Good price-performance ratio, reliability review

This laptop has a nice brushed aluminum finish with a chiclet keyboard with a numeric keypad is a little narrow. Good price / performance overall, despite some shortcomings. The i7-4510U processor is a mid-range dual core 2Ghz (not like the quad core i7 high-end). The drive is a 2.5 "1TB 7200 / min, we would have preferred an SSD, running on most 17" current. A good point for the 8GB memory, enough for such a machine. The battery is not removable, it is the main drawback of this laptop and a serious handicap for its life. We must constantly think unplug the power transformer to preserve the battery, not practical at all knowing that 17 "is generally used in sets. Side autonomy, painfully 1:30 is reached, it is running on a 17". The screen is very average, Asus could have made a better choice than the glossy panel not very bright or contrasting and returns all reflections.
There is no indicator HDD operation or activation sensitive. the equipment is a bit minimalist but sufficient for everyday use. Too bad the 3 USB3 ports are all on the same side, we would have liked at least a 4th USB3 port on the other side, I think a minimum of a 17-inch. It is imperative to add a Hub USB3 (the excellent mini Hub Inateck HB4007 for example) to have a sufficient number of ports. I immediately replaced Windows 8.1 (completely useless with a non-touch screen) Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (drivers available on the Asus Canada website) and I probably will not wait for the end of the warranty to replace the drive with a 1TB 512GB SSD. Careful design and disassembly of the machine are extremely complex to undertake only real skills, suitable tools and a serious experiment hardware. With a high-performance SSD, Windows 7 properly configured and optimized, performance will be excellent. To conclude, this is a good mid-range product. Too bad it is only available with the Windows for teens and without SSD, hence only 3 stars.

02/04/2015 As stated earlier, I replaced the hard disk 1TB SSD with a 512GB Crucial for MX100. Obviously, the performances are increased dramatically but the downside risk associated with this amendment is high. Indeed, the design of the Asus laptop is surprisingly complex and any opening of this kind of product has a high risk (ditto for the model 13 "UX32VD I also own). Starting with the bottom opening, very laborious, requiring great care and skill, until you replace the hard drive whose ties are complex and asymmetrical. This machine has clearly not been designed for easy maintenance, it would seem that it is intended to be manipulated Asus exclusively by a service because the inside looks like a mechanical timepiece A word about the internal battery which is a ridiculous ability. we understand immediately that its autonomy is very low and let the essential flaw permanently connected charger when used.
In conclusion I would not recommend this change to all those whose hard and soft skills are not total. I also recommend this laptop to anyone wanting a scalable machine and easy to maintain. Maybe is this the reason why this model has had as little success on the French market ...

19/06/2015 My laptop crashed there two weeks. Diagnosis: motherboard to change ... six months after the purchase, it is not reassuring at all on the reliability of this long-term product! Amazon impeccable service immediately sends back a service label. In fact it is a private maintenance company because the service is so bad Asus Amazon has had to contract with private companies. In the end, we had to wait eight days to get the new motherboard, plus 1 day to install it the return service, or about 12 days. Finally, it will be my first and last Asus laptop. So I lowered my rating to 2 stars because I am particularly disappointed with the lack of reliability of the product (but not performance). After using Dell without any problems for years, my next laptop will definitely be a Dell.