Asus N10J-A1

Screen Size: 10.2”
Battery Life: 4 Hours
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium / Windows XP
Weight: 3.5lbs

On the surface the N10J looks like just about every other small laptop around. It's not got any particular design features that stand out; it runs a similar chip, OS and ram options. It's small, lightweight and portable. What really makes the N10J stand apart from its competition is on the inside: a dedicated 3D graphics chip.

Gamers have always had to sacrifice a lot when they move to portable systems. Firstly, a laptop is always more expensive than the equivalent desktop system. Secondly, upgrading is more difficult. Thirdly, heat from a separate graphics card can be a major issue. That doesn't mean there isn't any practical use or market for the world of small laptops to get in on the gaming action however, providing you are realistic about the systems abilities.

The dedicated graphics chip is a relatively powerful GeForce 9300. The genius of the system is that it also has integrated graphics, so when you're not gaming you can turn off the high powered graphics and save massive amounts of battery life. Other features are fairly standard such the Atom CPU and 160GB hard drive. The screen weighs in at 10", large than most small laptops but a good compromise for gaming. Unfortunately games aren't designed with small laptops in mind, and you'll find yourself limited by the awkward 1024x600 resolution.

Connectivity is good with Bluetooth included as standard. There's also a DVI port which is another first in the small laptop market and an excellent addition considering that the N10J is all about graphical ability. Don't forget that plugging the system into a larger monitor and trying to run games at that monitors resolution is unlikely to gain any decent results. The graphic card isn't designed to cope with the resolution of every day monitors.
The system runs on Windows XP though a Linux powered quick launch environment is available from boot. This gives you access to both a web browser and a media player, handy for quick use or times when battery life is a high priority.
XP is by far the best choice for a portable operating system that focused on gaming, and it works well with the GeForce card. Gaming performance isn't exactly cutting edge, but you shouldn't expect it to be for a system weighing around 3 pounds. What it does offer is a device that’s more than capable of playing popular games like The Sims and World of Warcraft out of the box. A basic rule of thumb is that most games over 3 years old will work great on the N10J. Anything newer will be hit or miss and the newest games simply won’t run.

Thanks to the switch which turns off the high powered graphics card and a trademark ASUS 6-cell battery offering, the systems battery life is very good. For people that really can't leave PC gaming behind when they have to leave the house, it's pretty much the only option in the small laptop world right now. Luckily, it's a good one.