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Artwork: Rick Rizner
ASUS Z33A
- Spec Navigator
- Processor
- Memory
- Display
- Storage
- Battery
- Dimensions
- Other Features
- Networking
- Multimedia
- Software
- Interface Connections
- Included Devices
Storage
| Total HD Size | 40 GB |
| Optical Drive Type | DVD-ROM/CD-RW |
| Optical Drive Speed | 8 |
| Removable Optical Drive | No |
| Slots |
|
| Number of Media Slots | 2 |
| PC Card Slots | Yes |
Battery
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Standard Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Type of Batteries | Lithium ion |
| Vendor Rated Battery life | 218 |
Networking
| Bluetooth | No |
| Included network card | Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) |
| Modem Type | V.90 |
| Wireless LAN Type | 802.11g |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Laptops »
Pros
Snazzy design
Cons
Poor keyboard; short battery life
Bottom Line
Well-priced and lightweight notebook has snazzy design but problematic keyboard and short battery life.
Asus Z33Ae
Z33A Review, by Carla Thornton December 19, 2005
The Z33Ae--whose exterior bears a snazzy tri-tone black, gray, and silver design--weighs 3.4 pounds including an integrated DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination optical drive. But this unit ran out of gas after 2.3 hours on one battery charge, and some keyboard quirks got in the way of my typing. I had the most trouble with the right <Shift> key, which is no bigger than an alphanumeric key, but the four arrow keys are way too small, as well. This is a shame because the keyboard is otherwise very nice. It's paired with a rimless touchpad and even a dedicated button for toggling among predefined power-saving settings.
Our test unit's best features were a FireWire port and a card slot that accepts Memory Sticks and SD Cards; otherwise, connections were typical. The Z33Ae comes preloaded with basic video-editing and slide-show-creation software, but it lacks the stand-alone playback feature of some other ultraportables. DVD movies looked fine on the bright, crisp 12.1-inch screen.
The Z33Ae is user-upgradable, although replacing memory in this ruggedized design is tricky. Instead of following the standard process of popping the module out of a spring-loaded slot, you must remove two security screws (carefully, so they don't fall into the case) and then gingerly pry the module out. The hard drive is much easier to remove.
Performance scores were near the front of the pack among currently tested ultraportables. Our test unit, with 512MB of RAM and a 1.86-GHz Pentium M 750 processor, earned a WorldBench 5 score of 84.
An important note for comparison shoppers: ChemUSA rebrands this notebook as the $1479 ChemBook 2333, which I also reviewed for the February 2006 issue of PC World.
Upshot: A keyboard that compromises and a short battery life prevent us from recommending this otherwise attractive ultraportable.
Carla Thornton
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
-
62
-
67
-
66
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar Laptops
62
71
82
67
Performance
| ACD Systems ACDSee | 643 |
| Adobe Photoshop | 359 |
| Adobe Premiere | 511 |
| Ahead Nero | 899 |
| Battery Life (Office Applications) | 2:18 |
| Discreet 3ds Max DirectX | 446 |
| Discreet 3ds Max OpenGL | 478 |
| Doom 3, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 3.3 |
| Far Cry, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 7.35 |
| Microsoft Office XP | 555 |
| Mozilla | 386 |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | 567 |
| Number of Included Batteries | 1 |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit | 40 |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 39 |
| Roxio VideoWave | 435 |
| Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 16-Bit | 59 |
| Unreal Tournament, 1024 by 768, 32-Bit | 44 |
| Windows Media Encoder | 446 |
| WinZip | 427 |
| World Bench 5 Score | 84 |
| World Bench 5 Word Score | Very Good |
WorldBench Tests
| Multitasking | 727 |
User Reviews
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