Configuration

The ASUS W1B00Na notebook is based on the Intel 855PM chipset and features the Intel Pentium M 715 processor (1.5GHz frequency, 0.09-micron Dothan core, 2MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB). It uses a Hitachi HTS548060M9AT00 hard disk drive (60GB, 5400rpm spindle speed).

There are two memory slots available (the maximum memory amount is 2GB); one is occupied with a 512MB module of PC2700 DDR SDRAM. The free slot is found at the bottom of the case, under a special gag fastened with screws. We couldn’t find the other slot – it’s probably under the keyboard.

Instead of an integrated graphics subsystem, the W1B00Na offers you a full-featured ATI RADEON Mobility 9600 GPU with 64 megabytes of dedicated graphics memory. This is going to be good for playing some 3D games as well as watching DVD or VCD discs.

The integrated audio subsystem of the notebook outputs sound through the two stereo speakers and a subwoofer. I can’t call the sound acceptable just because it’s too quiet for watching DVD movies (although this may be a defect of our particular sample).

The integrated optical DVD drive can read CDs and DVDs at 24x and 8x, respectively. It burns and rewrites CDs at 24x. There’s no floppy drive in the configuration, but I don’t think this is a serious shortcoming.

The W1B00Na is equipped with a Wi-Fi unit of the IEEE 802.11b/g standard and a Yukon network adapter from Marvell. The WLAN antennas are integrated into the sides of the top panel.

The cooling system is rather silent. I used an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of the surface of the ASUS W1B00Na when it was crunching through Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004:

• 37°C on the top panel;
• 43°C at the output of the cooling system;
• 38°C on the bottom surface.

A thorough list of the technical characteristics of the ASUS W1B00Na notebook follows below: