Exactly what I wanted to hear. In for one for the GF.
You create restore DVD’s from the software installed on the system
I bought a K53Z (same as this model, except no USB 3.0 port) two months ago from Best Buy. I’ll add my notes to allibyx, as I agree with everything said in that post.
While the machine is not a gaming laptop, it WILL run games–Skyrim at low settings at 35fps. Mass Effect at low settings at 40fps. LEGO Batman 2 at medium settings at 30fps. That’s without any overclocking. For the price, you can’t get a good gaming laptop, but this one is adequate for light gaming.
It really is a cool laptop. My previous notebook ran so hot I could not set it directly on my lap, but had to use a cooling pad so I wouldn’t burn myself. With the ASUS, I barely know it’s on.
Battery life is VERY good. At High Performance setting, running Internet/word processing/graphics editing (GIMP), it will last 3-1/2 to 4 hours.
The touchpad, like many laptops, is overly sensitive. It’s very easy, while typing, to accidentally brush the touchpad and move the cursor and type in the wrong place, or suddenly select a bunch of text and overtype it, etc. I prefer turning it off and using an external mouse (actually, trackball). If you do use an external mouse, be sure to go into BIOS and disable the Wake-on-USB setting OR unplug/turn off your mouse before closing the lid and putting the PC to sleep. If you don’t, the PC will wake as soon as the mouse is touched and will sit, cover closed, running on full.
I have had a nagging issue with the wireless where it will, coming out of Sleep mode, not connect to my network and I have to use the Windows troubleshooter to reset it, or turn it off and back on. So far, just an infrequent annoyance, but something to be aware of.
Keyboard is decent, but not great. I write books and I can touchtype OK. It is a bit cramped as it throws a full numberpad into a 15" laptop chassis. I would have been happier without the numpad and larger, better-spaced keys.
Overall, I love the laptop and am very happy with my purchase. This is a good deal.
No restore partition. The refurber’s wipe the HD’s before installing the software and a bit of bloatware. I really don’t get this! Since ASUS is the refurber, how hard is it to set up the extra restore partition.
You may find that you have to use Windoze to create a disk image for backup purposes.
This is the case with the similar Intel based ASUS Wooted a couple weeks back
Cons: Lacks discrete graphics card, home version of OS, no legacy ports (Firewire/IEEE 1394).
Pros: Styling, price, name brand, separate numeric keypad, HDMI for modern connectivity.
This is a bit high, but not crazy. I’m typing on a 4K “desktop replacement”. Most of the expense right now comes from the (dual) GPU’s, although some people can go crazy over that newfangled SSD storage (a little is cool, but 7200 RPM raid 0 is good for me…) If you hit up Sager or Alienware and don’t go insane it is easy to get up to 3K.
And yeah, one could pretty much render CGI on it, although the data wrangling is still better done elsewhere.
Gig, 802.11n and USB3 is enough for me. In for one. Nice deal!
At the $280 price point ($100 rebate) you can also get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246321
lenovo IdeaPad Z575 (12992DU) Notebook AMD A-Series A6-3420M(1.5GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW AMD Radeon HD 6520G
This is a quad-core and it gets the $15 upgrade to Windows 8. Not to mention its a Lenovo.
I have no experience with creating my own backup disk image / boot disc. Is this a major pain? I did a little research; doesn’t seem too bad. I was about to pull the trigger, so I’m wondering if this is a deal breaker. I do know that eventually - with every computer I have ever owned - I will need to reinstall Windows.
I just Wooted this one. The 6 year old XP laptop was getting long in the tooth, even for Mom’s usage. This will serve her well.
Curious though - will this purchase be eligible for the $15 Windows 8 upgrade for Win7 OS purchased from last July to Jan next year?
Not sure how they treat the “purchase” date for OS on refurbs.
Shiny glare type screen. Pass Pass Pass. I won’t buy a laptop without an anti-glare screen.
I used a free version of Easeus Todo Backup when I first booted the computer. The easiest route you can take is to save the image file in an external drive. If you do this you’ll never need the factory software, which runs painfully slow for this model anyway.
At this price point I don’t think this will have a back lit keyboard. You can try using something like this though:
http://www.staples.com/Mr-Brightside-USB-Light-Black/product_761830#revs_content
Now you’ve done it! I was about to pull the trigger on the Asus, but the Lenovo seems pretty good too, with full warranty.
Can the wise ones give me a good tiebreaker?
WHAT!? That’s insane. I just built a “state of the art” computer for $1300. Lo and behold, it’s got an ASUS motherboard, and it’s the fastest computer I’ve ever used. Ever. ASUS is an incredibly solid brand. Unless the livelihood of your family depends on getting something done in 10 seconds instead of 12, you overspent big time.
Unless you are using a touch screen, windows 8 will only annoy you. Download it for yourself and see: Windows help & learning
I’ve played with it for awhile, and I don’t like what they did with it when you don’t want to use their metrosexual theme tiles and switch back to the conventional desktop. You have to download 3rd party apps to get your start orb back. On this laptop you would gain nothing by moving to windows 8, in fact you would hate it- but don’t take my word, download the release preview and try it for yourself.
Anyone have a recommendation for what type of RAM to add to this? Thinking of buying if I can get another 4GB at a reasonable cost…
most likely, there will be a link from the start menu that will allow you to create your own set of restore DVDs, it will probably take something like 3-7 blank DVDs, depending on how much stuff is bundled with the laptop. It will take about 30 minutes to an hour, it is very easy, it will simply prompt you to insert DVD1, DVD2, and so on. It is very rare nowadays for computers to actually include the restore media. hope this is helpful info!
At this time, refurbished computers to not qualify for the Windows 8 upgrade.
I totally agree that Asus is a great motherboard manufacturer- my favorite. Their middle and high end stuff is great- but their low-end stuff is no better than anyone else. In fact there was $300 I3 Asus laptop I had a friend of mine buy, and I was surprised how cheap the keyboard felt. This laptop actually looks nicer than that one though. With USB 3.0 pretty impressive for that price, the passmark of 1437 is not spectacular- but it is definitely good enough for most peoples needs.