ASUS VivoBook E403SA-US21 14-inch Full HD Laptop (Intel Quad-Core N3700 Processor, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB eMMC Storage, Windows 10 Home OS) Metallic Gray, 14 inch

Great budget laptop with all things considered.The spacebar is my main drawback (doesn't always register presses that aren't in the center, needed to adjust typing style to compensate).Trackpad is well sized and responsive.Display is full 1920x1080 and has decent color and viewing angle.Clean Windows 10 installation (no bloatware).Battery life is amazing (usually 9+ hours of active use on a low brightness) due to the more efficient processor and low voltage RAM, but at the same time, that's why it's not the most powerful laptop.4GB of RAM is more than enough for most tasks, although heavy multitaskers might want to look elsewhere.Perfect for light web browsing and word processing.Can't upgrade RAM or storage since both are soldered to the motherboard.Extremely lightweight and portable.I would absolutely recommend this laptop to someone looking for a portable laptop with an all-day battery life for browsing the web, taking notes, or light office programs.

When getting a laptop under $500 there are going to be a lot of trade offs. I like to say that there are three major factors: portability, performance, and price, and of these factors you get to pick two. I see this laptop as somewhere in the middle, therefore a good compromise.First, the fixes to make this computer way better. Uninstall ASUS splendid graphics unity! Contrary to the name it is anything, but splendid. It makes the screen look washed out in its attempts to make things look better. As soon as I restarted my computer after uninstalling it, I saw the splendor of the HD display and thought it isn’t perfect it’s pretty good for a laptop in this price range. The spacebar came as a major disappointment, but I read in a review of ASUS’ 17.3” laptop, which has the same issue, that there is a simple fix to the spacebar only working if you hit it hard in the middle. Shut down the computer, so you don’t cause any errors while working with the spacebar then watch this video here for spacebar removal instructions[...]. Once the spacebar is removed, cut out 6 small squares of electrical tape the size of the silver box around the ball in the middle of the spacebar and stack them on top of each other. Place the sticky side on top of the ball and return the spacebar. When returning the spacebar, don’t fallow the instructions in the video. Put both sets of hooks are in place and then snap the spacebar back onto the keyboard. You should have no trouble with it after this.The battery life of this laptop is excellent and it is super portable. If you want an inexpensive, portable laptop then look no further. I don’t feel like I’m lugging anything around when I take this laptop places and I don’t need to worry if I forgot to pack a charger. While having these advantages it doesn’t compromise performance. The quad-core processor is no Intel i7, but it outruns the i3’s you’ll find in this price range. It also costs less than an i5 processor and runs just as well if not better. If you want to play hardcore games this isn’t the computer for you, but if you like an occasional game of civilization this computer will exceed your expectations. As far as multitasking goes, the processor dose an excellent job handling music streaming, email, documents, and web browsing simultaneously. The 4 GB of RAM comes as a minor disappointment as the quad-core processor would rival Intel i7’s if it had 8 GB of RAM at its disposal, but better performance generally means less portability.The major compromise of this machine is storage space and the form it takes. 128 GB eMMC provides of plenty of storage space if this computer is for someone who isn’t afraid of external storage and doesn’t keep too many movies and games on their computer. A few years ago I would have been turned away by the low amount of storage space, but external storage is so readily available that I don’t think it makes a huge difference. For instance, for $50 you can buy a lightweight, 1 TB external hard drive to carry with your computer that will provide all the storage space you’ll ever need, or for $20 you can buy a 128 GB thumb drive that can sit in your usb port without you even knowing that it’s there. Just remember that the low amount of internal storage is what makes this laptop so portable. Additionally, ASUS wants you to think that the eMMC is the same thing as a new SSD, but it isn’t. Think of an SSD as microchip bank that has high bit rate cables connecting it to the board and an eMMC as a flash drive which is soldered to the board. eMMC’s copy data much slower than SSD’s do and they aren’t upgradable. However, a 128 GB eMMC is way less expensive than a 128 GB SSD. On the other hand, eMMC’s are still quieter, faster, and less power hungry than traditional HHD’s.Overall, if you want portability and performance at a good price and you don’t mind sacrificing storage to get it. Then this is the laptop for you.

