Review Asus F75A / F55A Notebook, A33-K55 batteries

Battery Life

The ASUS F75A manages to squeeze 5:25 h out of its battery while idle (as measured using the Battery Eater Reader's Test, with minimal brightness, activated energy saver profile and deactivated modems). Both the Akoya (5:43 h) and the Satellite (6:15 h) achieve longer battery life. Under full load, the F75A(A32-K55 Battery) only lasts 1:05 h - again less than the competition (Akoya: 1:32 h, Satellite: 1:16 h). Here, the Battery Eater Classic Test has been used, running the screen at full brightness, turning on the performance profile and activating all modems.

The F75A hangs on for 3:29 h during the Wi-Fi test, a little bit less than the Satellite (3:53 h) and the Akoya (3:43 h). In this case, a new website loads every 40 seconds, the energy conservation profile is active and the display brightness is set to 150 cd/m². During DVD playback, the battery life of the F75A comes down to 2:45 h, on a par with the competition (Akoya 2:44 h; Satellite 2:58 h), which also stay below the 3 hour threshold. This test is performed while the energy saver profile is active (or a higher profile, if the DVD cannot be rendered smoothly), screen brightness is at full strength and all modems are deactivated.

The battery life of all three devices is easily comparable since their capacity is roughly the same (Toshiba: 48 Wh, Medion and Asus: 47 Wh).

Case

The F75A looks very much like the Asus F55A. Both devices sport a casing made of black plastic. Both the back side of the lid and the wrist rest are texturized so that they feel very slip-proof. The material used around the keyboard reminds us of brushed metal. We appreciate that Asus uses matte surfaces exclusively. Neither of its two competitors, the Satellite and the Akoya, employs anything else but plastic as well.

There is not only an optical resemblance between the F75A and its smaller brother: Stability is also the same. The base unit sags when pressure is applied to the area below the touchpad. The same holds true for the area to the left of the keyboard. At least, the casing seems to be rather torsion-resistant. It can only be twisted slightly. The lid behaves differently in this regard - it is very easy to bend. Also, the back side of the lid could have been sturdier. Its center can be forced to sag so strongly as to cause distortions on the screens. While the hinges may be prone to some bobbing, they are still capable of holding the display firmly in position. Thus, the lid cannot be opened with just one hand. Some issues with the build quality, e.g. a small gap between the DVD burner and the case, have to be accepted considering the price.

Connectivity

There is little difference with respect to connectivity between all three laptops which we compare. All of them offer a standard selection of ports and have at least one USB 3.0 port. Unfortunately, the ports of the F75A are awkwardly placed. All of them are positioned at the front half of the left side.


Communication

The Wi-Fi chip of the ASUS F75A is made by Realtek (RTL8188CE). It supports the Wi-Fi standards 802.11 b/g/n. We have no reason to complain about any reception issues, neither close to the router (approx. 3 m) nor two floors below (with 50% transmission power) does the connection get interrupted. The Gigabit Ethernet chip in our Asus laptop comes from Atheros (AR8161/8165). There is no Bluetooth support. The F75A features a built-in 0.3 megapixel webcam (640x480 pixels), which disappoints due to its mushy image quality.

Keyboard

The F75A utilizes the same conventional keyboard as the F55A. All major keys are flat and approximately 17 x 14 mm large. Their lower side exhibits an angle. The keys offer medium travel and their pressure point is fine, but they show too little resistance. A more rigid suspension would not have hurt. The keyboard is neither very silent nor very noisy, but it wobbles significantly while typing.
Touchpad

The multitouch-enabled clickpad is another old acquaintance from the F55A. Its luxurious size of 10.5 cm x 7.3 cm makes using multitouch gestures a breeze. Its smooth surface allows the fingers to glide effortlessly over the touchpad. All gestures can be activated or deactivated individually in the configuration menu. As with all clickpads, there are no separate mouse buttons. The position - whether one taps in the lower left or lower right corner - determines which action is supposed to commence. The touchpad offers short travel and a clearly tangible and audible pressure point.

