K42J meet X540U
+ The Backstory +
(If you're not a fan of my endless ramblings go skip to the actual review part)
It's been months of me planning to get myself a new laptop but I don't have the heart to do so. This is officially (not including my condo) the most expensive purchase I'll be doing but even so, I would like to keep my price list between 30-40k PHP which I think is good enough for a mid range laptop. I know I could go as high as 50k if need be but that is stretching it. I might need to detach my head from my body while swiping my card! For gadgets we all know that cash is always good but I feel like I shouldn't because I'm prepping my finances in case the Japan Visa is a go (crossing my fingers BF's docs to be released soon). Besides, my credit is really good. I rarely need to pay anything every month so might as well use it for something as important as this.
My first target was the Microsoft Surface Pro. It went as wild as me planning to convince the BF for us to go to HK to get a better deal where the pen and alcara keyboard is included (new Surface pro has all accessories sold separately). But alas the price with all the accessories I would like to have I would end up around 70k! Granted that I'd hit some of my specs list but not even getting 1 TB would not justify that price.
The next target was Lenovo 720S. I fell in love with the specs and the price when I asked it with one of the models for the roadshow. Unfortunately she doesn't know much when it comes to pricing because her assumption of 30k is in real life 40k less. It comes around 70k++.
Desperate, I did something I don't do: I actually went to computer shops and got myself price lists of all the laptop brands I could get my hands on. After all the deliberations, I ended up with Lenovo 520S (the one with the pen). I am so inclined in getting it THAT I ALMOST BOUGHT IT on the day of the 3 Day Sale at Megamall if only I wasn't tired hauling the cookie pans I had replaced earlier that day. I convinced myself in grabbing lunch and willed myself to walk away. Also the BF is not comfortable with the price tag. It was almost 50k. It hit almost everything I hoped for that are essentially OK NOT to have (but amazing to get nonetheless) but still, the price is really expensive. With that I decided to stick with my budget of 30k to 40k.
+ The Specs Wish List +
*Not arranged in order
- 1 TB HDD (I found one laptop with 2TB but i5 processor, others have an additional 128GB up SSD on top of the 1 TB)
- i7 Processor
- not BLACK ( a different color is nice, preferably gold)
- Windows 10
- atleast 4GB RAM
- NVIDIA graphics card (at least 4GB)
- Touchscreen
- Pen capable
- 15 inches
- reasonably slim
- fingerprint reader
- really good speakers
+ My Old Laptop +
It's maybe 14 inches but the bezel is really thick. I do some amateur photo editing and free commissions so I kind of disdain the part when I always have to repetitively zoom in and out almost everytime when I work. So when I first opened GIMP in X540 I was blown away, like really. The real estate of that machine was so large from what I'm used to that I could not believe that the Single Window mode could ever look more glorious.
Also the K42J tends to heat A LOT. It burns the skin that I really need a cooler just to use it on my lap. Even pillows grow warmer the longer I use it. I don't know if this has caused the really muffled speakers but I'm guessing it has. And the keyboard too. In fact I now refuse to replace my keyboard (this would be the 3rd keyboard if ever, counting the original as keyboard 1) because I felt like the problem would not go away now. I was able to live a few weeks now not ever using CAPS and TAB, and then sometime the letter M. But when the numbers stopped working I can't even login anymore. When I woke up the next day I was truly decided I'm going to purchase my first laptop (K42J was a gift from my mom).
It's not as if I'm just buying it on a whim, my laptop is really showing it's age. The monitor already has so many dead pixels that seem to grow everyday (upper left). Battery died on me probably around a year already as well. It really was a good machine. It's just that like all machines do, they eventually wear out. Sometime soon it may not even open anymore :-(.
+ My New Laptop +
On the day that I purchased X540U, I had already scoured the stores in Cyberzone MOA. If memory serves, one of the stores offers it around 36k (?) but in pure cash. Again I'm not parting with cold cash like that so I gave it a pass. Another store was giving me a free mouse and a speaker as soon as I'm out of their door. The other one wasn't as convincing but told me they could give it to me with a 1000 store credit which I could use to purchase additional accessories. I had my mind set in buying it there in favor of giving me the 1k PHP discount instead for an MS Office but the girl who assisted me that night (Saturday, the day before) was missing.
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So I ended up at Asianic. I remembered the one who assisted me the night before was a bit creepy and I didn't stick around for too long. Today though the lady who stood next to me was really easy to talk to. I was asking for payment terms (I was hoping to get the Buy Now Pay Later option*) but we unfortunately weren't able to agree upon. I was hoping to only finish it in 3 mos. but the BNPL only applies for 12 mos. But in spite of that I thought that since it's 0% anyway, why not? It's only 3333.33 after all. I would barely notice it.
The price in Asianic was 41, 995. At the onset, it is much more expensive than the other stores which pegged it at 39, 995. But in spite of that I believe I had the better deal because not only did the saleslady slashed my price to 40,000 flat (even if I'm paying it via card and she didn't make me beg), she also gave me a travel bag, a wireless mouse, a 16 GB OTG and a cooling pad. I may not be using all of those things** but to me it only means I paid 5 pesos more and got more accessories than what all the other stores in the Cyberzone area offers.
If you're considering to buy this machine take note though that it only has a trial version of MS Office. Some lower priced machines does offer it for free BUT again, only if paid in cash.
+ Quick Review +
PROS
- Screen is bright and large
- Dedicated numeric keypad
- A breeze to type on. Even the track pad is at the perfect location
- Doesn't heat too much
- Quick to charge
- Speakers are not bad. I can actually hear my videos now!
- Webcam is OK, reminds me of the old front cameras back in the day. Here's a sample shot which I haven't edited in any way:
- Build feels solid to the touch. I liked how the rest for the wrist doesn't go sticky after long use.
CONS
- Page Up and Down are at the top that I always have a hard time reaching. Page Down is even dangerously near the power button. (TIP: If you keep the NUM LOCK on, numbers 9 and 3 can become page up and down, 2, 4, 6, 8 becomes the arrow keys. So maybe it won't be bad at all when you get used to it.)
- While it is quick to charge, the battery life of the X540U is not impressive. Maybe it's my brightness setting but I think I could only get as much as 3-4 hours in one sitting.
- ASUS still have a lot of bloatware. Just be careful when updating. You could pause it indefinitely on the apps section. This is already an improvement compared to my experience with my old one. At least now it won't crowd your RAM when you start up.
- NO Windows Hello (which means there is no fingerprint reader)
- Not a touch screen
- Which made them compensate by making the track pad extremely sensitive. I would have to retrain myself in hovering my left index finger because I always end up zooming in even without any intention in doing so.
The ASUS X540 may not have all the bells and whistles most laptops have today, to me it's a good value for money. Maybe not a gaming laptop (let's be realistic here I only play simulation games anyway) but it does a good job in my day (or in my case after office nightly) use.
* I am not sure which banks offer this but with BPI it means you would have to pay it 3 months later. It will reflect on my bill next year.
** Travel Bag - my bag is already heavy, I don't need another gadget ; Wireless Mouse - I usually use the laptop on the couch, rarely at a table ; OTG - I already have one ; Cooling Pad - been using it for 3 days now. It never got too hot for comfort. But still, WHO DOESN'T LOVE FREEBIES?
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