Hello... just to update... I've finally bit the bullet and bought the ASUS UX305FA... 4GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, Obsidian Black (only colour available). $999 no further discounts from Harvey Norman at Jurong Point. Free gifts: Liteon DVD writer, ASUS laptop bag (for 16-inch laptops), McAfee internet security (1-year subscription), wireless mouse (white only). Four items.
Review of free items:
1) Liteon DVD writer. Connects via USB. Plays back DVDs smoothly. Played back a Region 3 'The Three Kingdoms' DVD. Very smooth. Probably due to all USB ports being 3.0 version. Never tested the writing capability. Will test and get back to you. Drive comes with a free version of Nero 12. Not bad. Very useful free gift. By the way, such a drive will cost about $50-60.
2) Wireless mouse. Works but really lousy quality mouse. Retails for $12 at Harvey Norman. Can throw away lar... flimsy, tracking not the latest technology, so doesn't work on magazine paper. Works ok on my tablet rubber cover cos it's textured rubber. Not very smooth. Takes 5 seconds to wake up from sleep.
3) ASUS laptop bag. This is a gift from Harvey Norman. Thin material, single zippers. Only two compartments, the main one with the side pocket. Inside the main compartment, there's a flap for the laptop with a Velcro secure strap. One thin black adjustable strap without the cushion pad.
4) McAfee internet security. This is given by ASUS. In my opinion, it's a useless gift. Prefer the free anti-virus.
Review of laptop:
Build quality is superb. Holding it closed exudes a sense of quality... holding the laptop open by either the screen or the keyboard also makes you feel confident. No creaks, flex or deformation. The laptop is very light but doesn't feel cheap or sub-standard.
Operation. Boots into Windows in less than 10 seconds. Really fast. Does lag bit here and there. But I was installing stuff and updating Windows at the same time. So 4 GB RAM shows its limitations. I was installing Office 2013 full version (not 365), plus Chrome, plus Acrobat Reader, VLC, etc... probably running 3 to 4 installations at the same time... also playing back a movie plus 320 kbps mp3s on Windows Media Player. The laptop was placed on a table with a glass layer on top. So it is a rather poor insulator. The laptop heated up significantly. The bottom was the hottest, not that you can't hold it but you can feel if heat emanating from the bottom. Keyboard was warm but not unpleasantly so. Bottom was unpleasantly hot but still can be handled. The heat issue went away after all the installations were done. When watching full HD video clips, there was no issues. Not much heat at all.
Accessories. Only a USB to LAN adapter was included. Haven't tried it. But it's convenient. Disappointing thing is that there's no micro-HDMI to VGA adapter. But this is considered budget so I guess this is one corner being cut. The laptop comes with a sleeve. Not the neoprene stretchable type but more like cloth type. Not the best quality but looks quite professional. Laptop enters the sleeve from the short end. And really that's all you get.
Screen. Very good quality. Good viewing angles. Good colour. Low reflectivity. No tearing and bleeding so far.
Keyboard. Travel is shallow but there's a firmness to the travel. Need getting used to. I don't usually use laptop keyboards so I can't comment on how good it is since it can't compare to a full sized keyboard. But it's pretty decent to me.
Ports. USB 3.0 all round. That's the best part. I transferred about 800 MB of files... that took seconds. Will try full HD video files and other huge photo files and see how it performs. But my senses is that it's very fast. 3.0 standard.
Haven't tried the other ports yet. Haven't tried battery life yet... Will update this space...