Display

The glossy 17.3-inch display of the F75A is made by Samsung, offering a native resolution of 1600x900 pixels. There is no option for a different display panel. Average brightness is just that, average, with 219.9 cd/m². Both the Satellite (235.4 cd/m²) and the Medion laptop (279 cd/m²) fare better in this regard, and they offer matte displays. Even its illumination value of 79% is worse than that of its competitors (Medion: 91%, Toshiba: 87%).

Both contrast (291:1) and black levels (0.86 cd/m²) do not manage to convince us of the qualities of this display. Again, the F75A is left standing by both the Satellite (362:1, 0.86 cd/m²) and the Akoya (412:1, 0.69 cd/m²). The display of the F75A fails in reproducing the AdobeRGB and the sRGB color spaces.

We have examined the screen in its delivery condition (target color space sRGB) and measured severe DeltaE-2000 deviations for white, cyan and the grayscale, but this does not imply that the other colors are capable of reaching the target (DeltaE smaller than 5). The display suffers from a very noticeable bluish cast.

Display brightness is barely sufficient for outdoor usage, and only so in the shade. The glossy surface and the low contrast ratio work hand in hand to further exaggerate this effect.

Viewing angle stability is as could be expected at this price point. Vertical movement quickly leads to a deterioration of color reproduction. This problem is less pronounced in the horizontal direction so that the contents of the screen can still be read from an angle, albeit becoming darker.

Speakers

The stereo speakers of the ASUS F75A are positioned on the underbelly of the laptop. Their sound is very pleasant and full of riches which even hint at the existence of some bass. It is no problem watching an entire movie without resorting, irritatingly, to external solutions. Further fine-tuning of the sound output becomes possible with the help of the preinstalled Via HD Audio Deck software, but of course the option still remains to plug headphones or external speakers into the F75A's 3.5 mm port.

Verdict

The F75A can be recommended to all users looking for the most affordable 17.3-inch laptop. Its application performance is solid, it runs quietly and does not even get hot, thus qualifying itself for usage in the office. Of course, a matte display would have been helpful in supporting this claim. Then again, a price point of less than $500 necessarily brings along limitations, for example the F75A's low-contrast display. The keyboard is also far from top-notch, wobbling visibly during usage. (ASUS A42-K53 batteries)

Both the Toshiba Satellite Pro C870 and the Medion Akoya E7221-MD98297 might be good alternatives if a matte display is desired. They are also endowed with more computing power.

More info: laptop-batteries.com.au, laptop-battery.org.uk, battery-store.eu

Review HP ProBook 6475b Notebook, 628368-351, HSTNN-LB2F batteries

Battery Life

The 14-inch laptop sports a comparatively small HSTNN-CB2F 48Wh battery. Its Intel competitors, the Vostro 3460 (48 Wh, 3:52 h during our Wi-Fi test), the ThinkPad L430 (57 Wh, 3:30 h) and the ACER TravelMate P643 (66 Wh, 6:05 h, AS10D3E Battery) tend to boast higher capacities, which in combination with their low power consumption leads to better battery life when idle. During our Wi-Fi benchmark, our test device (which comes equipped with a 55 Wh battery) achieves 4:15 hours at 150 cd/m² brightness (actually, 136 cd/m²).

The Battery Eater Reader's Test (CPU and GPU are idle, all radio modems are deactivated and brightness is set as low as it gets) yields 9:01 hours. DVD playback lasts 3:54 hours, which is almost as good as during the Wi-Fi test because the DVD video test demands full display brightness, while the 6475b is incapable of going beyond 136 cd/m² as long as it is on battery. Our test device manages to squeeze 2:01 hours out of its battery under full load. Only one of its competitors surpasses the two-hour mark as well, the P643 (2:03 h due to its 66 Wh battery). A comparable 48 Wh battery in an Intel laptop only manages to reach 1:15 h (Vostro 3460).

Case

As already mentioned, the ProBook 6475b shares a common barebone with its Intel sibling, the 6470b. Number and type of ports are the same, as are their locations. Even the interior of the device looks alike, which makes maintenance of its components a breeze.

However, the 6475b differs considerably from the larger 15-inch 6570b, which sports a completely different chassis with different port locations and an additional numpad which the 6475b does not have. Only color, material and general shape and design remain similar.

