Side by Side Comparison of: Asus

I've been using this laptop for over a year and my favorite thing about this laptop is the gorgeous IPS monitor! It has such good contrast and rich intense vibrant colors, it's the best quality monitor I've had to date. I love playing games with the monitor of this laptop, it makes every game graphics pop out with rich intense colors and amazing contrast and clarity of graphics. I like how it has backlit keyboard and on the back it also has backlit. I've had no real issues with this laptop except for the driver power state failure blue screen error but that was quickly and easily solved by updating my Nvidia graphics drivers. At first I had issues with the mouse cursor because it doesn't seem as quick/precise/responsive even after I adjusted the mouse settings on Windows, the movement of the mouse cursor doesn't seem as quick or as precise as all previous laptops touchpads I've ever used, that's why they included a separate mouse because they know their mouse touchpad is not that great but after using this laptop every single day for over a year, I got used to the mouse cursor movement and mouse touchpad already. You can also use a USB mouse and it works perfectly fine, very responsive and fast when using a USB mouse. I know there are better gaming laptops out there but this one is pretty good. Also, it never gets hot when using the laptop normally like browsing the internet and using Skype and listening to music, having a billion tabs open, multitasking on the laptop, the laptop keeps itself cool pretty well. I've had issues with other laptops in the past where they start to get hot no matter what I do and other problems like charging port malfunctioning or battery problems but so far, this laptop has held perfectly well! No problems at all even after using it daily for over a year. :)

I've only had this laptop for 2 days now, and I must say, I'm VERY pleased with it.The design is beautiful. The keyboard is amazing, it feels so good writing this review on it!I bought the non-IPS screen.. and I thought that I was going to be a bit sad but.. this is just a beauty. colors are amazingly accurate, brightness if awesome! overall computer and screen size is PERFECT!I'm actually happy it's not touch screen :DTouchpad is very accurate, I haven't had any single problems with the mixed mouse buttons. I use 1 finger to click and the other to move the cursor and it doesn't move a bit!After setting up Win 8.1 (and downloading many games) I restarted the pc and it booted in 15 secs! this HDD is blazing fast!Graphics are awesome! LoL at max settings goes at 130 FPS, BattleBlock Theater goes at 65 FPS, CS:GO everything high and AA x2 goes at 120+ and everything without stutters/frame spikes!Webcam is average and Mic, according to my fellow skype friends, is crystal clear!The heat is not a big deal at all! it only gets "hot" after a long time of playing graphic intensive games :), also, I bought the AMNIE 4 Fan cooling pad, and it has served me pretty well!Battery seems to last long for it to be a gaming laptop, I think it took 10 mins to lose like 5% while playing CS:GO on balanced settingsI've actually got no cons at all aside from Windows 8.1 xD but let's hope Win 10 fixes everything (I saw pictures of the normal start menu!)I'll try to update as soon as I get REAL cons, which I doubt I will :)

Best pc/laptop I have ever owned. Everything from the exterior and interior, it is literally everything I've ever wanted. I've been a pc gamer since I was 12. I'm 24 now and I've been through many pc's. I could never handle anything better than say, a 2d video game that ran on dx9 that only took maybe 20-30% of my physical memory. The second I launched an music app it would lag, freeze or crash. This computer will handle anything you throw at it. I am an avid counter strike go player and playing this game on max settings on my led, 1 ms Asus gaming monitor, I am in absolute bliss. I am performing better than I ever have. The lights on the keyboard are very effective for night, the weight isn't so heavy, and I love the aluminum finish as the cover. Overall, coming from a guy who never really invested more than $400-500 on a laptop, invest the extra $500-$600 on this standard version because chances are it will be all you need. This laptop is an absolute beast of a machine. Things you may want to be aware of, it does run rather hot at times, but it seems to cool off after a while. Other than that, there isn't a single negative thing I can say about this. Would highly recommend for the average, casual gamer who is looking for a very reasonable price for some serious and respectable craftsmanship.

After a couple days of owning this machine my impression is WOW, WOW, WOW!!!I'm not a gamer so I can't speak for that crowd. I'm a professional day trader and will use this as my mobile trading station since the market is often very slow during the summer and I don't want to be pinned down at home.So here's what I can say.The PROS's:1. Package arrived on time and everything worked perfectly out of the box.2. Minimal bloatware that was easily removed.3. The quality of construction was much better than expected. Very study feeling.4. LOVE the keyboard. Keys easy to identify and it just feels good.5. The IPS monitor is great. The viewing angle is extremely wide.6. For what I do this thing runs ice cold. That's with running 4 trading platforms, charting software(killed my old i3 HP laptop), chatrooms, AIM, and Chrome with about 6-7 tabs open. WIth all that going on my old i3 would start to get very hot and slow. This beast doesn't even break a sweat.7. FAST! My desktop is a i7 4790K with 32gb ram and Samsung EVO PRO ssd. I cant really tell much difference. My charting software took 3 minutes to load on the old i3, about 15 sec on this thing. About the same as my desktop. Boot times are really quick too. Think seconds.8. The ISP screen allows such hi resolution that I can fit quite a bit more on the same sized screen. I wasn't expecting that so that was a nice positive surprise. Fwiw, I'm 54 and my eyes are not that good. I'm shocked I can read the small font but it's just so very clear/tight and vivid that its actually no problem.9.It's quiet. So far more quiet than my old laptop was even just web browsing.10. The track pad isn't bad at all. I'm not sure if I got lucky or if everyone else is just used to something better than I've ever had, but this track pad beats the crap out of the HP Probook I have.11. The wifi card seems awesome. My router is in the basement of our house(no windows). I can sit in my driveway and still get a strong signal. The HP can't do that.12. It's light. Very light. Probably weighs no more than my HP but the weight is better distributed. I can easily walk around carrying this with 1 hand with the display open. I thought it would be a little heavier.Cons: (being really nit picky here)1. It's a finger print/dust magnet. Doesn't matter to me as this is a work machine not a trophy.2. I think it's storing temp files to the ssd drive thus taking up space.My desktop does that too and I just delete them once in a while, but for some reason I can't figure out how to do that on this machine yet. Both run WIn 8.1 too so that's odd. I probably figure that out in time, or maybe someone here will tell me how:)3. The sound isn't very good. Really lacks bass. Doesn't matter to me but may for some.4 I think the colors are off. Reds sort of look like neon. I can probably adjust that just haven't taken the time. Any suggestions?Anyway, for what i bought this laptop for, I think I'm going to be very happy. I'll likely never experience the GTX 960M card, but I love the overall speed and feel of this computer.

I purchased this laptop to use for graphic design and video editing after researching comparable set ups for 3-4 months. I work from home and needed a computer that could do it all, while being portable. My current set up consist of a universal docking station (UDS) that I use to run my dual monitor set up from the laptop as well as wireless keyboard and mouse. I also have 3 external hard drives connected through the UDS. In order to get maximum performance out of this machine, I purchased a 500 GB SSD to swap with the 1 TB drive. This conversion was simple and did not require much effort. The 1 TB drive is easily accessible via the bottom removable cover.The computer is fast, once the power button is pressed, you will see the welcome screen. The processing speed is adequate and allows me to run multiple programs at once (ie: Indesign, Illustrator, Premiere & Dreamweaver). The 2GB GTX 960m does the job. When editing videos, I can playback in full res from the preview monitor. There are no hangups when working in the programs, providing me an efficient work flow.If you are in the market for an affordable laptop that will give you the increased performance you need for graphic design and video editing, I'd suggest you take a serious look at this ASUS ROG GL55.

