14 DAY TRIAL // Even though more than a month has passed since the introduction of AMD's A-Series mobile APUs, availability of notebooks based on these processors is still scarce, but Asus has recently started selling the Llano-powered A43TA laptop in Asia.
The machine is built around a 14-inch glossy LED backilt screen, that has a native resolution of 1366x768, and at its heart stands an AMD A6-3400M accelerated processing unit.
Designed to be used in entry-level laptops, this chip is comprised out of four processing cores clocked at 1.4GHz, which can reach speeds up to 2.3GHz in Turbo Core mode, and also includes an integrated Radeon HD 6520G GPU with 320 stream processors running at 400MHz.
In Asus' machine, the AMD APU can be paired together with as much as 8GB of DDR3-1333 system memory as well as with a 500GB hard drive that has a spindle speed of 7200RPM.
The integrated graphics core is seconded by a Radeon HD 6650M discrete graphics card with 1GB of video buffer, and both of these can be used together in a dual graphics mode for providing enhanced gaming performance.
The rest of the Asus A43TA specifications list includes a DVD Super Multi optical drive, WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth connectivity, a VGA webcam, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and VGA video outputs as well as a multi-format card reader.
A chiclet keyboard with anti-dust keys ensures user comfort even after extended periods of typing, while a multi-touch touchpad allows A43TA owners to easily scroll through web pages and pinch-zoom in and out of images.
Users have the option of choosing between a 6-cell and an 8-cell battery pack. When configured with the former, the Asus A43TA can run about four hours without a recharge and weights approximately 2.3Kg.
The Asus notebook is available throughout Asia with prices going as low as 18,600 Taiwanese dollars, which translates into roughly $643 US. (via XFastest)