Asus N80V review

The Asus N80V’s 14.4in screen is the smallest of any laptop here excluding the ultra-portables. Weighing 2.6kg, however, it’s barely any lighter than the other laptops in this price range.

The screen uses LED backlighting. This lit the panel evenly but the screen wasn’t as bright as those of other laptops here, and its colours were less vibrant. Although it’s smaller than other screens in this group, it has the same 1,280×800 resolution.

The main advantage of the LED backlight is its lower power consumption. The N80V’s battery lasted just over four hours – longer than any other laptop in this group. This is plenty of time for use in or out of the house.

With a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T5800 processor, the N80V achieved similar Windows benchmark results to those of Acer’s 6920G, and came second-from-bottom overall. It’s still enough power for most tasks, though. Gaming will be more troublesome, as the Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics chip managed just 5.1fps in Call of Duty 4. Strategy games should be possible, but the latest 3D titles are out.

The keyboard’s comfortable moulded keys are pleasant to type on, and the touchpad is large and responsive. It has big, raised buttons, although these are slightly too stiff.

All the laptops in this group come with HDMI ports and generous 320GB hard disks, but the N80V is the only one to have five USB ports, as well as a dedicated eSATA port. It’s good to see that the USB ports are distributed evenly on both sides and the rear of the case. There’s also a surprisingly good set of speakers, with enough bass to make them suitable for watching movies on the go. It’s a shame, then, that this is one of only two laptops in this price bracket to come without a built-in Blu-ray drive.

The N80V looks smart and its small size and long battery life may be attractive if you need to carry a laptop around. If you don’t, Acer’s 6920G is a much better choice.