ASUS K53E

I bought this about 6 weeks ago and have used it enough now to be able to give a reasonable overview of my thoughts. When I started looking for a laptop I wasn’t looking for desktop replacement, mainly something I could take with me on holidays away or to work when I just needed to stay in touch so a discreet video card or the higher end features of a gaming laptop weren’t top of the list. More of a general purpose mainstream system was I had in mind. I did consider the new line of AMD-A series as graphics are supposedly better than the i-x line but once I started looking decided to go with the i5.

Here is a link to the main page for the Asus K53E
Notice this laptop comes in very many configurations built around the Core i3, i5 and i7 Sandybridge processors. Mine has the i5 with 4 gigs of ram Windows 7 64 bit. The 4 gig ram module is a single module which should make it easy to upgrade to 8 without having to replace 2-2 gig modules, many of the laptops I looked at came with 2-2 gig modules even though they supported 8.

Overall it’s a nice looking laptop, not to heavy, bright screen. It has the full size keyboard with the number pad to the right so the keys can be a little cramped. But I find it easy enough to use.  If there is one downfall to this system I would say it’s the touchpad. Oh, it works well enough as a normal touch pad and I do use it, but I ended up turning the tap to click feature off, just too sensitive. It also is supposed to scroll with the two finger drag, but I find that just not ready for prime time.  I bought an inexpensive Logitech cordless mouse with the tiny little USB receiver for times I want to use it for any length of time, which I had planned on anyway as I’m not a big fan of touch pads. Another quirk with the touch pad is when I was down in Florida and went from the AC to the humid outside the touchpad went crazy  and hardly responded except to send the mouse all over the screen and open programs on its own.  I haven’t noticed that at any other time.

I have no complaints to performance. I haven’t tried any games and suspect I may not. I have connected it to a few big screen TVs now to play DVDs and watch Netflix streaming video using the HDMI output and that works just fine. Great picture, audio is automatically feed out through the HDMI cable and sounds good as well. The wireless adapter seems to pick up the signal fine. I can be right on the edge with just the one small bar showing and still get connected OK.  The onboard webcam is handy for Skype video chats and works well.

That’s about all of I can think of right now, I paid just under 500$ for it as Best Buy and passed on the 100$ Geek Squad “Optimization” extra as well as any extended warranties. I did look at buying on-line, but actually wanted to touch as well as be able to pick up and see what I was getting.

I’m happy with my purchase and would recommend  this to someone looking for a good general purpose laptop.

Nice. It makes me want to run out and buy one. But my HP DV3510, which I bought in February 2009, continues to perform well so I can't justify it just yet.

I also had minor issues with my touch pad, which I resolved thanks to advice poasted by Chandler years ago. I used one of those cell phone screen protectors that are usually disposed of and replaced after a couple months of use. They are clear cellophane and I think they were originally created to protect Palm PDA screens. Belkin and others usually sell them in 10-packs. Anyway, I cut it to size and placed it over the touch pad with excellent results. It got rid of the ridiculous sensitivity and made the surface much more agreeable regardless of humidity. The same screen protector has been on since I installed it shortly after I bought the laptop.

Scuzzy; I wish all solutions were so easy.

Thanks, I'll have try and remember to look for one of those screen protectors and see if that doesn't help.

I did forget to mention that this model came with a 500 gigabyte hard drive. The drive was partitioned in two somewhat equal partitions, but I used the Windows disk management tool to merge the partitions into one. I didn't really see any reason to have more than one partition on this system. There is still the hidden partition with factory back up copy on it. I did make the factory backup before merging partitions though, just in case.

I also like the placement of the SD slot, lower left hand under keyboard part of laptop. That also works well.

And a couple of links to accessories that I bought to go with my laptop.

I bought this case Wenger Blue SHERPA 15.6" Double Slimcase. Don't know why they list it as blue as it is black. Can find one in blue, but I wouldn't want that. Anyway, seems to be a nice well made carryall for laptop. Has one outside zippered pocket and one zippered fishnet pocket on the inside of one of the sleeves. Laptop fits in nice and snug and there seems to be adequate padding.

Logitech Wireless Mouse M215 I got that at Target for 15$. I like it, it's only slightly smaller than a full size mouse and fits my hand well. Only needs one double A battery and the receiver fits right inside the battery compartment when not in use. It also has an on/off switch so you can turn it off when you put it in the bag.

That's a cheap price for the mouse. How's the performance? Any lag or other irritations?

That's what I thought too, but I like it. Works fine, I haven't really tried to see how far away I can get and still get it to work, but I have used it from about 6-8 ft. away while the laptop was connected to a TV and that was good.

I suppose it would be nice if the storage for the receiver was accessible without having to open the battery compartment, but it's no big deal and without someplace to store it I'm sure it would be lost in no time.

Thanks for the info. I'll likely pick one up for my daughter's laptop. Is it by chance noisy when you click the buttons?

No, pretty quiet. Quieter than my desktop mouse and way quieter than the buttons with the touchpad on the laptop.

Nice, thanks again. I have a mouse that currently makes quite a racket. For that reason it just gathers dust.