The widescreen display with a diagonal of 15.4"± and a max resolution of 1680x1050 is bright and good at reproducing colors. The brightness is controlled with functional keys - a scale-like window will appear to show you the current setting. The adjustment range is rather wide; at the minimal screen brightness it is almost impossible to see anything on the screen. A very sensitive microphone is built into the top left corner of the screen bezel. The lid latch and two stereo speakers are the only things on the front panel of the notebook.

The following is located on the left panel of the notebook:

• Headphones output;
• Microphone input;
• Two USB ports;
• A network connector;
• A latch of the battery cell;
• Kensington lock.

On the right panel:

• Optical DVD-RW drive (the eject button isn't pressed easily as it's pushed deep into the surface of the case);
• PC Card slot (for a single card of type I or II);
• Card-reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro);
• FireWire port;
• IrDA port;
• Two USB ports.

The following components are found on the rear panel of the ASUS A4S00K:

• Integrated modem connector (RJ-11);
• Network connector (RJ-45);
• External monitor connector (D-Sub);
• 25-pin parallel port;
• Expansion port (for attaching an external port replicator);
• TV-Out port.

At the bottom of both notebooks, there is a big cover with a pocket for the owner's personal card. This cover conceals two memory slots, a hard disk drive, a WLAN miniPCI card, an optical drive and a battery which can all be easily accessed if necessary. This large cover is very useful as it makes upgrading the notebook much easier.

The following table compares the input-output capabilities and physical characteristics of the notebooks.