Asus W90Vp-X1

The Asus W90Vp-X1 comes up big in several ways. Aside from its massive dimensions, it delivers blazing productivity and graphics performance and is loaded with top-shelf multimedia features, including a huge high-resolution display and a rocking sound

Key Specs
Processor: 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9600
Memory: 6GB RAM
Storage: 320GB hard drive
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
Screen: 18.4 inches (1,920x1,080)
Graphics: Dual ATI Radeon HD4870 (CrossFire, 512MB)
Weight: 11.5 pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 2.5x17.4x12.9 inches
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)

Every so often a notebook comes along that is so impressive that it raises the bar for all comers. The Asus W90Vp-X1, available exclusively at Newegg.com, is that notebook. Not only does this desktop replacement set new 3D-graphics and productivity-speed records, but it also features a beautiful HD display, a powerful audio system, and an easy-to-use overclocking utility that lets you squeeze a few extra clock cycles out of the processor. All this, plus a generous warranty program and a relatively affordable $2,199 price, earns the W90Vp-X1 our Editors’ Choice award.

Measuring 2.5x17.4x12.9 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 11.5 pounds, the W90Vp-X1 is one of the heaviest laptops we’ve seen, outweighing the dual-screen Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds by nearly half a pound. Factor in the gargantuan power brick (it alone measures 7.7x3.7x1.7 inches and weighs 2.2 pounds), and you’re looking at nearly 14 pounds of total travel weight. Fortunately, Asus includes a free Republic of Gamers backpack for those who want to take their game on the road.

Beneath the brushed-aluminum lid, you’ll find a gorgeous 18.4-inch LCD with a 1,920x1,080 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, which means it can display HD content at 1080p without stretching or scaling. The brightly lit screen delivers incredible color quality and wide viewing angles, making it ideal for gaming and viewing videos. We only wish the high-gloss coating weren’t so reflective. Alas, this particular model lacks a Blu-ray drive, so you’ll have to settle for watching standard-definition DVD movies, which nevertheless look great on the big screen. Asus assures us that a Blu-ray model will be available through the retail channel in the near future, however.

A 2-megapixel Webcam embedded in the screen’s upper bezel makes conducting video chats and capturing and editing video and still images easy, especially with the included Asus LifeFrame software. The camera’s image quality tends to be grainy, but it's more than adequate for Skyping and chatting purposes. As with the Asus N80Vn-A1, the last notebook we reviewed from Asus, the Webcam can be used with the SmartLogon software as a face-recognition security tool.



The spacious keyboard deck sports a black brushed-metal finish with a glossy black bezel that frames the keyboard, which is roomy and features a dedicated number pad on the right side. The touch pad is also sizable and much more responsive than the one that comes with the N80Vn-A1. A fingerprint reader is sandwiched between the two highly polished mouse buttons, and a set of touch-sensitive media-player controls and a volume slider are positioned to the left of the keyboard.



Above the keyboard are a touch-sensitive display-brightness controller and six function keys, including a speaker-mute control, a touch-pad on/off button, a zoom button that magnifies the area of the display where your mouse cursor is positioned, and a Turbo Gear key that lets you enter into a power-saving mode and toggle between standard and overclocking modes. The Turbo Gear utility lets you bump up the W90Vp-X1’s bus speed incrementally by 3, 5, 10, 15, or 17 percent, which in turn speeds up the processor clock. At its highest setting (17 percent), the CPU runs at 3.28GHz (versus 2.8GHz, its native speed).

There’s also a key that launches the LifeFrame application, and the Splendid key lets you switch among five preset display modes (normal, gamma, vivid, theater, soft). At the far right is the main power button, and an Express Gate button is on the far left. The Express Gate button lets you launch specific applications, including a Web browser, a photo viewer, a media player, a gaming portal, and Skype, without having to boot into Windows. Audiophiles will appreciate the W90Vp-X1’s robust sound system, which consists of four speakers plus a subwoofer and provides lots of volume with booming bass.



here are plenty of I/O ports scattered around the back and sides of the chassis. On the left are two audio ports (headphone and microphone) and a USB port; on the right are three additional USB ports, a FireWire port, and an eSATA connector. Here you’ll also find the DVD±RW drive, a Wi-Fi switch, an ExpressCard/54 slot, and a multiformat flash-card reader. Around back are VGA and HDMI video outputs, modem and Ethernet jacks, and the power jack. The system comes with a 320GB hard drive spinning at 7,200rpm, which comes loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit), CyberLink DVD Suite, and a handful of Asus utilities such as AI Touchmedia, a media-center application; CopyProtect, a password-data-protection tool; and NB Probe, which monitors system health, including hard drive usage and internal temperature. The system also has room for an additional 2.5-inch internal SATA drive if you require more storage capacity.



The W90Vp-X1 uses an Asus X38-based motherboard populated with a Core 2 Duo T9600 processor (2.8GHz) and a whopping 6GB of DDR2 memory. Video is driven by two ATI Radeon HD4870 controllers running in CrossFire mode. This powerful combination churned out some very impressive scores on our benchmark tests, and in some cases, took top honors compared with the best-performing notebooks we've seen. On FutureMark’s PCMark Vantage 64-bit productivity test, the W90Vp-X1 turned in a leading score of 4,665, beating out Gateway’s P7808u by a single point and besting the Alienware M17 by more than 1,100 points. We overclocked the CPU to 3.28GHz and ran the test again for a score of 5,040 (an 8 percent increase). The system completed our iTunes encoding test in a quick 3 minutes and 9 seconds, giving it the number-one spot in its class.

Its Windows Media Encoder time of 5 minutes and 16 seconds was also above average but trailed the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds and the Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 by more than a minute and a half. It completed the same test in 4 minutes and 29 seconds with overclocking enabled.

When it comes to 3D performance, the W90 performed brilliantly. Its 3DMark06 score of 12,903 while running at its native 1,920x1,200 resolution overtook both the Toshiba and Lenovo systems, as well as the Maingear eX-L, which scored 12,665. When we overclocked the system, it returned a score of 14,680, a 14 percent increase over the standard clock speed. At 1,024x768, the system also beat the record with a score of 13,297, beating out both the Toshiba and Lenovo systems, which scored 12,707 and 12,639 respectively, though it couldn’t pass the Maingear’s 15,364.

On our Company of Heroes DirectX 9 test, the W90Vp-X1 scored a blistering 151 frames per second (fps) while running in native mode, beating the Gateway by more than 30fps. While overclocked, that score jumped to 167fps, a 10 percent increase. Running the same test in DX10 mode produced a score of 54.6fps, which is the highest notebook score we’ve seen for this test. It should come as no surprise that the W90Vp-X1 lasted only 1 hour and 9 minutes on our DVD battery-rundown test, despite being equipped with a big 12-cell battery. Still, we don’t expect users to stray too far from a power source with this system.

Asus covers the W90Vp-X1 with a generous two-year warranty that comes with one year of accidental damage coverage, including drops and spills. Better still, the company will pay for shipping in both directions if you have to send the system in for repair.

Leading performance, killer multitimedia features, and a reasonable price make the Asus W90Vp-X1 easy to recommend to hard-core gamers or anyone who demands true desktop performance from a notebook.
Price (at time of review): $2,199