Got this on lightning deal and with $75 gift card offer (total under
$600)... which had a significant impact on my purchase. Had planned on
purchasing the U36SD until this deal came up. U36 is a better built
machine and has USB 3.0 but otherwise nearly identical. At regular
price there is only a $50 difference, but on sale that jumped to nearly
$250. Based on this, I took the plunge and went with this machine...
and I am very happy I did.
Up front... CONs: Compared to the new ultrabooks, the build quality and design are 'so-so', but at this price point I think it is pretty solid. Definitely no 'head turner' and the body feels solid but 'cheap'. I concur with earlier review that USB ports are 'tight' and, while it looks great, the black aluminum cover definitely attracts fingerprints. Stock hard drive seems a bit slow.
PROs: Battery life... in excess of 8 hrs in real use... amazing. Monitor... 'standard' but viewing angles are extremely good and much better than other laptops I have. CPU/GPU... both awesome at this price, Core i5 is extremely fast and the optimus run NVidia 520 is great for moderate gaming and video. Basically identical 'guts' as much more expensive laptops in a cheaper body. Weight/size, under 1" thick and under 3 lbs... mixed with battery life and it is an awesome 'traveling' laptop. ADW: pain to sign up for (which upsets many folks) but getting a 1 year accidental damage warranty as part of the base price is awesome and a huge plus for going with an Asus machine... drop it on the way to class... get a replacement!
My 4th Asus laptop and I am continually amazed by the bang for the buck from their machines... and the U31SD is no exception. It won't turn heads like the MacBook or ZenBook... but you can buy two of these for the same price as the ultrabook... and it has the same performance with better battery life... save the money and buy yourself an ipad... win-win.
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Up front... CONs: Compared to the new ultrabooks, the build quality and design are 'so-so', but at this price point I think it is pretty solid. Definitely no 'head turner' and the body feels solid but 'cheap'. I concur with earlier review that USB ports are 'tight' and, while it looks great, the black aluminum cover definitely attracts fingerprints. Stock hard drive seems a bit slow.
PROs: Battery life... in excess of 8 hrs in real use... amazing. Monitor... 'standard' but viewing angles are extremely good and much better than other laptops I have. CPU/GPU... both awesome at this price, Core i5 is extremely fast and the optimus run NVidia 520 is great for moderate gaming and video. Basically identical 'guts' as much more expensive laptops in a cheaper body. Weight/size, under 1" thick and under 3 lbs... mixed with battery life and it is an awesome 'traveling' laptop. ADW: pain to sign up for (which upsets many folks) but getting a 1 year accidental damage warranty as part of the base price is awesome and a huge plus for going with an Asus machine... drop it on the way to class... get a replacement!
My 4th Asus laptop and I am continually amazed by the bang for the buck from their machines... and the U31SD is no exception. It won't turn heads like the MacBook or ZenBook... but you can buy two of these for the same price as the ultrabook... and it has the same performance with better battery life... save the money and buy yourself an ipad... win-win.
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