After a very long research i had finalized between ASUS and "http://www.amazon.com/GE60-Apache-Pro-867-i7-4720HQ-Computer/dp/B00TUEP0Y8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1427549029&sr=1-1&keywords=MSI+GE60+Apache+Pro-867+15.6%22+i7-4720HQ+16GB+120GB+SSD+%2B+1TB+7200rpm+HDD+NVIDIA+GTX+960M+2GB+Full+HD+Windows+8.1+Gaming+Laptop+Computer" MSI laptop. The specs were exactly the same. I chose Asus over upgraded version of msi, because i liked the design and also i felt the cooling technology is better in Asus. I received this laptop yesterday and i am very happy. I wanted to get a very good configuration laptop at a reasonable price. Within two days of placing the order, the price has dropped by around 23$. It is definitely worth it. I am running the laptop after detaching the battery :-) When i ordered this laptop, there was only one review and it was hard to make a decision. But now, after i see many more 5 stars i feel my decision was right. I also received a nice gaming mouse. Though i prefer sleek mouse over a large one, still i liked it. I am not a game enthusiast, all i wanted was a quad core laptop i7, with 16gb ram ,SSD, backlit keyboard and good cooling. This is the best i could find within the price range.update (4/1/2015) Attached the mouse pics. The volume of the speaker is very nice. I really liked the trackpadsome very minor things which i didnt like:There is no dedicated End button (had to use shift+ num 1 key in the num pad)Finger prints :-( right from the day i opened the laptop, finger print was clearly visible.The keyboard light doesnt come up unless we login. I have seen some posts regarding this in the internet.I would have preferred a caps lock light on the key itself rather than below the trackpadBut i am not concerned about these, as these are just minor things.i liked the feature of switching of the laptop screen off (fn+ f7) without turning off the laptop, helps just in case you need to step aside for few minutes.The OS is installed on the SSD and therefore the boot time is very fast.On full charge of the battery i am getting around 5 hours runtime.

Update... close to a year in.... I still love this computer. I added a wireless mini mouse by logitech... which cuts down on the problem of the screen magnifying itself as I use the touch pad. And I just upgraded to Windows 10 which is WAAAAAAAY more user-friendly than Windows 8... and the computer seems like it is working even faster than when it was new (it had begun to slow way down with the Windows 8). So you could say I am "re-inlove" with it!.....................................................................................................................................................................................................I read a lot of reviews before purchasing this computer and I agree with most of them now that I have been enjoying it for a few weeks. Asus has provided a fabulous laptop for the money.I have to confess that my + response is partly what my mother and her peers used to call "damning with faint praise" since I am transitioning from a lemon of a little 're-furbed" Asus Netbook... after several years of thinking netbooks were "the bees knees." The little lemon had audio problems and also had the text hopping all over the page as I typed.. so you can see how a computer that allows me to just type this review and not stop to re-do things ever word or so... AND that has working audio that is loud enuf for me to watch a YouTube video without headphones... would have me grinning with relief.The big improvement for me is that it has 4 gb ram not the 2 of the netbook.. and seems to have a powerful wireless connection... so everything works speedily and I can watch any streaming item with no pauses or hiccups. AND on the 15.6" screen that seems theatre-sized compared to the 10"ers I have used for years.The full-sized keyboard will be a great thing for most folks... for me I loved the smaller netbook one... but have adjusted by now.. and the keyboard is solid and responsive without seeming too squishy... in fact the whole computer looks and feels solid ... of quality... despite it's surprisingly light weight.So far I really have only one complaint... one noted by others. The touchpad has no "left right buttons" at the bottom and swipes on the main area of it expand the screen automatically. So it is very easy to "grow" the display to 400-500% in an instant by mistake. I am gradually learning to overcome this by being sure to have my right thumb in the very bottom corner .. the area that functions as the right button... in which case I'm not moving my right digit along with my left on the pad and expanding the screen size. AND I am getting automatic at clicking on the browser and reducing the size when I goof up. It is an annoying design flaw, however that I hope Asus fixes.One flaw... for the price and the quality of all the rest.. I am willing to put up with it and still say I am grateful and delighted to have this computer that was within my price range.Basically... everything works easily and speedily with this computer

Good lightweight laptop. My wife wanted a basic laptop for reading and writing stories and general web surfing. She indicated she didn't particularly want a touch screen or need a DVD drive. This basic laptop fit the bill quite well. It is fast enough, lightweight and has a usable screen size.My wife said she wanted windows because it will be more familiar and easier to use than linux (We have linux on our primary desktop). After trying and hating windows 8, we switched to linux mint with libreoffice, which is much faster and somewhat surprisingly more familiar (she was used to win XP and office 2003).This laptop and all others with win 8 come with secure boot enabled, so you cannot access the bios by pressing F2 at startup, regardless of what the manual says. You have to boot win 8 and go through several confusing menus to access the bios. From there you can disable secure boot and allow booting from the a USB flash drive (After secure boot is disabled you can access the bios by pressing F2 on boot). From that point, linux mint is easy to install and took less time than figuring out how to access the bios. Linux mint properly recognized the ethernet, wireless, touchpad, and graphics drivers automatically, no manual tweaking or installing drivers was necessary.The bios on this laptop is UEFI, but has an old school interface like bios. But let's face it: how often do you really need to access the bios and do you really need pretty pictures and music playing while you do? I found the bios straight forward and easy to use (after disabling secure boot).

I purchased this 6 months ago because I was taking classes online and my children have taken over every piece of technology in the house. I use it 24/7 with my new job and it hasn't had any problems. My tech savy 14yr. old son selected it because he uses a very expensive ASUS, and trusted the brand at any price. I'm very satisfied with this budget friendly laptop and would purchase it again.

I got one of these when it first came out and was on sale for $219, and wish I had gotten two. When my husband used it for a little while, he liked it so much that he got one the next month and my boss liked it so much that he replaced one of the office computers that was having problems with one of these. This laptop is a fantastic value for the money. I generally do transcription, writing and sometimes I play video games with this computer. It is perfect for all of these uses. The storage is more than enough for the type of work and entertainment I do on the computer. I have barely put a dent in the first drive and the second is completely empty. The battery lasts for about 4-6 hours depending on what you're doing. If you're watching a HD movie with sound or playing a game it lasts around 4-4.5 hours and typing or surfing it lasts 6 hours, maybe a little more. The only thing I was disappointed about is that I couldn't get a spare battery or upgraded battery. I am out a lot and occasionally run out when I can't get somewhere to plug it in, but with this laptop the battery is built into the computer, not removable.

First, let me start by saying this Asus Laptop may very well be the best buy out there for the money. Now, reasons? First, it comes with a dual core Intel Processor. It has a 500gb Hard Drive, and 4GB of ram. Now, set up is very simple, even if you have never used window 8.1 before, which is another factor. You don't want a laptop with just windows 8, be sure it has the upgraded 8.1 version installed. That has eliminated the nagging little issues that windows 8 originally had. When you first turn the Asus on, it will ask you to verify your Microsoft email account, meaning Hotmail, Outlook, Msn. I would suggest opening up one of these before ordering the laptop, it will just save you time prior. Then, after a few quick clicks to accept the system setting itself up, you are good to go. Honestly, this should take about 15 minutes or so. Now, remember, it will quickly identify your wifi connection, and establish the connection for you. Once that is done, you are ready to go. Don't be intimidated by the small window panels you see on your screen, they are nothing more than options to select, to move around on the laptop.. It comes with McAfee Virus and Internet protection, which is good for 30 days, then you can decide to either keep it, or simply use any other program. I strongly suggest McAfee or Norton on this laptop. Now, it does not come with a DVD/cd Rom Drive, so if that is a major factor for you, then there is another Asus model, about $15.00 more that does include the optical drive. Most people find very little use for it these days, since almost everything can simply be downloaded these days anyway. The screen is 15.6", bright clear. The sound is also very nice from this laptop. It has a full size keyboard, 2 USB Ports, one is a 2.0 and one is a 3.0, which is for faster performance. It has a trial version of Microsoft Office also installed. All things being equal, I have nothing negative at all to say about this Asus laptop, and highly recommend it. Feel free to ask me any questions, and I will do my best to answer. I believe you will be very happy with this product. I will also mention there is one other laptop out there I also would suggest, the same price and specs is the Acer Aspire ES1-511-C59V 15.6-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) This is also an excellent buy for the money, in case you prefer Acer over Asus. Both great performing laptops.

Easily the best and fastest computer you can buy for the price. My wife watches shows and does homework on it and I was really surprised how fast the little thing is. I own a high end Laptop and it doesn't touch it, but if you are looking for a cheap computer that you can do everything but game on, then this is it.

