Asus laptops

[rocketrazor]

Hi all,

my desktop pc has failed me again and I'm feed up rebuilding it all the time so thinking of a laptop. Anyone no if Asus are any good?

cheers

rocket

 

[John Duncan]

Asus were (and may still be) the world's largest motherboard manufacturer and have gone on to be in the top 5 PC vendors. They've historically been known for 'superior' (and thus expensive) product but since moving more into own brand PC sales they've spread their portfolio to the cheaper end of the market as well (without abandoning premium lines). I bought my daughter an X551CA for Christmas which is perfectly serviceable, though feels cheap (creaky), though no more than you'd expect for £270.

To cut a long story short, if I wanted a Windows machine and wanted to spend a lot of money (£500-£1k and beyond) then they would be top of my list probably, but at the cheaper end of the market (~£300) there are plenty of alternatives (eg Acer, Toshiba, HP) and it will be down to specs and looks, because they'll all feel pretty cheap.

 

[rocketrazor]

Thanks, not sure what I'm doing at present to many options :wall:

 

[John Duncan]

What's your budget and what do you do with it?

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I can't speak for Asus, but I have a cheap Toshiba, I've had no problems with it, build quality is ok, but the speakers are absolutely sh*t.

 

[rocketrazor]

I'm thinking of a dell at the moment. £700, 16g ram, i7 processor, 1tb HDD, and a half decent graphics card. I can't find anything remotely close in spec to this price from John Lewis or pc world.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-17r-5737/pd?oc=cn57325&model_id=inspiron-17r-5737

£700 is top price really, just need a fast laptop for internet use and occasional gaming, although I have a ps3 so gaming on a laptop isn't my priority. Nice and fast web browsing however is

cheers

 

[John Duncan]

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_DARK_GREY_-_INTEL_CORE_i7_8GB_1TB_NVIDIA_GT720M_2GB_DEDICATED_GRAPHICS_X550CC-XO168H/version.asp

I guess 16g of RAM would bring it out around the same price, though they don't quote price.

EDIT - sorry, different screen size. Do you want a 17"? Too big for me...

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Fast Internet browsing does not need £700 IMO. Gaming requires a good graphics card but for most needs I recon £400 is enough to pay for a laptop. I now only use mine occasionally, preferring a tablet day to day. Laptop used when sites are not tablet friendly or for WP.& spreadsheets as well as a little video editing from my camera. Personally I look for a reduced 'bargain' & check elsewhere that it really IS reduced.

 

[rocketrazor]

Your both right, I don't need one that big or at that price, I'll look for something cheaper

cheers

 

[cheeseboy]

have a look in the dell outlet for some bargins 🙂 http://www.dell.co.uk/outlet

 

[rocketrazor]

Cheers all.

i ordered an i5 with 6gb RAM. It's enough for what I'll actually use the laptop for, saving me £270

:cheers:

 

[John Duncan]

Which one specifically and where? My FiL is looking for one and I went with him to John Lewis on Sunday, found the perfect one (£400 Asus), and it was out of stock in store and online.

 

[rocketrazor]

I went for dell in the end, they offer a better spec for similar or less price. First time I'm ordering from them so hopefully will be ok

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=cn35322&model_id=inspiron-15-3537

 

[rocketrazor]

I should get it early next week so can let you know what it's like when it arrives if you like?

 

[John Duncan]

That would be good, thank you. I took a look at their outlet store and they do appear to offer very good value.

My experience with dell for desktops has always been excellent, btw.

 

[rocketrazor]

That's good to know, cheers

ill let you know what I think once it's arrived and set up

ta

 

[chebby]

I went for dell in the end, they offer a better spec for similar or less price. First time I'm ordering from them so hopefully will be ok

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=cn35322&model_id=inspiron-15-3537

I hope you got the NBD onsite 3 year support. Invaluable and works like clockwork on those occasions when you need it. Very re-assuring.

 

[rocketrazor]

I went for dell in the end, they offer a better spec for similar or less price. First time I'm ordering from them so hopefully will be ok

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=cn35322&model_id=inspiron-15-3537

I hope you got the NBD onsite 3 year support. Invaluable and works like clockwork on those occasions when you need it. Very re-assuring.

i didnt. The laptop is £420 with 1 year warranty, I get an extra year through my bank once registered. I'm hoping it won't go wrong 😛ray:

 

[chebby]

I went for dell in the end, they offer a better spec for similar or less price. First time I'm ordering from them so hopefully will be ok

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=cn35322&model_id=inspiron-15-3537

I hope you got the NBD onsite 3 year support. Invaluable and works like clockwork on those occasions when you need it. Very re-assuring.

i didnt. The laptop is £420 with 1 year warranty, I get an extra year through my bank once registered. I'm hoping it won't go wrong 😛ray:

See if you can get it added. There is nothing like having a local, Dell approved tech arrange a coveneniently timed next day visit, replace an entire motherboard (because the integral graphics card is shot) in less than an hour and be charged absolutely nothing for the privilege because it's all covered.

When this happened to an old Dell Latitude laptop a few years ago, I saved a small fortune and recouped the cost of my Dell 4-year cover twice over and some more.

 

[rocketrazor]

Maybe I didn't read the fine print properly, appears its upto a week for delivery so my eta is Friday this week. Looks like it might come from China as well?

 

[rocketrazor]

Laptop arrived today.

seems ok, although I can't stand windows 8 already

 

[bigboss]

Laptop arrived today.

seems ok, although I can't stand windows 8 already

Give it time, you'll get used to it. 🙂

Or you can switch to desktop mode and use it as Windows 7.

 

[rocketrazor]

I just need to give it time.

just frustrating learning where everything is again, what does and doesn't run on windows 8. Can't figure out the email system, looks childish to me, norton 360 version 5.0 isn't compatible. On the bright side though loaded Bloodbowl game and that works 🙂

 

[rocketrazor]

When you say switch to desktop made you mean hitting the desktop icon? It doesn't have the program options on the left, I liked that

 

[hg_mike]

Do you have windows 8 or 8.1?

I know microsoft used windows 8.1 to return elements of the windows 8 user interface, to a more traditional experience.