Asus - 14" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Matte Black

I needed a lightweight, compact, fast laptop for my 15 year old high school student's use. It was to replace an aging Acer laptop that was very heavy and agonizingly slow. The total cost of this Asus X401U-BE20602Z from Best Buy, delivered to our door was $269.99 on sale. I used my American Express Card for the purchase because they automatically double the manufacture's one year warranty free of charge. Also purchased was a $69.99 Squaretrade service contract that covers drops, spills and hardware failure for 3 years from the date of purchase. No one in our family thought it looked cheap or flimsy and it feels as sturdy to me as another Asus laptop we own that costs more than twice as much. If you don't like the cover, you can always get a designer look laptop skin for $15 or less (one of my daughters opted for a Vera Bradley design for her $800 laptop). Since I read some reviews that said this machine is slow, I ran some tests myself, because I found speed not be a problem. I opened a large MS Excel spreadsheet, a large MS Word document and 4 chrome internet windows--all operated at the same time with no perceptible delay. Each internet window loaded in 1 to 2 seconds when opening sites such as Yahoo, Speedtest.net, WeatherChannel.com, Amazon.com, Bigcharts.com, etc. Several speed tests on Speedtest.net (with the above Excel, Word and 4 Chrome internet windows open) showed a typical download speed of 30.91 Mbps and upload speed of 4.3 Mbps (on a Charter Communications wireless home internet setup). This is basically similar to the speed I would get on my desktop computer that has more memory and a heavy duty processor. So, for $340 total my daughter has a very light weight highly portable compact laptop with a very nice screen display and good capability to handle her homework with a bunch of internet windows open at the same time (and it works fine for Netflix as well--unfortunately), with a 3 year total hardware and mishaps guarantee.

This is a great computer for internet and other basics, like writing, which is what I'd intended to use it for. Of course, I immediately replaced Windows 8 with Ubuntu when I got it, which has its own set of bugs, so I won't go into that, but, for the most part, it runs really well. It's also got a great display for watching videos, but the speakers leave something to be desired, so you're probably going to have to invest in some good external speakers or headphones. It could also use more USB ports, especially considering you need one if you want to hook up a CD/DVD drive, since it doesn't have one (that happens to be why it's super-light, too, which is actually one of my favorite features, considering I intended this to be the computer I took everywhere with me). The ethernet port is on the opposite side of the computer from the power cord, which is just awkward if you have wired internet, but not a problem if you use wifi. If you're concerned with the cleanliness of your computer, be warned that pretty much everything is going to show up on this, especially loads and loads of fingerprints. The only thing I find really annoying is the mouse. The buttons are part of the trackpad, so the cursor is constantly moving while you try to click. I also recommend disabling the "click by touch" feature right away, or you'll be constantly clicking on things you don't mean to click. It's workable and you get used to it after awhile, but I much prefer to have a separate trackpad.

I was looking for a budget computer that was light and slim and this is just perfect. The laptop it is not lightning fast, but for basic stuff it is more than enough. What sold me on this laptop was the price and that it has all the basics which other budget laptop did not had (Ethernet, HDMI, several USB, decent Hard Drive, decent RAM, camera and card reader) except for cd rom. What I like: The laptop runs quietly, the laptop does not overheat, it starts pretty quickly, the charger is very slim and the cable is long, the screen size is true. What I don't like: Speakers are in the bottom and the sound is not very loud (still enough#, Battery life is ok, the material of the Laptop is nice but your hands would leave prints #nothing major). Windows 8: it is my first experience with the Operating System, but despite other reviews I really like it. The apps are very convenient and you can integrate all your accounts easily for mail and Media. You can also use it like any other windows with the desktop appearance. The processor: Even though it runs on an AMD processor it does not lag in the basic daily task like web browsing, office, email. Conclusion: if you don't want to spend much money and still get a productive laptop this is a very good option for students and personal use, and if you travel this is ideal

