ASUS F555LA-AH51 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

ASUS has recently launched the F555LA-AH51 15.6-inch laptop and we decided to have an in depth look at this laptop. This device offers very good performance for what it’s priced at. Let’s see what this ASUS has to offer.

The Exterior

The ASUS F555LA-AH51 15.6-inch laptop comes in the typical Ultrabook size format with a very slim body and display. The top cover is finished in a circular textured black finish with the ASUS logo in chrome right dead center. The 15.6-inch matte display is surrounded on the inside by a relatively wide matte black edge. The Webcam and dual microphone are located on the top edge while another chrome ASUS logo sits on the middle of the bottom edge.
The top of the laptop is finished in silver with contrasting black keys. The keyboard area features a textured finish with the power button on the top left corner. We also find the black fullsized chicklet keyboard. The palmrest area is finished in a brushed aluminum texture with the simplistic touchpad slightly off center for better writing comfort. The status LEDs are on the bottom right corner of the palmrest.
The rest of the body is finished in the same matte black plastic you can find on most laptops. Something rare for laptops of this form factor is the addition of a DVD-Drive on the right side of the body.

The Connectivity

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The ASUS F555LA-AH51 comes equipped with all the currently used standards.
The right side of the body features the DVD-Drive, 1 USB 2.0 Port, a combo headphones/mic port, and the now standard card reader.
The left side of the body features the power connector, a slim Ethernet port, VGA-out, HDMI, 2 USB 3.0 Ports and the Kensington lock port.
On the inside the ASUS F555LA-AH51 comes with Wireless WiFi B/G/N connectivity. ASUS is saying that Bluetooth 4.0 is optional on this device and according to most people it does not feature Bluetooth connectivity.
As is the case with most laptops without Bluetooth, you can fix this problem very easily with a Bluetooth Dongle. I even managed to find an ASUS model:

The Performance

The ASUS F555LA-AH51 is equipped with a 4th Generation Intel Core i5-4210U Processor running at 1.7GHz. If the occasion requires it, this processor can increase its clock speed up to a maximum of 2.7GHz with Turbo Boost. The 4th Generation of Intel Core family processors have brought multiple improvements over the 3rd Generation. The 2 most noticeable for the user are lower energy consumption and the improved Intel Graphics HD 4400 graphics card. On average this new graphics card performs 30% better the previous generation’s Intel HD 4000 graphics card at the same clock speed.
To aid this processor this laptop comes equipped with 8GB of DDR3 RAM making this a very capable laptop. If you run memory intensive applications or do a lot of multitasking this is right up your alley. If I were to spot right here, this would still be a very good laptop, but you also get a 1TB HDD. This HDD will fulfill all your storage needs in the foreseeable future.
As a bonus to the already very good package ASUS has somehow managed to fit a DVD-Drive in the Ultrabook body. This is a very rare thing on laptops with this form factor.
ASUS doesn’t offer any specifications for the battery life of this device but based on our previous experience with Intel Core i5 processors I would say the ASUS F555LA-AH51 is capable of running for 5 hours or more, making this an overall very capable and versatile device.

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Who is it for? discussing who would benefit most from this laptop...

Student
The 1-year Accidental Damage Protection offered by ASUS is a godsend for any student living in a dorm. As with most parties, things get damaged or broken and with the frequency these tend to happen in the life of a student this is a very good thing to have. The performance itself is more than enough for most students and thanks to its large HDD and RAM it is suitable for a long term buy .It will surely have enough performance even after you finish your studies.
Power User
As with most laptops with a high RAM count, I have to recommend the ASUS F555LA-AH51 for Power Users. The processor is fast enough even for processor intensive application and thanks to the 8GB of RAM multitasking won't be any problem whatsoever. I think the Intel HD will be able to cope good enough even with 3D-modeling software if needed.
Business User
The relatively simple black and silver exterior helps this laptop blend in the workplace very well. The ASUS F555LA-AH51 comes with the very important VGA-out port and a DVD-drive that most business people need on their devices. The overall performance is more than you would ever need and this makes this device a very good long term buy. The lack of Bluetooth connectivity might put some Business Users off, but as I have shown it can be easily fixed with a Bluetooth Dongle.

PROs Vs. CONs

For a laptop in its price range the ASUS F555LA-AH51 packs quite a punch. The performance is very well balanced and it features a DVD-drive which is very rare for a device with its form factor. The added bonus is that ASUS is also offering a 1 year Accidental Damage warranty. Meaning you can pretty much do anything to this laptop for one year and get it repaired or replaced under warranty.

The ASUS F555LA-AH51 is one of those rare laptops that lack Bluetooth connectivity. This is always surprising to me as most WiFi modules have Bluetooth integrated. Another minus point is that it doesn't feature a dedicated video card. Good as the Intel HDs tend to be, they are no match for a dedicated graphics card.

Summary

ASUS is proving once again that with its F555LA-AH51 it can provide very good and balanced performance on a budget. The performance is more than enough for most users, it has a very nice looking exterior and on top of all this you get a 1 year Accidental Damage warranty.

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