This is my first 'Big Purchase' laptop. I have always had cheaper ones that I used for a year or two and tossed. I have to say I have been fairly pleased with this one. It has been able to run some pretty good games such as Fallout 4 without too many problems. I don't remember my games crashing or freezing very often so I really enjoyed that. This is my first Asus computer whereas I have usually gone with Toshiba or Dell. The solid state drive I purchased with it was a good idea. The start up programs are fast and I can usually get it up and running withing 20 seconds or. The keyboard is pretty solid with good background lighting, although the numbers pad is a little on the small side. I don't like the placement of the zero button. The mouse pad is responsive and gets the job done, but the left and right clicker don't really have a great distinction, making it confusing and pressing the wrong one sometimes. Good monitor, great picture, awesome colors. One of the big drawbacks is that the disc drive broke almost immediately. I think I had the laptop for maybe 3-4 months and it stopped working. I haven't dropped it or injured the CD drive at all, or at least that I'm aware of. I can put disks in but it will not read them. Also I found that it did not work very good with Windows 10 initially but I think I'd place that on Windows 10 being a new operating system and not necessarily the manufacturer. All in all I would say I am pleased with this being my first purchase at this price point on a laptop. It could use some adjustments or tweaks but for the most part I would say this was a solid purchase. Hope this was helpful!

I bought the ASUS GL551 128gb SSD used off of Amazon Warehouse Deals.The product came in 2 weeks late, I was not happy about that at all..The delivery process was sloppy and unexplained. I called many timesand they kept pushing the estimated time of arrival. Almost thoughtI wasn't going to get it! But... that is not the laptops fault clearly!!The Laptop is AMAZING. It came with the charger, a cable tie, and aRepublic of Gamers ASUS mouse.Also... someone left their Leopard OS for Mac inside of the computer...(Strange... I have no use or it...) I can run many of my games in maxgraphics or mid high comfortably.It's kind of bulky at the bottom,but with the specs.. its expected.The keys feel nice, they aren't heavy, the light can be adjustedusing f3 and f4 (Nice addition). The camera kinda sucks, onmy $200 laptop the camera was higher quality. But the mainfocus is the performance, not the camera. I'm not complaining.My only complaints:- The track pad is one whole square, so when I try to click something it will go off sometimes(The laptop came with a mouse so most times this doesnt even bother me)- Poor quality Camera(doesn't matter)- Came with minimal Scratches.GREAT laptop for what I got it for!Not happy about the delivery process... But, thanks Amazon Warehouse Deals!

I would recommend swapping the HDD for an SSD. I'm used to my desktop booting up in less than 7 seconds and handling other tasks in the blink of an eye. This thing is just much slower so it's a bit jarring at times.Touchpad is okay. I tend to drift to the lower-right side which causes problems for me when I'm attempting to scroll or click. If you can, just use a wireless/wired mouse.Battery life is not the greatest, even with mundane tasks, but I've managed to get some decent play time in (maybe 3 hours of BL2 with the screen dimmed a bit) before I plug it in.Graphics.. this is the lower end chip in this line, so I wasn't expecting anything mindblowing. If you have room in your budget I would recommend going for at least 4gb of VRAM, but if this is a part-time gaming machine you'll probably be okay with 2gb. I played a lot of Borderlands 2 and Pre Sequel on this machine. On medium/high settings I could dip as low as 25fps. You might be okay with that, but I prefer to play as close to 60, if not above as possible. So, I sacrificed aethetics for framerate. I played on low/medium settings to get 50+ fps. It still looked pretty good, given that it's a cell shaded game, but I like to crank up my graphics settings so I was a little disappointed with that. It would probably be less of an issue with 4gb.League of Legends runs very well. I set most of the graphics settings to high and was able to maintain 60 fps.Could've been an optimization issue at the time, but Heroes of the Storm was unplayable on this machine even on all low settings.This thing comes with tons of unnecessary bloatware. I would do a clean install of windows to start fresh.

THE GOOD-For this compact size and weight? Fantastic power and performance. Not bleeding edge but very good and more mobile than any comparable power laptop.-Mobility! At home, I use HDMI and the mini-display port to run a dual-monitor set-up, so it's just like a normal computer, but it works wonderfully on the go and unlike a lot of desktop-replacement/gaming laptops, the keyboard and touchpad are actually GOOD.-The power cord is ALSO light -- much smaller than other gaming laptops I've owned, which were cumbersome but certainly worth it for someone who works/plays on the computer frequently and travels or spends the night at places often or doesn't have the space for a big desktop gaming rig. This baby just made my life a lot easier, being significantly lighter, less bulky, yet still a hardware upgrade! Ahh!-Instant boot-up (I'm using the SSD version). It blows my mind.THE BAD-The sound card in this thing is surprisingly crappy. I'm a bit of an audiophile (close listening to music, films, etc.), so this bugs me, but it might not matter to some. Lots of balance issues, gargly sound, too much bass, weird volume variations between devices and apps. Obnoxious.-Windows 10... not a fan of this epic spymaster software, although I guess it's a little better than Win8 in usability. If you EVER log in with a Microsoft ID, you are stuck that way unless you reinstall, and even if you don't, you still lose a lot of privacy.THE NEUTRAL-As a gamer, I prefer a separate mic/headphones setup, but you'll be forced to use a headset or only headphones/speakers unless you've got a USB mic.-Other models have been able to play blu-ray, so it's a disappointment that this one can't.

I was hesitant at first to purchase this computer (With the SSD and better display) because of the high number of negative reviews. However, it had everything I was looking for and fit in my budget. In the first two weeks, I experience NO issues. At the third week, I had a few BSODs while running on *battery* power, not plugged in. I called up ASUS and got a case number from them, and they explained it usually means that a driver isn't up to date. Since all of my drivers were up-to-date, I figured it had to be some problem with the power plan or battery. A tech-savvy friend told me that driver_state_power_failure BSOD occurs when a driver isn't getting the power it wants to use. Sure enough I discovered that one of the graphics drivers (don't ask me which, I can't remember) was set to MAXIMUM performance when the computer ran on battery, and to have BALANCED performance when plugged in. I changed the driver to run at balanced power on battery mode, and since then I've run into no issues with BSOD Driver_state_power_failure.I don't know if this is anyone else's solution, but it worked for me. I've now had the computer for two months and haven't had a BSOD since making this small adjustment.Overall, I'm very satisfied with the computer. It runs smoothly and my games run well on medium to high graphics settings.Sure, it is definitely a fingerprint magnet, but those buff away with a little gentle cleaner. And since I don't move the computer around that much it doesn't accumulate too many fingerprints anyhow.

For the price, it's hard to beat as a budget gaming laptop. I've had it for over a week now and upgraded to Windows 10, and with the SSD it takes literally 2 seconds to boot. The IPS screen has good viewing angles, and of course has decent image quality. One thing that I have heard and now experienced is the amount of fingerprints this laptop attracts. If you want to keep it in perfect conditions you will have to clean it regularly, but I honestly don't mind it too much. The laptop does get a little warm when playing games, but that is to be expected for any gaming laptop, and this one actually manages to keep the main wasd and palm rest areas cool enough that it isn't bothersome.The hot air gets dispersed out the left side of the laptop, which is great instead of having it on the bottom. I have considered getting a cooling pad, but so far it seems to be doing just fine without one. I recommend this laptop for a gamer that wants a portable gaming laptop on a budget. Anything less than $1,000 would be sacrificing a lot more core elements, so this one easily takes the cake.

