Review of the Asus K52JC Notebook

By Mikal Tuesday, 5^th of October 2010

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The Asus K52JC Notebook is the ideal laptop for just about any kind of user. While it's not going to appeal to those who want absolutely everything possible in a laptop, it goes close, and at a very reasonable price.

One of the standout features of the K52JC is the inclusion of Nvidia's Optimus technology. Notebooks that have Optimus technology are able to switch between the integrated graphics and the dedicated graphics card when needed. Ultimately this increases the battery life, as dedicated graphics cards draw more power than integrated ones. Another positive aspect is it can lower the fan noise that dedicated graphics cards can produce. This graphics-switching process is more or less invisible to the user and generally occurs when changing between something like a game or video, to typing out a document, or browsing the internet.

However it's not just the Nvidia Optimus technology that makes the K52JC notebook an ideal machine. There are lots of smart features included that will make you wonder how you ever did without. One of the most annoying aspects of owning a laptop is just how easy it is to swipe the touchpad when you're typing, moving the cursor all over the screen. Asus have counteracted this with their "Palm Proof Technology". It can intelligently tell the difference between a brush of the palm or wrist and finger contact surfaces and then prevents the cursor from moving whilst typing.

Another feature involving the touchpad is it's multi-touch capacity. So the same finger movements that have become mainstream in all the latest touch-enabled devices such as iPhones, iPods, iPads and Android based phones are now able to be used with the touchpad. You can pinch with the thumb and finger to zoom in and out, slide up and down to scroll through documents and websites with ease.

Asus have also included their clever SmartLogon feature, which does away with using passwords to logon to your computer. SmartLogon facial recognition technology allows you a password-free log-in. It even learns how to recognise you in varying amounts of light or even when you're wearing something on your head.

It's not just all the fancy features that make the K52JC a great machine. It's got all the latest and greatest hardware on the inside, so you won't be missing out on anything. Running the K52JC is an Intel Core i5 processor running at 2.26GHz, and also has the Turbo Boost technology, to allow it to run at up to 2.6GHz when needed. In terms of memory, 4GB is more than enough these days and you won't find any trouble running all your usual programs at once. A quick run-through of the main specs of the K52JC finds everything you can expect in a notebook these days, including 3 USB ports, VGA and HDMI ports to connect to external displays, 4-in-1 memory card reader, a webcam and built in microphone for video chatting.