mevande wrote:At this price point you want a touch screen, are you on crack?

Just pointing out the fact that the laptop did not have touch screen.

The low price came with a hidden cost.

sellbuyer92 wrote:I'm not a huge fan of Asus computers, so read this review RED STAPLER!

http://www.handingchao.com/review-on-asus-k55a-hi5103d-15-6-inch-laptop/

This "review" could not be more worthless. Looks like they are phishing for your name and address.

I just bought 4 of the very similar K55A-HI5014L for $419 new. They are nice machines, but you will want to upgrade the RAM to 8GB. This is not really a stellar deal for a refurb.

I actually bought this laptop last week at BB (new for $385, it was on clearance) and I'm really liking it. I like that it has the i5 instead of the i3, unlike all the others at this price point. It's not a powerhouse, but it's not lacking in power either. It's powerful enough to run the new Sim City, which was one of my main concerns when shopping. The keyboard is nice, and the plastic casing has a nice textured feel to it.

And, happily, it had next to no bloatware on it. Just a few pointless ASUS apps (and a few helpful ones), so setting it up wasn't as much of a headache as I was expecting.

*typo edit

pauldownsouth wrote:This "review" could not be more worthless. Looks like they are phishing for your name and address.

I just bought 4 of the very similar K55A-HI5014L for $419 new. They are nice machines, but you will want to upgrade the RAM to 8GB. This is not really a stellar deal for a refurb.

Here are some BB consumer reviews:

http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/6892385/asus-15-6-laptop-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-light-covellite-reviews/reviews.htm

Pretty decent reviews, but you have to consider the source. If these were Newegg consumer reviews they would have more credence. Your right, this is about $30 too high for a refurb. Did you change the drive out in any of yours for an SSD? Have you ever used those seagate hybrid drives?

Woot, you have been my Valentines Day headquarters for 3 years in a row. Thanks again.

genesisbreed wrote:Woot, you have been my Valentines Day headquarters for 3 years in a row. Thanks again.

We <3 to hear that!

gak0090 wrote:...Have you ever used those seagate hybrid drives?

I bought a 500gb during a $50 promotion and have been pleased. I think the key is to have the proper expectations. It noticeably sped up boot times on our very similar but year-old Asus i3 laptop. I'd imagine startups take half the time they used to, and certain programs open more quickly (itunes was most noticeable).

It's definitely not an SSD, but if you need a large drive and are on a <$100 budget then it's something to consider.

Oh, ick. Windows 8. You guys have great deals, but I won't buy anything with Windows 8 on it, touch screen or not. This OS sucks: It's buggy, plus I can't easily install and dual boot Linux.

dwallace123 wrote:I bought a 500gb during a $50 promotion and have been pleased. I think the key is to have the proper expectations. It noticeably sped up boot times on our very similar but year-old Asus i3 laptop. I'd imagine startups take half the time they used to, and certain programs open more quickly (itunes was most noticeable).

It's definitely not an SSD, but if you need a large drive and are on a <$100 budget then it's something to consider.

I think I'll start with adding 8GB RAM, then move to an ssd when I see a good deal on a 250GB. I got one of these ready-cache ssd devices on my home pc and it seems to work like you described the Seagate Hybrid works- It's OK, I wouldn't pay more than the $50 I paid for it. I rather splurge for the full performance benefit. Thanks for your answer.

gabarnier wrote:I just got an Asus A55A. It looks identical to this one in the pictures. Identical. I have an i3 with a 750 gig hard drive running Windows 8. So here's my thoughts on my new Windows 8 machine:
1. It seems very fast for my needs. I don't use it for gaming though.
2. 400 gigs of my hard drive is partitioned into a D drive named DATA, straight from the factory. Almost all of that space is free, so out of my 750 gig hard drive, only about 240 gigs is actually available for my use. So far this is my only complaint about Windows 8 machine. IF anyone here can explain the need for a 400 gig D drive on my machine, I'd be grateful. I asked Asus also and am waiting for a reply.
3. I don't have a touch screen, but I use a wireless mouse and have no trouble. I have an iPad and touch screen is fine for that, but I don't miss the touch screen on my laptop. If I wanted a touch screen laptop, I'd get the Surface machine.

Usually OS is installed on C drive. The D drive should be for data and should be free for you to use. Win 8 OS should only take about 20 GB maybe a bit more depending on other apps and software installed. Most ASUS laptops also comes with a recovery partition as well.

You can also re-partition it to your liking using Windows Disk Mgmt.

In case anyone looking to upgrade RAM, this seems to be a good choice. Good timings, decent price $48 shipped:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231472

It looks like a month ago they had it on sale for $30 with free shipping with a promo code- so you could wait and see if it goes on sale if your not in a hurry


This is a review confirming that someone with a Asus K55A had used this RAM with good results (helping to verify compatability):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-231-472&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=asus+k55a#scrollFullInfo

Does WOOT!only sell laptops now??? BOOOOORRRRIIINNNGGG!!!

conanthelibrarian wrote:Does anyone care to speak about the usability of Windows 8? I would like a new computer but new things scare me! haha

Windows 8 is the equivalent of "poops on the floor."

conanthelibrarian wrote:Does anyone care to speak about the usability of Windows 8? I would like a new computer but new things scare me! haha

It's faster, and comes with antivirus that doesn't expire (Windows Defender) but the interface does suck without a touchscreen. But don't let that throw you off JUST yet. There's plenty of apps, like Classic Shell, to bring back the start menu, and make it more normal. This IS a good deal, all things considered.

Classic shell is free too, btw:
http://www.classicshell.net/

dwallace123 wrote:Those extra cores would still sit idle for the tasks you mentioned and you'd be out $150.

