ASUS K42F

I think many people know that at the beginning of this year, Intel introduced a new family of Core processors. These are her first solutions created using the 32-nanometer process technology, and they also include an integrated graphics core.

ASUS was one of the first to launch a series of laptops with these processors. Recently on Habré there was a review of K52, today, I want to talk about my younger brother - ASUS K42F.

K series - these are entry-level laptops, universal state employees.

Specification:

Appearance

K42F is very similar to K52, but there are still differences.


The top cover is traditionally made in gloss, which bears the inscription ASUS. There are no switching ports on the front, except for the SD / MMC card slot.


On the right there is a power entrance, a RJ-45 socket for a network, one USB and a DVD drive door.


On the left is a Kensington lock port, heat dissipation openings, a monitor output, an HDMI connector, two USB and a headphone jack.


I was very pleased that, as in K52, the plastic surrounding the keyboard is not glossy , but is made with a bizarre relief. The double touchpad button and the space between the keyboard buttons remained glossy, but this is not so scary.


The keyboard is standard, all buttons are where you expect to see them (Fn is not extreme, as it sometimes happens). In the process of typing, it bends a little, but not so much that it interferes with printing.


The laptop screen is of course made in gloss. In bright light and in the off state, I quite successfully managed to use it as a mirror.

Using

As an operating system, I use Ubuntu Linux version 10.04 beta1 x86_64. I put the beta in the same way as judging by the forums, 9.10 does not work correctly with integrated video.

Installation took a little more than half an hour and did not bring any surprises. Almost all devices wound up from the box: video, sound, bluetooth, wi-fi, camera. The Fn keyboard shortcuts also worked.

Problems arose only with the card reader and headphone connection. If it’s not corrected before the release, then I’ll start digging, but for now I’m too lazy as I don’t use it.

A little about the touchpad. Firstly, it is quite sensitive, and secondly, it has additional features.
For example, to use scrolling, you need to slide along the touchpad with two fingers horizontally or vertically. Sometimes it (scrolling) is buggy and when you release your finger, it turns off a little back, but basically it’s quite convenient to use.
A click with two fingers is recognized as pressing the middle button, it is convenient to use in Firefox (who does not know, by pressing the middle button on the link, it opens in a new tab).
A three-finger click is treated as a right-click (context menu).
I don’t have the technology “Typing without errors”, which should prevent accidental clicks on the touchpad during typing, I suspect it is implemented by third-party software and only under Windows (TODO: make the touchpad automatically turn off when the mouse is connected or manually, because it’s sick of it) .

The nominal processor frequency is 2.27 GHz, but when the full power of the laptop is not needed, it automatically decreases. For example, when writing this article, she practically all the time

Regarding performance , I will give tests from the Hardinfo utility (present in the repositories) and my own:

K42F
CPU Blowfish - 5.65
CPU CryptoHash - 221.52
CPU Fibonacci - 3.12
CPU N-Queens - 9.21
FPU FFT - 1.88
FPU Raytracing - 5.59

Unpacking the archive ~ 900 Mb - 35 sec.
Processing ~ 150 Mb photo (SIC) - 1.05 sec.

Desktop (Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz, ASUS P5K, DDR-II 1024MB 800Mhz)
CPU Blowfish - 7.51
CPU CryptoHash - 170.95
CPU Fibonacci - 4.51
CPU N-Queens - 9.77
FPU FFT - 3.89
FPU Raytracing - 19.55

Unpacking the archive ~ 900 Mb - 45 sec.
Processing ~ 150 Mb photo (SIC) - 1.45 sec.

Into the video account. I do not play games, so I did not need a productive graphics card, but even the existing one does not cope badly with Nexuiz.

About the bad.Against the background of positive impressions of the laptop, the opinion about the matrix stands out quite sharply. Let it be glossy, but why, why such small vertical viewing angles ?! Maybe I'm too used to home CRT, but on the robot I use the usual widescreen TFT and the situation is much better!

The image looks most normal when the screen is tilted as much as possible, then black looks like black and grayscale is normally visible (for example, # F9F9F9). But then the semitone blacks completely merge into 100% black.

In a word, when editing a photo or other work with colors, you need to be very careful, but rather, use a normal monitor for this. Very disappointed.

The time of autonomous robots in standard mode (watching videos, music, surfing the Internet) is two and a half hours.

Finally

The laptop pleases with matte body elements, compactness, speed, but a little upsets the screen quality. Depending on the tasks, you should see if it is suitable for you or not.

PS

I could not put up with the screen and today returned the laptop. I want to say thanks to the managers who were not very indignant.