Asus - 11.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Steel Gray

About a year ago I purchased my first Android device. Since then I have purchased a total of 11 android devices for myself and family members. Also, about a year ago, I purchased a new HP laptop on a black friday deal. Over this past year I have grown to appreciate touch screen and android interface. I had grown to prefer it so much that I could see the end of my usage Window based PCs much like VHS, DOS, and other past technologies. However when the email arrived from Best Buy with this laptop listed on the black friday weekend deals it caught my attention. I went to the local store to get a hands on perspective of it. First things I noticed: Solid construction but still lightweight. I really like the feel of the keyboard and touchpad. Very clear and bright screen with good contrast. USB 3.0 (faster backup of photos to external drives) HDMI port (better viewing of photos for larger groups on big screen TV) Much better CPU Benchmarks with the I3 processor than the common Atom or other low end processor often found in small laptop / notebook computers. Responsive touchscreen. I had often found when using a typical laptop, with just the touch pad or even a mouse, that I had to resist the urge to reach out and just touch the screen., With this one, problem solved, I can touch the screen! RAM and Hard drive size were both higher than my current laptop. Startup time is also much faster than I expected! Then there is Windows 8.... Am I ready to embrace this new user interface that from the beginning just doesn't seem as intuitive as my Android devices? I believe the answer is yes. I am realizing that my previous like of Android and dislike of Windows wasn't so much the operating system but the user interface. With having the touchscreen, keyboard, touchpad, and ability to add a mouse it offers the best of all the options. However I really couldn't see using Windows 8 without a touchscreen. Its kind of like when I use a mouse with one of my Android devices, it just takes too much time trying to line up the little mouse pointer, just reach out and touch the screen! There are a couple of other "observation" that I have noticed. I don't think I would like a bigger laptop with a touchscreen as well as this little one. The reason I say that is with a bigger laptop the larger keyboard area forces the screen further away from the person. This makes it more difficult to do accurate touching of the screen. My next problem with a larger touch screen laptop won't affect all people but may affect a few. With having bifocal glasses the smaller screen allows me to view the screen with the bifocal area of my glasses so as I move my finger towards the screen I don't have the deal with the visual transition from bifocal to non-bifocal part of my glasses. Larger laptops I have to view the screen with the non-bifocal part of my glasses which can also mean its harder to read and see the screen as well as touch it accurately. A few other comments about Windows vs. Android. I will continue to use my Android devices for email, general web surfing, calendar / task organization, chat, and reading ebooks. However when it comes to important things like managing and backup up my digital photos and videos this ASUS laptop is just what I was looking for! Oh by the way, my fiancee is already eying the new laptop. I have been having her use the Android tablets as much as possible but I do see this laptop being the new baseline when determining the right type of "computer" for her. If you are looking for small laptop and don't need the gaming performance of an I7 processor this may be the right laptop for you too!

