ASUS VivoBook 15.6" Touch Screen Ultrabook Computer, Black, Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz, 500GB HDD + 24GB SSD, 6GB RAM, Windows 8 64 bit

2013-12-21T19:00:00

I have had this computer 6 months. I am very happy with this computer, but I do agree with reviewers who suggested that a back lit keyboard would be helpful. The touchscreen is great. Quality product. I bought an Asus tablet after getting this because I think the brand is solid.

befreewalk

2013-04-16T21:00:00

After using for three weeks I have noticed I am now getting used to the soft touch of the keyboard and Win 8. The screen clarity is excellent, the touchscreen is very responsive and this is by far the quietest laptop I have ever owned. I could never go back to a laptop that didn't boot ths fast. The speakers also sound good even though I had my doubts with their location. I think you will enjoy it as much as I do. I would suggest typing on one first to try out the softer touch keys.

JIM S.

2013-04-10T21:00:00

Best product, I was used Toshiba,Hp,Compaq,Dell,Sony brands before this and had many problems with those brands, and I am using Asus Desktop since last 4 years, no problem works still the best. I would prefer Asus over any other brand

Win

2013-04-08T21:00:00

Overall: Fast, responsive, lightweight, solid. Screen: 720p is off-putting after being used to 1080p or better. I overlook it because I knew those were the specs when I bought it. The touchscreen aspect is solid, no lags, very responsive. HDD: Before I replaced the hard drive, I thought it was really fast. The use of the 24GB mSATA is key here. I don't think the ultrabook would be any use without it. HDD upgrade to SSD: And I thought the hybrid aspect was fast, this baby is blazing. 5 seconds or less to get this baby running, 5 seconds or less to shut down. I loaded Win 8 without all the bloatware, it's amazing. Very easy, the BIOS seems to have kept my Win8 license key, so the install of the OS was easy with a USB DVD drive. 6GB RAM: Plenty of memory for what I need it for: browsers, word processing, pic/vid viewing, skype, eReader, etc. I might upgrade eventually, but so far so good. Windows OS handles RAM a little differently since VISTA. More free RAM isn't necessarily a good thing anymore. Win8 handles everything very efficiently. WIFI: Just had to update the driver and most problems go away. I still ordered the Intel Centrino Dual-band N wifi card because I have randomly lost wifi connection a couple of times. Not a big deal for me though. Bluetooth: Works as expected. My mouse connected perfectly. Touchpad: Takes a while to get used to, but once you "get it" you're good. There are two types of clicking, soft-click, which is like a traditional pad, and hard-click, where you physically depress and release the touchpad. Battery: I get about 3.5 hours with this baby full charged. Not bad for me, but I also haven't done an official test with it yet. I think I can get 4 hours of use if I wanted though. My power settings for battery-only are optimized to not sacrifice processing power, but other things like brightness and sleep-logic. Other: HDMI port works flawlessly, tried it out on my 50" PLasma for Game of Throne season premiere. 3 USB ports are plenty these days. I haven't tried out the LAN and SD card inputs yet. Will update when I have made any other upgrades. Disclaimer: IF you plan on buying this device, and don't swap out any of the parts, be sure to UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS. Additionally, ASUS has some bloatware that does more harm-than-good, I believe the power-something utility is the worst. Just uninstall it and then your device is good to go.

JARED S.

2013-04-05T21:00:00

this is a good laptop with a good battery life and performance. it seems to be optimized for widows 8 and most of the applications work well. some thoughts about this: Pros: + Solid construction, but i hate the black top cover of the laptop. they should have had some metal finish on that as well + Touch works wonderfully well. I was surprised at how well the touch screen operations work + quick boot up time + hardly heats up- i luv the way the cooling vents are positioned right under the hinge that holds the screen. This kind of design makes sure that my lap stays kool no matter how hard the laptop is trying to cool itself. + SonicMaster audio is good but i wished it to be louder + this seems to be optimized for windows 8 as most of the apps load fast and it boots up pretty quick cons: - Trackpad placement:this is bang in the middle of the typing area where u rest ur palms and am always hitting the wrong keys trying to avoid resting my palms on the trackpad (esp the right palm) - Advanced multi-touch Trackpad options do not work when the laptop wakes up from sleep. only simple operations like single/double clicks work. i have to logout of my windows profile and re-login to make the multi-touch options of the trackpad work again. - single band wifi only- there is no 5.2GHz frequency available on the wifi chip to make use of the newer dual band routers. only 2.4gHz frequency works. I think this is a serious drawback for me at least. -Windows 8 issues: Windows 8 seems to be a half baked OS which tries to alternate between the metro UI and the traditional windows UI. This is very irritating and just ruins the entire experience of metro UI - Connect to external monitor: for some reason, when i connect this laptop to my TV with either the HDMI or VGA cable and play a video in full screen, the video appears to be zoomed-in and the edge is lost.This happens in all the modes of connection - No Backlit keyboard: I expected this laptop to have some form of backlighting or lighting for the keyboard to type in the dark and am dismayed that this laptop fails to provide any kind of lighting for the keyboard. - Keyboard layout: for some reason, i always seem to be hitting the wrong keys on this keyboard and this never happens when am using any of my other 7 laptops (different brands). This is my firt asus laptop and am not liking the keyboard at all.

HEMANTH C.

2013-04-01T21:00:00

everything is good for the price

RUONING Q.

2013-04-01T21:00:00

This Laptop has everything we needed. There is no CD/DVD rom, but its not a big deal. Touch screen is cool, resolution could have been much better. Wireless seems to drop when u restart the system. The start up/Shutdown time is amazing. It works perfectly fine.

Prasith

2013-04-01T21:00:00

This is a birthday gift to replace an old desktop computer, this computer gets used every day.

Richard S.