ASUS S56CA-WH31 15.6-Inch Deals

By Brian T. Watts (Macon, MO USA)
This review is from: ASUS S56CA-DH51 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Black) (Personal Computers)
Incredible for Price.

I bought the -dh51 model that has an i5 mobile processor and 6gb of RAM as opposed to an i3 and 4gb of RAM. This upgrade is essential on this model! There is NO dedicated video card onboard. This system uses Intel integrated graphics HD 4000. Asus should not even make the -wh31.

These 1 and 2 star reviews really cheese me off.

First, This is a laptop that Asus has put in their Ultrabook category. There is no standard definition for such word. Look at the dimensions before you buy if you're going to complain about the size...

Secondly, I got 4 hours and 10 minutes off a single charge of active use (typing, games, movies) with dimmed screen and airplane mode on. This is one of the BEST value of i5 laptop computers out there right now. You get quite a bit of hardware for <5lb machine. I will stipulate that this is a 720p definition screen and not 1080p. I would assume this is another balancing act for price and performance. Having a 1080p screen would dump more on the integrated graphics, CPU, RAM, and battery life. Those higher definition movies would take up more Hard drive space too...

Asus has done some great things here. They have a full keyboard with one of the smoothest working function keys I've ever used. There is 24gb mSATA dedicated to fast boot (works great) that can be very useful if you want to install something like backtrack 5 or whatever OS utility you want. The 5400 performs as expected, but they did not gip on the space. Asus could have given a 320 or 500gb drive and 4gb RAM but they tucked value into every corner of this laptop. They also include one year of accidental damage protection (even more value)

After I burn through the first battery, I'll replace the hard drive with a solid state drive and buy a new battery. I'd expect better performance and longer battery life and recommend doing this or having it done for people who do heavier mobile computing (multiple screens, GIANT spreadsheets, Adobe Suite Users)

 Amazon Verified Purchase(UK)
This review is from: ASUS S56CA-DH51 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Black) (Personal Computers)
Let's get the facts straight. There are a lot of negative reviews out there, but mainly because of Windows 8. Don't let that scare you away. This is a great laptop overall.

My only gripe is the hard drive and the difficulty it is to just simply install your own. I had a spare SSD (128 GB OCZ Vertex 4) that I swapped in here. After hours of research, I found out it was only possible to install Windows 8 on it by using a DVD-R with Windows 8 burnt on it. That worked out great. The hard drive was swapped out for an SSD and I will be putting that HDD in the optical drive slot. So now I have an ultrabook with a decent amount of storage with the speed of an SSD.

The build quality of this thing is great. It's slightly heavy for it's size, but it's the type of heavy you'd like a laptop to be. The screen is a little flimsy when you open it, but it's not effected when you are typing or moving around a little bit.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the touchpad. I'm not sure if it was updated, but it seems to work great for me. The buttons are a little difficult to push, but who uses those anyways? That's why they made gestures.

If you're on the fence about it, give it a chance. Go play with in the store. You won't regret it

By Dawn Carlo (Aiea, Hawaii USA) -
This review is from: ASUS S56CA-WH31 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Personal Computers)
I bought this laptop for my little sister, a High School student. Although I admit that I originally intended to purchase it for myself, but seeing as I very much prefer desktop PC (I build what I use). The size of the laptop is perfect for my sister's usages, which goes between doing homework, internet shenanigans and whatnot.

I would say that if you're looking for portability, this may not be the best option. I do admit that the laptop itself is adequately light. Much lighter than the laptops of this size from a few years ago. But then again, this is a hybrid hdd-ssd laptop. The SSD is mini, the capacity might be small but I took the liberty of installing a much bigger capacity mini-SSD (128gb) I have as a spare. And dedicated the 500gb for storaging purposes.

I have little doubt that she will be able to fill the 500gb storage anytime soon but in the meantime, it's turned into a great machine that will serve her computing needs. And for the price? You can't go wrong with this choice.