Asus X54C-RS01 laptop 320 GB Hrad drive with HDMI

I bought the model shown with one exception, it had 8Gb of ram and Windows 7 Home Premium. It can, and has done everything I needed, and after 30+ years as a systems engineer, I only wanted to be able to use my Microsoft Flight Simulator without any jerks, pauses, strange looking ground and/or clouds, etc.. I must say, I was very impressed with the AMD processor, being an Intel fan. It is a dual core processor, which helps greatly if doing spreadsheets, presentations, flow charting, or as I love, playing with my flight sim since becoming disabled with cancer. I have all the controls, of which plug right into the USB with no problems, the color is great, and of course, since it's a laptop, the speakers leave a little to be desired, but do appear to be better than most. I spilled a softdrink on the keyboard almost immediately after purchasing the laptop, and while the keyboard was toast, I found it very easy and cheap (!) to replace, unlike a Compaq/HP unit. The only issue I have with the device is that the HDMI out that I wanted so badly, it was the deciding factor in purchasing the laptop, died as soon as the warranty ran out, and before my spilling drink on it. No matter what trick I used, and I have extensive training from places such as Microsoft when I worked there, just nothing worked. I also would have liked bluetooth, but you can't expect all the toys to be included at that price it has plenty as it is! I don't turn off my systems either, but do reboot daily, and have seen no problems with over heating at all. I use intensive software that hammers the processor, and all have worked flawlessly. Watching videos sometimes will sputter, but I attribute that to having several applications running in the background and having 3 dogs and 3 cats bouncing all around me.

I have also recently ran into a major issue, but it is Microsoft's problem, not ASUS' MS now says the Win7 that came preloaded is not genuine! It came preloaded, and the product key is clearly marked on the bottom, but Microsoft's solution for breaking the activation of the software is for the user to go out and buy another copy!! No FREEKING WAY, BILL GATES!! MS Security Essentials is responsible for destroying the build, it happened after a windows update including an update to essentials, so I blame Microsoft for the problem, and will force them to fix it, one way or another. There is also always Linux, of which loves this laptop, my son bought the same model when I did, and loaded Linux on it instead of Windows. So far, he has seen zero issues. I would also like to see a blueray recordable DVD as an option, and possibly a 2-3Tb hard disk as well, but as it sits, it's a great value and I would do it again as long as I get the extended warranty. Good luck, and I hope no one has the issues I had with Microsoft having an identity crisis.