Got this machine at BB on 1/25/13 for $419 NEW. Win8 w/o touch screen not that bad once you get used to it, or just go to desktop and it does seem very similar to win7 (with a few mods). I'm pretty much a functional illiterate with the specs, etc, this unit seems fast enough for basic work, surfing, and photo editing. And, the price is right, if you can't find a deal on a new unit.

isnus wrote:If you can find a machine with higher resolution, an i5 or better, a touchscreen, and an SSD at this price point, please share with the rest of us.

Thank you! People complain about the prices on woot all the time, and yet they can't show us anywhere where there was a better deal! It's because they DO NOT EXIST. That HP laptop the other day was a great deal! And for $200 more than this you get a LOT more.

I have never tried Windows 8, but I have seen coworkers use it. To me, it doesn't seem like a touch screen would be that great for working on all day. Would your arm get tired holding it up all the time while you touch the screen? Seems like a repetitive motion type injury could occur. Currently, my mouse is on a pull out tray beneath my desktop, next to my keyboard. Very comfortable and ergonomic- requires minimum movement.

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

I wouldn't use Windows 8 on anything but a tablet or touchscreen device. Seriously.

This is a decent start, but for those who will be needing to take advantage of this I5, I would recommend changing the RAM to 8GB (about $45). You are sharing the RAM with the video and running a 64 bit OS- more ram would be nice. Spend another $180 and Newegg has a Samsung 240 series 250GB SSD. For a final price of about $630 you will have a pretty decent piece of hardware and a left over 500GB drive you can use for external storage (another $15 will get you a USB 3.0 enclosure). This will make for a great workstation- but you're still limited on gaming by the HD4000.

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.

Thank you God.
Here is what my awful quad core is:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A6-3420M+APU&id=22
about 2000 on the passmark scale.

i found that after the holidays there is so much open box stuff and the manager at bb took more of the price for me they will deal on the open box stuff you just gotta smooze the manager, thats bhow i got my deal

phila1fly wrote:i found that after the holidays there is so much open box stuff and the manager at bb took more of the price for me they will deal on the open box stuff you just gotta smooze the manager, thats bhow i got my deal

and for win 8 you really need touchscreen

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

Load Sourceforge's Classic Shell to get your Start Button back and you'll be alright, even without a touch screen.

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/

Did you read that review? It looks like it was written by someone who doesn't speak english well and it offers no insight into the laptops quality.

nmubob wrote:Who refurbished the Asus in todays Woot?

Guy's name was Walter but I didn't catch his last name.

phila1fly wrote:and for win 8 you really need touchscreen

Only the Metro interface 'needs' touch. It's better to think of Win8 as an upgrade from Win7 and not some touch-only tablet interface. It's got far more going for it than 'Metro'.

Asus builds a solid machine, I bought a similar i5 off the shelf at Best Buy and have been using it for my consulting business. I do database programming, it does everything I need it to do.

Does the HDMI out offer full 1080p? (I had an hp that could only do 960 via the hdmi port, which lead to either stretching or letterboxing on my 24" monitor)

logicape wrote:Only the Metro interface 'needs' touch. It's better to think of Win8 as an upgrade from Win7 and not some touch-only tablet interface. It's got far more going for it than 'Metro'.

whats metro? anyway i have touchscreen and a trackball so what ever i do its easy for me. i havent had a computer in a while tablet and smartphone only, so win 8 is driving me crazy

Please tell me what you're looking at! I want a quad core too and 550 sounds like a decent price!

mb9023 wrote:Dual Cores are kind of dying out, though this machine would probably be fine for basic student/work use. Internetting and documents and all that. $400 (refurbished) is a pretty decent price. Personally I would spend maybe another $150 and get a new one with quad core.

esearing wrote:The touch pad is very sensitive to the heat of the palm of my hands so Win8 keeps popping up the app screen in the middle of typing. Very frustrating.

Maybe instead of esearing you could be palmsearing?

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

If you remove the stupid Metro interface it is very nice.
Google up Ex7ForW8. Love it!

Cargo wrote:If you remove the stupid Metro interface it is very nice.
Google up Ex7ForW8. Love it!

What... you have issues with this?

