Found an affordable laptop that can handle almost all games. Magic? No, Asus X555B

For 5 years now I have been looking every day on the screen of a 13-inch MacBook. At first it was a 2012 model, and now it is a 2016 model.

But sometimes I look with envy at 15-inch models of Windows laptops, imagining what it would be like - work and play on the big screen. This is more space, you don't need to squint and is generally much more comfortable.

Therefore, when new ASUS laptops were brought to the editorial office - one ( firelight!), one and one 15 ″ for the home, for the family, I did not hesitate to choose the latter for the test.

And he didn’t regret it a bit, because the machine turned out to be powerful enough and convenient both for work and for entertainment like computer games.

3 times cheaper, but more

I opted for an Asus X series laptop, model X555B. This 15-inch laptop, and this is exactly the case when the laptop fulfills every penny.

Add here a relatively low weight in 2.2 kg and it turns out a machine for every day, which will help to work and to have fun playing games.

In general, the ASUS X555B series of laptops has been produced for several years, each time with an updated filling. At the moment, there are different types of configurations for this particular laptop, from the "typewriter" to the impressive, which and " Cruzis»Will pull without problems.

I have in my hands a model with a mediocre configuration, specifically for home non-extreme use. And I like her.

The material is plastic, but pleasant to the touch, matte. The lid is also matte, with a laconic Asus logo. There are no prints left on such, you do not need to shake over the laptop with a cloth.

The lid opens with effort - you can't open it with one hand. But if you have opened it, then hold on: the keyboard is just mega-quiet. After the crackling of the keys, the MacBook simply caresses the ear.

And if you add here the soft stroke of the buttons, then you feel that you have comprehended Zen: you want to type praises to this keyboard without stopping. Of the minuses, I would like to note a slight punching of the plastic in the center of the keyboard when typing. This is noticeable visually, but does not affect the quality and speed of printing.

The dimensions of the Asus X555B laptop are 38.2 × 25.6 × 2.58 cm... Yes, it makes no sense to compare it in size with a MacBook, because this is a laptop with a really large 15.6 ″ screen, which looks like a new world after a 13-inch Proshka.

Screen resolution - HD, matte finish. The colors are not very saturated, but this can be easily corrected by adjusting the screen with the standard utility. On a matte screen, the image is clearly legible even in sunlight or backlight. True, the TN matrix can create an inversion when changing the angle, but with this you need just accept.

You can also communicate via Skype, since there is a camera "eye" with a resolution of 0.3 megapixels. For uninterrupted video communication - the norm.

The filling is normal. Checked out in the wasteland

One of the main features of the X555B laptop, which is still costs only 35,990 rubles, is the SOUND. The two built-in speakers are loud - no external speakers needed when watching movies or playing games.

For those who like to delve into the settings ( like me), the laptop has pre-installed audio control utilities: ASUS SonicMaster and Audio Wizard.

With the help of the latter, you can activate one of 5 preset profiles, depending on what is happening on the laptop: games, music, film, speech or recording.

The laptop is running Windows 10, and of course the first thing I did was install Steam and installed Mad Max, which I really wanted to get to the end.

Frankly, I haven't seen laptops cheaper than 40,000 rubles for a long time, which easily pull fresh enough games, without having to play with resolution and effects on / off.

The laptop is noisy and heats up within normal limits, without any discomfort. The body is warming up, but so that you can fry the eggs - there is no such thing.

There is more than enough RAM - 8 Gigabytes of DDR4 standard with a bus frequency of 2133 MHz. If you wish, you can finish off the "brains" up to 16 GB with your own hands.

The ports on the sides of the laptop brought a special joy: there is a pair USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI and VGA outputs, combined audio jack and card reader.

Of the interfaces I have long forgotten, I found an Ethernet connector and a card reader, but there is no optical drive - in its place is a decorative plug.

You can live without a MacBook. And play

The Asus X555B laptop successfully replaced my MacBook Pro for a whole week. I'm used to looking at the big screen, working with texts, and at home, game consoles were covered with a layer of dust, because in my Steam library there are more than 300 purchased games, many of which were purchased on the occasion of sales and have never even been launched.

Summing up the results of using a Windows laptop as the main work and entertainment tool, I want to note the following pros and cons.

Minuses:

• Dimensions and weight. I don't want to carry a "tag" with me on business trips
• Autonomous work. With office use, the battery lasts for 4 hours, but by launching the game, you can drop all the energy in literally an hour
• Lack of keyboard backlighting

But the pluses much more:

• Performance. Handles many games on decent graphonium settings
• Convenience. Soft and almost silent keyboard, it is a pleasure to type
• Large, bright 15-inch screen. Thing
• An understandable and convenient "Windows". No dancing with a tambourine when trying to connect a USB flash drive, for example
• Quiet operation even in network "notches", heating of the case within comfortable limits
• Decent appearance. The assembly is of high quality, the plastic does not creak, the lid does not dangle

Overall, I'm happy with the way the non-Apple laptop market is evolving. Considering the reasonable price of this Asus, I think to start one as a home "machine", because so many games have not been played yet.

