The good: Pretty design; reasonable price.

The bad: Our review unit is a Centrino, not Centrino 2 architecture; stiff mouse selector buttons; doesn't smell enough.

The bottom line: The F6V is a very good laptop, but don't believe the hype about the smell. Unless you're a dog, you can hardly smell anything. Thankfully, it's very good-looking, fairly quick and quite affordable. Laptops such as the Dell XPS M1330 give it a good run for its money, but if you're after something different, it's definitely worthy of consideration.

Read full review of the Asus F6V »

By Rory Reid, CNET.co.uk
Jan 12, 2009

You've got to question the sanity of Asus. We gave the company the benefit of the doubt when it made a laptop with two screens--it was crazy, but we let that slide. We even turned a blind eye to its bamboo laptops. But its latest endeavor, the F6V laptop, has us convinced the company is one egg short of an omelette. It is, believe it or not, the world's first scented laptop. Yes, that's right, for a mere S$1,798 (US$1,294.83) Asus will sell you a laptop that literally smells of roses. Nurse!

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The F6V is a stunning example of contemporary laptop design. Our pink review sample--also known as the Floral Blossom model--has a gorgeous pink floral pattern on the lid that the vast majority of us in the office absolutely adored.



One thing we weren't particularly keen on was the scent. The Floral Blossom model gives off a whiff not dissimilar to strawberry bubble gum. It's extremely faint, however, so you really have to hold it close to your nostrils and give it a good sniff before you detect anything.

If pink lids smelling of part-chewed bubble gum isn't your thing, Asus also sells a Musky Black version with a colorful blue, red and white motif inspired by extreme sports and graffiti art. This, we're told, has a "playful" and "musky" scent that emanates power, daring and energy--possibly like sweat. Asus will also release a pastel-green Morning Dew model with a nature-inspired motif and a crisp, refreshing smell, as well as a blue Aqua Ocean model with an invigorating aquatic scent--possibly like fish, but we're just guessing here.

As much as we like the overall design of the F6V, the whole scent thing is rather a gimmick. Sure, we commend Asus on its ability to infuse smells into plastic, and for having the guts to do something different, but in this case we can't really see the point. It's not as if the scents are there to invigorate you as you work--you have to ram your face up against them to get any effect.

Thankfully, Asus gets most of the rest of the laptop design just about right. It comes with three USB ports--two on one side, one on the other, an eSATA port, an ExpressCard/34 slot, a memory card reader and even a fingerprint reader between the mouse selector buttons. These buttons are too stiff for our liking, but they may offer a little less resistance the more you use them. The keyboard, unsurprisingly for a laptop of this size, is comfortable to use.

Tags: Laptop Computer, Expresscard, ASUS, USB port, RAM

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