The Asus VivoBook U38N is a portable notebook which falls into that odd category of devices which are almost ultrabooks, but which don’t fit the technical definition. In this case, that’s because Intel trademarked the term “ultrabook” so it only applies to thin laptops with Intel chips, but the Asus VivoBook U38N has an AMD processor.

While the laptop isn’t available for purchase in the US yet, the folks at Ultrabook Review got their hands on a pre-production model and have posted some pretty detailed impressions.

The notebook features an AMD Trinity processor, Radeon HD graphics, and at least 4GB of RAM and either a 500GB hard drive or 128GB solid state disk. It has a 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display and a backlit keyboard.

The VivoBook U38N runs Windows 8 software, weighs about 3.4 pounds and measures about 0.75 inches thick.

Ultrabook review seems reasonably impressed with the VivoBook U38N, which reportedly gets up to 6 hours of battery life in some situations, handles multimedia better than many ultrabooks, and also has a lower price tag than many computers in its class.

On the other hand there’s no full-sized VGA or Ethernet port, the metal on the lid bends a bit when you press down on it, and the reviewer found that some touchscreen gestures were finnicky because… are you ready for this? The bezel around the screen might not be big enough to recognize swipe-from-the-edge gestures properly. The laptop also gets as little as 3.5 hours of battery life under heavy use.

You can find more details in the full review at Ultrabook Review.

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