Amzar File

Asus UV6 Bamboo
By CHONG JINN XIUNG

EVERYONE likes their notebooks compact, light and thin these days. After all, what's the fun in lugging a heavy notebook wherever you go.

For these reasons the netbooks have become very popular but they are never quite as powerful as a regular notebook.

We take a closer look at Asus' high-end notebook, the UV6 Bamboo which is both compact and powerful.


Classy looks
We were immediately taken by the UV6's gorgeous aesthetics. On the outside, the UV6 has a beautiful bamboo finish and the laser etched Asus logo adds a touch of elegance.

The notebook is a head turner as on many occasions people have actually stopped to check it out.

The UV6 is bundled with two batteries - a lighter three-cell and a more powerful six-cell battery - which is great.

The review unit came with a nine-cell battery but Asus says the battery wouldn't be made available in Malaysia.

The trade off of course is that the nine-cell battery adds considerable bulk to the notebook, making it protrude out and weigh close to 2kg.

Around the sides are the usual array of ports for you to connect your devices. Some of the ports at your disposal include three USB ports for your mouse and peripherals, an e-SATA port for hooking up hard disks and a HDMI output which is great for displaying high definition content on a larger monitor.

The notebook also comes with a DVD drive and an express card slot.
On the inside, you've a 12.1in screen that has a 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution which provides a sufficient work space.

It's a decent display that's sufficiently bright for most situations but it has all the typical trappings of an LCD screen - bad viewing angles and colour shifts occur whenever you move from side to side.

The UV6 has a full size keyboard which is firm yet is comfortable to type on.
The wide palm rest area, also covered with bamboo which gives it a more organic look, provides sufficient space to rest your hands while typing.

There are no shortcut keys of any sort save for the F button for adjusting functions like screen brightness and volume.

However, some controls like the one for the volume have rather intruding onscreen pop ups.

While helpful this can be annoying when you're running full screen programs like games as it can cause the game to momentarily stutter.

Keeping in line with the bamboo theme of the notebook, the trackpad also has a smooth wooden finish. While it's nice to look and use, it has very little space for manoeuvring.

Also, the two trackpad buttons are difficult to press and aren't responsive.
Another disappointment is the lack of any multi-touch or finger gesture support on the UV6.

This is surprising because even the low budget netbooks have these features.
For the security conscious user, there's a fingerprint scanner nested within the trackpad that you can use as your login ID.

However, it's more of a novelty than a practical security measure. The sensor had lots of trouble detecting my fingerprint as

I had to swipe my finger more than five times to log in.

Besides the power button, there are two more located below the screen.

One changes the notebook's performance and doubles up as the power switch for the notebook's "instant on" Express Gate feature (more on this later) and the other activates the webcam.

The UV6's tiny built-in mono speaker leaves much to be desired, so don't expect to be using it often.

Oddly, the speaker is located directly below the palm rest, making it easy to muffle the sound as you place your hand over it.

Needless to say you should have a pair of headphones with you if you intend to listen to music.

The notebook is great for making Skype calls but the webcam's picture quality was still quite pixelated for a 640 x 480-pixel image.


Performance
Powered by a 2.40GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 processor and loaded with 3GB RAM, the UV6 is equipped to multitask and it smoothly handles multiple programs running simultaneously.

Like many notebooks today, the UV6 has power conservation modes for tweaking the notebook settings.

To no surprise, performance takes a huge dip when in battery saving mode.
We played a 720p video but it was noticeably slow and choppy but immediately picked up once we switched on performance mode.

It's not surprising that the notebook is a decent performer when it comes to playing games as it has an nVidia GeForce 9400M GS chip under the hood.

The notebook could even handle a graphics intensive game like Far Cry 2 running at full resolution with antialiasing turned on.

We just had to turn the settings down a notch to get smoother frame rates.
Even a real-time strategy game like Company of Heroes faired well on the UV6 as we got stable framerates with the graphics set at slightly above medium.

The UV6 may not be a killer gaming machine but it gets the job done. You will definitely have to tone down the settings unless you don't mind a more sluggish frame rate.

Storage space shouldn't prove too much of a concern because the UV6 has a roomy 320GB hard drive.

Quick power up
The UV6 has an function called Express Gate that is handy when you have to power up the notebook in 10 seconds or less.

The Express Gate feature basically boots up a stripped down Linux OS that includes functions such as a web browser, a music player, a photo viewer, an IM client and Skype.

Take note that you can't playback any videos in this mode as the media player plays music only.

I found it to be a pretty useful feature that allows you do your work without the hassle of waiting for your system to fully power up.

Conclusion
Aesthetically, the bamboo theme gives the UV6 a classy look that is very attractive.
Relatively lightweight, the notebook is great to work on and even play games, albeit with the graphics toned down.

It's great that the notebook comes bundled with two batteries so users can use one based on their needs.

However, the onscreen notifications are intrusive and gets in the way when running programs in full screen.

Also, for a relatively high-end notebook, it is surprising that the UV6 doesn't offer better speakers than the built-in mono one.

Another disappointment is the trackpad's lack of multi-touch or gesture based commands that would've made navigation easier.

At RM6,588 ($2739), the UV6 Bamboo is a premium notebook that is designed for portability and performance on the go.

Pros: Attractive bamboo finish; lots of connectivity options; Express Gate feature; capable of multitasking and running games.

Cons: Pricey; distracting onscreen notifications; trackpad lacks multi-touch.

UV6 Bamboo Tech Specs
(Asustek Computer)
Portable notebook
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz)
Memory: 3GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9300M GS 256MB
Display: 12.1in WXGA (1,280 x 800 pixels)
Storage: 320GB hard drive, 8x DVD writer
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth, gigabit ethernet
I/O ports: Three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, eSATA port, ExpressCard slot, VGA out
Operating System: Windows Vista Business
Other features: Card reader, 1.3-megapixel webcam, fingerprint scanner
Dimensions: 30 x 22 x 3.2cm (w x d x h)
Weight: 1.9kg (with six-cell battery)
Price: RM6,588 (S$2739)

(source: asiaone.com)
This story was first published in The Star.