The good parts about the ASUS A55VD are the blazing fast Core i7 processor, the large 750GB hard drive and the IceCool Palm Rest. I was a little perturbed when I saw that the hard drive was split into two parts, a C: drive and a D: drive; the latter being for data only. While I understand this is for protective means in case of data loss or corruption I didn't find it necessary in my case since I don't believe in filling up laptop hard drive spaces as it causes eventual slowdowns. That being said I used the Windows 7 in-built Computer Management tool to merge the partitions together. I prefer it that way overall.
The memory of 6GB that it came with normally would be sufficient for the average user in conjunction with the Core i7 processor but my personal rule of thumb is to ALWAYS max out computer memory....or get as close to the maximum as one can comfortably afford so I purchased the Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9) kit at the same time and installed it. The system works like a dream no matter what task you "ask" it to do with this boost.
I usually have the laptop on for 8 or more hours plugged in a day so far and the heat levels are pretty moderate. I can keep it on my lap for quite some time and it doesn't get noticeably hot at all. Even at the bottom of it so kudos to ASUS for an excellent dissipating design. The lower right side of the laptop adjacent to the touchpad does get slightly warm when it's on for several hours but it's not enough to be an issue of discomfort for the right hand when resting on it.
There were two things I were disappointed with however the volume of the Realtek HD in-built speakers and the hybrid graphics of Intel HD4000/Nvidia 610M. Firstly, the speakers were allegedly to be Altec Lansing according to the info on the Amazon website but that is not the case. The speakers also sound so low even at their maximum that you'd swear something was wrong with your hearing and that you were prematurely going deaf. Even with adjustments made with the Realtek HD Audio Manager the sound increase was next to negligible. Thankfully, however, my years of gained pc skills reminded me that I could use external software to enhance the sound quality. For all those interested you can purchase DFX Audio Enhancer and SRS Audio Essentials. The combination of both have my volume levels for both music and movies operating at desired output levels....as far as laptops go at any rate.
Secondly, in regards to the graphics card, in no way was it mentioned on the Amazon site that the graphics would be a combination of Intel HD4000 and Nvidia 610M. It only lists the Nvidia. This disappointed me as I prefer dedicated graphics over embedded ones since the latter eats up part of the ram. Fortunately it seems to only consume 115MB of my 8GB ram. This isn't a deal breaker by any means BUT buyers should always know EXACTLY what they are getting before making a purchase. I will accept no excuse in regards to this from Amazon or ASUS.
Overall the ASUS A55VD-AB71 is a raging beast of a laptop. Just keep in mind that some tinkering has to be done to get it to perform at the optimum levels most enthusiasts and/or gamers are looking for when making a purchase of $700 to $900. Personally I got it at $729 which for a laptop this powerful is a real bargain.
UPDATE December 7, 2012: I decided to test the waters after doing some searches online about it and put in two sticks of 8gb each Corsair 16 GB (2x8 GB) DDR3 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory CMSO16GX3M2A1600C11 and they took. The ASUS A55VD-AB71's Intel Core i7-processor and chipset can take 16GB of ram as indicated on the Intel website DESPITE the fact the ASUS website says a MAXIMUM of 8GB only. COMPLETELY INCORRECT!!! This will be a welcome update to those who are music, video and graphic artist professionals. I am loving this laptop more and more now.
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One quick word of warning: You've probably noticed but Asus has a confusing range of nearly identical laptops with different model names. You'll find i7 and i5's in both the A55 and K55 models, all of which seem to come in mocha. Prices as well are all over the place, so double check the model and what all is in it! Amazon further muddies the waters with comparison charts that are incorrect. My guess if the swapped parts are an "upgrade" the specs don't get changed. Most changes I've seen are more RAM, larger hard drives and even CPU's. This review should be applicable to most of these models as the variations are so slight. Just take into account any particular area (storage space, graphics drivers) that is of importance to you in your next laptop! I'll go over this a bit more in my summary.Anyway, for a sub $800 laptop (even sub $700) this is an *amazing* bargain. Most other brands in this range are i5 or i3 processors and typically have smaller monitors. Here you get not only an i7, but 8GB RAM and a 750GB HD. You may or may not have an option for an SSD I went with the storage as SSD's will be coming down in price as size goes up in the coming months. I do most of my work on a desktop PC I built myself (Asus motherboard natch!), but when travelling I've been sorely lacking in something I can actually be productive on. I usually borrow my wife's Dell Studio 15, which was just north of $1k two years ago with a first generation i7.
