ASUS TP550LA-RHI5T01 Convertible Laptop via Amazon
ASUS TP550LA-RHI5T01 Transformer Book Flip is a 15.6 inch convertible hinged laptop with a flexible design of laptop and tablet (also in viewer and stand modes)- 360 degree rotating responsive touchscreen with a Haswell Intel i5 processor, large memory and hard drive for snappy performance for both work and entertainment. Asus TP550LA comes with the powerful and energy efficient 4th generation Intel i5-4210U processor (3MB L3 cache) at 1.7Ghz speed up to 2.7GHz with turbo boost and hyper threading for two cores to handle four threads in parallel, 6GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz for solid and smooth multitasking, 1TB Serial ATA hard drive at 5400rpm rotating speed and 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system. It has enough power for daily and demanding tasks for business and multimedia purposes.
15.6 inch LED-backlit Full HD display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution (according to Asus website) offers crisp and sharp picture with large viewing angles on both laptop, tablet, stand and viewing modes. Intel HD graphics 4400 that is between Intel HD 4000 and 5000 in terms of performance for great visuals with vibrant colours and decent multimedia editing but not so much the advanced 3D gaming. It has a built-in high definition webcam with built-in microphone for problem-free video conferencing for work or casual live Skype chats. You’ll find the larger speakers and chambers as well as Asus SonicMaster technology for punchy bass, loud, smooth and clear with well-balanced mid-range and high end powerful sound and AudioWizard is offered with five selectable modes letting you choose the sound mode of your preference for whatever you’re doing. Modern and elegant Asus Flip with hairline-textured surfaces weighs 7.5 pounds and has the measurements of 15 x 11 x 1.05 inches so it is kind of heavy and thick but has that robust premium feel and great build quality. It comes with the SMDVDRW Optical Drive, integrated 802.11bgn wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 to hook up to other Bluetooth enabled peripherals like webcam, speakers or printers, Ethernet with RJ-45 connector, a USB 3.0 port for quicker transfer of data, a USB 2.0 port, SD Card Reader, an HDMI port and a Headphone/microphone combo.
Conclusion: ASUS TP550LA-RHI5T01 Transformer Book Flip appears to be a good mid-range hybrid machine with many strengths (great design and ergonomics and reasonable technical specs) and some small flaws but it is quite good for the price. We like the multiple modes (laptop for work, tablet for games and anything in between for presentations and watching videos) with display going from zero to 360 degrees, great smart metallic design, dust and debris resistance, very good quality speakers, user friendly and ergonomic keyboard and multi-point touchpad with Smart Gesture, better than average accurate and responsive 10-point multi-touch display with the Asus touch sensor technology. Quarter 2 2014 release Intel i5-4210U processor has a Passmark score of just over 3400 at the time of this review. It is a little on the thick and heavy side which affects its portability and battery life is just average at around 4-5 hours from its 38 Whr Li-Polymer battery but the recharge time is up to three times more. It wakes up from sleep in only two seconds with the Asus Instant On feature and stand-by time is up to 14 days, Asus Splendid Technology helps you adjust the color gamut and accuracy for better visuals and there is the automatic data back-up function when the battery gets to 5 percent and below. Asus is one of the top computer manufacturers in the world and quite an enthusiastic one for hybrid devices and for the price they seem to have done a pretty good job with this one too.
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