Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this laptop hoping to get something future-proof. I want to keep it for five years, maybe more. After owning it less than a week (full disclosure), here are my thoughts so far: Pros: -4K screen: Not something I thought I would need, but after using it for a couple of days, it was almost painful to go back to my old 720p screen. -Hardware specs: i7 processor, 500 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM: This is high-end stuff, and it shows in the performance of everyday tasks and heavy computations. Applications start up super fast, and run smoother than butter. -Thunderbolt 3.0 port: Speaking of future-proof, from what I read this is going to be the port of the future. It's super fast, can provide tons of power, and is idiot-proof (you can plug it in either way). This is basically the PC response to Apple's lightning port, and it's pretty dang cool. -Form factor: I've always loved aluminum-body laptops, and this one is thin and sturdy. The bezel around the screen is large (about 0.75" - 1.0"), which makes the entire body bigger. It's not the size of a 17" laptop, but it feels solid on your lap. It's weighty, but not heavy, which is perfect for me. -The battery: This thing has a 96 Watt-hour battery. Do you know how big that is? It's huge! I have yet to run a full battery test, but according to online reviews, this lasts between 6 and 8 hours of normal use. -Heat management: I have yet to put this thing under heavy stress, but the bottom gets comfortably warm streaming 4K video or under medium-level tasks. Asus's promo materials talk about some pretty top-level thermal management inside, and the aluminum body helps dissipate even more. I don't see this laptop getting uncomfortably hot on your lap, except maybe on some of the hotter summer days. Cons: -Gaming graphics: The graphics card (GeForce GTX 960M 2GB graphics card) is pretty near the bare minimum for 1080p gaming these days. I ran the Heaven 4.0 test on this laptop, and it was putting out about 30 +/- 2fps at high settings in 1080p. Forget about using the 4K capabilities of the screen for gaming. If you're not a gamer, this is not an issue, as the laptop is capable of rendering any image you throw at it otherwise. But for future games, this thing is going to struggle at high settings. -User-modify-ability: The case is sealed shut, and even if you do get it open, the important bits are all soldered in place. There is no user access to the battery, graphics card, processor, or solid state drive. This means you can't upgrade any hardware over the life of the laptop. Fortunately, you start with some of the very best available today. Note: most other aluminum-body laptops do not let you access these things either. Other things (not pros or cons): -The speakers: The speakers are pretty blah. They're not worse than your average laptop, but Asus hyped them up too much. They're pretty weeny compared to what I was expecting. -The number pad: Others have complained about the number pad, saying it was too skinny. It really doesn't bother me, and I use the number pad pretty often. -The touch screen: The whole idea of a touch screen on a laptop is a novelty, in my opinion. It's fun, and it can be useful in a couple of circumstances, but I would have preferred a cheaper computer with a regular screen. Oh, well. -Backlit keyboard: Not an exclusive feature, but still nice to have when typing or gaming in the dark. Note that it is dimmable. -The glossy screen: Others have complained about the screen being so reflective, it's almost mirror-like. While I would agree, it's not something that has come up. Unless you're watching a very dark movie, or using the laptop outside in the sunlight, you're not going to see your reflection. It hasn't bothered me at all. -The placement of the right arrow key is funky. Because it is aligned with the number pad, it's spaced farther out than the left arrow key is. It's not horrible, but it is very weird. All in all, this is a very good laptop. I am pleased with my purchase. I paid a hundred less than the MSRP, for some unknown reason. Since it's the most expensive thing in my house, I also purchased a "drops and spills" protection plan, which I would recommend. I recommend this laptop to anyone looking for something that's sturdy, powerful, and pretty. It's all of those things. There are two reasons I gave it four stars instead of five: The graphics card is pretty weak for gaming, and there is no possibility of upgrading anything inside. If you're ok with both of those things, this is a stellar laptop. Edit 8/31/17: I have to point out, though this laptop has served me well the last year or so, and I still like it, there is a glaring issue that I haven't been able to resolve. EVERY TIME I put it to sleep, it wakes up randomly later. No prompting, no movement, no touching the trackpad or the keys. It just wakes up. I'll look over and the light will be on indicating that it's awake, doing nothing. The screen stays off, but the battery drains. Every time I leave it unplugged, it drains down to about 5% before it goes into hibernate (from "sleep"). For the life of me, I can't figure out what's waking it up.