So far it is really great. I have had it for a little less than a day now. It is a perfect laptop for someone who already has a desktop or other workhorse computer. In my case, I have a home desktop for gaming and a bulky work laptop. This one stays at home and works as my chilling laptop, which it is perfect for. It makes no sound at all because it has no moving parts, it is super light and comfortable to use on your lap, and the battery life is truly incredible.The boot time on the flash storage (eMMC drive) is nice and snappy. The processor is a little underpowered, but that fact contributes to the battery life and the ability to not have a fan for cooling. If you think about it from a physics standpoint, all the energy your laptop uses becomes heat, since this laptop uses so little energy, it doesn't produce a lot of heat. That said, when charging the battery the first time, it did get very warm, but I have not had a problem since. So far I have used the laptop to stream games from my desktop using steam (just display what the other machine renders), watched netflix, listened to music, and browsed reddit (gifs, text, images, and video). The sound was good, video is smooth and high res, and it never really stuttered or slowed down. I do see a little more delay when browsing than I usually do though but only enough to notice and not enough to change the experience. On a few occasions the mouse has not registered a tap or two finger scroll, but for the moment, I am chalking that up to adjusting to a new laptop and/or needing to adjust the sensitivity.As others have mentioned, there is really no Asus bloatware. A few configuration tools for the hardware but no anti-virus or other annoying bloat (just all the windows bloat). The 128 GB of storage has about 18 GB consumed for OS and things like chrome and other software you might install. If 110GB sounds constricting, you can always get a high speed external drive (the USB C port allows for really high speed transfer). You could even double your storage with a 128 GB flash drive. The USB C port also allows you to power your computer with a USB hookup like you might use for your phone. This allows use of a battery pack like they have for phones as well. The USB C can also be adapted to display port, HDMI (already has one), or VGA. The battery life seems like it is actually 14 hours as advertised with normal browsing and video, but I have not run the battery down completely yet. The RAM and eMMc storage are soldered on apparently (haven't checked, but others have said so). This fact allows for the slim construction but also means that you are at the mercy of the parts. Asus has a good reputation for using good parts and putting things together well, so I think the risk is minimal. But if they used low quality parts it could severely reduce the life of the laptop since these parts are not easily replaced.In the title I compare to a macbook air, so here are the macbook air specs:[...]The macbook air has fewer ports, shorter battery life, and costs more than twice as much. It does have a faster processor and storage device, but I think it would also get really hot if actually used for a difficult task. The macs may also be a little smaller and lighter, but this laptop is already so small and light, that I can't imagine it would matter.Summary:Great priceSnappy bootGreat soundGreat battery lifeHigh resolution matte screenNice keyboardNo bloat!!!No noise at allVery slight lag from light weight processorComponents are soldered on and not repairable or replaceable (but I hear Asus is really solid)If you want a small lightweight laptop for chilling, travel, school, or business, it would be very difficult to find another laptop that has this kind of value. The price tag is great for all you get. The processor is the only shortcoming, but it allows for a small fanless design with incredible battery life and is not a hinderance for notebook intended tasks (browsing, video, light computing).Edit: eMMC is apparently much slower than a standard SSD and more comparable to a hard drive. And the USB C port on this machine does not allow video output though it is a possible through USB C with proper support. The HDMI port should be sufficient anyway. These things do not change my review though as the machine still feels snappy and I had no plans to display over USB C.Another edit: The USB-C does not seem to support charging either. So it seems the it is limited to ethernet and high speed USB applications. I will also mention that the ASUS Smart Touch software is not perfect...by any means. Specifically pinch. Nothing is really customizable, besides being able to switch features on or off. For example, I can not set the scroll speed for two finger scrolling or the sensitivity for pinch. I ended turning pinch off because it was over sensitive and I would occasionally zoom instead of scroll. I will also mention that two finger is really bad in chrome, and I think it is google chrome's issue, not the laptop. Other people have noted it as well. Between this and google censoring political news, I think I may switch to firefox. Edge lacks extensions and other features and does not work on linux or mac.So far, none of this changes my review as other features have proven valuable enough to compensate. The light weight and battery life have been more useful than I anticipated. And the built in bluetooth is also quite nice for wireless headphones, mouse, and other peripherals. Built in bluetooth is only going to become more important as more product move toward bluetooth and other wireless solutions. The price still amazes me.