Asus K53S is an old, but very strong and reliable budget phone. Laptop Asus K53T: description, characteristics, reviews Music lovers will appreciate the sound

Not long ago, we received one of the third generation K-series laptops from ASUS for testing. It was a 14-inch ASUS K43E, which, it is worth saying, we really liked, both in terms of design and performance level, and in terms of its affordability.

In today's material we will get acquainted with another laptop in this series, namely the 15.6-inch ASUSK53T.A., which has an interesting appearance and is equipped with fairly efficient components. This modification is based on the latest AMD Sabine platform, and, in addition to the innovative A-series APU, which combines CPU and GPU cores on one chip, it has a discrete graphics adapter, and without support for AMD Radeon Dual Graphics technology. An important feature of the K53 series laptops is support for ASUS IceCool technology, which involves placing the hottest components on the bottom side of the board. Thanks to this, the under-palm area of ​​the case heats up less during operation of the laptop.

Specifications

To begin with, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the full technical characteristics of the laptop under test, which we obtained thanks to the report from the PC Wizard program. Data on the series were collected from the manufacturer's website.

Hardware platform

CPU Information

Information about the controller and memory modules

Chipset and motherboard information

Graphics adapter information

Learn more about the features and capabilities AMD platforms Sabine and APU AMD A-series(Llano) is offered in the corresponding article, but in this article, we will mainly talk about the final solution on this platform.

Supply

The ASUS K53TA laptop comes in a fairly large cardboard package, succinctly called ECOBOX. The appearance of the packaging is extremely simple; there is no beautiful printing or other small details. However, you can see the manufacturer’s logo and corporate slogan on it, as well as get acquainted with the technical characteristics of the laptop and technical information supplies. To facilitate the transportation process, the packaging is equipped with a special handle.

Equipment

Considering that the version of the laptop that came to us for testing was an evaluation version, i.e. for the press, the package contained only a battery, a power supply and a cable for connecting to the electrical network.

The retail package includes the following:

• laptop;
• user guide;
• a quick guide to setting up a laptop;
• a booklet with information about warranty obligations;
• a small insert with a list of some accessories;
• CD with drivers (only for 64-bit Windows 7);
• power supply and cable for connecting to the electrical network;
• battery.

Appearance

The ASUS K53TA laptop has a pleasant and discreet appearance. And thanks to the dark color design, the device should be quite popular both among young people and among users of the corporate segment. To prevent the case from looking too simple, the laptop's lid, bottom and palm area have a relief pattern, and the area around the keyboard is stylized as rough-cut metal, which creates a certain expensive effect. Most of the body elements, with the exception of the frame around the display, have a practical matte finish that is highly resistant to scratches and fingerprints. It is also worth noting that among the ASUS K53 series laptops there are also more elegant models with a glossy lid and a slightly modified pattern.

The laptop body, made mainly of plastic, has a fairly good level of rigidity; it practically does not yield to deformation when trying to twist it. However, the laptop lid and keyboard unit flex somewhat even when pressed with medium force.

The fastening of the display unit, made in the form of two hinges recessed into the body, ensures reliable fixation of the position of the cover. The maximum opening angle is 165°, which should be sufficient for most laptop use scenarios.

Arrangement of elements, ergonomics

The set of connectors is comparable to most modern mid-segment laptops - these are three USB ports, in this model one of them supports the USB 3.0 standard, two ports for image output - VGA and HDMI, two standard audio jacks and an RJ-45 network port. There is also a multi-format card reader. Among wireless modules Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0+HS are provided.

On the front side there is only a multi-format card reader, which is located on a bevel, which is why in many cases you have to lift the front of the laptop to install memory cards.

From the back, as usual, you can only see part of the battery compartment.

On right side there are: two standard audio jacks, USB port 2.0, optical drive, as well as a Kensington lock.

On the left side are: USB ports 2.0 and USB 3.0, HDMI and VGA ports, RJ-45 network connector and power adapter connector. The remaining space is occupied by a fairly large ventilation grille.

