This review is from: Asus X401A 14.1-inch Laptop (Black) (Intel Celeron B820 1.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit) (Personal Computers)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme(What’s this?)
N.B. I first wrote this review after using the laptop for a day or two, and have since edited it twice to reflect ongoing use. I don’t intend to update it again unless something big changes. I’ve included a quick summary below in case you’re in a rush, with lots more detail below it to help you decide whether this is the right computer for you. If this is helpful please let me know using the vote buttons.
***Summary*** A great value package – some annoying limitations but if you’re looking for a cheap computer that’s good quality, light and up-to-date, you could do far worse. EDIT 28.09.12: After a week or so of use, I’ve found a couple of extra aspects of this product that are frustrating or annoying. Not enough to change my star rating, but I’ve noted them below. EDIT 17.12.12: After a few months of use I’ve reduced my rating for this computer from 4 stars to 3. The niggles with this computer, mainly to do with the space bar sticking and an oversensitive mouse, that I discuss in more detail below are minor, but have a real impact on my desire and ability to use it over time.
***First impressions*** Opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this laptop. A polycarbonate shell, it feels sturdy and is reasonably thin (although the battery adds to the thickness once installed).
***Connections, ports and parts*** The most notable thing on a first look is the lack of a DVD drive. This isn’t mentioned in the product description, so I guess I should have anticipated it, but I didn’t! I suppose this is no surprise in a new laptop, but it’s a bit annoying for me as I use CDs for work. It also has some frankly bizarre consequences: there are ‘hotkeys’ on the keyboard for controlling CDs (playing, skipping etc) even though there is no CD drive. This seems badly thought through (although the keys are also useful when watching movies, so they’re not completely useless!) The manual also tells you how to make a recovery DVD. Difficult when you don’t have an optical drive!
There is a sensible array of ports on the computer – although with a couple of annoyances. Firstly the headphone output and microphone input are the same port – no good if like me you have a peripheral that has separate jacks. Secondly, there are only two USB ports, and only one of them is USB 3.0 (the other is USB 2.0). In my opinion this isn’t really enough – I will use one permanently for a wireless USB adapter, which leaves only one available.
Other ports include HDMI (big plus for me), LAN, flash memory port for SD/MMC (another big plus), VGA output and power input. There is also a Kensington lock port.
Also built in is a webcam and microphone, and a touchpad that supports the kind of finger gestures common to any mac, ipad or iphone user. This will take a bit of getting used to if you use it for the first time, but is really convenient once you are used to it. There is no bluetooth connection.
***First use*** Setup is very simple, albeit with some annoying bloatware (something called MyBitCast, a Bing toolbar, lots of ASUS software, McAfee antivirus).
You get a basic manual boxed with the product, but the full e-manual is on the desktop.
One good feature is the suspend mode. At the press of a hotkey, the computer will go into suspend mode (for all intents and purposes its the same as turning it off). Then press the power button and you get an almost instant return to the desktop. It’s a really nice feature.
Another fun (but not that functional) feature is face log on. You can set up the computer so that it uses the webcam to recognise your face when you log in. Great idea, except it’s not actually any quicker than just putting a password in, so I don’t think I’ll use it much.
NOTE: Another reviewer stated that the computer includes Adobe Acrobat. I think they’re mistaken – unless I’m missing something the computer only includes Adobe Reader.
EDIT 28.09.12 ***Niggles in ongoing use*** After using the computer for a week, two minor things are really starting to bother me. Firstly, one my unit at least the space bar is quite sticky, and so when typing at speed I often don’t press it hard enough to register and so spaces are missing. This may be a problem that is particular to my unit. Secondly, the touch pad is extremely sensitive, and when typing I often brush or touch it by mistake, which inevitably means the cursor shoots off to somewhere different, and I have to stop typing and bring the cursor back to the right position. A minor defect, but a *really* annoying one over time! ASUS recognise this issue as there is an option to ‘lock’ the touch pad when using the keyboard, but this option is useless if you are shifting between the touch pad and keyboard regularly (as you would in normal operations). This is quite a significant flaw in my opinion…
This review is from: Asus X401A 14.1-inch Laptop (Black) (Intel Celeron B820 1.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit) (Personal Computers)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme(What’s this?)
