Pros: Low Price Point (check price here), 5.5 hour battery life, 4 GB of upgradable RAM, 500 GB of storage, lightweight.
Cons: Celeron CPU.
Asus has paved its way towards being one of the most important computer manufacturers in the world. How has it done so? By launching a diverse lineup of laptops that go from the low end entry level models all the way to gaming and developing laptops. Thus, the company has dozens of models available at any given time.
Today we're going to take a look at one of the most attractive entry level models launched by the company the last few months; the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10. The new laptop stands out thanks to its tight price point, Windows 10 integration and long lasting battery life. Wanna know more? Then don't be shy and read our in depth review of the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10!
Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 In Depth Review
Standard Display and good ergonomics
Let's get things started by tackling the display. In this case we've got a standard 15.6 inch display with an HD resolution (1366 by 768 pixels). Honestly, the display doesn't offer anything new but then again we didn't actually expect it to.
In terms of design, the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 is a pretty run of the mill laptop. It doesn't stick out with any flashy colors but rather opts for a discrete black with brushed metal polish on the keyboard mat. Speaking of the keyboard, it's a standard chiclet keyboard without backlit keys. Again, we urge you guys to remember the price point of this model.
Moving on to the ergonomics, the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 has a pretty light weight of just 4.8 pounds, this is light within the 15 inch category and it's thickness is also pretty ok with 1 inch of thickness.
All in all, it's not the most portable laptop in the market but it is well suited for students who need to carry around a 15 inch laptop but cant spend the several hundred dollars more that an ultrabook would require.
Celeron CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a pretty standard Graphics Card
We all know this is an entry level laptop so let's not kid ourselves, as some would say; the proof is in the pudding. Getting to the more technical aspect of our review of the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 we're going to delve into the CPU; an Intel Celeron N3050.
This is a good CPU, especially for what we would call "domestic tasks". That is; surfing the web, watching movies, skyping, editing documents and so forth. The Celeron N3050 was launched in Q1 of last year and so far it's garnered quite positive reviews when used for what it is intended (domestic tasks).
Spec-wise, the N3050 features 2 cores, 2 threads and clocks in at a standard speed of 1.6 GHz. It should be noted that this model does feature turbo boost and that when it activates such a function the speed springs up to a rapid 2.16 GHz.
In terms if RAM, we've got a pretty standard 4 GB of DDR3 SDRAM. This model is upgradable to 8 GB of RAM, however it only has one RAM slot therefore you should buy and 8 GB module if you wish to expand the RAM, something we really recommend.
Finally, as expected the graphics card is an integrated Intel HD Graphics card. This graphics card is good for watching HD movies and streaming HD tv shows but it should not be considered if you're looking for a gaming laptop. Actually the whole laptop should be discarded if that's your intention.
So what does this all mean?
All in all, the set of key specs tell us that this laptop was designed for students or people who have low demands of a laptop. It's not a particularly fast notebook but it will do most tasks without much hassle.
It's market is basically people looking for a secondary laptop to carry around, people looking for a laptop who barely use them for anything beyond what's been described and students who need a portable budget laptop to do their homework comfortably.
Let's talk Battery Life and Storage
While the Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 has entry level features when it comes to the CPU, RAM and Graphics Card, when we look at the battery life and storage the specs are on par with what you would find on most mid range notebooks.
This translates into a 5.5 hour battery life according to Asus and 500 GB of storage via a Hard Drive that runs at your standard speed of 5400 rpm.
These are pretty good numbers for both features and are probably the most attractive features within the laptop other then the inclusion of Windows 10 right off the bat.
What can I plug in?
We're reaching the end of our Asus X553SA-BHCLN10 review and it's time to start wrapping things up by talking about the connectivity. In this case we've got a b/g/n WiFi connection, Bluetooth 4.0, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 2.0 port, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet port and of course a card reader.
There's also no absence of a DVD reader, integrated webcam as well as your standard microphone and headphone jack.
Wrapping things up: Should I buy this laptop?
It's never truly easy to give a verdict when it comes to buying a laptop. The situation is quite simply never as black and white as most people would have it be. That said, one's needs should be considered before deciding if this is the right notebook for them.
Personally, being an intensive power user who does a lot of image and video editing this laptop would fall short for my personal needs. However, my girlfriend who isn't a complete geek such as myself and only uses her laptop on very specific instances would be thrilled with this notebook.
For people looking to do light weight computing tasks this is the perfect balance between price and performance.
For the more demanding users we would certainly recommend them to go for a more powerful model like the Asus F555LA-AB31. This laptop isn't that much more expensive and for a few extra bucks you get a Full HD display and a Core i3 CPU.