Asus X58C
Excellent build quality and comfort on offer from this great budget machine
The Asus X range is aimed at those on a budget, and the X58C represents great value for money. The most surprising aspect of this machine is the quality on offer, putting far more expensive laptops to shame. The plastics used are more than tough enough for daily use, and the patterned chequered finish manages to be both attractive and hard wearing for most daily use.
The keyboard offers keys that are firmly attached and they move with a reassuringly solid feel. The touchpad is also accurate and responsive to the touch, and a scrollbar on the right-hand side makes it easy to navigate up and down through web pages and office documents.
The 2.8kg weight offers a degree of portability, but the 140-minute battery life under varied use means this machine will be of no use on longer journeys.
MusicRadar Rating
Pros
802.11n Wi-Fi. Decent sized hard drive
Cons
Poor graphics card. Struggles when multi-tasking
Verdict
As long as you don't tend to multi-task when using your laptop then this could be an affordable upgrade
Review Policy
All MusicRadar's reviews are by independent product specialists, who are not aligned to any gear manufacturer or retailer. Our experts also write for renowned magazines such as Guitarist, Total Guitar, Computer Music, Future Music and Rhythm. All are part of Future PLC, the biggest publisher of music making magazines in the world.
Specification
Features
IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g , IEEE 802.11n (draft)
Databus speed
533
Dimensions
365 x 265 x 39
Display resolution
1280 x 800
Display size
15.4
Display type
TFT
Drive speed
5400
Graphics memory
128
HDD capacity
160
Installed RAM
1024
Networking features
IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g , IEEE 802.11n (draft)
Operating system
Windows Vista Home Basic
Optical drive
DVD-R/DVD-RW
RAM type
DDR2
Weight
2.8