Fit and Finish
First up, the A55VD is a good size and has a truly handsome finish. The top cover is a tweed like patterned and texture that is slightly metallic and slightly matte because of the texture. I was sad to see it easily picked up fingerprints at first. I found it's some sort of release compound for the plastic that actually accentuated this. A damp cloth with a bit of cleaner on it did the job and solved that problem. Now it's the opposite in that regard! There is also a nice metallic looking Asus logo embossed into the surface. This textural solution is unique and adds a silky and even luxurious feel to the exterior, while resisting scuffs and scratches like metal type finishes do. Good job!
The sides and bottom are finished in a similar flat cross-hatch finish. At the bottom you find access to the battery which plugs in the back and has a release as well as locking switch. There's also access to the HD, memory and the ODD and a few vents and slightly exposed heat sink. The feel of the laptop overall leaves a silky impression, one of the better plastic type finishes I've seen.
On the left side you'll find a standard VGA port, HDMI, 2 USB 3.0 ports, network port (and cool little spring loaded door cover to keep appearances smooth) and power adapter port. On the right side you'll find the ODD drawer, a Kensington lock, USB 2.0 and headphone and mic jacks. Up front is a slightly recessed SD card slot. The back is the battery, which slides out drawer like.
The lid opens smoothly and easily with just one or two fingers no way to improve here. The friction is just right and it fits evenly with perfect alignment. Seemingly insignificant details like this do add up quickly and are appreciated. Once open, visually Asus manages to keep this laptop looking svelte by tapering the front and edges in at the bottom. This gives it an almost wafer like appearance raised above the table top. It looks much flatter than it really is.
The interior (business end) of the A55-VD is also quite nicely done. The quality of the materials and details again belie its price point. The front section hand-rest is a nice brushed aluminum finish with a nicely integrated single-piece touch pad. A row of lights are keyed with silkscreened symbols which is also nice. Quite often on other laptops I've had no idea the wi-fi was disabled until I actually check it through software. Nice to see hardware indications for key things.
Status Indicators:
Power
Battery (status with and without AC power)
Drive activity
Wireless
Number Lock
Cap Lock
The keyboard is slightly recessed surrounded by a matt plastic bezel. The speaker grill is above the keyboard as is the capsule shaped power switch with an oblong and subtle white power light. Thank you for no blue Asus! The monitor is surrounded by 5/8" of bezel and a bit over 7/8" at the top where you'll see the camera, indicator light and microphone. At the bottom is an inset metallic Asus logo. Things improve greatly when those hardware stickers are removed! I know I'm the type that wants to crawl over counter tops of shops to pull the POP stickers off of printers that are yellowed with age.
Hardware
Regarding the 3rd Generation Ivy Bridge i7 Processor it's fast. But!!! The Amazon specs say it's the i7-3610M rated at 2.7GHz or 2.3GHz depending on where you look, but the 3610M is a 2.3GHz chip. It's a Quad Core, 8 thread with a 3.3GHz turbo frequency and 6MB cache.
But!!11!
***That's not the CPU in this laptop!***
Sorry I went all n e r d y on you. The A55VD-AH71 (at least the one I just bought from Amazon) has the i7-3630M rated at 2.4GHz (3.4GHz turbo mode). So, it's a better chip and newer too Q3 2012. But, as new as it is it's still not bleeding edge it was displaced by the new Haswell chipset a month ago. And no, you probably wouldn't notice the difference! I don't think I would. Bottom line they're all fast and all good.
RAM: 8GHz which is pretty decent and while my desktop has 32GHz I don't foresee ever swapping this out for more. I suppose if you do a lot of video or photo editing, then the money you saved on this machine can go to filling it up. It's rated at 7.89GB useable, which is actually a bit more than I was guessing! Probably a benefit of windows 8? Oh, and so you know the windows experience index is 5.9. Processor: 7.8, Memory 7.8, Graphics 6.3 (both desktop and 3D/gaming), HD 5.9.
The 16:9 monitor 1366x768 (non-touchscreen) quality is quite good for something of this price. The viewing angles like all laptops today stinks. Compared with much older laptops all manufacturers are cutting corners here. That aside it's bright and vibrant. I'm used to an IPS panel, so *everything* suffers by comparison. The monitor's vivid appearance is enhanced by the lack of an AG coating (perhaps the same surface is being used on touchscreen models?). While I like this be aware that if you're using it in a bright environment (say windows are behind you) the reflections may be bothersome. The lack of an AG coating keeps the colors and contrast sharp though so there's always a tradeoff.
