They say good things often come in small packages and here the ASUS UL20A-A1 clearly delivers where it matters most. Let me tell you why.
1. LOOK & SIZE - When I took the ASUS UL20A out of the box I was quite impressed with its svelte and silky look. Photos simply cannot replace seeing something firsthand. The light-colored silver brushed aluminum lid is a fine complement to its ultra thin profile. It weighs only 3.3 lbs and doesn't feel as back heavy as other netbooks/ultraportables that have 6-cell batteries. Quality in design, fit and finish are quite evident throughout and that is something you don't often find in a laptop at $600.
2. SIGHT & SOUND - When I powered the ASUS UL20A up for the first time I was impressed with the display's noticeable increase in brightness and vivid contrasting colors compared to the many notebooks I've owned in the past (HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, Apple & Gateway covers the gamut). The High Definition LED-backlit screen really will make a pleasurable improvement in your viewing experience.
The front bottom positioned Altec Lansing speakers have a lot of volume at least for my ears and the Realtek HD Audio control panel offers 13 equalizer settings to satisfy your personal tone preferences. I keep the volume at about the 60% mark on my ASUS UL20A because that's plenty loud for me most of the time.
Note: Plenty has been said about glossy screens in general giving off glare from the sun through indoor windows and overhead lights. Frankly I thought this would bother me more than it does but the bother is hardly anything at all with this laptop. Of course everyone's lifestyle is different and what may be good for one person may not be good for another. My lifestyle doesn't require me to use my laptop outdoors and using it indoors imposes little inconvenience for me to turn the laptop or lid slightly away from the offending overhead light or sunlight.
3. TOUCH & NAVIGATION - The chiclet-style keyboard is a breeze to type on. The gaps between the keys provide both room and better viewing of the separate keys, particularly with the keys being a charcoal black color and the deck being a contrasting silver color. This allows me to quickly find the characters I'm looking for when I'm not touch typing.
The Synaptics trackpad initially was a bit frustrating for me. What helped me was reading a suggestion in a recent professional review to download and install a more ADVANCED generic version of the trackpad software from the Synaptics website directly. I decided to take his suggestion and that did the trick. I now can do 2-finger scrolling and even some 3-finger application gestures. If you decide to try the more advanced Synaptics software, download the 64-bit Windows version. Installing it is easy.
Note: You will need an external mouse though since the trackpad will have to be momentarily disabled during the install.
Lastly, I found my laptop to be consistently COOL to my touch much unlike some other laptops that feel uncomfortably warm especially on the bottom-side.
4. SPEED & STAYING POWER - This laptop is FAST. I will admit I installed another 2 gigs of memory that probably helped improve its speed somewhat. It boots up from a cold start in about a minute and shuts down in under 10 seconds - QUITE FAST. However, I may open and close my laptop about 6 times a day and most of the time I just put it in hibernation mode which backs up your open applications to the hard drive and then shuts down completely causing no further battery drain as sleep mode does. Startup from hibernation for me takes around 20 seconds - about a 1/3rd of the time as from a cold start - VERY FAST. Also, opening and closing programs in day-to-day use is quicker as well. I didn't do timings here but intuitively I know they open and close faster.
I use the Balanced Power Setting option offered by Windows 7 instead of using one of the 4 discreet power levels offered by ASUS. The Balanced power Plan gives you added horsepower when you need it and less horsepower when you're just cruising on the highway. With this setting, I receive between 6 - 7 hours of battery life that I'm very happy with. Your own mileage will vary based on your own usage and brightness settings.
5. TIPS & COMMENTS
* Preloaded on your laptop will be Trend Micro Virus Protection that after a free trial period concludes, will cost you. Some folks suggested removing Trend Micro off your laptop right away and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials that can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft website. This anti-virus and anti-spyware software is FREE. That's right - FREE from Microsoft and it works seamlessly as part of their Action Center Suite of security programs. I downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials to my laptop and it's surprisingly unobtrusive and very easy to use. I recommend you give it serious consideration.
* Hard Drive Partitions - Some folks have commented that they don't like the 2 partition setup (C for programs & D for data) on the hard drive that comes pre-configured by ASUS. I did initially have to remind myself that my personal files should be written to the Data partition where most of the free space resides. If you prefer not to have 2 partitions, you should consider re-formatting your hard drive at the GET-GO. Instructions for a partition-free disk setup are provided in the Appendix of the ASUS eManual that's present on your desktop.
* Express Gate allows you to boot up in a few seconds but is limited in functionality and rather unpolished. The screen resolution is incorrect for web surfing since it is not optimized for a 16:9 widescreen ratio and cannot be changed. I for one will not use Express Gate.
* ASUS offers a number of utilities that are preloaded on the laptop. I did remove some of them but some I considered to be useful such as Fast Boot and Splendid Utility. I suggest you give at least a cursory look of what they offer before you decide to remove them from your hard drive.
6. CONCLUSION:
The only initial shortcoming worth noting is that the Synaptics preloaded trackpad software was too limiting to suit my personal preferences. However I was able to install a generic but more advanced Synaptics software version allowing me to do convenient 2-finger scrolling that provided the missing piece I was looking for.
Clearly overall, there is a lot to like with this compact, thin & light. I think the laptop's 12.1 inch size is perfect and I appreciate its light weight, sleekness and the fact it's always quiet and cool to my touch. The display is beautiful and bright, the keyboard is a pleasure to type on, battery life is quite generous and the performance and speed it offers is worthy of laptops costing more, perhaps much more. If you can afford the price, the ASUS UL20A-A1 should be on your short list in deciding what laptop or netbook is the right one for you.
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