Does a fine job, starts up fast and shuts down fast. Needs a lot of updating and I am not that fond of the operating system. I am writing this review on this computer. It connects to the wifi easily in the restaurant where I am currently enjoying Italian food and wine while trying to write my book. I had to get on Amazon and review this just to tell everyone that what you have heard about the keyboard is somewhat accurate. It does not support overly fast typing speeds unless you are very careful and press hard. That being said it does improve your ability to push the keyboard buttons down as you get angry that you have so many typos. I have had to correct this review twice so far were it has missed letters that pressed too lightly. The trackpad sometimes clicks in my text while I'm typing as well when I use the spacebar. This could be avoided if the computer was lower than me and my hands were not on the laptop. The battery life is good if you are not doing anything too intense. It is sometimes hard to click with the trackpad as well. I have played and enjoyed a few steam games on this computer, Postal 2 mainly, which is an old game but awesome. I don't have virus protection because I use my Mac for browsing sites that could be dangerous and stick to what I know here. I do use spybot s&d free and it has found various things to fix but takes a while. I would have liked blutooth but bought a $10 kinivo transmitter and it works great. Sound is as expected, pretty good but it's a laptop, what do you expect? Not as much bass as a subwoofer because the laptop would shake. I do like that it has a numerical keypad but they put one of the arrow keys where zero usually is so I get out of order sometimes. I only paid $229 when it was on supersale here and have had it for six months with no issues. It doesn't come with an installation disc like everything else in the world and I uninstalled most features of which I later needed but the serial key I retrieved for Windows did not work to download Windows Media Center which I no longer need but heck if I'm going to pay for Windows features! If I were really concerned with keyboard functionality and the trackpad I would get an additional keyboard and mouse. I do use a usb mouse for gaming. Can't go wrong for the price and RAM, my primary reasons for buying. I like it because I don't worry about it getting hurt (I do everything in the cloud) or stolen. It is the closest I could get to a good but inexpensive laptop that is basically disposable if need be. Like if I have it in a hotel room while I am on a mission and the enemy gets the upper hand and I must leave in haste, then I can burn the harddrive remotely. Yes the camera is lame and not very good quality, don't buy it for that, just get a usb hd camera for $50. One thing to love over a mac is the extra buttons: home, pgup, pgdown, end, delete, prt sc. These features are invaluable to me and I have always been disappointed in macs because of them even with the shortcuts that they provide for prints screen functions.

Review on Specs and Hardware- When I opened up my laptop it had a 300 gbs hard drive, instead of the 500 it was meant to. After I installed Linux my missing 200 gbs showed up, and I really don't know what was up with that. I attached a screenshot of the specs. The processor is an Intel Celeron N2830, which does not state "dual core" anywhere I can find in the system information, but if you go on the Celeron website it says that processor model is a dual. Therefore none of the product information in the listing is incorrect, as I initially believed it to be.- My true complaint with this laptop, the reason for the knocked-off star, is the keyboard. Its fully sized, which was important to me, but the keys just don't feel great under-hand. A few days in the keyboard bulged up slightly and popped up off it's case. I was able to click it back down into place but the plastic is still slightly warped in the center of the keyboard. Typing is unaffected by this bulge, but it worries me and simply should not have happened so early on, if at all.UEFI/BIOS issueSecure boot has to be disabled before it will allow you to boot from a live USB. Here's how I did it.1. Create or procure USB install of Linux because this computer has no disc drive. Plug it into the computer when you're ready to go.2. Open PC Settings -> Update & Recovery -> Recovery ->Advanced Setup -> "Restart Now" (Will not restart, but trigger a popup) -> Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> UEFI Firmware Settings -> Restart (Actually Restarts).3. In the UEFI/Boot menu tab over to "Security" -> Select "Secure Boot Management" -> Toggle to "Disable" -> Save and Exit (There's a key command for Save/Exit listed on the right side of the screen.)4.Computer will boot up as normal. Go back into PC Settings. -> Update & Recovery -> Recovery -> Advanced Setup -> "Restart Now" -> Use a Device -> UEFI "Your Linux USB Name" -> Start Linux. (Be aware that if you have other USB stuff plugged in, like a mouse or printer, that will show up under USB devices. Boot from the one you're sure is your Linux install.)5.You should now be in a test-run Linux environment. There's an install on the desktop.Windows 8.1 was way too over-encumbered for this humble laptop. It felt sluggish and got increasingly less responsive even in the short time I used it. I Installed Linux mint 17 cinnamon and had no compatibility issues. The laptop runs significantly faster with Linux than it does with Windows. I did not notice a change in battery life, as others have commented on. Overall I'm pretty pleased.

The webcam is not good but the laptop works fine for me. I live in DR and I didn't want to carry a expensive laptop with me. The battery duration is fine. Sometimes when the machine is working in multiple tasks I feel the battery life decrease faster, but is ok. I recommend this one for studends.

well i ordered it this monday after midnight when it was still $199.99 came well packaged even the laptop was ok not damaged worked fine still does but just to be on safe side i got the warranty and that went through fine so im all set! just im still little nervous after all i seen on the comnments but so far so good!

I bought this laptop to mostly browse the Internet and video chat, as well as to stream games from my iMac (this laptop is not fit for heavy gaming) from time to time.It comes with the lowest-of-the-low-end version of Windows 8.1. This may be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. On one hand, it's inexpensive and contributes to the low cost of the laptop. On the other hand, it is crippled in terms of features. Regardless, this does not bother me personally, as I immediately wiped it when I got it and installed Ubuntu 14.10. I can also confirm that it runs Windows 7 just fine, provided you already have a copy of it.The laptop, unsurprisingly, is built out of cheap plastic and feels like it could break easily. This makes me think they provide the 1-year accidental damage protection for a reason. Take great care when handling it.Its performance is adequate for what I need it for, and it does not put out much heat at all.Overall, I would recommend this laptop if you're on a budget and need an inexpensive computer, or if you don't need too much power and would prefer to spend less.

*Update 10/5/14: Well, about two and half months after I got it and the wireless adapter has crapped out. Wasted a couple of hours troubleshooting the problem and I am 99% sure that it is a hardware issue. I won't change my initial review at this point, but this could possibly be a sign of the long-term reliability. I'll update later.**Update 11/1/14: Forgot ever making that update, sorry. The wireless adapter wasn't broken, I think it was an issue with the proxy software my school makes us install to use the university network. As a side note, I've since installed Linux (Ubuntu) on it as a second OS and it runs it beautifully without a hitch.**Update 2/11/15: Still running strong. I've been using it with Linux almost exclusively for the past few months, so I've added a small write-up at the end of this review for people interested in that aspect.*This is a nice budget laptop for students and/or people just looking for something to do basic computer tasks. I'm a student, and although I already have a nice custom-built desktop computer that I do most of my work on, I felt like I would benefit from having something portable to have in-class or while hanging out on campus.This is, obviously, not a laptop for gaming. Out of curiosity I installed Skyrim on it and surprisingly it did run the game on low settings (albeit not with ideal fps) and it ran Minecraft fairly well (minor stuttering from time to time--but still definitely playable). If you're buying a laptop with the intention of gaming or any other intensive computer tasks I would highly recommend you look into the $500+ price range for a laptop with more capable specs.In my case, it runs all the programs I needed it for: Visual Studio 2013, Eclipse, and other IDE's run perfectly fine. Word and other Office 2013 programs run perfectly fine. Browsing the internet with Chrome is perfect. Streaming HD video or playing a 1080p movie file is perfect. Unity3D (a game engine) and Blender (3d animation software) run acceptably. For $250 I really can't ask for anything more.Pros:Price: $250 for a brand new full featured Windows 8.1 laptop is insane. I would recommend one of these over a similarly priced Chromebook any day.Extremely lightweight: I was surprised when I took it out of the box at how little it weighed for the size--very easy to carry.Quiet and stays really cool: Even while testing out the gaming I didn't notice any sound from fans and even after using it for a while it didn't feel warm at all.Nice design: Not a flashy laptop, just clean and non-descript aesthetics. Doesn't look like a high-end laptop but also doesn't look like a budget one. I like the textured matte plastic on the back. Screen hinge feels solid with not much play.No optical drive: I know for some this is a con--but I can't even remember the last time I used a CD/DVD and would much rather have the savings on weight, power consumption, and cost. If you need to format and reinstall the OS or something just make a bootable USB stick (very easy to do).Nice screen: The screen is bright with decent contrast and a 1366x768 resolution that's pretty much the standard for this size of laptop (at least until you get to the $600+ price range). I don't think it is LED backlit but it does its job well. *EDIT: The screen does have an LED backlight.Nice keyboard with a number pad: If you're doing office work or programming it's pretty much essential to have a keyboard with a num pad. The keyboard as a whole is decent, no complaints except there's just the tiniest bit of rattling noise when tapping away. The trackpad is offset so that your hands don't rest on it when typing in a normal position.Cons:Not upgrade friendly: There's no easy way to access the RAM, HDD, or even the battery. Although I really didn't have any intention of upgrading it so it's not a huge deal. This laptop is what it is and the slow-ish processor with low-end integrated graphics will always be this computer's bottleneck. If I need a faster laptop I'd rather just save the upgrade money to buy a new laptop.Power cord input is very snug: I guess this could be a pro, but where the power cord plugs into the laptop is so snug and secure that if you (or a pet) tripped over the cord it would certainly pull the laptop off the table before it came out. Makes me a little wary.No light for caps-lock or num-lock: It has a power/charging light and an HDD activity light on the front and that's it. Wish it had an indication light for caps lock and num lock. Also, it sometimes doesn't seem to remember if num-lock is on when waking up from sleep etc. I find myself having to reactivate num-lock even though I'm positive I didn't deactivate it.Trackpad buttons: The left-click and right-click on the trackpad are a little hard to press for my taste and they are kind of noisy. Using the Asus Smart-gesture or whatever it's called makes it where you can just tap/double tap (or tap with both fingers to right-click) the trackpad to avoid using the buttons at all which seems like a better alternative.All in all it's a decent and capable budget-friendly laptop with only a few minor gripes. I would definitely recommend it.***Notes on LINUX: I've been using this laptop with Linux (currently Ubuntu MATE) dual-booted alongside the pre-installed Win8.1 for several months and have found myself using Linux almost exclusively. Figured I'd mention a few things regarding that:*I have never been able to get the screen brightness adjustment keys (fn of F5 and F6) to work in Linux at all. The key to turn the display off works (fn of F7), just not the ones to turn the brightness up or down. I've read through tons of forum posts etc. trying to get it work but finally just settled on putting a little widget in the top panel to adjust the brightness easily on the fly. (Just want to note that I never had *any issues with the brightness keys in Win8.1)*Also regarding screen brightness--with one of the Ubuntu flavors I tried, I wanna say Kubuntu, the screen brightness would not adjust at all (control panel, manually through terminal, etc). I ultimately didn't feel like trying tons of fixes so I just went on with trying other Ubuntu *flavors.*UEFI boot: While all flavors of the Ubuntu distro will install just fine (and very easily) on this laptop without adjusting any of your boot settings in the BIOS, some other popular distros will require some extra steps. I tried both ElementaryOS and Linux Mint, but neither of them will boot or install while in UEFI. You can, however, boot to them and install if you switch to legacy boot instead (I explained how to do this is one my replies to this review). Downside is that if you still want to dual boot with Win8.1 you will have to manually switch the boot settings between UEFI and legacy depending which one you are booting to.*Battery life: I haven't done any real benchmarks yet, but the battery life using Ubuntu MATE seems significantly better than with Win8.1. When I have the time I'll look into getting some actual data on that.***