HP has chosen to simply reuse the case of the 14-inch predecessor ProBook 6465b (early 2012) - apparently, its stable, high-quality build didn't require any improvements. For a more detailed analysis of all ports, we refer to our reviews of the ProBook 6465b (AMD) and the 6470b (Intel).

Connectivity

The ProBook 6475b offers all the numerous connections which more demanding users have come to expect. Since the lid is attached in the conventional way, some ports are even located on the back side of the laptop. Here, one can find both the Ethernet and VGA ports. The power adapter is straight and rigid, thus making it bulkier than necessary (but this is typical for HP). One advantage of the back side ports: The sides show less clutter. We are also quite fond of the concentration of ports near the rear end of the laptop.

Like its predecessor, the right side of the P6475b offers a DisplayPort replacing the older HDMI port. With a DisplayPort cable, external screen resolutions of up to 2560x1600 pixels are possible. Nostalgia sets in when we discover the old ExpressCard54 slot next to it. Both standard interface cards and ExpressCard34 cards fit here, rendering the 15.6-inch laptop expandable.

FireWire (i.LINK) might be of more interest in typical usage scenarios. FireWire used to be a USB 2.0 competitor for external hard drives (also eSATA) and camcorders, offering higher data transfer rates. It was rendered obsolete by USB 3.0 (the ProBook 6475b has two ports), but it might be a nice extra for users with older peripheral devices.

Keyboard

The keys of the 6475b offer a well-defined pressure point, generous travel as well as firm feedback. Nothing wobbles or bends when pressure is applied. We have a sweet tooth for the arrow keys, which can be accessed well without looking, even though they are not separated from the rest of the keys.

Writing maniacs are going to appreciate the slightly conic shape of the keys which guide the fingers, caressing them haptically. The Return key is a bit on the narrow side due to the neighboring Page Up and Page Down keys, but this didn't diminish our typing experience - the full-sized right Shift key is much more important in our opinion. In addition to the standard keys, there are also hardware buttons for the radio modems, speakers and the browser, which complement the function keys perfectly while being easy to reach. (QK642AA batteries)
Touchpad

The touchpad is positioned in a small, edged depression. The Synaptics LuxPad V7.5 (110 mm diagonally) is quite sensitive even in its edge regions, while offering an enjoyably smooth gliding experience. There is both a vertical and a horizontal scroll bar - neither of which is marked on the touchpad. One-finger scrolling is deactivated in its delivery condition.

The mouse keys are made from hard rubber, rendering them slip-proof. Travel is extraordinarily large and the keys can easily be actuated. Their feedback is great, increasing productivity far more than the usual rigid, short-winded keys of almost all consumer laptops.

The Synaptics touchpad comes equipped with a small palm sensor, deactivating the touchpad while the keyboard is in use. Like in all consumer laptops nowadays, this touchpad is also multitouch-enabled, thus allowing for two-finger scrolling, pinching or twisting.

Display

The WXGA++ display of our ProBook 6475b model offers a very decent resolution of 1600x900 pixels. It provides an alternative to the HD panels (1366x768) of some low-cost variants of the P6475. The LG panel (type LP140WD1-TLD2) is matte, so that no strong reflections occur.

The brightness of the TN panel depends on the availability of an external power supply, throttling down from 205 cd/m² to 136 cd/m² while running on battery power. Brightness homogeneity levels of 77% are also disappointing - most test devices exceed 80%. However, no halos could be discerned visually near the edges.

The 6475b offers a contrast ratio of 209:1 due to a black level of 0.95 cd/m² (measured in the center). This is not much, but sill typical for its class. The competition (Vostro 3460, ThinkPad L430 and TravelMate P643) ends up with similar ratios.

"Color space" are two important words for digital artists and graphics designers which require good agreement between real-life colors and their digital substitutes. Like its competitors, the 6475b does not manage to fully cover the sRGB color space, let alone the AdobeRGB color space. However, even expensive business laptops have a hard time fulfilling these requirements, as the last two graphs show. Even Lenovo's X1 Carbon (sporting the same HD+ resolution) fails to render all of the sRGB color space, despite expanding it upwards.

Due to its matte display, outdoor usage seems viable, but the non-preventable dimming down to 136 cd/m² while on battery power destroys these hopes. Our test image below is barely visible in sunlight, even less so from the sides. The situation can be improved by plugging the laptop into an outlet, however, even then 205 cd/m² may not be enough for a pleasant day on the terrace. 250 cd/m² or more would be needed for acceptable outdoor usage.

