ASUS X202E-DH31T Laptop (Windows 8, Intel Core i3-3217U 1.8 GHz Processor, 11.6" LED Touchscreen Display, SSD: 500 GB, RAM: 4 GB DDR3) Black [OLD VERSION]

This computer just ROCKS. I've owned TONS of computers over the years, and for the $450 - it is a no-brainer if you want a portable computer that just plain FAST.I had an Acer 11.6" before this but it was very laggy. It took forever to do anything. So I looked around ALL over the place and read the reviews about this new Vivobook. This computer seemed pretty great so I bought it - and I am so so happy with my purchase.*It is FAST FAST FAST for $450. The 3rd gen i3 chip is amazing for the cost.*It is TOUCHSCREEN. Perfect for ebooks, on-the-go slideshows, games, etc. I even use the touchscreen just reading through the web at night on the couch.*I put an SSD in it, which made it even faster. It boots in under 8 seconds.*It has Windows 8 (which is FASTER than Windows 7. It only take a few weeks to understand the new Metro interface. I hear so many people complain about Windows 8, but you are smarter than that. It's less about the OS and more about their inability to accept a fundamental shift in OS architecture. I won't get into the theory about user preference, but it makes your desktop faster and in a few years when people 'figure it out', it will be something no-body discusses any more.)*SD slot, USB 3.0 and every other port you would need.The *only thing I wish it had was an illuminated keyboard. Buttttt, for $450 I am not going to complain.BOTTOM LINE: if you want an amazing lightweight FAST touchscreen computer with the latest operating system and other components (chipset, ram, ports, etc) - look no further. Thanks ASUS.OTHER NOTES:Some people complain that it doesn't have a DVD player, but that would make it a bit heavier and this computer is so thin it would be hard to fit one in. Now, some people might say "apple does it". And I'd say to you, then if it's worth the extra $1000 to you, then they'd be happy to take your money. And further, disc media is dying anyways. If you do need to install from disc (which is rare), or even play a DVD, you can buy a USB DVD drive for super cheap ($20) in the store or even on ebay.

Overall Impression-WOOOOWWWW! What a slick device. It's a toy, it's a business laptop, it's an HTPC, it has a touchscreen, ports galore, crazy fast speed - what else could you want?!?! I've been building my own high-power gaming desktops for 15 years, but man, this thing truly is an all-in-one device that doesn't disappoint. It only costs $500-ish, but has 95% of the features of $1,400 ultrabooks. Unless there is a specific feature you need, this laptop could fit the majority of people's computing needs, excel at most of them, and even provide some nifty, state of the art features to put a smile on your face.Our Intended Uses-Wife uses it for business, some pleasure; We use it as HTPC when needed for watching Hulu, ESPN3, etc. online, or for pushing email/Office to the big screen for work use. I use it for some touchscreen games.Screen, Keyboard and Touchpad-I kind of use touchscreen and touch pad and keyboard interchangeably (it's very natural - games are nice). It's normally easiest to point with my finger on the touchsreen and then type on the keyboard - this technique pretty much eliminates the touchpad altogether.-Screen is OK (coming from a gamer who's used to 24"+ high-resolution, high-contrast, very bright screens), not overwhelmingly knock your socks off superb, brightness is fine, resolution is fine for this screen size, color reproduction isn't perfect, blacks aren't perfect. All in all, only enthusiasts would notice this things small screen faults. Nobody else would even pick up on them, so this shouldn't keep anyone from buying this. The screen doesn't wash out in a sun-lit living rooming, nor now in this dimly-lit room does the screen bother me (brightness turned down).-Touch Pad is just any other touchpad. Although some of the gestures do match the touch screen, which is nice so as to not be confusing (scroll up and down matches the screen, not regular touchpad scrolling). I did upload the Samsung drivers, which did help a little bit of the jitteryness and sensitivity.-Keyboard (chiclet keys, good size, nice resistance, don't click at the bottom)-Haven't used on screen keyboard, so I can't spak to how it works. Not sure why anyone would use that when you have a wicked good chiclet keyboard under your fingers anway.Storage-The laptop comes with a 500GB, 7200RPM, SATAIII drive. Within hour of turning on the laptop, I had already powered down, taken off teh back (10 screws??) and installed a Samsung 7mm 840 SSD. This SSD pegs at it's rated specs (540/130 read/write). This laptop now boots to a useable screen in 8 seconds, the length of a bull ride!