ASUS W1JC – First 16:10 Multimedia Home Station with HD DVD drive and HDMI exit

By: Stefan Hinum

ASUS presents a new representative of its design notebook series W1, the W1JC. It implements a HD (High Definition) DVD drive and HDTV. In time for the sales start of HD DVDs in Germany, planned for autumn 2006, Asus offers the newest ’State-of-the-Art’ technology for mobile movie and TV pleasures. Users enjoy highly resolved HD movies. The HDMI exit, which allows the connection of a LCD /Plasma for televisions or beamer, can represent the screen content in higher resolution. Furthermore the entertainment notebook is equipped with the new Intel core 2 duo processor T7200 as well as with the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 video card, 2 GB main memory and 120 GB hard disk capacity. The Asus W1JC-AJ015P is available in the specialized trade.

Features W1JC-AJ015P

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 Cache)
• 15.4" TFT (WSXGA+), resolution 1.680 x 1050
• ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB GDDR3
• 2048 MB DDR2-667 (2x1024MB)
• 120 GB HDD 5.400 rpm SATA
• HD DVD drive and HDMI exit for HDTV                          
• hybrid (analogue+DVB-T) TV tuner
• 2.1 stereo loudspeaker soundsystem with subwoofer
• Intel 3945ABG WLAN 802.11a/b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 1x Express Card
• interfaces: 1x VGA, 1x HDMI, 3x USB 2.0, 1x IEEE1394, TV-out, DVB-T TV-In, AV-In, Audio-Out, Mic-In
• weight: 3.2 kg
• dimensions: 364 x 264 x 31-32 (front/back) mm
• TPM module
• inkl. Zero Bright Dot warranty
  
• inkl. home theater software & IR remote maintanance
• functional bag / optical wireless USB mouse
  
• Windows XP Professional
• Carbon Edition (LCD Cover of carbon & case of black coloured aluminium)

Comment:

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 resembles the desktop X1600 (plus Powerplay 6.0 current saving mechanisms), but is quite slower than the desktop X1600 because of the slower clock speed. It is part of the most powerful third of mobile video cards, is able to represent newest games and without any doubt apt for office applications and surfing.

The Core 2 Duo is a successor of Core Duo and Core Solo with a longer pipeline and up to 20% speed increase without to spend more current. 64-Bit EM64T command upgrade and 2 or 4 MB L2 cache characterize this processor with its 291 millions transistors, which are finished in 65 nm.
The "T" variants of the Core 2 Duo are the standard versions in notebooks. They need less current than the "E", but more current than the "L" (low voltage) and "U" (ultra low voltage) variants.

15 inch display-variants are the standard and are used for more than the half of all notebooks. The reason why so many people like displays with medium size is, that this size is not exhausting for the eyes, does not need too much current and the laptops can be kept quite compact.

In relation to display size the weight of this notebook is just about average and almost a bit too heavy.

Asus is an international manufacturer of medium size. In German and English speaking countries nowadays many notebooks of Asustec are reviewed. Nevertheless rather few laptop models achieve top-positions according total ranking and prize/value-rating.