Asus W2V

The Asus W2V is all about entertainment. This 17-inch stunner uses every square inch of its 7.5-pound frame to pack in all of the amenities you could want in a multimedia notebook, including a TV tuner, high-end ATI graphics for 3D games, and Microsoft's Media Center OS. Decked out in a black brushed aluminum shell inside and out, the Asus W2V is quite possibly the coolest looking desktop replacement we've ever seen.

The centerpiece of the W2V is its huge 17-inch widescreen display, which has a glossy finish that makes graphics jump off of the screen. The WSXGA+ resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels is perfect for its size; fast-paced movies like Batman Begins look amazing.

The W2V's sound system is great, too. It includes integrated front, center, and surround speakers, plus a small subwoofer on its base to yield simulated 5.1-channel sound. If simulated doesn't cut it for you, it offers analog outputs for an external 5.1-channel surround-sound speaker system, plus a digital S/PDIF audio input. We loved using the system's cool slot-loading double-layer DVD burner.

Asus smartly installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 as this machine's operating system, which makes it easy to play DVDs, view digital photos or videos, or watch shows using the system's integrated TV tuner. The W2V's 5,400-rpm 100GB hard drive provides plenty of room to record your favorite episodes TiVo-style.

A 2.13-GHz Pentium M 770 processor and 1GB of 533-MHz DDR2 memory makes video encoding a snap. The W2V flew through Photoshop, Excel, and everything else we threw its way. The MobileMark 2005 productivity benchmark result was similarly impressive, lavishing the Asus with a high score of 211.

ATI's 128MB Mobility Radeon X700 graphics processor takes care of 3D games. It cruised through Far Cry and didn't have any trouble with F.E.A.R. The image detail was crisp and gameplay was very smooth in both titles. We weren't surprised to find that the W2V's 3DMark03 score clocked in at an above-average 6,092.

With all of this high-powered hardware installed, we consider the notebook's battery runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes to be very good. That time dropped by only ten minutes when we flipped the switch to activate the integrated 802.11a/b/g radio. Along the same lines, the Wi-Fi adapter's data transfer rate didn't drop much when we moved the notebook from 5 to 50 feet from our access point, falling from 10.5 Mbps to 9.4 Mbps. For multiplayer gaming across your local area network, you'll love the W2V's built-in Gigabit Ethernet adapter.

If you find yourself using this notebook for work, the keyboard and touchpad will keep you in a comfort zone. The touchpad doesn't match the aspect ratio of the screen, but it's so large at 2.7 x 2 inches, that it barely matters. By pressing on the right or bottom edges of the pad, you can activate a virtual vertical or horizontal scroll area. We admire how the left and right touchpad buttons are elegantly cut into the black aluminum surface of the palmrest. Since the touchpad and keyboard rests flush with the palmrest, the entire surface has a very fitted look. The keyboard is full-sized and very comfortable to use, except that the Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys are inexplicably compressed, even though there's plenty of extra room beside the keyboard.

We're not crazy about a standard one-year warranty for a $2,599 system, but we love almost everything else about the Asus W2V, right down to its included carrying case (which has a cool look to complement the machine). If you want an entertainment notebook that turns heads, but won't make your shoulder sore carrying it, the Asus W2V is a great call.