I've broken this review into sections with a number rating out of 10 for each. There's a pro/con summary at the end.



===============



Keyboard: 9/10



Excellent size, layout and tactile response. The black on black chiclet keys look sharp, modern and are comfortable to type on. Typing is also relatively quiet and unlike a lot of other Asus laptops, there is very little flex. I love the minimalist look and that there are no superfluous media keys. The keys themselves are spacious and the lettering is slightly over-sized. The only thing missing that would make it perfect to me is back lighting.



===============



Touchpad: 7/10



Performance is smooth and accurate for standard navigation & left/right clicking. The pad is spacious and the left/right click rocker bar works as it should. Two finger scrolling works really well, but the other multi-touch functions (zoom in/out, rotate) are buggy and only work half the time when I try. The chrome left/right click bar looks great, but finger print oils show up after awhile so you'll want to wipe it down regularly.



===============



Display: 7/10



The LED display is bright and colors are vibrant/accurate. However - I was disappointed by the viewing angles when watching video and find that it's necessary to sit directly in front of the screen to avoid degradation in picture quality. Also, the screen is very reflective, which makes it difficult to use this laptop outdoors or in a position where lights are behind you.



I would have preferred a resolution higher than 1366 x 768, but I was aware of this limitation when making the purchase, so no points lost for that. The Asus 'Splendid Utility' that allows you to switch between different color viewing modes (Normal, Theater, Vibrant, Soft, etc) seems useless. Everything but 'Normal' mode looks muddy or discolored to me.



All in all I think the display will be fine for most people but it isn't amazing or something that stands out impressively from the competition.



===============



Audio: 6/10



As with most laptops, the speakers are not very impressive. Audio is tinny and there is very little bass when I listen to music or watch movies. The placement of the speakers in the front of the chassis slanting down doesn't help matters. If you plan on using this laptop for watching a lot of movies or listening to music, you'll definitely want some headphones or high quality portables to use.



===============



Speed and Performance: 8/10



This little champ has handled just about everything I've thrown at it so far. It streams media from my home server flawlessly, with no lag or stuttering in the video. Online streaming via Netflix, Hulu etc also works great. Windows/Menus/Programs/Media Center are quick to open and everything feels very snappy. Photoshop opens quickly and performs well for 4GB of RAM. I encoded a couple of videos using Handbrake and it performed comparably with my core2quad desktop.



Drive access sometimes slows down in explorer if I'm heavily multitasking, but nothing abnormal or excessive. The product description overview says this has a 7200 rpm drive, but it is actually a 5400 rpm drive as stated in the expanded technical description. I will most likely upgrade to an SSD & 8GB of RAM at some point.



There was a ton of bloatware preinstalled. I was actually concerned at first because the system ran really slow after initially booting up and even froze up a couple of times as I tried to remove some of the crap. However, after rebooting & finally getting everything off, I updated Windows to SP1 and everything ran fine after that.



I wish they included a real recovery disk with options to leave off extra programs instead of storing it in a hidden partition as a bundled package. I'm thinking of just doing a clean install with one of my Windows 7 Professional disks and buying a license key before the 30 day activation is up. Although this laptop runs perfectly 95% of the time, there are odd moments where it hangs on something, and part of me thinks it relates to the buggy behavior I experienced while trying to remove some of the bloat. Perhaps some registry changes were made that is interfering. I don't know.



===============



Build Quality & Form Factor: 10/10



Despite the compact size and plastic chassis, this laptop feels solid and well made. I love the black colors and brushed faux metal look of the palm rest and cover. The shiny bezel around the LCD panel attracts fingerprints and dust, but it looks very sleek/modern when wiped down. You can't really see it in the photos, but the plastic around the keyboard has a faint glitter effect that looks cool.



I also love the easy access to the hard drive & memory bays - which is typical with Asus chassis design. This will make future upgrades much less of a hassle.



The laptop is slightly heavier and thicker than I was originally wanting, but it still feels compact and light enough to tote around comfortably. The overall look feels sleek & contemporary, which is exactly what I had in mind for cosmetics.



===============



Webcam: 3/10



The webcam works ok but is very low quality. If you use skype or are big into online video chats, you'll probably want to go with a higher quality, dedicated webcam.



===============



Cooling & Noise: 9/10



I'm amazed at how cool and quiet this laptop runs, especially so because I only see the one side vent on the chassis and the holes in the front where the speakers are (which I assume also provide intake air). The bottom is completely solid w/no fans or vents (which is what I wanted), so I was expecting it to run a little warm while having it on my lap or doing anything more than casual tasks. However, although you can feel warm air coming out of the vent under moderate-to-heavy loads - the rest of the chassis stays cool. I haven't experienced the loud fan issue that another reviewer described in battery saving mode of the previous model.



===============



Battery: 9/10



Battery life is excellent. I haven't experienced the advertised '9.5 hours', but I've only tested under conditions that I would normally be using (browsing, photoshop, streaming online media, etc). I get about 5-6 hours with casual use and around 4 when streaming media or doing something more intense. It's great that they went with an 8-cell battery instead of the usual 6-cell. I'm sure I'd get more if I turned off Wi-Fi and decreased screen brightness.



===============



Summary:



I am really pleased with this laptop and would recommend it to anyone looking for something compact, yet powerful enough to do real work or enjoy streaming media without lag issues. With the compact size and limited ventilation, I wouldn't recommend this for heavy gaming, as I don't see how there could be enough air flow to the GPU - but I think it's fine for casual use or older games with lower gpu requirements.



All in all I think it is a very well-rounded system. Amazon associates 5 stars with an "I love it" description ... which I do ... but there are a few flaws that prevent me from giving it that rating. So a star has been removed for the negative points outlined above, but it's still a great system.



PROS:



2nd Generation (Sandy Bridge) i5 CPU

Long Battery Life w/8-cell battery

1333Mhz RAM (vs more common 1066Mhz)

Discrete Graphics with generous 1GB Dedicated VRAM

Silent & Cool under normal/moderate load

Attractive & Compact Form Factor

Overall Build Quality feels high

Asus Warrenty w/1 Year Accidental Damage is an amazing bonus



CONS:



No USB 3.0

Max Resolution 1366 x 768

No back lighting on keyboard

Reflective Screen

A tiny bit heavier/thicker than comparable 13.3" laptops

Mediocre Viewing Angles

Description says 7200rpm drive, but it is actually 5400rpm

Way too many non-essential programs & bloat preinstalled



Also, NotebookCheck[dot]com has a great write-up of this laptop and it's predecessor, the Asus U30JC-A1, that I recommend checking out.



::: UPDATE 05/28/2011 :::



So I ended up doing a clean install of Windows 7 Pro because I couldn't get boxee or xbmc to install and was sick of the occasional performance lags. After doing a clean install, I would now rate Speed and Performance a 9 or 10. I no longer experience the random hangings or lags in speed ... and all of my software installed without issue. Inexplicably, it also seems as if I'm getting an hour more on battery life, which I don't understand at all.



It could be that my initial efforts to remove the bloatware messed something up with the original configuration, which Asus can't be blamed for - but I still feel the amount of extra crap they had installed was unacceptable.