Great "intro level" gaming computer. Everything worked fine for the first year, but then screws would just fall out of the case and the hinges on the LCD screen began to fail. The hinges are partially plastic. If you are not very careful one day, like me at about 14 months, the hinge will just pop and no longer function.

The laptop was good and I enjoyed it, but only for the two whole years that it lasted. I don't know if it was just bad luck, but the motherboard died on me within two years of my purchasing it. It functioned great throughout that time period, but not sure that it was capable of being used as a gamer computer/school computer for as long as I needed it. Replacing the the motherboard is extremely expensive (>1/2 the price of the laptop) and was not worth the cost.Performance wise it is excellent, but lifespan not so much.

I have had this laptop since October and it had worked really well until a few months after I received it. I use this laptop mainly for video editing and graphic design work. I use the Adobe Creative Cloud for all of my designing, unless I'm doing 3D graphics then I use Lightwave 3D. Every so often this laptop crashes on me, I get a POWER_DRIVER_STATE_FAILURE error code every time it crashes. I have called ASUS and Adobe to try and figure out this problem. I usually have at least two design programs open at a time and a few windows for the internet. Also, this laptop get very hot and gets loud after a few hours of use. Of course the battery power is less than satisfactory, but I knew that going in. I'm considering getting an Acer Aspire V15 because it's newer and it's something different.

I really like ASUS devices. Their computers and laptop and phones/ tablets feel and looks really great. I decided to update my i3 asus laptop to this last year. I never had any problems with that machine.... however with this model after updating to windows 10 the battery have been giving issues. Wont charge sometime and when I disconnect the battery and put back in, only charges to 94%. When unplugged it stays at 94% until it dies, making it completely unreliable when unplugged. Dont know if it is windows 10 but my friend has an HP and same-thing is happening after 10 upgrade.I am also very concerned I dont see any replacement battery for sale. So if its damage or I just want a back up for long trips it seems I cant get one. Unfortunately, because my last ASUS is still more dependable (running windows 10 also) I think there are issues with this specific laptop.If you want a windows 10 laptop I think you should get one that comes with it installed.

I have mixed feelings about this particular computer. For my needs it will work, as I use it to code and do some mid to low-end gaming. Overall, it is ok, but I have put together desktop PCs in the past for much less and got a lot more out of it. The primary concern I have is related to the graphics driver and/or graphics card. I am always having to disable the Nvidia card and use the integrated graphics card instead. I am receiving kernel errors:(Display driver stopped responding and has recoveredDisplay driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version XXX.XXX)This has been since just about the first day I had the machine, which seems to only be fixable with a reboot or to disable and then re-enable the Nvidia. For many, I would assume this would be a deal breaker, for me, it has simply been a reoccurring annoyance that I have learned to work around. (tried all the work arounds online as well, nothing seems to have remedied the issue yet)

For the specs, it is slow as dirt. Previously I had an ASUS laptop that was about 5 years old with an i5 Processor and 8 GIGs or RAM. It was around $600 at Office Max or somewhere like that. It worked great until one day it crashed and won't boot up past safe mode. That sent me looking for a new laptop.I looked at some with specs similar to that one and then decided to spend a little more to get the 16 GIGs or RAM, the i7 processor and the separate video card thinking it would be a lot faster than the old computer. I use it mostly for photo editing, stitching panoramic shots and similar things.The bright spots for this machine:The display is niceIt stays cool and quietIt's only crashed once in the first weekIt looks niceBattery life is not great but fairly goodThe cons:It is slower than the old machine with half the ram, an integrated video card and an i5 processorThe tracking device is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. Use an external device or be prepared to accidentally delete things you'll have to re-writeIt has Windows 8 but there was no way around thatAnyway, I was looking for something that would breeze through photo applications like Hugin, Paint Shop Pro and occasionally Photoshop (but I haven't even loaded that on here yet). So far its an average computer at best but considering the specs it doesn't seem very good and a lower end model would have probably been just as good.If you're a gamer then maybe its faster for gaming applications but for photo editing, I'd suggest looking for something else.

The computer was fine, I didn't purchase it for much heavy use. It was really for my girlfriend bc she really needed one to get through a class.Overall, it ran as it should. You get what you pay for when you're buying technology. By only gripe is the quality of the build. It feels like such a cheap plastic that wouldn't last in a single fall. Luckily I haven't dropped it because in any his this (don't want to lose it), but the quality really turns me off from liking this device too much.If you're not looking for anything really fancy and just need something for simple every day use, then this is okay if you can protect it. If you're like me and want power (although this wasn't for me) then search elsewhere and take your time. Don't make a rash decision to buy this.

For the price, it's a rather quick computer. It doesn't look terrible, but it's nothing special. The touchpad feels cheap and plasticy, which is probably my biggest pet peeve with laptops. It comes pre-loaded with the newest edition of windows which is convenient and expected. The keyboard also feels a bit cheap and plasticy, but the price tag makes this acceptable I suppose.The computer is fast for what it is. If you're looking for a reliable computer that'll run all of microsoft office suite, photoshop, and other common software quickly then this is a good choice. Also, if you're just looking for a computer to check your email and browse the web this will more than suffice. However, I wouldn't recommend for intensive software like music production or 3d rendering programs.If you're looking for an affordable laptop that will run video games this one will suffice for games that aren't video intensive like WoW. I wouldn't get this if you're looking into graphic or CPU heavy gaming.Overall, this computer is perfect for everyday tasks and performs well. It does seem a little bit cheap and plasticy for my taste, but if you don't mind aesthetics or complete user comfort then this will be perfect for you. I'd recommend getting a separate keyboard or in the very least a mouse. The trackpad leaves more to be desired.