Thanks to ASUS Shop for the laptop submitted for review.

• Asus X555B is disassembled very quickly: - it's just a gift of some kind!

The laptop itself will be delivered free of charge to any city in Russia. They will also give 6 additional months of warranty.

The rapid development of mobile technologies cannot be kept up. Mobile devices are getting smaller, and their "filling" is becoming more technological. But, despite this, laptops do not give up their positions and continue to occupy most of the counters in specialized stores.

Asus X555L is one of the most interesting new products on the market. It successfully combines design and performance and build quality, and a fairly low weight, and all this at a very democratic price.

The Asus X555L will be comfortable as a gaming desktop laptop and as a “typewriter”. Not too much weight, there will be no obstacle for everyday carrying in a bag on the shoulder.

Appearance

The plastic above the panel is dark blue with a texture that prevents fingerprints on the surface. In the center of the lid flaunts the Asus branded emblem, made of metal. The bottom panel is also made of dark textured plastic.

The case of the Asus X555L laptop is ergonomic, it is very comfortable to hold in your hands and it will never slip out. For greater stability on the surface, the laptop is equipped with rubberized feet on the back.

The bottom of the laptop has a convenient cover for accessing the memory slot. On the left is the radiator grill. This Asus model has a well thought out cooling system.

The laptop weighs 2.3 kg and the case is 26 cm thick, which makes this model a relatively thin device.

Ports and communications

On the right are the SD card slot, USB 2.0, headphone and microphone jack, as well as the power jack and DVD drive.

On the front of the laptop, there is an indication of the hard drive operation, charge status, an airplane mode indicator, and an indicator that indicates the power supply from the mains.

In the usual place is the webcam and microphone, namely in the frame of the screen.

The keyboard is very comfortable, island type. The keys are soft and do not have long travel and characteristic clicks. The keyboard has a number pad, the English alphabet is highlighted in white, and the Russian alphabet is highlighted in green

The touchpad usually has one key, divided by a line into right and left. The surface of the touchpad is comfortable and sensitive to the touch and does not require significant effort from the user.

The laptop has two speakers at the edges, above the keyboard, with average sound quality and volume.

Display

The display is 15.6 inches and has reasonably good color reproduction and contrast for a laptop in the budget price segment. Image on

this screen turns out to be juicy, bright and contrasting. The screen has small viewing angles, but they are quite enough for comfortable work.

Performance

The Asus X555L is powered by an Intel Core i5-4210U dual-core microprocessor. Data safety is ensured by a Toshiba 500 GB hard drive. Responsible for the graphics is the Nvidia GeForce GT 840M graphics card. The RAM size is 8 GB.

Autonomous operation, noise and heating

Laptop Asus X555L in stand-alone mode is capable of working more than 1.65 hours in gaming mode and from 4 hours in surfing the Internet. The laptop has an advanced cooling system that adjusts to the operating mode of the laptop and enhances cooling at a time when the processor is at its maximum. At the same time, the noise level of the laptop itself and its components does not cause discomfort.

Asus is a well-known Taiwanese company that can be safely called a flagship in the laptop market. The company's products cover a fairly wide range of users, because the corporation produces both budget and expensive laptops. Moreover, the guys from Asus are not afraid to experiment. The company is releasing new lines of laptops with enviable frequency. And new items are not alterations of old laptops with a different price tag and a couple of additional functions, as many well-known corporations like to do.

Each line of laptops is innovative, boldly bringing something new. Of course, such experiments are not always justified, but the guys at Asus learn from their mistakes. It is for this reason that the Asus family includes a lot of interesting devices.

In this article, we will take a look at the recently released device labeled X555LD. What is this laptop? Is it worth buying a new one? Answers to these and many other questions you can find in this review.

Asus X555LD: overview

The development of the device went unnoticed by the public. The guys from "Asus" did not make any loud announcements in the style of Apple, did not arrange a PR campaign. Nevertheless, the Asus X555LD became very popular in the first days of sales. What was the reason?

The Asus X555LD is a pretty powerful machine that boasts high performance. For a relatively low price, the device opens up a lot of possibilities for the user. In addition, the lack of competitors affected. In its price range, the Asus X555LD is the best laptop with no worthy competition. Do you want to know more about this device? Welcome to this review!

Design

The first thing that catches your eye is the appearance of the devices. It is immediately noticeable that the designers from Asus did their best. Despite the fact that the device is made, rather, in a business style, the laptop looks quite presentable. Clear, strict lines once again emphasize the restraint of the computer. The classic silver-black body of the new laptop pays homage to the previous lines from Asus. Everything is very laconic. There are no unnecessary details that could distract the user. In terms of design, the device is pretty versatile. The laptop will look great with a business suit, but it looks good when paired with casual wear.

