Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is an excellent buy. After reading so many negative reviews, I just had to let you know my experience, one from a highly technical person who has not only used and repaired, but prepped hundreds and hundreds of new laptops. I ordered it Tuesday night, it arrived Wednesday afternoon. Yes, it would have been free two-day shipping with Prime, but I couldn't wait, so I paid the extra pittance of $11 for one day shipping. I was surprised by the large box that I was able to shake and feel contents easily move around. When opened, it was just the laptop box with a strip of paper keeping it from sliding to the edges of the larger box. The laptop box itself packed the laptop well enough I don't think this made much difference. However (are you listening Amazon?), I would have been MUCH happier if the smaller box was completely held in place more securely. As to the laptop... I gave it 5 stars, yet it's really, for me, about 4 and 1/2, maybe 4 and 3/4 stars. An outstanding value for the price, with just a couple of things I wished they had made easier from a (techie) consumer point of view. Namely, the inability to remove the battery and, the difficulty in changing out the included hard drive for an SSD and, being able to only add one (1) memory module (as opposed to being able to take out the included RAM and add TWO much larger modules). Battery: I like to take out the battery when I have this plugged in at home and only put it back in when I take it out on the road. Most laptop batteries last about 300 charges - or for most people - about 1 year, before they begin to lose their charge very quickly. This is normal. I have laptops that still hold a charge for 2-5 hours that are over 5 years old because I plug them in, without the battery installed, every chance I get. Hard Drive: The included 5400 rpm Hard Drive is fine. Large enough for most people and was zippy enough, taking only 41 seconds to boot to the desktop when I was finished installing my Anti-virus, games and office programs. BUT, an SSD is much, much faster. (may take under 10 seconds to boot?) In fact, I bought a 256GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD (solid state drive) to replace the original "spinning platter" (like a phonograph record) drive. However, the laborious task of completely taking apart the shell, just to get to the hard drive AND the fact that the included drive is actually working fine (for now?) is putting me off on making the swap, even though I've already prepped the SSD. I've done this with many, many laptops. It's not actually all that difficult. BUT you absolutely must take great care when pulling things apart. It is EXTREMELY easy to tear out hidden ribbons and cables. Making that task, particularly on a laptop I've never done it on before, take an especially long, slow, and careful experience. I'm just not sure I want to take the time since it already works fine. Maybe this weekend, if I have the time. I'll edit if I do. First I want to test it out with the basic defaults. RAM: The included 4GB memory is fine for most purposes. Adding another 8GB stick just allows me to do more things at once. However, I would have liked the opportunity to add TWO 8 GB sticks and have 16GBs instead of only 12GB. It did take me less than 3 minutes to add a new stick. Less than a minute to open the packaging, about a minute to unscrew and pop the RAM cover on the bottom of the computer, and about a minute to insert it, and put the cover back in place. *Note: if you do this, be sure to handle ONLY THE EDGES of the stick and insert it at a 45 degree angle, ALL the way in, before pushing it down in place. Also, obviously, be sure the laptop is unplugged and turned off. **Note 2: The makers covered up the screw with a tiny piece of stick paper. If you take a small sharp knife, you should be able to gently lift if up from the corner, leave it on the knife and replace it after screwing everything back down. Here are the reasons I believe this is an outstanding value: - Large screen. Full HD (High Definition). 