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Asus K53S review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £530
inc VAT

The K53J looks like a decent-value budget laptop at first glance, but the dedicated graphics card isn't up to much

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Some may find the K53J’s textured lid a bit boring, but it does help you grip the laptop when you’re carrying it. Inside, the dark brown keyboard panel has a brushed-metal finish which we found stylish. The Chiclet-style keys are flat-topped and have a light action but lack bite in the keystroke, so there’s less feedback than we’d like.

As with the K52JC, the K53S also squeezes in a numeric keypad on the right, and its keys are far too small. If you use a numberpad regularly, you’ll be annoyed that the “0” key, which is normally double-width, has been chopped in half to fit the cursor key in. Otherwise, the layout is good, with a row of page navigation keys above the numberpad. The touchpad is large and responsive, and its two buttons are large and have a light action.

Asus K53S Ports

Although the K53S seems thinner than other 15.6in laptops thanks to its tapered case, it weighs more than most. At 2.7kg, you’re not going to want to carry it around for too long. However, the battery lasted four hours and 39 minutes in our test, so you won’t need to stay near a power socket.

Asus K53S Ports 2

The lure of a dedicated graphics card may be tempting, but if gaming is a priority, the K53S isn’t the best choice. It might be faster than integrated graphics, but not by much. Its inclusion doesn’t justify the £50 premium over the Dell Inspiron 15R, especially as the hard disk is 180GB smaller and there are no USB3 ports.

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Basic Specifications

Rating***
ProcessorIntel Core i3-2310M
Processor clock speed2.1GHz
Memory4.00GB
Memory slots2
Memory slots free0
Maximum memory8GB
Size378x252x38mm
Weight2.7kg
SoundRealtek HD Audio
Pointing devicetouchpad

Display

Viewable size15.6 in
Native resolution1,366×768
Graphics ProcessorNvidia GeForce GT 520M
Graphics/video portsVGA, HDMI
Graphics Memory1,024MB

Storage

Total storage capacity320GB
Optical drive typeDVD+/-RW +/-DL

Ports and Expansion

USB ports3
Bluetoothyes
Wired network ports1x 10/100/1000
Wireless networking support802.11b/g/n
PC Card slotsnone
Supported memory cardsSDHC, MMC, Memory Stick Pro, xD
Other portsminijack audio output, minijack microphone input

Miscellaneous

Carrying caseNo
Operating systemWindows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Operating system restore optionrestore partition
Software includedMicrosoft Office 2010 Starter, CyberLink Power2Go v6
Optional extrasNone

Buying Information

Warrantyone year RTB
Price£530
Detailswww.asus.com
Supplierhttp://www.comet.co.uk

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