01.jpgASUS is about to let loose a stylish new powerhouse laptop which boasts a 10 hour battery life, ditches the ultra-low-power processors in favor of 35 W varieties and features Nvidia graphics with Optimus technology. The new addition to the company's U series manages to keep its impressive internals cool with dual heatpipe technology that also keeps the palm rest area nice and chilled too.
Housed within its magnesium-aluminum alloy cover, the U36JC sports standard voltage mobile processors on a Mobile Intel HM55 Express chipset. Standard voltage is considered faster clocked, which has led to ASUS saying that its new baby is "arguably the fastest ultra-thin laptop out there." There's a choice of either an Intel Core i5-480M/460M at 2.66GHz – which can reach a clock speed of 2.93GHz when used with Turbo Boost – or an Intel Core i3-390M/380M at 2.53GHz.
The processing power is supported by up to 4GB DDR3 memory over a couple of slots and Nvidia G310M graphics with 1GB of DDR3 onboard memory and Optimus Technology, which switches between Intel's chip-based video and Nvidia's card depending on need.
The U36JC will be available in HDD storage options up 750GB and come with either a 4 or 8-cell battery, which gives it a weight of 1.44 or 1.6kg (3.17 or 3.52 pounds), depending on which battery is providing the juice.
There's a 13.3-inch glossy, LED backlit display at 16:9 aspect and with 1366 x 768 resolution and a 0.3 megapixel camera. Physical connectivity is catered for with a 5-in-1 card reader, a couple of USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0, HDMI-out and Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless-N Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR tick the cable-free boxes and data security piece of mind comes in the shape of BIOS booting/HDD user password protection, and included Intel anti-theft and LoJack software.
ASUS engineers have developed exclusive thermal technology to transfer heat away from the system while offering a more comfortable palm rest for the user. There's also a fingerprint-resistant "nanometer coating" on the palm area to make cleaning less of a chore.