The bottom of the laptop looks pretty angry. There you can see ventilation grilles and a compartment inside which contains a memory module and two stereo speakers. The panel begins to taper noticeably towards the front edge.

The 258mm (closed) laptop case is made of durable high quality plastic. It is a little rough to the touch, so the device does not strive to slip out of the hand. The build quality of the laptop is, as always, top notch. There are no backlashes and creaks.

But not without a fly in the ointment. One of the main disadvantages of the device is its rather large dimensions. The Asus X555LD XX116H weighs about 2.5 kilograms, which excludes a number of possible uses of the device. For example, you are unlikely to be able to carry your laptop to work or school all the time.

Input device

The Asus X555LD boasts a pretty decent chiclet keyboard. The keys are very responsive to every press. And the distance between them is quite large, which makes it possible to reduce the probability of a misklik to zero. The click when pressed is not heard at all, which is undoubtedly a plus. Unfortunately, there is no backlight. The keyboard is great for speed typing.

The touchpad looks stylish and is pleasing to the eye. pleasant to the touch and does not cause any complaints. The sensitivity is also great - no user movement will be ignored. We can say that the Asus X555LD XO825H has excellent input devices. In any case, the keyboard and touchpad from Asus are much better than those of the competitors.

Performance

The laptop has a dual-core processor from Intel labeled i3 4010U. It can be safely classified as economical. Despite the fact that the processor includes a whole bunch of components, it consumes quite a bit of power. In addition, the Asus X555LD has two built-in video adapters. The first is a video chip from the same Intel called HD Graphics 4400. This video card is active only during simple tasks such as surfing the Internet, reading, etc.

The main job is taken over. Although this video card cannot boast of prohibitive power, it does an excellent job of running various games and other three-dimensional applications. Switching between the two graphics chips is handled by Nvidia Optimus technology. This is quite rare in touchpads. Therefore, it is worthy of attention at least for the use of such an innovative technology.

A classic hard drive with a capacity of 500 gigabytes is used to store user data. The popular Windows 8 system is already installed on it. However, if the user has something against the "eight", then the default operating system can be easily demolished and put whatever your heart desires.

Thanks to the well-coordinated work between the processor and graphics cards, the laptop has excellent performance. With the help of Asus X555LD XX116H, you can surf the Internet, watch movies, listen to music, etc. without any slack. Moreover, the X555LD is capable of running even modern games at low or medium graphics settings. For example, Far Cry 4 at low gives a stable 26 FPS, Watch Dogs - 25 FPS, Unity - 15 FPS. That is, the Asus X555LD XX116H laptop can be considered not only a work device, but also, to some extent, a gaming device.

Display

Perhaps the device's weakest point is the glossy 15.6-inch display. Poor image brightness and poor color reproduction, which cannot be corrected even after lengthy custom adjustments, are disappointing. At the same time, the screen does not have any anti-reflective coating. Therefore, it is unlikely that it will be possible to comfortably work with a laptop outside on a sunny day.

The viewing angles are rather limited. If you look directly at the screen, then everything is perfectly visible. But once you deviate a little, a noticeable distortion in color and brightness begins. The contrast, fortunately, is at a fairly high level. In general, you can work and watch movies on the device. But the screen will not satisfy all the needs of the discerning user.

Ports

The Asus X555LD XO825H contains all modern interfaces. There are three USB connectors, two video outputs, and even a wired Ethernet network. Among the wireless standards, there is only Wi-Fi, which is more than enough. BlueTooth is missing, which is not such a big loss. The X555LD boasts a built-in optical drive that reads CS and DVDs. For modern devices, this is a rarity.

The laptop also has a built-in camera with a resolution of 720 pixels. It is simply gorgeous and delivers high-quality images even in low light. With its help, you can safely conduct various videoconferences or simply communicate with friends via Skype. Also, the camera takes fairly high-quality pictures, which simply cannot but rejoice. The built-in microphone also raises no complaints. The sound is crisp and clear.

Autonomous work

The laptop consumes very little power (10 W during the execution of the simplest tasks, 40 W - with large computing loads). Surely this was achieved thanks to the aforementioned Nvidia Optimus technology. But the manufacturer did not bother installing a good battery with a large capacity. The Asus X555LD is equipped with a lithium polymer battery with a capacity of only 4840 mAh.

Nevertheless, the laptop has a rather mediocre battery life. Like other devices of this class, Asus X555LD 90NB0622 works continuously without connecting to the network for 4-5 hours at low loads. During complex computing processes, this figure drops to 3 hours.

