Despite being one of the world's largest computer manufacturers, Taiwan's Asustek Computer has never quite made it as a household name. At best, Asus is known as a giant among motherboard makers but, in general, it is not known at all. It is a situation that deserves to change. The company, which already makes many of the notebooks that typically appear with the familiar logos of Sony, Samsung and Hitachi, expects to ship two million laptops this year and has just added Apple to its customer portfolio. Unlike the global brands that use Asustek's manufacturing skills, the Asus brand avoids their high marketing costs. The result is a top-notch notebook at a very reasonable price. Distributor Hornington Computers describes the M2400E as a superslim system. In comparison to some of the recent machines from the likes of Toshiba and Samsung, it would be better described as a mid-size system. But for a 14.1-inch display, the 2kg M2400E still compares favourably with the typical four kilo monster that most US brands prefer to release. It also looks and feels as tough as a Dell or an IBM. The machine is the first from Asus to run on Intel's Centrino platform with built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking. It is powered by a 1.6 gigahertz mobile Pentium processor. As for memory, there are 512 megabytes of Ram and a respectable 40 gigabyte IBM Travelstar hard drive. There are ports for infrared, 1394/Firewire, Ethernet, a modem, a Type II PC Card, video and audio. There are two universal serial bus 2.0 ports and the usual pointless serial and parallel ports. Hornington has also bundled a four-in-one memory card reader. On the multimedia side, the speakers, like those of most mid-sized notebooks, are rather tinny and pump out just enough volume to almost bare listening to in a soundproof room. The 1024x768 XGA TFT display is driven by Intel's 852GM chipset, which can support two monitors and 64MB of video Ram. The system carries a Toshiba DVD and rewritable CD drive running at 24/16/10/24X, which can be removed and replaced with an extra battery. Judging by the existing battery life though, a few extra cells are unlikely to be necessary. We found we could easily squeeze more than four hours of moderate use from a single charge. Cursor control comes courtesy of a standard touchpad. Sadly, there is no trackpoint. There is little bundled software - Windows XP Home, some Asus utilities, Nero CD burner, Cyberlink DVD player and Trend's PC-Cillin antivirus. Just for the Linux/Unix users out there, Hornington has a few units available without an operating system at a HK$700 discount. Asus M2400E Specifications Pros: Good-looking, powerful machine with long battery life Cheap Cons: No trackpoint; uninspiring audio Price: HK$13,500 for DVD drive; HK$14,500 for combo drive Distributor: Found at www.hornington.com