A neat notebook pc. I won’t repeat the specs, common features etc as they have been covered in the existing excellent reviews. It’s a nice sleek black design. The keys are raised and then moulded in so any crumbs, dust etc can be easily extracted/wiped off without it disappearing into the internal mechanism. The base unit is metallic and stays comfortably cool to the touch whilst using it. Also it has a nifty touch pad that can be used to expand/shrink the screen size a la an ipad (discovered by accident!) it’s really light and compact, largely due to the omission of a CD drive, and doesn’t actually feel that much bulkier than an ipad in relation to other laptops I have used. The power lead is connected to the side though I would have preferred the back personally and the bloatware that comes with this is annoying. One programme in particular is designed to monitor your activity and keystrokes which I find insidious and would recommend binning at the first available time. It is a faff to avoid installing which is not good. Another thing worth mentioning is that the hinge joints are really well designed, nice and sturdy. I’ve had problems with laptops on trains etc whereby wobbling over time has caused stress points to appear at the joints. I think this is unlikely to occur with this model as it is very light and the pc moves as one unit, not just the screen shaking when being picked-up, on your lap etc. I really like it; it is smaller than the screens I used to use but its really converted me to liking a 14″ screen over a larger bulkier unit.
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This review is from: Asus X401A 14.1-inch Laptop (Black) (Intel Celeron B820 1.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit) (Personal Computers)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme(What’s this?)
As a note book PC, the ASUS X401A is not small but it is light in weight and has a good bright screen. Other than the lack of a CD/DVD ROM drive, it is very close to being a full-blown Laptop. It’s a smart piece of kit, nice to own but not so easy to load software that arrives on an optical disc.
Since it is a PC with Windows 7 installed, there is no point in commenting on the standard features of any PC, only what is unique to this one. Also no point in quoting the features; they can be found in the manufacturer’s literature.
Encouragingly, it arrived with the battery well charged so that it could be tried without having to plug it into the mains. It claims to have a long battery life and magazine reviews seem to confirm this for ASUS products generally.
One thing I really like about it is that it is as good as silent even in a quiet room; it doesn’t make its presence felt. Its keyboard has a nice tactile feel with the keys well spaced to reduce errors from ill-aimed finger presses.
From sleep, it wakes up very quickly!
A few annoyances however:
I can’t get on with the Elan touch-pad. I found that I could place the pointer where I wanted it but, as soon as I put my finger on the left button area, the pointer would move away from the target rendering the button press futile! This is somewhat irritating although, for owners who are frequent touch-pad users, it might be quite alright. I connected a mouse instead! The touch-pad is not well assembled and sits slightly high of the top-plate at one corner. Its button press areas feel ‘clunky’ to use.
A wifi setting to do with ‘ad-hoc 802.11n’ had to be enabled. Set to disabled on arrival, this confounded me for quite some time because the ASUS could see many of my neighbours’ wifi signals but not ours.
It comes with McAfee security software installed. In recent years, McAfee seems to have been reviewed as one of the poorest anti-virus suites so I uninstalled it and downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials. This saves the cost of McAfee’s subscription and reviews seem to think it is a superior product.
The SD card socket needs the card to be inserted and pushed right in with a finger nail or other pointed object. The card will not be knocked when inserted but it seems a bit fiddly to use (the first time).
The indicators which describe what the ASUS is doing are very small and their symbols difficult to interpret against the background top-plate colour. The indicators can only be seen by carefully looking from the front, not the top where your head would normally be.
Like any PC, Windows 7 arrives with very few updates installed; be prepared to let Windows Update get to work for some time before use.