The Nvidia card does its job nicely for what it is an entry level discrete video card. If you're a gamer first and foremost you should look elsewhere or find a better card to plunk in. Photoshop CS5.5 and Adobe Lightroom take advantage of the graphics card and its 48 CUDA cores though! Here, it does its job and things move along nicely. Most laptops at this price are using the graphics driver off of the CPU. This isn't really acceptable for the purposes I use it for. If you're a gamer even more so. so this is a heck of a deal. For most users this will be huge in a faster windows explorer and smoother scrolling. The 610M supports Bitstream HD Audio and and Pure Video HD decoding all adding up to superior audio and video playback.
The GPU also employs some interesting technology Nvidia refers to as their Optimus technology. This basically uses the GPU for demanding applications but then employs the integrated graphics of the intel chip for more menial tasks. This greatly reduces energy consumption to conserve the battery as well as reducing heat. At least the marketing sounds pretty convincing!
The camera built into the lid is much nicer than I would have ever imagined. I talk to a lot of people on skype and this is amazing. It's awfully close to my stand-alone Logitech Pro 9000 webcam in (apparent) resolution. It doesn't quite have the capabilities for low light but it's awfully nice. Whoda thunk? Oh yes, there's also a little indicator light right next to the lens to let you know you're on camera!
The speakers are about on par or slightly better than I'd expect on a budget system but I'd just call it adequate. Built by Altec Lansing, they certainly can reach high volume. The overall sound is compressed in the upper midrange with nothing much else going on. Asus calls their system the SonicMaster technology developed by the *Asus Golden Ear Team*. Hmm. Perhaps break in is necessary and with audio this is completely within the realm of possibility. I'll report back if any changes! The Realtek chipset seems to do its job, and I haven't noticed any odd glitches, pops or other artifacts. Probably enhanced by the Bitstream HD Audio as mentioned above too. For serious listening, movies or gaming you'll want ear-buds at the very least if not a pair of headphones for a superior experience.
At first I was pleased to see a drawer for the ODD, anything to help seal dust out is nice. I've never been huge on the slot-load devices. The drawer mechanism is nice but about what you'd expect. However, it is quite prone to vibration. When I was installing my Adobe Suite CS5.5, at one point the disk went into high-spin mode and it sounded like a Cessna taking off. Simply touching the drawer or putting a little shim under the drawer side stopped the noise. You may or may not have the same problem it seemed to me a matter of tolerance in manufacture. This does not appear to be an issue at regular DVD or CD playback speeds.
The "ice-cool" palm rest seems to do its job. I believe this is in part due to the design of the chassis, and the way they taper the front and edges in. There is also quite a bit of ventilation up front. I can certainly say I don't notice any heat where the Dell or Toshiba Satellites I'm used to get pretty toasty. And in fact, the entire bottom stays quite cool.
As for the input devices, for the most part the track-pad works nicely and I like the "one piece" look of the flush fitting surface. You may want to disable the gesture controls I know I did! Every time I moved my finger on the pad it seemed to think that meant I wanted to go to the start menu. Agh!
The keyboard is one thing that took a bit of getting used to (for me anyway). It's the now ubiquitous chiclet style keyboard, which seem to require mashing the keys a bit more than I'm accustomed (coming from a mechanical keyboard). If you're used to this flat style of key then you won't have the issues your ham-fisted reviewer had. Overall the action is positive and consistent.
Something other reviewers have pointed out is that the 750GB drive comes partitioned. Yech. Some folks like partitions, some don't. I really don't. Maybe I just feel like I'm going to paint myself into a corner, but I like one big contiguous lump o' space. This is easy enough to fix in disk manager and was pretty much the first thing I did. My other complaint with the hard drive might be that it isn't particularly speedy. This is only really based on observations of program launch speeds. Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator are notoriously slow booting and resource heavy to begin with. Once up and running however things seem to be just fine. Saves and transfers all seem to be within the normal range as well. Here is where the USB 3.0 is appreciated with an external drive I had probably 250 Gigs of files I put on without issue. I'm also used to a SSD for my programs which is about as unfair as a comparison can be!
Now, I won't say that this Asus is as fast as my current desktop (or even my old one) but it certainly holds its own running memory hogging CPU intensive software like the Adobe Creative Suite or Lightroom. If you're running things like the Office Suite, browsing or doing light gaming you'll be delighted.
AC Adapter: This is the most amazing AC adapter I've ever used or seen. Just kidding. Ok, power section unplugs from the brick which is good (and normal). The laptop end has a 90° bend on the plug which is also good. The power cable is flat, good here too. The brick is small but not mind-bogglingly so. 5-1/8 x 1-1/8 x 2-1/4. Here's the gotcha blue light! at least you can turn it over so it bothers the carpet. The separate cables facilitate wrapping the thing up for storage or travel. I suppose the pudding I haven't checked the proof of is how much a replacement (3rd party or not) would cost. I've seen them go from $25 for an original Dell ($10 for Chinese knock-off) to nearly $100 for something that would just work for a Toshiba Satellite. The obvious weak link (as all of them) is the 90° bend. Time will tell but it seems fairly robust compared to many.
