I’ve had the pleasure of taking the ASUS K53E laptop under my wing for the past few weeks so I could test and tweak it and see what it is capable of. This laptop features Intel’s almost infamous Sandy Bridge processors and is a sturdy entry-level machine that comes in at a very neat price point.
The K53E has been used for a full day’s work – plenty of typing and image manipulation and internet surfing – and also been run through the usual series of benchmarking tests such as battery and 3DMark06. I have found that in spite of some niggles here and there; this laptop is a good bet for someone looking for a solid and dependable work tool.
The battery life was given a thorough testing using Battery Eater and lasted for over five hours. Not only is the battery life good, but the K53E is wonderfully quiet. As it steamed through the various tests and benchmarks, the ASUS K53E maybe hit a faint hum at one or two particularly stressful points. Compared to the roar of my PC, this is utter bliss.
Another plus point is the heat issue. Oh, sorry, there isn’t a heat issue. I have, since my last post, also tested this on my brand new lounge chairs and on my bed to see how it coped with these surfaces. And still no excessive heat to be found beneath the K53E. What a pleasure.
My old laptop could probably cook an egg so the ASUS IceCool technology clearly works. They have an exclusive dual-sided motherboard design that places hot components on the underside and away from users. The ASUS K53E is cool to the touch even after five hours of running benchmarking tests and battery tests so I think this has proven to be a very big tick in the plus column.
The ASUS K53E is also well designed, not too thick and not too heavy. The performance is good, possibly even very good, and the keyboard, speakers and extra features make it well rounded and reliably useful. The only downsides that I found were the slow boot times and the low screen resolution. However, this is not a rig for gaming or multimedia brilliance so these pitfalls can be easily overlooked.
Would I get this? Probably yes. In fact, my post that chatted about the heat had a relative call me and ask me some more questions about the ASUS K53E laptop that had him head off to buy one for himself. He wanted a dependable work machine that didn’t cost a lot, wasn’t hot (he has limited space to work so wants the option to sit with it on his lap), and performed well. And the K53E is that.
So, now you’ve read all about it, what do you think?