I picked this laptop up back when win8 first started to hit the shelves. i wanted to keep up with the new os but wanted an inexpensive way to get started let alone get a feel for the new os prior to upgrading my other devices. first off it has run without so much as a single glitch over the past eight months. the display is very nice and the laptop is nice and very light. it is not speedy due to the cpu but it is not as slow as some either. i was able to add ram but that didn't do much. i tried several times to upgrade to an ssd drive but found from asus they encrypt part of the drive so you cannot clone, so a new hard drive technically possible but not easy to do at all. it has one usb 3 port id that just look inside the connection for "blue" usb 3 connections are blue on the inside. the hdmi out works just fine in fact i have it connected using a cable to a 60 inch hdtv all the time. battery life is just okay three and half hours give or take. it may not come with a touchscreen but trust me that will in no way prevent you from making full use of the device. for the money you can't really go wrong just don't go expecting and ultrabook when paying rock bottom prices. perfect for school, casual or even limited business use. i run office 2013 on mine and it handles those apps just fine, fast and no lag time.

I've had it for 2 weeks now and at least find it passable now. It is very slow. To the point where if something is happening in the background that is using the processor even the cursor or click pad hesitates. I'll tap it four times and then after a pause four copies of explorer will open. You get the idea, you need to learn how to use it knowing it's limitations. I downloaded the updated touch pad driver from ASUS as recommended but I didn't see a difference. The click function of the touch pad is another thing I don't like. There are no separate click buttons below the touch pad like I have on the other laptops I've had, here the entire touch pad pivots down to click, and while that works ok on a Macbook, on this one it's very clunky. I wish I'd done a bit more research on the processor before jumping at the low price. I'd have preferred to pay a bit more for something faster. I have Windows 8 on my Acer netbook (which by the way doesn't have the lag issue this one does) and I have grown to like it so give it a chance and you may too.

Got this computer for someone who just needs basic web browsing and Microsoft office work. Have has Asus in the past and was impressed with their performance. There were some good things about this computer. The screen was bright and clear, the computer was very light. It lacked a DVD drive but you can get an external one for $45 so it was no big deal. The wifi was strong and could function through walls where my $1300 Macbook Air could not. The Ugly: The keyboard is horrible and flimsy and was already failing out of the box. The touchpad was annoying and almost made the computer inoperable. An external mouse is necessary with this one. Worst of all... the computer kept overheating and shutting down. Forget about using it on a hot day or without a cooler under it. Even then it would shutdown every time the processor was used past 30%. Just horribly engineered and useless to have to reboot in the middle of work. Useless machine.

At about half the cost of the leading tablet, get more done with this amazing deal. Windows 8 is great once you get used to it. Run tablet-like apps, legacy Windows desktop apps, and web apps... with a physical keyboard and touchpad. No fingerprints all over your screen thanks to this laptop not having a touchscreen (fingerprints definitely get all over the rest of the device -- only complaint I can make about it). The size is just right. The bright 14" screen provides wonderful viewing real estate as well as a compact ultrabook-like profile when closed. The laptop isn't heavy nor too light. This is the perfect addition to my ever growing collection of devices for the family. It has become an iPad replacement and gets much more use thanks to Windows 8 and remote desktop functionality with our gaming desktop. I would buy 10 of these if I could.

Acceptable Performance for CPU/memory specs. First time using Windows 8, when I discovered Asus muilt-touch touchpad for accessing Windows 8 features I was impressed.....until plugged in the AC adapter. The Touch pad quit working....occasionally the cursor would jump to indicate it was seeing input. This is identical to the time I used a cheap A/C to USB adapter for my iPod Touch - the Touch screen doesn't work when it's plugged in. Best Buy suggested that I Contact Asus for new drivers, and I laughed. Software will not fix a hardware fault. Just google the model number of this laptop, and you will see many other people with this same problem I describe. This is a noise/grounding issue. I returned the laptop before the 15th day to insure I received a full refund. If you don't mind using a USB/wireless mouse, this laptop will work great....except you lose the 1,2,& 3 button gestures that you get with the Asus Touchpad.