Asus laptop! Confused, pls help!!

nsatija

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Hi guys,

Soon I am starting a masters programme in Finance. I have been going crazy online finding a nice laptop that meets my requirment. Few things that are important for me:
1) Goes atleast 4-5 hours on full charge
2) has numeric keypad
3) atleast i3 processor (I understood i5 is better for multitasking and handling softwares such as SPSS..?)
4) Is not t0o heavy since I have to travel everyday with it.

I have had bad experience with HP and heard good things about ASUS. So I kinda shortlisted 2 asus laptops

1) Asus K55A-SX644H
2) Asus S56CB-XX009H

My budget is max 650 Euro's. Anyone has any experience with Asus machines specifically the models I mentioned?

If not Asus, what other laptop model would you recommend and why? In my scenario would it matter if I get i3 or i5? There is also Asus x501a which is only 480 euro's but runs on i3. I am worried it might be to slow. Although I am not a heavy gamer.

I know many questions, but i am desperate.
Thanks and would love any advice.
 

chulex67

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Solution

nsatija

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SO guys thanks for your response. I went ahead and bought Asus S56B X009h. I am happy with it but find few things bit irritating. Its not as fast and responsive as I expected a brand new laptop with such specification to be. On top, at the same shop where I bought my laptop a new deal came out yesterday of another assus laptop which is 70 Euros cheaper and has double the RAM and faster processor. Although it doesnt have SSD and mine has a hybrid including 24GB SSD. big time CONFUSION as I am not really a tech savvy. WOuld love to have your opinions.

My laptop: Asus 56CB --> 1.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 24gb SSD, 500gbHDD
new deal: Asus F550VC-XX100H --> 2.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 1 TB HDD.

EVerything else basicaly the same.

Speed and long battery life between charges is important for me. Since I will be travelling 4 hours everyday from september. This laptop is going to be my best friend every single day for 1 year.

PLSSSSS help...which one do you think is better? Does SSD makes a massive difference? so much so that I can ignore higher processor speed and double the RAM?


many thanksssssss
 

chulex67

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No the SSD does not make a massive diference, what would do a diference would be to Update your Laptop Drivers. You dont have a true SSD, what you have its an Hybrid HDD. Wich i personally dont like they give good performance but normally they sell them with 5400rpm HDD and pair a little storage SSD for cache. Not the Same as Having An SSD as Main HDD. As you said long batery life its going to be perfect in this laptop, Because its an Ivy Bridge series its at 1.7ghz and it will jump to 2.5ghz when you start using cpu intensive programs. This will keep battery power on low levels till you activate the turbo on the laptop.

For SPSS: Using a better Cpu and HDD will give better performance, It also makes use of Quad cpus. But dont worry at your current budget it was going to be real hard to find you a Quad Core laptop.

Suggestions: Do a clean install of Windows, Update drivers, and black friday is coming, save money to get an SSD
 

nsatija

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nsatija

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Dear chulex,

Thanks for your great reply and advice. So I guess I have a good deal for my budget.
Great. let the saving for SSD begin :)

Thanks again.

Regards,
Nik
 

nsatija

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So guys I am back,

My brand new Asus S56CB which I bought on Saturday now keeps on freezing. Nothing would, no command at all. It happened 3 times in last 5 days. I contacted the Asus ech support and they told me to re-install windows to get the clean os and that might do the trick. But not at all.

Second issue, when I charge the AC adapter is starting to get really hot. I am going back to the store as I have 14 days warranty to return or exchange. I am infact thinking of exchanging this one for a better one. I am starting to wonder if it keeps on freezing and getting stuck with no extra software or apps installed and just 4 tabs open for browser, how will it handle grad school pressure and statistics programme like SPSS...!!

I can increase my budget a bit to lets say 750 Euros. But I need a laptop that has longer batter life, is light, numeric keypad, stays cool, and is relatively quiet and doesn't make sound like a bloody vacuum cleaner :(.

Thanks again in advance and I would really appreciate any recommendations.......

 

MennoB

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I think that you need the ASUS f550VC xx100H that one is so good i,m going to buy it in the mediamarkt here it is voor 600 euro for sale. and very good performance and battery life. I liked it already when i saw the photo.

 

MennoB

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And it does not freezes and it,s not getting hot, i have spoken to the manager of mediamarkt and even he has the laptop at home, they say that this laptop can even play games on high performance and even the games what is coming out in 2014 on high performance. and the keyboard is fine the type on and it is a quiet laptop. i mean look at the link( translate it to english) and see the good graphic card and videocard and i5 processor. it is worth for it,s money.

http://www.mediamarkt.nl/mcs/product/ASUS-F550VC-XX100H,10259,350521,869300.html?langId=-11&wishlistEntry=869300&layer=addedtowishlist