ASUS UL30A-X5 Laptop Review

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The traditional laptop manufactures better watch out. ASUS has taken over the Netbook market with their slim, sleek, ever-lasting line of Netbooks and now they are gunning for control of the laptop market with the ASUS UL30A-X5 which has just been released. It has one characteristic which sets it apart from all of the other laptops available.

Last week I had to take a flight from California to New York. On this flight, which I do far too often, I like to get some work done, watch a movie or two, and maybe play some games on my laptop. This flight takes approximately 5 hours.

Normally, I carry my Dell Latitude Laptop computer with me because this is where all of my work is stored. About half way through the flight, the battery sends me signals of death and I am forced to put in the extra battery that I carry with me. On my particular Dell Laptop, they boasted that the battery would last for 5 hours. In reality, after one year of use, I am lucky to get 2.5 hours of battery life. Thus, I have to carry a spare battery which also becomes drained on the 5 hour flight.

I looked at this as simply the necessary pains of doing business on a long flight.

However, this flight would be different and much more pleasurable. I recently heard about a new line of laptops by ASUS and offered to give one a test drive for this trip. The model number on this was the ASUS UL30A-X5, which had just been released and promises to be on the best laptop computer list very soon.

I have test-driven the leading ASUS Netbook and loved it. In fact, I often carry their Netbook model, voted the top rated Netbook, with me for the long battery life. However, for this trip, I needed a full-fledged laptop so I was delighted to test-drive their new model.

It boasts 12.5 hours of battery life, which simply blows away the competition! 12 hours on one battery–amazing. But is it true?

With laptops, I always want to know three things: battery life, aesthetics, and support. The reason that these three things stand out is because all else is equal. All of the inside parts on most laptops are exactly the same.

So, my three questions are as follows: Is the battery life as good as they say? Do I like to type on it and work on this machine? And, if it blows up, is there someone on the other end to help me?

The ASUS UL30A-X5 wins in all of these categories. The battery lasted the duration of my flight and for 3 hours when I got home. I used resource intensive applications for 8 hours and the battery was still humming–best I have ever seen. Second, I like the Chiclet style keyboard even though I am not accustomed to it. It was easy to type on and the overall look and feel of the machine was great. On the support question, I never had anything go wrong so I never had to call ASUS, but they do have a 24/7 hotline available if needed.

In summary, the “big boys” of laptops (Dell, HP, etc.) need to watch out. ASUS overtook them in the Netbook market and now they may just do the same in the laptop market with the ASUS UL30A-X5. It is a laptop with a great look and feel, it’s extremely price competitive, and it has battery life that blows away the competition.

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