ASUS U32U-ES21 Ultra-Portable 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)

As there are few reviews for this product I was a little wary, but I'm very satisfied with my first laptop. As a university student getting into upper division courses, the ability to take projects with me became a necessity, and since I recently built a powerful gaming computer, I needed something that I would *want* to travel with. After removing a bit of ASUS bloatware that comes with it, it runs pretty smooth. Some of the bloatware is actually nice like the power profiles switcher. All in all it runs faster than I expected with a low-power processor and 5400 rpm hard drive.

First week review:

Battery life is legitimately 7+ hours in battery save mode (which you can tweak).

24 hours in Sleep Mode only cost the battery ~7% charge, and Instant On works as advertised.

Computer is capable of light gaming in performance mode (it runs Dungeon Defenders on low settings).

Hard drive is divided into two even partitions, OS and Data.

Usable RAM is 3.6 GB as 400 MB seems to be dedicated to video memory, which is good.

8-cell Battery keeps laptop slightly lifted, which helps keep it cool, but adds a little size.

It is slim and light enough to compete with an ultrabook at half the price.

Hinge construction feels more solid than it looks. Overall the entire machine feels sturdy.

No optical drive. Helps keep it light and isn't an issue for tech-savvy users, but could be an issue for some.

Yes, there is some keyboard flex, but I have to pay attention to notice it. It would be nice if the keys were backlit, but since the screen gives off light, that isn't really important. The keyboard feels like the cheapest component, but there are zero problems actually using it.

Something to note is the USB ports are an extremely tight fit. It shaved some plastic off of my flash drive getting it into the ports the first couple of times. I've muscled in a couple other USB devices, but it doesn't seem to damage anything.

It's not easy to find a computer this slim and light without buying an ultrabook. This is half the price of even a low end ultrabook, so of course there are some compromises. It's not quite as sleek, the processor isn't that powerful, though it's good enough for most HD video and light gaming. The keyboard has a little flex to it as well. It's biggest flaw is the screen, which isn't that vivid and has poor viewing angles. That's to be expected at this price though. The battery life is very good, about 5-6 hours even with the brightness on high and the wireless on. I didn't want to spend ultrabook money on a laptop, so I was glad to find this.

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I really wanted to like this product it has many good features, but sadly, the system has 3* VERY bad points and 3 not so bad points.

Here's the bad;

*1. The viewing angle of the screen is horrible.10 degrees from dead-on at most.YIKES!

*2. The Wi-Fi has no problem finding signals, it just won't stay connected to any of them.

*3. Hard Drive is very slow.

o4. Decals on keys, not laser etched.

o5. Bluetooth is very picky and tempermental

o6. Multi-Finger gestures on the track-pad do not work as advertised.

Here's the good;

o1. Attractive aluminum and ABS-Plastic construction.

o2. Keys operate smooth as silk (despite the decals).

o3. Processor is quite efficient once all the crapware is uninstalled.

o4. Plays back video gloriously

o5. Two USB 3.o Ports!

o6. Can run three monitors at once. Wow!

o7. Plays semi-recent games at medium settings

o8. Sound is low but very clear.

o9. Thin Sleek Profile

If the 3 of the 6 bad points had not been so serious, I would strongly consider keeping this laptop, but the viewing angle is so poor that I strongly recommend that people look else where. AND that's a shame, b/c ASUS went to the trouble to design and build a fine computer out of decent materials, but then shot themselves in the foot by coupling the system to such a low grade glossy screen with dismal viewing angles.

This is a good effort, but ultimately a poor execution on ASUS's part. After working with this laptop for a couple of daysThe defective Wi-Fi, agressively low quality screen, and an annoying trackpad issue make this laptop a dud. Had to send it back.

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Pros:

Battery life is amazing! 6 hours of full use and charges up again in less than an hour.

Full size Keyboard.

Good size mousetrack, comfortable position and features apple-like touch controls, zoom in and out, two finger up and down that's great!

Very thin body and light weight (except battery)

Screen size is great for work and small enough to be portable.

Great low price!

Cons:

Aluminum color is NOT like the picture. Is way darker.

Battery is not flat, has a elevated part that helps ventilation, but make the back of the laptop bulky.

Mouse click sound is very loud (I'm that picky)

Sound comes very low but can be fixed, now it loud enough.

This is a beautiful, thin, ultra portable laptop. Great value for the money!

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So, the first thing I did when I got my new ASUS U32U-ES21 was format the drive and install ubuntu on it. So far, it's been fantastic!! I've been a little too busy to play around with the integrated video card yet (and I know Radeon GPUs aren't supposed to work all that well with Linux in general), but it at least plays videos, flash, and streaming videos all seemlessly. The only downfall of this computer so far is that REALTEK still doesn't have a Linux Kernal 3.0+ driver for it's multi-card reader, but everything else seems to work. Viewing angles are crap, but I'm used to that and the screen is twice as bright as my last laptop, so I'm not complaining. What I really love about this laptop is the battery life. I can work on it continuously for about 6 hours before it dies. That's truly incredible.