I was in the market for a tablet or ultra book that I could take to class as my laptop is too bulky accompanied with all my text books and notebooks. I was drawn to this unit by its price and touch screen capabilities. After using it for around a week, I've came to the conclusion that it was well worth the money spent. When it comes to the hardware of this laptop Asus doesn't disappoint. It was fairly well built and feels very sturdy and durable. I loved how cosmetically appealing this machine was and the quality of the polished aluminium; which is more scratch resistant. It was also ridiculously light weight, I mean it was lighter than most of my books. The graphics and sound are superb, movies look and sound great. For a Sandy Bridge i3 processor I am quite pleased. The touchscreen however was a little unresponsive in certain performance checks, but after testing I've came to the conclusion that it was a software issue, not a hardware one. Apparently certain Windows 8 drivers needed to be installed that would allow the multi-touch interface to be more well suited, but for some reason it wasn't a default factor in this machine. This laptop comes with Windows 8 pre-installed. I've used tablets and phones with windows 8 on them and they seem to be fair to wonderful, but for a computing OS, it was horrendous. I tried it out for a day or two and in my opinion there was a lot of unnecessary aspects in the OS that just invigorated me and added to my annoyance. It seems to me that those who created it did it for the newer more broadening tablet market, and tried to integrate it as a regular OS, yet failed miserably. I would have downgraded this to Windows 7, but it doesn't support multi-touch interface. So I eventually gave up and installed Ubuntu 12.10 instead. My only complaints with this laptop are the noise fan and the short battery life that it possessed. If I'm typing papers or surfing the web, the average battery life was around 4 hours. Now if I was watching Netflix or movies that I've accumulated on the hard drive, the average span was 3 hours. This, however, wasn't a big issue as the charger was surprisingly very small in comparison to others and didn't take up much space. The fan noise is very noticeable and can be quite bothersome if you sit in a quiet office or the corner of a library. If this is going to be an issue then I honestly don't recommend it, as this laptop is a little more noisy than other laptops, but not so much that I couldn't bear it. And with the way technology is, every laptop will be integrated with a full-time running fan to cool down all the rapid functions and operations of the machine. So finding one dead silent is near impossible now and days. In summary, while searching for a machine that suited my needs. I came to the crossroads of a decision between a tablet and an ultra book. This machine gave me the perfect hybrid. It was light-weight and portable like a tablet, had the storage and processing power of an ultra book, but at the same time was budget conscious. The touch-screen wasn't a priority, but it was a very nice cherry on the top. If you're looking for something of the same concept to suit your needs, this won't disappoint.

Ok so here is my review. Just so you know I like to think of myself as a very tech savvy person. I've built numerous pc's over the years as well as more technical equipment. This past weekend I was looking for a pc to run a bunch of software that I use to program a CNC machine. I deal mainly with cad and cam software. I decided to get a surface pro knowing it was probably not the best device but decided to get it anyways just for the cool factor. After much use I felt it was not the best device for my use. The resolution on some PC programs was not always clear and the screen was just too small for what I needed but the biggest drawback for me was the volume. It was very quiet and I could hardly hear with any noise in he background. Long story short I knew I didn't need that expensive device so I opted to return it and try something more conservative. I had read about the Q200 before even going to the store and even used it for a while before getting the surface pro. After returning the Surface pro I decided to go back to the Q200. I thought it looked like a great little device and seemed peppy enough in the store. I was worried the 2nd gen I3 would not be enough to power my cad programs. Regardless it was either the Q200 or a Sony priced 2x the cost so I opted to try the Q200 and give it a chance. Once getting it home and unpacking it I got a good look at the build quality and was surprised it is all aluminum and the size was so small. Earlier last year I got in on the WIndows 8 beta and installed it on my old laptop and found that I hated it. It just felt convoluted and didn't have a flow to it. I always felt it needed a touchscreen. Boy I was right. After getting my device all setup and updated it is really a remarkable laptop. So far the only issue I've had was the apps not updating or installing. But after using windows update and the asus updater everything appears to be working fine now. I have to say I'm very impressed. I really like this device. I also believe once more people start using a touchscreen pc they may forget altogether about the android and ipad tablets. I've had both and while they have their perks after learning windows 8 I'm really enjoying this device. Having the touchscreen is like having a tablet yet you can still install your pc programs, so essentially you get the best of both worlds. At first I was afraid this laptop was underpowered for my cad programs I run Rhino 5 and do a lot of 3d drawing. When rendering my models I was noticing some slow down but after some research I found I could enable open gl in my options and it really sped up the rendering a lot. Had I not found that I would have definitely had to return the device. So far I've installed many programs, setup steam, Installed some games from the windows 8 market and so far all have played very well which surprised me. There are even a few touch games my wife has fallen in love with that are free. As far as the laptop goes I have to say the touchpad is great the keyboard is very nice I'm typing on it now and not having any issues. The screen looks better than in the store and has no backlight bleeding. The touchscreen is incredibly responsive. It rivals the best tablets I have used. Windows 8 took a long while to get used to but for what I need it has really grown on me. This pc for me is plenty fast I would even argue that it's only slightly slower while navigating any of the apps than the surface pro. Only slightly mind you which really surprised me. All in all I love it but wished it had a bigger battery and got like 10 hours of battery time. If it did that I would sell my tablets for sure. One last thing the audio has good volume but does get a little tinny when cranked up but it's so much better than the surface pro. Also this device has all the ports you want out of the box. 3 usb one full size HDMI, a vga and a full size sdcard slot, oh and even a Ethernet port. Impressive to say the least!!

