ASUS X550CA-XX249H Laptop Review

[OLLYBOP7LIVE]

The packaging is described as eco on the side of the box, but when I see that on other boxes of technology, it’s normally nothing more than a sticker. With this box, it was more than just a sticker labelled ‘eco’, nearly all of the packaging is made of cardboard, with the exception of the laptop’s soft fabric surroundings, the power brick and its cable to the wall. 

 

The speakers weren’t as powerful as the sticker suggested, but they were as clear as the aforementioned sticker suggested. The screen size is pretty much the standard for cheaper laptops at 15.6 inches, which usually comes with the devil’s resolution (1366x768), and it this case it did. That resolution would be fine on a laptop around the 10 to 13 inch spectrum, but this is 15.6 inch, which is going to lead to it being unclear and text looking a little bit fuzzy.

 

Considering the fact that this laptop was bought in late August of this year (2014), it was a surprise to me that it came with Windows 8, not 8.1. That surprise became less surprising after finding out the CPU in this laptop is an Ivy-Bridge Core i5, a generation out of date from the box.

 

It is a nice surprise to find that this laptop supports Intel VT-d, which no other laptops that I have used have supported. Gestures are supported on the touchpad, which you would expect for a laptop of this generation. Keyboard keys are well spaced in an island style pattern, and are a pleasure to type on. The connectivity options aren’t the greatest with only two USB ports, a Headphone/Microphone combo port, HDMI, VGA and power.

 

While made out of plastic, the laptop does have a nice look and feel to it, especially the centre radius lid design. The colour choice for this laptop isn’t too bad at all, with a grey colour for the main typing area and the rest in black. At first glance the power brick looked like a mix between an Apple TV and a Macbook charger.

 

This laptop isn’t all too bad for its £379.99 price, feeling rather sturdy and robust, including a Core i5, 4GB RAM and a 750GB Hard Drive, I would recommend it to friend that has the right workload for it. It will work well for a college or university student that only needs to text edit and browse the web, but it wouldn’t work well for much else than Minecraft or Team Fortress 2 when gaming.

 

Link to where it was purchased: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x550ca-15-6-laptop-21836943-pdt.html

 

[dragoon20005]

how is the thermal of the laptop?

 

any hot spots on the keyboard area?

 

is the HDD drive bay and RAM area easy to access?

 

I was looking at the AMD APU variant and it uses the body as your laptop

[OLLYBOP7LIVE]

how is the thermal of the laptop?

 

any hot spots on the keyboard area?

 

is the HDD drive bay and RAM area easy to access?

 

I was looking at the AMD APU variant and it uses the body as your laptop

The thermals were fine for the most of the laptop, except where the right wrist would rest in a typing scenario, but nothing to burn you, please remember that the AMD varient may be warmer than the intel one I have here.

I couln't feel anything on the keyboard area, just keyboard, no more than 1/2 degrees above room temperature.

The HDD was easily replaceable, but no luck with just adding a secondary hdd unless your willing to replace the optical drive, which I have not looked into. The 4GB of RAM in this model is either onboard or requires you to take the whole bottom plastic off.

 

Oliver. 

[dragoon20005]

The thermals were fine for the most of the laptop, except where the right wrist would rest in a typing scenario, but nothing to burn you, please remember that the AMD varient may be warmer than the intel one I have here.

I couln't feel anything on the keyboard area, just keyboard, no more than 1/2 degrees above room temperature.

The HDD was easily replaceable, but no luck with just adding a secondary hdd unless your willing to replace the optical drive, which I have not looked into. The 4GB of RAM in this model is either onboard or requires you to take the whole bottom plastic off.

 

Oliver. 

yea

 

I was looking at the AMD APU laptop which uses the A10-5750, yea I do know how hot they run on desktop but not on laptop

 

about the HDD they used, is the thickness the 9mm or the slimmer 7mm version?

 

I was thinking of replacing it with a hybrid HDD which is only a 9mm thick HDD with a SSD cache

 

oddly for the AMD version, they actually give you 8GB of RAM and a copy of BF4 when you buy the APU power laptop

 

 

I getting it as desktops components are really overpriced in Singapore (first world problem)

 

the typical i5 4690k,Z97,SSD+ HDD and a R9 290 will cost like 2 grand excluding monitor and OS

 

but the laptop cos like 899 dollars

 

my Acer Laptop has served me for like 6 years as it is a Core 2 Duo era laptop

[OLLYBOP7LIVE]

yea

 

I was looking at the AMD APU laptop which uses the A10-5750, yea I do know how hot they run on desktop but not on laptop

 

about the HDD they used, is the thickness the 9mm or the slimmer 7mm version?

 

I was thinking of replacing it with a hybrid HDD which is only a 9mm thick HDD with a SSD cache

 

oddly for the AMD version, they actually give you 8GB of RAM and a copy of BF4 when you buy the APU power laptop

 

 

I getting it as desktops components are really overpriced in Singapore (first world problem)

 

the typical i5 4690k,Z97,SSD+ HDD and a R9 290 will cost like 2 grand excluding monitor and OS

 

but the laptop cos like 899 dollars

 

my Acer Laptop has served me for like 6 years as it is a Core 2 Duo era laptop

The laptop has gone off to its client now, but it didn't look like anything more than 7mm, but don't quote me on that.

[OLLYBOP7LIVE]

@dragoon20005

 

I just got it back from the client because they now need something different, and I found out that it will accept 9mm for the HDD height.

 

Oliver. 

[dragoon20005]

@dragoon20005

 

I just got it back from the client because they now need something different, and I found out that it will accept 9mm for the HDD height.

 

Oliver. 

great news

 

but a bummer

 

was thinking of getting it at the IT show sale

 

but all were sold out