The bottom of the ASUS K53TA is flat, with the only exception being a small area above the hard drive. There are a minimal number of ventilation grilles, and they are all located in the front of the laptop. However, there is no need to worry about the temperature indicators of the internal components; they remain low even when maximum load. Although it is still not advisable to place the laptop on soft surfaces. To access the hard drive, modules random access memory and module wireless networks it is necessary to open two compartments, the lids of which, it should be said, are very tightly pressed to the body with plastic fasteners. They must be removed with extreme caution.

The laptop rests on four small rubber feet, the total area of ​​which, although small, is sufficient to securely position the device on surfaces. The battery is secured in the compartment using two conventional latches - spring and manual.

Display, webcam, input devices

The laptop has a widescreen 15.6-inch display ChiMeiN156BGE-L21, based on a TN+Film matrix with HD resolution – 1366x768 pixels. Its main disadvantage is the small viewing angles, and the glossy coating used, which gives the laptop a certain elegance, “glares” quite strongly in the light. However, the displayed image has a good level of brightness and contrast. At the same time, the display backlight level can be adjusted over a fairly wide range. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find any more detailed information about technical specifications the display being used was not successful. And on the manufacturer’s official website there is no hint of OEM products.

Above the display is a 0.3 megapixel webcam. Next to it is an activity indicator and a microphone.

The laptop has an ergonomic low-profile keyboard, which can often be found in 15.6-inch models from the manufacturer. In addition to the letter key block, it has a separate numeric block, which in many cases can be useful. The keyboard layout is very good and pleasant to work with. However, at first you have to get used to the arrow block, inscribed on the same level as the other keys. And because of this, the “0” key is half the size. The keys themselves have a short and fairly quiet stroke with a well-defined response. The application of the symbols is quite successful - the Latin and functional symbols are white, and the Cyrillic alphabet is turquoise.

Above the keyboard, in addition to the decorative metal mesh covering the built-in Altec Lansing Speakers stereo speakers, there is an elongated power key equipped with a very bright white backlight, which can be somewhat distracting in the dark. The laptop does not have any additional keys.

To control the cursor, the ELAN Smart-Pad touchpad is used, which is part of the under-palm area, but unlike it, it has a smooth surface on which, it is worth noting, the finger glides perfectly. Square touchpad not very large, but thanks to excellent sensitivity, there is no shortage of this. The main feature of the touchpad is its support for multiple touch functions, including triple touch, providing quick access to “My Computer” or switching open windows. The touchpad keys are quite large and have good response when pressed. However, due to the chrome coating, they pick up fingerprints very well.

Under the touchpad, almost at the very edge, there is a block of LED indicators that displays information about the various states of the laptop.

Sound subsystem

The ASUS K53TA laptop has Altec Lansing Speakers stereo speakers, which are located above the keyboard and covered with a metal mesh. These speakers provide high quality reproduced sound, as for a mid-segment laptop. The sound is rich, not only the high and mid frequencies are clearly audible, but the low frequencies are also slightly felt, which makes it quite comfortable to watch movies or listen to music. The sound is quite loud and remains clear even at maximum volume. If the sensations from the sound subsystem are not enough, you can always connect an external audio system or headphones.

ASUS Sonic Focus technology, developed jointly with Synopsys, Inc., is designed to provide enhanced sound from built-in speakers. It can be used to enhance vocal clarity, add spatial effects, or increase bass depth.

The laptop audio subsystem was assessed using the RightMark Audio Analyzer application version 6.2.3, which evaluates the audio path based on various parameters. To get a more accurate result, we updated the audio driver to latest version, and in the settings we disabled all sound special effects, including ASUS Sonic Focus technology.

The general results are as follows:

Power supply and battery

To operate from the mains and charge the battery, a large and very heavy ASUS EXA0904YH power supply (90 W, 19 V, 4.74 A) is used, which can heat up to 55°C during operation. When the laptop operates autonomously, a 6-cell lithium-ion battery ASUS A32-K53 (10.8 V, 5200 mAh, 56 Wh) is used.

