ASUS S56CA-WH31 15.6" Ultrabook

Pros: good price, good looking

Cons: fan runs like crazy, noisy. and after a few wiondows 8 auto update (which is super slow), computer became very slow. it may need more memory, window 8 is killing 4gb

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the unit is noisy. Here is a link below where you can update your latest bios and drivers to see if that will help with the fan issue.

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/S56CA/#support_Download_36

If you have any questions or comments you can email me again at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey

Pros: I bought this Asus laptop on a budget spending as it provided more than enough to do regular computer stuff such as web surfing, microsoft related work like word processing, powerpoint, etc., webcam chatting, photoshop, and so on. Just the light work stuff this laptop is good enough for it. If you plan on doing heavy duty work, forget about it.

Cons: -Laptop shuts down at spontaneously for no apparent reason. I know it is not a temperature issue as the laptop itself doesn't feel any hotter for hours on use. I know it is not a memory issue either as I ran multiple memory tests. This automatic shut down has happened on Windows 8 which came with the laptop. Frustrated, I reformatted the OS to Windows 7 and the automatic shut down still occurs. This is really bad when you're working and having many documents and/or web browser windows or tabs open and the laptop shuts down.
-The touchpad isn't good. I recommend just using a laptop mouse if you have one.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that you are having issues with the notebook shutting down.

What you can try to do is to start over again by having everything reinstalled to see if that will fix your issue as well as doing the windows update.

This has to do with windows 8.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me again at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: -Light
-Keyboard
-15.6" screen (while still being light)
-Sound is not bad for a laptop/ultrabook
-Boots quickly

Cons: -Windows 8 is just not intuitive at all to the long time Windows user. Much prefer 7.
-4gb memory. You will want to upgrade to 8gb immediately. As others have stated, it will run at 48-55% with nothing but your browser open. With the price of memory these days this is really not a big deal. The one memory slot is a bit of PITA to get to...

Other Thoughts: Honestly, this has more than lived up to my expectations for a ultrabook/laptop of its size/price ($499 at the time). It has worked without a hick-up since I got it. Once upgraded to 8gb of memory it is more than adequate...but not great. I would give it 3.5 eggs, but I felt generous and rounded up.

Pros: Sleek
Lightweight
2 sec boot (works most of the time)

Cons: Keyboard is irritating, if you are using this for heavy typing than this is not the laptop.
Computer will freeze with just browser open. 50+ percent memory usage with one browser window open.

Other Thoughts: Keyboard :
Keyboard layout is different and if this is not the only laptop you have then it will be problem getting used to this laptop as keys are placed at different locations then the usual one.
Keys have spacing in between and its not easy to type fast and i am no novice to computers and work in IT field.
Key stokes are not recognized depending on how you press it which means you often will be slowed down in your typing.
Pre defined short keys opening Apps when you type.

Windows 8/IE Browser and Memory Usage :
Windows 8 is not horrible neither great. They have tried to make the interface closer to smartphone/tablets but more work need to be done.
4 GB Ram memory is not enough to handle Windows 8? Even with just one browser window open memory usage is above 50%.
IE will hang while surfing. Even if its working there is always some lag time. Better with Chrome but it will occassinaly freeze too.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with the keyboard. You say when you type that other shortcut keys open up?

You can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty USA

Pros: It's a great buy and just what my wife wanted to replace her dead-after-one-year HP laptop (also bought at NewEgg). Good specs for a general-use desktop substitute (no gaming). Thin and light and decently fast.

Cons: Before it apparently died (see below), the main beef was that it's not as fast as I expected, which now appears to be due to the wrong and misleading description: This is NOT a real ultrabook! The supposed SSD is just a chip that's used to buffer the active programs for the claimed fast wake-from-sleep (which still never was anywhere close to the supposed/claimed 2 seconds). Also, the i3 next-gen CPU does NOT have support turbo mode as it's claimed - so the 1.8GHz is all you get and not as fast as I thought we'd be getting...that needs to be fixed for all us spec-shoppers!
...but the real fun started on day 29...when it locked up but good - would never come back from sleep. We thought it was choking on a Windows update (which it kinda did a few days earlier or so it seemed),...but with birthday distractions we didn't get serious about it's issues until today...only to find a multitude of serious event errors that point to hardware problems (probably with memory or MoBo)...I'm not quite savvy enough to tell but we haven't been able to use it since - it takes forever to boot if it even does and then quickly hangs with no option but to force it off manually. Considering that both of our HP computers have died very young deaths (a laptop and tower - both at about 1.5 years) in the past six months, this is causing me to loose faith in computer quality in general. I don't have the time or inclination to go through another computer nightmare with this one now that it's ONE DAY out of warranty, so I really hope NewEgg does me right when I call tomorrow....hopefully the nearly $2k I've spend here in the past month (yes it was a good Christmas finally this year!), I hope they can get this replaced so I can get back to using computers instead of dealing with them...

Other Thoughts: Despite it not being everything we thought we were getting (fake SSD and no turbo on CPU), we do really like this laptop. It's our first Windows 8 machine and I think I've come to grips with it enough that I'll learn to like W8, though I don't like that it seems so biased to cater to social networking - which we both detest. I don't want to have to shop for yet another laptop...just get me one of these that works!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the notebook starting having problems. I hope that newegg did good and replaced the unit for you.

If not then you can send the unit in for service.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: Lightweight, good quality

Cons: WIndow's 8 is horrible. I cannot log onto secure webpages for work due to Internet Explorer 10. I suggest you stay away from Window's 8 and IE 10.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that IE is not allowing you to access your secure webpages.