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

This sound eerily similar to the bestbuy deal they had on black friday. I bought it that day but then found something better. About windows 8. it is pretty annoying without touch screen. I ended up using the desktop feature which is similar to windows 7 minus several conveinces. So windows 8 is usable without touchscreen, but almost all the features are useless without touch screen. E.g: to close apps you have to press alt+f4. there is no button to click. with touch screen you would be able to do a hand motion to do so. This is just one of the small annoyances windows 8 without touch screen provide

Tax in NY!!!
No love
that's holding me back from buying

jzhu625 wrote:Tax in NY!!!
No love
that's holding me back from buying

Somehow they need to find the revenue to get the Jets a real QB.

What kind of memory would I get to expand this up to 8GB?


ah.. found it comes with a 1600 stick so I'm getting this..
"G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)" found it online for $24 free shipping.

gak0090 wrote:Somehow they need to find the revenue to get the Jets a real QB.

Totally agree! if no tax I would have bought one already

nullvalu wrote:What kind of memory would I get to expand this up to 8GB?

Would this work? "4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory"

They are suggesting this:

PC3-12800 1600Mhz DDR3 SDRAM SO DIMM 204-pin


http://www.datamemorysystems.com/dms-memory/asustek-computer/k55a-hi5103d.htm

you can probably check Asus site for sure

gak0090 wrote:They are suggesting this...

Thanks. I'm not a hardware guy.. CAS Latency 9 or 11 - does it really matter?

nullvalu wrote:Thanks. I'm not a hardware guy.. CAS Latency 9 or 11 - does it really matter?

Ideally the lower the CAS latency the better. But- you are better off with more dependable RAM than trying to find the lowest latency. Check Newegg for reviews before you buy it- it's an excellent source for good user reviews.

gak0090 wrote:Ideally the lower the CAS latency the better. But- you are better off with more dependable RAM than trying to find the lowest latency. Check Newegg for reviews before you buy it- it's an excellent source for good user reviews.

Thanks went with a GSkill 9CL for a $1 more... brand seems to get good reviews.

nullvalu wrote:Thanks went with a GSkill 9CL for a $1 more... brand seems to get good reviews.

I've always had good luck with GSkill. I think I might go for this deal too. I might have a buyer for my current laptop, and this is definitely a step up.

I bought one...got sucked into the Woot vortex.

I'm not usually into refurbs, if I hadn't already bought a laptop I would seriously consider this. ASUS is quality. Their electronics are reliable and well-designed.

It'd be a much better deal if it had Windows 7....

I need to cancel my order of this item. What do I do?
It hasn't shipped yet. I ordered about an hour ago.

wootalyzer wrote:Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
Asus 15.6" Dual-Core i5 Laptop
$399.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

the K stands for Killer.

You can get the same laptop at Best Buy for $449.99 new right now.

You have to decide for yourself if $50 is worth getting refurbished vs. new.

talldentonboi wrote:I need to cancel my order of this item. What do I do?
It hasn't shipped yet. I ordered about an hour ago.

Contact Woot using the support link above.

zlot wrote:It'd be a much better deal if it had Windows 7....

Dude- I hate the metrosexual tile theme also, but there are some performance enhancements that are built in. There are several 3rd party utilities that make this look and feel like windows 7 even adding your own personal customization to it. RetroUI pro and classic shell are a couple- just google "make windows 8 work like windows 7" and you'll find plenty of stuff about this. I still think MS sucks for shoving this theme down your throat- but at least there are ways around it.

sjlee wrote:You can get the same laptop at Best Buy for $449.99 new right now.

You have to decide for yourself if $50 is worth getting refurbished vs. new.

More like $76.50 if you are counting the tax (Indiana 7%)- if you are one of those unfortunate Jets fans that has to pay tax via woot, you might as well buy new.

slvador wrote:This sound eerily similar to the bestbuy deal they had on black friday. I bought it that day but then found something better. About windows 8. it is pretty annoying without touch screen. I ended up using the desktop feature which is similar to windows 7 minus several conveinces. So windows 8 is usable without touchscreen, but almost all the features are useless without touch screen. E.g: to close apps you have to press alt+f4. there is no button to click. with touch screen you would be able to do a hand motion to do so. This is just one of the small annoyances windows 8 without touch screen provide

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.