Asus UL30A

PC World - Take everything we liked about the Asus Eee PC 1005HA (a well-designed, seashell-shaped netbook) and marry that with the CULV-laden Acer Timeline 3810T. The result: Asus's stab at a good, low-cost ultraportable computer--the UL30A. (OK, low cost is relative. Our review unit sells for $800 as of 9/16/2009.)

Quite literally, it looks as though Asus cribbed notes from its own designs as well as the competition to come up with a decent pedigree. It has all the marks of a laptop that makes a good showing--even though we haven't had a chance to run the machine through our WorldBench 6 tests just yet. Under the hood are Intel's 1.3GHz SU7300 processor, 4GB of DD3 RAM, and a 500GB hard drive (at 5400 rpm). Will it blast through tests? Highly doubtful, but it'll probably run a hair faster than the Timeline we tested. Battery life is another unanswered question for now, but spokespeople say that the UL30A will hang in for up to 12 hours with the included 8-cell battery. We'll see.

The UL30A has a reasonably crisp 13.3-inch backlit LED screen. That makes it a little easier on the eyes when trying to use the machine outdoors. You'll still deal with a bit of a glare coming off the glossy 1366-by-768-pixel screen, but it won't completely blind you. Nevertheless, when I dropped the brightness settings down on the display, rich colors seemed a little too washed out. Video fared a bit better, as black shadows were visible against a dark, if slightly ashy, background. That said, if you were relying on getting a bit of relief from work watching Hulu or just some video stashed on the hard drive, you'll be just fine. I didn't spot any painful, show-stopping stutters. But note that the UL30A has only GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics--enough for straight video playback and little else. And the audio, though slightly tinny as it emanates from two front-firing Altec-Lansing speakers, delivers enough mid-range clarity that you won't instantly reach for headphones.

However, the big star--to me, at least--has to be the ginormous, comfortable keyboard, with huge cut-out buttons that crop out like islands. Some laptops have flimsy cut-out keys: Accidentally stick a fingernail too far underneath a key, and you could easily pop it off. That won't happen on the UL30A unless you intentionally put a lot of effort into it. The function buttons, while smaller, are spaced well enough that you won't accidentally trigger the wrong command. This machine may lack dedicated multimedia shortcut buttons (those functions are an "Fn" + command button away), but it does have one notable shortcut key--for Express Gate, Asus's Linux-based, quick-boot platform. It launches in about 9 seconds to access a series of basic apps for Skype, the Web, and media.