Asus UX50 exclusive review

It’s easy to think of Asus as a netbook manufacturer thanks to the success of its Eee PC. Asus hopes to change this with the introduction of the high-end UX range, and we’ve managed to get our hands on the first pre-production sample of the 15.6-inch UX50V.

The most noticeable thing about the UX50V is the striking design – it’s like a bigger version of the stylish Eee PC 1008HA Seashell netbook. This means a surprisingly thin, clamshell design, minimal ports to ruin the lines, and a very, very glossy design.

The palm rest features a mirrored finish, looking more like glass than plastic. It’s the most reflective laptop we’ve seen yet, and can easily be used as a mirror. It looks great straight out of the box, but once you start using it it’s quickly covered in prints. Asus supplies a cleaning cloth, and if you want to keep your UX looking good then you’ll probably end up taking it with you wherever you go.

Quality is a cut above average though, with smart textured plastics used in the areas that aren’t mirrored, a neat cylindrical hinge that holds the display firmly in place, and plenty of protection for the LED display.

The screen features a high-gloss plastic coating, stretching from edge to edge, creating a frameless appearance. It looks good, but once again puts form ahead of function, with a reflective outcome that can be quite frustrating. Colour reproduction is good though, with bright images on offer. The 16:9 aspect ratio offers a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels – offering reasonably crisp if unexceptional image quality.

An nVidia GeForce G105M graphics card has been shoehorned into the skinny chassis, offering moderate 3D performance. It’s no gaming machine, although older games should run without trouble, and you’ll have no problems running office tasks, movies or browsing the web. When battery life is a primary focus, you’ll also be able to switch to an integrated Intel GPU.

The keyboard offers excellent comfort, with the same isolated key design now sported on Sony, Apple, Samsung and HP machines. Decent spacing between the keys makes it easy to type at speed, and ambient backlighting is built-in. The board on our pre-production unit flexed slightly under pressure, but Asus was keen to assure us that this will be changed for full production models.

Office performance is likely to be more limited, with an Intel 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo processor used. 4096MB of memory is a welcome inclusion, although the fact we had a pre-production sample meant we were unable to carry out benchmarking or battery tests. Many users will lament the choice of processor, but we found it a reasonably effective machine in daily use, only showing signs of lag when running a host of processor-intensive applications.

Ports on the side of the UX50V are hidden by a plastic cover – as with the Eee PC 1008HA. On the left-hand side, you’ll find a single-USB port and a memory card reader, with a slot-loading DVD drive on the right-hand side. The rear offers a further two USB ports, along with VGA and HDMI-out for connecting analogue or digital displays. 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth are all provided as standard.

With prices starting at £999, the UX50V offers a lot of style and quality for the money. It’s also a comfortable choice, with a decent amount of 3D power on offer. Whether it’s stunted by the single-core processor remains to be seen, but it’s still an impressive start for Asus’ UX series.

Available from early July, visit Asus for more information.