ASUS T9 Notebook

The T9 contains no internal removable media drives. Instead, going around the case reveals the following.

First, and perhaps most noticeably on the front one can find ASUS's MP3 DJ Box. We will discuss this more in depth in the hardware features section, but what the unit accepts a removable MP3 player that plugs directly into a hinged port in the front of the laptop.

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Moving onto the left side of the laptop we find the audio connectors in a fairly easily accessible location. Directly next to the 3.5mm connectors lies one of the system's two USB ports and next to that an IR window.

The next other item located on the left side of the system is the CPU exhaust vent. Here hot air exits the notebook case at quite extreme temperatures. When plugged in we were able to get the side of the system up to 137.3 degrees Fahrenheit (58.5 degrees Celcius).

The left side of the system is topped off with an unpowered four-pin IEEE-1394 Firewire port and the system's power port.

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Moving around to the system's back we find the following: one USB port, a PS/2 port, ASUS's AiBOX 50-pin connector, a EPP/ECP parallel port, a VGA-output port, a modem jack (powered by a AC'97 V.90 modem controller), a network jack (powered by a RealTek LAN controller), and a lock mechanism. The system had no cover for these components, which is not necessarily a bad thing being that they are recessed enough not to cause a problem.

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The right side of the notebook is the home of the two PCMCIA 2.1 slots that are capable of accepting one Type III or two Type II/I PCMCIA cards.

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The bottom of the system provides the battery and battery release as well as the hard drive and the MP3 DJ Box release. Also found on the bottom of the system is a large cooling vent measuring three inches by three inches. The location of the cooling device made for one hot bottomed laptop. The bottom of the laptop between the MP3 DJ Box and the cooling vent got up to a toasty 120.0 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celcius) while on AC power. That was enough heat to make our laps sweat a bit when leaning the system on our bodies.

The ASUS T9 is not a thin and light but it is also not a big notebook. The entire system measures 11.7" x 9.4" x 1.16" and weights about 4.7 pounds. For the speed and the large display that the unit has, it is really not all that big but is certainly missing out by having no internal removable media drive bays. A floppy drive is provided via an external USB floppy drive while a DVD/CD/CD-R or other IDE device is connected using the AiBOX 50-pin which is proprietary to ASUS. The connector goes to a box that accepts notebook style ATAPI drives. The drive bay measures 170x160x18 mm while the floppy drive measures a smaller 103x142x17mm.

Note that lacking is an s-video or composite out port, preventing the system from easily being hooked up to a television.