My biggest beef with this machine is the 18 (EIGHTEEN) shortcuts I found on my desktop when I booted up. All flavors of crapware that I don't want and don't need that include a 90 day subscription to Trend Micro Anti-Virus which MaximumPC magazine rated as the WORST AV package on the market in their May 2010 edition. Now I know that doesn't mean much, but its disquieting when the defacto Hardware Champion of the entire computer industry (IMO) loads up a new machine with a truckload of unrecognizable garbageware like Splendid Utility and AP Bank, among others I've never heard of and don't have any use for. Oh well, while cleaning all this junk out of my HD I also noticed the boot time is right at 4 minutes, that's with the included utility Asus Fast Boot engaged. Sheesh!!!
On the upside, the display is bright and crisp and the graphics are amazing. And, the real good news here....there are two open DIMM slots so you can easily upgrade to 8Gig of system memory and hopefully improve the performance of this machine. Not a fan of the chicklet keyboard either, and you will find it almost impossible to navigate in the dark.
Very disappointed in Asus, and ya know it would have been nice to get a media player that's compatible with the Blu-Ray drive but alas....and good luck finding one that's even compatible with Windows 7 that doesn't cost $100, well there is VLC for your DVD's but that's about it. The battery gave me 70 minutes on a full charge before the initial boot. I don't expect my mood to soften anytime soon as I am still cleaning this thing up, BUT it does look good, and for a 15.6" it very lightweight, so I got that going for me.
3 Week Update: OK OK, now that I have massaged this thing and gotten rid of all the pre-installed junk provided by Asus I am VERY impressed. This machine is a multimedia/multitasking monster, and the Power 4 Gear power settings will give you about 2 1/2 hours on the battery, and it runs very cool, no heat discharge at all. The display is the most impressive thing about this laptop, I was forced to buy glasses to read my old HP but don't need them with this LED backlit panel. And the graphics are nothing short of incredible. Still not a fan of the chicklet keyboard, its just not as intuitive as it should be. And I think I can still benefit from a memory upgrade but right now that's only around $100 for another 4Gig and I'm hoping that improves the mouse function...not as responsive as one might hope, maybe its a resource thing, we'll see.
Anyway, I'm still upset about all the preloaded junk that came from the factory, Asus knows better but if you're going to take over the world there are things you just have to do as an OEM I suppose. They still make the best hardware out there IMO. So after the courtship phase with this thing I'd have to say I'm very pleased and semi-happy with my new laptop. BTW, PowerDVD10 is the most reliable media player I've found for Windows 7. VLC falls down on some formats and and I've never really liked Windows Media Player. Too bad Asus doesn't provide an OEM version with this unit, haven't tried a Blu Ray disc yet but they cant look any better than a regular DVD on this display.
FYI. if you're into these things, these are the Windows Experience numbers on a scale of 1 to 7.9:
CPU 6.7
RAM 5.9
Graphics 5.1 (Desktop and Windows Aero)
Gaming Graphics 6.2
Hard Disk 5.7
After cleaning everything up and re-running the scores, the CPU performance went from 6.5 to 6.7. Everything else stayed the same. Pretty strong! Also boot times have been cut in half, I can live with that. However, my biggest complaint now that I've upgraded to 8Gig of RAM is that the touchpad (Elan Smart-Pad) still doesnt work. And thats after turning off ALL of its services except the basic functions. HELLO ASUS, FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!! If you buy an Asus laptop you have to expect to have touchpad problems out of the gate, complaints are posted all over the web dating back 3-4 years, and you cannot install the latest drivers....they just wont install. My fix was a Microsoft 3500 mouse which I should have bought with the machine. Problem solved. A 5 star product if not for this pathetic Elan Tech "Smart-Pad"
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I was looking for a laptop with both a Intel Core I5processor (the I7 laptops seeming to all for for at
least $300 more) and one with a blu ray drive. Also,
I do NOT like the shiny surfaced laptops where you
leave fingerprints and smears all over -this one is
shiny on the outside but they use a matte finish where
you rest your hands so fingerprints really aren't an
issue.
The laptop feels well built and looks very nice without
being flashy. I love the keyboard, with the keys spaced
apart from each other a bit. No place for crumbs to drop
in :P The screen is very clear and bright. It boots up
quickly and runs all my programs on it quickly.
I can't speak for battery life as I usually always run with
the power cord plugged in. As for gaming, I use it mostly
for work and running Office 2007 on it and for browsing, so
I can't say how well it will do with gaming, although I would
think it would be pretty good.
My only complaints would be the speakers don't go up very loud
and don't sound the best -but what laptop speakers ever do?
