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Asus this week lauded its latest laptops' successful attempt to win the thumbs-up from audio specialist Dolby. Announcing two new machines, Asus said one comes with the Dolby Home Theater stamp of approval, while the other ships with "gameplay transforming" Dolby Digital Live technology.

The Home Theater accolade goes to the W2J for its 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound system ready for playback through the notebook's speakers, headphones or a multi-speaker set-up. It also an analogue and digital TV tuner that comes with a remote control.

The Centrino-branded machine is based on a 2GHz Core Duo T2500 processor. It's got a 17in, 1,680 x 1,050 display driven by an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB of dedicated memory, expandable to 512MB using HyperMemory-linked system RAM, of which there's 1GB of 667MHz DDR 2. Connectivity comes courtesy of 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet. It offers 120GB of HDD storage and a DVD±R/RW slotload drive.

The A7J has much the same spec., though it's based on a lesser, Core Duo T2400 and ships with a 100GB hard drive. It also has an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, but the stand-out feature is Dolby Digital Live, which converts any audio source in Dolby Digital in real time, "immersing players in high-quality surround sound that puts them at the center of the action", Asus claimed.

Both machines are available now and come with a two-year collect and return warranty, free case and a mouse. The A7J costs around £1,399, the W2J £1,999. Both prices include VAT. ®

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