1920x1080. Many laptops this size use much larger pixels so things appear larger, but you actually see less on the screen. *Note: This was also one of the detractors. The 15" screen is nearly as large as my 17" laptop's screen. It has very wide bezels - 500 GB hard drive. I would expect to pay another $100-$200 for a 1TB drive to be included. So this was fair. - 2 USB 3.0 slots. USB 1.0 con transfer only 1.5MB per second (MBps), 2.0 is forty times that at 60MBps, and USB 3.0 is 10x faster than that! At 640MBps. AMAZINGLY fast if backing up to an external drive. And you get TWO of them, woot! - Wi-Fi of 802.11ac. Most laptops are still touting 802.11n. Which is much better and faster than 802.11g. But "ac" is 3x faster than that! PLUS.. you get the advantage of being able to handle connections to both 2.4GHz AND 5GHz at the same time. Let me explain.. Think of yourself having a conversation with someone in normal tones, and having a mosquito buzzing. Two different tones, or frequencies, but both clearly able to be heard, at the same time. Then imagine having a conversation with TWO people, both speaking in normal tones, at the same time. Difficult to really catch what one is saying over the other. Well, that's what the two frequencies help with. While most others around you are using 802.11n/b/g (all running at 2.4GHz), kind of like having a small room full of people speaking at the same time with their voices echoing back and becoming jumbled and hard to hear, you can be using the 5GHz frequency which isn't interfered with by all the other voices. You could also be using your Bluetooth devices at the same time, and having little to no interference. Nowadays, Bluetooth headsets, microphones, mice, keyboards, 802.11b/g/n devices and even microwave ovens, all interfere with each other at the 2.4GHz level. - A DVD read/writer that both reads AND writes to normal DVDs AND DUAL Layer DVD's. *instead of only 4.7GBs you get 8.4GBs per side! - CPU: A Dual-Core i3 that includes "Hyper-threading" and runs at 2.1GHz. Yes, you're paying for that. Many laptops for $100 less are running "atom" processors at only 1.6 or 1.8 GHZ. Much, much slower, and less able to run multiple things at the same time. *Note: "Hyper-Threading" helps the CPU process things about 37% faster. For example, lets say there are two ticket takers in the movie theater, taking tickets from 2 lines of people. Obviously this is much faster than only 1 ticket taker, but not really *twice* as fast, since hey still have to wait for each person to shuffle forward with their ticket, which they may or may not have immediately ready to hand to the ticket-taker. Now think of a third line, a "standby" line. Where, while a ticket-taker is waiting for someone in the main line to shuffle forward or get their ticket ready, they can take a ticket from the next person in the "stand-by" line. (**BTW: This is also why a Core-i5 CPU is faster than a Core-i3. It doesn't have 'Hyper-threading", but instead has 4 cores instead of two. So it can have 4 dedicated lines - without any standby line. And a Core-i7 has 4 cores AND 'hyperthreading'). - Keyboard: Large, with soft/quiet feel on the keys, yet with decent tactile touches. It also includes a 10-key. (keys 0-9) on the side. *Note: This was also a point of contention for me, both the overall size of the screen and keyboard. More on those at the bottom of this review. - External Video Outputs: Both an HDMI AND a VGA connector. So I can hook-up to TVs in hotel rooms to watch Netflix or my own movies off the laptop, And/or will easily connect to any projectors out there. You have to supply your own cable(s) of course. *This will also connect to a 2nd or larger monitor. Most will accept one or the other of the connections. - Gigabit Ethernet (the *wired* connection using a cable/cord): Again, not just the normal, and completely acceptable 100mbps (Megabits per second) of most laptops, but a Gigabit or 1,000mbps connection that is 10 times faster. Now.. this will obviously make NO difference in a hotel room, business meeting etc, where the standard actually is only "Fast Ethernet" or 100mbps. However, if you're at home, or your office where you have a full gigabit connectivity (That is your laptop, the ethernet cable or cord, the connector in the wall, the lines through the building, the switch(es), drop points and router, etc. If ALL are gigabit capable) you will be able to connect to your internal servers, printers or other computers/servers on your network 10x faster. Copy, upload, download, stream, all much, much faster! * A note on additional items and value: Adding to the laptop the extra RAM (I got from Amazon also, as recommended by another reviewer, and it works great) Kingston HyperX Impact Black 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L CL9 SODIMM 1.35V Laptop Memory (HX316LS9IB/8) @ $36 I know have a Fast, capable laptop right at $400. Even adding the SSD (Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM) ,@ $86 and a wireless mouse (TeckNet Pro 2.4G Wireless Mouse,Nano Receiver,6 Buttons,24 Month Battery Life,2400 DPI 3 Adjustment Levels ) @ $9 still puts me under $500 for an outstanding laptop that blows anything else at that price point out of the water. I would expect to pay at least another $100 if I wanted a Core-i5 CPU. But really, I'm not using it for gaming. But am using it for more than just email and surfing the web. I expect to have multiple web browser windows open running google docs, google map searches, LogMeIn. At the same time running Word, Excel, Outlook, streaming music, and some kind of camera like the built in webcam or an external for surveillance or Skype, while either burning or copying DVD's... all at the same time. I expect this Core-i3 will handle all of that easily, and then some. ** I will update my experiences on that after usage. Currently I highly recommend this product if, that is, you don't mind the large keyboard and overall size almost at par with a 17" model. My first Impressions: Opening the laptop box was a fun experience. Not difficult at all, just nice. I won't add any spoiler in case you order one. As another reviewer mentioned, I was surprised that it turned on immediately as I plugged it in. But, no worries, I was going to turn it on in the next second or two anyway. I did NOT find it to be "plasticky" or "cheap" feeling. Instead the outside and keyboard are firm enough and.. made of a material that won't show fingerprints. I was also very surprised and quite happily excited to find the almost complete lack of "Bloatware" or "Adware" that other reviewers said they had. That is, programs and applications with icons scattered across the screen for things that most people don't want, or need, but still click on and install because they either don't know what the programs are for, or that they think they need to install them, etc. Most people who complain about Bloatware probably don't realize that is how many companies are able to offer their products at a low price point. The Adware/Bloatware manufacturers pay the laptop company for space on the screen/hard drive, and in return, the laptop company passes savings onto us. However.. this laptop (the ASUS F555LA-AB31 15.6-inch Full-HD Laptop (Core i3, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD) with Windows 10) didn't have ANY extra or included "bloatware" that I could see. Only extra stuff from Microsoft like Xbox connection, 3D power, MS Money, OneNote, etc. and a couple of ASUS items. All of which were/are perfectly acceptable items that you actually might like to use. Not really considered bloatware at all. Also.. if it HAD included anything I didn't want, I would simply have gone into the Add/Remove programs setting and just deleted them. Done. A note on setup: - A couple of reviewers mentioned they had viruses/malware either right out of the box or shortly thereafter. Now.. it *could* be that was a computer that was returned after having been infected by it's previous owner and somehow slipped through cracks of the process designed to receive used laptops, refurbish/wipe out/reinstall the drives. But honestly, I feel confident that most people with those experiences simply infected themselves through lack of knowledge. The moment you plug your computer, any computer with (especially) Windows into a working network, either wired or wireless, you are opening yourself to becoming attacked and possibly infected. If you put a computer onto the internet without any kind of protection it is quite possible for it to become infected within JUST A FEW MINUTES! Possibly from other computers on your home network!!! So... BEFORE connecting to ANY network, you want to make sure your PC is ready, and as protected as possible. There are plenty of places telling you what to do to set up Windows 10 and such, so I'll just include the basics of what to do/have ready, before you connect to the network. - Ensure Windows Defender is Turned ON (yes I know, it's not that powerful, but you'll be installing a GOOD Anti-virus/Firewall in a couple of minutes - Create a "Repair Disk" (just in case anything goes wonky in the next few minutes, or year) - Make a backup to either an external hard drive or DVDs (this will take only 2 dual layer DVDs or 4 regular recordable ones) *If you backup to an external drive (USB), be sure to include a "system image" with it. - Turn on System Restore, give yourself about 10% of your drive for this. - Install a good 3rd party