Despite these criticisms which are all easy to live with or can be circumvented, I have no hesitation in rating the ASUS X401A a very good 4 stars but not quite 5.
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High quality, modern, good value, but annoying niggles mean I can’t recommend it.,
N.B. I first wrote this review after using the laptop for a day or two, and have since edited it twice to reflect ongoing use. I don’t intend to update it again unless something big changes. I’ve included a quick summary below in case you’re in a rush, with lots more detail below it to help you decide whether this is the right computer for you. If this is helpful please let me know using the vote buttons.
***Summary***
A great value package – some annoying limitations but if you’re looking for a cheap computer that’s good quality, light and up-to-date, you could do far worse.
EDIT 28.09.12: After a week or so of use, I’ve found a couple of extra aspects of this product that are frustrating or annoying. Not enough to change my star rating, but I’ve noted them below.
EDIT 17.12.12: After a few months of use I’ve reduced my rating for this computer from 4 stars to 3. The niggles with this computer, mainly to do with the space bar sticking and an oversensitive mouse, that I discuss in more detail below are minor, but have a real impact on my desire and ability to use it over time.
***First impressions***
Opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this laptop. A polycarbonate shell, it feels sturdy and is reasonably thin (although the battery adds to the thickness once installed).
***Connections, ports and parts***
The most notable thing on a first look is the lack of a DVD drive. This isn’t mentioned in the product description, so I guess I should have anticipated it, but I didn’t! I suppose this is no surprise in a new laptop, but it’s a bit annoying for me as I use CDs for work. It also has some frankly bizarre consequences: there are ‘hotkeys’ on the keyboard for controlling CDs (playing, skipping etc) even though there is no CD drive. This seems badly thought through (although the keys are also useful when watching movies, so they’re not completely useless!) The manual also tells you how to make a recovery DVD. Difficult when you don’t have an optical drive!
There is a sensible array of ports on the computer – although with a couple of annoyances. Firstly the headphone output and microphone input are the same port – no good if like me you have a peripheral that has separate jacks. Secondly, there are only two USB ports, and only one of them is USB 3.0 (the other is USB 2.0). In my opinion this isn’t really enough – I will use one permanently for a wireless USB adapter, which leaves only one available.
Other ports include HDMI (big plus for me), LAN, flash memory port for SD/MMC (another big plus), VGA output and power input. There is also a Kensington lock port.
Also built in is a webcam and microphone, and a touchpad that supports the kind of finger gestures common to any mac, ipad or iphone user. This will take a bit of getting used to if you use it for the first time, but is really convenient once you are used to it. There is no bluetooth connection.
***First use***
Setup is very simple, albeit with some annoying bloatware (something called MyBitCast, a Bing toolbar, lots of ASUS software, McAfee antivirus).
You get a basic manual boxed with the product, but the full e-manual is on the desktop.
One good feature is the suspend mode. At the press of a hotkey, the computer will go into suspend mode (for all intents and purposes its the same as turning it off). Then press the power button and you get an almost instant return to the desktop. It’s a really nice feature.
Another fun (but not that functional) feature is face log on. You can set up the computer so that it uses the webcam to recognise your face when you log in. Great idea, except it’s not actually any quicker than just putting a password in, so I don’t think I’ll use it much.
NOTE: Another reviewer stated that the computer includes Adobe Acrobat. I think they’re mistaken – unless I’m missing something the computer only includes Adobe Reader.
