ASUS K53E-B1 Review

Asus K53E-B1

Review Summary:

The K53E combines good performance and battery life into a well-made 15.6-inch laptop.

Pros

• Great battery life (5 hours)
• Good performance
• Solid build quality
• Cool and quiet
• Two-year warranty standard

Cons

• Low screen resolution
• Loud touchpad buttons
• Lack of port selection

ASUS K53E-B1 Full Review

 

The K53E is ASUS' latest thin yet powerful 15.6-inch multimedia and general purpose consumer notebook. It features the latest Intel "Sandy Bridge" processors and a large 640GB hard drive. Keep reading to find out more.

Our ASUS K53E-B1 review unit has the following specifications:

• 15.6-inch 720p (1366x768) glossy panel with LED backlighting
• Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i5-2410M dual-core processor (2.3GHz~2.9GHz Turbo Boost, 3MB L3, 35W TDP)
• Intel HM65 chipset
• Integrated Intel HD graphics
• 6GB DDR3-1333 dual-channel RAM (1x 4GB, 1x 2GB)
• 640GB 5400RPM Seagate hard drive (ST9640423AS)
• Atheros AR9285 Wireless network adapter
• DVD burner (MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ8A0ASW)
• 6-cell li-ion battery (10.8V, 52Wh, 5600mAh)
• Weight: 5.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.4 x 10.2 inches
• Two-year warranty
• MSRP: $799

These are relatively good specifications for the money, especially considering the large 640GB hard drive and ample 6GB of RAM. The second-generation Intel Core i5 processor should be able to tackle nearly any task without breaking a sweat, whether that be general Internet surfing or video encoding.

Build and Design
The K53E looks slim chassis at about 1.4" at the highest point. It's also very light for a notebook this size at 5.27 lbs. The palm rest area and lid of the notebook are aluminum, which has a dark copper-colored finish. It looks great and the hue changes depending on the light. The lid is more of a dark gray-colored aluminum.

The use of glossy plastic for the screen surround was not the best idea, as it is far too easy to smudge up. Combined with the glossy display surface, it is difficult to keep clean. The K53E's actual build quality is quite good; the chassis is stiff and does not bend or twist. The lid is not as rigid as I had hoped though the aluminum back helps it somewhat.

I like how the bottom of the notebook has a smooth textured finish. Overall the extra attention ASUS put into the K53E's design paid off. The access panel located on the bottom front edge of the notebook gives you access to the RAM, wireless card and hard drive in case you have any desire to upgrade those components at a later time.

Ports and Features
The K53E has a spartan collection of input and output ports. It does not have any high-speed data connections such as USB 3.0 or eSATA, and there's no way to add it since the K53E lacks an ExpressCard slot as well. All picture descriptions are left to right.

Front: 5-in-1 media card reader

Back: Battery pack

Left: Cooling exhaust vent, AC power, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, USB 2.0

Right: Headphone and microphone jacks, 2x USB 2.0, DVD burner, lock slot

Keyboard and Touchpad
The K53E has a full-size keyboard with separate numeric keypad. The keyboard has a familiar feel as it's the same one ASUS uses in most of its consumer notebooks. It does not have a backlighting feature. The keys are square and flat-topped. Keystrokes are mostly fluid and feel a bit rubbery, which isn't a bad thing. Key travel – the distance between pressed and unpressed positions – could be longer and would improve feedback. This is a relatively quiet keyboard provided light pressure is used. There is some noticeable flex on the left side however it does not affect typing feel. The separate number pad on the right is a nice feature though the keys are only about 2/3 the size of the standard keyboard keys.

The ELAN touchpad is oversized and has a smooth matte surface for easy finger movement. It supports multi-touch functions such as 'pinching' with two fingers to zoom. The problem with the touchpad is the buttons; they are way too noisy. People across the room will know each and every time you click. Loud touchpad buttons are a consistent design flaw in consumer notebooks.

Screen and Speakers
The K53E has a 15.6-inch 720p (1366x768 resolution) display with LED backlighting. Its glossy surface enhances clarity but means it has a mirror surface; reflections can make the display unusable in well-lit areas such as outside. The picture quality is average for a notebook in this price range, no better or worse than other 15.6-inch notebooks I tested. Contrast is decent; the Command Prompt window is a nice deep black. Viewing angles are poor; any more than 10-15 degrees off-center vertically means distorted colors.

The 1366x768 screen resolution is too low for a 15.6-inch notebook. This screen does not have enough vertical space; this means a lot of scrolling will be required in web pages since only a few paragraphs of text and an image or two can be seen on the screen at once. At a minimum, 15.6-inch notebooks should have a 1600x900 (900p) screen resolution.

The K53E has two stereo speakers located above the keyboard. They are acceptable for notebook speakers and are usable for general listening. The volume is a bit lacking and there is essentially no bass.

Performance and Benchmarks
The latest Intel Sandy Bridge processors are fast – very fast, in fact. The Core i5-2410M's 2.3GHz may seem low but is misleading as this processor is able to accomplish more than older processors per clock cycle (per MHz, that is). The key difference between the Core i5 series processors and the less-expensive i3 is that the i5 can change its frequency on the fly. The i5-2410M has a base 2.3GHz frequency but can vary that up to 2.9GHz if it thinks the application could benefit from more power. Overall, there isn't a task within reason the i5-2410M can't do well.

The K53E comes with a 640GB Seagate hard drive, which has lots of space and is quiet; it has very reasonable performance despite its 5400RPM speed (high performance drives run at a faster 7200RPM). The 6GB of included RAM is generous; I expect to see more notebooks come with 6GB standard now instead of 4GB, which has been standard for about two years now.

The K53E's integrated Intel graphics are significantly better performing than previous-generation Intel graphics though this still is not a gaming notebook; for gaming, look for a notebook with a dedicated AMD or Nvidia graphics card. For everything except gaming, integrated Intel graphics are more than enough.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark Vantage measures overall graphics performance (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
The K53E is cooled by a single fan that exhausts air out the left side of the notebook. In general usage such as surfing the Internet, the fan is for all intents and purposes inaudible. While running the processor at maximum capacity such as while encoding MP3s, the fan turns faster and is audible but not annoying; it mostly sounds like a rush of air. The notebook itself stays cool to the touch top and bottom and is only barely warmer around the fan area.

Battery Life
Battery life is one of the K53E's strengths. Its 6-cell 52Wh battery propelled it to an even five hours of life during our standard battery rundown test (Windows 7 Balanced power profile, 70% screen brightness, wireless active, and refreshing a web page every 60 seconds). 15.6-inch consumer notebooks with 6-cell batteries typically get around four hours of life. Granted, the K53E's battery has a slightly higher capacity than most. The second-generation Intel Core i5 processor is a factor in the better battery life as well; it has improved power efficiency over the last generation of Intel processors.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
The K53E manages to combine good performance and battery life into a well-made 15.6-inch chassis. Our main complaints center around the low screen resolution, loud touchpad buttons, and lack of ports (no USB 3.0 or eSATA). Otherwise there is a lot to like here: very good performance, a decent keyboard and speakers, cool and quiet operation, a solid chassis, five hours of battery life, and a two-year warranty standard. Overall, the ASUS K53E is a reasonable 15.6-inch multimedia notebook and gets our recommendation.

Pros:

• Great battery life (5 hours)
• Good performance
• Solid build quality
• Cool and quiet
• Two-year warranty standard

Cons:

• Low screen resolution
• Loud touchpad buttons
• Lack of port selection

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 

* Ratings averaged to produce final score