Anti-virus/Firewall program such as Norton, Kapersky, McAfee, Webroot, Bitdefender, Avast, AVG, ESET, etc. - Go online and FIRST update your anti-malware program (the one above you just installed). - Update Windows. Finally, don't click on any link in ANY email, unless you are absolutely sure you know where it's coming from and taking you. There are websites being created every single day to thwart/bypass all your current security procedures. You aren't protected from the new threats until your antivirus company finds them, creates a protection from them, and you download that protection. Just because the email is from your mom, and the link says, "I love you" doesn't mean it's actually from your mom (although she still probably loves you). If you're not sure.. (I have several non-techie family members that forward stuff to me all the time without any explanation), but you believe the email is from someone you trust, email them back (DON'T hit [Reply], the return address might just be the spammer/infector) and ask if they sent it, and why. Things I didn't like: - Windows 10, Home edition: Getting the home edition may be fine for most people who just do stuff at home or school. But if the laptop includes Intel VT (Virtual Technology) which this one does, you can't use it with the "Home" edition. Okay, okay. I realize most people don't use VT.. yet. But I do, and so do many other techies like me. If I have an extra CPU (I do) and some extra RAM (I do), then I could create what's known as a "virtual machine". Sort of like another computer within the computer, and install a completely different OS (operating system) on it like Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Linux, and use it - completely separate from the "host" OS - as either a test bed (we call it a "sandbox" cause you can just go in and play around in it, then either save or undo the changes you made) for checking out new programs and such. OR.. run an OS like Linux on it, and use it as a server or as a completely different tool for a ton of different purposes. It would have been MUCH better to have included Windows 7 pro (or even the horrid Windows8), both of which include a free upgrade to Windows 10 (as long as you do it before July 29, 2016). Personally, I'm quite happy with Windows 7. Especially if I'm not gaming. So.. now, in order to use the VT, I have to either pay for an upgrade to Windows 10 Pro/Ultimate or Wipe everything out, Install a pro/ultimate version of windows 7 and use the free upgrade to Windows 10. The Size - it's HUGE:(see my picture) Ok.. this is a minor pet peeve. I actually expected this laptop to be quite a bit smaller than my 17" model. It's not. It's only about an inch less wide, and 1/2 an inch less deep. The actual LCD screen size is 13 1/2 x 7 3/4 (15.5 in diagonal) this laptop vs 15" x 8 1/2 (17.25 in diagonal) on the 17" laptop. But the bezel outside the screen is nearly 1/2" wider on each side than the 17". Even the keyboard is larger. This laptop 13.5 x 4 1/8" vs. the 17" laptop at 13.25 x 3 7/8! I mean, I enjoy having the 10 key (even without the "Number lock" indicator light) but to have the keys that spread apart is just ridiculous to me. Personally I don't mind having the keys crammed together as in the picture of the 14" laptop on the left, as long as they are full-sized keys AND laid out in a proper QWERTY style. But to have them spread out as wide (or wider) as a stand alone keyboard... ugh. Moreover, there's the whole "palm rest" portion. I don't know about you, but I'm a big guy, over 6 feet tall, with proportionately large hands, and even I don't need all that extra real-estate to rest my arms on. Easily could have taken an entire inch off the depth, as well as nearly an entire inch off the width. So.. in conclusion, with all the above being said, if you don't mind a 'Home' version of Windows, a spread out keyboard and larger than needed overall size, the inability to remove the battery, the ability to only add one additional RAM stick, difficulty swapping out the hard drive to an SSD, and the lack of any indicator lights (Caps Lock, Num Lock, etc.) but want a computer for a great price, that's fast, will multi-task well, comes with pretty much all the bells and whistles you could ask for (802.11ac, Gigabit Ethernet, Full HD screen, HDMI as well as VGA and VT if you want to upgrade to a Windows Pro version, etc.; then this is for you. An outstanding buy for most people. An excellent purchase for me. I highly recommend it. 4/1/2016 =======================