Over the past year the notebook business has grown by progress, but we can think of no single organization that has shown as much individual growth as Asus. Asus notebooks have traditionally been regarded as high quality, but they simply weren't as widely recognized by consumers. Even less recognized was the fact Asus makes a number of the ODM models major manufacturers purchase and brand as their own. With Asus-branded notebook shipments growing and a recent design win with Dell, Asus is on the way up and is really a formidable player within the notebook business.
Our test model came nicely loaded with a speedy Pentium M 760 (2.0GHz), 1GB DDR2 533 RAM, 100GB 5400RPM Difficult Drive, a built-in TV tuner, and of course ATI's fresh new Mobility Radeon X1600 GPU. The A7G is well built, continuing the quality shown by all the Asus notebooks we've come across. Whenever you first open up the A7G, you might be taken aback by its large size. We feel that the layout of the A7G wasn't really optimized for size, as there is a fair amount of screen bezel along with a large chassis area around the keyboard that make it seem rather bloated. While it is understandable that Asus didn't want or need to make the A7G slimmer or sleeker, it certain would be appreciated by most users.
The 17' WXGA (1440x900) ColorShine display is understandably, breathtaking. The colors are very bright and vivid, thanks to both Asus' Splendid Video color enhancement software and ATI's AVIVO technology within the Mobility Radeon X1600. The brand spanking new ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 is featured only in the Asus A7G during the time of writing, and is considered to be the best GPU for a thin & light performance application. Now the A7G isn't exactly thin or light, making us wish ATI had included a higher end GPU for gaming; candidates could have included the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800GTX or ATI's somewhat outdated Mobility Radeon X800XT. Around we love the style and also the screen, Asus could have included a little punchier speakers being a multimedia machine along with a more powerful GPU would certainly have been welcomed by gamers. A higher resolution screen option is noticeably absent, but we imagine that higher resolution panels would sacrifice the grade of this 'low resolution' WXGA display. Overall the A7G is a solid, nicely built, feature filled, and powerful machine; it is just too bad it isn't available within the U.S., yet. Across the sea MSRP for this beast is The 17" WXGA (1440x900) ColorShine display is understandably, breathtaking. The colors are very bright and vivid, thanks to both Asus Splendid Video color enhancement software and ATIs AVIVO technology in the Mobility Radeon X1600. The brand spanking new ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 is featured only in the Asus A7G at the time of writing, and is considered to be the greatest GPU for a thin & light performance application. Now the A7G isnt exactly thin or light, making us wish ATI had included a higher end GPU for gaming; candidates could have included the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800GTX or ATIs somewhat outdated Mobility Radeon X800XT. Up to we love the design and the screen, Asus could have included a little punchier speakers being a multimedia machine and a more powerful GPU would certainly have been welcomed by gamers. A higher resolution screen option is noticeably absent, but we imagine that higher resolution panels would sacrifice the grade of this low resolution WXGA display. Overall the A7G is really a solid, nicely built, feature filled, and powerful machine; it is simply too bad it isnt available in the U.S., yet. Across the sea MSRP for this beast is 1399, or roughly $2200USD. The price is definitely on the high end, and for that a lot we would appreciate a more powerful GPU and 7200RPM hard drive, but the multimedia features are all there and they pack quite a punch.
The only 17 notebook weve seen that is remotely portable was Dells Inspiron 9300, and the A7G isnt nearly as petite as the 9300. Measuring a hefty 15.9 wide, 12.3 deep, and 1.5 thick, Asus A7G isnt going to be a machine you want to capture everywhere you go. The bezel around the LCD might be smaller to allow for a smaller chassis, but you would then lose the camera and middle speaker. The only portability we recommend with this machine is moving it around your living room.
Weve usually loved the style and design of Asus notebooks, and also the A7G is no exception. The sleek two-tone chassis is stylish and hip. Youll notice the hinge is composed of a relatively small cylinder, but the LCD has a very secure attachment to the hinge cylinder and feels very solid. Since the A7G is multimedia oriented, the media control buttons are accessible even with the LCD closed.
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Yasin Resif is the creator of this Asus article. To see helpful materials about Asus drop by and see the sites.
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