X-bit labs

ASUS X51R Notebook Review: Excellent Budget Solution (page 12)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 11/11/2007 | 09:17 AM ]

The notebook’s battery life was measured with Battery Eater Pro 2.60. The test was performed at the maximum screen brightness in the following modes:

• Classic (the system bears the maximum and evenly distributed load)
• Reader’s test (the pages are scrolled through each 15 seconds)
• DVD mode (a DVD movie is launched in Battery Eater’s Idle test mode)

The ASUS X51R isn’t a very mobile notebook. You won’t even be able to watch every movie to the end on it. On the other hand, this notebook’s battery is something more than just an UPS. The X51R does provide a normal battery life, even though it is smaller than you get with most other notebooks.

Here are the battery discharge diagrams for the different operation modes.

• Classic mode (graph)
• Reader’s mode (graph)
• DVD mode (graph)

Conclusion

ASUS was successful in creating a rather fast notebook for reasonable money. The integrated graphics core cannot match the performance of discreet graphics adapters, so the gaming audience cannot find anything interesting here, but in the other parameters the notebook looks quite appealing. It is going to suit perfectly for students who need acceptable performance in office applications at a low price. In fact, all the drawbacks of this product are compensated by its low price. ASUS’ engineers endowed the X51R with everything necessary, leaving out secondary details that can be added by the user himself if necessary. From the ergonomics aspect the notebook is quite competitive to many mainstream models even without any additions.

Highs:

• Modern design
• Reasonable price
• Cool and quiet
• High-quality LCD matrix
• Acceptable performance in office applications

Lows:

• Reflections on the screen
• Scanty accessories
• No wireless interfaces (in our configuration)
• No power-saving technologies
• Combo-drive only (but there is a more expensive version of the X51R with a full-featured DVD-burner)