Small notebook shootout - part II - Details, benchmarks
Author: Vedran Dakic
Date: 06 Apr 2008

First thing that you notice when you turn on this notebook is that it's a LOT faster then F9Dc. Really, we're talking about very visible difference in overall system speed. Also, the battery on U6S is quite a lot better then F9Dc, although it's still nowhere near some notebooks I've seen before. Also, it's noticeably cooler then F9Dc which is something you get used over time. The screen is pretty good, although it needs some work in terms of colors - they're a bit blurry to my eye. But all of that is actually nicely compensated with a nice surprise in a bundle - the second battery. So, you have a 3-cell and 6-cell battery, which can do roughly around two (1:57) and three and a half (3:34) hours of life. You also have a mouse and notebook bag so - ASUS has you pretty covered on this one. I would've liked if the battery life was better, though, so there's a definitive room for improvement there.

Keyboard and touchpad feel a bit different to F9Dc - touchpad is better, but the keyboard feels a bit softer. But your hand will sit comfortably on the leather details that are placed on the left and right side next to the touchpad. From time to time you might confuse mouse buttons on the touchpad for a touchpad, so it takes some time to get used to it. Mouse buttons on the touchpad actually feel a bit weird and this is a solution that's unlike most of the laptops out there. Overall build quality is very, very good so I feel pretty confident that if this one was mine - I wouldn't really be worried about its lifespan.

I played around with the DVD playback on both of these batteries and got the afforementioned scores - 1:57 and 3:34. Nothing spectacular there. But 3dMark Score of 1231 and especially PcMark score of 4072 left some food for thought. It's some 15-20% faster in 3dMark and some 30% faster in 3dMark then F9Dc. Respectable scores for such a small notebook.