List Price: $999.00
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(#1 REVIEWER) Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program
I'd like to address the elephant in the room right off the bat.
Knowing that Windows 8 is designed with touchscreens in mind, why would you choose to purchase a new laptop that does not have a touchscreen if that laptop comes with Windows 8?
I am not going to rate this laptop poorly because it does not have a touchscreen but it is something that you really need to consider if you are thinking about buying this laptop. I've struggled for nearly a year with a Lenovo laptop that also came with Windows 8 and also does not have a touchscreen. You may regret getting a Windows 8 laptop that does not have a touchscreen.
The ASUS X750JB-DB71 has a really attractive "concentric circle finish design" that gives it an understated elegance and resists fingerprints. I suppose you could also make the argunent that the concentic circles also provide a more grippy surface for when you're carrying the laptop making it less prone to slip out of your hand. And slip it might because it is a heavy laptop weighing just a bit under 6 pounds.
The left side of the laptop has a headphone/microphone jack, 2-USB3 ports, an Ethernet port, HDMI output, VGA output and a Kensington lock. The front left side of the laptop has an SD card slot. On the right side is the DC input jack, 2-USB 2 ports and the DVD drive.
When you flip open the lid you see a full size chiclet style keyboard with numeric pad. On the top left is the on/off button. Below the keyboard is the large touchpad. To the left of the touchpad on the lower front edge is a row of small LED lights indicating: Power status, Charging status, Drive activity, Bluetooth/wierless indicator, Number lock indicator and Capital lock indicator.
A great feature of the laptop is the fast wake up from hibernation mode... about 2 seconds.
A bad feature of the laptop is all the bloatware that is included which is largely useless or mostly unwanted.
Notable features of this laptop:
8GB of RAM
2TB hard disk (but only 5400rpm)
Bright and sharp display
2 second wake from hibernation
I think that overall this is a decent laptop. I do wonder whether the value is there though. My Lenovo laptop, which is a 15" screen cost about half what this costs. Granted the Lenovo only has 1TB drive, 4GB RAM and an overall 4.6 Windows Experience Index compared to a 5.9 Windows Experience Index for the ASUS but for twice the cost it seems like the ASUS should at least have a touchscreen and Blu-Ray. Or how about a backlit keyboard (which it lacks)
At a cost of just under $1000, it's not like this is an inexpensive laptop. It seems overpriced for the features it does have.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Spec and look-wise, I like this laptop. I'm not a big fan of Windows 8 and especially for laptops however, because it isn't designed for easy functionality without a touchscreen in mind. I'm not a big fan of the touchscreen either; maybe stubbornness or it seeming like a gimmick or more cost I'm not sure. I did recently picked up another laptop before this one and had some time to acclimate to the program, but it is a pain for maneuvering. That seems worth noting since it is the systems OS, but since basically everything comes with it now, it really isn't the device's fault.As far as looks go, I really like the design of this computer, with nothing fancy added to make it more aesthetically-pleasing. The keyboard type, with the spaced keys, is something I always liked. I've got long fingers and bunched keys are a pain, so this design with spacing works out well. They advertise it as being "cool to the touch," and the computer does stay that way. It also vents out toward the side as it heats up, which is important. I had a computer that vented down, and said I'd never buy one without checking again. It is also easy to grip on the outside, which is nice. Other, smoother laptops sometimes give me a scare when I'm holding them and wondering if this time will be that time it slips.
As far as doing, it runs media and games well, with no problem juggling multiple requests at the same time. For kicks, I tried running multiple types of media at the same time to see what it could handle, and was pleasantly surprised. Flash games run quickly, and more in-depth games do really well on it. I've been playing some MMORPGs as well as throwback horror survival games on it, and have been impressed. The picture on this thing is great, too. Very crisp, with beautiful details. The sound isn't bad for internal speakers, but I've never considered any laptop's sound great without external add-ons. I would've liked a BluRay player on this sucker for the price however, to add to that clarity.
8GBs of RAM, 2 TBs of storage plus, the 2 second wake time (which it really does), lots of USB slots; it really is a good laptop.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a great laptop. The intel core i7 processor is powerful. It comes with 8Gb of memory. HDD is 2x 1TB 5400RPMIt has 4 USB ports in total (2 are USB 2.0 and 2 are USB 3.0)
The screen resolution/picture quality is excellent. Audio quality is also great. Watching movies on this laptop is awesome with it's big screen and high quality display.
I love the "Instant On" technology. This laptop starts up so quickly.
The one thing I did not like about this laptop is the keyboard. It is not backlit and it is set too far back (which makes it a bit awkward to use at times, especially for gaming).
I like that this laptop comes with 1 year accidental damage protection. (It covers accidental drops, spills, power surges and fire damage.)
The case is a nice dark gray color. It is sturdy and seems to be of very good quality.