And I would like to go up a little higher on the screen resolution-
1366x768 being the maximum resolution in Windows 7.
But overall I am quit pleased with my purchase, especially for
the excellent price.
Best Deals for ASUS K52 Series K52JR-X4 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)
Good notebook for its price. Use it mainly for programming use and it answers my needs. Graphics display is great.Honest reviews on ASUS K52 Series K52JR-X4 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)
I haven't really put it to the test in terms of processor and multimedia, etc. But for everyday use such as video-playing (internet television and DVD movies), also photos, it's great. Boots up fast, and yes it can run for 24 hours, including video for the majority of that time, without getting noticeably hot and there's NEVER a fan kicking in at least that I can hear. Amazing. I prefer the OS partitioned off from the main storage drive. It's simply more efficient and faster to scandisk and defrag-and I like that I didn't have to figure out how to set up partitions on my own.When I originally decided to buy a laptop, I thought I wanted a netbook something lighter, thinner and more portable. But the ASUS has so much more power and nice specs for several hundred dollars less than than any of the netbooks. And frankly, I bought this ASUS because two non-commissioned salespersons at Office Max simply raved and raved about the company and the quality of their US-Made parts and assembly. They both drooled at this model on the shelf and referred to it as the "dream machine" they'd choose. I know I broke the heart of one of them when I bought it. This was the last one they had in stock. I, too, love the brushed metal textured body and touchpad. I'm a messy typist. I also bought a silicone keyboard cover and screen cover. Unfortunately, this model is way too nice (and big) for me to trust putting in my bike messenger bag and taking to school.... But that's okay.
Freeware and trial software installed all over the desktop is a minor problem. I'm sure all the partnerships help with lowering the cost ASUS charges-so okay. It took me a whopping ten minutes to uninstall the programs including the annoying antivirus program that provided a pop-up screen every ten minutes asking me to install it.
It took me less than 20 minutes to have the new laptop up and running with all the configurations for Windows Update, product registration, and other first time customizations. Easy, clear directions from ASUS, including how to make your own restore disks, which took an extra hour to burn, but easily ran in the background while I used the PC. Backup discs will need to be on DVDs-CDs are not sufficient. That should have been obvious to me, but when I called tech support to confirm this, I got a fast, polite response from a real person. I highly recommend their tech support department.
My last laptop was going on 7 years old. Night and Day difference and the price I paid for the new ASUS was nearly half of what I paid for my older laptop USED.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS K52 Series K52JR-X4 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)
The ASUS K52J laptop arrived yesterday, 2 days before the expected delivery date.After removing the junk software, icons and installed MS Office 2010, Adware, Firefox and other software, so far I like it.
This laptop is fast, it boots up quickly. It is only warm at the fan opening area after using it all day. The fan is quiet.
The DVD/Blu-ray software is on a DVD disc and it is old! I need to install it myself. It can't play Avatar. I need to download PowerDVD 10 to play latest blu-ray disc.
The LED display is better than my HP laptop! It is nice and bright, just like my 23" ASUS LED monitor.
The battery holds about 2 hours 15 minutes of charge. Not too good and not too bad.
The keyboard is nice with just enough space among keys. I can hit the key with confidence. The number keys are smaller.
Wireless is strong. It connects when I am in basement, router is on 2 floors above.
It also comes with Cyperlink DVD suite that allows me to burn CD, create video, print label and more.
A software to create funny video using its build in webcam. Webcam is not high definition like my HP laptop.
I connected HDMI to TV. It needs a reboot to output the sound to the TV. Took me couple hours to figure this out (Felix told me to reboot...). But it is very nice and very easy without any adjusting on the TV or on the laptop. I attached 2 pictures. Only connect laptop with one HDMI cable to TV, it carries both video and sound.
The facial recognition software is not too effective. The lighting needs to be the same every time. The finger print reader on my HP is better.
One more thing. I don't like the hard disk partition. It has 2 partitions, C: and D:. C: has the windows software and is only 78GB. The rest of the space is in D:
It means I need to use D: to hold all my personal files.
I created the "My documents", "My pictures", "Downloads", "My video", "My music" into D: drive. Then change the library property to point to these directories. In the Windows Explorer, right click of the "My documents" to open property, then remove the existing one and change the folder location. Same for other folders under "Library".
I wish it just has one big C: partition, it makes life easier !!
Since I got a good deal and paid only $549 for a re certified unit so I give it 5 starts. If I need to pay $800+ for a new one, I would return it to get another Gateway or HP. There are many good choice for $800.
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