Asus X553MA-BPD0705I Budget 15.6″ Laptop with Intel Pentium / 4GB / 750GB

The Asus X553MA-BPD0705I is one of the best 15.6″ laptop deals currently, since it offers decent performance and feature set for below $300.

The Asus X553MA-BPD0705I is a typical run-of-the-mill budget laptop. It has a non-touch display with the standard screen resolution of 1366-by-768 pixels and a non-backlit keyboard with numeric pad. Computing and display are powered by the Intel Pentium N3540 quad-core processor with the Intel HD series integrated graphics. It is an entry-level chip, but still suitable for flawless work on everyday tasks and noticeably faster than the common Intel Celeron budget CPUs. You can read a review of the N3540 here. 4GB of RAM is satisfactory for multitasking scenarios of the average user. If you need more, you can add an additional 4GB RAM module for a total of 8GB. The included 750GB hard drive spinning at 5,400 rpm isn’t insanely spacious and is quite slow type of storage, but it’s bigger than the usual 500GB HDDs and can serve for normal functioning of Windows and programs.

The traditional PC users will appreciate the included old-fashioned DVD burner drive, VGA video output for older external displays, TVs, and projectors, and a wired Ethernet LAN network port. The laptop also has 802.11N Wi-Fi wireless support, stereo speakers, a low-resolution VGA-quality web camera, HDMI video port, a media card reader, and a combo audio output jack. On the negative side, there are only two USB ports – one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0, and Bluetooth is missing.

Although it’s a laptop entirely made of plastics, the Asus X553MA-BPD0705I doesn’t look cheap. On contrary, it has a quite appealing appearance thanks to brushed-metal-like pattern on the palmrest and radiant metallic-looking finish on the display lid.

Asus hasn’t provided info on battery life. Given the 2-cell battery has a low capacity of just 30 WHr by 15.6″ notebooks’ standards, the battery life will be probably on the shorter side. One can assume it won’t last longer than 4-4.5 hours, although the included Pentium processor is among the most power efficient ones.

The X553MA-BPD0705I weighs in at 5.1 pounds and is 1.1″ thick, so it isn’t more portable nor much bulkier than the average 15.6″ notebook.

The laptop comes with previous-generation Windows 8.1 operating system. The good news is that you can upgrade it to Windows 10 free of charge.

For a limited time, the device will be selling with bundled free extras at Best Buy. Namely, an 8GB USB Flash drive by PNY, Logitech’s wireless optical mouse, Targus laptop sleeve, and Trend Micro Internet Security software 6-month subscription.