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By Rory Reid, CNET.co.uk
Apr 17, 2008

Vying for superiority in the crowded desktop replacement arena is the new ASUS M70--the first laptop in the world to come with an optional 1TB of data storage. Yes, that's one terabyte, as in 1,000GB--the equivalent of nearly 220 DVDs. It also uses some other very interesting components--a Penryn Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of RAM, and one of the new ATI HD3650 graphics cards.

The ASUS M70 will be available in Asia sometime this quarter, though prices are still unconfirmed at this time. As a rough gauge, this unit is going for £1,599 (US$3,154.19) in the UK.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.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. Due to feedback, ASUS has decided to ship the M70 with a Blu-ray combo drive that can also read and write to DVD. We haven't seen this version, but we'll endeavor to get one in for testing--at which point we'll update our review with revised impressions, and hopefully the benchmarks will work, too.

Design

The M70 is a desktop replacement through and through. In other words, it's big, heavy and if you used it in public people would laugh at you. That's not to say it's unattractive--far from it. The glossy finish on the lid works well with the shiny gray on the wrist rest, while the aluminum border surrounding the keyboard gives it a very contemporary feel. ASUS' decision to use white LEDs on the status lights and power button is a good one--it really matches the rest of the laptop. It's not as gorgeous as, say, the HP Pavilion HDX, but it'll do.

Being a Media Center laptop, it's no surprise to find shortcut buttons for commonly used tasks. These switches, located above the keyboard, give you one-touch access to media playback software and let you cycle through five preset video modes that change the look of the display. These are optimized for gaming, movies, pictures, ordinary desktop use and a special soft mode that lets you use the laptop in a darkened room without blinding yourself.

The size of the M70 affords it the luxury of a full-size keyboard with a separate numerical keypad--handy for spreadsheet users. It has a mouse trackpad too, obviously, but this one is special: It doubles as a means of manipulating media playback. It's festooned with icons denoting common playback tasks such as pause, rewind and volume, and there are two programmable buttons that let you launch an application of your choice with a single tap. Switching between ordinary mouse mode and quick-launch mode can be done by pressing the mode button at the top right of the trackpad, funnily enough.

More media-friendly features can be spotted around the remainder of the laptop. The left side is home to an HD-DVD ROM drive. We have no idea why--perhaps ASUS had a load left over from when the format was still alive and wants to get rid of them on the cheap. Fortunately, the M70 will probably be equipped with a Blu-ray drive when it hits Asia stores.

Round the back there are D-Sub and HDMI video ports, which let you connect the laptop to a compatible television or projector. You also get an A/V dongle that gives composite-video output. Sound is covered by a set of five speakers--two just above the keyboard, two at the front edge and a subwoofer underneath.

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