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Date added: 10/20/2011 PcWorld -Asus U36S: An Almost Perfect Ultraportable

If you're looking for an attractive, portable system, the Asus U36S is pretty darn close to perfect. This superthin ultraportable laptop has everything you need and more--assuming that you're not an audiophile. The speakers, unfortunately, leave something to be desired.

Our review model, which costs $870 (as of October 18,2011), is packed with a second-gen Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM (upgradable to 8GB), a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics card, and a 640GB hard drive spinning at 5400 rpm. It also includes built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and it runs the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

But the U36S's specs aren't what's impressive--the truly impressive features are the appealing and slender case design, the light-yet-sturdy construction, and the excellent battery life. At its thickest, the U36S measures 1.1 inches. That is a bit misleading, though, because it's not really that thick. Most of the laptop is much slimmer, at just 0.75 inches thick. The 1.1-inch thickness comes from the battery, which has a bump less than an inch wide that juts out of the bottom of the computer.

That jutting-out happens only if you have the eight-cell extended-life battery, which Asus says will last for 10 hours. In our lab tests, the U36S didn't perform quite as well, producing 7 hours, 40 minutes of battery life. Still, that is a decent amount of time for an ultraportable--an hour longer than the battery life of most of our recently reviewed laptops in this class. With the eight-cell battery, the U36S weighs 3.7 pounds.

The U36S is also an extremely attractive laptop. Not only is it slim, but it also sports a smooth matte-black magnesium alloy cover, simple chrome accents, and an extra-thin screen. Inside, the U36S has a black Chiclet-style keyboard with light blue accents, as well as two buttons--a power button and a button for switching between power-saving modes--atop the keyboard. The latter button also allows you to switch quickly between the U36S's integrated Intel HD graphics and its discrete Nvidia graphics card.

Ports-wise, the U36S is average for the ultraportable category. It has no optical drive, but Asus does include CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Suite software, in case you want to hook up an external drive. The laptop offers three USB ports (including one USB 3.0 port), VGA and HDMI-out ports, an ethernet port, microphone and headphone jacks, and a Kensington lock slot. You'll also find a five-in-one memory card reader.

I do mean what I said earlier: The U36S's specs aren't the impressive part. In PCWorld's WorldBench 6 benchmark tests, the U36S earned a score of 114. That isn't awful, but it isn't terrific--not even for the ultraportable category, which is notorious for sacrificing performance in favor of sexy slimness. The average WorldBench 6 score for the past five ultraportable laptops we've reviewed is 122, though individual notebooks scored considerably higher. For example, the Sony VAIO SB Series managed a score of 144, which is excellent (of course, that particular configuration costs a whopping $2500).

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