Customer Reviews

ASUS U43JC-X1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop (10 Hours of Battery Life)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I bought this as a replacement for a Dell 1720. As I study computer and electrical engineering, I'm very familiar with the internal components of electronics. This is a very well made notebook. Most of my friends and colleagues find the notebook very attractive and distinctively ideal. But, aesthetic taste differ from person-to-person and can only be merely objective. So, what is really important, are the numbers in between that motivated this to be my final choice. And, I'm glad I did 100%.

Processor Core i5 450M
This is currently the SECOND HIGHEST SCORING DUAL CORE MOBILE PROCESSOR, according to PassMark's website. The first being the Core i7 620M, which cost roughly twice as much and only provides a 10% improvement. Very smart on ASUS's behalf, because the majority of programs only utilize two cores. This means that most people buying a quad core will only use half of the potential of their CPU. Whereas, this processor doubles the amount of pathways for the dual cores to use. In short, the processor optimizes both cores by having twice as many streams and acts like a quad core ALL OF THE TIME. And, this doesn't even include the 12-way associative 3MB of L3 cache. GREAT NOTEBOOK PROCESSOR. PERIOD

RAM
Most people don't really understand RAM or How it woks. So, I'll keep this simple. Your CPU has a core speed. You RAM has a core speed rating. When both of these are the same speed, your computer is termed "synced." A very very important thing. If your computer is not synced, some of the data is lost in the transmission and has to be sent again. Making it slower than originally intended. This computer is synced perfect, so DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY FASTER RAM. It will be a waste of your money. The latency is 7-7-7-20 and as good as you can buy for 1333.

USB 3.0
I bought this with every intention of getting the most out of USB 3.0. I felt really disappointed in the performance for a few reasons. Some are my fault, and I'll explain. Intel has said they will not support USB 3.0 on their boards. They are waiting for LightPeak to replace all current standards. While this is a smart business move for Intel, the rest of us are left with the consequences. The only way USB 3.0 can be used with an Intel processor is through the use of third party controllers. These are not nearly up to the speeds of the AMD boards. I own a Super Talent Supercrypt 32GB that I planned on using for clean installs, but you need to install the drivers after installing the OS for USB 3.0 to work, $#!}. So, USB 3.0 can only be used for AMD board clean installs. And, to make matters worse, the drivers are slow. I can hit about 96MB/sec on the U43Jc, but on an AMD board I get about 230MB/sec. I should have researched a little more, but hopefully, I can save some of you time. DON'T LET THIS BE THE DECIDING FACTOR FOR BUYING THIS COMPUTER. All Intel based notebooks will suffer from the same problem, and AMD processors aren't nearly this good. If it's a problem, wait for LightPeak.

Switchable nvidia 310M
By knowing how to use this, you can increase you battery life. Just hit the button in the upper-left corner, and you will switch to the onboard graphics card, simple. This card is not made for extreme video games, but CASUAL games can be played with ease.

Display 1366x768
This is one of the brightest and clearest screens I've seen. Some people might complain about the resolution, not being high enough, but do you really need more resolution on a 14" screen?? NO

Bluetooth
Absent in this model. Have never used it before, so it wasn't a factor for my decision.

Keyboard
A chicklet style keyboard that is almost identical to a MacBook Pro. I like it.

DVD Drive
I guess people still use these things. Anyways, it contains one of the best made for notebooks, a Matshita UJ89A2S.

Bloatware
Almost all PC computers come with this nowadays. Just download Revo uninstaller and remove what you don't think you'll use. Search Google for Asus Bloatware guide for information.

Camera
I believe all computers come with, pretty much, the same camera. Until someone starts putting Carl Zeiss lenses on these things, there all the same to me.

Audio
Audio is on the low end, but most loud notebooks go loud and sound distorted. If audio is really important to you, you probably think all notebooks sound horrible. Cure: Buy a pair of Klipsch Image S4. Simple the best affordable headphones available.

Coupon
I'm mentioning this now, because this severely affected the final part of my review,but since it was part of the original price, I included this in the review. I purchased this for $999, and received a $150 Amazon gift card. This made all the difference in the world. I know computer speed "bottlenecks" in certain areas. The biggest area is the hard drive. While the U43Jc-X1 comes with a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm, the Crystal Disk Mark I scored was around 90MB/sec. Faster than most, but I wanted this notebook to fly. So, I used the coupon to order a 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300. Best upgrade for any computer in the world.