-Having taken out the original 5400RPM SATA drive, I put it in an Anker external USB 3.0 encloser which produces speeds of 110/110 R/W (not sure if hard drive maxed out or port maxed out).-I used Samsung's data transfer software to clone the 500GB factory image to my 120GB SSD. In all it only took 30-45 minutes for the transfer.Size-Although listed as a 11.6", the frame is more of a 13"-14" laptop. The 11.6" slip case I orignially bought did NOT fit, so I upgrade to a 14" courier bag with enough space including pockets for accessories (charger, external HDD, etc.).-The laptop weighs 3lbs, which I guess some people think is heavy, but it's really not. If you were try to hold it with your arm outstretched for 20 minutes, then yes, it would feel heavy (a bird would feel heavy at that length and duration, though). Sitting on my lap, it's not heavy, and when on a table/desk, I don't even feel the weight, so of course it's not a bother there.Processor-Intel Processor coupled with an SSD makes this laptop respond instantenously to requests to bootup MS Office applications (instantaneous, literally). It's a great processor (Sandy Bridge core??) that is low-power, high-output, and even has an integrated graphics processor (IGP). Not much to say here, as contemporary processors have been "fast enough" for 10 years or so, to the user's perception of speed is more of a result of storage/RAM speed and input response than the processor itself. No complaints in this department. Moving on.Speakers and Camera/Microphone-The laptop comes with phenomenal speakers. Now, these aren't reference monitors for sure, but for an 11.6" laptop, the sound reproduction far exceeds expectations. They'll surely impress you.-The camera was a letdow, though. I think it maxes out a 0.9MP while in video mode. Still pictures don't look much better. I guess this is one of those features your would have to pay $200-$300 more to get a good 12MP camera or something built in.-Microphone is just OK. Not impressive, not crappy. It's kind of cheap (as in the quality of audio picked up), but it gets the job done.-You could use this laptop for Skype, but the person on the other end will probably see a granulated picture.Windows 8-Initial impressions: This laptop was my first real experience with Windows 8, and I have to say it's not all that it could be. In all, jumping back and forth between the Start Screen and Desktop is confusing and aggravatig. Win8 being so different than anything Windows users have used before, it should really come with a detailed tutorial available somewhere as a Tile or on the Desktop. Neither of those exist, so we just kind of figured out stuff as we went along.-The Win8 Start Screen is geared towards media consumption and social crap, all of which I consider a waste of time. My wife and I are busy people, so all of this Facebook, Skybe, Youtube, Hulu look-at-me-type-stuff is just keeping people down so they don't go out into the world and do stuff useful with their lives.-Windows 8 has a split personality - it's not sure if it wants to be Windows 8 or Windows 7. By that I mean some applications/apps run solely in the Win8 environment, while others (even if there is a tile for it on the Win8 Start Screen) jump to the familiar Win7 desktop and open the program there. To me, a PC builder, that's confusing. To my wife, it's frustrating. There is a Win8 Internet Explorer, and Win7 IE - the two, from what I can tell, do not share any favorites, settings, etc., so we spend time hunting our favorites only to realize it's in THE OTHER browser.-Win8 Adobe isn't as fully-featured as Win7 Adobe, so when Win8 Adobe wouldn't open some files correctly, I disabled it and made Win7 Adobe the default PDF reader . . . but then it always jumps to desktop to open Win7 Adobe. Another frustration, because when I'm done, I have to go back to whatever I was doing in Win8 by using some swipe gesture or something.-There is no Start button on the desktop, so unless you know how to navigate through folders and create shorcuts on your desktop, the desktop is largely devoid of anything.-Excel/Word open on the desktop, even if you're on the Start Screen (an aggravation).-There is no default clock on the Start Screen, so you have to hunt through the Store to find one. It took me trying out about 5 apps to find one that would show a live tile with a clock that updated manually. Sounds like a mouthful of a task, but it's a really simple idea. Tell me: WHY does the Start Screen NOT have a clock and calendar?-Apps (on the Win8 Start Screen) are different and independent from the applications most users are accustomed to (on the Win7 Desktop). Again, there are two Internet Explorers, two Adobes, two Mail programs - it makes NO SENSE!