliability. At
these, the Russian rival is losing much, unfortunately.
Therefore, we can state ASUS notebooks, like
most of the company's produce, are in good standing in Russia.
For instance, according to the polls conducted
by our web site, over 50% of respondents would prefer an ASUS
motherboard as a product for future upgrade. It
must not be ruled out that notebooks by the company will eventually
gain such a wide public recognition.
Today we received a DTR-notebook ASUS A4500D which
is positioned by the company as a "performance solution".
In fact the term "DTR" itself just implies
"Desktop Replacement". The
model is based on the mobile processor Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+ and
is equipped with discreet graphics by ATi - Radeon Mobility 9200.
Besides, the device offers other advantages as
well, e.g. the Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller, a card reader for flash
cards of the most popular formats.
Here are some more "dainties".
The A4 series (on both Intel and AMD
platforms) is represented by DTR notebooks and thus offers certain
features. The
processors by two companies are very similar to their "desktop
versions", so they don't stand out with low heat emission, which is
certainly to the detriment of the mobility. In
particular, because of the massive cooling systems the housings of the
whole series turned out to be a bit too large, and the weight,
depending on the type of the batteries, may reach 4 kg.
Evidently, it is a problem carrying this notebook
around to the office or studies. First,
after half an hour of walking with such a "luggage" your arms will get
tired, and secondly, the dimensions of such a device are too huge to
make yourself comfortable in the right place at the right time.
This is just the major issue with all the DTR
notebooks - the devices are not meant for journeys and permanent travel.
The are aimed at replacement of desktop
personal computers since they take up a few times less space than
desktop PCs, make less noise and consume less power.
As an added bonus, they are cheaper than
mobile analogs and easier to upgrade.
Well, all in good time.
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Chipset:
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-NVIDIA nForce 3 Go 150.
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Supported processors:
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-AMD Mobile Athlon 64 Processor 3000+/
3200+ /3400+/3700+.-AMD
Mobile Sempron 3000+/3100+/3300+.
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Memory
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-Main memory expandable to 2GB.
-Two DDR SODIMM slots.
-Supported memory modules - 128, 256, 512
MB and 1 GB.
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HDD:
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-IBM 60 GB UDMA100 4200 RPM.
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Drive:
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- Integrated DVD-CDRW.
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Display
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-15.0 TFT XGA 1024x768
-LCD and CRT monitors can be operated.
-Dual-monitor functionality.
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Video:
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-ATi Radeon Mobility 9200, 32 MB.
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Audio:
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-Realtek ALC650.
-Support for 16-bit stereo sound
AC’97.
-Two speakers.
-Connectors for earphones and a microphone.
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Keyboard and a pointing device:
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-88-key Windows keyboard.
-Ergonomical touchpad.
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Network:
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-Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet
10/100/1000.
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Modem:
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-AC’97 Modem.
-Support for V.92.
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I/O ports:
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-One
slot for CardBus PC Card, type
II.-One network connector RJ-45
(Ethernet 1
0/100/1000).
-One RJ-11 (V.92) telephone jack.
-One jack for the AC power adapter.
-One VGA port for an external monitor.
-Two jacks (3.5 mm mini jack) for the
microphone input/ earphone output.
-Four USB 2.0 ports.
-One IEEE1394 port.
-One IR port.
-One LPT port.
-S-VIDEO TV-out .
-One card reader for memory cards MMC, SD,
MS, MS PRO.
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Weight:
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- 3.5 kg
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Indicators:
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-Power-on/Suspend, Battery
Charging/full/low, Storage device access, Capital Lock, Scroll Lock,
Number Lock, E-mail in box, Wireless indicator, Audio DJ Accessing.
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Buttons:
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4 buttons: WLAN, Programmable App,
Touchpad Lock on/off, Power4 Gear+; Audio DJ remote with the buttons
Play/Pause/Stop/Fast Forward/Rewind on the front panel.