I bought this yesterday as a birthday present to myself since my netbook was on its last legs and I was ready to upgrade to a more powerful machine. I picked this notebook because I wanted something small and lightweight, and because one of the sales assistants at Best Buy convinced me that I'd be better off choosing a touchscreen laptop if I wanted to get a Windows 8 based machine. I'm happy I listened to that advice! She was right, all of the hidden menus of Windows 8 are so much easier to access by touch than by using the trackpad. What strikes me most about this laptop, is that it looks and feels like a much pricier laptop than it actually is. It's easily as pretty as any high-end laptop I've seen, though it's not quite as slim. The lid is purplish dark gray brushed metal and the keyboard is black on silver. The bottom of the machine has a soft rubbery feel to it that provides good grip when you carry it. All surfaces look more matte than shiny, but still pick up a few smudges. The whole thing feels very sturdy, which is a good thing as some slim notebook can feel a little too flimsy. The touchscreen and trackpad are nice and responsive. I worried before that using a touchscreen on a laptop would feel awkward, but the experience of switching back and forth between using the screen and the trackpad feels surprisingly natural. I find myself using the trackpad for most basic tasks, while switching to the touchscreen to access menus but I imagine that you could just stick to one or the other and it'd work out fine. I really like how the trackpad buttons are integrated into the pad itself. The keyboard is surprisingly roomy for a 11.6" laptop, and the keys are very comfortable to type on despite being kind of shallow. It would have been nice if the keys were backlit, but since this is a budget laptop that isn't a big deal. The display is pretty nice. Not HD-worthy, but good enough for surfing the web and watching movies. The glossy screen can provide quite a bit of glare though which might become a problem if I ever try to use it outdoors. The performance is pretty good. I don't play games so I'm not sure how well it would perform using resource intensive apps, but for the surfing, email, video and wordprocessing apps I use the speed of this machine is more than enough. The battery life is the only big drawback on this machine that I've been able to find. I get abough 3.5 hours on it, which isn't terrible but still on the lower end of what I'm comfortable with. And since the battery isn't removable, you're stuck with relying on finding a power outlet if you want to use this for longer than a few hours at a time. If this machine had cost me more than $650 I think that might be a bigger deal to me that it is now. But for the price point I bought it at, I'm still happy enough with what I'm getting for my money to overlook that fact. It helps that the power charger is a nice one piece affair (think old cell phone chargers) which makes it less bulky to carry. Overall I think this laptop is an excellent buy for anyone who wants a touchscreen notebook but doesn't want to spend over $800 for one. It's an excellent value.

