15 January 2007 11:00 GMT / By Stephen Patrick

Asus bills the F3Jp as its "Revolutionary Notebook", which is something of a high claim indeed. We’re big fans of the company’s line of notebooks but we’re not too sure which revolution this machine is either about to take part of or start.

Weighing in at 3.1kg, it’s not the lightest machine out there but it comes with a 15.4-inch Super-TFT panel that offers excellent brightness and with the inclusion of Asus's new Splendid Technology, you can switch the contrast and brightness to match your needs. So, if you're watching a DVD you can set switch the contrast to more balanced tones, while for presentations it will automatically make the white balance sharper.

The build quality is impressive with plenty of support and strength in all the right areas. The chassis is mainly plastic but there was little or no flex in the case. The look may be understated but we’re all the more impressed for it. You can certainly see and feel where your money has been spent with this machine. The keyboard is a good size and one of the most comfortable boards we’ve used in ages, making this a great all-round machine. The touchpad is large and widescreen, to match the panel and instead of separate mouse buttons, you’ll find a strip button, which acts in exactly the same way and was highly responsive.

The same can also be said when it comes to the main specification as there is no scrimping here either. This is an Intel Core 2 Duo machine, with a T7200 processor running at 2GHz, which is more than powerful enough to run all your current applications and anything else you're considering of running for some time to come. Backed with 2048MB of DDR2 memory, we found this a smooth running machine, regardless of the number of application windows we had running.

Graphics are handled by ATI’s latest mainstream offering – the Mobility Radeon X1700, which has been designed with gaming in mind for use in notebooks lighter than your average desktop alternative machine. Performance isn’t cutting-edge but you can play the latest games with a fair degree of resolution and speed.

Add to this a battery life well in excess of 4 hours, even when running in multimedia mode and you have a machine that is more than worth the asking price. Media is enhanced with a range of features including Lifeframe, which is the name of the software used in conjunction with the built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam, which offers a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, or 1280 x 1024 pixels when in digital camera mode.

Verdict

If you’re looking for a machine that offers plenty of performance, battery life and will keep you happy for longer than the average bargain machine, the Asus F3Jp has to be one of the most appealing notebooks around.

It may not be about to start a revolution but it was certainly a riot to use!

Score

Review Recap

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Asus

Price as reviewed

£1199

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The good

Great Spec, great battery

The bad

Not the cheapest, chunky

Quick verdict

It may be heavier than we’d like but this is a stunning machine designed with the multimedia user in mind

Score

Winner

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