Right out of the gate, this has been an impressive laptop. No, it's not an ultrabook, but it's reasonably light, at 4.4 lbs. It also has features, like a DVD reader/burner, full size HDMI port, etc., that are lacking on many budget notebooks these days.Pros:
*Fast. Very fast. It's an i7 chipset, and it truly flies through most tasks.
*8 GB of RAM, straight out of the box. What a joy, not having to deal with upgrading.
*One of the best keyboards of this style that I've ever used. Nice feedback, responsive, and easy to type on (I so wish I had the same keyboard on my much more expensive U31)
*While not the fastest, the hard drive is huge. 1TB is almost unprecedented for a laptop.
*Great fit and finish. Everything feels solid, the screen hinges really grab (sadly lacking in many notebooks), no wobble from the screen when it's up. This is not a delicate flower of a notebook -it's solid and substantial.
*Good port selection, including a pair of USB 3 ports. No VGA, but full-sized HDMI. Wired Ethernet.
*Backlit Keyboard w/adjustable brightness.
*Surprisingly good sound from front-firing speakers.
*ASUS Instant-On works flawlessly. Boots from sleep in seconds. (Boot from shutdown takes much longer, since the drive is not SSD, but you won't use it often. It can sleep for a month on a full charge.)
*It's quiet. I mean, really quiet, even under a load. Processor is so powerful that the fan almost never needs to run, and when it does, it's a whisper. Huge kudos to ASUS on this. It has never gotten hot on me, even transcoding video. Oh, and the exhaust is on the side, thankfully.
Cons:
*Mousepad, while solid, is a bit too stiff as a clickpad, and a bit too sensitive when tapping. However, my guess is that the clickpad will loosen-up in time. It is, however, responsive and accurate.
*Screen is the standard 1366x768 LED backlit, which is fine, but it's calibrated horribly from the factory. You need patience to get it adjusted properly. Obviously not a retina display, but, as a plus, it's non-glare, and easy in any light.
*You WILL NEED to update the BIOS immediately, to version 410 or above. Mine came with 407, and suffered lockups until I did. Fortunately, in this day and age it isn't too hard to do, but if you're not tech oriented it might be a hassle.
*Standard bloatware, including the completely unnecessary McAfee anti-virus, and some other things. Not horrible, but you'll have a bunch to get rid of.
I know there are a lot of folks ranting about Windows 8, and this is my first machine with it installed. Took a bit to get the lay of the land, but honestly, within a day I had no problems with it. Actually, I see little difference between it and Win7, once you're in desktop mode (which is where you automatically wind up most of the time anyway). Sure, there are some quirks, and new ways to do things, but so it goes. Anyhow, I'm not rating Win 8, I'm rating the hardware.
Overall, I can highly recommend this laptop. No, it's not the sleekest or fanciest. No, it's not a touchscreen. It is, however, incredibly powerful and fast for the price, and the build quality is top notch.
This Asus U47A is one of the finest computers I've ever owned. It's only a day old as of this writing and have yet to find anything about it I don't like. The jury is still out about the Win 8 OS, but that has nothing to do with the laptop. More on that later.
I share a previous reviewer's comments (D.M. Seeley) about the pros. I only want to add a few things to what was already covered:
The Good:
*With the i7 chipset, this machine screams!
*The 8 GB or RAM will enable the user to open just about any program that exists or have several RAM intensive programs open simultaneously.
My Windows Experience Index is as follows: Overall5.9
Processor: 7.7
Memory: 7.8
Graphics: 6.5
Gaming graphics: 6.5
Primary hard disk: 5.9
Since the Index is based on the lowest number, the addition of an SSD will boost the overall score up to 6.5. The 1TB HHD supplied on this laptop spins at only 5400 rpm hence the low reading.
*The fit and finish on this laptop is simply awesome. It reminds me of a race car that looks fast just standing still!
The Not So Good:
As said by D.M. Seeley, the bios needs to be updated right out of the box. Mine came with v. 4.7 and the latest is v.4.10. It's not terribly difficult to do but advise using Google and Youtube to get comfortable with the procedure.
This has nothing to do with Asus, but Windows 8 isn't compatible with POP3 mail. There's a work around for this but not without having to jump through many hoops. So, at this point, my favorite email client won't work but I can simply log on to my ISP's website to retrieve and send mail. If you opt to use Windows Mail, Outlook,or any of the web-based email programs no problems.
I highly suggest you download an excellent program by Soluto (soluto.com) after you finish deleting the usual bloatware from this machine. Soluto can tell you which applications are necessary and which aren't. It also gives you some very helpful information about your machine, too. Also, startup can be speeded up if you delay the loading of some of the necessary programs. I much prefer using Soluto as opposed to "msconfig."
When researching the U47A on the internet, it was suggested to uninstall Asus Live Update before connecting to the internet for the first time. Uninstalling this will keep the laptop from downloading the "USB Charger Plus" program which sometimes disables all the USB ports. Since I don't charge things from my computer, I don't need this program to begin with.
Some people have mentioned having wireless issues due to the Wireless Console 3 which I also disabled.
The above mentioned issues were never really issues with me, so your mileage may vary. Deleting or disabling certain things will hopefully keep future issues at bay.
All that being said, I highly, highly recommend this machine! Asus makes quality stuff and it's very apparent with this laptop. No matter what machine you ultimately buy, there's always a bit of tweaking to do. There was much less to do with the U47A than any other computer I've ever had. Three thumbs up, ASUS!Don't get me wrong: spec-wise and performance-wise, this is a GREAT machine. However, there's not much point in having it if it won't power up! When you press the power switch, the light flickers for a moment and then goes out. To power up you have to remove the battery, wait, and then try again: sometimes it works, often not. From browsing the web, I found that this problem has occurred for other users, too. So, no choice but to return.
Kudos to the seller, Quality.Seller, though. Prompt delivery and easy return (he emailed me a Fedex label), with a prompt refund.
I hope ASUS sort the quality problems out, because it's got the potential to be a cracking laptop!I purchased this laptop last week and I am very pleased with it. It's portable, fast, and fully equipped with everything I needed. I wanted an optical drive, 14 inch screen, and much more. It also has a back-lit keyboard.
I was a bit hesitant about purchasing a laptop with Windows 8 but I actually adjusted today in no time. I decided to download Classic Shell so that I could easily see the famous "start menu." The other plus to downloading Classic Shell was that the "Tiles Start Up Screen" is totally bypassed in Windows 8 and goes directly to my desktop. Therefore, I really don't have to deal with the nuisance "Tile Screen" if I don't want to.
Overall, this is a good budget friendly laptop equipped with the average necessities of a home user.Perfect screen and keyboard size.
It is fast, but lags. Has Windows 7 on board and all bloatware removed.
Cons:
Touchpad is not working properly. Cursor jumps around the screen.
This is hardware problem. Cannot be fixed with drivers update.
Asus should recall laptops with faulty touchpads.
To fix it, you will need to remove aluminum foil under the touchpad, but I was not able to disassemble it. It looks like I have to break mounting clips around the edges.
Youtube "how to fix asus touchpad"
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