Pricing, Availability and Final Thoughts
FeaturesJust like I said in the recent ASUS U6S review, the U2E offers a lot of features in a small package. The Intel Core 2 processor that runs at 1.06 GHz is fast enough for most of the applications and usages that potential U2E buyers should put on it and the ultra-low voltage aspect is obviously key to keeping both the battery life and heat levels at the levels they are at. The rest the hardware is pretty basic including an Intel 965GM chipset with integrated graphics that, while under performing, is critical for battery life.
The LCD screen is very nice and with its LED back-lighting it is able to create a great visual experience while limiting power consumption compared to traditional LCDs. Just like with the U6S, I wasn’t impressed with the color quality on the U2E screen right away but with some minor tweaking on ASUS’ Splendid Color software it was within specs. Users of other ultra-mobile machines will also like the fact that ASUS made the LCD lid strong enough to with stand constant openings and closings and it didn’t feel cheap or flexible at all.
The solid-state drive is a great feature, if you can do without additional internal memory and use the external drive that ASUS will include. Again, the SSD is able to keep power consumption down and still maintain fast read/write speeds at the expense of capacity. The U2E model that comes with the standard platter-based hard drive will probably be more popular though because of the lower price and extra storage room.
Other features that stand out are the fingerprint scanner, integrated webcam and microphone, three USB ports, integrated Gigabit networking, HDMI output and a DVD-RW optical drive. These are all things that are very often left out of other thin and light machines (cough, the Air, cough) and I am really pleased that ASUS didn’t make any of those sacrifices when building a machine for this market segment.
Usability
As notebooks get smaller, your ability to actually use them for productive purposes seems to go down. The U2E does have a small keyboard; smaller than the HP nc6400 and the ASUS U6S we compared it to at least. However, it is larger and much better suited for extended use than ASUS’ own Eee PC that has been all the rage recently. The 11″ screen is also smaller, but still has a decent resolution of 1366×768 that presents an area that is large enough to work and browse the web without the image being too small – it’s a great balance of size and resolution.
The weight of the U2E is another of its big selling points and a body-only result of 2.5 lbs is really incredible! Adding in the standard 3-cell battery takes you to 3 lbs for some ultra-light traveling or you can add in the 9-cell battery and push that to about three and a half pounds while getting awesome battery life. It’s a choice that ASUS leaves up to you by providing both batteries right in the box rather than forcing you to spend extra on it down the road.
Performance
The pure performance of the ASUS U2E did not really impress us when looked at on its own. That being said, when we take into account the size of the form factor and the battery life it, the performance seems more than capable. You shouldn’t expect to play any games on this, run any video encoding (at least can’t wait a while) or do any heavy imaging work but you will have no problems running your Office applications, listening to music or watching videos and movies. It is a much more capable system than the Eee PC, for example, as it comes with Windows Vista and can run just about application you are willing to install on it.
Boot times and hibernation recovery times were VERY impressive with the solid state drive as you would expect. The move to a standard drive will no doubt hinder that some on the cheaper model, but I think it would remain within a reasonable limit. I measured the boot time (after a clean restore and a few reboots) at just about 58 seconds and a hibernate recovery time of 37 seconds on my SSD sample system. Not bad!!
Appearance
Many people have already commented on the ASUS U2E being a sexy looking notebook when posted an initial unboxing of it last week. There is little doubt that sentiment will remain now that we have seen the entirety of it. The black leather along with the brushed metal fixtures surrounding the screen, buttons and touch pad really add up to a high-class appearance that will probably get a lot of attention. The only negative I could point to was that the touch pad buttons were very fingerprint-prone as was the brushed aluminum area at the bottom of the leather wrist rest.
Service and Support
One thing that ASUS has gone above and beyond promoting is their service and support program called “ASUS 360“. There are two main portions to the ASUS 360: the warranty and the accident plan. Key features include:
ASUS 360 Warranty
- 2-year global warranty – service on your notebook at ASUS service centers around the globe
- 1-year battery pack warranty –
- 30-day zero dead pixel coverage – one bad pixel and you get a new LCD
- Free two-way overnight shipping – that’s right, free Fedex standard overnight shipping to ASUS and back to you!
- 24/7 technical phone support (except on holidays)
- 1-year accident coverage for spills, electrical spikes, fire or drops – only one claim per laptop
Pricing and Availability
The standard drive version of the U2E (specifically, the U2E-A1B) should begin showing up at retails and e-tailers this week with an MSRP of $1999 USD. That will get you the exact same hardware seen here: 3GB DDR2 memory, 11″ screen, DVD-RW optical drive but without the 32GB solid-state hard drive. Some of you might prefer that options anyway. The SSD version of the U2E (U2E-A2B) will be available near the end of March with an MSRP of $2699. For that extra dough you get the 32GB internal drive and an external 160GB USB hard drive.
Both of these systems are pretty pricey, but considering that ASUS’ competition for the U2E is the likes of Apple’s MacBook Air, the Lenovo X300 that starts around $2600, the U2E is actually very competitively priced. Anyone expecting to see the U2E priced at a level like the Eee PC will surely be let down but this is a completely different class of machine.
Update: The standard hard drive model, the U2E-A1B is now on sale at Newegg.com for $2099.99.
Final Thoughts
The ASUS U2E is perhaps one of the best notebooks to hit the ultra-mobile market. Ever. By offering both solid performance for this segment, a list of features that exceeds machines much larger, size and weight that any road warrior would envy and battery life of nearly 8.5 hours ASUS is able to address nearly every concern for the mobile market; not to mention that it is simultaneously sexy and elegant. I have no doubt that the U2E will be incredibly popular and from my time testing it I can see no reason why it shouldn’t be.
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