(FWIW, for a non-gaming, entry-level system like this one, I'd submit that the $150 would likely be better spent on a solid-state drive for noticeable everyday speed gains.)

Here's a link to the benchmarks for perspective:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

And a link to this specific i5:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-3210M+%40+2.50GHz

Also note the i7-840QM (4 cores, powerhouse from 2010) scored a 3539. This i5 scores a 3836. Heck, the i3-3120M scores above that old powerhouse i7.

The i5 in this machine is no slouch.

The vast majority of people considering a laptop at this price point aren't going to often be encoding, rendering, editing video, or gaming heavily (especially with integrated graphics), and they will be more than pleased with this i5's performance.

Here's a link to PC Mag explaining the difference:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404675,00.asp

And a quote from the link:

So, long story short: Core i5 is made for mainstream users who care about performance, and Core i7 is made for enthusiasts and high-end users. If you follow this mantra, you're likely going to find the system you're looking for.

This is a good deal at this price, and Asus generally has good build quality and reliability. I'd have no problem buying this or recommending it to a non-gamer.

The warranty is short so I'd probably also suggest Squaretrade, but since you've got 30 days after your purchase I'd wait until a 30% off coupon code came out and buy an extended warranty directly from them. In my experience Squaretrade would just send you a check for the amount of this laptop if something went wrong. They generally don't seem to waste time and money for $400-$500 laptops. YMMV of course.

Actually, gaming rarely will take advantage of an i7 over an i5 and most gamers will see similar benchmarks on both chips at the same clock rate. So this chip is even less of a slouch.

Honestly I don't see the point of an i7 yet except in crazy specific cases.

geekwench wrote:People, you do NOT need a touch screen to use Windows 8. As for those apps you can't close, you can either click at the top of the screen with your mouse and drag down to the bottom of the screen to close the app, or you can right-click the top or bottom of the screen to see options, or you can click and drag from the left side of the screen and click the "x" on an app window- all of these will work. I have Windows 8 on several machines that don't have touch screens and it works fine- if you bother to either explore or read a frigging tutorial.

I just upgraded my old Lenovo 3000 n100 to win 8 pro. No touchscreen, BUT WHO CARES?!!!
1. Apps work fine with mouse. Like having a tablet with a keyboard. YOU CAN GET A LOT MORE DONE!

2. Infinitely faster than the old Vista OS I was using. I think it is better than Win 7. Also much more stable. Like a new machine!

3. Easy desktop access permits you to function pretty much as you do on Windows 7.

I paid $40 for the upgrade and have a new computer to show for it. Best money I EVER spent.

Microsoft needs to market the true benefits of Win 8. They are WAY too insecure about what they have!

It is not as easy to learn as earlier windows versions but not by much. And it works very well.

So it may not be the best deal in the world, but not the worst, correct? I just want one for my kid so she can do school work and play Minecraft. Maybe it should be $40 cheaper or a have more RAM but it looks good enough. Considering I just opened a $50 bottle of wine, I'm not worried about a little price difference one way or the other.

tab789 wrote:til I looked at the draft ov $7328, I accept that my best friend was like they say actualy receiving money part-time on their computer.. there aunts neighbour haz done this for only nineteen months and just repayed the dept on there villa and got a new Volkswagen Golf GTI. go to, Great70dotcom

Ladies and gentlemen, how about a big round of applause for the review writer from page one!

stevesds wrote:Lemme get this straight:
1. Refurb (aka USED,broken,fixed)
2. lousy 1366x768 rez
3. non-SSD drive
4. VGA webcam
5. 5.5 lbs
6. no touchscreen & comes with Win8
7. over $250

woot poops on the floor

Don't forget:
8. chiclet keyboard

Back when the Radio Shack Color Computer and Texas instruments 99/4 came out with the chiclet keyboard, there was huge outrage, and they had to quickly go back and put real keyboards on them (IT 99/4A). Handwriting is a lost skill. It looks like typing will soon follow.

I'd love to buy one of these, but the last five items I ordered from Woot, they shipped to the wrong address. When I try to straighten it out they tell me I need to return the merchandise which I don't have...I've been trading emails with these dolts (who have refused my request for a phone number) for weeks and they just get stupider. Old woot fixed their mistakes. Amazon owned woot IS a mistake!!

Man, I really wanted one but the site wouldn't process my card that I just used without issue 5 minutes ago on another website. This blows.

Guessing this doesn't ship with Win8 install media, how would one change out the HDD for another one?

Having worked at Intel, I know i5 is strong processor. This seems a good value. Want to know what exactly is reburbished? Is it just a return or something got fixed like on Motherboard. Thanks!

Computer hero here.

I have Windows 8 at home and at work. My work PC has a touchscreen and my home laptop does not. I actually find the touchscreen to be a bit of an arm-sore and prefer my mouse/eraser.

Even without the touchscreen, Windows 8 has nailed it. Hotspots in all the right places. A start menu that allows you to place the 5 or so apps you really use often as big live tiles.

Refurb can also mean excess stock or fully functional returns. I got a "refurb" Philips TV from woot... maybe 3 years ago? That thing is still rocking like a champion. Your other points are all valid though.

stevesds wrote:Lemme get this straight:
1. Refurb (aka USED,broken,fixed)
2. lousy 1366x768 rez
3. non-SSD drive
4. VGA webcam
5. 5.5 lbs
6. no touchscreen & comes with Win8
7. over $250

woot poops on the floor

Bought one 3 days ago. I was just wondering if anyone knows how long it generally takes for woot to ship. Ordered a different item the same day and it will be delivered today.