A handy, dandy notebook!
Configuration as reviewed:
- 512GB SSD NVMe
- 10th Gen Intel i5
- 12GB DDR4 RAM
- 15.6″ FHD Matte Non-Touch Display
- Price: $650
Features
15.6″ FHD 1080p Matte screen. Get’s bright, not a lot of glare, good colors. It’s a non-touch panel but it’s a good looking screen for a laptop in this price bracket. Sharp and fine for photos, text, and photo editing.
Battery life is decent at about 7-8 hours of practical usage but there are other laptops on the market with better battery life for similar price including the ACER Slim 5.
Wireless hardware include 802.11AC wireless and Bluetooth 4.1, so while it’s lacking the new Wifi6 and Bluetooth 5 spec, these wireless cards are fine for most people and will be fast and thorough.
Does not have Windows Hello for Fingerprint or Facial recognition, so you’ll need to use old school pin or password to protect machine, but there is a backlit keyboard and it’s a nice keyboard at that. Sturdy with good tactile response and feel.
The 720p webcam is nothing to write home about, but it’ll get the job done for work from home tasks and you can see a sample of the video in our review video.
Speed
Fast! Quick boot times and tons of horsepower for productivity software, audio editing, photo editing, and light level video editing (1080p, no 4k).
RAM comes with 12GB but is upgradable to 20GB if you want to replace the 8GB stick that comes with it. SSD is a 512 which is fine for most people, but if you decide to upgrade you’ll need to swap out the NVMe with a new chip as the laptop doesn’t provide a spot for an extra drive.
I/O
- 2x USB 3.1 Type A
- 1x USB 3.1 Type C
- 1x HDMI
- 1x 1/8″ 3.5mm Headphone/Microphone Input Output
- SD/SDHC/SDXC Camera Card Reader
- Good Input / Output and standard for most laptops in this class and price range.
Quality
Sturdy and well built. This computer could withstand students who beat up on their laptop from dorm to classroom and would do the trick for travelers moving in and out of airports and airplanes. That said it’s not the lightest or thinnest laptop in the world – so while you could travel with it, if you’re looking for a travel specific laptop you may want to look elsewhere. The profile of the ASUS VivoBook is smaller and lighter so it’s a better 15.6″ travel notebook in this price bracket.
Who’s It For
Non-profits, small business, those working from home, or those needing a good quality laptop that isn’t feature rich, but is fast and reliable.
Who’s it Not For
Not for gamers. You can play some light games on it like SC2 or Fortnite, but this is not meant for AAA titles at max settings. Not the lightest or thinnest laptop, so if you want ultra-portability there are better options for jet setters.
Conclusion
I like this computer and while it doesn’t offer a fabulous feature set, the best battery life, and isn’t the cheapest notebook you can buy, it should prove to be reliable and sturdy for most that buy one – and those that do will be happy with their purchase. I’d buy it over the HPs, but would probably buy a VivoBook or ACER Slim 5 if pricing were the same across the board.
