Budget notebooks seem to be improving in ergonomics and quality and are no longer the victim of shoddy build quality or lackluster features. In the past we've seen good budget notebooks from LG like the R510 and R410 that were priced at 40K and below. They delivered good performance along with a very good build quality and ergonomics making it one of the best notebooks for general use.

Today we have a similar type of offering from Asus targeting a similar audience from their K series line up. Known as the Asus K50IJ, this notebook sports a typical configuration you'll find in this segment. We have Core2Duo T6400 processor (2.0GHz), 4GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, 15.6" screen, and Wi-Fi with 802.11n support, so all your basic needs are covered. Apart from the specifications is the overall finish of the notebook. It has a hint of gloss but does not attract finger prints, thanks to the embossed pattern all over.

The notebook is definitely built well with toughened plastic that doesn't bend much even under pressure. If it performs well, it might just give the LG and Dell Inspiron some good competition.

Bundle

The standard bundle come with plenty of accessories like a Bluetooth dongle, travel mouse and a good carry bag.

• Driver disk
• Power adapter
• Asus Bluetooth Dongle (with A2DP)
• Manuals
• Travel mouse
  

It's a little weird that the notebook does not support Bluetooth but instead you have to use a separate dongle, which is bundled along. This is all fine as the dongle is really slim and you'll hardly notice it once it's plugged in.

Design and Construction

The entire surface of the notebook has a very attractive pattern that changes depending on the amount of light reflecting off it. The color is very soothing and will definitely appeal to men and women. There are no sharp edges anywhere.

For a change the DVD writer is placed on the left side along with two USB ports. The width is pretty slim and Asus has cleverly designed it in such a way so as to make it appear slimmer than it actually is.

The right side has the rest of the ports, two more USBs, a microphone and headphone jack, VGA out port, LAN jack and the charging port. They've done away with the modem jack, which is fine, as no one uses them nowadays. Also, there is no HDMI, but come to think of it, since this notebook does not have any good GPU, you wouldn't want to connect this to your HDTV anyways, so a VGA port should suffice for a budget notebook.

The keyboard is nothing special but comfortable nonetheless. The keys are nice and wide with an angular design, leaving you with a decent amount of spacing around them. The feedback of the keys is good and won't cause a lot of fatigue. Asus have even managed to squeeze in a Numpad with slightly smaller keys. Due to space constraints, directional keys are merged with the rest of the keyboard, which can get a little confusing at times but you'll get used to it eventually.

There is plenty of room for the palm rest, so you can comfortably type and use the trackpad at the same time.
The screen features LED backlight with a 1366x768 resolution, so text is sharp and images are clear and bright. Now that we've seen what the notebook looks like, let's see how it performs.

Performance

PCMark Vantage

SiSOFT SANDRA 2009

Processor Arithmetic

Processor Multimedia

Multi-Core Efficiency

Memory Bandwidth

Cache and Memory

Analysis

The K5OIJ delivers good performance for the specifications, especially in the Memory Bandwidth tests. For a budget notebook, it performs on par with the rest of the competition. 

General and Multimedia Usage

Vista Home Basic, which comes with the notebook, runs well on the 4GB RAM and so do applications without much problem. The large screen is perfect for browsing the Internet and movies and the text look clear and sharp.
The keyboard is very comfortable for typing at a long stretch and I didn't experience any fatigue while doing so. The feedback from the keys is just right, so mistypes are pretty rare.

The trackpad has a dimpled design and features multi-touch scrolling that works well. The surface has the same glossy finish but it's still easy to use. The two buttons are a little hard to use but you get used to it.

The sound solution is provided by Altec Lansing with front facing speaker vents. The sound is decent enough to enjoy movies with your friends or while traveling. You also get a whole bunch of utilities from Asus for DVD burning, Multimedia and backup, something that other manufacturers don't often provide.

Battery life

For battery life we ran two sets of tests; first was the BurnInTest and second the actual usage.  

Test 1

For our first test we used the BurnInTest program to simulate real time usage. Here, we set the power mode to High Performance, brightness was kept at medium. With this we were able to achieve a battery life of two hours, which is not bad considering the low capacity 6-cell battery.

Test 2

In our second test we actually used the notebook with Wi-Fi ON and the power mode set to Battery Saving. Here we were able to achieve a battery life of roughly four hours and 10 minutes, which again is pretty standard. The Power4Gear software installed by Asus helps you further customize the power schemes as compared to the default Windows schemes. The interface is a lot more user-friendly, so customizing it is a breeze.

Pricing

Being a value series notebook, I don't expect the price to be more than 40K and but given the configuration it might just be. Even though this is a budget notebook Asus has avoided the plain drab looks and has gone for some style, which is always welcome.   
The Asus K50IJ come with retail price of Rs. 37,000 plus taxes and a two-year warranty. You could expect the final price to hover somewhere around 39K. While this price is not high, I think 37K all inclusive would be a more attractive price, even though you get a carry bag included.     

Verdict

Asus has delivered a good notebook once more just like they did with their Eee PC Netbooks. This budget notebook offers style as well as practicality all wrapped into a compact and ergonomic notebook.

The K50IJ offers plenty of style and a very comfortable keypad that does not cause a lot of fatigue even for extended typing periods. The screen is bright and clear, which is perfect for watching movies as well as surfing the Internet. The battery life is pretty standard for the capacity it offers, so we can't discredit that.

However, there are a couple of things that should be present like an Express card slot or even Bluetooth. Asus provides you a dongle but it would have been easier if it were integrated.  Other than that there's no real flaw in the design of the notebook as it performs well. For a price of 39K all inclusive it's definitely a contender if you're looking for a stylish notebook for everyday use.

Test unit sourced from Asus Technologly Pvt. Ltd.

Specifications