Asus - 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Matte Black

First off I was looking for a great LAPTOP at a good price. Considered others Toshiba, Sony, Dell ...well may be not Dell. Anyway I spoke to a business partner of mine and he suggested ASUS ! Actually he PREACHED THE computer Gospel. He and my self being NERDS..or Geeks or whichever is popular these days took a nice 65 block trek all over The Great City of NY . After over 3 to 4 different Best-buy's and countless others .An associate from one of the Best Buy's finally grew a BRAIN and decided to call another store to verify it was in fact available. We found it at an AMAZING great price ...THANK YOU JESUS!!!i It's crazy fast AND can handle a ton of multitasking software . For example can run 3 to 4 instances of IE and run music app in the back , as well as Adobe Photoshop. I am liking this BIG TIME. Thanks GUY’S! :-)

The processor is the main reason I bought this. An i3 clocking in at 2.5GHz with Intel 4000 graphics really isn't that bad for $350. More than likely, it can get what you need done. Most Steam games will be able to run, but don't expect to max out Crysis 3 with this. Other reviewers say they had a problem with the battery or the display. Keep in mind that these problems are only have a pretty slim chance of happening. The biggest problem I've had with this laptop is Windows 8. It's garbage. If you want, you can intall a program called Classic Shell that adds the home button back so you don't have to look at Microsoft's awful Metro UI start screen. This laptop doesn't really cone with any spectacular software, but most software to come with any laptop isn't usually spectacular. The webcam's awful and so is (are? I thought I saw two of them) the microphone(s). Grab yourself a Logitech webcam if you want beautiful call quality for Skype. The keyboard is a little flimsy, but it's not showing as much of a problem (yet). Laptop keyboards weren't meant to last forever. Big warning for anyone who's a fan of USB: this laptop only has 2 USB ports, one 2.0 on the left side and one 3.0 on the right. You might need a USB hub. There's a VGA port and an HDMI slot on the right, but I'm pretty sure that's the standard for laptops now. All in all, this laptop only has two outstanding features. The i3 processor and the price. For $349, this isn't a bad laptop for simple and intermediate tasks.

TL;DR: OS is itself but it does have media player despite what you may be told. Only one audio jack, no apparent scroll on oversized touch pad. Good screen, decent full keyboard, quick and responsive. It runs well, customer service helped me when I messed up setting up the account (On 8, set up a new email for the account unless you're using a business/professional one to begin with! I had no warning of that) Good screen quality, i like the keyboard and everything runs well. Price is perfect, most netbooks cost about this and it's a full sized laptop. Most windows 7 programs install just fine. I downloaded Skype (I don't like the skype app) and it runs fine. AIM runs, Open Office runs, all my antivirus software installs fine. Things I don't like other than OS: - The audio jack is headphone/microphone. There's only one, if you need a separate mic youre out of luck. The built in works fine but this is not for audio creating by any means. (Primary reason for 4 star rating) - The touchpad is excessively large and doesn't seem to have a scroll option like most other laptops. I've been spoilt and don't like grabbing the scroll bar constantly. If it's an option it's not clear. - It's really thin. But that might just be me. - Without headphones, this has poor sound quality. Headphones or speakers and then it's normal

Well, I pick this up since it has an adequate i3 processor and looks sleek. very thin. and the wide screen just make it stand out in the store compare to other laptops within the price range. I am looking for something as cheap as it can get and I can carry around. It s bigger than what I want it to be but very light. However I feel like the quality has been compromised with the price and the thinness. the keyboard is uncomfortable for typing. It took me days to make peace with the loud noise, the feel and the big key spacing...But that is what I can get used to. The touchpad quality is just so bad that I hate it. Be prepare to buy a compact mouse in addition to it if you need to do serious work. the sound is good. batery life is not so great! Just got it for a month but it failed on me once. had to do a cmos/bios reset (I don't know why...) So good temporary laptop for school/work if you are on a tiny budget or if you are not spending time on your laptop for anything else but emails, chat, some movies, and news on the internet. but don't expect stellar performance or durability.

I bought this for my 12 year old as her first computer. I didn't want to spend a whole lot but wanted something that would be useful for a few years. I would put Linux on this machine but Linux will not support the internet filter that I prefer to keep her from stuff she doesn't need to be in. She seems to be doing ok with it and it is doing everything that she wants it to do. The battery life isn't very long but that ASUS stated that it was a 4 hour batter to start with. If you are looking for a high performance machine poney up and get a Mac. If you want something cheap to surf the web and do some word processing this is a good machine to have.

I began looking for a compromise, and inexpensive, laptop when I realized my Toshiba netbook was just TOO slow and the screen to tiny for my 50+ year old eyes. Barely tolerable when casually browsing or checking email, it struggled through even Plants vs. Zombies. While I have a Gateway gaming laptop, it is 5 years old and weighs like 13 pounds. I wanted something light but still able to do casual gaming. I figured a 3rd gen Intel i3 and a 15 inch screen was the bare minimum I would settle for. After building a comparison spreadsheet of Best Buy available models, the Asus X501A came out on top. It was very close as it’s specs were neck and neck with the Toshiba C855-S5111. Unable to decide, I went with the Asus as it was only 4.5 pounds with battery installed (verified with a kitchen scale).versus the Toshiba’s 5.4 pounds. Aside from dealing with Windows 8, the Asus is just what I wanted. Bloatware is minimal and what is there stays out of my way. Touchpad is smooth and doesn't seem too sensitive (no unintentional double-clicks like the Lenovo N580 I just got for the wife). Performance wise, here’s how it compares with my other laptop on the Unigine Heaven Benchmark tool. Gateway FX-6160 ($1300 5 years ago); Windows Vista (build 6002, Service Pack 2) 64bit; Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz; NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS FPS: 14.1 Score: 355 Min FPS: 6.2 Max FPS: 26.0 Asus X501A $369; Win 8; Intel Core i3-3120M @ 2.50 GHz; Intel HD graphics 4000. FPS: 9.3 Score: 235 Min FPS: 5.0 Max FPS: 20.6

This computer, my first experience with windows 8 was at first a let down. That is, until I discovered how wonderful and useful all the features are! This laptop mixes both the world of Laptop with the world of a Entertainment device such as a Tablet. The processes run quite fast - something a computer artist and online store owner relies on. Windows 8 takes a week to get used to but it's a fun new platform with all the original and beloved features us PC fans love. The pricing can't be beat and this machine is overall a top notch piece of equipment for the price. One downfall is the lack of USB ports and total storage memory but both of those are easily fixable with accessories. I even dropped my computer a few times and no damage what so ever.

This computer is perfect for my needs and well worth the price. I make detailed, weekly presentations/reports using Word and PowerPoint and this computer easily (and quietly) handles hours of editing when unplugged, lots of downloading large files, Internet browsing with tons of tabs open for days, etc. Video quality is great as well. I've never had a laptop with the "10-key" number setup on the side, and use/enjoy it way more than I thought I would. The biggest con (besides running Windows 8...) is that from day one, the spacebar has been a little hard to push in. If I push it in really hard and click a bunch of times it's fine for an hour maybe, but the next time I have to do some solid typing, it's sticky again. Not annoying enough to bring it to get fixed yet, though. (I gave three stars for "convenience" since some other minor cons are to be expected, given the price--the trackpad is sort of loud, and the shell is plastic and easy to push around...I'm a little afraid to carry it around with me everywhere I go.)