ASUS F50

The ASUS F50 is a high definition mobile entertainment notebook from Asus’ F series. It is suitable for use as a desktop replacement and spots a quintessentially trendy design that is imbued with Infusion styling reminiscent of the famed Aurora Borealis. In addition to looking good, the design is also durable against surface abrasions and maintains its glossy surface even after long periods of use. Besides that, it also incorporates an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G graphics card and has storage options of up to 500 GB.

Specifications
The ASUS F50 can operate on a genuine Windows Vista Business operating system, genuine Windows Vista Ultimate operating system, genuine Windows Vista Home Premium operating system or Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic operating system. It runs on an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600/ P8400/ P7450/ T6600/ T6400/ T5900/ T5850/ T5800/ T5750 processor of 2.53 GHz, Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor T4200/T3400/T3200/ T2390 of 2.16 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 Cache, or an Intel Celeron Processor C585/C575 of 2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 Cache that is paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G chipset. In terms of its system memory, the ASUS F50 incorporates DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM with two available SODIMM sockets and support for an upgrade of up to 4 GB. There is also a full HD colour-shine glare type display that measures 16 inches diagonally with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. There is also an internal 2.5 inch SATA hard disk drive that has a storage capacity of 500 GB and a speed of 5400 RPM. In addition to that, the ASUS F50 also includes a DVD Super Multi Double Layer Blu-Ray DVD Combo optical drive. There is also an 8 in 1 card reader that is compatible with SD, MMC, MS, MS-PRO, and mini SD memory cards, as well as MS-Duo, MS-Pro Duo with an additional adapter. Not only that, the ASUS F50 also has a built-in 1.3 mega pixel fixed type web camera. The ASUS F50 also has several LED status indicators including power-on/ suspend battery charging/ full/ low, storage device access, capital lock, wireless on status indicator and a Bluetooth on status indicator. Interface include a microphone in jack, two headphone out jacks (SPDIF), a VGA port, mini D-sub 15 pin for external monitor, four USB 2.0 ports, an RJ-45 LAN jack for LAN insert and a HDMI port with support for HDCP. Among some of the included hot keys include Function keys Suspend Switch (F1), WLAN switch (F2), Access to the E-mail (F3), Access to the Internet (F4), Brightness Down (F5), Brightness Up (F6), LCD on/ off (F7), LCD/ CRT switch display (F8), Volume on/ mute (F10), Volume down (F11), Volume Up (F12), Power 4 Gear (Space), Numeric Key pad on/ off (insert), Scroll lock on/ off (delete), Splendid (C), Power 4 Phone (T), Camera Capture (V), Stop (arrow up), Play/ pause (arrow down), skip to previous track (arrow left), and skip to next track (arrow right). Not only that, the ASUS F50 also has audio features including built-inAltec Lansing co-brand speakers and SRS. Its keyboard is a full size 88 19 mm key keyboard with MS windows function keys. The ASUS F50 is powered by an 8 cell battery with a capacity of 4400 mAh. Alternatively, it can also be powered by direct current via the provide AC adapter that has an output of 19 V DC, 4.47 A, 90 W and an input of 100 – 240 V AC, 50/ 60 Hz universal. The ASUS F50 measures 380 mm x 265 mm x 36.3 mm ~ 41.7 mm (W x D x H) in dimension and weighs approximately 2.85 kg including the standard provided battery. For security purposes, the ASUS F50 also includes BIOS booting/ HDD user password protection and security lock, as well as a Kensington lock hole.

Reviews

“Catered to multimedia entertainment and versatile computing while on the move, the ASUS F50 and F70 range of notebooks comes in various configurations, providing users with a range of set-ups to suit their prevailing usage. Users inclined to large screen entertainment and massive storage would prefer the ASUS F70SL, the world’s first 17.3? notebook with 16:9 golden aspect ratio for cinematic viewing and dual hard disk drives providing up to 1 TB in storage space. Those who prefer lightweight mobility would prefer the ASUS F50GX, which is currently the world’s thinnest and lightest 16? notebook in the market equipped with the NVIDIA 9400M G chipset that delivers discrete graphics card performance, or the stunning visual performance of the F50Z, featuring graphics powered by” (HiTechReview, 2009)

“The ASUS F50SV-A2 gave strong performance in our benchmarks and real-life game tests, thanks mostly to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120M graphics card. When not gaming though the graphics card had an abnormally high power consumption rate, making the system draw almost 29 watts at idle. For users who might want to take the notebook to class, it barely made it above 1 hour and 30 minutes in our tests.” (NotebookReview, 2009)