BIOS: Technology Means Business

If presentation is everything, ASUS’ S6F (from £1699) would win hands-down. The S6F is as much a style statement as a laptop thanks to its compact form factor and chic looks. Gone is the familiar plastic, brushed aluminium and carbon fibre panels we’re all accustomed to, replaced with real cow-hide leather (to the wrath of animal activists!).

The world’s first leather laptop sports a lid and palm rests made from real cowhide leather. It is available in several colours including a special edition bright pink version, should you have a preference for the outlandish. A really neat feature for collectors and those looking for a unique system is that every individual S6F (1.6kg) is unique because the leather is hand-pressed with a unique texture and applied to the laptop.

ASUS says its engineers have been working for more than one year to find and kill enough cows perfect the leather application process, and are currently applying for patents. We really don’t think they’ll have any problems here! Each S6F laptop even comes in an impressive special presentation box, complete with stylish protection bag and a special leather mouse.

The S6F definitely places looks above functionality (there are no system management or productivity tools), but it’s not without some cutting-edge technology. In particular it comes with an Intel Centrino Duo L2400 dual-core processor running at 1.66GHz, Intel 945GM chipset, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, 80GB hard disk drive (upgradeable to 100GB), 1GB of DDR2 memory (expandable to 2GB) and a Slim Super Multi DVD Writer. The drive can write and rewrite CDs at 24x and 16x respectively, and can write to ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ formats at up to 4x.

The S6F integrates an 11.1-inch WXGA (1366x768-pixel) Colour Shine LCD screen, which incorporates ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology - a unique ASUS technology which apparently carefully evaluates every pixel in every frame and dynamically adjusts them according to conditions most favourable to the human eye. With intelligent optimisation for colour contrast, image sharpness and brightness, the S6 delivers impressively clear and sharp pictures, whatever application is running. The only downside is that some may find its glass-like finish a little too reflective.

The gunmetal-grey keyboard and matching mouse touchpad are attractive and make a pleasant change to the plethora of matte-black input devices that litter the laptop market. The buttons for the mouse are vaguely reminiscent of those found on Apple’s Mighty Mouse in that there’s no seam between the left and right buttons, which adds an air of style. The downside is that you’ll quite often forget there are two buttons and press the wrong one - very frustrating!

Also slightly disappointing is the cramped keyboard, which should cause touch-typists to pause. The keyboard is decent, but not perfect. The mouse buttons are a tad small and stiff, and the cursor keys (including PgUp and PgDn) are smaller than the rest. The plus side is that all keys are sensibly laid out and everything is where you expect. Typing is easy and the touchpad is well calibrated. Having said that, some may find the keys a little too springy.

Unlike some other ultra-portable laptops we’ve reviewed the S6F doesn’t include instant-play capability to take you straight to your DVD movie, music CD, video, or photo slide show without requiring you to turn on the laptop first. For instance, Rock’s Pegasus 330 (from £749) provides instant, CE-like access to a full range of viewing, listening and recording options plus remote control support for a distance of up to 10 feet. The S6F’s speakers aren’t bad for a small unit, but you’ll want to use headphones or connect proper speakers to make the most of DVD-Movies and audio.

Despite its diminutive dimensions there are a practical range of connections. ASUS has managed to pack in three USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard slot, Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, headphone and microphone jacks, modem and Gigabit Ethernet, and 4-in-1 memory card reader. It even has an analogue D-Sub video output for presentation purposes, which is quite necessary because the onboard 11.1-inch display is never going to impose itself as a compelling presentation unit. There’s even a dedicated Wi-Fi switch, a feature we always love to see. FireWire was the only surprising omission, but we would really have liked a USB TV tuner, 3G connectivity and S-Video out port.

ASUS’ commitment to quality has driven the promise of the ZBD (Zero Bright Dot) Policy, a global 2-year warranty which invokes a replacement screen if the bundled unit shows just a single bad pixel. This not only guarantees bright dot-free LCD panels, it also demonstrates ASUS’ confidence in product quality. The excellent warranty is the icing on the cake of this compelling laptop. Overall the S6F looks great, performs better than most ultra-portables thanks to its dual-core processor, and is very well connected. If you’re looking for a highly portable system with distinctive styling, you should definitely consider the S6F. [8.5]

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