Battery Life
Most people are getting close to 6 hours, and I concur. After changing the hard drive, I was getting closer to 8 1/2. Huge improvement. Everything else increased immensely too. My cold boot time is around 13 sec. Microsoft Office Word 2010 opens in 1 sec. No exaggeration. Shutdown is between 3-5 sec. Everything else opens immediately, and I have a longer battery life.

Heat
The most important fact for determining notebook reliability, longevity, and build construction. This product is so well made that I RARELY HEAR THE FAN EVEN TURN ON. This means the computer doesn't get hot enough for it, although I am speaking after the SSD install. This is a sure sign of a solid build construction.

Overall
This is a quality computer with some of the best components on the market. Asus gives a 1 year accident warranty. Meaning you can drop it in the pool and get a new one. Hard to beat. You'll be hard pressed to find something of this caliber at this price, not to mention you'll stand out in the crowd. Just remember, sometimes, "It's what's on the inside that counts." ~proverb

Pros:
Long battery life. I have never seen "10 hours" as Asus claims, but 5-6 hours of use on a battery-saving mode is quite realistic.

Performance. The i5 in this laptop is incredible for browsing and general tasks. Even on a power saving mode (mine throttles the CPU down to 40%) there is no discernible processing lag for everyday tasks. The Intel graphics are capable of running light, casual games like Audiosurf and Beat Hazard, allowing you to save the Geforce 310M for more heavy tasks. With the Geforce graphics, I was able to obtain a steady 30fps in Left 4 Dead on high settings with no AA and 16x AF.

Good Display. Granted, I have never seen one of the $1800 Thinkpads with S-IPS panels up close, but this is the best screen I've seen on a notebook in person. I'm sure there's better on more expensive laptops, though.

Ergonomics. The laptop is light enough that it can easily be carried around with any accessories you might have. The keyboard is also very comfortable to type on.

Style. Aluminum-accented bamboo? Yes please. Nice and thin too. Also, the bamboo has a nice, dark finish to it and seems well-protected from scratches and scuffs.

Good Touchpad. Personally, I hate touchpads. I already tapped the giftcard to order a mouse, but this touchpad is quite sensitive, accurate, and has multi-touch. Asus also bundles the laptop with pre-installed multi-touch gesture software that works very well. I actually kept it installed as it is quite useful.

HDMI and USB 3.0.

Good wireless adapter. Supports B/G/N and works well even when set to "max power savings."

Cons:

It has a VGA out where they could have put something more useful.

First of all, I would like to say that I just received this laptop yesterday - after a bit of a twist. I first ordered this laptop a few days prior partially because of the 150$ GC promotion, only to find out a day later that there is an additional free item that I can get with this laptop. The netgear Push2TV wireless adapter is free with the purchase of this asus model. However you would have to go to the netgear-adapter page to find this deal. It is annoying that amazon did not make a link on the asus page (a deliberate act on their part?). In any case, I had to order another asus since the first one was already shipped and they couldn't just ship the free adapter to you (asus+GC+netgear have to be simultaneously added to checkout in order for the deal to count), and I returned the first one back to amazon (just asked UPS to take it back at the time of delivery). So finally the second one arrived yesterday with the free adapter too. Now I am happy.

Now, onto the laptop itself.

This laptop exudes classical beauty. The bamboo is gorgeous and comfortable to touch, and forms a really interesting combination with the aluminum brush-metal keyboard in a vintage yet futuristic way. The chrome rims add an additional level of sophistication, and I love the lighting of the on-button and the 4 lights located in the front of the laptop (for battery, hdd etc). The overall color scheme is maroon/brown, which is an unusual color palette in a market where black and silver predominates. However it works really well and sets this laptop apart from the rest. After using it around my house for almost 10 hours, there is some fingerprinting on the touchpad, which is easily cleaned. Overall I find that this laptop looks the best when situated on a glass desk surface, with the lights reflecting off it.

I was kind of expecting this laptop to be heavy since it has an optical drive, but in fact it is very easy to carry around. The 14" screen is very generous and I love the widescreen HD display. I did a side-by-side comparison with the macbook 13, and the colors on the asus are more vivid, however the white can be too bright in my opinion (i.e. the white background on most webpages and documents can be a bit hard to read at first), so I played around for a while with the graphical adjustments of the asus in order to achieve a good balance. Most of the online videos play very well - I tested it with various apple trailers, youtube videos, shows on cbs, nbc etc, and all of them came out with more vivid colors than the mb-13 counterpart, even though sometimes video on the asus can look more "saturated" (ex: people's faces can look too rosy sometimes and dark can be too dark).