Software

ASUS products have always been distinguished by a wide range of pre-installed software. Mainly branded applications and utilities that allow you to configure the system to increase performance or improve the quality of the image, sound subsystem, etc. Of course, there are also more “heavy” software packages, for example Microsoft Office 2010, Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security, Nuance PDF Reader, Windows Live 2011 and CyberLink Power2Go 7. But most of them, unfortunately, are presented in trial versions. And then we’ll take a closer look at some branded applications.

Syncables Desktop is a shareware application for synchronizing and sharing content between, for example, a home PC and a laptop.

A small application, ASUS LifeFrame, allows you to record video from the built-in webcam, take photos, and also make minor image corrections using the included templates.

The ASUS SmartLogon Manager utility is a kind of authorization system that identifies the user by face using the built-in webcam.

The ASUS FancyStart utility allows you to select a screensaver (image, background, frame) and sound that will appear when you turn on the laptop.

ASUS Fast Boot utility reduces boot time operating system, by prioritizing the launch of various applications and services.

Management of laptop energy consumption, and accordingly its performance, provides ASUS utility Power4Gear Hybrid, which features four fully customizable modes.

ASUS Splendid Utility or ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology significantly improves color reproduction and allows you to get a more detailed image. For this purpose, there are five preset profiles and one custom one.

The ASUS USB Charger+ utility allows you to control the power of USB ports, which makes it possible to charge various USB devices faster, including when the laptop is turned off.

The ASUS Game Park Console application provides a fairly wide range of casual and indie games with which you can “kill time”. Unfortunately, all games are paid, and the pre-installed ones are presented exclusively in demo mode.

Testing

Index Windows performance rated the laptop components 5.3 points. The processor used received the lowest rating. The highest score of 6.2 points went to the graphics subsystem in the 3D graphics processing mode.

The performance of the processor cache and RAM was tested using a built-in module in the AIDA64 utility.

For comparative testing Several popular packages have been selected that allow you to fully evaluate the capabilities ASUS laptop K53TA. The following laptop models acted as opponents:

MSI CR670(AMD Hudson-3, AMD A8-3500M APU @ 1500 MHz, AMD Radeon HD 6620G 512 MB, 4 GB DDR3-1333, Hitachi Travelstar HTS545050B9A300 (500 GB, 8 MB buffer, 5400 rpm, SATA-II));

Packard Bell EasyNote TM85 (Intel HM55 Express, Intel Core i3 330M @ 2133 MHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M 1024 MB, 4 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3, WD Scorpio BlueWD3200BEVT-22A23T0 (320 GB, 8 MB buffer, 5400 rpm, SATA -II));

Acer Aspire 5560G (AMD Hudson-2, AMD A8-3500M @ 1500 MHz, AMD Radeon HD 6620G 512 MB + AMD Radeon HD 6650M 1 GB, 2 + 2 GB DDR3-1333, TOSHIBA MK6459GSXP (640 GB, 8 MB buffer, 5400 rpm, SATA-II));

MSI CR650 (AMD Hudson-1, AMD Zacate E-350 APU @ 1600 MHz, AMD Radeon HD 6310 384 MB, 4 GB DDR3-1333, Hitachi Travelstar HTS545032B9A300 (320 GB, 8 MB buffer, 5400 rpm, SATA-II ));

ASUS K43E (Intel HM65, Intel Core i3-2310M @ 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics, 4 GB DDR3-1333, WD Scorpio Blue WD5000BPVT-80HXZT1 (500 GB, 8 MB buffer, 5400 rpm, SATA-II)).

The AMD A4-3300M APU used, whose main competitor is the second generation Intel Core i3 processors, provides a decent level of performance, of course, within the framework of mid-budget models. However, despite the graphical advantage over Intel processors, the computing capabilities are still slightly lower. However, even the least powerful A-series APU paired with AMD Radeon HD 6650M discrete graphics and 3GB of RAM is more than enough for day-to-day office and office work. graphic applications, as well as with various video and audio files. You can also run modern games quite comfortably, but not at the highest settings.

