Audio representation is absolutely awful on the U36S: voices sound muffled and far away, and music is full of weird echoes. I'm not sure what's going on with these speakers, exactly, but they're very painful to listen to. Occasionally the U36S tries to do some faux-surround-sound, and so voices end up sounding even farther away. For example, imagine listening to a TV that's in your neighbor's garage. That's pretty much what these speakers sound like.

Despite the Asus U36S's speaker issues, this is an awesome machine. It's pretty, slim, and light, and it has excellent battery life and good graphics. Plus, it's got a bunch of little features you'll love: USB 3.0, Blu-ray disc software, Bluetooth, and switchable graphics. It's not horrible performance-wise, either. Heck, if Asus could put some real speakers in this thing it would basically be perfect.