Honest reviews on ASUS X750JB-DB71 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Gray)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Let me start by stating that I am a novice laptop user, thus, this review will be free of the technical jargon that can otherwise be found in more expert reviews. My initial impression upon unboxing the Asus laptop was that it was very sleek and stylish looking. The concentric circle finish really does eliminate those annoying smudges and fingerprints. I was also surprised to see the layout of the keyboard was similar to a standard PC keyboard, with enough spacing between the keys so as to not be a hindrance to those with thicker fingers. The large size of the screen was also a welcome bonus for a die hard PC user such as myself. The laptop took longer than expected to start up and there was some slowness initially when browsing the internet or using the various programs. This was going to cause my rating of the laptop to fall considerably until I read the other reviews that warned of the unnecessary pre-loaded add-ons that were responsible for the undue lag. I deleted the programs and applications that seemed extraneous, which helped with the slowness considerably. It is confusing why the manufacturer would add so many seemingly useless applications that only serve to slow down the performance of the unit. Windows 8 took a lot of getting used to given that it is not the most user-friendly operating system. But this learning curve is due to my having never used it before and has no bearing on the value of the actual Asus unit.I was, however, extremely disappointed to find that this laptop did not come with a blu-ray player. My friend has an HP Pavilion which costs considerably less than this Asus but comes with a blu-ray drive. Given that blu-ray discs have eclipsed DVDs in practically every way, it is frustrating that such a highly priced unit still only allows for DVDs to be played. While this may not be a deal breaker for some, for those with extensive blu-ray collections, it is a serious drawback. The battery life is listed as around 3.65 hours but my experience put it at closer to the 2.5 to 3 hour mark. I am not sure if I was doing anything that might have depleted the battery life at a faster rate but this did seem to be on low end when compared to similarly priced laptops. Overall, this is a well designed laptop with plenty of RAM and hard drive capacity. The lingering complaints from this user are the sub par battery life and the lack of a blu-ray drive. Considering the current high retail price for this unit, it might be best to wait until the price drops some more before deciding to purchase.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a solid desktop-replacement laptop with so-so battery life. After a few weeks of use, I'm still quite happy with it.Some background: I'm not a PC gamer, so I'm not able to comment on things like frames-per-second on various games. I'm sure other reviewers will touch on the gaming goodness or badness of this laptop. Rather than gaming, my PC life is focused on business applications...I need Microsoft Office to run quickly. I need to take frequent screenshots. I need to collaborate on Google documents. I also do/teach Java programming, so I need an environment where I can quickly throw together a program, compile it, and run it.
This laptop goes way beyond meeting my needs: the 8GB RAM, and 2TB hard drive (2 separate 1TB drives) are more than ample for me (my old desktop was 6GB RAM and a 1TB drive). And I love the large screen. I find it highly readable for my 45-year-old eyes. By contrast, I had been using a Microsoft Surface Pro, and was getting frustrated with the small screen. Note that this laptop does not have a high-density screen (it's not "retina"-density, if you know what I mean). But, it's great for how I use it.
Some specific notes you may care about. First the positives:
* It performs quite well. For my purposes, I never find myself waiting for anything. Starting and software, switching among the various Windows 8 screens, and connecting to various network resources have all performed flawlessly...no lag or hesitation.
* I'm enjoying Windows 8 (and note that 8.1 is being released shortly after I'm writing this review). While I miss the touch screen of the Surface Pro, the ASUS touchpad gives me nearly all the swiping/scrolling/pinching/zooming that I need. I've only had one minor gripe about the touchpad: one day most of its functionality stopped working...a reboot fixed it (to be fair, I think it happened in the middle of a Windows update). Getting around in Windows 8 takes a little getting used to. But once you do, it's quite easy. I also like that once I link to my Microsoft account, this laptop stays synchronized with my Surface Pro. For example, if I change the background graphic on this laptop, it will also change on the Surface Pro.
* It lives up to its promise of a 2-second wake-up. Close the lid, walk away, and come back later. When you open the lid, it only takes 2 (sometimes 3) seconds for Windows to be up and running again. Note that the battery will discharge more quickly if you take advantage of this feature. Shutting off the feature will extend battery life, but increase the time you have to wait for the computer to wake from its sleep. Note that I am NOT talking about a cold reboot here. The 2-second startup is from a sleeping PC...NOT from a PC that has been shut down.
* Solid body: From the textured lid to the brushed metal interior, this is put together well. It is not flimsy in any respect.
I do have some complaints that, collectively, lowered my rating from 5 to 4 stars:
* Battery life: This is only rated for about 3 hours of use, and that's what I've been finding. That seems a bit low to me, but I guess I've become spoiled by the 10 or so hours I get from an iPad.
* The keyboard: Though the keys are nicely spaced, the layout is frustrating. I don't like having to "search" for the arrow keys on a typical keyboard. I like to be able to reach for them and know where they are. Unfortunately, these are put too close to the main keys (the Shift and Ctrl keys), meaning that I typically need to look down at the keyboard to find the key I'm after. In addition, after just a couple weeks I found that the space bar has developed a squeak each time I press it.
* Garbageware that came pre-installed: When I first booted up the computer, I found it to be a little slow. I quickly fixed this by deleting a lot of unnecessary apps that had been installed. This included the virus scanning software. After deleting it, I found that the computer boots up and runs almost flawlessly. But it is a frustration to have to "clean up" a brand new computer.
Should you buy this laptop? If you are like me...looking for a big laptop that smoothly runs business applications...I expect this will more than meet your needs for several years. On the other hand, if you are looking for a gaming laptop, you should probably read more reviews.
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