These days, business laptops have to meet a wide variety of needs. Professionals require a machine that provides computing power, networking options, connections galore, and hours of battery life. The Asus B43J-A1B ($1,199.99 street) fills most of these needs, but if battery life is a major concern, then this laptop is going to disappoint.
Design
Though quite a few manufacturers, including Asus, have brought some great looking business laptops to market, like the Dell Vostro 3300 ($910 street, 3.5 stars), most laptops, like the Lenovo ThinkPad T410s ($1,504 direct, 4 stars), tend to stick to the basics. The Asus B43J-A1B keeps a conservative look, but puts a fashionable twist on it that turns basic black into something more black tie
The frame around the screen and the base of the chassis is matte plastic, but the lid and palm rest get a stylish and protective aluminum casing that resists scratches and won't attract fingerprints. The 14-inch widescreen offers a 1366 by 768 resolution for 720p video viewing, and is topped with a 2-megapixel webcam that has a built-in lens cover. It weighs a hefty 5.46 pounds
The full-sized keyboard eschews the chiclet-style design that is so popular in consumer laptops, opting instead for a more traditional design. The keyboard is also spill resistant, so you can now have lunch at your desk without the fear that a spilled drink will destroy your work computer. The touchpad is comfortably smooth and supports multi-touch, bringing two-fingered scrolling and zooming to your work machine
Features
Connectivity is one of the most important aspects of any business laptop, and the Asus B43J-A1B offers a variety of ports. There are three USB 2.0 ports (including one combination USB/eSATA port), optical drive, and jacks for both telephone and Ethernet. Connecting to an external display is also easier thanks to the VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections. ATI Eyefinity also allows connection of up to two additional monitors, providing significantly more visual real estate.
Security options abound, as the B43J-A1b comes with several built-in layers of protection. A fingerprint scanner provides biometric-based security. A Smart Card reader allows the use of security card-based user authentication. Intel vPro provides remote IT access and automatic disabling of lost or stolen laptops.
Our test unit had 4GB of DDR3 memory. The 320GB 7,200 rpm hard drive will likely offer plenty of storage space on its own, but users will still want to take advantage of the USB/eSATA port when connecting an external hard drive. The B43J-A1B also has an ExpressCard 34 expansion slot for further flexibility. Docking station support allows quick connection to peripherals, power, and communication devices, but will require purchasing a docking station separately.
For fast access to the Web, the Asus B43J-A1B features the same ExpressGate instant-on environment that has been used in several other Asus models this year, like the Asus U52F-BBL9($749 list, 4 stars). A dedicated ExpressGate power button allows you to enter ExpressGate from a powered-down state, skipping lengthy Windows boot times to provide instant web access.
