ASUS U35Jc – Hands on subtlety

ASUS’ latest performance mainstream laptop, the U35Jc, may not have the swanky bamboo covering like its U33 brother (more of that here), but it does feature the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware packed between an ASUS styled shell with brushed aluminum cover. Mmm tasty.

That aluminum cover adds that “special” element we all need when committing to our latest purchase, and parting with a significant sum of cash. After all, the gadgets you carry and use are always on some level an expression of you and your personality. Unlike the louder Karim Rashid ASUS 1008P netbook, the brushed black aluminum of the U35Jc is a subtle, more professional approach away from other laptops. Inside, ASUS has made a weight and cost saving decision to go back to plastic, however as you can see it’s slightly different to a thin polypropane shell and has a completely different finish to the keyboard, with a pitted texturing on the mousepad area to differentiate it under thumb without looking.

Speaking of that keyboard, ASUS chooses to use a slightly spaced design with flat keys and softly rounded edges. It looks modern and attractive but can split the opinion of users, especially if they are used to older laptop keyboards, as the extra space needs a bit of retraining for the fingers. Most importantly though the key presses afford a sharp, definite response, and not a spongy press so any lengthy document can easily be fired out.

The U35Jc shown features a 13.3 inch LED baclit LCD display, but there’s also a 14.1 inch U45 for those who want the extra realestate. There’s the option of an optical drive which makes the whole form factor fatter, but really, aim to live without (unless DVD backups or DVD watching is an absolutely need). If you are after the ultra-thin model shown, make sure you check before you buy.

Inside, in addition the latest Intel Core i5-450M CPU and Nvidia GeForce 310M 1GB graphics card with Optimus Technology, 2GB of DDR3, a 500GB hard drive and a six cell battery, as you’d expect, ASUS adds its own engineering: the Super Hybrid Engine.

ASUS’ Super Hybrid Engine basically offers a free CPU upgrade from Core i5-4xx to i5-5xx thanks to its automatic overclocking and management of its power distribution based on usage. The U35 is up to 11 per cent faster than competitive models and offers up to 11.43 hours of battery life, versus 9.81 from the competition in MobileMark 2007. This is all while improving on the latest Energy Star 5 specification, by running with 32.75% more power efficient.

The ASUS U35Jc balances a subtle style and performance hardware, with an almost all-day battery life to suit most buying needs; whether it’s either personal or business. It doesn’t have the cut of the Bamboo U33, but it’s cheaper and the aluminum is more professional, yet it may not have the aluminum internals of the UL30, but it’s also lighter. Overall, that’s a very pleasant and appealing compromise.