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DTR notebook ASUS A4500D

Author: Date: 22.12.2005

The trends of progressing Russia's market of notebooks and the popularity of ASUS trademark have made it possible for the company to gain outstanding success in this walk. According to the data for the 2nd quarter of 2005, the share of ASUS on the market amounted to 13.1%, which allowed the manufacturer to become the second after Acer, losing merely 5.9% to it and take a 1.7% lead over RoverBook (Russia). Due to known reasons, it got the third place.

According to the forecasts of analysts, there is the probability that the difference between ASUS and RoverBook in future may turn even narrower. RoverBook is not going to give in its positions and is doing its best to attract the buyer with Russian price and availability of models. Anyway, the companies follow different approaches in winning the market. While the "soap-box" of RoverBook is again the low price for the produce, ASUS offers the topmost quality of maintenance, assembly, and of course unmatched reliability. At these, the Russian rival is losing much, unfortunately. Therefore, we can state ASUS notebooks, like most of the company's produce, are in good standing in Russia. For instance, according to the polls conducted by our web site, over 50% of respondents would prefer an ASUS motherboard as a product for future upgrade. It must not be ruled out that notebooks by the company will eventually gain such a wide public recognition.

Today we received a DTR-notebook ASUS A4500D which is positioned by the company as a "performance solution". In fact the term "DTR" itself just implies "Desktop Replacement". The model is based on the mobile processor Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+ and is equipped with discreet graphics by ATi - Radeon Mobility 9200. Besides, the device offers other advantages as well, e.g. the Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller, a card reader for flash cards of the most popular formats.

Here are some more "dainties". The A4 series (on both Intel and AMD platforms) is represented by DTR notebooks and thus offers certain features. The processors by two companies are very similar to their "desktop versions", so they don't stand out with low heat emission, which is certainly to the detriment of the mobility. In particular, because of the massive cooling systems the housings of the whole series turned out to be a bit too large, and the weight, depending on the type of the batteries, may reach 4 kg.

Evidently, it is a problem carrying this notebook around to the office or studies. First, after half an hour of walking with such a "luggage" your arms will get tired, and secondly, the dimensions of such a device are too huge to make yourself comfortable in the right place at the right time. This is just the major issue with all the DTR notebooks - the devices are not meant for journeys and permanent travel. The are aimed at replacement of desktop personal computers since they take up a few times less space than desktop PCs, make less noise and consume less power. As an added bonus, they are cheaper than mobile analogs and easier to upgrade.

Well, all in good time.

I must admit the package bundle of A4500D did appeal to me. Take for instance the "proprietary" bag which at its make and properties is comparable to models costing $100 or even more.

The bag has three compartments and a front pocket to keep pens, pocket-books and plastic cards in.

Another pleasant surprise for the worshippers of ASUS produce is the optical mouse bearing a company logo. But it is made by Logitech, which is also not bad at all.

Besides, the package bundle includes a few CDs with games - GunMetall, Battle Engine aqualia, as well as demo versions of Splinter Cell ROC, Big Mutha Truckers, Breed, Colin McRae Rally 3, and Toca Racer Driver.

And of course there are standard items - AC power adapter, a S-VIDEO-Composite adapter, and the licensed MS Windows XP Home with the integrated Service Pack 2.

Design and layout

The design of the notebook is typical of the ASUS style. The housing is dark grey, with the rear and "face" parts made in the classical black. As we already mentioned, the size of the device are too big for a mobile computer, so it looks rather clumsy and huge. But for some it is a plus rather than disadvantage. With these dimensions the owner can allegedly outline the power and "advanced make" of the "metal pal", so we can stay assured this model will definitely find its worshippers. What we can state with absolute confidence is that our pretty ladies will not like ASUS A4 much.

On all the sides except the front, there are various interfaces and ports.

On the left side, the notebook has two USB 1.1/2.0 ports, a jack for earphones and microphone, a Kensington Lock slot, and a switch for changing the battery operation modes. In the "OFF" position, the charging and battery operation of the notebook is locked, and "ON" toggles the blocking.

The right-hand side is equipped much more. There is a Combo-DVD drive, a PCMCIA slot, a card reader for handling memory cards MMC, SD, MS, MS PRO, an IR port, IEEE1394, and two more USB-ports.

On the rear side of the device, there is a very rare today LPT port, a VGA connector, RJ-11 and RJ-45 ports, as well as S-VIDEO TV-Out.

Let's look at the keyboard. The large size of the housing allowed the engineers and designers not to save on this component, so the keys proved full-sized with distinctly seen letter characters in both languages. The keyboard is very convenient in operation, with the key moving smoothly. The positioning of functional keys is also sensible, although the sound volume keys and screen brightness control keys are brought upwards and not aligned with the arrow keys as it is common for most notebooks.

The Touchpad looks very stylish, with the size of the panel being large enough. What is annoying is the lack of the scroll wheel, although it is made up for by the "scroll bar" made on the right-hand edge of the touchpad.

Under the keyboard, there are additional buttons which enable the touchpad and Wi-Fi, which allows switching between the AC mains and battery operation modes and assign one of the keys for launching a "favorite" application.

Another advantage in the notebook control is the Audio DJ technology. Under the touchpad there are buttons to control audio and video playback. This very useful and handy thing can control the playback in most varied media players.

The 2W stereo speakers are hidden under the keyboard, their volume level is enough to watch films in an office. Games and music also do well.

There is one interesting point to note. Having looked at the specifications plate, you can see a note of the Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless standard, but don't be flattered by that. Having looked through the notebook specifications more closely, we can see that it is not an integrated module but a separate USB controller which is optional and missing in the package bundle of our model.

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