Asus U53JC Bamboo collection

Asus' U53JC Bamboo Collection sets itself apart from the competition here for many reasons but the most prominent is because it is partly covered in bamboo. 

The notebook's lid, trackpad (including buttons) and palm rest are covered in bamboo and give this rig a distinctive and striking appearance. The bamboo also feels great to touch and from an environmental standpoint, using the material has allowed Asus to reduce its plastic use per notebook by 20%.

Working on the U53JC is a stress-free experience thanks to its large keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard is responsive and feels fairly solid though we noticed a little bit of flex at the centre. The trackpad offers a fair amount of tracking space and despite being covered in bamboo is very responsive.

Running our benchmarks on the machine it became obvious the Asus was more of an application machine rather than a gaming monster; while its PCMark Vantage scores were strong and competitive with the other machines in this test, its gaming figures of 38fps and 13fps in Street Fighter IV and World in Conflict were basic. As an everyday machine the notebook has plenty of oomph thanks to its swift 7200rpm hard drive, fast CPU and healthy 4GB of system memory.

The notebook also packs a Blu-ray combo drive and USB3.0 support and given that it's priced at just US $1,635, it offers fantastic value-for-money.