Asus W5A (W5G00A) - Asus' New Ultra-portable
Introduction
Asus made an interesting statement earlier in the year with their S5N notebook. Its flair wasn't necessarily original, but it was, and still remains, one of the smaller ultra-portable designs available. And it's for this reason, that the S5N remains one of the ultra-portable notebooks in our own personal notebook arsenal. So, needless to say, after catching a glimpse of the new Asus W5A ultra-portable, we were immediately intrigued. If you haven't already seen it, the Asus W5A is a bit of a departure from other "traditional" ultra-portable designs. With that in mind, let's see what Asus' is using to entice highly mobile computer users...
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| Processor •_Designed for Intel 90nm Dothan Pentium-M with 2MB On-Die L2 Cache •_Supports 533MHz FSB Chipset •_Intel 915GM (with Intel IGP)/ICH6-M •_Supports maximum memory capacity up to 2GB Memory •_One 200-pin uSODIMM sockets •_Supports DDR2 400 Unbuffered Non-ECC memory •_Supports maximum memory capacity up to 768MB Graphic •_Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 900 ATA • Intel ICH6-M South Bridge: - 1 x ATA 100/66 - 2 x SATA 100/66 - 40GB 4200RPM HDD - CD-RW/DVD-ROM Communications •_Realtek 10/100 Mbps Ethernet •_Intel Wireless 2200BG (802.11 b/g) or Broadcom 802.11/b/g WiFi card •_Bluetooth (optional) •_56K v.92 Fax/modem Display •_12.1" WXGA glare type TFT LCD (native 1280 x 768) Audio •_Compatible with AC'97 2.3 •_Built in speaker Dimension and Weight |
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Measuring in at just 11.7" x 8.7" x 1.2" and with a claimed weight of 3.45 pounds (our W5A sample weighed around 3.6 lbs.), the Asus W5A is the third smallest of the three new notebooks from Asus. Its new design, namely its choice of a 12.1" glare type display, is focusing on the highly mobile multimedia pc user. The previous ultra-portable design, the S5N, was hardly a power notebook, but the new Sonoma platform really allows for a measure of power computing even in the smallest of notebooks.