Pros: Quad Core AMD CPU, 8 GB of RAM, Full HD display, 256GB SSD, spectacular price.
Cons: Not much information available.
Asus has really stepped it up lately with very interesting and affordable launches such as the F555LA-AB31 or one of its most recent launches, the Asus X555DA-AS11. This new laptop stands out because of its stellar features such as its 256 GB SSD, Full HD display coupled with a killer price. Today we're going to cut right to it and tell you everything you need (and don't need) to know about this particular model in our review of the Asus X555DA-AS11.
Asus X555DA-AS11 Review of a budget Full HD laptop with SSD storage
Display and Design
Truthfully, the design on the Asus X555DA-AS11 doesn't really stand out from the rest of its budget laptop line. It has a nice professional look with a black cover that doesn't really give into the hype of flashy colors or false aluminium cases. It boosts a plastic body but, according to customer reviews, it's not the cheap kind.
One of the biggest highlights in this model is its display. A 15.6 inch IPS LED screen with a Full HD resolution and a standard 16:9 aspect ratio. This will make for a great display for watching movies, chatting it up with friends and doing some gaming, though it should be noted this is not a gaming laptop.
What's within the laptop?
Since design isn't that much of a deal on this model, Asus bet all its chips on the internal hardware and boy did it pay off. Inside the X555DA-AS11 we'll find an AMD A10-8700P processor. This is a quad core processor with a clock speed of 1.8 GHz that can go all the way to 3.2 GHz.
If you come from Intel laptops and don't really know what this means we'll tell you that this particular model would resemble the Intel Core i5-6200U skylake processor, which is one of Intel's latest launches.
RAM is also one of this laptops defining features since it holds 8 GB of DDR3 RAM. In a day and age where most laptops at this price point still come with 4 GB, 8 GB sounds like a pretty sweet deal, especially when you're an intensive multitasker who's not looking to compromise performance.
Gaming isn't completely off the table though we wouldn't recommend this notebook for that purpose. To the point, we've got an AMD Radeon R6 integrated graphics chip which, upon digging for some info on the matter we come up with the conclusion that this model is good for games such as Fifa 16 and Metal Gear Solid V at low settings.
What's so special about the storage and battery life?
Along with the CPU and FULL HD display, possibly the biggest selling point this laptop has on its side is its storage. Specifically we've got a 256 GB SSD module. Those of you who have been looking at laptops for a while know that it is incredibly rare to not say unheard of to find a budget laptop with such a massive SSD storage.
Normally we would find a Hard Drive with 1 TB of capacity but the difference in speed between an SSD module and a traditional hard drive is really noticeable.
I'm a geek and all but i'll admit there's a lot of things in a laptop that I can live without. I don't mind the absence of an optical drive or to have few ports. However, speed is important to me. Quick boot up and boot down is important to me and an SSD like such provides just that; speedy performance.
Unfortunately there's no info available on the battery life of this particular model. However, given the specs of this model we would dare assume that we're looking at a battery life amongst the 4-5 hour spectrum. It might even be more when we take into account the SSD but we wouldn't want to give out false hope by stating a bigger number.
Anything else?
As expected we've got Windows 10, a VGA webcam, fast WiFi ac (up to 3 times faster than standard b/g/n) connectivity and a few USB 3.0 ports as well as Bluetooth 4.0. There's also a DVD tray in case you wanna go ahead and pop up a movie the old fashioned way.
What's the conclusion?
We love this laptop and after our review of the Asus X555DA-AS11 and believe it offers a spectacular value for its current pricing. We've never seen a laptop with 256 GB of SSD storage so cheap, not to mention with a top notch processor as well as a Full HD display.
The main drawback is that there doesn't seem to be much information available on this particular laptop, therefore there could potentially be some information portrayed in a wrongful manner.
Either way, we would still jump head on and purchase it, worst case scenario it's specs don't match up and you end up returning it. Best case scenario you bought a laptop with high end specs at what's basically little over an entry level price point. You can hit up this model's pricing and availability over here.