Review of the well-designed Asus U46E-BAL6 Laptop

For the past few days we have been harping about Ultrabooks and how ridiculously thin they are. And amidst all this brouhaha, many have seemingly forgotten about those 'normal sized' thin laptops. But when it comes to raw processing power, the mainstream laptops are the one that certainly do pack a punch, while being thin is just a part of the overall product allure (not criteria). In relation to this, the 'thin' Asus U46E-BAL6 Laptop finally comes into the commercial fray. Touted to be a pretty compact contraption, the U46E-BAL6 also boasts of a classy design with ergonomic considerations and more importantly a powerful processor.

Asus U46E-BAL6

What is it?

The Asus U46E-BAL6 comes from a well known family of the parent company, renowned for their stylish compactness and penchant for processing power. The U46E-BAL6 certainly continues with this trend, with its sober metallic look, sprinkled with a dash of elegance. We have the nigh ubiquitous aluminum lid (with the not so conventional concentric ring design), but the conspicuous part is the rear 'overhanging' extension that covers the hefty 74Wh battery. This component poses as a slightly elevated pedestal, thus increasing the gradient of the laptop from the rear. And underneath all the classy stuff, the machine is laden with a pretty gritty power-train.

Key features

Coming with dimensions of 13.1x 9.6inches, the machine weighs in around 4.9 pounds (though, it increases to 5.6 pounds with the AC adapter). The 14 inch (diagonal) glossy screen comes with a 1,366x768-pixel resolution. And beneath the compact hood, the laptop is incorporated with a massively powerful Intel Core i7-2650QM quad core processor (clocked at 2 GHz) and a whopping 8GB of RAM. All of these is complemented by an equally expansive 750 GB internal hard disk.

Beyond the hardcore specs, the machine does have some pretty useful wireless features in the form of Intel's Wireless Display 2 (WiDi 2.0) and WiMAX. With WiDi 2.0, one can easily exhibit the display (at 1080p) of the laptop on a larger flat panel, without the requirement of any wire connection. While, the WiMAX is an evolutionary component of the Wi-Fi. It functionally covers a whole city (available in New York and San Fransisco) instead of specific locations.

Other attributes of the set up include two USB 2.0 ports, along with a single USB 3.0 port. If the ever resonating palaver is anything to go by with, data can be transferred via USB 3.0 at ten times more speed than that of USB 2.0. Moving back to the laptop, the other standard ports are that of HDMI and VGA. And finally coming to the camera, the Asus U46E-BAL6 includes a 1.3-megapixel webcam above the screen.

What’s innovative?

Obviously, the best feature of the whole laptop is its heavy duty Intel Core i7-2650QM processor. This four core monster can give fascinating performance boost to the contraption, especially when the user is using high requirement video and image editing tools and apps (like Adobe's Creative Suite, Sony Vegas, or even 3D Studio Max). So, aspiring animators and cinematographers, take note.

Price and availability

The retail price is set at around $829. As for availability, the product can be found in every Best Buy outlet (with a plethora of features in their extended warranty program). Other special offers can also be found around the net and electronics consumer specific stores.

The up side

Perhaps among the very few 14 inch machines to be supported by a Intel Core i7-2650QM processor, the Asus U46E-BAL6 certainly notches up the level of performance. Its boisterous specs speak of quad core processing power with 8GB RAM and 750GB hard disk space. In comparison, the Dell XPS 14z just boasts of a slower dual core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Now, if we bring pricing into the scheme of things, Dell XPS 14z comes with a tag of $999, while the cost of U46E-BAL6 is significantly lower at $829.

The down side

Almost bordering on the realm of paradox, the very source of Asus U46E-BAL6's processing power is also one of its disadvantages. The laptop exhibits around 7 hours of battery life (which is good in normal circumstances). But its peers like the Dell XPS 14z or Samsung QX411-W01UB exhibit battery life of close to 9 hours. This disparity in time is because of the more power demanding quad core processor of the Asus.

Secondly, it is almost as if Asus had forgotten to incorporate a dedicated graphics processor (instead of the Intel HD Graphics 3000), which would have certainly added that element of flair along with credible performance boost (especially for gamers).

The bottomline

The Asus U46E-BAL6 is a kind of laptop that almost doesn't do anything wrong in terms of both style and performance. But from the perspective of users, the machine with its no-fancy-stuff approach will perhaps appeal more to certain professionals (especially the video-philes) than our average consumer.