With the Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T, you get approximately the look and feel of the higher-end Asus Zenbook UX51VZ-DH71, but for a lot less money.
However, if you look closely at the specs and construction of the two, it's easy to see why the V551LB is much less of a notebook than the UX51VZ. Screen resolution and quality, for example, are sacrificed on the V551LB and, although it has a 1TB hard drive for plenty of storage, it doesn't have a solid-state drive or secondary flash memory to help boost performance.
Those things might not be deal breakers for you, but for its price of around $1,000, we've come to expect a bit more. It's not a bad deal, but it's not a great one, either.
Design and features
The V551LB is an attractive notebook. That might not be a priority for everyone, but it's nice that it's not an ugly, plasticky mess, nonetheless. The lid's brushed-metal finish gives it a premium look and the whole body seems well constructed. The bottom of the system is a single piece of polycarbonate, with just a small fan vent and two slits near the front for its stereo speakers.
The V551LB is an attractive notebook. That might not be a priority for everyone, but it's nice that it's not an ugly, plasticky mess, nonetheless. The lid's brushed-metal finish gives it a premium look and the whole body seems well constructed. The bottom of the system is a single piece of polycarbonate, with just a small fan vent and two slits near the front for its stereo speakers.
Though the laptop is relatively thin (it measures 15 inches wide by 10.2 inches deep by 0.9 inch thick), it isn't exactly lightweight at 5.8 pounds. With its small power adapter, the travel weight tips the 6-pound mark. Depending on how strong you are or what else you have to travel with, for a daily commute or carrying around campus, that might be a bit too much.
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Lift the lid and you'll find a large touch pad with no discrete buttons for right and left clicks; there is, however, a vertical line at the bottom so you don't have to guess. It's set up for multitouch use, for things like two-finger pinch-to-zoom and scrolling and three-finger swipes for showing open applications or the desktop. Fingers glided smoothly on its surface and it generally didn't misbehave if a palm accidentally landed on it.
It has a full keyboard with a number pad and Asus managed to keep all the important keys large enough for comfortable and accurate typing. Considering how shallow the body is, the keys of the chiclet-style keyboard have very good travel. Plus, there's plenty of room below the keyboard to rest your wrists (though the left side could use a bit more).
It is not backlit, however, and at this price it really should be. Also, there's a key just right of the Backspace key that launches a VivoBook interface for doing things like seeing system information, turning on a power save mode, adjusting audio quality and display color, and learning about gesture support, among other things. It's nice to have, but really easy to accidentally hit instead of the Backspace key and since it actually takes over your screen, it can be frustrating.
| Asus VivoBook V551LB | Sony Vaio Flip 15 | Toshiba Satellite S55t-A5277 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price (as reviewed) | $999 | $1,199 | $999.99 |
| Display size, resolution | 15.6-inch, 1,366x768 touch screen | 15.5-inch, 1,920x1,080 touch screen | 15.6-inch, 1,366x768 touch screen |
| Processor | 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-4500U | 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-4500U | 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-4700MQ |
| Memory | 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 12GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 740M | 1.8GB Intel HD Graphics 4400 | 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 740M |
| Storage | 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive | 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive | 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive |
| Optical drive | DVD burner | None | DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 | 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless |
| OS | Windows 8 (64-bit) | Windows 8 (64-bit) | Windows 8 (64-bit) |