Wish I could have gone with something a little more expensive... I mainly only have two issues with this laptop.#1 The shift key doesn't work. It started to go out about two months after I bought the laptop, the shift keys would only work half the time, until it just quit completely. I write a lot, so as I'm sure you can imagine this is a really big issue for me. I have to use the on-screen key board for anything that I need shift for, it's a pain in the butt, but it's better then nothing.#2 The touch screen capability has never worked, I know the touch screen isn't much at all, so it's not a big deal, but when I pay for something I expect everything on it to work, even if the item itself is cheap.Overall, it's a good laptop for the price, if the shift keys worked then I would have gave it a five star.

Mostly my fault for the issues. No Cd and having to do software down;loads a pain in the a...... As an "old timer" the lack of an instruction book with any significance is a pain in the a..... I have seen shipping addresses with more instructions than the instruction that I got and is a pain in the a...... So far unable to get on wifi at Starbucks and otherplaces is a pain in the a...... doing this just to keep having to buy the annual renewable Microsoft Office and pay for yearly renewals is a pain in the a...... especially if the intention is just to keep Bill Gates at the top of the Billionaires list. All the advertising for additional services just to operate the computer is a pain in the a..... The light weight factor is somewhat nice but that means that when I get upset I may have to throw it harder to break it and that just possibly might be another pain in the a...... And at that point I will have nothing to biych about which would then be the.............ultimate pain in the a.........Thanks for your concern. What a pain in the a.............And BTW.....I got this because I thought trying to use my cell phone to do many things that I did on my PC was a pain in the a......You do know that I can go on forever??????

As the 3 stars say, 'it's ok'. I want to go a little lower, with 2, but that's a 'I don't like it', and it's not quite that bad.The Pros...The cost. The very low price is almost a steal. Now with the low cost, you are going to lose several important benefits.Weight. Super light.Reasonable speed. No, I doubt you will be able to run Photoshop or other intensive programs.Plenty of ports. Well, not plenty. But they are all there. You have your Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, and 2 USB ports (only one each for 2.0 &3.0).The Cons...NO RE-MOVEABLE BATTERY. WTF? Really?NO CD/DVD drive. Meh. I'll live. Tech is going to a download-only trend anyways... But sorta scares me to see how to fix thing when the OS failsNO access for anything. Memory, battery. You name it, it's locked down (which can be good).Windows 8.1 with Bing. Not necessarily a bad thing. Keeps the price of the laptop down. It doesn't shove Bing down your throat. You can use other search stuff on you PC. Search "Windows 8.1 with Bing" and HowToGeek explains it nicely.Cheap plastic feel, but it works nicely.Power supply. I am really concerned about it. It is tiny. No ground on it too. But they are the engineers.No way to upgrade anything.

It's a perfectly serviceable laptop for what it is. It doesn't do an awesome job running games, but it does okay in a pinch with the graphics turned down. I only play WoW, the Sims, and a few indie Steam games, so that's not too much of a disappointment. Sometimes if I'm streaming video and open more than one or two additional tabs, the video gets choppy or the other tabs run slowly.It is astonishingly light compared to my last (Acer) laptop, and unlike the wiggly charge ports that Acer is notorious for, this one seems like it will hold on tightly for a long time.Windows 8(.1) seems sort of pointless if you're not using a touchscreen. Its aesthetic makes a lot of sense for that purpose, but using a touchpad mouse--it's not really fitting. I deleted the bulk of the preloaded apps as soon as I got it. The color-shifting background is pretty, though.The keyboard is pretty good, just getting used to the new placement of things, but mouse is my least favorite part so far. It seems the buttons are closer to the bottom center of the pad, not closer to the outer edges like I'm used to, so I either have to a) push really hard to click on things (I've never been a tapper), or b) click easily in the middle, but accidentally right-click when I mean to left-click, or vice versa. Also, I cannot stop accidentally zooming in and out on things.In short, it's nothing amazing, but for the $230 I paid for it, it's good enough--and it arrived next day when I used Amazon Prime, so that was a plus!

Purchased this laptop June 2015. It's definitely a workhorse of a laptop, and I loved it. Unfortunately, it died on me...bad motherboard. It's interesting seeing some of the other reviews that indicate similar experiences as well. It would cost half the price of what I originally paid, to fix it. While it was nice while it lasted, I am disappointed that it only lasted for 2 years.

We are a reality 3D modeling company. We build our own machines for our on use. We recreate site conditions as they currently exist so that our clients can use these existing condition models in their design. We typically build all of our machines in house and have always used Asus Motherboards exclusively. It appears that we will be changing this policy as we have had some issues with Asus parts giving up just outside of warranty. This laptop, that we purchased for a client as part of our model delivery package, is another example of a major failure with an Asus product and this one is well documented. We purchased a good Asus laptop, as the client was to keep it on site and could use it as a base point for all the models we will be delivering to them for the next couple of years. 1 year and 6 months into the contract the computer fails. The Boot option is missing from the bios. Searching the internet this issues turned up many times with this particular laptop. It is a known quality issue with the motherboards that Asus is using in this ROG laptop. Once this was determined we sent it out to a repair company to see what a professional diagnosis would be and they came back with the same results. Replace the motherboard...6 months out of warranty, $600. Nope, we just purchased an Alienware replacement laptop for the client...lets see how Dell does....

I have had this laptop for about half a year now, but I had issues since day one.The largest issue was the second I started it up, I noticed that the touchpad did not function. I searched online to try to find a way to fix it. Some suggested certain keyboard combinations, others suggested driver changes. I even upgraded the computer to Windows 10. (Which should have been preinstalled.. it even has a sticker saying "Plays well with Windows 10").Till this day I still use the mouse that arrived with the laptop, because the touchpad still does not work.Aside from that, the build quality is not great, the keyboard is not really good for typing and I frequently find that the space key is not very responsive, after installing Windows 10 and using the realtek audio driver the volume control has been weird. (One second it's a bit loud, then it's too soft)The battery only lasts for about 1.5 hours of watching movies, which is a really big issue for me since I do it daily.If the laptop was cheaper maybe I would be able to overlook the flaws, but at $1.2k it really hurts to have a laptop that has so many issues that you need to deal with on a daily basis. At least the specs are pretty good.

The only reason I am giving this a 2 star rating is because the system itself is really excellent compared to other brands. The purpose of the low rating is due to having the low quality tech support. Laptop was bought as a Birthday gift for my son and after a week of using it, the keyboard started to fail. I contacted technical support to report the issue via email, which took 24 hours to respond. Each succeeding response was also 24 hours after I responded. Thus, it took over a week to finally get confirmation that the keyboard was most likely bad and would need to be returned. Add to that another 24 hours just to get the return shipping label. I finally received the repaired computer back last week (19 Nov), a month and a half after my son's birthday, and quickly realized that the AC power supply was defective. Not surprising since the computer was shipped back without the original packaging, documentations or accessories. This time, I contacted them via phone and after more than 45 minutes debating that I should not have to pay to send back a defective part they sent me, the representative agreed to ship a replacement out to me which is due to arrive 01 Dec. Maybe, then, my son will actually be able to use his birthday gift 2 months after receiving it.I have another ASUS computer that I have had for over 2 years and love the systems, but this is the worst technical support experience I have ever had in all my personal and professional IT experience. Because of this experience, I switched to MSI for my other other son's birthday gift.

While this computer has great specs and is overall enjoyable to use, that enjoyment does not last long. As with a lot of other users, my computer started showing manufacturer defects within a week or so. Do yourself a favor and by a ROG model that has less people reporting graphics card, ssd/hdd, and other key component failures.

I have been a long time loyal Asus purchaser. I've bought 2 previous laptops, built a PC with Asus motherboard, bought routers and have been extremely pleased in the past. I had this laptop for about 6 weeks and was pleased until it completely crashed and is stuck in the BIOS.Pros: Affordability, IPS screen is good, runs cool, SSD is good option, 960m handles anything including video editing well.Cons: Reliability, every finger print (every single one) shows on laptop.More about the reliability issue and what prompted me to write a review. Laptop was running fine until it just crashed and got stuck in the BIOS. I tried looking online and found multiple people reporting issues like this with Asus laptops with this BIOS. It's to the point that I have just had to return it to Asus (after 3 tech support calls) and will await an outcome.I understand anything can have a problem but it seems a little too common based on my research. I wish I had learned this prior to purchasing. Also, the BIOS on this laptop was very limited in comparison to the one on my ASUS motherboard which is 3 years old. Even worse, the phone tech was thinking that this machine was shipped without the windows recovery partition included, making recovery impossible without sending back to Asus.Hopefully there is a good resolution, but it is too little too late. I cannot recommend a product that seems to have reliability concerns and a lack of recovery options.

