Asus G2P review

The G2P has excellent connectivity and plenty of ports. Wireless 802.11 a/b/g and Bluetooth v2.0 are seamlessly integrated, with a hardware on/off switch for the former -- handy for turning off during flights, for example.

Mini-FireWire and a total of five USB ports are provided, one side-mounted and the rest at the rear, which also houses DVI-D and VGA connectors. An AV port allows you to link a break-out cable to a TV or to an antenna to connect the internal hybrid analogue/digital tuner.

Unfortunately our review model came with XP Professional installed, which gave us no means of using the tuner in digital mode, but Asus says final retail models will use XP Media Center Edition or Windows Vista Home Premium, which has Media Center functionality built-in. If you buy the G2P before the official release of Windows Vista you'll get a free upgrade when the new operating system is launched.

Storage is provided by a 160GB 5,400rpm hard drive, and the super-multi DVD burner supports the usual +R and -R formats, as well as DVD-RAM. Impressively, it also supports HP's LightScribe technology, which lets you etch monochrome labels to the backs of compatible discs -- a great, if slightly slow, way of labelling your optical media.

The G2P comes with an excellent software bundle. All the gadgets and gizmos have driver and utility software that integrates seamlessly into the Windows environment, often attached to dedicated hotkeys above the main keyboard. These give you one-button access to power-saving and display options without having to open up clumsy desktop control panels -- their status indicator icons fade elegantly in and out of view.

Going on spec alone, the G2P may appear a little pricey, but you do get exclusive designer looks, a free rucksack and a Logitech optical gaming mouse, and you're covered by a two-year worldwide collect-and-return warranty.

Performance
While the ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 is capable of playing most recent titles, hardcore gamers may be disappointed when playing demanding 3D titles at high resolutions. The G2P scored a solid, if not electrifying, 2,011 in 3DMark 2006 -- higher than the similarly-equipped Asus V1J's tally of 1,964. If, however, you want all-singing, all-dancing graphics performance, you're better off buying the Alienware Aurora mALX, which scored 5,905.

The Core 2 Duo T7200 is a nippy CPU. It racked up a PCMark 2005 score of 4,722, so it's quicker than most laptops. The G2P's target audience probably won't bother itself with too much hardcore video or photo editing, but if they do, the laptop certainly won't shy away from the task.

Edited by Rory Reid
Additional editing by Kate Macefield