February 14th, 2008Review of Asus S6Fm
We’ve seen many sole products from various companies. These products aren’t just made only one of its kinds just for the heck of it; they’re for a niche market - and doing so assures the exquisiteness of the product. Such products go by the name of lifestyle products. Today, we’ve one such device, a laptop, from Asus - the S6. This laptop flaunts position and excellence. But that’s not all that today’s executive looks for; it has to have solid recital to stand up to the demands of the new-age user.
Build & Design
Being a lifestyle laptop, the S6 talk’s elegance. It has a generous covering of leather - including on the outer bit of the lid. The Asus S6 is available in various options of leathers. I received the lighter brown leather option - the S6Fm. The leather gives a good tactile feel. Also, it gives the laptop a totally different look: at first sight, it appears to be an expensive folder or diary. But there’s an Asus badge on it, done over a chrome strip - a neat touch - that begs that it isn’t a diary. The laptop is small and has its external ports well prearranged.
The left side of the laptop has a dust cover, which hides most of the ports on this side of the laptop. There are 2 USB ports, modem and LAN ports, and a MIC port hidden under the flutter. The VGA out port and headphone jack are outside the cover because these are used more often. The wireless connectivity button is also on the left side. Just slide it forward or backward to start or stop the laptop’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Â On the right side of the laptop are the third USB port and the media readers. The DVD-RW drive, Card Reader, and the PCI Express card slot present on this side occupy the entire space.
The back of the laptop has the AC port on the left side, while the right side has a mini FireWire port. The front side of the laptop is clean of connector- or speaker-clutter. The rear portion of the laptop doesn’t offer much customization over the table. You can only add RAM without substantial problems. However, if you wish to put in a improved capacity hard disk, it’ll take time, because it’ll go all the way to the company and back; give that at least a week.
Internals
The internals of the Asus S6 is a clean setup. The 11.1-inch screen is stunning - thanks to the Asus Splendid Technology Utility. Just below the screen is a perforated strip with Asus logoed in the centre. The strip is the speaker of the laptop. On the hinge of the laptop are the LEDs, the Power On/Stand-by button, and the Screen Profile button.
The keypad - especially the right hand side near the directional keys - is cramped, making it difficult to access those exacting keys. On the other hand, the entire wrist area is cushioned with leather, as long as comfort to your wrists while you’re typing. The touchpad is in the centre of the leather. It has 2 buttons and scroll areas that you can activate via the touchpad helpfulness.
Performance
The S6 comes bundled with Windows Vista Business. The Core Duo processor of the laptop handles most of the activities peacefully. 1GB of RAM helps in its smooth running. The laptop can easily carry out day to day behavior of a working individual - be it work or entertainment. There’s one exception, though - gaming. This laptop isn’t at all preordained for gaming. It can decorously run only those previous versions of various policy games.
The S6 has a 6-cell battery pack. The specs state a battery life of about 4.5 hours. In practise, under standard usage, the laptop comfortably lasts over 3 hours. So the battery life is average.
The Asus S6Fm comes with a 1-year warranty for Rs.95, 200 exclusive of taxes and VAT. All in all, the laptop should cost you below a lakh at the end of the purchase. It’s light and has a luminous styling of individuality. The screen, though small, is good and puts no strain at all on the eyes. It can’t be a “recommended” laptop, for its agreement is nowhere close to the G1S gaming laptop from Asus appraisal carried on August 20, 2007), which costs about the same as this one. But for a person who has an office and walks into a gathering of high-class executives, the S6 would make them stand out from the non-Asus crowd.
