ASUS A53E-XA2 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Black)

Sorry for the length, but I feel buyers should know... I own two Dell desktops, a Toshiba laptop, and an Asus gaming laptop. I feel that I am very adequate with technical knowledge and I handle most of my support issues personally (i.e. hardware upgrades, repairs, as well as software issues). I researched desktops and laptops extensivelly before I made any purchases. I recently had to purchase a laptop for a graduation gift for my son. I wanted to get him a good laptop for college, which could handle all his classwork and also provide some entertainment. I found numerous reviews on laptops, and two of the most relaible sources listed Asus and Toshiba as tops in reliability. This does not suprise me. I love my Asus gaming laptop. My Toshiba laptop had issues when I tried to use the recovery disk to take it back to its factory state. Toshiba's customer service was useless and I really feel that they were running a scam to get me to service the laptop through them. I was not happy with them, thankfully I could fix it myself (Clean install of operating system because their recovery disc, the one that came with it, and the two I had to purchase directly from them, were corrupt and would not install). This brings me back to Asus. Who is Asus, but the manufacturer of top hardware for other companies. They are the manufacturers of motherboards and such for companies like Dell and HP. When you buy a Dell or HP, you are most likely purchasing an Asus product. Therefore, why not just buy the Asus instead. Take a good look at their warranty... not bad, is it? I cannot comment on their custumer service, because I have never had to contact them. From other sources I hear that they have one of the best support services in the US. Moving along, this takes me to this Asus model. I struggled with my decision to purchase this model due to the ratings. I always take others personal experiences into consideration. However, in this case I decided to follow my own instincts and disregard what others said. After searching high and low, this was a great price for a laptop with these specs, and from a manufacturer who I have solid faith in. I bought it. I took the time to set it up properly... which if you have ever done this, it is not a plug and play process. It is a grueling 3-4 hours of creating recovery discs (you can just use the partition, but why take the chance), updating hardware (drivers and such) and fully updating windows. You MUST fully uninstall the security software (virus, firewall, etc...) that comes with the laptop if you decide to go with another security software company. DO NOT JUST PUT YOUR OWN SECURITY SOFTWARE ON WITHOUT UNINSTALLING THE FACTORY STATE SOFTWARE! (This could be the cause of a lot of issues) To fully uninstall, I suggest you go to that company's support website and follow their directions for uninstallation, including using their downloadable tool if one is provided. When you have two different security software products installed on the same computer, you could create a wicked war that will cause operating system errors, failures, and unfortunately crashes. Hmmmm, sound familiar? While this process is time consuming, it should be followed no matter which laptop you purchase! After following all of this, I found this laptop to be excellent. No errors, no failures, and definitly no crashes. Not to disregard other buyer's issues and reviews, no company is perfect and lemons do make it to the market. It is up to you to decide, but in my opinion, I have purchased a wonderful laptop, with great specs, for an amazing price. I am so happy I followed my instincts. Congratulations Asus, you have once again raised the bar!

This is a great deal. I spent a long time researching laptops in the 500-800 dollar price range to figure out what the best fit for me would be. After comparing and researching for weeks, I randomly found this listing for this laptop one night, and purchased it 10 minutes later. Even though this laptop had only 10 reviews and less than 3 stars, my gut told me to go with it. And I'm glad I did.

Now let's get a few things straight right off the bat. It has no USB 3.0. It also has no WiMAX or WIDI capabilities.

That is the end of my cons list.

Now for the pros. For $529.00, you get:

-The latest Intel i5 processor with Sandy Bridge, running at 2.3ghz with turbo boost up to 2.9ghz. And it works fabulously.

-A 640gb hard drive

-A comfortable chiclet keyboard complete with a numpad.

-One of the best touchpads I've used on any laptop, ever.

-A 1-year standard warranty AND a 1-year accidental warranty. I love ASUS.

-A damn sexy computer.

Now I don't know what the negative reviewers on this site are talking about. I have not once had "programs open at random" or anything of that nature. I have never once had a problem turning on or shutting down the computer, or lag of any sort. Then again, I did take the time to remove any programs I did not want when I received it, I created restore disks, and I configured my anti-virus properly. PCs with Windows these days are incredibly dumbed-down, user-friendly machines. Now I understand that not all people are technologically savvy. I understand that even with the user-friendliness of Windows 7 things can be extremely confusing, especially getting things setup for the first time. And that is fine. However, I think it is just plain silly and extremely misleading to rate a product 1/5 stars when the only thing that should be rated 1/5 is your own technological know-how. I'm sorry, I just felt like that needed to be said. Now back to the actual review.

