For this price you could get a significantly better laptop and even if you're set on Asus they ...
345048
For this price you could get a significantly better laptop and even if you're set on Asus they have more powerful for hundreds of dollars less.
142655
It's a pretty darn good laptop for the money.

Build quality is pretty good. Doesn't feel overly flimsy or weak at any point. Keyboard is responsive as well, and the touchpad is decent enough.

The screen, which is probably why most of you are looking at this laptop.... well, it IS a 1080p screen. You can't really find a laptop in this pricepoint that had a 1080p screen, so good on Asus for making this affordable.

Why do I sound hesitant? It's a 1080p screen, but it's a TN panel. And a very, very bad TN panel at that. Any amount of angle to your viewing and blacks become so washed out they're basically white. Contrast is also quite horrible viewing from the front as well. I've tried attempting to fix it by calibrating the display but it doesn't seem to be fixable, rather just inherent to the lower quality display.

Other than the screen problems, it's a solid buy. It is a little difficult to get apart to change out the hard drive (get an SSD for this, it makes it 100% faster. They're using a 5400 RPM hard disk in this so it's slow.)

There are videos out there detailing how to take similar models apart, so just follow those if you want.
3252447
First let me give you some advice, if you are thinking about buying this and you have a chance like me of getting it on sale for $150 go for it. But the price for this Netbook now is $330 and that's not great considering that for about the same price you can get the&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Acer-Aspire-One-AO722-0473-11-6-Inch-HD-Netbook-Espresso-Black/dp/B005J2E2US/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Acer Aspire One AO722-0473 11.6-Inch HD Netbook (Espresso Black)</a>&nbsp;which would be way better since it have a faster better CPU-GPU combo capable of HD playback and even casual gaming, it also have 2Gb of memory and HDMI out which is pretty sweet at this price point.

Now if you still like this one I suggest the memory upgrade, this is the one I got&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Crucial-CT25664BC1067-2GB-204-PIN-PC3-8500-SODIMM-DDR3-Memory-Module/dp/B001KB6Z2U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Crucial CT25664BC1067 2GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory Module</a>. It only have one slot so the on-board module will not be usable, I sell mine to a friend so it was not wasted.

The Netbook overall is pretty good for what I pay for. The touch-pad is great, the keyboard not so much since is kind of small for my big hands. The speakers are awful in several ways like: low sound, terrible location (at the front bottom), and overall low quality sound. Battery life is good (about two hours and some change in normal use with mid  screen brightness). The screen is also very good, I would like it better if it was a bit bigger. I like that it have plenty of USB ports, VGA out, and a nice look and feel (not cheap like most Netbooks).

Gaming is possible with games like angry birds or plants vs zombies, but sadly 3D Gaming is not possible (TF2 won't run even at the lowest resolution) Video playback is pretty good at 480p, at 720p depending on the file format would run well enough (mkv avi wmv and xvid would play fine but ogg and mov would make it freeze to death, hard reset is the only way out) 1080p is out of the question for sure.

This is what I got after the memory upgrade in the Windows Experience Index Tool.

More details about my computer:

Processor Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N570 @ 1.66GHz................. 3.4

Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB...................................................... 4.6

Graphics Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 3150.................. 2.7

Gaming graphics 256 MB Total available graphics memory......... 3.0

Primary hard disk 143GB Free (220GB Total)........................... 5.6

Windows 7 Starter

System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Manufacturer Acer
  Model AOD257
  Total amount of system memory 2.00 GB RAM
  System type 32-bit operating system
  Number of processor cores 2
  64-bit capable Yes

Storage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Total size of hard disk(s) 220 GB
  Disk partition (C:) 143 GB Free (220 GB Total)

Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Display adapter type Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
  Total available graphics memory 256 MB
  Dedicated graphics memory 0 MB
  Dedicated system memory 64 MB
  Shared system memory 192 MB
  Display adapter driver version 8.14.10.2230
  Primary monitor resolution 1280x1024
  DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Network Adapter Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
  Network Adapter Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 100
1649351
First of all, for this price point I really can't complain too much, however this laptop is worthy of many complaints. There are some positives to it, so I will list them as well as the cons.

