The Asus K50AF-X1 is a solid performing laptop with a very reasonable price tag. The dual core AMD processor and 4 gigs of ram make windows 7 perform well, even in the Aero environment. Additionally, the ATI dedicated video card enables this laptop to perform decently on modern games such as Left 4 Dead 2, Split/Second, etc. However, it's not a miracle machine, so bear in mind you will have to run some of these games on medium/low graphics settings. However, it certainly runs rings around any laptop using intel's onboard graphics. Burnout Paradise runs flawlessly at maximum settings with high framerate. To get any better gaming performance out of a laptop, you would have to break the $1000 barrier, possibly even going into the 1200-1500 dollar range. When I bought this laptop, it was on sale here at amazon for $550, and it has proven itself an astoundingly good deal.
Win7 boots pleasingly fast, and the install is relatively clean. It does come with some proprietary asus software loaded, but very little of it is memory resident, and what little IS is actually pretty useful, such as the on-the-fly ability to change between four power useage settings. The laptop also has the option to use facial recognition software as a login alternative (via the built-in webcam), but this is mostly just a cool convenience gimmick and adds no real security features. I am at a bit of a loss as to why Asus decided to partition the 500 gig hard drive into two logical drives, but that's a minor gripe I suppose. The built in microphone performs acceptably for voice chat. The button on the optical drive is protected by a protrusion just above and below the button, which I suppose helps prevent accidental pressing of the eject button, but it also means you pretty much have to get in there between the protrusions with a fingernail to press the button in far enough for the computer to realize you want to eject the disk.
I also don't particularly care for 16x9 aspect ratio displays (I prefer 16x10), but I suppose that's what all the laptops are going to these days.
Pros:
Very competitively priced
Good graphics performance for the price range
Decent sound for a laptop
Large hard drive
Good keyboard, with good layout
4 USB ports, two on each side
No plugs in back
Wireless N and ethernet jack both
Cons:
High reflectivity on display
High gloss case gathers fingerprints/smudges like crazy
touchpad uses "multiple finger touch" to scroll instead of having a scroll zone at the sides of the touchpad, which can be a little slow to respond
No HDMI out (does have VGA out, however)
Minor gripes:
A little annoying to push the button to eject optical drive
16x9 aspect ratio (1344x768)
Overall, I am very satisfied with this purchase.
i decided to get this laptop since the price seems pretty good after the $150 off.
Pros
Keyboard is well-made
Screen. Bright and easy to read.
Asus FastBoot Program lets you choose which programs load during startup and which load after. Speeds up the boot quite a bit.
Speaker audio quality is pretty good for a laptop
Cons
Case is a fingerprint magnet.
Web cam is low res and has difficulty in low light (haven't tried different drivers yet).
I've also been playing games on it. so far the frames i get (with fraps on) are as follows:
StarCraftII Beta 30-32 fps on med-high settings
World of Warcraft 35-60 fps on high (depending on what you're doing)
League of Legends 25 fps on high, 33 on med
CoD Modern Warfare 2 25-26 fps on med
F.E.A.R. 2 35 fps on med
Left 4 Dead 2 33 fps on med-high
Overall recommended for the price point. wasnt expecting it to be able to play games so well but i was pleasantly surprised. I'd give it a 4.5/5.
Buy ASUS K50AF-X1 15.6-Inch Versatile Performance Laptop (Black) Now
Yes, I knew before hand of the poor battery life, which is ~2 hours, in power saving mode. This was not the issue. My biggest concern was with the wireless ability, as my download speeds would constantly fluctuate, often times pausing altogether. The laptop also rebooted twice randomly while I used it throughout the night. These two issues are unacceptable, so I promptly spoke with customer service, was given a return shipping label, and purchased this item instead:
On the plus side, the build quality seemed to be very good, and it did run cool and quite. The aforementioned problems were problems too significant for me to ignore.
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I received this computer not too long ago, and have been very happy with my purchase. There are a good amount of features on the computer, especially for the price. I particularly like the versatility and balance of specs, the Altec Lansing speakers (more on these in the edit), and that it has an actual graphics card. The one-year accidental damage warranty and the "IceCool" technology that keeps your hands/ wrists cool as they rest on the computer while you type or use the touchpad are certainly nice, too. Speaking of the touchpad, it is a pretty good one in my opinion, and I am fairly picky with these... It doesn't have the scroll pad on the side, but it has a "multitouch" function that allows you to scroll by touching the pad with two fingers. These are the features that stand out to me the most.
I don't have strong cons to the computer really... The hard drive is only 5,400 RPM, and of course I would have like to heave seen 7,200 RPM instead. I honestly don't perceive any real delay, though. If I did intense 3D graphics, there may be a noticeable one, but I believe that just partitioning the drive to have a small, quickly searchable sector will make just about and hard drive work reasonably fast. The keyboard will take a bit of getting used to and Windows 7 has some odd quirks (My screen saver would not come on when I purchased the computer; checking the box to ask for a password upon awakening apparently solved the problem). This is obviously a problem with Windows 7 and not the computer.) The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to but is actually pretty good... Certainly a bit different, though.
The Turion II is another matter of discussion with this computer, because many people are discrediting it for the reported clock speeds from independent reviews. This chip has a lot of features that make it a quality processor though, like the integrated memory controller. The Turion II certainly handles the GPU in this computer better than a comparable Intel (...I would rather have this Turion II in this system than many others, including some Core 2s, though a Turion II Ultra with double the cache carainly would have been nice. I give this computer 4.5 stars overall... Bottom line: the features are great for the price. I haven't seen another computer that has this combination of features in the ~$600 range.
****EDIT Notes**** I have used this computer much longer now and got to experience the problem with the low Audio. The speakers, even if you get SRS Premium Audio Sandbox (SRS's own software) to utilize these SRS speakers, is still mediocre at best. I played with it for a little while and was satisfied, but came back with some Jazz tunes and they sounded horrible if the effects were turned up enough to hear. If the effects weren't turned up, then hearing more than a faint melody would be near-impossible. For this reason, I knock this computer down another half star to 4 overall. It is a great computer, but the speakers are not as good as advertised, even if you buy software to utilize the speakers better; Also, throwing in a Turion II Ultra or triple-core Phenom II for a higher-end AMD based system would have been really nice, in my opinion.
The computer I traded this in for: Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 LED TruBrite 14.0-Inch Laptop (Black)... It is similar, has a slightly worse graphics unit, but the M880 shipset with the Phenom II processor make for a decent GPU that actually ranks a bit better than the one in this ASUS. The Phenom II or the Turion II Ultra were my two choice processors for this replacement, and I decided to go with the 1.8ghz Phenom II. I am definitely happy so far!
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I have had great luck with ASUS in the past, however this product failed to perform. Shockwave/Flash player errors upon arrival, a BSOD during initial setup, and no luck attempting even simple fixes for the product. 85 windows 7 updates later, it still failed to perform both functionally and at the level I would expect of a laptop with this parts list.
I bought the Acer Aspire 5920 new back a few years back. Great feature set for the price. The keyboard has a rather cheap feel to it, but it is responsive and has a nice feel (although a little cheap).