I bought this eight months ago. It worked to write my thesis proposal on and do regular daily things, like use the Internet and check my email. The "F" key is now sticking, which is usually the kiss of death with my laptops. Trying to clean it will mean keys that fall off and won't stay back on. It runs games like computers ran back in the early '90s. You can get up and make a sandwich while you're waiting for it to load. If you could use Netscape and some Geocities pages, this laptop would be great.Oh and it doesn't stay charged anymore so I have to leave it plugged in all the time. Awesome.I'll go back to doing things in longhand on a piece of paper. It would save time at this point.

I do not usually give bad reviews before contacting the seller first but wow..this laptop...just wow and not in a good way. I definitely got what I paid for. Horrible laptop! This is the 4th laptop I have had in the span of about 8 years (and yes thats's about 1 every two years, I seem to have bad luck with laptops) but this by far was the worst luck yet. Not even one month after getting this laptop it just suddenly crashed and the only thing I was doing was installing Microsoft office. I was shocked because I had taken such good care of it and made sure I did not over work it. But boom right after it crashed I held down the power button to shut it off and then when I tried to turn it back on...nothing. I live on a small island so having to send this back after only ONE MONTH of use was not worth it. The shipping was going to cost more then the repair itself so I forked out the dough and gave it to a computer repair guy. When I went to pick up the laptop the guy asked me how long I had been using it and when I told him it was brand new he was shocked. He said the problem it had was the connection with the screen and some other mumbo jumbo I couldn't quite follow, but basically he said the laptop had problems that usually super old and over-used laptops usually have. So after getting it repaired the problems did not stop. Whenever I move the laptop the screen goes crazy! It just freezes up and starts getting all glitchy (sorry this is the best way I can describe it).. Nothing will work and I just end up having to press down on the power button, let it sit for a bit until it cools off. The only way I have figured out how to get it to stop doing this is if I just do not move the laptop at all, it's that sensitive! I really wanted to give this laptop the benefit of the doubt because I have owned another ASUS laptop previously and it was awesome (until it got stolen >.>') but this one has just given me one big headache. In the end as soon as I save up I am going to buy another laptop and this time I will make a better investment and buy better quality because again...you get what you paid for. Lesson learned the hard way. I did give this laptop a two star because it at least DOES works now so far and has not given me problems yet.

First let me just state that I enjoy having asus products, especially their motherboards. They're very well built. Their laptops are a good quality build as well. Now onto this product.I mainly purchased this product for school as my previous one had finally given up on me and being a computer science major I mainly just write codes so I thought to myself that I didn't really need a powerful laptop for what I was going to be doing with the occasional Netflix. So I quickly hopped into amazon and started searching for a replacement. Seeing as how the item was from asus I decided to check the specs and decided that it would fit my needs and it did seem like a great deal with it being just under $300.Upon arrival the item look sleeked and light weight at that which made it much more ideal. Dealing with the set up was nothing out of the ordinary but it isn't fast as to be expected with only 4 gigs of ram with a HDD.Right after dealing with the set up, I noticed that McAfee was installed on the product along with other add on programs that made the item run even slower. The connection drops quite often which practically makes the WiFi card useless. So trying to update the system was unbearably slow until I just gave up and decided to use the Ethernet port. The programs run slowly even just opening a web browser takes at lest 10 seconds and another 10 seconds to search once you start searching.The touch pad itself is quite a hassle to handle. Most of the time it randomly opens the quick bar menu on the right hand side as I try to scroll down a page or it doesn't detect that my fingers are not on there anymore and it keeps scrolling through. Which is very frustrating having to go back through every page on a PDF file. Half the time I had to use the arrow keys just so I could avoid dealing with the touch pad. The keyboard itself is no picnic either. It is somewhat unresponsive especially when typing fast.I thought I just needed to get used to this laptop and once every update was done it would respond accordingly and the speed would become better but unfortunately it never worked out.So if you are looking for a budget laptop and you're one who doesn't mind having to wait for a few seconds to open up a folder or a web browser then this would be the laptop for you otherwise don' hesitate to spend an extra hundred or two for a faster processor and ram.

11/26/14 Update: Got this like 2 days ago and it wont turn on anymore. Was using it fine all morning, left for a bit, came back and its done for. No lights saying its plugged in either. What a piece of junk. At least it happened well within my 30 days to return it.11/25/14Might be harsh giving it 3 stars as it just arrived tonight. First observations though is that it seems a bit top heavy and I don't like how there is no cd drive. When I got this I knew there wasn't going to be one, but I got it on the assumption (my bad I guess) that it was too thin to include one, rather than having a blank drive where a cd drive can easily be installed. It also seems like it can be easily tipped over because the screen is much heavier than the base. Actual functionality has (had*) been smooth, but the design isnt best. I DO like how quiet it is. I never heard it turn on. The keyboard seems cheap but I think I'll get used to it. I'll come back and update this if anything dramatically changes...

Great specs, terrible implementation. Since I got this laptop just over a year ago, the hard drive failed under warranty. Sent it in for repair. A few months later, the graphics card started crashing occasionally. Sent it in for repairs a few months later. ASUS returned it with a note saying they replaced the motherboard. Fast-forward a few months, the laptop is out of warranty, the laptop still has the same issues, and ASUS refuses to do anything about it. Not only did ASUS fail to fix it the first time, they failed to issue a second RMA until the laptop was out of warranty. Not only that, but the laptop was damaged in their service center. Now I have a dented gaming laptop that won't play games. Completely worthless! The worst part is that all the overseas ASUS customer support could do was repeat the same scripted lines about how they aren't at fault and how I'm screwed. And to make it even worse, the Tier I support guy said they didn't even replace the motherboard; he said they replaced the LCD screen. How is that supposed to fix a graphics card issue? How about some customer support?

This product was purchased 04-02-2015. It arrived, and was a really awesome computer, until September of 2015. Then I got the BSOD, (Black Screen of Death). We sent it in, and 3 weeks later, it came back, all better. THAT was a decent experience. Fast forward 8 months, and I get the BSOD AGAIN, so we contact them to send it in. We got emailed the return label, (04-27-2016), and mailed it in. After sending it in, them supposedly repairing it, sending it back, and repeating this process an additional time, (both times, Asus assured us, it had been repaired, when in fact, it had NOT, and arrived DOA), we called their customer service, which agreed that the process of us receiving a functional computer should not take a month, (this was over Memorial Weekend), and that after this last time of it arriving DOA, they would just replace it with a new (or comparable) computer. Today is June 9th, 2016, and we called, because we figured it was about time we heard SOMETHING from them. Well, they told us, it was STILL in for repair, (even though we were told that as soon as they received our sent back computer, they would be sending out the replacement), and to call back tomorrow. I must say that this gets 1 star, just because it IS a good computer. However, if anything goes wrong with it, GOOD LUCK in dealing with Asus. In the 15 years I have worked in customer service, I have NEVER had such horrible service. THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE WORST!!!

I will never buy an ASUS product again. And I will recommend to all my friends and family to not buy an ASUS product. In June, I bought my son the ASUS GL551JW gaming computer. I thought long and hard about it because I am a single mom with only my income and $1,000 is a lot of money for me to put out. I dipped into my savings and bought it because it was my son's high school graduation gift and he was going on to college and could use it in college. He was SO delighted when he opened that gift. I was SO delighted he was thrilled to have a gaming computer AND it was something he could use for college. Seems my $1,000 was well spent.......NOTIn December, just 6 months after receiving his computer, my son plugged it in to charge it, only to have his cord fall right back out. Frustrating, but at least it was still under warranty.....NOT.Asus does not consider this problem to be under warranty!!! Say WHAT?! As I read the reviews, I see that this problem has occurred to other people, so it is obviously a fundamental flaw in their computers. Today, we contacted customer support online to start the process of returning the computer to get it repaired, only to be told that the repair isn't covered under warranty. Sorry, it isn't covered under warranty.I asked for the 1-800 number to speak to a customer service person. THAT person also told me that it was not covered under warranty, but lo and behold, I had purchased some kind of additional thing (He talked fast and I can't remember what he called it) that I could use this ONE time to have it fixed for free. So, I bought additional protection of some sort when I purchased the computer, but that protection is a one-time deal? In other words, next time this thing breaks, the cost is all on me. I have a 3 year old HP Notebook PC that I bought for $250 at WALMART and that I have DROPPED that has worked better than my son's ASUS.So, instead of being able to use his sleek, new ASUS GL551JW gaming computer, my son has had to use my little Walmart HP computer for college. And since I ALSO have to use it, he can't actually take it to college with him. He has to wait until he gets home and I get home from work to be able to use it. Since I also take a college class, we just always hope we don't have a lot of homework on the same night!Also, the equals sign fell off my son's computer. In my frustration, I forgot to tell the customer service rep that. I suppose they will charge me to replace it when they receive the computer.I am extremely dissatisfied with ASUS computers, ASUS warranty, and ASUS as a company. I will never buy from them again.

