Asus X550CA-SI30303S-R 15.6 inch Laptop Review

Asus X550CA-SI30303S-R 15.6 inch Laptop Review

15.6" Asus X550CA Notebook PC
via Amazon



Red Asus X550CA is a 15.6 inch laptop with reasonable specs and entry-level price. Its 3rd generation Intel i3 CPU is suitable for home entertainment, school stuff or home office tasks- internet surfing, spreadsheets and text editing, watching videos, listening to music and everything else but not so much advanced multimedia editing and high end gaming- which would be hard at this price range.

Asus X550CA comes with an Ivy Bridge Intel Core dual core i3-3217U (3MB L3 Cache) processor (energy efficient ULV) at 1.8GHz with hyper threading function and enables the dual core to perform at smart 4 way processing, 4GB DDR3 RAM for smooth multitasking without constant lags or freezing and can go up to 6GB, 500GB hard drive at 5400rpm as storage space with adequately fast read/write times that would be enough for most customer users unless saving huge files all the time. The system is capable of running low to mid-range games like Team fortress 2 and Fifa 13 easily and latest games at lower settings. Both the 4GB RAM and the 500GB are the common memory and storage space for computers at budget to medium level. It comes pre-installed with the 64-bit Windows 8 operating system and please go ahead and upgrade it to Windows 8.1 for free on Microsoft store.

Asus X550CA-SI30303S-R 15.6 inch Laptop Review
You have the 15.6 inch LED backlit non-touchscreen display with Intel HD Graphics 4000 and a max resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels supporting 720p video playback offers sufficiently clear and detailed picture and nice colours. You can always use the HDMI connection to hook up to your HDTV to see or do things on a larger screen. The integrated 1.0MP webcam with a built-in microphone is good for live chats with people. You also have the Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, 802.11n WLAN wireless, Digital media reader that supports Secure Digital format, 1 x USB 3.0 port and 1 x USB 2.0 port, 10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet with RJ-45 connector, an HDMI port, Combo audio jack and a VGA port.

Red glossy finish with concentric circles stylish Asus X550CA weighs 5.1 lbs. and has the dimensions of 9.90 x 15 x 1.25 inches and it allows easy portability. The keyboard is non-backlit and chiclet style so you can type comfortably with also its 10-key numeric keypad on the side for easier data entry. The 4-cell 2600 mAh 37Whrs li-on battery should give you around 3-4 hours of battery life in average use, being an Energy Star qualified computer with its ULV 3rd generation processor and LED backlit display. You get 30 day’s free trial of Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium already installed.

Conclusion Red Asus X550CA-SI30303S-R is a nice looking notebook with good specs and features for efficiency in day-to-day computing. The Intel i3 processor is powerful, 4GB RAM and 500GB hard drive are both sufficient. It comes with a DVD drive but only two USB ports (one of each) and no Bluetooth (USB dongle costs only a few dollars), the keyboard is not backlit and the screen is non-touch which are probably very rare at this price level. Windows 8 comes with a little bit of a learning curve, the option to update it to 8.1 makes it more attractive. The LED backlit display is very clear and the sound is quite all right. Don’t expect a super computer with the highest technical specs but for how much it costs, it offers great value overall.

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