Noise and cooling

The X555LD is a pretty powerful device. As you know, the scourge of all powerful laptops is overheating and noise. Fortunately, the brainchild of "Asus" does not suffer from these ailments. Thanks to the same Nvidia Optimus system, which intelligently distributes the load, the laptop heats up very little. If the temperature does start to rise, the cooling system is activated. It works quite efficiently and practically does not make noise. At the same time, the temperature does not exceed 37 degrees, even with large computing loads. Therefore, damage to the components does not threaten the device.

The device has a lot of advantages. And buyers simply could not fail to note this. Many praise the laptop for its amazing design, high performance, good autonomy, comfortable Among the minuses, users notice low ergonomics and a rather poor display.

The controversial factor is the price of the device. To become a happy owner of Asus X555LD, you need to pay about 45,000 rubles. On the one hand, this is a huge amount, and not every user can afford this laptop. On the other hand, today's market is overrun with less worthy devices for even more money. Against their background, the cost of the X555LD laptop looks quite acceptable.

Output

The Asus X555LD is an excellent laptop that has a lot of advantages. Perhaps the main feature of this gadget is the state-of-the-art Nvidia Optimus technology, which makes this laptop so unique. Thanks to it, the X555LD has high performance without overheating. The brainchild of "Asus" will allow the user to play modern demanding games and work with heavy programs (like 3D MAX, etc.).

Of course, the laptop has its drawbacks, but they pale in comparison to the advantages. If you need a powerful device and are willing to pay for quality, then the Asus X555LD is the best choice. If you need a gadget exclusively for work and Internet surfing, then it is better to turn your attention to more budget models. The same Asus have decent options. For example, you can mark X200MA or E202SA.

Acquired this laptop from DNS when it was a hit. I trusted the seller, because I had to urgently buy something within 30 thousand (at that time it cost around 27), there was no time to search the Internet and choose something on my own.

I will say right away that the laptop did not upset me at least. Further - I will describe the nuances.

Let's get acquainted with the characteristics:

• Intel® Pentium® Processor N3700
• Windows 10 Home
• RAM DDR3 1333 MHz SDRAM, 1x DIMM slot
• Display 15.6 "inch, HD (1366x768) pixels
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 920M Graphics, Integrated Intel HD Graphics
• Data Storage - 500GB HDD 5400
• Card Reader 3-in-1 Card Reader (SDHC / SD / SDXC)
• VGA webcam
• Network Built-in 802.11 b / g / n, Ethernet baud rate 100/10
• Interfaces 1x HDMI, 1x RJ-45 connector, 1x USB 3.0 port (s), 1 x USB 2.0 port (s), 1x audio combo jack, 1x analog video output (D-Sub)
• Audio Built-in speakers and microphone
• Battery 37 Wh, 2 cells,
• Power supply 19 V, 1.74 A, 65 W
• Dimensions (L x W x H) 38.2 x 25.6 x 2.58 cm
• Weight 2.3 kg

If we talk about the processor, then (according to the seller and according to many reviews) this processor (Intel) comes out better than AMD, for example, even with slightly higher frequencies (Hz). And Intel has a much better cooling situation. So, compared to my old laptop, this is much more pleasant to work with! It really hardly heats up (though I didn't load it to capacity), and very quiet (+++).

The sound is pleasing, it is really "clean and powerful" - as it says on the sticker. Sometimes I like watching movies better with speakers, even than with an audio system and bass.

The graphics, in my opinion, are decent, but the standard level for the present time.

With everyday tasks - it really copes. I took it in order to work in Photoshop, actively surf the Internet, switch between several not very demanding programs. He does this quite quickly, enough for me. It also loads quickly (if you turn off updates, Windows 10 loves to play with them for more than an hour, but it depends not so much on the laptop as on the OS).

As it has already become clear, it is worth Windows 10. I switched to it from the seven, at first it was inconvenient for me to handle a bunch of "self-willed" new OS - it installs updates, offers me applications (that is, it goes online and does whatever it wants). But if you turn off the unnecessary, it's very good. But this, of course, is the taste and color. But the interface is stylish

Everything, of course, is not so smooth.

Firstly, not immediately (there is almost no need for this now), I realized that he does not have a floppy drive)) There is a stub there. Such is the lightweight model. But disks are already in the past, so it's not scary. But the plus is that it is light and thin! It is very convenient to move, and even to carry around the house.

Connectors for USB - there are only two of them on one side (left). those. connect one mouse and a USB flash drive.

Now this is enough for me, and if suddenly the need arises, you can buy a USB hub, and for disks - a portable drive.

Charge. The battery lasts for several hours. I can't say for sure, but probably at 3-4 (I watched two films and worked a little more on one charge). The charging itself is also convenient and not very cumbersome. There is a minus here - the battery is not a separate battery, but a built-in one. Once the battery is out of date, I don’t know how easy it will be to change it.