Gear Gallery: New Ultralights, Easy Wireless Speakers and a Snappy DSLR

: The Asus U2E is an update of last year's impressive U1F, correcting some early flaws with the model. Most notable is the addition of an optical drive to the system, which will certainly make the laptop more appealing to a broader range of buyers. Another big change: Out goes the FireWire port, in comes HDMI output, though we can't imagine who'll be plugging this into their A/V rig for entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, the U2E still has some troubling problems. Performance is uninspiring, and the machine is buggy, too. We encountered numerous odd crashes and Windows hiccups throughout our testing. The specs are decent (11.1-inch screen, 120-GB hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo, 2.9-pounds), but many competing machines (even the Air and the Lenovo IdeaPad U110) run circles around the U2E on every important benchmark. Still, if you feel the need to be surrounded by leather at all times (and you're fresh out of jeanless chaps) the choice is all but made for you. WIRED: Handsome. Fully loaded with connectivity options, including three USB ports. Weight on par with similar systems that don't include an optical drive. TIRED: Numerous software problems. Integrated BIOS/driver update system never completed successfully. Homegrown software works even worse than Vista; view original article
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:00:00 +0200

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