Drives

The laptop's disk subsystem is based on a Seagate Momentus ST950032 5AS hard drive with a capacity of 500 GB, a spindle speed of 5400 rpm and a data buffer of 8 MB. Connects HDD using the SATA-II interface. To obtain more detailed information about the drive, we used the HD-Tune Pro program.

To work with optical media, the MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ8B0 drive is used, which is capable of working with almost all existing types of CD and DVD discs, as evidenced by the Nero InfoTool 5 utility:

Using the Nero DiscSpeed ​​4 utility, we determined how well a given optical drive copes with error correction using several non-new disks, namely:

Old CD with a heavily scratched surface

Quite badly scratched DVD disc

Double layerDVD with a defective second layer

Cooling system and noise level

The ASUS K53TA laptop has a fairly efficient cooling system, the power of which is sufficient to cool the components even on a hot summer day. The advantage of this CO is the low level of generated noise, including during resource-intensive operations.

Temperature

To determine effectiveness installed system cooling and the general temperature of the laptop during operation, we first measured the ambient temperature, which was +28°C, and then ran it for 30 minutes test package Unigine Heaven in DirectX 10 mode. Next, using Scythe Kama Thermo Wireless, we figuratively divided the work area and the bottom of the laptop into nine sections and measured the temperature of each of them.

The general temperature range of the ASUS K53TA laptop fits into the expected range, which is comparable to most models in this class. The temperature of the case at maximum load on average coincides with the temperature of the human body. The only exception is the area above the cooling system, the temperature of which can reach 43-45°C.

The temperature of the laptop's internal components, in particular the CPU and GPU, practically does not exceed 60°C, which is very good.

Autonomous operation

Definition of time battery life laptop was carried out using the Battery Eater Pro 2.70 program, which allows measurements to be taken in several modes:

The laptop's offline operation is ensured by a 6-cell lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 5200 mAh (56 Wh). In “classic” mode at maximum display brightness, the laptop worked for just over an hour and a half (98 minutes). In idle mode at minimum display brightness, the laptop's operating time increased to almost seven hours (405 minutes). It is also worth noting that when watching Full HD video with maximum display brightness, the laptop turned off after three hours (179 minutes). It takes about two and a half hours (151 minutes) to restore the battery to full capacity.

Results

Possessing a pleasant appearance and quite high performance, the laptop ASUSK53T.A. can be an excellent assistant for any user, regardless of his type of activity. The laptop's capabilities are quite sufficient not only for working with office applications and various media data, but also for comfortable spending time playing modern games with not the most “heavy” graphics settings. Of course, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to carry this model all the time due to its relatively heavy weight, but if necessary, this laptop can provide up to seven hours of battery life.

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Judging by the specifications, the Asus K53T is no different from most laptops produced. The price of $670 makes it affordable, but for the same amount you can buy laptops with best processor. Does the model justify its inflated price?

Design

The manufacturing company likes to actively use the same chassis in different configurations, and the K53 series is no exception. Asus laptops have the same design, with prices ranging from $350 to $750. This often comes at a cost to the company, as high-end devices look cheap on the outside.

The same applies to the K53T line, which, as far as one can judge, is one of the variants of the K53 series equipped with Intel processors. The only major difference is that the palm rest, previously made from a thin layer of metal, is now made from plastic. All previously existing luxury has now sunk into oblivion.

The connectivity options, judging by the reviews, do not stand out in any way. With VGA and HDMI, USB 3.0 is limited to one port, with support for two additional USB 2.0 connectors. Some competitors offer two USB interface 3.0, so the Asus laptop is at a slight disadvantage.

Input Devices

Since the laptop is equipped with a 15.6” diagonal screen, there is plenty of space for the keyboard. In this case, Asus decided to go with the least attractive design with flat buttons without the expected gap between them. As a result, it is easy for your fingers to confuse the keys when typing touch-sensitively. According to user reviews, this leads to an increase in the number of typos.

