I honestly didn't want to get to that point, but something needed to be done. Best to start the hunt for a new one while I could still use the Sony and not go out buying one in a panic the day she actually died.
The hunt lasted for weeks...so I'm glad she did too!
I'm not one for a purchase without lots and lots of research. I was exhausted by the time I found the chosen one, Asus Q504. Being an artist, I needed beauty as well as brains.
I've had this machine for several months now and really have very little to complain about.
The body is brushed aluminium with beautiful chrome hinges.
I will not go into anything about Win 10 because that honestly has nothing to do with the machine. That would simply be the operating system...and ALL the machines have it.
Pros:
The screen display is full HD and simply beautiful. Being an artist, as I mentioned earlier, this is important to me. I need to bring up digital images of my work and need a great visual for this.
The speakers...these must be the best speakers I've seen yet on any laptop. The sound is full and not tinny and the volume is so good that much of the time I need to keep the level down to 60%, and that's plenty loud enough even for music.
Battery life, about 5 hrs. depending on usage. This may not be enough for some, but for me it's good.
Keypad is good. Nice response and separate number pad. I love using a wireless mouse, so I rarely use the track-pad. There's comfortable wrist space as well.
So far I've been able to use it for hours without any real heating up. That's a plus since my last machine would get quite heated in a short time.
There is a "touch" screen, and while I have very little use for that, it works well.
Back-lit keyboard. Didn't think I'd care about that, but it's nice.
Cons:
No CD/DVD drive. Oh well. At first I had said I would not buy one without, but this machine answered all my needs except for that...so I bought an external one. I do wish that the companies would go back to including them since they honestly are handy and take up little space. My husband has a very nice low profile Lenovo which includes the dvd. Still nice and thin, so it can be done.
It has 12 GB ram, but honestly, that's something that doesn't really seem to make a serious difference from, let's say, 8GB. Like most things, getting a tiny bit more isn't really worth it if it's going to cost much more.
One item I'm getting used to, but it can annoy, is the "numbers lock". Every time you boot the machine up, the number lock is on...even if it wasn't when you shut it down. It'll be fine and stay the way you leave it if you simply wake the machine from sleep mode, but upon a restart/boot up, it's back to lock position. Minor issue, but there.
One item with this machine is both a Pro & Con. It has the ability to convert to a tablet.
While this sounds nice, a 15 1/2" machine makes for a "big" tablet. Not comfortable to use that way, so it would only be useful in particular situations. One "con" with the process of making the tablet switch is that there seems to be a glitch in the system with knowing when to turn off the physical keyboard. Seems that as you fold the laptop into position, it will engage and disengage the keyboard at random points. Since I don't like using a laptop of this size as a tablet anyway, not a problem for me. For others, this could be a problem.
Bottom line, this machine has much more than your basic laptop. Great quality as well as good looks.
The pluses are far more than the minuses which are few, and really one can be considered a minus depending on how you use your computer.
I'm personally very happy with this choice after several months of use and hope to be feeling the same, years from now.
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