The K55VD is one of the cheapest Ivy Bridge laptops we've seen, and can be found for under £550 if you shop around online. The Core i5-3210M processor is nippy, although the benchmark score of 132 in our WorldBench 6 suite is a little lower than we'd have expected.
It's nothing to complain about, though, since the K55VD easily outstrips other laptops at this price and will even please most gamers thanks to its GeForce 610M graphics chip which has 2GB of memory. It managed a respectable 46fps in our Fear game test. It's unusual to have great 2D and 3D performance for less than £600. See also: Laptop Advisor
Asus K55VD: build and design
So what's the catch? Well it's hard to overlook the plastic construction even if the metal wrist rest adds a touch of class. When the K55VD is shut, though, there's no mistaking it for a more expensive, slimmer model. It weighs 2.6kg, so you're going to notice it in your rucksack.
The lid is quite flexible, but we saw no indications that this was damaging the screen when we opened the K55VD's lid by each of it's corners.
The K55VD is available in a range of colours. Our sample was dark brown, but there are also vibrant pink, purple and orange options. The white model lacks the metal wrist rest of the others.
There's 6GB of RAM, which should be plenty, built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an HDMI output. The only signs of compromise is a 500GB hard disk and only a pair of USB 3 ports, but these are minor quibbles.
Asus K55VD: screen, keyboard and touchpad
The 15.6in display has a standard 1,366x768 resolution and a glossy finish. It's bright enough and has vibrant colours but suffers - as most budget laptops do - from narrow vertical viewing angles. Speakers, though, are better than average, delivering decent volume and quality.
We like the large keyboard with its numberpad to the right. The separated keys have enough travel for good feedback and therefore fast typing. The only layout issue is the narrow cursor keys which can be fiddly for anyone with fat fingers.
We're not big fans of the button-less touchpad. It's good to see multitouch support for scrolling and zooming, but clicking the buttons at the bottom of the pad made the cursor jump around the screen, making it tricky to click and drag, or even to click on small objects.
Asus K55VD: battery life and warranty
Battery life is good, with the 50Wh unit lasting five and a half hours in our MobileMark tests. This is all the more respectable given the performance on tap. Plus, Asus backs the K55VD with a two-year collect and return warranty. Most manufacturers give you just 12 months' cover, and you're responsible for taking it back to the shop, or posting it back to the manufacturer directly.
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Comments
Tonez said: The 156indisplayhas a standard 1366x768 resolution and a glossy finish Its bright enough and has vibrant colours but suffers - as most budget laptops do - from narrow vertical viewing anglesSpeakers though are better than average delivering decent volume and qualitySee
Tonez said: Sonud quality was mentioned and on top of it i have one and i find itawsomeLoud sound from speakers also the num pad is handy i use it all the timeyes the arrow keys are a little small but u can get used to it and the pad is a little touchy for mouse but i use a wireless nano logitech so idontmind and i disable the on board touchAll in all I upgraded to 16gb ofvengeance2 x 8gb ram sticks and its a good system only other things im doing is taking the hdd out which is 750gb and putting a ocz vortec 3 512gb in its placeMine is the i7 version of the K55VD
Chidinma Iwuh said: please can someone help me dell inspiron and asus k55 which one the best interms of technology and modern computers
Buddiehollie said: why do reviewers never mention the sound quality
Toto said: And about noise
Guest said: Why do laptop vendors make so many laptops with a separate numeric keypad when 99 of users will never need one A larger standard keyboard makes far more sense