Asus K52JT-XT1R
- Category: Notebook Computers
March 8, 2011
Editor's Rating
- Well-designed, sturdy construction
- Quad-core CPU
- Dedicated AMD graphics
- Strong performance
- Slightly smaller keyboard
- Quirky touchpad
The K52JT-XT1R 15.6-inch laptop from Asus offers a quad-core CPU, a huge hard drive and dedicated AMD graphics that results in solid performance. The laptop has a 720p high-definition display and an HDMI out connection, which means it's a great contender for multimedia use.
The Asus K52JT-XT1R measures 15.2 x 1.4 x 10.1-inches (whd) and weighs about 5.5-pounds, which makes it still small enough for some light portability. The body is made from a plastic frame, but it feels very solid and durable. It's a very visually appealing laptop without getting too carried away with overzealous design.
Asus made the keyboard on this laptop sightly smaller than other comparable keyboards, especially so in the numeric keypad, which uses keys that are half their normal width. The chiclet-style keyboard is still quite comfortable to type with aside from the occasional mistype due to the smaller keys for people with larger hands.
The touchpad had a nice frictionless surface that provided enough room to comfortable move the cursor from side to side. The touchpad is multitouch-supported, but we found the gestures very difficult to use perhaps to the touchpad being either too sensitive or not sensitive enough.
The screen of choice is a 1366 x 768-pixel, 15.6-inch display, which means it is 720p high-definition. The screen has great viewing angles, which means more than one person can comfortably look at the screen at once. Color quality and brightness are also the screen's strong assets too.
In terms of exterior port selection, you'll find three USB 2.0 ports, VGA-out, HDMI-out, gigabit Ethernet, a multiformat memory card reader and a dual-layer DVD SuperMulti optical disc drive. There is also 802.11b/g/n wireless connectivity too.
The internal specifications of the Asus K52JT-XT1R are something that make this laptop a definite contender for your money. First off is a quad-core Intel Core i7-740QM CPU (1.73GHz), which is a really speedy processor. There is also 4GB of RAM, a 640GB 5400RPM hard drive and discrete AMD Radeon HD 6370 graphics. The CPU paired with the 4GB of RAM provide a speedy combination, but the 5400RPM hard drive does hold it back just slightly.
For your basic computing tasks, like productivity tasks and Internet-browsing, this notebook handles them with ease. You can even use this computer for image editing and video encoding without missing a beat. Multimedia use, including watching online HD and streaming videos, also worked without a hitch too.
Because this system has a discrete graphics processor as opposed to an integrated graphics chip that most budget notebooks have, you can use the Asus K52JT-XT1R for some 3D gaming. While it is definitely capable to play today's intensive 3D games, keep in mind that you might have to dial-down the graphics settings just a bit to get a smooth, playable experience.
Battery life with the Asus K52JT-XT1R is only average at about 2.5-3 hours of life, which is about on par with other similar computers. The lower battery life compared to more budget notebooks comes from the more powerful specifications, especially the quad-core Intel CPU and dedicated AMD graphics system.