Windows 7 is really a step-up from VISTA, with more streamlined functionalities and less hassle. I selected the "Quiet Office" power profile and the machine runs very quietly for the most part. I am still testing other functionalities of this laptop (camera, burner, wireless tv connection etc) so I will update this review at a later time. But so far I am very happy with it.

Update: 8/24/10
I played with the Nvidia Graphical Panel some more to get the display to an "optimal" color balance, saturation, and brightness/contrast for video playback. In my opinion the default graphical settings are subpar - colors look kind of washed-out and brightness is too high. The Asus is capable of more with the proper adjustments. As I mentioned above most online videos look clear and crisp, however DVD playback was unimpressive - Avatar looked too dark and somewhat grainy, and the same DVD looked crisper on the macbook even though the color palette was more muted.

My playstation 3 made an effortless connection to the Asus via Windows Media Streaming, and I was able to stream HD movies on the laptop onto my TV with minimal lag. This is pretty impressive to me, as I might not even need to use the Netgear push2TV adapter.

Even though the trackpad works fairly well most of the time, the two-finger scrolling is not always accurate (I sometimes have to shift my finger positions on the trackpad in order to achieve better precision). Today I started to use the Microsoft wireless Mouse 6000, and it works like a dream. I hate having fingerprints on the beautiful bamboo trackpad anyway.

I did a video transcoding today (avi to m4v) and while the Asus was quiet throughout most of the process, the left side-vent got pretty hot during the process. I would recommend moving all power cables away from that position during CPU-taxing events or get a cooling pad.

Style: Very Beautiful

--Hardware--
Keyboard: A little spaced out, drivers are required for ANY fn keys to work
Touchpad: Good, however button is a little hard to push(maybe this actually makes it more durable?)
Palm rest: retains oil from hands easily but its very very smooth feels nice. it doesn't feel like you are using a computer.
dvd-rom: ok
sound ports: seperate mic/headphones will not detect mic if on same port as headphones
speakers: good quality with the "SRS" sound enhancer , not sure without it
Fan Noise Level: Meduim to low
Screen : my screen is defective, it flickers like crazy when the brightness isn't 100% :(
Weight: decent weight


--Software--
expressgate : doesn't work well.
Crapware: Too much including microtrend, quite a few startup programs
Linux: Ubuntu seems to work out of the box, however could not install bootloader to partition instead of MBR due to partition layout.
Hardrive Partition layout: 1 19GB recovery, 116 OS, 330 Data Partition

--Drivers--
asus website is really overwhelemd and won't work now, the 64 bit touch pad drivers aren't on the site but can be found by changing the url in 32 bit drivers (32 -> 64)

--Goodies--
Logitech 25% off coupon
cable wrapper
cleaning cloth
accidental warranty

1-year-update: I've just crossed the year-mark for ownership and the laptop's running as it did when new! I strongly recommend uninstalling a lot of the ASUS bloatware that comes preinstalled with the computer - it helps speeds things up a bit. Battery life has dropped very slightly, from 5-6 hours new (moderate usage) to now 4-5 hours. Which is still very good. I will definite purchase an ASUS again in the future, haven't been disappointed!

--------------------------------

In the laptop world, you either get something that is ultra lightweight, has insane battery life, and absolutely no processing power, or something that has no battery life, performs very well, and has no portability.

This laptop is the best of both worlds, and even better yet - it doesn't cost $1500.

I'm a college student who needs portability to be able to lug my laptop around classes, take notes, and do homework away from home. However, I'm also a college student who likes playing games, photo and video edit, and doesn't want to have a netbook that takes five minutes to open Word.

I've been looking forever for a laptop that was relatively cheap, yet was small (14" or less), had a dedicated graphics card for games, and a powerful CPU for multitasking and running more complicated tasks such as video editing. This laptop (so far) has been almost absolutely perfect for me.

>>> PROS:
> Intel Core i5 450m CPU - Blazing fast for plain everyday tasks, also blazing fast for dedicated tasks like running a photomerge in Adobe Photoshop CS5 or executing code in your favorite programming language.

> 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce 310m Dedicated GFX Card - Not the highest graphic card in the market, but that's okay, because I don't play Crysis on Ultra settings anyway. Runs Starcraft II on Low with absolutely no frame lag (30+ FPS constant), and drops to ~15-20 on Medium, but I don't care about the minute amount of detail gained by playing on Medium. Runs Dirt 2 on Low at 20~25 FPS, which is fine by me.

> Switchable Intel HD graphics! - I don't get why more laptops have this feature. This is the key for good battery life. I can choose what programs I want to use the power-hungry NVIDIA card, and which to use the tamer (but still very powerful) integrated card. Watching movies in 1080p on my 24" external monitor poses no problem with the integrated card, and I can even play several older games on this card just fine.

> Battery life! Okay so it's not 10 hours like ASUS advertises, but when are those predictions right anyway? ASUS has a very effective power management system called Power4Gear Hybrid/Super Hybrid Engine, which on the battery saving mode can get me 5-6 hours battery life, which is still pretty darn good for a laptop that has a dedicated graphics card (of course gaming on this laptop will effectively slash that time in half). This was a mix of idling, word processing, e-mail, photo viewing, YouTube video watching, and general web browsing. You know, the stuff you do in everyday life. If I did turn off WiFi and stared at a blank dim screen with no programs running, I'm sure I can get the 10 hours ASUS mentions, but what good is that?

> Style - Nobody cares if you have a Macbook Pro or a generic Dell. Hell even the "stylish" HP's. Everyone has one. I've never gotten so many compliments about a laptop in such a short period of time (I've owned this laptop for around a month now). And of course you get to brag that it's made of real bamboo. Besides the very nice finish, which is absolutely NOT a fingerprint magnet, the keyboard is very smooth and the build quality is generally on the higher end, despite people complaining about the perhaps "somewhat" flexible areas around the laptop.

> Size and Portability - Okay this isn't the lightest laptop around (5.15 lbs with 8-cell battery), but it is definitely a notch lighter than my old 14" Dell Inspiron. Light enough to carry around in a backpack around classes just fine. Boots up from Sleep in literally two seconds, and Hibernate in 30 seconds or so, and complete cold start takes just under 100 seconds (yes I timed it). In my opinion, that's pretty darn good. So okay it's not a netbook or a 13.3" laptop, but find me a smaller laptop that's in the same price range and can do all the things this laptop does.

> Price! - My laptop ended up costing me around $790, because I sold the Netgear TV adapter that came with the package. And since Amazon provided me free shipping with no tax, it was really $790. That's a fantastic price in my opinion for what you get.

So this laptop is definitely very good. But no product is without its flaws.

>>> CONS:
> Screen - Doesn't matter as much to me, because I hook my laptop up to a 24" LCD when I'm home. But when I'm photo editing remotely for example, I notice the color contrast isn't that good. That is, the blacks aren't as black as they should be. It makes photos look much noisier than they really are, when you see specks and grains in the darker regions of a digital photo. Only screen aficionados would care about something like this though. Doing everyday things, you won't even notice a difference.

> AC Adapter - is HUGE! The thing weighs like a pound and a half, which in the world of college students and portability, is a big deal. Fortunately, because of how good the battery life is on this laptop, I never take my AC adapter with me, and get through a day of classes taking notes and browsing the web, and still get home with a good chunk of battery remaining.

> Graphics Card, if you care about high end gaming - If you really want to game, you know that this is not the laptop to get for playing demanding games on Ultra settings. But for the rest of the world, the graphics card is perfectly suited to everyday tasks.

> Track pad - Only has "one" button (you can left- and right-click with it), and it is quite stiff. Kind of annoying to have to exert effort to actually click. I use a wireless mouse though (Logitech MX1100), so this problem doesn't affect me too much.

> Sound - The speakers on this thing suck. I think this is the only real "problem" I have with this laptop. Suck as in volume; a YouTube video even at 100% volume will get drowned out if you're in a cafeteria for example. If you're alone at home and it's quiet, you'll be fine. But for anywhere else the volume is just too low. My old laptop was much louder, and I miss that. Fortunately I have external speakers (Logitech Z-2300, a brilliant set of speakers!) and I plug those bad boys in whenever I get a chance.

> Size - This is getting really picky - I had originally wanted a 13.3" laptop with even more portability, but decided not to wait for ASUS to release the smaller laptop and decided to go with this. Its weight is just on the borderline between convenient and "slightly too large" but I got used to it quickly. Especially since this laptop is a good half pound lighter than my previous 14".


>>> CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Despite the flaws, I am very happy with this laptop. Nothing has "seriously" gone wrong...at least for now. ASUS makes good laptops and this is a great example of their quality of work. If you're someone who's like me - someone who values portability but also performance, then you'll enjoy this laptop very much. If you don't care about performance, there are so many other choices you can get (just getting rid of the dedicated gfx card will save you $100). Similarly, if you don't care about portability, there are so many other choices you can get with better processors and graphics cards. But for now, this laptop in my opinion is the best of both worlds, and at a competitive price too.

I really wanted to like this laptop. The specifications on paper were really good (I5+USB3!) for the money and it looked nice in the photos. Also I've been buying ASUS components (not full computers though) for a decade now and haven't had any trouble yet. Long story short it turned out to be a disappointment. The first computer I received crashed from the get go when automatically configuring the windows environment during the first login. I didn't make much of it and installed software, but because of the frequent BSOD I decided to return it (all software was original, same I use at work and had antivirus from the beginning). A week later I received the second one. This one worked better but after a week of use or so it started to crash and started to get corrupted/bad sectors in the HD. A quick run of windows memory check utility reported a hardware memory problem. This one I returned for good and because of this experience I will be very hesitant to recommend any Asus product (not just laptops) in the future given the sorry state of their QA process.

I did get to use the laptop for a bit so here are my comments beyond the DOA issue.

1) It is big and heavy. With the battery and the power brick (which is much larger than my old laptop brick) this is not a comfortable machine to lug around. I really don't understand why the power supply has to be so large and heavy!

2) The bamboo finish looks good, but it doesn't cover the back completely. In my opinion the cheap plastic (chrome-colored) external bezels -hard to see in the photos- and the the glossy internal bezel around the screen have a negative impact and give the computer an overall cheap look. Furthermore, the chrome bezel feels very flimsy... a little pressure from your thumb and it will likely crack.

3) The most irritating aspect of this laptop was the trackpad. In the the first computer it was so unreliable to the point of being useless (had to connect a mouse). The problem was that even with the most sensitive setting, it would lose track of my finger for a split second, short but enough to lose grip of a scroll bar. The issue was not as bad with the second unit so I guess there is variability and your mileage may vary. The other problem is that the trackpad buttons are way too hard. My fingers/hand would feel sore after a brief period using them. Combined with the lousy trackpad, using this laptop without a mouse was a unpleasant experience. Again, the first unit was worse in this sense.

4) The wireless g connection kept dropping every few minutes while transferring files even when the laptop and the router where on the same desk. Don't have similar problems with any other computer in my household.

5) Tried to use the Nvidia hybrid engine but it kept crashing...

6) Battery never lasted more than 5 hours of normal usage (wireless/music/editing/picasa).

Overall, I think this is a poorly executed product and I would recommend against it. Even if you are lucky and get a unit that works properly, the ergonomics are terrible and the flimsy bright plastic almost negate the aesthetics of the bamboo finish.

Finally, a tip of the hat to Amazon that handled the all ordeal flawlessly.

Granted, I just got it yesterday...I do like it a lot, but the keyboard is noisy, and the screen isn't as tall as I had thought it would be, making reading full pages of text kind of irritating, but I think I'll get used to it. I wish the keyboard were backlit for sure. Also the power cord plugs into the side of the machine instead of the back, and has an angle built into it, which is the reason my last two laptops broke- the pin inside the power jack on the laptop eventually breaks if you move the power cord around a lot, but I guess if you're careful with it it'll hold up alright. I'm pretty tough on my laptops, too. I take them out for field work, they've traveled across the country several times each, get thrown in back packs numerous times a day...so, eventually they break. Also the CD/DVD player tray is VERY flimsy. I'd get the model without one and buy an external instead if you can. Bamboo seems like it'll scratch up pretty easy, too. The top also doesn't lock down very well when it's closed- the hinge is stiff to hold it down, but there's no sliding lock clasp like on all my older laptops and I wish it had one.

Anyway- what I like: The camera is decent and the software is kind of amusing, with wigs and stuff you can attach to photos. The HD screen is AMAZING compared to anything I've had in the past (Acer, Averatec, IBM ThinkPad). The touchpad is level with the surrounding bamboo which is nice, but it's pretty sensitive (must be a way to change this, just haven't found it yet). Keyboard is a bit spaced out and is definately far noisier and "plastic-ey" sounding than I would like. Machine runs really cool so far, and relatively fast when opening programs, websites, etc. Haven't watched much video yet...The bamboo is nice, although I bet it'll be scratched up really bad within a week of my typical use and abuse (I bike everywhere, so it'll be thrown in my backpack up against text books, bike locks, whatever else my life depends on that day. I don't tend to go very easy on my laptops, like I said). Sound quality is great on this machine!

So overall, I like it, but there are a few things I would have done differently and I think had I tried it out first instead of just ordering it after a lot of research, I would have gone with the 13" model and an external optical drive, or maybe a different brand with quieter keyboard. For the price though, I think it's relatively good, especially if you get the free tv adapter and amazon gift card with it...oh! yeah, so the warranty is only 1 year, which seems like faulty advertising on the part of Amazon to me, since the Asus 360 warranty is supposed to be 2 full years. So consider that before you buy!

------update after a month of use------
Like it a lot better now that I've gotten used to it. Called Asus and checked on the warranty- it does have the two year 360 warranty as well as the one year accidental damage coverage. I bought a separate mouse to use with it because the touchpad seems ultra sensitive and I'm not sure how to adjust that- it kept picking up the heat from my hand moving over it and clicking on random things. Still think the screen is a bit short for reading papers on, which I do a lot since I'm a science major, but it'll have to do. Great for movie watching, fast on the internet, camera...eh, don't really use it since it doesn't have great resolution, but it can be fun to play with. It's survived it's first two weeks of travel being bashed around on my geology field course, the bamboo is already getting scratched, but that could be expected anyway.

First off, if you don't need the extra battery life that switchable graphics gives you, go with a different model. This computer's strongest feature is it's ability to save power. It's pretty stylish too, but there are cheaper laptops out there that can perform as well (albeit with much lower battery life).

**This laptop has a fairly solid case with only a little flex where the optical drive sits. The inlaid bamboo is a nice touch. While others have called it a fingerprint magnet, the finish is similar to matte. In other words, fingerprints are far less noticeable than my previous laptop which had a glossy finish. The bezel on the screen is a little flimsy and could be broken if something caught on it. The chrome piece on the outside bottom of the screen also flexes a little. Overall, the case rivals that of a magnesium-alloy case in one of my previously owned laptops.

**The screen is crisp and clear. It's far superior to the screen of a $500 dollar laptop that my parents bought last year. The color does not look washed out and there is a respectable amount of contrast. The screen is bright (although I have not tested it outdoors), and the viewing angle is typical of the dozen or so laptops I have used both at work and home over the past couple of years.

**Performance wise, this is a great laptop. I have the cpu throttled down to 30% and can watch 720p video without stutter. At idle on the quiet office setting, the cpu temp stays under 20 degrees Celsius. For a laptop, that is very cool. As others have mentioned, WiDi is basically useless for anything other than doing presentations. I haven't tried out the USB 3.0 yet but mean to try in the near future. I have been able to get 8+ hours on it while word processing and browsing the internet (sites with no Flash). I believe I could squeeze out another hour if I turned the brightness down and turned the wifi off, but 10 hours of battery life doesn't seem possible under productive use. Still, 8 or more hours easily beats the competition and you should be able to get through a complete (or nearly complete) workday without needing to find an outlet. Gaming on it is decent. Left for Dead 2 can be played with all settings enabled. Borderlands can be played as well at max resolution, but you'll want to turn off all the enhancements to get a sustained playable fps.

**[Edit]I forgot to mention the touchpad. The buttons are stiff and not the easiest to use, but you really don't need to use them at all. By tapping with one, two, or three fingers, you can do everything you need and it's much easier than having to use buttons.

**Overall, this is the best laptop I have used. I'm giving it a 4 star instead of a 5 because of the couple minor case-flex issues and the lack of bluetooth. I tend to rate harshly and my 4 star rating is probably a 5 from most people.

I've just recently got this laptop with the $150 GC + Push2TV device all for $999

Pros
----

Nvidia 310M, this is an entry graphics so don't expect a lot from it but it will play some games just fine (2x integrated graphics.)
Battery life, I've managed to get 7-8hrs after undervolt the processor slightly. I'd expect 5hrs from this laptop, far from the 10hrs claims but better than most laptops.
Push2TV is awesome stream straight to your TV great for videos.
Screen is good nice and bright , probably better than most back-lid LCD.
Bamboo finish is awesome, brush aluminum interior is icing on cake. I'd like the bottom to be aluminum instead of plastic but you can't win them all.
USB 3.0


In between
---------

Touch pad is decent nothing to rave about, much poorer to MacBook Pro glass trackpad.
HDMI/VGA output , I'd prefer DVI (who uses VGA anymore ?)

Cons
----
- No Bluetooth, you need to get the A1 model if you want bluetooth
- There's a single button (you can do left and right click still but it's awkward)
- There's a noticeable flex on my laptop at the bottom center of the screen.
- Power jack is a little flimsy compared to the Lenovo and MacBook Pros that I've owned. Also the hot air flow right next to the jack could spell disaster in the near future.

Overall, it's a great laptop to get for $850. Comparing to the higher end MacBook Pros/T410s it's almost as good for much less. Good Job asus!

I probably read almost every review out there for the Asus U43JC-X1, and based on everything I gathered, this was a fairly solid notebook. There were also many reviews done on this laptop's little brother, the U33JC-X1, which is 13" version with an Core i3 processor. A huge critique there was the lack of an optical drive, which this notebook clearly has. For this review I have decided not to incorporate cost as a factor, because I could very easily call this 5 STARS FOR THE PRICE. On with the review...

Specs: This notebook is loaded, I will not go into incredible specifics because those can be found in many of the other reviews. The Core i5 is the ideal processor for this laptop to maintain its size and weight without sacrificing any performance or battery life, the i7 would have called for much more battery, a bigger fan, and ultimately more weight. An i7 would mainly be needed for high end gaming or those running advanced computational or imaging programs (I might like an i7 for Accelrys at full specs - a molecular imaging utility). 4gb ram is plenty for running a handful of apps simultaneously, but you can always upgrade to 8gb if you really want to push the envelope. The NVIDIA 310M yields good graphics for light gaming or graphical gaming at lower settings. The hard drive at 500 gb and 5400 rpm is fairly standard, which I hope to replace anyway as soon as the solid states come down a bit in price. Since the comparison of choice seems to be the Mac Book Pro, bottom line is you get everything a MB Pro 15" has spec wise (slighty worse graphics, bigger hard drive) for $700 less.

Build Components and Quality: ASUS was recently ranked by independent statistics consulting firm, SquareTrade, as the laptop brand having the lowest malfunction rate of any other brand over a 3 year period ([...]) which I believe is a testament to their build quality. This makes sense considering they build the majority of their internal components and should there for have a machine well tailored to these components. This notebook is very beautiful and cleverly designed. It stays incredibly cool which is a great sign of build integrity. However, there are a few aspects here that make me knock off a star. The mouse, as others have indicated, doesn't contend as well with many other touchpad mouses, but if you adjust the sensitivity, you'll get used to it to fairly quick.

****HELPFUL HINT - Take a rag or cloth and dab a small amount of wood polish on it, apply lightly to the bamboo finish with uniform stokes, this makes the touchpad feel way smoother allowing for easier use, and it helps detour oil from you palms and fingertips soaking into the wood. It has made a big difference for me and I'm interested to see if it helps anyone else.*****

As for the keyboard, I honestly don't hear the "plastic-y" sound people talk about, but then again I type fairly lightly. I sat next to a Mac Book friend today who types pretty heavy and I can definitely say his was louder, obnoxious almost. For those that say the keyboard is mushy...maybe? I'm guessing these people have much more virtuoso typing skills than myself and might be able to tell a difference, but for the average person typing around 50-60 wpm, I highly doubt this is something you'll pay much attention to. I also really don't think the plastic on the bottom of the notebook will be an issue for those that are not tossing it about the place, though there is one slightly weak spot by the DVD drive where it flexes a little (sad that more notebooks don't go slot loading drives when they're about the same price). Still, in no way does this laptop feel anymore fragile than others, it actually feels really sturdy. The bamboo probably makes it more samurai-sword proof too...

This is it folks, most of the things I didn't cover are all ones that have been said by others, most of which I agree with. This a well earned 4 stars, which is very good in my book, and hands down 5 stars when you consider the price. Had this notebook had just a slightly better touchpad and perhaps a slot loading drive, it would have easily been the best in its class. As I'm posting this now, there are 61 out of 82 people that give it at least 4 stars, so I'd say it's worth taking a look at.