Asus X501A-SPD0503W

Asus X501A-SPD0503W

One of our favorite affordable notebook series is the 15.6-inch Asus X501. The svelte-looking white Asus X501A-SPD0503W, which belongs to it, costs only $330 and for that amount it delivers good everyday-use performance thanks to the Intel Pentium 2020M dual-core 2.4GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, as well as an average sized hard drive with 500GB capacity. What’s missing on the X501A-SPD0503W is a DVD drive, but many users won’t find this as an disadvantage of the notebook since USB flash drives are a great (and generally better) external storage alternative.

Here’s a performance chart showing speed of the included Pentium 2020M. It belongs to the latest “Ivy Bridge” Intel processor generation, bringing improvements not only in speed but also power consumption.

Intel Pentium 2020M Benchmark

As mentioned earlier, the Asus X501A-SPD0503W comes in white color, with matte black sides and glossy finish on the rest of the chassis. The laptop is relatively thin and light, measuring 1.3″ at the thickest point and weighing 4.6 pounds. The keyboard has isle-style keys and is accompanied by a large trackpad. Other on-body bits include only two USB ports, thankfully one of them is faster USB 3.0, HDMI and VGA outputs for external displays and TVs, and a multi-format media card reader for transfer of your photos and other files located on these cards. On the top of the 720p LCD panel, there’s a 1MP camera, while for sound there are stereo speakers. To get you online, there are Wi-Fi and Gigabit LAN connections.

X501A-SPD0503W Keyboard and Trackpad

If you want more computing power and a built-in DVD burner, but still in an attractively looking package, one of good alternatives to consider today is the Samsung NP300E5E-A01US with an i3 processor for $380.

Lid

Asus X501A-SPD0503W Specifications

  • Display: 15.6-inch LED-backlit screen with 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution
  • Processor: Intel Pentium 2020M dual-core “Ivy Bridge”, 2MB cache, 2.4GHz clock rate
  • Graphics: Intel HD IGP
  • Memory: 4GB DDR3 1,600MHz, expandable to 8GB
  • Storage: 500GB hard drive at 5,400rpm
  • Optical drive: no
  • Webcam: Built-in 1.0MP webcam
  • Audio: stereo speakers
  • Network: Wireless-N, Gigabit Ethernet LAN, no Bluetooth
  • Input: Chiclet-style keyboard, number pad, wide 16:9 touchpad
  • Ports and Slots: 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA, media card reader
  • Battery: 6-cell li-ion
  • Dimensions: 1.3″ x 15″ x 10″
  • Weight: 4.6 lbs
  • OS: Windows 8 64-bit OS
  • Warranty: 1-year

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