Asus N43JF Laptop, Prelaunch Review

The N43JF is one of the three new Asus models that were showcased at Computex , early this year. Today, we have with us the N43JF, which is the 14-inch version of the new Nseries laptops. All three models look similar and are quite stunning in terms of aesthetics.

Design
With the combination of; rock-solid build quality, a metallic brushed finish wrist rest and a black glossy screen frame, this laptop looks truly stunning and classy. Even the N53 model boasts the same business-like look and feel, as this one does. The interior, as in, the chassis, hinges, keyboard, the speaker grill and the screen frame are of a black-grey tone. Another thing that truly adds to the classy look is the brushed finished touchpad with a gunmetal glossy bar for mouse buttons. The lid is metallic with an aluminum brushed finish with the Chrome Asus logo in the center. Overall, the laptop looks very impressive.

Ergonomically, this 14-incher has large and well spaced keys, so typing is quite comfortable, even if you’re looking to type out lengthy emails or documents. It’s often seen on other laptop keyboards that arrow keys and the other keys on the side are quite crammed and smaller, which is not the case with this keyboard.

Features
The N43JF is a mainstream laptop, built around an Intel HM 55 chipset and powered by a dual-core (4 threads) Intel Core i5-520M CPU, clocked at 2.4 GHz. There’s 4 GB RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and, our test unit is equipped with onboard Intel HD graphics. So looking at the hardware and performance, we’d say it’s more of a SOHO laptop. Also, the solid build quality and the use of metal in construction had made this machine slightly heavy for a 14-incher, nevertheless, you can actually use it as a desktop replacement.

The laptop features a 14-inch screen with a standard native resolution of 1366x 768. On the left-hand side, you’ll find an Ethernet port, a USB-eSATA combo, a USB port and two audio jacks. On the right-hand side is a DVD writer, two USB ports and a hardware switch for wireless. Even the webcam has a physical shutter, where you can slide the button horizontally to hide the lens. The memory card is in front, which won’t be a problem because it’s quite accessible being on the extreme right-hand side.

Finally, the unit comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Ultimate and features the common connectivity options, gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth.