Customer Reviews

ASUS UL30Vt-A1 Thin and Light 13.3-Inch Silver Laptop (12 Hours of Battery Life)

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I got to use this laptop for a few days and it's brought me dangerously close to buying one for myself. If you are looking for a thin-and-light notebook with great battery life and a little gaming life under the hood this is (in my opinion) the best choice on the market today. What sets this notebook apart is two things:

1. At the push of a button you can switch from a low power Intel 4500HD graphics processor to a higher power NVidia G210M with 512MB DDR3 RAM (this defaults on when plugged in and defaults off when unplugged).
2. At the push of a button you can enable the "Turbo 33" mode which uses a mix of hardware (such as overclocking the cpu) and software to boost performance by up to 33%. I ran some basic benchmarks and it seemed to work pretty well.

CPU - The 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor 3MB Cache 800MHz FSB is a great fit. Some of the thin-and-lights in this class ship with either a Core Solo (i.e. single core) or Celeron CPU. I tend to avoid both because the single core CPUs tend to choke on all the Internet Security software you need these days and the Celerons come with cut-down cache and now power saving modes.

RAM - The included 4GB of DDR3 is just the right amount to really start taking advantage of a 64 bit O.S. I also like that Asus used DDR3 which uses less power than DDR2.

HDD - It comes with a 500GB hard disk drive which is more than most users need today. The 5400RPM speed is slower than the 7200RPM drive you will find on some models but I prefer the reliability and power savings that come with a 5400RPM drive.

DISPLAY - The 13.3 inch widescreen is glossy and reasonably bright. Outdoor use will suffer from some glare but the backlit screen helps. I found the vertical viewing angles are a little tight but it wasn't a big deal.

GRAPHICS - As mentioned above it switches between a low power Intel 4500HD graphics chip on the motherboard (fine for most non-gaming tasks) and a more power hungry NVidia G210M that will actually let you do a some 3D gaming (though newer games will still run best at reduced settings). This simple and clever innovation really sets Asus apart. Oh and either chipset can do 1080P HD video.

Battery - It's rare to get a battery this good in a notebook this thin: 8 cell 5600mAh. I couldn't get the claimed 12 hours of battery life but I got very close (doing a normal mix of MS Office tasks and web browsing I got just shy of 11 hours). Even doing very compute intensive tasks like gaming or playing back video I went over 6 hours. Most notebooks can't run Word that long.

Touchpad - At first I hated the touchpad but as I got used to it I really liked it. It two-finger scrolling and three-finger right click which may trip you up at first but after a few days you won't want to go back.

It comes with most of the usual stuff: HDMI port (for an external monitor or compatible TV), Ethernet port, wireless b/g/n, 3 USB ports, headphone jack, microphone jack, and a vga (for an external monitor). It does lack any kind of optical drive, so no playing CDs or DVDs without an external drive. For this you would need the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop. It's a "thin-and-light" which as you would guess means it is thin (1") and light (3.75lbs). I also found it to be very quiet. It comes with a facial recognition feature that allows you to login without a password but this was disabled by our IT department so I wasn't able to try it out.

I see a lot of notebooks and I've generally been impressed with the build quality of Asus notebooks. The build on this model looks great and it's helped by the sleek and simple design: no fancy little bits that fall off in a year. In my opinion this is the thin-and-light to have if you need great battery life but don't want to give up all the fun. If you don't do any 3D gaming you don't need the Nvidia chipset and you probably should save a little money on a notebook without it such as the nearly identical ASUS UL30A-A2 Thin and Light 13-3-Inch Silver Laptop. Otherwise this is a great choice for a student or business traveler who likes to do a little gaming.

I am told I over analyze purchases and must say I have been watching laptops for a couple of years. My goals were lightweight and portable but not so small I could not read the screen and LONG battery time. After all it is a portable! I tried a 15.6 but what a moose! A 14" seemed just right but the chassis was bigger and heavier. I was afraid of a 13.3 but then it dawned on me that is was the same resolution as the 14 and only .7" smaller, not a full inch. I went from store to store lining a 14's up next to a 13.3's and I really could not tell the difference! Listen my fellow middle agers,I have exceptionally poor eyesight so if it worked for me it will for you! (no offense to my eye Surgeon, Dr. Barry Lee, he did a great job with what I gave him to work with!).

I have a powerful desktop so I did not need a desktop replacement class Laptop. I also can't stand a slow poke so a netbook was out and so was a celeron. The T6600 CPUS are the sweet spot for price and value and they are plenty snappy but they are power hungry (compared to the SU's). The SU7300 was just the ticket. Yes, I got the TURBO 33 VT version but I don't think that matters at all. I wanted it for bragging rights only. Same goes for the separate GPU, I want to hedge my bets in case I do some vector art editing. I am NOT a gamer.

I wrestled with the lack of a DVD drive but hey you can download ANYTHING, DVD drives are really on the way out, don't sweat it!It's worth the size and weight savings. The keyboard is REALLY GREAT, I am not a touch typist and the keys have nice spacing and definition. (I would have paid BIG money for a back lit keyboard but that just narrows the field TOO MUCH. Touchpad is fine also but I live with my Logitech NANO V450 mouse anyway.

The battery life is the real deal and that sold me on this unit. I am coming up on 4 hrs with wifi, bright screen, remote desktop, iTunes, 2 browsers and only down 25% on the battery. Seriously! I charge it and leave without the power cord. I really wanted the silver cover after seeing a black one in person it really showed finger prints. Silver is GREAT!

Another thing I like about the VT version is a little bit faster DRAM and Bus, I don't believe anyone could tell a difference but it makes me feel like I have the latest and greatest and am hedging my bets regarding being outdated sooner then later. If you need to save a few dollars, don't worry about it!

There are no compromises here and if you don't know ASUS, they have been around FOREVER and have been an OEM supplier since, like FOREVER! Don't get hung up on the big name companies, it means nothing! The ONLY complaint is the lack of documentation. I got NOTHING to help me figure out the VT features like discrete graphics switching or the Turbo boost (That's the over clocking feature. It steps the CPU up 33% This is VERY unnecessary, I can not come close to pushing this thing in standard mode.) I suspect most will never adjust these features anyway but HEY ASUS, are you listening? Send me a manual, pdf is fine! If its on here somewhere then you made it too hard to find! :)

I have been following the 13.3" laptop market for the past year waiting for someone to offer one with a powerful video card at a fairly low price. ASUS has done it with the UL30Vt! This is the second ASUS we have in our household and it definitely does not disappoint -- the build quality is as good or better than the other name brand laptops we have in our stable and I traded a 14.1" HP for this. I do not regret it.

Pros:

- Light -- I can carry it one handed anywhere I go and I'm not worried about dropping it.
It is like carrying a spiral notebook!
- Great video card -- The laptop automatically switches between an intel video chipset
(low power demand) and a powerful NVIDIA card when as you plug and unplug the laptop
into the powercord.
- Great screen -- the HD screen is awesome and looks better than others provided by other
well known brands.
- DDR3 Ram -- blazing fast and low power usage.
- Intel Power efficient processor -- while the intel chip is rated below 2.0 Mz, it runs
faster than my 2.6Mz chip on my work laptop that also has DDR3 memory. Don't know how,
but it gets better "Experience Ratings". Also, you can overclock the chip using ASUS
software, but I haven't needed to.
- Cool -- the machine runs cool. I have never had it become uncomfortably warm.
- Battery life -- battery lasts a long time. Have put in a 7200 RPM HDD to replace the one
provided by ASUS... and the battery lasts 10 hours or more.
- Looks -- holy smokes, looks cooler than my daughter's school MacBook Pro. I cannot
keep her off my machine.
- Keyboard -- I was a bit leery of the 'chicklet' keyboard as I learned to type on a a
"Selectric". However, the keyboard supports my heavy typing style and hasn't slowed me down.

Cons:
- A bit more 'bloatware' than I expected, but most was ASUS software to try to make the
machine more 'user friendly' Had fun figuring out what to turn off...

Overall?
- A great buy and I'm glad I waited. There are at least two other named brand laptops that offer a similar laptop
(switching video cards to save power) but they run at least twice this price or more. ASUS created a winner here...
... and I'm the ultimate skeptic of computer hardware.

I have owned this laptop for about 10 days now and used it both at home and on the road. That being said...
The Good:

Absolutely beautiful screen display
Very lightweight
Battery life (not anywhere near 12 hours though, closer to 7)

The Bad:

Rude, non-existent Tech Support
HDMI / Graphics switching is buggy
Bloatware is overwhelming
Keyboard dropped keystrokes (knd of lke ths) when typing at moderate speeds.

My problems began when Win Media player would suddenly "pop up" unexpectedly. I believe this was due to the touch screen being flush w/ the front wrist pad. Somehow the combination of my keystrokes and inadvertent touchpad entries launched the program. Solved this by uninstalling media player but shouldn't have had to do this.
A journey on Google offered up the suggestion of uninstalling IE8 to solve the keyboard entry lagging and that did seem to help but the jury is still out on that one...
As far as the HDMI connection is concerned: One of the reasons I got this particular laptop was for the HDMI port (wanted to watch Netflix on my bedroom TV) so this was perhaps even more upsetting than the keyboard problem and warranted a call to tech support. Woe to anyone needing to call ASUS tech support. For my money you are much better off spending a day searching for the answer on Google or dropping the extra bucks if you know a local tech. My first call ended w/o tech ever picking up and the second, a day later, was answered after about 15 minutes on hold. Not great but not terrible for tech support waits I guess. My real problem was with the lack of support and interest I received. After the requisite "is the laptop turned on... is the tv turned on..." I was told "It should work." Well duh! I know it SHOULD work! The problem is that it DOESN'T! After 10 minutes of this the tech told me that he had done everything that he could do and it must be my HDMI cable (which I had already informed him worked perfectly w/ my DVD player) or my TV was unsupported. When I mentioned that it could be any number of other things as well he acidly replied "like WHAT?!". Um, maybe the HDMI port is bad? Maybe the driver is corrupted, how about a bad anything else you can think of on the motherboard? His suggestion? Wait for a few days and try again! If I still had a problem I could call back. Nice eh?
Well, now for the good part. I did get the HDMI to work on my tv. How? Google, perseverance on my part and a very informative laptop help site. The guru there mentioned that the graphics accelerator that ASUS uses in this, along w/ other UL style laptops, is buggy and screws w/ the displays during certain power stages. So a simple button push, a tweak in the graphics properties, and I got it working (for now at least).

Overall

Very attractive, fast to boot (win 7), good battery life, and an absolutely gorgeous screen display that is marred by subpar hardware-driver-software interaction, poorly located touchpad and support that does not come anywhere near deserving of the name.
If you get this and it works well out of the box you will probably like it a lot. If you have to call for help - save yourself the trouble and go for a long walk. Who knows, it may work when you return.

I did a LOT of research on this baby before I bought it and have NOT been disappointed. I had no issues with it out of the box what so ever. A couple of things I did, neither of which are necessary for an average user:

1. I did a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit and re-installed all my drivers without a hitch.

2. Over clocked the processor to 1.9 and had no problems at all. I should also add that I had been using the machine without over clocking it and thought it was plenty speedy. After the over clock, well, it just got better.

I was planning on upgrading to a SSD but I can barely even hear the stock drive when it's spinning and the thing is blazing fast (I can only imagine what people using a faster internal drive or a SSD drive are getting for response times, but I'm very happy with it as is). I think I'll wait for SSD prices to drop a bit before making that investment.

Trackpad wasn't responsive enough for me with the original settings, but it was simple enough to enter the settings and increase the sensitivity. Found it to be nice to have the dimpled texture as it helps me know when I've moved my finger off the trackpad while navigating the desktop.

Display is great. I guess some people may be used to something I'm not, but the viewing angles are more than good enough for me. Streamed HD video via Hulu, etc, is crisp and smooth.

No problems with the wireless at home, at a cafe, etc.

I don't do a lot of laptop gaming since I have a PS3, so I haven't had a chance to give that a go using the discrete Nvidia card.

I'm a touch typist so the non-backlit keyboard doesn't bug me, but it might be nice to have. Probably install one in a few weeks. The current keyboard is good enough, probably give it 4 or 4.5 stars. Not as loud as some would make it out to be.

The thing is light and I have no problem carrying it around. I use the Zeroshock case throw it in my backpack no prob.

Did I mention that this thing is fast? Yesterday I had MediaMonkey open playing music/podcasts, 4 youtube videos open but not playing, 6 other browser tabs open in Chrome, a pdf file open, an open office doc open, and doing some PHP work using Kodomo edit on the IIS webserver I setup on it. I'll try to remember to update this once I get a virtual box up on it running Ubuntu.

I'm in love and her name is ASUS.

This is a fantastic laptop. I have used it for two weeks now, loading up programs, playing games and just kicking it about to see what it can do. It can do a lot ! And I was happily surprised to see it perform adequate if not well in most areas. In turn for each consideration: Is it light and thin - Yes, at 3.74 it is both light thin, certainly lighter than a Macbook Pro (4.25lbs), but not lighter than a Vaio Z or Macbook Air, which are both 3 lbs flat. How is the scree? - A lot of complaints surfaced on the screen calling it horrible and lacking colour. The screen is just fine, full of color and certainly bright. Is it as nice as a Envy 13 or Macbook Pro 13, No, but it's not that far off to call it a deal breaker. People have made too much of this and I get the sense that ASUS has improved their LEDs in this version. The hard drive is slow, no question about it but large enough that if you don't absolutely pack it (75%+ usage), it is fast enough. Also keep in mind that a faster drive will also eat more battery, the conservation of which was important for this design. How is the processor? Very impressed with this little overclocking beast - I see the darn thing running at 2.1 sometimes, even though it's just a 1.3 - could be my imagination but it does overclock to 1.7 for sure. It's fast enough and I have Itunes, Photo Apps, Mail, multiple browsers open and everything still works just fine. The 4 gb of RAM I am sure has a lot to do with this. THEEE best part of the laptop is the video card. Holy Moly - for a machine this cheap, the discrete graphic card gives computers 2x as expensive a run for their money (before taking it all). It is good, a little too good for this machine. It runs games as well as my 512mb 8600M GT on my macbook pro - very impressive. The track pad is okay, not my favorite (yes, well inferior to macbook pros) but honestly, decent enough to use all day and once you get used to it, you'll get the hang of the multi touch. In summary, for $750, it's hard to get a better machine and since I have had a Dell and HP laptop die on me, I gave Asus a try. So far, I could not be happier.

I researched for days before deciding on this laptop.

Battery life: 10/10
+/-3 hours in High Performance Mode (GeForce G210M graphics)
6+ hours in Entertainment Mode (intergrated Intel Graphics)
8+ hours in Battery Saving Mode (intergrated Intel Graphics)
And the laptop is smart enough to stop charging as soon as it gets to 100% charge. This way it wont overcharge and damage the battery.

Graphics: 10/10
Prior to testing Portal, I toggled to the GeForce 210 graphics card. Portal plays very well at 720p at maximum settings with AA off. Very impressive for a laptop that is 3.94lbs (yes i weighed it). 98% of the time I'm not playing games, so it nice to be able to save battery until you want to play games.

Build: 10/10
I bought this because I'm a college student. I needed something powerful and light. The discrete graphics card is perfect for games. It's made with alimunum and feels very sturdy.

Features: 9/10
Think of the 9/10 as a good thing. So first off the hardware: it's got a webcam, microphone, VGA out, and HDMI out. It doesn't have a DVD-ROM, but that was a tradeoff.
If you want the DVD-ROM built-in, buy the UL80-A1, but be warned, the UL80-A1 is heavier, more cheaply built and cost about the same. I just bought an external DVD-ROM.
The sound card has the ability to record in Stereo Mix, this was a HUGE plus for me. Stereo Mix record allows you to record streaming audio at any point.
The BOIS does mild overclocking and OS virtualization (like running XP inside Windows 7). And you can set it to enable USB bootability.
The ONLY reason I gave "Features" a 9/10 was because the wifi card isn't recognized in Backtrack 3, which is like Linux for network hackers. But... 99.5% of people probably won't be using for Backtrack 3. BTW it still works for BT3, but I just had to buy a separate network card.

Bottom line, it's sturdy, light-weight, very long battery life, and option for high gaming performance.
It can record Stereo Mix, has good BIOS options, and all the peripheral connections necessary.
I installed an 80GB Intel X-25 SSD. It was an extra $200, but it now boots into Windows in 30 seconds (instead of 1 min. 45 sec.) and is very quick and responsive. Now I have a spare 500GB hard drive.

So cruise for hot spots, surf the internet anywhere, do your homework anywhere, and play games anywhere. The battery will last you all day!

10/10 !

Hi Guys,
I got this notebook a month ago and I am quite happy with it.

The screen is good (although a lot of people were complaining about the screen), the design is great (especially the keyboard), performance is reasonably fast (for such kind of processors) , and battery lasts really long (not 12 hours as reported, but 5-6 hours in the video mode for sure (in battery saving mode of course)) and charging time is quite fast.

The only problem I had from the first start of the notebook was with the hard drive. It gave some "clicking" noise every time it read and/or wrote data on HD. The noise was quite load and quite distributive . I went online searching for this problem and noticed that other people were also having such a problem. Some people were saying that it is normal to have such clicking noise.

A week ago I contacted ASUS about this problem and they told me that this is not normal and they will replace it with the new one. Now I have a new HD and it works without any noise.

NOTE: the previous HD was from SEAGATE and the present one is Western Digital!!!

Because of the HD problem I give 4 starts, otherwise the notebook really deserves 5 STARTS!!!

Golib

I am a very picky shopper and researched for my purchase of a new laptop for a long time before settling on the ASUS UL30Vt-A1. I shopped around for other PC's in stores and online and even borrowed a friends Macbook Pro for a few days to get a feel for it, and ultimately i'm very happy with this little laptop.

As a college student I was looking primarily for a light and portable laptop that I could carry around with me everywhere all day. I'm not a big gamer, but I wanted a powerful enough system to run some games if I wanted and needed something powerful enough to multitask with Photoshop. Battery life was also a top priority, as I wanted a truly portable laptop to use inside and outside all day without needing to be tethered or worry about running out of battery.

I had it for a little over a month now and the ASUS UL30VT-A1 definitely met all of these criteria, and has continued to exceed what I had expected in a new laptop. I think the truly innovative thing about the Vt is it's versatility. The ability to trade power and graphics with battery longevity instantaneously is an unprecedented feature that i am frankly amazed that no one else had tried before. Amazing idea ASUS.

Battery: 10/10 "the best"
Its amazing to be able to use this all day (im usually away from my place for over 14hours) and not have to worry about running out or needing to stay tethered to an outlet. I don't even bring my charger with me anymore. On integrated graphics I get around 10 hours with wifi, multiple browsers, Word, and a few other programs open. I kinda expected it would be 12 hours under normal use, as all new laptops seem to get 2 hours less then they advertise when using it under normal workloads. With both graphic cards going watching videos and doing normal computing stuff I get around 7 hours. Bottom line, I find myself not having to worry about the battery gauge, it'll last me the day doing whatever I need.


Performance: 10/10 "exceeds my needs"
Now a super long battery life wouldn't be much out of the ordinary-if i was using a tiny, underpowered netbook. What really sets this apart is the fact that it has that kind of batter life while being powerful and light. So far ive been able to multitask with as many programs as I want with no slow down. Normally run multiple windows of Firefox, IE, Word, PP, Outlook, and Photoshop at the same time. Granted this probably isnt that taxing of a load as I haven't played any high power games, but its great for me. I haven't even needed to use the "turbo" overclock feature.


Graphics: 9/10 "once again, exceeds my needs"
So not only does this have better battery life than most laptops(mackbook pro included), but has a dedicated graphics card as well! I love the ability to be able to switch on the fly depending on my needs. Most of the time the integrated graphics does fine, itll handle online streaming video(even HD) without a hiccup. With the integrated one on too, things only get better. Pictures and video pop and run smoothly. Once again the graphics capabilities of this laptop exceed my ordinary needs, but i like the extra headroom these options give me. Only real thing is that the screen is a little glossy( well, they all are nowadays it seems) so it can be a little troublesome outside with the sun at my back, and the vertical viewing angle. To me thats now big deal(because the screen is on a hinge you dummy, adjust it) and the horizontal viewing angle is great, much better than my old dell, and makes sharing the screen easy. The screen does flash on and off when then graphics settings are swithed, but this is expected while video settings are being changed.


Construction/physical attributes: 9/10 "solid, but not quite a Macbook Pro unibody"

Overall I really like it. It's met what I wanted, Its small at 13" and quite light at around 3.7lbs, and is overall smaller than any of my textbooks even with a case on. Construction is solid: i toss it around alot, carry it in my bag, and have a bad habit of opening it one handed with a flick of the screen, but it has all stayed solid and shown no signs of flex or loose parts. I like the matte-plastic bottom, it has a solid feel. The brushed aluminum top also gives it some nice durability and class, over which ive gotten a few comments on. Even the track pad, on which i've heard alot of complaints about and was a little worried about before using it, has worked well and i even kind prefer it to the flat types. The only complaint is the palm rest. It's glossy plastic which while being structurally solid, feels cheaper than the rest of the materials. Also ive had my palm hit the track-pad a few times while typing; would be better if there was a guard or recessed track pad. While not as cool looking as a full aluminum unibody like the Macbook pro, it's solid and had good construction

Also its very light and extremely cool. Even after running for hours, the bottom and palm rests barely get warmer than body temperature. Beats all other computers I've used in this regard,and was one of the reasons I choose this over the macbook pro which can get quite hot under heavy use.


Overall, I love the versatility and features of this laptop. The ability to majorly change my performance, graphics, and battery settings on the fly lets this laptop doing this that other single ones cannot. The battery life cannot be beat. I also really like Window 7. Boots up in seconds and has most of the cool mac-like features and some extra ones too. The Value is great, and it comes with the best standard warranty ive seen on any laptop. 2 years + one year for ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE. So even I break the darn thing, its under warranty. Bottom line was that I was comparing this with a MacBook Pro. To get a comparably equipped Pro it would cost >$500 to match the the ASUS (4GB ram, 500GB hd, warranty). Even then this was a unique laptop with its unrivaled battery life and adaptability. I decided to go with the ASUS and use the extra $500 to save for a SSD in a year or so and to help pay college expenses. On campus all the "hip" kid are trying to get macbooks, but now i've got the real unique laptop at a better value and superior specs. The real cool kids get ASUS.

I've had this laptop for about a month now, and seeing the price go up since I bought it makes me love this laptop even more.

Laptop is quiet, enough to be in a library and not disturb anyone. My 14" inch HP was a party animal. The fan was ridiculously loud that it was probably the vuvuzela of laptops. The computer's specifications are pretty solid. Good HD space, great RAM, and CPU. Good speed and power. The battery life is hysteric. It's not 12 hours but I've gotten 10.5 hours, averaging around 9.5 hours on a full charges. This is enough to last me through a whole day's work. It has great design, looks great, same goes with the keyboard. I can play MW2 with anti aliasing off so it's a pretty damn good gaming machine given its size, battery, and specs. I've really enjoyed the gaming qualities on this laptop, mainly because all computers i owned before never had a discrete graphics card but nonetheless, it's a great gaming computer for those who are casual gamers but want to play the latest games. The ASUS is also pretty cool. The side vent lets out a lot of heat and is cool to put on the lap. My previous HP was so hot I probably could've boiled water and it has actually heated my room before.

I can go on and on about how wonderful this laptop is but i'll focus on some of the problems people might have with this computer. None of these problems are enough to detract the quality of this laptop.
1) Fingerprints - i've read some reviews that complain what a fingerprint laptop this is. Some say it's everywhere on the computer and say it's the worst thing ever. This silver version for me only gets fingertips on the black plastic around the screen. The silver lid doesn't get any fingerprints and if it does, you'd have to spend a couple minutes trying to angle the laptop right just to find it (if you can). So it's not a big fingerprint magnet, just a little around the screen when you're lifting up the screen, nowhere else.

2) Touchpad - there were a few complaints here as well, since it wasn't as responsive. It didn't bother me when I first tried it, but when I compared it to my old laptop, the ASUS indeed had more resistance to moving the cursor than my old one. It wasn't a real big deal, i mean, if you're gonna complain about moving a finger just a little more, well....(resistance could be due to me leaving the sticker on top of the touchpad, though i don't think it makes any difference overall). Plus I use a mouse when stationary so I dont really give a hoot.

3.) Glossy screen - Yes the screen is glossy and mirror like at times. Does it bother me like crazy? Not the slightest. In fact, it sometimes has uses. For me, it can double as a mirror when the screen turns off when not in use. It's also useful for seeing what's behind you which sometimes is useful. So I wasn't even slightly ticked about the screen. I mean, I can still see what I'm doing without straining.

4.) Lack of Optical drive - wait you use an optical drive??!!! just kidding. I haven't used an optical drive in years so this is a nonissue.

5.) Bloatware - just decrapify it. Every laptop these days almost always comes with bloatware and ASUS is no exception. Just remove it. If it weren't for the bloatware, this laptop might not have had such a cheap price.

5.) Build quality - this is my only source of worry. It took me a while to notice but when I type, I feel as though the keyboard starts to depress and when I press hard enough, it does depress. But when typing normally, I hardly notice it and it feels pretty solid to me. The screen is also not completely solid. It flexes. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing because if it flexes, it can handle some stress but when I lift the screen up, sometimes, I hear a creaking noise like stepping on hardwood floor. I don't know how solid a screen is supposed to be. The screen is really thin so a little flexing is probably expected. It hasn't caused any problems, and I can't imagine this computer suffering just because of build quality so overall, it's solid.

Final thoughts: this laptop is great for those who want to a thin-light, long battery life, good (not great) gaming laptop at a very competitive price (got it for 699.99) It handles many tasks very well and no laptop I know offers so much for so little $$$$. In fact, I recommend this laptop for anyone even searching for a computer because it meets many of the basic needs and much more at a low price.