We bought five of these machines for the office over the past two to three months. Two of the five machines have already failed -- on one, the mother board had to be replaced, and on the other, the SSD died. (We had a sticking key on a third as well, but that appears to have resolved itself.)The machines came with good reviews, and the configuration was exactly what we were looking for as we were trying to standardize on one model as we build up. But this machine simply can't be considered reliable. and we now have to begin a new search for the machine we can feel comfortable moving forward with.Description: ASUS ROG GL551JW-DS74 15.6 Inch FHD LaptopURL: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T7XRGGC/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_0

Update: The hard drive went kaput after 16 months, I lost a lot of data. I bought a new hard drive, same SSD as the original, but now it's been a month since the fix and it frequently crashes and often fails to boot unless I go mess with the bios. It's pretty close to dead. In the last 25 years, most of my computing components, desk top computers, and laptops usually last at least 5 years. This was a mid/high end product at the time of purchase and it is very disappointing to have a 18 month life span. Asus used to mean quality and longevity, that trust is gone. Downgraded to 1 star.Below is the original review, keeping that the same.Had this for more than six months now, nothing broke and everything works as good as new.First the negatives:When it was new, one of the keys didn't press down all the way, it works, but one of the corners on that key didn't go down at all and it was super annoying. So I had to pop it out and trim a tiny piece off in that corner to fix it. Not a big deal if you have ever popped off a key before, but might be annoying to some. That is really the only thing wrong with it quality wise.Switching between the integrated and Nvidia graphics had some issues in the past, but a driver update fixed it.There are minor annoyances with the keyboard lighting, but that is really getting down the to nitty gritty.It didn't have the option to use Win7, but that's more a Win8 issue than a laptop issue. I installed a UI shell right away and been happy enough ever since.That's really it on the things that bothered me at all. Given the price and the overall performance and experience, I do not feel this warranted taking off any stars.The overall experience:The laptop is a good mid range gaming computer and good enough to handle most of the current games at mid graphics settings. I haven't tried the latest and greatest FPS on it, the most I use this for are some MMOs and MOBAS, but it handles them without any problems. Besides high end games and high end CAD usage, it will handle anything else for a typical home or office user.For daily work and home usage: MS Office suite, light CAD work, web surfing, watching videos, etc, it doesn't break a sweat.I am very happy with the decision to spring for the SSD plus 1T HDD, it starts up WIN8 in about 10 seconds and I have not experienced the stutters that I've felt with every other laptop I owned before. I believe that the computer should be waiting for me, and never the other way around. Higher end desktops with SSD will also give similar experience, but this is the first laptop where it's been true. So quite happy about that. If the price difference is not a big issue, I would definitely recommend it.The screen is sharp, but it is only 15 inches, I knew that going in. And I have not had any issues with it in any lighting condition. I never used it outside on a sunny day, but near a window in Starbucks on a sunny day was no issue. Haven't noticed any dead pixles, I checked very carefully when it was new, and although I didn't do the same check before writing the review, I've never noticed any during regular usage. Lately, it's been hooked up to an external 27 inch display, and the performance was not affected at all, even though the resolution is much higher. I was happily surprised by that.The speakers are above average for a laptop; and on an absolute scale, they are good, but not great. Even though I bought some nice external speakers for home use, I would say the speakers are good enough that I didn't have to if I didn't want to.Battery performance was average, I got around 3 hours offline using office software and around 2 hours if playing games. Not terrific, but it's in line with what I expect for a gaming laptop.Cooling has not been an issue even after 6 months, it's barely warm to the touch when not gaming, and warm but not hot when gaming. It's noticeably better than other laptops I've owned before.I was never a fan of any touch pad, the one on this laptop works well enough for what it is. I try to use a mouse whenever possible.There are enough ports for what I use it for, and the wireless works as expected, these are things that are good by virtue of never becoming an issue.It's not upgraded to Win10 yet, but that's more because of my feelings about MS than with the laptop.

Don't buy this laptop, it's good at first but after 3 days of having it problems started popping up. First connection kept getting disconnected and 2days after that, the "BSOD" Driver Power State Failure kept happening every 30 minutes. I'm just here to help you save your time and money.

I liked this laptop for the first year. However it suddenly stopped charging. Now it can only be turned on and used if its plugged in and is completely useless as a laptop -- a computer that requires a cord and a plug at all times in might as well be a desktop computer. Very frustrating and useless as a portable computer. I would not buy this again.

I realize you can't expect much from a bargain-basement laptop, but this was exceptionally clunky and slow even for the price. The keyboard feels cheap, the touchpad is glitchy and the operating system is slow, slow, slow! I bought this to have something to do basic word processing and surfing the internet, but it's too slow to use it even for that. I ended up passing it down to my youngest daughter who was happy to have a computer to use no matter how slow it might be. If you want a laptop to use for any serious purpose, spend the extra money to get something better than this.

We purchased this lap top for my daughter as a part of her 2014 Christmas and she used it extensively for school work along with playing games like The Sims and Minecraft on it. The laptop seemed to run fine for the most part, but peculiarities with the graphics card forced us to contact ASUS when the screen would turn a strange pink color. Then, five days after the warranty ran out (purchased on Dec. 13th, failed on Dec. 19th, but not yet a year since it first received use on Dec. 25th), the graphics showed considerable shearing and tearing (image attached) which a reboot would not clear. After performing some internet searches, it seemed that this laptop suffers this issue frequently, so we sent it back to ASUS for repair and they claimed that the LCD was damage and would only repair the unit for $200. Since you can get so many NEW laptops for a comparable price from companies that have closer service centers (the only one here in Utah that services ASUS systems is 60+ miles away), this seemed absurd, so we will never purchase ASUS hardware ever again.

*Update 3/23/16 -- ASUS replaced the motherboard in August of 2015. The exact same problem occurred again in February of 2016. The repair work only has a 90 day warranty. I disputed with the company and requested that they honor the work done because it was the same malfunction as the first time. They refused and wanted $200 to replace the motherboard for a second time. I will not be repairing this product with such low confidence that it won't continue to break down.July 2015:My son and my daughter received this model in December. Both units have died within this month. A computer repair place tells me that the motherboards are fried. I've contacted the seller to request information if there is a factory warranty on these. After reading these reviews I am expecting a disappointing answer. This is an awful rip-off and has left me with two very disappointed kids who feel extremely ripped off. Anyone researching for a computer purchase, I do NOT recommend this one.

Pro: Nice looking unit, easy to work with.Con: After only a couple of days, the unit has stopped working. When turned on, the monitor just keeps flashing. Now I have to pay a restocking fee to return an item which was never really good in the first place.

This was the saddest excuse laptop I've ever encountered. . Mind you, I don't need it to do much at all- just have internet access mostly, for school work in office and accessing the school site. But no, this computer has a network card that rarely recognizes that there are wifi signals around at all- and there are plenty. I got it to connect a few times, randomly. Now it won't do anything. I've done my diligence and updated the driver for the card but still nothing. Wifi button toggles airplane mode on and off with no change in connectivity- no connectivity at all either way. And looking under device manager shows the network card as sometimes there, sometimes not.This thing is about as useful as a paperweight to me as is, so it's going right back in the box and back to Amazon!I am so disappointed- my older laptop has been in use for years, wasn't much more expensive than this one, and was also an ASUS. Oh well, on to bigger and better things, I guess.