It wasn’t that long ago that you had to spend at least a grand to get a lightweight notebook with discrete graphics. The ASUS K40 (IN-B1), a 14-inch machine that sports an Nvidia GPU, is priced at at an aggressive $799, making it a good choice for students. This system also features an attractive design, strong Wi-Fi performance, and a generous two-year warranty. The lack of HDMI output and relatively low speaker volume may give some pause, but overall the K40 is a good value.
Design
The first thing you’ll notice about the 13.6 X 9.8 X 1.4-inch K40 is its attractive lid; it features a black finish with a subtle blue dot pattern. Upon lifting the lid, you’ll notice that the finish extends to the base of the system (except for the strip directly north of the keyboard) for a unified look. As with other glossy notebooks, the K40 collects fingerprints and smudges, but those can be easily remedied with a quick wipe. At 5.2 pounds, the system is quite totable, but is a bit heavier than similar notebooks. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y450, for example, weighs just 4.6 pounds.
Keyboard and Touchpad
E-mailing friends and crafting Word documents was a breeze, thanks to the K40’s spacious base and roomy palm rest area. The keyboard, however, could use some work; not only does its left portion have a significant amount of flex, but the keys themselves had a somewhat hollow feel. On the plus side, a number of keys have special blue characters that allow you to launch programs when used in conjunction with the Fn key. Pressing Fn + space bar, for example, lets you cycle through power settings; Fn + F1 puts the system to sleep. It’s a nice way to quickly accomplish simple tasks.
Below the keyboard is a slightly textured touchpad that let us swiftly move the cursor across the desktop. The mouse buttons (much like the keyboard) felt mushy, and didn’t offer much in the way of feedback.
Display and Audio
Our Iron Man DVD looked good on the K40’s 14-inch (1366 x 768) display. The reds and golds in Tony Stark’s armor really popped, and night scenes had a suitable amount of darkness without overwhelming the visuals. The LCD’s 16:9 aspect ratio means that the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are smaller than usual while watching widescreen movies. Like many glossy displays, the K40’s screen kicks back reflections, which minimizes viewing angles.
A pair of Altec Lansing speakers with SRS audio boosting technology delivered good audio quality. Kool & The Gang’s “Too Hot” had a nice balance of highs and lows, and the audio had a very warm feeling throughout. The only downside is that the speakers could benefit from a higher maximum volume; the audio wasn’t loud enough to fill a medium-sized conference room.
Ports and Webcam
The right side of the K40 features two USB 2.0 ports, VGA, Ethernet, and headphone and microphone jacks; its left side houses two additional USB 2.0 ports, and an 8X DVD±RW drive. The back of the system contains two Kensington lock slots, while the front has a 3-in-1 memory card reader. Unfortunately, the machine lacks an HDMI port for delivering a 1080p image via a single cord to a high-resolution monitor or TV. This omission is surprising given that the K40’s Nvidia GeForce G102M GPU is more than capable of exporting HD video.
The 1.3-megapixel webcam served up accurate colors and lifelike skin tones in both bright and low light when we chatted with friends using Meebo. Buddies reported that both the audio and visuals were good, but there was some motion blur when we moved quickly. We liked that we could take still photos ranging in resolution from 160 x 120 up to 1280 x 1024 pixels, and video with resolutions escalating from 160 x 120 to 640 x 480 pixels. The LifeFrame software allowed us to add Black & White, Sepia, and several other effects.
