Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Quite literally, it looks as though Asus cribbed notes from its own designs as well as the competition to come up with a decent pedigree. It has all the marks of a laptop that makes a good showing--even though we haven't had a chance to run the machine through our WorldBench 6 tests just yet. Under the hood are Intel's 1.3GHz SU7300 processor, 4GB of DD3 RAM, and a 500GB hard drive (at 5400 rpm). Will it blast through tests? Highly doubtful, but it'll probably run a hair faster than the Timeline we tested. Battery life is another unanswered question for now, but spokespeople say that the UL30A will hang in for up to 12 hours with the included 8-cell battery. We'll see.

The UL30A has a reasonably crisp 13.3-inch backlit LED screen. That makes it a little easier on the eyes when trying to use the machine outdoors. You'll still deal with a bit of a glare coming off the glossy 1366-by-768-pixel screen, but it won't completely blind you. Nevertheless, when I dropped the brightness settings down on the display, rich colors seemed a little too washed out. Video fared a bit better, as black shadows were visible against a dark, if slightly ashy, background. That said, if you were relying on getting a bit of relief from work watching Hulu or just some video stashed on the hard drive, you'll be just fine. I didn't spot any painful, show-stopping stutters. But note that the UL30A has only GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics--enough for straight video playback and little else. And the audio, though slightly tinny as it emanates from two front-firing Altec-Lansing speakers, delivers enough mid-range clarity that you won't instantly reach for headphones.

Source: Washington Post