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Own your own private island? Check. Live in a huge mansion? Check. Lamborghini Gallardo in the garage? Check. Then you'll probably want to add this to your collection - the Asus Lamborghini VX2. Asus, isn't normally associated with high flying uber brands, so in a move flagrantly designed to boost its own sex appeal it has cosseted up with the Italian thoroughbred car maker to create as it says the, "unparalleled fusion... of advanced technology and astonishing design". Of course, it's not actually unparalleled at all. Acer has been doing the same thing with Ferrari for years and Asus has just nicked the idea. But hey, if it produces notebooks as gorgeous as this, then why not.

Personally, I've decided that if I found a supercar shaped amount of cash ready to burn I'd probably go for a Lamborghini over a Ferrari. After all, if you've got it, and you really want to flaunt it then why not do it properly. Lamborghini's are just a bit more flash, a bit more bling and the Gallardo is just a stunning looking car.

Despite the tantalising glimpses of the Gallardo in Asus' advertising artwork, the VX2 doesn't really resemble a Gallardo. It doesn't have perfectly balanced, sculpted curves or a poised aggressive stance. In fact, if I felt like being harshly dismissive I could say that when closed it's just a laptop with a yellow lid. But that would be unfair on what is certainly a great looking machine, with many exquisite design details. The piano lacquer finish on the yellow lid is bright, smooth and elegant and it's eye catching in true Lamborghini style. If you crave attention, this is ya boy.

The Lamborghini emblem sits proudly on the lid, with the bull logo raised, while the Asus logo is placed discreetly lower down on the left. A black honeycomb grille is located on the front, which has the look of a car radiator grille. Underneath are four lights that shine through with icons next to them that indicate when the laptop is plugged in, charging or has Wi-Fi or the integrated Bluetooth 2.0 EDR turned on. The hinge is painted black while at the top, as is the rear of the integrated webcam. Basically it's a good looking lid.

Opening up the lid reveals a impressive widescreen 15.4in display featuring Asus' Clear Shine technology - basically a high contrast and brightness coating, that certainly makes Windows Vista Ultimate look the part. Blues look particularly good and video was smooth. Viewing angle was pretty good too - there's some colour shift and its better when from the sides, than it is horizontally, but it's not nearly as extreme as some displays.

I often criticise laptop displays for not offering enough resolution but Asus had got it right with this one. It sports a generous 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, which means that there's plenty of space for applications and multiple Windows. You'll not find this resolution on a desktop monitor smaller than 20in so some may find the icons and text too small for working with on a 15.4 display. I don't normally have a problem with small text but even I had to zoom the document up to be comfortable writing this on the laptop. If you ever have problems squinting at small text you may have a problem here. The only other concern is with this many pixels to drive the graphics chip may struggle but we'll look at that when we get to performance.

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