Finally battery life not bad! I've been running this for at least 3 hours now, and am typing in battery mode. Looks to be about 25% left. This includes some installs as well. I've never seen a laptop from anyone that comes close to the claimed times, but this seems to be right in there. It'd probably be good for 2.5 to 3 solid hours of actual work-work or a movie no problem. Yeah, I've seen 8-9 claimed. And they do have lots of technology to stretch the battery life. Seriously, I'd find 5 amazing. I WILL report back as I spend time with it "unplugged".
BIOS: Nothing special here American Megatrends and familiar for most of us. I can't think of why I'd need anything more powerful.
Asus is known for having some pretty amazing software that comes with their Motherboards. The A55VD comes with an assortment of Asus software, most of it is of questionable value, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it bloatware which comes with most laptops!
Worth mentioning:
USB Charger Utility: detects device type and charges accordingly
Splendid Video Enhancement: Allows you to custom set look of video playback
LifeFrame: Cool little photo enhancement tool that allows you to do special effects and types of framing to your video capture or photos. Hours of entertainment here!
Power4Gear Hybrid: basically a GUI for your power options and you'll still need to bring up the window for advanced options. Meh.
FreshPaint: huh, this is a windows 8.1 thingy and here it is! You or your kids could have great fun with this one. Ok, I had fun with it too. Yes, there's things Photoshop CS6 can't do here.
Utilities: Calculator and Asus Converter to convert metric whatever
Windows Utilities: They seem to have done all the scouring for you to get those little things you miss from Windows 7 and XP!
Instant On: claims to greatly increase boot and wake times while also backing up data when battery drops to below 5%. I'm not so sure about the 2 seconds from wake to desktop, but it's close. Boot times don't seem extraordinary but again, I'm getting used to SSD. Jury still out on this one.
Speaking of jury, this is of course pre-loaded with Windows 8. I have a love hate relationship with windows 8. I just built a new PC, and installed 8 which I also had running on my old PC (dual booting with 7). It is the future, for better or worse. I got a lot more excited about it with my new windows 8 phone this is where it shines. I'm hoping with 8.1 some of the rough edges are rounded out. It's not that bad and the problems I've had with it won't affect most people. Having a laptop that boots in less than 20 seconds is kinda nice. Overall there are a lot of things that are spectacular about windows 8 so the pros do outweigh the cons. Not by a whole lot, but they do. Really. ; )
Additional software includes things likeMcAffee Virus and Microsoft Office (both trials), Asus cloud storage and some other forgettable utilities and games. Shortcut tip! Windows key + X brings up contextual menu with Programs and Features at the top. Uninstall and you're done! Actually, I found the Office 365 suite is quite inexpensive compared to buying an old 2010 set that's licensed for only 2 computers. The office suite is $100 a year for 5 PC's and 5 mobile devices. I'm not a fan of the subscription service everyone is moving towards, but here it makes sense. Just my 2¢.
Ok, here comes two more stinky things.
No Bluetooth.
It's 2013 guys. We're talking what, a 50¢ part here? I know we're keeping the price low and I appreciate that but you've already skimped on...
No Master Disk?
Shame, shame. I think I'd pay for a physical backup how much do you want Asus, $5? $8? Cuz I'll like pony up for that one. I know you make it all nice and available online and everything but I'm a desert island type of guy. You and I and Murphy all know if something happens and you need it you sure as heck ain't gonna be in an air conditioned beachside bar sipping mai-tai's watching the dolphins pass by while surfing with blazing fast wifi. No, it's going to be whatever the polar opposite of that little scenario is, and it's certainly not going to be G rated. I want a disk!
Pros:
Great set of features for "off the shelf" laptop
Fast i7 3610M processor
Decent NVidia GForce 610M graphics
8 Gigs RAM
750 Gig HD
USB 3.0 x2
Good layout for connections
Decent monitor/very good color & contrast
No AG coating
Fit and finish as nice as $$$ laptops
Handsome smudge and scuff resistant exterior surface
Nice weight, balance and size
Excellent camera
Smart Login for extra measure of security
Good access to battery (which locks), HD and RAM
Great SD card location
Some pretty nifty software and utility inclusions
No blue light on laptop
Price!
