We review the Asus U2E, with its beautiful finish and leather accents. Is this tiny notebook all flash and no substance?
Review summary of the ASUS U2E:
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 The Asus U2E isn't about surprises, but in the realm of ultraportable laptops, often surprises are a bad thing. Like, surprise! There's no optical drive! Or, surprise! There aren't enough USB ports! Instead, the U2E has all the connectivity and features of a shrunk-down full-size laptop, at less than three pounds. Unfortunately, with the smaller exterior comes a lighter processor and integrated graphics, which means performance takes a hit. But you'll probably be so busy stroking the leather that you won't notice the slowdown. Release: March 2008. Price: $2200.
Pros: Slick, classy design with lots of options in a small package. Built-in optical drive, two batteries.
Cons: Trackpad wasn't sensitive enough. A bit small for our taste. Graphics performance lags.
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Full ASUS U2E Review:
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Design - Very good
The Asus U2E we reviewed was the "Asus Leather Collection" edition, and it was a gorgeous machine. The lid of the display and the wrist-rest along the keyboard were both trimmed in a stiff but tactile leather, with lots of bright, polished, chrome-looking accents. The lid closed without a latch, a classy touch, and, with the exception of the bottom of the machine, the entire effect is very classic with a touch of executive class. The look is spoiled a bit when the 9-cell battery protrudes from the back, but with the smaller 3-cell battery in place, it is easily the most elegant little machine we've gotten our hands on.
Input - Good
We thought the small keyboard would bother us more, but it didn't. The keys were nice and soft, with plenty of travel. All of the function keys do double-duty as volume control, or managing the wireless connections. The trackpad was a bit small for our taste, but there isn't much more room on the device for a larger pad. Still, we found pressing the tiny, chrome buttons to be a bit tricky. More troublesome, though, were the issues we had with the trackpad's sensitivity. It often felt like we were dragging our fingers twice to get the pointer to move once, and even when it followed us properly, it never felt as sensitive as we wanted. Changing the tracking in the control panel didn't help. We also had problems with the fingerprint scanner. In our initial attempt, it rejected our attempts at registering fingers at least a dozen times, though after a day or so (cleaner hands, or dirtier?) it got it right. After, we had little trouble logging on with a swipe of the finger.
We finally gained control over the system when we connected to the included Bluetooth mouse. The mouse was properly responsive, and though it was small for travel purposes, had a nice weight thanks to the AA batteries inside. It might add extra weight, but the U2E is definitely helped by the pairing, so it was a thoughtful inclusion.
Display - Very good
Let's get our personal preference out of the way first: 11.1-inches is just a bit too small for us. We've owned everything from 12-inchers all the way up to 17-inch behemoths, but 11-inches is just a bit tiny for typing, reading spreadsheets and even navigating a host of Web pages and tabs. The U2E can connect to an external display or projector using the included DVI adapter and the on-board VGA port, but on the road, this size screen can get frustrating when windows start piling up or Web page text gets more dense.
This is not to detract from the quality of the display of then Asus U2E. the display can still manage 1366 by 768 pixels, which is plenty for watching videos and even some downloaded 720p hi-def content. We watched "The Lord of the Rings" for our DVD battery test and were impressed by the rich, verdant greens and dark cave blacks that the screen revealed.
Connectivity - Very good
For such a small machine, the Asus U2E has plenty of connectivity options. For serious expansion you get an Express Card slot, as well as three USB ports. The laptop also features an 8-in-1 card reader up front, as well as audio-output and microphone input ports.
For networking, there is an Ethernet port and a phone modem, as well as wireless built-in in every flavor, a/b/g and draft-n. We had trouble getting the U2E to recognize our Apple Time Capsule as an 802.11n router. Depending on which band we used, the U2E found it as either a wireless-g or wireless-a network, and speeds were pretty good, but it never seemed to identify the network as "n."
Performance - Good
Admittedly, the Asus U2E is built more for power conservation and traveling than it is for performance, and though our tests seemed to bear this out, it still fared nicely in average tasks. For instance, opening multiple windows and Web pages hardly slowed the system down, though it's 3DMark benchmark score, at 438, was unsurprisingly pathetic. But nobody is buying this as a gaming machine, so graphics performance wasn't a key issue for us. Unfortunately, we were also unimpressed by the device's performance in networking tasks. Whether connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi to our home network, we saw much slower downloads on the U2E than any of the other machines on the same setup. As we mentioned earlier, the U2E never correctly identified our (Apple) wireless-n router, and lagged behind our Apple and Dell laptops in downloading tests over the wired LAN.
Battery - Very good
Perhaps the best thing about the Asus U2E's battery is that there are two of them in the box. The first is a smaller 3-cell battery; the second is a larger 9-cell brick. The 3-cell is an obvious underperformer. We got about an hour and five minutes out of it in our DVD test, and just under two hours in our casual browsing and usage test. The 9-cell is a much better option, but it adds weight and some depth to the machine. It sill fits inside its included suede sleeve, but isn't quite as svelte. Still, with the 9-cell battery, we watched nearly four hours of DVD video, and got well over five hours of casual use out of the machine before it conked out. Together, the 9-cell battery could enable movie watching for a couple of films on the flight, while the 3-cell would be nice for some Web surfing at the airport before take-off.
Accessories - Very good
The Asus U2E Leather Collection we reviewed came packaged in a nice looking box, with plenty of useful accessories. As we mentioned, you get a 9-cell and a 3-cell battery, as well as a suede carrying pouch with a nice, magnetic closure. You get a sleek, Bluetooth mouse (no leather?), as well as a mini-DVI adapter. HDMI might have been nice, but we don't think too many people will be connecting this to a home theater. Overall, the feel of the box and accessories is very high end, and in our tests the mouse and the battery genuinely add value to the machine.
Niche - Very good
For business travelers who want a small machine for the road, the Asus U2E will be a classy, if not flashy choise. Break this out in the boardroom and you'll draw envious looks. Then you'll lean in real close to see the screen and start pecking away. But if you like a laptop this small, then the U2E won't disappoint. It weight just over 2 pounds, fits easily into, well, everything, and has all the connectivity of a full size laptop. We don't miss the lack of cellular networking, because the laptop has an Express Card slot, which is still a better choice. We like our travel machines to pack a somewhat larger screen, but if you're watching lots of movies en route or don't mind less real estate, the Asus U2E is a well-crafted choice.
Odds and ends
In the coming months, another configuration of the Asus U2E will be available. It will sport a 32GB solid state drive (SSD), instead of the 120GB hard disk on our test unit. It will also come bundled with a 160GB external drive, which should alleviate some storage concerns. At test time, however, the HDD model was the only one available for purchase.
Price and availability
The Asus U2E with the 120GB hard disk drive is available in a couple configurations ranging from $2,200 to our test model's $2,600 price tag.
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