So I bought this laptop back in November of 2012 and used it for two months with no issues. Then the multitouch function on the touchpad went out. Normally not a big deal but with Windows 8 I had gotten used to using it for things and it became annoying not to have it. Restarting the computer always made it work again, but it would go out after a few hours, days, or even weeks depending. Eventually I called ASUS and they recommended a restore to factory settings which I did. This did not resolve the issue. They had me mail it in, which I did. They replaced the touchpad, but this did not resolve the issue. They then had me uninstall and reinstall drivers. Which I did. This did not resolve the issue. They then had me mail it in again, which I did, and all they did was replace the touch pad again, which didn't work the first time and also did not work the second time - did not resolve the issue. I was recommending a replacement laptop at this point and they were refusing, which is too bad because clearly I have a lemon and/or their repair team doesn't know how to fix things. After getting the laptop back the second time it began clicking within the body to the right of the touchpad. It didn't do this before so I assume it had something to do with repairs. When I called regarding this they started me with a new repair account saying this is a seperate issue and that I would need to again redo all the steps I went through before - restoring to factory settings (which is annoying because you have to redownload all aps and configure windows 8 tiles the way you want them, as well as back up data), uninstall and reinstall drivers. I said I would not do this as the issue is connected and asked to talk to a supervisor. She listened to me but also refused to send me a replacement laptop, saying I needed to send it back again (third time in two months, for a week at a time - very annoying as I am grad student and need laptop to write papers, surf internet, etc). She said the repair team thought that a replacement was necessary I could have one otherwise they would continue to try and fix this one. Other than the multitouch going out intermittently the laptop also would occasionally move the typing cursor randomly - not due to me hitting touchpad with the palm of my hand. It did this rarely, but enough that it was an issue. So - technical issues - multitouch intermittently going out, cursor randomly moving, strange clicking noise from body next to touch pad. Attempts to fix - 2 system restores, three mailing back to ASUS for repairs, and an unisntall and reinstall of drivers What I am left with is - 40 extra bucks in box purchases for Fed Ex (they are picky about what box you ship it in), 3 weeks of going without a laptop and the consequences of that (not being able to work on papers, do email or surf the internet during that time....) and a severe distrust of ASUS as a company and a severe let down of their product and customer service. ASUS claims they have a great warranty, and obviously are well reviewed (its why I chose this laptop) but the warranty only does anybody any good if you actually end up with a functioning product at some point. So far (three months in) that hasn't happened. So the warranty doesn't seem to be good for much of anything but free shipping back and forth to their repair center, at whose mercy you will be if you purchase this laptop, or this brand. I would not recommend this laptop. Or ASUS. To anyone, ever.

I got this laptop for school, my old one was rather outdated and weighed too much for me to feel comfortable taking it to campus everyday. This one on the other hand is pretty light and portable. The 11.6 screen doesn't feel like too much of a limitation, but it would have been better at 13-14 in my opinion. Still, you can take full advantage of Windows 8 with this device, touch screen and all. It feels really natural interchanging between the keyboard and touch interface. The touchscreen is really responsive and the keyboard is nice, as well. I have large hands so I thought I would have to do battle with the keyboard, but I was wrong, the keyboard layout is pretty spacious to my needs despite being a small laptop and the trackpad is also nice and large(they basically just copied Apple's design layout which is fine by me). It would have been nice if this was an hybrid tablet/keyboard, but I already have a Note 10.1 for my other needs(writing notes in class). This laptop is still a better buy overall than some of the current hybrids with their limitations to the Intel Atom or Windows RT. The ones with the i3 and up and full blown Windows 8 are a lot more expensive than this, so overall I think this is a pretty solid buy. Windows 8 will occasionally lag every now and then, but for the most part it runs butter smooth on this. Most people think this looks just like a MacBook Air at first glance till they see the Windows 8 UI, and the Asus logo on the back of course, then want to start playing with the touch screen. It definitely is an attention grabber, that's for sure. Really like that they went with the sleek Ultrabook look. The only real cons I would have would be the battery life could be better (think i get around 3-5 hours), though I always have the charger with me so it's not a big issue for me but for others this could be a deal breaker. Also, the specs could have been better. For instance, the q500A is $599 and comes with overall better specs than this, but it doesn't have the touchscreen and is too large for my needs. It is what it is. Overall, I don't regret my purchase one bit. I just wanted a portable, reliable laptop I could easily take on the go with me and didn't want to have to pay a crazy high price for it. I got all of that with this laptop and more.