Pros:
- Good Battery Life
- Really enjoy the keyboard
- Very affordable computer
- Fast for basic programs like word
- Light
- High quality build

Cons:
- Awful specs, making the computer unusable for Internet surfing
- Terrible memory space.. I know not to expect a 1 terabyte SSD drive for this price. But 32 gigabytes is unacceptable considering the OS takes up a large majority of it.

Overall, when using this laptop, I feel lucky if I'm able to use a website without it freezing like crazy. In my opinion, I believe you should save up and buy a different brand or model for 300-400, as this is just unacceptable.
2802204
I purchased this laptop in March 2013. Initially I was pretty happy with this device. It's not a luxurious laptop, but I thought it was perfect for a student on a budget and had all the necessary functionality for my purposes.

In the past two months, I've sunk over $200 into this laptop for LCD screen replacements. I purchased it for around $400.

I treat my laptops really well, but the LCD screen has cracked twice on this laptop recently just from simply opening the device or applying the slightest of pressure. The trouble is that the outer screen protecting the LCD screen is of very poor quality and provides little protection (it's painfully obvious when you open up the screen). You have to be incredibly careful with this laptop during use. Warranty never covers LCD screen replacements.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the built in laptop mouse is incredibly noisy when you click it. Also, not very convenient for scrolling. Charms can also be overly sensitive and not precise, but at least you can turn that off.

Overall, I would advise paying an extra $200 and getting a higher quality laptop. You'll likely be sinking that amount into repairs anyway.
1337344
You get the components for the price, which is good. But the construction is cheap, the touchpad has large deadzones, the keyboard is flimsy and cramped (even with the size of this thing!), the headphone jack occasionally doesn't work, and you get loads and loads of Lenovo bloatware (some of which reinstalls itself if you try to remove it). My first order had a completely unresponsive touchpad and I had to return for a replacement. If you need the specs and want the price, go for it, but otherwise it's not a quality machine for the price. This is the last time I buy a consumer-line Lenovo.
1879717
If you read the reviews there seems to be a common issue with this design. The space bar is not designed well and the keyboard feedback in general is ehhh. The computer is sleek, fast, and overall ran well. Asus is a good brand and usually has quality products. You might get lucky and get one that works a little better than others, but I see it as a flaw with the design itself. At some point you will hate typing on this. If you never type anything then fine. Otherwise, get a different laptop.
4379195
Steer clear unless you want to invest in an SSD hard drive and more RAM.
Might as well spend another $100-$150 get something with a quad core and no bloat ware.
1000334
This is a no frills laptop. The price may be to your liking but it comes with other "costs". The processor is not much to brag about and won't take much for you to max its use if you use anything that needs power, and the audio and battery life are terrible. Sound is horribly tinny and sounds like a 70s transistor radio. The battery that comes with the PC probably lasts about 90 minutes before the battery is nearly exhausted. The touchpad is small and the mouse button (yes, single mouse button) above the touchpad is stiff and rocks on a single centered pivot that I don't find very easy to use. If you put your thumb too much near the center of the rocking mouse button (which is easy to do with the natural angled position of one's hand), it's really hard to click without moving your hand over. This gets irritating after awhile. If you can live with these things, buy this laptop. After all, it's cheap and isn't that all that matters?  Otherwise, pass on this machine and pay a little extra for better usability.
4434987
My needs were for a travel PC with a 1080 screen.  My i7 laptop is nice, but is nice and heavy too.
I was not looking forward to hauling it around.  The ASUS is a feather by comparison.

With the Dell XPS-13 (2015) it was $100 to get an i5, $100 to get 8 Gb of RAM, $100 to get 256 Gb of storage.
This is now $1099, $400 more than the ASUS.  Paying 40% more for 12 to 15% more speed was not the need.

The Core M is not as fast as the i5 and has the 5300 graphics instead of 5500, but still does a good job for most business tasks.
The lack of backlight on the keyboard is a drawback. If I lived on an airplane I would be tempted to find the $400 for the Dell.  If this was to be a primary PC then the decision would move to the Dell or a Lenovo X1 Thinkpad.

