New 11.6-inch Sandy Bridge Asus U24E

[rfs830]

I hope we can downgrade from Win7pro and the i7 chip. I just think if its going to be that much i would rather get at zenbook. Will see though after this comes out.

[Chris_ast1]

Asus U24E -- filmowy rzut oka PCLab.pl - YouTube

Simple translation (if anyone is interested what author of this vid had in mind):

-Hi. Today we will test Asus U24E. Because of it's size and hardware packed inside - it is very hard to put this thing into one category.You can call it very powerfull netbook or very small notebook.We get to that futher.

First look and casing.
Top case is made of aluminium, with matt finnish, although fingerprints are still visible.On the fron we have very matt finished plastic part that both holds antennas and resists fingerprints.
Underside there are stereo speakers made by Altec, service door for quick HDD and RAM exchange and 6-cell battery extending a bit out of slim profile.

On the left we have: power socket, heat went, VGA, HDMI and one USB 2.0 port.
on the righ there's: SD card reader, headphones and mic jacks, 2 USB3.0 ports, kensington lock and "expandable-socket" ethernet port.

First what you'll notice after opening the lid is 11.6" screen hold inside rather thick frame.Above screen there is web cam, below there are function key's: power button and energy profile button. Asus has standard chiclet keyboard, function keys are rather useful, you can mute using FN plus proper key.

Clickpad has only one button - and this is glossy one so it gets fingerprints easily. Touchpad sensor i a bit lower than palmrest, giving slight feel of orientation whether our finger is still on the sensor.

What's make this Asus special is core i5 2430M and 8 GB RAM which gives huge difference over Atom or Brazos netbooks. More than 15 browser tabs, or watching 1080p YouTube vids is no issues at all. But there is downside, 6-cell battery will hold only 3 hours when used extesively.

So who will be happy with this machine...?
-for someone who expects very powerfull machine in very small package...
- and can accept lower battery life, compared to other notebooks in this class.
Asus U24E could be very lucrative and interesting proposition for many, only if pricing will be adequate.

[ALLurGroceries]

I hope we can downgrade from Win7pro and the i7 chip. I just think if its going to be that much i would rather get at zenbook. Will see though after this comes out.

The i7 has the same 35W TDP, at least.

Asus U24E -- filmowy rzut oka PCLab.pl - YouTube

Simple translation (if anyone is interested what author of this vid had in mind):

Thanks for that.

[frychiko]

Thank you for the translation, Chris.

Added a couple of photos from a user in Japan, to the first post (and below for convenience). Showing the keyboard and a close-up of the battery underneath.





Interestingly, this non-European (Japanese) keyboard lacks the right row of keys (thankfully).

[Voodooi]

Wow! The design is good, specs are excellent and price makes this a WIN!

11.6" mini-powerhouse Would even handle some current and most older games!

[you]

ugly 'enter', keyboard layout can be better

[ALLurGroceries]

ugly 'enter', keyboard layout can be better

Note the tiny spacebar and multiple modifier keys. It's a Japanese layout.

The European layout will still have a double sized enter key but the USA version will not.

It looks like a brushed finish screen bezel, contrary to the official press pics seen earlier. That's awesome.

[frychiko]

Here's another pic showing the brushed metal screen bezel (wasn't clear in the video, and yeah those press renders look like they show the usual glossy bezel):

[Hydrayo]

I'd instantly buy this if the display wasn't glossy ...

[frychiko]

Picture of a display model U24e:



Via some Japanese blog.

Same blog shows WEI score of 4.7:

7.0 - Processor
5.9 - Memory (RAM)
4.7 - Graphics
6.2 - Game Graphics
5.9 - HDD

Price suddenly dropped "$50" (5000 yen) on Amazon JP for some reason, so its roughly "$500" now! (55,000 yen) Ordered one.