-The Store is available for whatever Apps you're missing, although I wasn't able to find full-blown Applications. Excited to have a toucscreen laptop, I went hunting for Angry Birds. The original AB isn't even available! The only ones that I saw were like the Star Wars version and somethign else, both of which I would have had to pay for. What a ripoff! Just give me the dang ad-laiden versions like from Android and let me have my Angry Birds!-Even though you can somewhat manually organize the Tiles, there are some built-in restriction where Win8 tries to "help" you organize the Tiles, locking you into a preset geometry. Dude, let ME decide how I was MY STUFF organized. Why are there restrictions in the first place?Software-Bloatware is minimal on the laptop. It comes pre-loaded with some Asus LifeFrame, caculator, and a few other Asus-braned things. They're not bothersome so I've not uninstalled them.-The laptop comes pre-loaded with Adera, a Myst-type game where you have to search around, solve puzzles, etc. It's extremely well-suited to touchscreen input, and the game actually looks pretty decent. However, once you beat the first episode, you have to pay $5.99 for each of the last two episodes. That's like how a drug dealer acts - gets you hooked on a taste, but if you want more, you have to pay. I uninstalled the game, even though I wanted to see how it ended, just based on the bait-and-switch principle.-The laptop has McAfee securit software preloaded with some trial offer. I uninstalled that and enabled Windows Defender and all of its little buddies, as it's free, isn't a resource hog, and for the most part stays out of my way.-Office 2010 trial is loaded on the laptop, but I uninstalled that and loaded Office 2007. It works fine with the touchscreen (it's actually pretty pleasant working in Excel with a touchscreen). Office applications load in seemingly less than a second, which has a lot to do with the SSD.PORTS-The laptop has one USB 3.0 port and 3 USB 2.0. It also has VGA and HDMI, ethernet, headphone, and a MMC/SD slot. What else do you need?USB-The 1:3 ratio of 3.0 to 2.0 is the perfect mix, as I use the single 3.0 port for the aforementioned external HDD(lots of data movement requiring high speeds) and the other 2.0 ports for slower devices (wireless mouse/keyboard receiver/transmitter for when using hte laptop as HTPC, charging phones, etc.).HDMI-HDMI works great (Intel HD4000) for streaming ESPN3 to big screen TV, although things did look a shade darker than my other input devices would (and I even tweaked the picture to compensate for the darkness). I'm not sure if this is the "fault" of the streaming broadcast or a limitation in the HD4000 IGP. I was watching a football bowl game via streaming ESPN3 over HDMI to the TV and my wife tought I was watching via over-the-air broadcast, because the pictre looked so good. Now, don't kid yourself, it's not literally as good as OTA, but unless you're looking for sprites or artifacts of streaming data, you won't notice and picture degradation.-However, when teh screen is shut and I'm pushing the video over HDMI the to the TV< I can see that thetouch screen is still receiving inputs, so I have to put a small piece of folded paper between the screen and palmrest to keep the lid open.MMC/SD-I've not used this card slot, but I do have a camera with an SD card, so I'm sure the reader will be seeing lots of duty.BATTERY-Yes, the battery is under the laptop's skin and is not intended to be routinely replaced, although it is removable. Yes, it only lasts 3-5 hours while on battery depending on what you're doing, but for our uses, that lines up exactly with about a day of mixed plugged in and unplugged use so this "limitation" isn't really noticed. Maybe if I was traveling to Europe and kept using the laptop to watch movies or something, THEN I would notice it. But, like I said, the 3-5 hour battery is actually pretty good for a fully-featured, touchscreen laptop.Fan/Heat-I can hear the fan running most of the time, but it's not bothersome. Using the laptop on a hardened laptop (literally in my lap) pad, the case has enough circulation from underneath that the case hardley even gets warm. It's usually cool to the touch, even after hours of use. With the 7mm Samsung 840 SSD in it, the ONLY thing I hear is the fan (it has no other moving parts).Wireless Card-Some folks put in WiDi / 803.11N card. I don't need that b/c I don't pass large amounts of data on my network, nor are any of my displays WeDI capable. So, I can't speed to that, although the HDMI port pushes a nice picture the big screen, and the wireless card (G??) is sufficiently fast for my uses. I did notice that when installed the Samsung 840 7mm SSD, that the factory wireless card is just RIGHT THERE right out in the open whiel you've got teh back of the case off, so replacing it should be hard.RECAP-Glad I bought it. Small quirks or lack of high-end features aren't bothersome as you would have to pay big money to overcome them. I typed this while review on the laptop using the chiclet keys.