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Dimensions (cm):
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-35.6 x 4.2 x 28.6.
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Security:
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- Slot for Kensington Lock.
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System:
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-ACPI support.
-Compatible to DMI 2.0
-Microsoft® Windows®.
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Battery:
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- 4800 mA*hr (8-cell Li-Ion 14.8V battery).
-Charging time - 2 hrs with the notebook
powered off, or 4 hrs when operated.
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PSU:
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- Comes as a bundled item (19V, 3.42 À).
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Price:
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-1110$
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I must admit the package bundle of A4500D did
appeal to me. Take
for instance the "proprietary" bag which at its make and properties is
comparable to models costing $100 or even more.
The bag has three compartments and a front pocket
to keep pens, pocket-books and plastic cards in.
Another pleasant surprise for the worshippers of
ASUS produce is the optical mouse bearing a company logo.
But it is made by Logitech, which is also not
bad at all.
Besides, the package bundle includes a few CDs
with games - GunMetall, Battle Engine aqualia, as well as demo versions
of Splinter Cell ROC, Big Mutha Truckers, Breed, Colin McRae Rally 3,
and Toca Racer Driver.
And of course there are standard items - AC power
adapter, a S-VIDEO-Composite adapter, and the licensed MS Windows XP
Home with the integrated Service Pack 2.
Design and layout
The design of the notebook is typical of the ASUS
style. The housing
is dark grey, with the rear and "face" parts made in the classical
black. As we already
mentioned, the size of the device are too big for a mobile computer, so
it looks rather clumsy and huge. But
for some it is a plus rather than disadvantage.
With these dimensions the owner can allegedly
outline the power and "advanced make" of the "metal pal", so we can
stay assured this model will definitely find its worshippers.
What we can state with absolute confidence is
that our pretty ladies will not like ASUS A4 much.
On all the sides except the front, there are
various interfaces and ports.
On the left side, the notebook has two USB 1.1/2.0
ports, a jack for earphones and microphone, a Kensington Lock slot, and
a switch for changing the battery operation modes.
In the "OFF" position, the charging and
battery operation of the notebook is locked, and "ON" toggles the
blocking.
The right-hand side is equipped much more.
There is a Combo-DVD drive, a PCMCIA slot, a
card reader for handling memory cards MMC, SD, MS, MS PRO, an IR port,
IEEE1394, and two more USB-ports.
On the rear side of the device, there is a very
rare today LPT port, a VGA connector, RJ-11 and RJ-45 ports, as well as
S-VIDEO TV-Out.
Let's look at the keyboard.
The large size of the housing allowed the
engineers and designers not to save on this component, so the keys
proved full-sized with distinctly seen letter characters in both
languages. The
keyboard is very convenient in operation, with the key moving smoothly.
The positioning of functional keys is also
sensible, although the sound volume keys and screen brightness control
keys are brought upwards and not aligned with the arrow keys as it is
common for most notebooks.
The Touchpad looks very stylish, with the size of
the panel being large enough. What
is annoying is the lack of the scroll wheel, although it is made up for
by the "scroll bar" made on the right-hand edge of the touchpad.
Under the keyboard, there are additional buttons
which enable the touchpad and Wi-Fi, which allows switching between the
AC mains and battery operation modes and assign one of the keys for
launching a "favorite" application.
Another advantage in the notebook control is the
Audio DJ technology. Under
the touchpad there are buttons to control audio and video playback.
This very useful and handy thing can control
the playback in most varied media players.
The 2W stereo speakers are hidden under the
keyboard, their volume level is enough to watch films in an office.
Games and music also do well.
There is one interesting point to note.
Having looked at the specifications plate, you
can see a note of the Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless standard, but don't be
flattered by that. Having
looked through the notebook specifications more closely, we can see
that it is not an integrated module but a separate USB controller which
is optional and missing in the package bundle of our model.
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MoBo:
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VGA Card:
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CPU & Memory:
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