EDIT 28.09.12
***Niggles in ongoing use***
After using the computer for a week, two minor things are really starting to bother me. Firstly, one my unit at least the space bar is quite sticky, and so when typing at speed I often don’t press it hard enough to register and so spaces are missing. This may be a problem that is particular to my unit. Secondly, the touch pad is extremely sensitive, and when typing I often brush or touch it by mistake, which inevitably means the cursor shoots off to somewhere different, and I have to stop typing and bring the cursor back to the right position. A minor defect, but a *really* annoying one over time! ASUS recognise this issue as there is an option to ‘lock’ the touch pad when using the keyboard, but this option is useless if you are shifting between the touch pad and keyboard regularly (as you would in normal operations). This is quite a significant flaw in my opinion…
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|Sleek bit of kit,
A neat notebook pc. I won’t repeat the specs, common features etc as they have been covered in the existing excellent reviews. It’s a nice sleek black design. The keys are raised and then moulded in so any crumbs, dust etc can be easily extracted/wiped off without it disappearing into the internal mechanism.
The base unit is metallic and stays comfortably cool to the touch whilst using it. Also it has a nifty touch pad that can be used to expand/shrink the screen size a la an ipad (discovered by accident!) it’s really light and compact, largely due to the omission of a CD drive, and doesn’t actually feel that much bulkier than an ipad in relation to other laptops I have used.
The power lead is connected to the side though I would have preferred the back personally and the bloatware that comes with this is annoying. One programme in particular is designed to monitor your activity and keystrokes which I find insidious and would recommend binning at the first available time. It is a faff to avoid installing which is not good.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the hinge joints are really well designed, nice and sturdy. I’ve had problems with laptops on trains etc whereby wobbling over time has caused stress points to appear at the joints. I think this is unlikely to occur with this model as it is very light and the pc moves as one unit, not just the screen shaking when being picked-up, on your lap etc.
I really like it; it is smaller than the screens I used to use but its really converted me to liking a 14″ screen over a larger bulkier unit.
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|A Good Value Notebook,
As a note book PC, the ASUS X401A is not small but it is light in weight and has a good bright screen. Other than the lack of a CD/DVD ROM drive, it is very close to being a full-blown Laptop. It’s a smart piece of kit, nice to own but not so easy to load software that arrives on an optical disc.
Since it is a PC with Windows 7 installed, there is no point in commenting on the standard features of any PC, only what is unique to this one. Also no point in quoting the features; they can be found in the manufacturer’s literature.
Encouragingly, it arrived with the battery well charged so that it could be tried without having to plug it into the mains. It claims to have a long battery life and magazine reviews seem to confirm this for ASUS products generally.
One thing I really like about it is that it is as good as silent even in a quiet room; it doesn’t make its presence felt. Its keyboard has a nice tactile feel with the keys well spaced to reduce errors from ill-aimed finger presses.
From sleep, it wakes up very quickly!
A few annoyances however:
I can’t get on with the Elan touch-pad. I found that I could place the pointer where I wanted it but, as soon as I put my finger on the left button area, the pointer would move away from the target rendering the button press futile! This is somewhat irritating although, for owners who are frequent touch-pad users, it might be quite alright. I connected a mouse instead! The touch-pad is not well assembled and sits slightly high of the top-plate at one corner. Its button press areas feel ‘clunky’ to use.
A wifi setting to do with ‘ad-hoc 802.11n’ had to be enabled. Set to disabled on arrival, this confounded me for quite some time because the ASUS could see many of my neighbours’ wifi signals but not ours.
It comes with McAfee security software installed. In recent years, McAfee seems to have been reviewed as one of the poorest anti-virus suites so I uninstalled it and downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials. This saves the cost of McAfee’s subscription and reviews seem to think it is a superior product.
The SD card socket needs the card to be inserted and pushed right in with a finger nail or other pointed object. The card will not be knocked when inserted but it seems a bit fiddly to use (the first time).
The indicators which describe what the ASUS is doing are very small and their symbols difficult to interpret against the background top-plate colour. The indicators can only be seen by carefully looking from the front, not the top where your head would normally be.
Like any PC, Windows 7 arrives with very few updates installed; be prepared to let Windows Update get to work for some time before use.
Despite these criticisms which are all easy to live with or can be circumvented, I have no hesitation in rating the ASUS X401A a very good 4 stars but not quite 5.
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