For the type of use it will get, The ASUS was a bargain.

Update:

After traveling for two weeks with the UX305, it performed mainly as expected.
The trackpad buttons are somewhat clunky, so I normally just tap the pad.  This usually works, but I find myself developing a habit of hammering the pad or double tapping, just to make sure the click works.
There were times when a backlit keyboard were missed, but it was not a deal breaker.

Video performance was consistent, as were individual office applications.  If this is all you need it will provide acceptable performance.
The thin light form was a joy to travel with and the adapter worked fine on 120/240V

Multitasking is not a strong suit and if some windows task is hungry it can bring the PC to its knees until it passes.
Make sure you do your windows updates in advance as the PC will be in la la land for over half an hour with "Do not turn off your computer"

The first observation still stands.  If this was to be my main PC it would be on the weak side, but for casual travel it met the need.
419692
My first laptop, I was excited.  I used CR magazine and an array of online reviews to finally select the 14-inch Toshiba Satellite.  First off, pricing is all over the place ... in the few weeks I took to do my online searches, I saw the price fluctuate over US$100.00 from the same vendors.

Window 8 comes with too much bloatware and stuff tha5t I don't want nor need access to.  That's not he computer's fault, just something irritating about modern technology.  The unit does feel flimsy.  It twists easily because of the plastic housing and also because the screen is set in the frame and not flush.  The screen torques if you open with one hand, so always use two.

The battery barely gets through one afternoon at school, so I'm constantly looking for power and now keep an extension chord in my bag.  One of the USB ports and the HDMI port are loose and connected cables can lose the signal if they're wiggled, or if the machine is moved while cables are plugged in.  After only three months of use, the lamp burned out for the screen.  The screen isn't black, but very dark grey with faint screen images coming through.  I plugged the monitor from my desk top into the HDMI port and was able to use the laptop.

I'm contacting Toshiba to discuss repair/replacement.  We'll see how that goes.
3606992
I've had it. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to sell my Zenbook and use the money to finance a different laptop.

Honestly? If it weren't for the trackpad I'd be... mostly okay with the machine. The screen is nice and crisp, the machine is lightweight. It has pretty nice battery life as well. The speakers are okay as well, I guess, though I haven't really used them much.

There are a number of cons, most of which are manageable:
* It frequently thinks its lid has been opened, when it hasn't. This has caused battery drain. I've gotten used to just putting the thing into hibernate.
* A few of the keys on the keyboard aren't immediately responsive. They usually work the second time, but it's caused a number of typos.
* The lid can be difficult to open. There's no latch and the lip is very small. But I've gotten used to it.
* The back is secured by tiny little Torx 5 screws. Had to buy a set to replace the hard drive, because 128GB just is not enough.
* It closes so tightly that the screen rubs up against the keys. There's frequently a very tiny little bit of skin oil on the keys which ends up on the screen for some reason? That's the only reason I can think of that would cause oily-looking streaks to appear on the screen when I open it. They rub away easily enough, but still.

The worst of these though is the trackpad. It's horrible. Now, I've done a bunch of research on this in the sixth months or so that I've owned the machine, and apparently at some point ASUS switched manufacturers. The trackpad in my device is manufactured by a Chinese company named FocalTech, and the driver support for it is minimal at best. ASUS provides a "Smart Gesture" suite which lets you... toggle some gestures. That's it. No sensitivity adjustment, no way to assign dead zones. The trackpad frequently thinks my wrist is a finger, I get phantom clicks every few minutes. I use a mouse whenever possible, but it's not always possible. It's really, really awful. Reportedly prior to the FocalTech hardware the Zenbook used a Synaptics touchpad. I've had a Synaptics device on an earlier laptop, and while I still didn't like the trackpad, it was infinitely more usable than the Zenbook's.

Stay away.
2835184
I have this laptop for about a week. Think it was a good deal, and glad I bought it. However, I would not recommend it to any friend, since it can be too risky.