On the other hand, the Asus K53T keyboard has its advantages. Users say that it is large - a little more than 1 cm is left free on both sides. This means that the buttons are large (although they are small on the digital panel). There is enough space for your palms at the bottom, and, according to reviews, it is not difficult to find a comfortable position for typing.

What's missing is the touchpad. The size of the touch surface makes it difficult to use at times, especially when performing multi-touch gestures such as scrolling. At least Asus offers two separate buttons for it. True, their travel is small, but this solution, as users note, is better than the rocker key often used by the company.

Display and sound quality

The 15.6” screen has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and has a glossy finish that extends to a black bezel. As a result - users complain - the display suffers from a lot of glare, and its backlight is not strong enough to counter it when the laptop is used in a bright environment, such as a sunlit room or street.

According to reviews from Asus K53T users, the model's screen characteristics correspond to those of inexpensive TN panels. Although the display is technically capable of displaying almost all of the test images to check black levels, the identity of some of them suggests that the manufacturer is cheating a little by increasing the brightness of dark colors that the monitor is not capable of displaying. However, the image quality of the device is not inferior to other laptops in the same price range.

The sound is very good for a laptop. There is even some bass, and the distortion is small even with maximum volume. Music, according to users, sounds quite passable - this is the best that can be said even about expensive laptops, not to mention a budget model like this. However, the sound quality and volume are far behind a pair of external speakers. If the laptop is purchased to replace desktop computer, then additional acoustics will be required.

Cooling

A laptop this large has plenty of room for air cooling. It won't take much time to verify this. Under light loads the fan noise level is minimal, but more importantly it remains at a relatively low level even under heavy loads. The cooler can be heard, but not at a level that would disturb anyone in the next room. Now regarding the temperature regime. According to owners, there is slight warming of the keyboard in the palm rest area during active use GPU, but otherwise the device remains cool. You can even play Minecraft with a laptop on your lap - a MacBook would quickly fry them.

The heat comes out of the large vent on the left side of the laptop. As long as it is not closed and the gadget is not on an insulating surface, it can be used in any way.

Easy to carry

Yes, 15.6-inch laptops aren't known for their portability, but they come in a variety of sizes. The Asus K53T, for example, is in the middle of this range. The thickness of the model is 35 mm, and the weight is 2.45 kg. This means that the laptop will fit into any backpack with a laptop compartment, but will be too large for many bags. Reviews from users who took it with them to a cafe suggest that it is a little too big for small tables, but if you don’t travel often, it won’t bother you.

Battery life

Typically, laptops with discrete graphics cannot last long without recharging the battery, but AMD has developed an analogue of Optimus, available in Fusion laptops. Switching between the integrated and external graphics cards is not as smooth, as it constantly requires the user to make choices, but it provides decent battery life. In combination with proprietary power management schemes, the laptop Asus The K53T allows you to squeeze out 5 hours of use from an average 6-cell battery with Wi-Fi turned on.

Software

The K53T comes with some unnecessary software, but it's unobtrusive. Instead, there are constant reminders to update drivers, which is actually not a bad thing. This should be done anyway.

Like others Asus systems, the laptop comes with proprietary power-saving schemes that include a widget that lets you switch between various modes nutrition. The app noticeably improves battery life, making it a rare example of pre-installed software that actually improves the product.

Performance

The Asus K53T equipment belongs to the middle class of Llano laptops. Processor - 4-core hybrid AMD A6-3400M with base clock frequency 1.4 GHz and maximum 2.3 GHz in optimal conditions when not all cores are used. Asus K53T motherboard Supports up to 8 GB of DDR3-1333 RAM (6 GB installed), as well as SD, MMC and Memory Stick memory cards.

The discrete video card is represented by Radeon 6650M. It can work in CrossFire together with the integrated one. This combination is called Radeon HD 6720G2. It's difficult to gauge the performance of the CPU and GPU together, but it's clear that while AMD is hot on Intel's heels, under heavy use the company's processors provide only two-thirds the performance of Core i5 chipsets, let alone the i7 core.