This computer runs quickly, has a decent display, the hdmi works flawlessly, the Smart-Logon facial recognition works incredibly (you do have to set it up and configure it correctly, obviously), it runs as fast as you would think the i5 should, it looks SEXY AS HELL, it feels like it's built like a tank, it has never once felt more than SLIGHTLY warm no matter what I'm putting it through, it connects to the internet 2 minutes after unboxing and is an overall GREAT DEAL.

If you are reading this review and considering this laptop, but are afraid to purchase it based on the negative reviews, I understand your concern. But I'm here to tell you that I had the same concern, purchased it anyway, and am very glad that I did. If you can do without USB 3.0 and WIDI/WiMAX capabilities, this computer is perfect for you. In my opinion, it is just as durably built, just as fast, just as nice as most $700.00 laptops I've seen recently. Don't let the bad reviews steer you away. Read the good ones. Then click the "Add to Cart" button and be on your merry way.

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I don't know why there are so many bad reviews about this computer.I recently bought this computer and I am very happy with this product. ASUS used to make motherboards, they know what they're doing!! I have owned SONY VIAO, Toshiba, HP, and others and I am well acquainted with good computers and bad computers. I am very happy with this computer. The i5 processor has been able to handle my every need, it also has a turbo processor which has helped immensely.

I travel a lot (usually get about 6hrs, which is a lot for a screen this big) and the battery life is great. The option to have the computer running on high performance or battery saving, I think that is great depending on what you're doing. The screen size is great. I wasn't to comfortable with the keyboard at first, but after a week I was.

The only thing I can truly complain about with this computer is the camera. The video quality is medium, which is not what I expected of ASUS. Not a problem however if you don't use it too much. If it is a problem you can buy a good one on the internet from $40. Overall I am very happy with this computer, other than the camera I have no problems. I will update if there is anything wrong with it.

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I have read others issues with this computer and have seen none of such with my machine. The only thing bothersome to me is that the price of computers drop so much, a month ago I paid $100 more. Cannot blame anyone for that though, its just how it is. The computer runs great and I do not have any sort of errors or freezing problems to note about. I am not doubting the other users having problems or their capabilities of being able to use the computers, however I am wondering if some (the ones complaining about software issues) might be related to malware or adware that was inadvertantly installed due to navigating or downloading certain things from the web. I do not use this laptop for heavy computing or tasks. I bought it for convenience of having a computer to tote around with me. Its perfect for that and I would not hesitate to buy it again. Especially since it dropped $100 in a month. grr!

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After much research I chose the ASUS A53E-XA2 laptop because it had all of the features I wanted at a reasonable price. There were several bad reviews from people who apparently had some issues with this model, but I have had none of the problems others have described and am very happy with my purchase. However I also created my own back-up disks and removed the inferior pre-installed antivirus software and installed a better one. Twice actually because I later changed my mind and decided on a different antivirus. Never had a problem.

I would point out that the trackpad is EXTREMELY sensitive. I've just hovered my finger over it while I was reading and the next thing I know I've unintentionally clicked something. It also has sophisticated features like you can zoom in or out of a page or turn on the scroll function, this has also unintentionally happened several times. This is to be expected from a trackpad with so many capabilities. I don't really consider this a problem, just an annoyance.

I will also say that it is sometimes a little slower than I expect when opening programs. I am a photographer and often have several different things open at the same time between editing programs and various websites I use. Sometimes there is a lag when I open a program for the first time, or when a program or site is open but unused for awhile and I go back to it. But this only happens the one time, and not even all the time, and after that it's fine. I've also noticed this becomes a bigger problem and my editing programs start lagging if I don't fully shut down the computer for several days. Again, this is something I can live with.

I have not removed any of the other pre-installed software because far as I can tell they have not caused any problems, but others who are more, um, persnickety let's say, might want them gone. Shouldn't be a big deal.

Overall I would definitely recommend this laptop. And already have. Just have realistic expectations, you're not going to get a $1000 worth of performance from a $500 computer. But it is a solid computer and can handle a lot.