It really bothers me that anyone thinks this fan is loud. I think you may have a bad bearing, return it and get another one! Seriously, I've owned almost every new ultrabook, Win7, Mac, Android Tab/Key docs, and now this. I've got do say, I'm impressed, ASUS hit a home run with this one. For starters, it's very sleek. The screen is beautiful and responsive. Windows 8 takes learning but I've had zero issues with it so far. The sound is also pretty amazing on this little guy. I bought this because I set out to find a tablet that had Windows 8, at a 500 price point with something more than a 64gb hd. I stumbled on this gem. It really is a gem, the touch screen is fast and responsive. The keyboard is quiet and keys are well spaced for a smaller device. The touch pad is FANTASTIC. Have the option of typing and using a touch pad OR using the touchscreen is wonderful. Windows 8 took me sometime to get used to, but once you're used to it... I have to say, it's better than iOS in my opinion. It's functional and practical. You just have to learn it, like anything new. But back to the hardware. The battery comes in at about 6 hours if managed properly. Running full bore with brightness all the way up, you get about 3 hours. The screen is no retina display, but I disagree with the reviewer that it doesn't look crisp. I am writing this review on the unit and it is zoomed. It looks great. Here how I see it, it's NOT a tablet, you can't detach the keyboard. But it's got a touchscreen that's as responsive as anything I've held in my hand including the Surface. The unit is light and sleek/thin, so I can trade that off for a tablet, for now... It has 500GB storage, which is a huge benefit over all available tablets. Overall, for what it's meant for, it's EXCELLENT and I highly recommend it. If you need a screen bigger than 11", don't get it. If you want something that will last a day on it's battery, don't get it. If you want a Mac, buy a Mac. At $499, for what you get, it's a steal. Don't expect a MacBook Pro, or a fully loaded UltraBook and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

This model Q200E, is basically the same as the ASUS X202E but with a few less features. This model, Q200E does NOT have Bluetooth, is only a wireless n and weighs 3.1 lbs. The other model, the X202E does have Bluetooth, is a wireless b/g/n and weighs 2.9 lbs. These may or may not be the only differences aside from a difference in body/lid color. I really wanted to like this pretty little laptop, and at first, I did! It was comfortable to use. A touchscreen is essential for Windows 8 but you don't want to have to reach far and make big swooping gestures all the time or your arm gets really tired. I tried a Sony Vaio 14" with a 3rd Gen Core i5 and boy, did my arm get tired. Too cumbersome. With this little gem, you really don't have to reach far and it's just feels more natural. Also, it seemed more user friendly with very little bloatware to muck things up. I was quite happy after of course, conquering the daunting task of learning Windows 8! Happy as clam until the touch screen stopped working intermittently. Nothing I could do would bring it back. It had to decide to do it on it's own. It functioned perfectly as a non-touch screen but what's the point? I could have easily spent $100 less on a laptop without a touchscreen but with better specs! Sometimes it would clear up on it's own and resume touchscreen functionality after an hour or several hours. I would refresh or even take it back to factory settings and start over. Sometimes that would help and sometimes not. When I contacted ASUS support, they were nice but of little help. They suggested I re-calibrate the screen, but when the screen isn't functioning, you cannot re-calibrate! Haha! I was sad to have to return it. I really did like it, and so pretty! I know mine was probably just defective. It happens. I didn't pick up another one, however, because I then discovered the other ASUS VivoBook X202E and ordered it from Best Buy's website since it unfortunately is not sold at the stores in my area nor anywhere near it. So far, so good. I still like the dark "Steel Gray Hairline" color of the Q200E slightly better than the silver of my X202E but it's a small price to pay for a non-glitch touchscreen plus Bluetooth!. I did have touchscreen issues once with the X202E but after a refresh, never had a problem again. Bottom line, this is a great machine but watch for touchscreen malfunction. If you don't care about Bluetooth or if you only need wireless n compatibility, I say go for it! Otherwise, get the X202E. It's slightly more expensive sometimes, and you do have to order it, if you buy through Best Buy, but worth it! The silver version is on sale right now. I was able to get mine for $460- do comparison shop. I had mine shipped to the store. By the time I picked it up, I had found it cheaper elsewhere, and the good people of Best Buy refunded me the difference. Yay!....Oh and btw, for a bit more $, there is a pink version too!