| The traditional laptop manufactures better watch | | | | battery life. However, for this trip, I needed a |
| out. ASUS has taken over the Netbook market | | | | full-fledged laptop so I was delighted to test-drive |
| with their slim, sleek, ever-lasting line of Netbooks | | | | their new model. |
| and now they are gunning for control of the laptop | | | | It boasts 12.5 hours of battery life, which simply |
| market with the ASUS UL30A-X5 which has just | | | | blows away the competition! 12 hours on one |
| been released. It has one characteristic which sets | | | | battery--amazing. But is it true? |
| it apart from all of the other laptops available. | | | | With laptops, I always want to know three things: |
| Last week I had to take a flight from California to | | | | battery life, aesthetics, and support. The reason |
| New York. On this flight, which I do far too often, I | | | | that these three things stand out is because all else is |
| like to get some work done, watch a movie or two, | | | | equal. All of the inside parts on most laptops are |
| and maybe play some games on my laptop. This | | | | exactly the same. |
| flight takes approximately 5 hours. | | | | So, my three questions are as follows: Is the |
| Normally, I carry my Dell Latitude Laptop computer | | | | battery life as good as they say? Do I like to type |
| with me because this is where all of my work is | | | | on it and work on this machine? And, if it blows up, |
| stored. About half way through the flight, the | | | | is there someone on the other end to help me? |
| battery sends me signals of death and I am forced | | | | The ASUS UL30A-X5 wins in all of these categories. |
| to put in the extra battery that I carry with me. On | | | | The battery lasted the duration of my flight and for |
| my particular Dell Laptop, they boasted that the | | | | 3 hours when I got home. I used resource intensive |
| battery would last for 5 hours. In reality, after one | | | | applications for 8 hours and the battery was still |
| year of use, I am lucky to get 2.5 hours of battery | | | | humming--best I have ever seen. Second, I like the |
| life. Thus, I have to carry a spare battery which | | | | Chiclet style keyboard even though I am not |
| also becomes drained on the 5 hour flight. | | | | accustomed to it. It was easy to type on and the |
| I looked at this as simply the necessary pains of | | | | overall look and feel of the machine was great. On |
| doing business on a long flight. | | | | the support question, I never had anything go wrong |
| However, this flight would be different and much | | | | so I never had to call ASUS, but they do have a 24 |
| more pleasurable. I recently heard about a new line | | | | 7 hotline available if needed. |
| of laptops by ASUS and offered to give one a test | | | | In summary, the "big boys" of laptops (Dell, HP, etc.) |
| drive for this trip. The model number on this was | | | | need to watch out. ASUS overtook them in the |
| the ASUS UL30A-X5, which had just been released | | | | Netbook market and now they may just do the |
| and promises to be on the best laptop computer list | | | | same in the laptop market with the ASUS |
| very soon. | | | | UL30A-X5. It is a laptop with a great look and feel, |
| I have test-driven the leading ASUS Netbook and | | | | it's extremely price competitive, and it has battery |
| loved it. In fact, I often carry their Netbook model, | | | | life that blows away the competition. |
| voted the top rated Netbook, with me for the long | | | | |