Asus F555LA-AB31 15.6-Inch Laptop (2.1 GHz Core i3-5010U Processor,4 GB RAM,500 GB Hard Drive, Windows 10), Black

Main takeaway: I’m very pleased with the purchase overall and highly recommend it to anyone who needs a laptop for everyday usage. Remember especially that many people over-buy or get talked into things they don’t need. The i3 in this system is more than capable of performing the majority of tasks most users will require of it. Gamers who need a video card capable of running the latest and greatest new releases will need to look elsewhere, but this laptop should be fine for anyone who will be mostly surfing the internet, watching streaming videos, listening to music, writing emails, working with word processing, etc.

Remember that buying it with certain credit cards (American Express, Visa Signature, others?) will automatically double the manufacturer’s 12 month warranty.

Pros:

– At 0 shipped, it’s essentially a 0 laptop with specs appropriate to the price and a full-HD 1080p screen. Maybe the market is moving to HD at this price point, but I doubt there are many systems out there with these specs/screen at this price. I was considering a Chromebook or the like, but for 0 (or less) I got a fully functional PC with a full HD screen. Wow.

– Battery life after unpacking and charging overnight shows 4.5 hours on the battery saver setting. I suspect 3-4 hours is probably realistic once it’s being used.

– The screen looks great with a bit of light bleeding on the bottom edge of mine. It’s only noticeable in a dark room while watching a dark movie, so I’m possibly being overly critical. Again, 0, and wow. The viewing angles are okay but I’m sure they’d look horrible if placed next to a 00 laptop.

– Not a touch screen. That may be in the "con" section for some, but I’ve got an ultrabook that I never, ever use the touchscreen on. I’m sort of glad this one doesn’t have it in order to minimize failures and faults that could potentially be associated with it.

– Touchpad – Most importantly, it doesn’t appear to interfere with or affect typing. The left and right buttons are incorporated into the design and there is no edge between them. The buttons have a fairly loud click when used, although the touchpad can be used when a bit more silence is desired or required.

– Keyboard feels good even though it doesn’t have the tactile feedback I prefer. It’s positioned well overall and is responsive.

– Windows 10 will take some adjusting to, but I am fairly impressed with how quickly it boots even with the factory 5400RPM hard drive.

– RAM has a hatch for easy upgrading (see photo), and there’s an empty slot available to add another stick. Remove the little circular plug cover to expose a screw, then you can remove the cover. I’ve attached CPU-Z info and screengrabs of the RAM and SSD upgrades recommended by Crucial using their scanner. I’m not recommending or endorsing them, just offering the data in case anyone needs it or wants to cross reference with other drives/RAM that may fit.

– The lid is plastic and textured very subtly, so no fingerprints.

Cons:

– Bare bones 4GB RAM and 500GB 5400RPM HDD, although I’m certain that’s a large part of the reason they can sell at this price.

– HDD is not easy to replace. There is a video on youtube titled "Asus F555L Disassembly for Hard Disk Replacement" that shows how, but it’s not as easy as it could be, unfortunately. It appears that the lower cover is structural now, so be careful when you take it apart.

– A bit of flex in the keyboard, but I don’t think it’s inappropriate for a laptop in this price range.

– No discs for factory restore or option to create them with Asus software that I could find, so be sure to use the Windows backup option as soon as you receive the system. Search for "file history" and Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

This laptop is the ultimate deal right now on the market. Hands down.

I successfully installed 8GB DDR3 and a Samsung 850 SSD

Combined total spend 5.

Now I have a Core i3 5th gen CPU, 1080p matte 15.6" screen, 12GB DDR3, 250GB Samsung SSD, plus a 500GB external HDD (You can use the original Hard Drive, just needs an adapter!)

The integrated GPU Intel 5500 is better than I expected which is just a bonus! You can bump the video memory to 512MB in BIOS.

Don’t listen to all these reviews that say this PC is good for ‘light multitasking’ or ‘basic’ web browsing…Really!? I would just use my phone for ‘basic’ stuff like that. All these super safe comments are underrating this systems potential power and performance. I am a developer and I have thrown a lot of Adobe software at this, as well as Visual Studio, Android Studio, as well as editing 1080p video and watching multiple 1080p videos and movies. YOU CAN DO ALOT WITH THIS.

The biggest surprise is the audio! which I found incredibly rich (not tinny) and robust sounding. I always use good headphones on laptops but I actually have not been using my headphones much with this system, AMAZING!!!

Did I mention it is a beautiful looking machine and the fan is barely heard.

I also build desktops and my current system is a 2k powerhouse, so I’m not a fish out of water here fawning over my first ever tech toy.

All this 0 +
(SSD) + Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM)
(RAM) + Crucial 8GB Single DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory CT102464BF160B
(HD case & adapter) Sabrent Ultra Slim USB 3.0 to 2.5-Inch SATA External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure [Silver Aluminum Finish] (EC-UM30)

One month use. For the price you really can’t go wrong. A 1080p screen (by the way it has poor viewing angles), full size chiclet keyboard with a numeric keypad, mediocre build quality, and an above average processing power. Now my typical usage is surf the internet, watch videos, listen to music (the speakers are kind of bad), work on documents, and check email. Now what I do on this laptop may vary from person to person, but I believe it’s comparable to the majority of average laptop users.

So the Pros: a large 15.6 screen that is an ok 1080p resolution (now for those who are having issues with the clarity with the screen, just downscale to 100% and you’ll be ok). The colors on this screen is a bit warm and washed out, but what can you expect from this price point. Apparently this screen is not listed as a TN panel, but the horrible viewing angles would otherwise suggest that it is a TN panel. However the screen is really not that bad far and from the worst. It is a crisp/clear screen and easy on the eyes when reading. Also the brightness is fairly good and it helps that it is a matte display. Now on the specs. The core I3 on this laptop runs really well for what I use it for. I rarely see the system heat up or slow down when I’m using it. The ram is ok for me, I barely use over 3 gigabit. Also the boot up time is surprisingly quick for a system using a HDD.

Now for the Cons: The battery life is kind of short. I get anywhere from 3 to 4 hours of battery life. This may not be a con for other users, but I am a student and for me this is not an all day battery life. The DVD drive worries me. It is really flimsy and I’m afraid it might break off. The build quality is all plastic and again in this price range I can’t expect much. The top lid does in fact collect smudges and fingerprint. The speakers are bottom facing and sound really bad. On high volume the sound does distort a bit and the worst part is it does not get loud at all. The speaker drivers on this laptops are really weak and bad, so invest on some really good headphones or external speakers if you want to enjoy movies or music.

Closing statement, for the price and for my usage this laptop is a really good fit. You get a really good screen, also really good processing power, and with an ok battery life. I really like this laptop a lot and coming from my old laptop I consider this Laptop an upgrade.