ASUS A53TA-XN1

Other than netbooks, ASUS isn't known for producing budget-friendly laptops, so the $599 ASUS A53TA-XN1 comes a bit out of left field. But at least on paper, this 15-inch mainstream notebook is quite the catch. It offers a large, vibrant display and an AMD Quad-Core AMD A6-3400M APU. With enough performance for everyday computing and graphical power for playing the latest games, the A53T has the right combination of affordability and features. But is that enough to compete with other notebooks in this crowded category?

Design

Featuring a similar design as the ASUS K53SV-B1, The ASUS A53T's lid is a dark matte brown plastic with a subtle pinstripe pattern, making for a handsome, elegant machine. The textured lid minimized the number of fingerprints, but it still picked up some smudges. Adding to the A53T's understated style is the chrome ASUS logo in the lid's center.
The laptop's interior reveals a black matte keyboard deck with a slightly textured finish. Unlike the K53, which has a brushed-metal deck, the plastic palm rest on the A53T has a pattern and color identical to the lid, and it surrounds a large, smooth touchpad. A large, thin Altec Lansing speaker bar rests above the keyboard, as well as a silver power button on the right that mimics the speaker grating.

At 14.9 x 10 x 1-1.3 inches, the ASUS A53T is slightly smaller than the Gateway NV55S05u (15 x 9.9 x 1 inches) and the Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204 (15 x 9.8 1.1-1.5 inches). Weighing 5.4 pounds, the A53T falls between the Gateway (5.6 pounds) and the Toshiba (5.2 pounds) in terms of heft.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The A53T keyboard provided strong tactile feedback on our tests. Where the K53T has an island-style keyboard, the A53's keys butt up against one another. The large keys and generous palm rest made for a comfortable typing experience. We were able to score 49 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, slightly below what we score on a desktop keyboard. We also logged a higher than normal three-percent error rate, thanks in part to a slightly undersized right Shift key. The number pad's keys are also on the small side, too. The keyboard exhibited just a minimal amount of flex.

Our fingers danced across the smooth surface of the 3.3 x 2-inch Elan touchpad. Multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scroll and rotation, and three-finger press and flick were fast, responsive, and accurate. We were able to highlight text with ease, and we enjoyed using three-finger flicks to navigate between photos.

Display and Audio

The 15.6-inch display on the A53T offered luscious color with wide viewing angles. We were blown away by the desolate expansiveness of a bone-white desert set against a crystal-blue sky in the John Carter full-screen 1080p YouTube trailer. The princess' blood-red tribal paint glowed in the orange campfire under a rich obsidian sky. During darker scenes, however, we could see our reflection in the extra-glossy display.
Dialog from the Altec Lansing speaker bar sounded a bit muted until we made some adjustments using the ASUS SonicFocus control panel. Afterwards, dialog and music was much richer and louder, easily filling a small room. Miguel's sensual tenor and slinky synthesized instrumentals oozed the appropriate ambiance on the track "Quickie," while Sting's plaintive vocals blended perfectly with the jazz clarinet and bass on "Englishman in New York."

Heat

The A53T can get a little hot under the collar. After we streamed a full-screen Hulu video for 15 minutes, the notebook's touchpad measured a warm 93 degrees Fahrenheit, while the space between the G and H keys registered 90 degrees. The laptop's underside measured a cool 88 degrees, which allowed us to use it in our laps for more than an hour. The left side vent measured 97 degrees, two degrees above what we consider comfortable.

Ports and Webcam

The right side of the A53T features a USB 2.0 port, a DVD burner, mic and headphone jacks, and a Kensington lock slot. Another USB 2.0 port sits on the left side with a USB 3.0 port, HDMI, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, and a power jack. A 5-in-1 card reader resides on the front lip of the notebook.


The 0.3-megapixel webcam on this notebook can capture stills up to 640 x 480p using the ASUS Life-Frame software. Images in our office were slightly dark, but we could make out the insignia on our jacket. The picture quality improved drastically when we tested in natural lighting. The caller on our Skype session reported loud, clear audio along with a sharp image, with only a small amount of motion blur.
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