Without a doubt, many of you have heard about Bang & Olufsen, as well as their exquisite (yet extremely expensive) audio systems. Plus, even more are acquainted to Asus and its fame as one of the world's biggest notebook manufacturers. So, what happens when the two meet? Well, the result is the N73J multimedia notebook, which we've just hand the chance to take a very quick look at.

To be perfectly honest, we didn't really expect the N73J to be such an exquisite audio performer, but it really seems that those high-resonance chambers provided by Bang & Olufsen ICEPower technology can do a lot of “damage”. The model presented here (a 17-incher) was able to fill up with music a living-room sized space, without any compromise in audio quality and power. In fact, for a second there, we've actually started looking for the extra audio system delivering all that sweet music, when, in fact, that music came just from the laptop.

The secret behind this impressive audio experience is related not only to the B&O technology we've mentioned earlier, but also to Asus' own SonicMaster audio technology, which focuses on playing a very clear and natural sound, instead of simply amplifying it. The sound quality is further improved by the automatic volume adjustment system, which makes sure that both highs and bass are perfectly adjusted to the speaker's own audio characteristics.

Leaving sound aside, we'll have to point out that the N73J is, in fact, a full-fledged multimedia performer, featuring a 17-inch HD+ display (15 and 14-inch versions are also available), as well as a whole list of output options, including HDMI and SPDIF. Plus, the system also has what it takes for playback, since the hardware configuration includes two very roomy SATA HDDs, a choice of Core CPUS from Intel and plenty of RAM to go around.

Notably, the portable system is quite future proof, since it supports Bluetooth 3.0 as an option, while in the same time packing an USB 3.0 port, which will surely come in handy as soon as compatible portable storage solutions become more widespread.Other things we really liked about this system were the hardware (sliding switch) on/off control for the webcam, as well as the very smooth and not really fingerprint-friendly palmrest. Keyboard was also pretty cool and nice to the touch, and the same can be said about the touchpad as well.

Sadly, things are good, but not great as far as the battery power is concerned. So, the basic package of the Asus N73J will include a 6-cell Li-Ion battery, which is touted as being capable of providing up to 4 hours of playback in “normal usage conditions”. We're not too sure what that means exactly, but we'll probably get to find out sooner or later.

It's way too early to talk about the N73J's behavior in other applications, such as games or office work, but we do promise you one thing: this very impressive multimedia notebook with an even more impressive built-in audio system will arrive in our testing labs sooner or later, and we'll give you more info on its capabilities at that time.






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