Good:
1) for the price (got it for $759 from amazon) it has great specifications - new processor, good graphics card and SSD
2) screen is good, IPS
3) easy to expand - I bought 8 GB memory - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ35HBQ  (same type as was preinstalled, you can get faster one, but probably not worth it , since will need to upgrade both slots).
and 2 TB hard drive - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I8O6OQ4  (since already had SSD, was no real need to get hybrid)
Memory is standard, 8GB was taking one slot, so easy to upgrade it.
Hard disk installation was very easy too - caddy and just one cable to connect already were waiting.
And it is was easy to access. So, for about $900 dollars all together (including tax), I got upgraded laptop with 16 gb memory and 256+2TB drives.
4) not too much bloatware (most of bloatware actually is included in Windows 10 already - but, you are getting almost all new computers with this system anyway).

So for me this laptop is good.

However, there are some bad things which will prevent me from recommending it to other people
1) not so big deal, but only 3 USB ports, only HDMI for video out, Was expecting better at this price.
2) and too much space wasted around screen.
3) very BETA with drivers - had problems with
 - graphics display driver (INTEL)  - periodically, it is giving me message that driver crashed but was restored.
 - power adapter driver - some strange messages that power adapter not recognized
 - WiFi adapter - just stopping working and not seeing any network
  - touchpad driver - was unable to turn it off (used standard mouse option to turn it off when external mouse is connected, then just turned it off completely - but it still worked.

Problems are partially solved (becoming not so often) by installing new drivers. Also, computer restarts helping... (unfortunately battery is non-removable, so hard restart is more complicated). I feel myself confident enough to be able to deal with all this stuff myself (but, I did some computer programming for about 20 years). However, can easily see people getting stuck with this computer, so would not recommend it to other.

Actually I was surprised that respected company as Dell would not make sure that laptop working from start without these problems.
1664785
This laptop is running fine with 8GB RAM/i5 CPU but lack of the touchscreen and only came with a small SSD hard drive. I bought it on Oct 19 and not even used it much (4 hours the most) and today the price is $50 less when I bought.
I would not buy this laptop for $450 while you have many other better laptops out there with Intel i5 CPU/touch screen and bigger hard drive during this Holiday sale.
Check on Dell/Acer or even Asus....
2047974
10" netbooks are virtually extinct these days so if that's what you want, that's what it is. It has 1366x768 resolution instead of 1024x600, which is nice, but the quality of the screen is atrocious honestly. Colors look washed out and it quickly tires my eyes. It has a 1.1 ghz Celeron, which nicely outperforms the older single and dual core Atoms and AMD low power processors you find in other netbooks while still delivering respectable battery life. Overall I would not recommend it because of the screen alone. If Asus could have managed to put a screen in this thing that doesn't make me want to pluck my eyeballs out with a shrimp fork, it would be a pretty cool little super cheap machine, but the screen suuuuuucks. Look elsewhere. It's worth spending another $50 to get an 11.6" netbook that will be a bit more comfortable and have a screen that is at least up to minimum standards. Asus makes a billion models, I'd recommend just scaling up to a $300 Asus or Acer 11.6" model with this Celeron or an AMD chip and a better screen. A better screen wouldn't be hard to acheive, I have not seen a screen this terribad since they stopped making passive matrix screens back in the 1990s.
3273714
I bought this laptop in May, 2014.  Overall it's been disappointing for the following reasons.

1.  Battery life is mediocre, about 2 to 3 hours.
2.  Haswell i3 processor is not particularly fast.  I bought this laptop to replace a 3 year old HP laptop with an AMD Llano processor that wasn't much slower than the i3.
3.  Glare on the screen from nearby lighting is pronounced.  Reading the screen in or near sunlight is nearly impossible.
4.  Cheap keyboard.
5.  Starting a few weeks ago, screen began to flicker occasionally and will need to send to Asus for repair.  Asus customer service makes it hard to send in for repairs.

I do not recommend that anyone purchase this laptop.
3690300
Do Not By all means buy this for a cheaper form for gaming this is a business laptop the only way i see this laptop fit for gaming is to manually upgrade the CPU AND RAM.