ASUS’ U series gets another ultra-portable brother, as the company has just sliced off another pound of flesh with its ultra thin U36JC. At just 19mm (0.75″) from ultra-light Magnesium-Aluminium alloy cover to the 4/8-cell battery in the base, it should slip neatly into just about any bag or briefcase.
The other benefit of the Mg-Alu LCD cover is the fact it looks professional and distinguished, while also resisting scratches and dents better than plastic. Plastic is often used in such designs to keep the weight down, but Magnesium and Aluminium are sound alternatives as both are of the lightest of metals.
U36Jc is available in both black and silver
To backup its portable credentials the U36Jc is just 1.44-1.6KG, depending on battery option. While not the lightest 13.3″ notebook in the world, it’s still well within the ultra-portable category and it makes up for it in other ways: most notably by using Intel standard voltage Core i3/i5 mobile CPUs.
This is significant because despite the thin profile all the listed CPUs are standard 35W models, not the ultra-low power variety. Standard voltage parts are considerably faster clocked, which, combined with ASUS’ Super Hybrid Engine, makes the U36Jc arguably the fastest ultra-thin laptop out there. With a Core i5-480M clocked at 2.66GHz packed inside, it can Turbo Boost to an impressive 2.93GHz. Comparatively the i5-470UM is clocked at only 1.33GHz and its Turbo Boost is just 1.86GHz – half that of the 480M!
U36Jc with chiclet keyboard and nanometer coating
ASUS states that it’s engineers have designed a dual heatpipe technology to extract the heat efficiently, in order to keep the U36Jc cooler to touch, and importantly, also prevent the palm rest from getting too hot as well.
Other hardware includes Nvidia’s G310M graphics card with 1GB of its own video memory – so it doesn’t borrow from system RAM – and Nvidia’s Optimus Technology that dynamically switches the graphics use between more powerful, dedicated Nvidia GPU and Intel’s lower power, on-CPU option. Combined with the LED LCD display, the three technologies: LED, Optimus and Super Hybrid Engine, all help boost battery life to help compensate for the slightly higher power CPU.
ASUS U36Jc
Other tasty innovations include a ‘nanometer’ coating on the palm rests which has a smooth, almost silky feel while also being easier to clean and far more resistant to fingerprints. How does it look to turn up to a meeting or presentation where you’ve made the effort to dress appropriately, but the inevitable finger grease and dirt of use makes it looks like you have a habit of lending your laptop to toffee eating children!
To round things up, there’s also USB 3, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet and Intel Anti-theft and LoJack security software built in too.
ASUS expects it to retail around $1,000 in the US, which admittedly on first glance doesn’t appear that inexpensive, but considering it’s packed with healthy injection of distinguished style, plus innovative and unique technology to maximise performance, weight and battery life within its slender form factor; the U36Jc is actually very reasonable since you just can’t get all this together, elsewhere!