An Extended Asus A3400L Review
My Asus A3400L laptop computer is the third mobile machine that I’ve bought in as many years. The casual buyer may be put off by both the Asus brand [Millions of desktop computers contain motherboards manufactured by them - Ed.] and its Intel Celeron M processor, but the wise will be delighted to know that this machine packs plenty of value for its PHP 45,000 cost.
Now for some pictures:
The Asus A3400L laptop closed.
The Asus A3400L laptop open.
Out of the box, the Asus 3400L measures 32.8 cm. X 28.4 cm. X 3.2 cm., and and weighs 2.4 kg., definitely putting this computer in the desktop-replacement category. The screen is a 14-inch (35.56 cm., measured diagonally) color active matrix TFT LCD monitor.
Under the hood, this machine is powered with an Intel Celeron M 370/1.5GHz processor. It’s unfortunate that he Celeron brand has been associated with many poor qualities but as this article will show, there is precious little that distinguishes the Celeron M with the supposedly sexier Pentium M chip. This machine also comes with a 40GB hard disk drive and 256MB of random access memory – the first thing I would recommend though is to upgrade this to 513MB.
A CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive is also installed, which can be used to listen to audio CD’s even when the rest of the machine is turned off.
On closer examination, I discovered that this machine also comes with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Wi-Fi wireless adapter. So is this a Centrino machine without the Centrino label? This laptop certainly does not meet the specifications required for it to wear the Centrino label, but it’s all just a bunch of marketing hype to me.
Other connectivity options available include a generous four USB 2.0 ports at the rear of the machine, as well as an unpowered IEEE 1394 Firewire port, an IrDA infrared port, as well as an internal modem and an 10/100 Ethernet port too. A legacy parallel and serial port round up the many ways this machine can be connected.
Did I forget to mention that this machine comes bare, that is, without an operating system installed? I am now operating this machine with a live CD version of Ubuntu 5.10.
The keyboard measures about 30 cm. by 11 cm. and feels like the usual run-of-the-mill variety but I must confess that I am quite spoiled because my regular computer is an IBM Thinkpad X31 laptop.
Pointing is done using a thumbpad. Not bad except that the left and right buttons are a tad stiff, a minor problem that should resolve itself as these keys are regularly used.
Aside from the de riguer PCMCIA slot, this machine is also fitted with a SD/MMC card reader built-in.
The battery compartment has two locks: one a manual latch that locks the battery in place, and the other a spring-loaded variety.
I’ve discovered that the battery charger/power adapter is one of the more fragile parts of any laptop, vulnerable to spikes in voltage to accidental tugging to accidental drops, and one of the parts most prone to damage is the DC plug that connects the laptop to this assembly. Asus built a reinforced piece – so much so that it is difficult to remove at times from the machine.
I think the Asus A3400L is well-suited for the typical user seeking an introduction into mobile computing and who intends to use it for the most common computing tasks – drafting letters, calculating spreadsheets, writing email, viewing still and motion pictures, listening to music, browsing the web, the occasional game – this machine is a good choice.
Thank you for your review on Asus A3400L. I recently bought a A6R, which is a 15 inch widescreen notebook and a bit bigger and weighs around 3 kg.
Your review reinforced my belief that Asus builds quality notebooks even if it is priced and marketted as a budget notebook.
You’re welcome!
I own this laptop of asus the battery life is a little short of 2 hours, how can I extend or tips to conserve a bit more of battery life. The screen image is blurred on a designated angle but will sharpen if push a little backward, away from the line of sight, is this normal?
Thanks,
hagorn
2 hours is the ususally the maximum amount of time for a Celeron Laptop. Check the websites for some tips in maximizing your battery.
http://www.mobilityguru.com/2005/10/25/squeezing_more_life_out_of_your_notebook/
http://www.mobilityguru.com/2005/11/02/squeezing_more_life_out_of_your_notebook/
The screen blurring is normal when the angle is not just right. This is common in cheap LCD’s. To cut the price down, asus opt to use these LCD’s on it’s budget line instead of the more expensive ones. Sony (XBrite) and other laptop manufacturers have high end displays on their high end units. Some offer extra brightness while others offer a wider viewing angle.
Hi AsusFan, thanks for the battery links!
How is your Asus A6R coming along?
I agree that the ASUS A3400L is suitable for basic tasks such as word processing, spreadsheets, music, photo and video viewing. We bought one last year and it served us well; there was never an occasion when it had to be serviced by a technician. That’s reliability. I was also impressed by the ASUS 2-year global warranty, as well as the Intel Wireless Pro; we were able to instantly connect via Wi-Fi the first time we took it out of the box.
One thing that we didn’t like, however, was the overly slow processor, even with an upgraded 512MB DDR. Though it was the only notebook model we could afford to buy at the time, we also didn’t foresee that we would eventually be using it for video editing as well. Applications such as Photoshop, Avid Express and Adobe After Effects 6.5 were taking their toll on the unit’s speed. And since we needed to burn our edited videos to DVD, using the A3400L’s combo drive was out of the question. Painful as it was to us, we simply had to sell it recently, less than a year after we had purchased it, in favor of a relatively faster laptop with a DVD burner and larger disk space: the Neo Q-Note Empriva 540NX with Intel’s Centrino Core Duo T2300 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)
Be that as it may, we will not soon forget how reliable our A3400L was in serving our needs, especially in our business, and we hope that it will continue to do so for its new owner.
Why is it this model is not shown on asus’ website?? I need to get drivers and updates for this model.
Can u please help me on how to find driver for ASUS A3400L notebook? I can’t find any support link from ASUS website regarding this model type…
My suggestion would be to email Asus or contact their Philippine distributor Banbros for help.
how do you use the mmc/sd card reader for MMC? I normally use the sd from my digital camera but didn’t know what to do with my wife’s mmc card from her cellfone
Just insert the MMC card inside the Asus A3400L’s card slot. Windows should be able to recognize it.
madaling masira yung battery wala pang apat na buwan after i buy the unit.yung battery busted na kaagad ang model is A3400L asus. Sa SM Dasma. Cavite ko Nabili ang unit…
thnks,
Richard
Pati yung keyboard nya yung space tab tung left side nya na nagcoconect don tanggal kaagad. bakit gaanun ang unit nya.sa labas kasi ang job ko kaya yung waranty hindi nagamit. dating toshiba ang gamit ko nag try lang ako of this unit pero medyo may deperensya ng konti.lagi kasi akong nagpapalit ng unit. i buy ang pag used nya i sell it again to buy a new one. but how can i sell or sold this unit kung puro may little damage..
thanks..
richard
were can i buy the set of keyboard and battery
where can i buy the set of keyboard and battery
Try Banbros Inc. they are the sole agent of Asus in the Philippines.
http://www.banbros.ph
i’m also using A3400L and gusto ko lang malaman kung hanggang ilang RAM ang pwede ilagay dito? hanggang 512MB lang ba pede or 1gig pwede rin?