Review: Asus A53SV-SX046V

Finding a good mid range laptop that pleases every member of the family can be a difficult task. However, the Asus A53SV-SX046V delivers a great package at a very attractive price point.

The Asus A53SV-SX046V features an Intel® i5 2410M 2.3GHz processor, which, for those who aren’t familiar, is the mid range line between the i3 and the i7 range of Intel® processors. The 2410M features the new Sandy Bridge architecture, and features a built in Turbo Boost which allows the processor to reach 2.6GHz on both cores, or 2.9Ghz on one core. Four GB of DDR3 1333 RAM provide adequate memory for most users, and retailers should be happy to discuss upgrade costs to bring that up to 8GB if necessary.

Storage consists of a 640GB SATA drive (5400 rpm), which is pre-formatted into a windows partition and a separate data partition for end user convenience. Windows 7 Home Premium comes as the installed OS, and during our review performed nicely on the system, though there are several preloaded application samples which users might want to uninstall.

The A53SV-SX046V also features a 4 mode power feature, which users can use to automatically configure the laptop to selected preset. Of these, battery saver and performance mode proved most useful.

Powering the graphics department, the A53SV-SX046V features an NVidia GT540 graphics card with 1GB of DDR3 VRAM. The Nvidia card performed acceptably on a range of games tested, considering this is not designed specifically as a gaming laptop. Serious gamers wanting to run graphics intensive and framerate dependant games, like first person shooters, on higher settings will need to look elsewhere.

One unavoidable problem with dedicated graphics cards is the increased power consumption when in use. While the A53SV-SX046V is able to run many games, it won’t be able to do so for long unless you are running off mains power. Plugging in the power adaptor allows gaming to continue, however, there is no spare power available to charge while playing graphic intensive games. Switching settings over to battery saving mode came with a noticeable hit in gaming performance, but resulted in slow charging of the battery level.

The 15.6 Inch LED display has a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768, which, while not being anything to shout about, is adequate for most general uses. If you want to hook the laptop up to an external monitor or television, both VGA and HDMI ports are featured on the side of the unit.

The Laptop also has 3 USB 2.0 ports, and the usual headphones out/microphone in and wired network ports and a DVD-Supermulti drive. Onboard wireless networking is provided via a 802.11 b/g/n, Gigabit LAN and Bluetooth V2.1.

One nice feature is the addition of a SD, MMC and MS Card Reader, which may come in handy for users who do a lot of digital photography

The laptop also features a built in 0.3M web cam and microphone, which is great for those wanting to Skype with relatives overseas, but as mentioned earlier the speakers and microphone are not of great quality, and you will get a much better experience from a separate audio/microphone headset.

PROS

Able to run most games – albeit not on high settings.

New Sandy Bridge processor with Turbo Boost.

CONS

Battery life drains very fast when gaming, you will need to be plugged into game for any extended length of time. As usual for laptops, built in speakers are not great.

Might want to consider a RAM upgrade.

VERDICT

The Asus A53SV-SX046V is a good all-round laptop that will meet most mid range users requirements nicely for a great value price point.