Wide viewing angles are important, allowing the user to make out all the details on the display even from the sides or from above. Office notebooks often employ inexpensive TN panels, leading to limited viewing angles. The 6475b doesn't perform quite as bad as some of its competitors. Horizontally, the display begins to darken at around 40 degrees, while color distortions occur beyond 70 degrees.

Vertical deviations are less benign. Colors start to invert at approximately 15 degrees, text becomes unrecognizable at 25 degrees or less. The Vostro 3460, the ThinkPad L430 and the TravelMate P643 offer the same experience concerning vertical viewing angles, but they fare worse in the horizontal direction (image stability lasting to around 45 degrees).

Speakers

Both speakers are located beneath the laptop, in a box made out of plastic which has been integrated close to the user in the front. Basses are unconvincing and the chassis vibrates considerably, but at least distortions at full volume turn out to be minimal. Plus, the 6475b is as loud as office laptops go. It shouldn't be hard to fill an entire conference room with its sound.

Mids and highs were unbalanced. As with most laptops without a dedicated subwoofer or more powerful speakers in general, emphasis is put on the mids. Still, external speakers and microphones can always be plugged in via not one but two separate 3.5 mm ports, one for Line In, the other for Line Out. This could lead to a better audio quality than with the combined Line In/Out ports which are much more common in consumer notebooks. Unfortunately, the connections have not been reinforced with metal, making them more susceptible to breaking when used intensively.

Verdict

HP (mostly) made the right choices with the ProBook 6475b, delivering a more or less balanced package of time-proven office features. We appreciate the excellent feedback its input devices (keys, touchpad) provide. Its conically curved keys come particularly close to the level of much more expensive laptops including the Dell Latitude, Lenovo ThinkPad (T and L) and HP EliteBook series.

Its understated look works very well with the matte aluminum touch to its surfaces. But the HP 6475b is not just all show and no substance. Connectivity is important to the ProBook, with options ranging from external docking stations, DisplayPort and VGA ports (for high-resolution as well as legacy displays) to an ExpressCard54 slot for old extension cards which are still being used for measuring devices by craftspeople and engineers. Traditionalists can rejoice: HP has chosen to install Windows 7 Pro (32 bit), although the 6475b ships with a Windows 8 DVD as well.

The HP ProBook is also very maintenance-friendly. Plus, there are many variants to choose from, including some with UMTS and/or an HD panel (if a lower resolution than HD+ is desired). There is no SSD option though - this has to be installed by the user.

Ergonomics in idle mode or under half load could have been better and although the fan can be deactivated through an option in the BIOS (turn "Fan always on when AC" off), the background noise the HDD produces can be heard at all times. Then again, excess heat is no issue - neither while idle nor under full load.

Despite of our praise for its well-balanced color rendition, the TN panel only manages to secure a score of 76%, since a typical user of the ProBook 6475b will most likely not be a professional digital artist or graphics designer so that an exact reproduction of real-life colors is not as crucial as it could be. The weaknesses of the display lie with its low contrast and terrible brightness, especially so when it is running on battery power: Maximum brightness gets throttled down to 137 cd/m². Outdoor usage becomes a pain. Hardly any screen contents at all can be read under direct sunlight.

Other laptops offer more in terms of processor, graphics card and memory for the same price point as our test device ($900), namely Core i5 CPUs with dedicated GPUs for an improved gaming performance. Great input devices, an optional docking station, a matte WXGA++ display and a superbly stable, well-built chassis are harder to find for less than $1000. Only variants of the Vostro 3460 or the ThinkPad L430 offer such amenities. The TravelMate P643, equipped with a gaming-friendly GT 640M, tempts with its great value-for-money ratio, while the best input devices and highest build quality can be found in one of the cheaper (HD panel) DELL Latitude E5430 configurations.

We have written reviews of all of the following competitors to the 6475b and we recommend having a look at them before a purchase decision is made. If this takes too much time, it is also possible to just focus on the four models which are highlighted in bold.

More info: laptop-batteries.com.au, laptop-battery.org.uk, battery-store.eu,