ASUS T9 Notebook

Conclusion

Deciding what notebook to buy is as difficult as deciding what video card, CPU, motherboard, display, and hard drive to buy all at the same time. The purchase of a notebook is an investment that you hope to last as long as possible. Choosing the wrong notebook for you can be as painful as buying a $2000 plus paper weight. Choosing the correct notebook for your needs, however, can be very rewarding.

Although ASUS may not be a notebook brand name you are familiar with, expect that to change. ASUS' notebooks have been received with a good amount of success in the Asian and European markets and the company is now focusing their attention to the US market. The list of ASUS laptop resellers is growing rapidly for a good reason: ASUS produces quality products. You wont find ASUS notebooks at your local Best Buy or CompUSA, but many smaller computer resellers are picking up the brand.

The T9 fits the reputation that ASUS has become known for: our test system was high in quality and worked as advertised right out of the box. ASUS took the T9 to the next step by giving it an attractive an easy to use design that incorporates features not found in notebooks at the sub $2000 level. Perhaps the most unique feature, the ASUS DJ MP3 player, is a great idea but could have been exponentially more useful if it made use of a more detailed LCD and additional storage space. Another great feature of the T9 is the easy access it provides to vital system components. With the T9 it is actually possible to upgrade many parts of the notebook including the CPU.

It may not be the fastest notebook out there, but the T9's speed will get the job done. There are a few things we would change about the T9 if we got the chance, including adding more applications to the software bundle, trimming down the size and weight of the system a bit, moving away from the integrated video solution to an external one, and, perhaps most importantly, switching from Windows ME to Windows XP as the preloaded operating system. Also nice would have been the addition of an internal CD-ROM drive. Given the notebook's size, we suspect that it would have been possible to squeeze one in there somewhere, as we have seen other manufacturers do it. All in all, however, the ASUS T9 proves to be a good solution for professionals on the go. If you are looking for a business ready notebook that is on the lean side, the ASUS T9 will not disappoint.

The T9 starts at $1,769 and is available now. The current model features 384MB RAM standard as well as a Mobile Pentium III 1.0GHz processor.