What you may want to do is go to internet options and under trusted sites just add the sites that you want to access.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: Lightweight. Number keypad.

Cons: Disappointment #1 - Keypad - The keypad must go to sleep or something because it does not respond to the first touch. It must be touched once before it will move.

Disappointment #2 - Wireless - The wireless had a very poor connection. Within 10' of the access point it had a week signal.

Other Thoughts: Will be returning this as defective.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the keypad was not very responsive and the wireless strength was not very strong. I hope that you received the replacement unit from new egg and are enjoying your purchase.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: - Fast
- Solid Body
- Relatively lightweight
- Great price
- HD 4000 (works much better than expected)
- I personally am satisfied with its battery life
- Windows 8 if you're rather tech-savvy and get used new technology quickly.

Cons: - Fan likes to stay on full blast after couple weeks of use
- No settings for touchpad gestures beside on and off
- Touchpad gestures sometimes do not respond after waking from sleep mode
- Glossy screen, but that's offset with the great price
- Windows 8 if you or the person you're gifting it to isn't so tech-savvy. There is a lot to get used to, and if you gifted it to someone with minimum computer knowledge, be prepared to become their IT support.

Other Thoughts: For the price, it's an awesome machine. I've even come to like Windows 8, once I got used to it. However, there are just a few issues that drive me up the wall... if you can help, please let me know.

Physically, it's a rather sexy machine; solid, sleek, and lightweight. However, the fan likes to stay on full blast, even on a low power setting, despite the BIOS update suggested by ASUS. This issue is not only terribly annoying, it also makes it rather embarrassing to take it into the workplace and classroom. - 1 egg

Touchpad gestures sometimes do not respond upon waking from sleep mode. The touchpad can then only click-and-point--it can't even scroll. This is a HUGE inconvenience for a machine running Windows 8. The driver is updated, but the problem persists. - 1 egg

The touchpad gestures do not have any settings beside on or off, which means you're stuck with having to scroll with two fingers; there is no edge scrolling. I find myself often having to reset my browser or PDF zoom due to the pinch-zoom activating when my fingers, I suppose, do not move in sync. I'd take off an egg, but to be fair, this complaint is mostly a matter of preference, not a technical issue.

I would be deeply saddened if I had to send the machine back in because I'd hate to spend the S&H, especially because I had to save for some time just to afford this laptop.

I actually ordered an additional one on behalf of a family member, and she only did so due to my recommendation of ASUS machines, so I really hope she doesn't experience the same problem.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that the unit did not meet your whole expectations. Regarding about the touchpad staying on, you will have to go to the power setting in the desktop mode and go in advanced settings and disable turn off mouse to conserve power. There is a place where you can change the settings which is also located in the desktop. Just click on the white up arrow on the lower right hand side and double click the icon that looks like a track pad. There you will be able to change some of the settings.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: It's thin and has a optical drive. I like the aluminum constructed body. Starts quickly. One reviewer stated the fan was loud, i cant hear it at all. The i3 sandy bridge is fat for daily computing.

Cons: Windows 8! This is my first time with a PC/laptop that runs Windows 8. I tried using it for a few hours to get use to it but I just couldn't handle switching between the start screen and the desktop. I'm not much for social media(Facebook,Twitter,ect) person. I feel Windows 8 is tailored towards that type of consumer so I removed the hard drive and replaced it with a Seagate 500gig 7200rpm drive and installed Windows 7. Asus has all the drivers and utilities on their web for both Windows 7 and 8 if you decide to do the same as i did. I also ordered 8gigs of Kingston Hyper 1600 ram to replace the 4 gig it comes with. I'm am waiting for it to be delivered. I will post another review after it is installed and I have used this running windows 7 fro a week or so.

If your a Windows 8 lover than this is a great buy. If you want the hardware and hate Windows 8 as e do than pick up a copy of Windows 7 and down load the drivers from Asus and enjoy. I also would invest in more ram. Windows 8 was using 2 gigs of the installed 4 that comes with it. That doesn't leave much for other apps.

Other Thoughts: Asus is the only brand of mother boards and laptops Ill invest in. I have never had any issues over the years using Asus products.

Pros: Cheap, sleek, lightweight.

Cons: Poor build quality (screen gets all crazy if you set it down anything harder than gently while on), glitchy software (smart gesture randomly turns off after sleep mode, computer sometimes completely powers off for no reason!)

Other Thoughts: I would've given this laptop a 4/5 a few weeks ago shortly after I bought it, but within the first 3 weeks, I've encountered all sorts of irritating quirks with the system, from unexpected power-offs, to my trackpad losing smart functionality, and now in the latest of the series, my power adapter just died within warning or explanation. That's just plain unacceptable - I expected a much higher quality product from ASUS and I'm thoroughly disappointed.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear that after sleep your smart gestures turn off. I know that if you go in the power setting functions you will be able to disable turn off track pad to conserve power. Regarding the automatic shut off, you will have to contact microsoft as some programs don't work well with windows 8. Try removing the anti-virus software and see if that solves the automatic shutdown.

Regarding your power adapter, you can send it in for service and we will replace it for you.

If you have any questions or comments you can email me at cl-jeffrey@asus.com which I reside in the U.S

ASUS strives to meet and exceeds our customer expectations within our warranty policy.

Regards,

Jeffrey
ASUS Customer Loyalty