Traded in my old XP laptop for credit on this Windows 8 laptop. I waited until Windows 8.1 became available before doing this since I heard horror stories about Windows 8.
Overall I’m quite pleased. After upgrading to Windows 8.1 I was able to install lots of software that supposedly doesn’t work well with Windows 8 but I’ve had no problems(especially with Adobe Creative Suite 3). It works like a charm.
The computer is quite fast. I’ve done lots of video editing already(Pinnacle Studio 16) with no problems or crashes. I did quite a bit of tweaking(like we all do), especially turning off lots of the visual eye candy so everything runs faster.
What I like:
Design is excellent. It will be very easy to keep this machine clean.
Trackpad(which I use ALOT) is very sturdy.
Intel Core i5 processors blow away every other computer in my house.
Screen looks great.
As soon as I got the laptop, I downloaded all of the updates from MIcrosoft, then downloaded Windows 8.1 and its updates. I really like it, especially since it boots right to the desktop and when I want to go to the tile screen, I can do so easily.
I have a fast internet connection(50 down, 6 up) so it was quick to do the updates but overall this laptop just seems very snappy.
It’s really, REALLY quiet. I had Speedfan installed on my other laptops to keep checking the temperature but this laptop runs very cool.
It does NOT have a built in video card and I was told I may have problems doing video editing. Haven’t run into any problems yet.
What could be better:
There is 4GB of RAM and I’m going to upgrade. According to the manual, it can use up to 10GB of RAM but there is only one memory slot so I’m going to upgrade to 8GB RAM. Not sure how you would get 10GB of RAM.
On the left side near the front are 1 3.0 USB port and 1 UBS 2.0 port, but none on the right side or the back. I use a USB hub with this laptop so it hasn’t been a problem.
The internal hard drive is 5400rpm so I will be upgrading to a 7200rpm drive a little later. They recommend an SSD drive as an upgrade, but I don’t trust SSD drives yet. Technology of the SSD drives needs another year or two in my opinion.
The ASUS site where you download drivers isn’t great. It’s ok. I like the Dell drivers site better.
If you were waiting to skip Windows 8(like I was), it’s ok to get a new computer now since Windows 8.1 is out. It is a nice balance between desktop and apps, far different than what the first version of Windows 8 was like. I will warn you that I’ve been messing around with the laptop for a few hours each day over the past week, and I’m just now feeling comfortable where to find everything.
Very good experience to this point. This is my first ASUS computer(I’ve always had Dells) and I think I made a good decision. It’s very solid in both design and performance, and ASUS seems to give a very good value for the amount of money spent.
UPDATE: so I decided to go ahead and upgrade the RAM. Every place that this computer is listed says that it has one memory slot and it upgradeable to 6GB RAM total. I got one stick 8GB RAM assuming that I could remove the stick of 4GB RAM, install the 8GB RAM and it would recognize 6GB RAM. I bought the 8GB RAM, opened the back and saw that there were TWO memory slots, one on top of the other. The bottom one had the 4GB RAM and the top one was empty. I installed the 8GB stick in the empty slot, booted up, and now the computer recognizes 12GB RAM! Nice surprise! If you’re thinking about upgrading the RAM, I suggest that you open the cover first and see if you have two memory slots(bottom one used, top one empty). Very pleased!