X-bit labs

Two Office Notebooks: ASUS M6B00N and Acer TravelMate 803 LCi (page 3)

Category: Mobile

by Galina Sudareva

[ 08/31/2004 | 11:43 AM ]

Design and Ergonomics: ASUS M6B00N

The case of the ASUS M6B00N resembles the ASUS M6800N we reviewed earlier: the same black color scheme with a slight metallic luster and silvery insertions at the sides. When the lid is open, you can see that the top panel is also made of black plastic, while the bezel around the screen is pure black, without silvery color as in the ASUS M6800N model. At the bottom of the bezel, there are two stereo speakers. Overall, this notebook has an elegant appearance.

The widescreen LCD matrix has a diagonal of 15.4 inches and a maximum resolution of 1280x800. Its aspect ratio is 16:10. The screen is bright, good at reproducing colors; the viewing angles are sufficient, too. The screen brightness is adjusted with the functional keys. During adjustment, the screen displays a scale-like window with the current settings. When at the minimal brightness, the screen doesn’t practically show anything, but this mode may come in handy in full darkness.

At the top of the notebook, next to the screen hinges, there are a vent hole, a power-on button (it is highlighted with bright blue when the notebook is on), and five quick launch keys that do the following:

1. Start up the e-mail client;
2. Start up the Internet browser;
3. Turn the WLAN connection on/off;
4. Lock the touchpad (you may want to do that when typing in text);
5. Circle through the Power4 Gear+ power modes. Three modes are available when the notebook is powered from the wall outlet (AC), seven – when it is working on the accumulator (DC):

• Super Performance: AC;
• High Performance: AC/DC;
• Game: AC/DC;
• DVD movie: DC;
• E-mail/Office applications: DC;
• Presentations in PowerPoint: DC;
• CD-Audio: DC;
• Battery saving: DC.

The system’s indicators are divided into two groups. At the right upper corner of the notebook’s top panel, next to the screen hinges, there are a hard disk drive activity LED, Num Lock and Caps Lock indicators. They are highlighted with the same bright blue as the power-on button. The second group of indicators is found on the front panel – you can see them when the notebook’s lid is down. They include an Audio DJ indicator (it lights up when this feature is active – it allows listening to music without booting the system up), power indicator, battery charge indicator, incoming e-mail indicator (it is lighted when you’ve got new e-mail messages waiting), and a WLAN connection activity indicator.

The ASUS M6B00N uses a full-size keyboard with small functional keys. PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys are placed in a vertical row along the right edge; there’s a block of numeric keys and two Windows button at your disposal. The block of the arrow keys is placed outside of the bulk of other keys. Unlike in ASUS’ standard notebook keyboard, we have a second Fn button and a button that imitates the click of the mouse’s right button.

The hole of the integrated microphone is located near the bottom left corner of the keyboard.

Besides the buttons that substitute the mouse’s left and right buttons, the touchpad of the ASUS MB800N also has an additional scroll joystick.