The PCMark 7 test clearly demonstrates this: the laptop is 500 points behind the Dell Inspiron 14z. The Asus U36S is even further ahead of the K53T, but it's a much more expensive system with solid state drive. Thus, the characteristics of the A6-3400M processor in the Asus K53T are not impressive enough. But AMD specifically built Llano with fast integrated graphics and CrossFire support in hopes that the chipset would deliver excellent GPU performance when paired with a discrete part. Has this actually been achieved?

Synthetic graphics tests 3DMark 06 and especially 3DMark 11 show that the K53T performs well, beating the Asus N55. The most likely explanation for such a high result is optimization for complex tasks. visual effects, used in 3DMark 11. Laptops with Intel HD 3000 graphics cards cannot even run this test, since they do not support DirectX 11.

However, these metrics are meaningless if they don't impact games.

Dawn of War 2, which is heavily focused on the performance of the central processor, does not reveal the advantages of the model's architecture. In Just Cause 2, however, the result is significantly better than the U36S, and absolutely superior to the Dell Inspiron 14z with Intel HD 3000. In Battlefield 3, performance is even better - the K53T manages to achieve acceptable frame rates with average detail.

In general, as reviews show, the Asus K53T laptop demonstrates excellent performance for its price. Although gamers won't be able to enjoy high detail, they will at least be able to play any game, even one as demanding as Battlefield 3. This is a major win for AMD in the budget segment, because decent power is still quite good in sub-$1000 laptops difficult to find.

Boot times (42.3 seconds) and sleep recovery times (25.5 seconds) are not surprising for laptops with mechanical hard drives.

Conclusion

One of the main advantages that distinguishes Asus laptops is their prices. On the line model they are quite democratic. At $670 for the A53TA-A1 or $630 for the A53TA-XE2, it's inexpensive considering their level of performance. Although Core i5 is superior AMD processor A6 in terms of performance, the Asus K53T's Radeon 66720G graphics card is an excellent combination of integrated and discrete graphics that provides the resources needed for even the most demanding games, albeit at modest settings. That's rare for a laptop under $1,000.

Despite the gaming support, the K53T provides decent battery life for 15.6" laptops. This makes it ideal for student gamers. It is inexpensive, portable and high-performance.

However, compared to HP and Dell laptops, this model seems to be lagging behind. The Asus K53T has a body (reviews confirm this) that is not particularly attractive, the keyboard and touchpad are mediocre and inferior to many models in its class. This reduces the attractiveness of the model.

The ASUS K53S laptop does not fit into the “budget” ASUS “K” line at all, since it is not only equipped Core processor i5, but also has a discrete graphics core, as well as an aluminum body. But what tricks did ASUS have to resort to to fit into low price? We will talk about all this in our article.

Laptops in the "budget" segment are becoming increasingly important for manufacturers as they account for a significant portion of sales. Platform Sandy Bridge provides high performance, sufficient for all typical user tasks, and even in this initial segment (or in the lower segment of the mass market, as they say today), the equipment of laptops is constantly improving, they are beginning to acquire high-quality cases. Most users do not game on laptops, but work on everyday applications, so the question arises: is it necessary to buy expensive laptops? New line The K53S makes it easy to answer by just looking at the specs.

The "K" family can be compared with modern developments in the automotive market. The manufacturer's former "compact" models are moving into the middle class, and today it is quite difficult to find reasons why it is worth taking a model from a more expensive line. In the case of ASUS, it remains the “N” family; it does have significant differences, such as an improved sound system (B&O IcePower) or a higher-resolution display, although today the “budget” models have the same stylish aluminum body.

Prices the lineup K53S are today closer to expensive representatives of the class of 15" office laptops, since they cost about 690 euros (from 24 thousand rubles in Russia). But if you take into account the equipment, namely Intel processor Core i5-2430M, GeForce GT 540M graphics core and 8 GB of memory, the price seems quite reasonable.