Cons
Only 750 Gig HD
Partitioned HD
Only 8Gb RAM, both slots used
No Bluetooth
Some questionable software
No AG coating on monitor
Monitor only 1366x768 native resolution
Buzzy ODD drawer (at least on mine)
Blue AC adapter light
Mediocre audio (speaker) quality
No master disk (OS and software)
That's about it. For the price of around $680 (what I paid), it's outright amazing. It retains the "amazing" for the most part up to about $800, with a rapid drop-off after that. I'd certainly give this serious consideration for 8 bills. I compared this to a few $1000 laptops and some of them honestly didn't stand up in comparison. I wholeheartedly recommend this or one of its variations without hesitation. For instance you can save $100+ on an i5 version with a smaller drive. If you carry your laptop a lot and size is important, then check out the Asus ultrabooks. They're gorgeous (even more so) with brushed metal surfaces and similarly priced, but *much* thinner and lighter. Of course there's a slight tradeoff in hardware specs. Asus has really stepped up their game as of late in both innovation, products, quality, service and price. We'll see how that holds as the next generation of laptops and the Haswell chip are released. Competition is a good thing!
Overall Asus has done a great job in bringing an off the shelf laptop to market with some good compromises. As you've no doubt noticed when adding features in the "customize" section of that on-sale laptop that $20 here and $10 there adds up quickly to being no longer a budget laptop. Despite a few flaws very few actually I can't see how this does not justify 5 stars. In just price vs. performance it wins. The overall build quality and attention to detail is icing on the cake. I don't see how they do it. The only flaws or cost cutting measures are seen in my Cons list. I love this thing. 5 big shiny yellow Amazon stars.
Visit the Asus (dot com) website to learn more about this and other models click on the "everyday computing" link under notebooks and ultrabooks.
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I am what you call a tech guru. This laptop is awesome for 769 dollars. although the screen res is a little low for my tastes asus always comes out with quality hardware and I've never been disappointed. Great buy for the costHonest reviews on ASUS A55VD-AB71 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
I have several Asus products and have always been happy and satisfied with them...until now. The touchpad jumps around, the Asus power manager interferes constantly regardless of the settings, video only wants to run on the internal graphics (one reason I bought it was for the external graphics) once it hibernates it locks up, sometimes to the point the battery needs pulled.I sent it in for warranty and they received it 10/31. I got it back 11/27. They kept saying parts were on order. The laptop actually broke about 10/15 but it took about 2 weeks to get the paperwork all in order to their liking. Let me tell you, save every scrap you can showing where it was bought and when. They try every trick possible to deny warranty. First they wouldnt recognize Amazon as a retailer, then the receipt didn't have the correct info, then the serial number wasn't in the system, then no one could find any records. Each time takes a day, then you have to call back for a 30min hold.
Since I got the laptop back, it still does the software quirks but I have adapted myself to them. If this is the quality Asus now makes, I am very disappointed. I guess they will slap their label on anything to make a buck.
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This is a very, very good laptop for the price. But I wasn't absolutely blown away by it, so 4 stars it is.Pros: Extremely fast for a laptop. the i7 is brutal. I rendered 30 minutes of 1080p video in 15 minutes. (that's insane)
Dead Silent, and minimal noise even when you are maxing out the system.
The "Ice Cold" Technology really works. For the majority of the time, the entire laptop is cool to the touch. Sometimes the area directly behind the cooling fan will be a little warm when doing some major processing or gaming.
The laptop overall feels very sturdy. The keyboard is GREAT. I was a little worried about it being too small, but don't worry about it. They somehow make it work, and I can type just as well as any other computer if not better.
CONS: I can't really be mad about it, because it is as advertised. but....
The Graphics Card (NVIDIA 610M-2GB) Is very, "eh..." Definitely an Entry Level graphics card. For reference, I can play Amnesia: The Dark Descent on the highest settings. Spec-ops: The Line and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Star Wars: The Old Republic on Medium/medium-low settings. Games like Planetside 2 and Skyrim are barely playable at the lowest setting. Any higher than that, and you're out of luck.
The screen resolution is not very good. The 1366 x 768 (or something like that) can't show all that much detail. You can tell when something is in HD or not, but honestly it doesn't make that much difference. I would recommend hooking up to an HDTV with an HDMI cord when doing anything that requires you to see specific details. (Graphic design, movie making, photo editing, etc.)
Other: Here's my opinion on Windows 8; Just give it a week and you'll learn to really like it. That is, if you aren't into any heavy mods to any games or files. While I feel windows 8 is more utilitarian in it's use, if you are a hardcore computer user who needs to modify the system, I would recommend sticking with Windows 7. Unless you want the additional specs that come with the Windows 8 version, then just degrade after.
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