As usual, we will start the review with the case. And in this regard, the laptop has something to boast about. The cover is made of plastic, but thanks to the embossing it does not look cheap, making the K53S stand out from other models. Honestly, many self-assembled laptops would be jealous appearance ASUS. The cover material is not glossy, which means it will not quickly fill with fingerprints - at some angle they will be visible, but nothing more. For everyday mobile use, the case material could be made more rigid. And if you don't handle your 15" laptop carefully, scratches can quickly appear on the lid.

Impressions change as soon as you open the display lid. Thanks to the textured aluminum body, we get almost an analogue of the N line (which in its current form has almost completely gotten rid of plastic cases). However, aluminum itself does not mean so much - it’s all about its quality and finish, and strength should not be forgotten. We liked the color shade ASUS chose: following the current fashion, you will get a laptop with a metallic brown color. The body itself is not glossy; the lacquered finish only affects the obligatory frame around the display and the spaces between the keys. How well such a finish will stand the test of time is another matter.

The quality of the K53S materials (especially considering the price) is beyond criticism. Fortunately, ASUS did not skimp on build quality. All sharp edges of the laptop are carefully processed, and there is no cracking of the case.

The dimensions of the K53S laptop are quite consistent with those typical for 15" models. Of course, one cannot say that such a laptop will be comfortable to carry with you on a regular basis, and the weight is 3 kg. But 15" laptops are rarely used for constant mobility. However, the K53S is not that heavy, so you can easily carry the laptop with you - but for daily lecture attendance, for example, there are more convenient models.

ASUS used a traditional keyboard layout. The size of the keys is 15 x 15 mm, the distance between them is 4 mm. This approach has worked well in the past. But ASUS also decided to integrate a numeric keypad - and this is difficult to implement on 15" models without resorting to compromises. Therefore, the keys of the numeric keypad are 11 mm wide, that is, significantly smaller, and not so convenient to work with. In addition, the "0" key " shared its place with the right arrow, which also had to be made smaller than usual. However, such an approach is quite typical for 15" laptops.

In practice, typing on the keyboard is not so comfortable, since the keyboard flexes a lot. While the aluminum palm rests are relatively hard, the keyboard area is much softer. To be fair, an ASUS keyboard with a similar design can be quite comfortable to type on, as we've noted with many laptops in the past, but not the K53S. In addition, the pressure point has a poor feel, so typing on this keyboard will not be as pleasant.

The dimensions of the touchpad are average, namely 93 x 54 mm, while the touchpad itself is slightly recessed into the surface of the case. Since it matches the color of the hand rest panels, the integration into the body is quite good. Sliding the finger along the surface is carried out without any particular complaints, and we were also quite satisfied with the accuracy. There is also support for multiple multi-touch touches.

So far we've been pleased with the K53S, but it remains to be seen whether the positive impression will continue once we've explored the interfaces.

Since the display of 15" laptops is often folded back behind the body, ASUS has moved most of the connectors to the side and front panel. However, on the front you will only get a card reader.

Therefore, all interfaces are placed on the right or left. On the left side you get a USB port, thankfully a modern 3.0 standard. There are also VGA and HDMI video outputs - for most consumers they will be quite enough. The delivery package is completed with an RJ-45 wired network socket and a power connector. The last two connectors, in our opinion, are not optimally located - they are too close to the front of the case. Since 15" laptops are often used when installed on a desktop, the cables will get in the way. The ventilation holes of the built-in ASUS IceCool cooling system are located well, closer to the back of the case, so the panels for resting the hands will not heat up.

On the right, most of the panel is occupied by an optical drive - it can read Blu-ray discs. The drive is moved to the rear of the case, and at the front you get two more USB ports and a pair of audio jacks.

Overall, the K53S provides a typical set of interfaces, although a second USB 3.0 port would definitely be nice. But for such a scene, you can be glad that at least one port is installed.