Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T

      With the 15.6-inch Vivobook V551LB, Asus integrates the latest Haswell hardware and a dedicated video card into a sleek Ultrabook design. At least on paper, the touchscreen notebook seems to offers plenty of performance without breaking the bank. How compelling is this newest entry in the VivoBook-series and how does it stack up against the competition?

  Design
The VivoBook V551LB-DB71T is styled like an ultrabook, measuring 0.9 by 15.0 by 10.2 inches (HWD), meeting the 23mm thickness requirement but differing in the internal components enough that it doesn't get Intel's standardized ultraportable designation—and it's powerful enough that it leads as a mainstream system. Despite these minor differences, the VivoBook V551LB is still comparable to other 15-inch systems, like the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart 15-4010nr, the Dell Inspiron 15z (I15Z-4801SLV), but in some ways, it's closest to the Sony VAIO E15 (SVE15116FXS), our Editors' Choice desktop replacement for last summer. With a metal-clad lid and palmrest and durable molded plastic chassis, the VivoBook V551LB is just a little heavy, weighing 5.3 pounds.

Features

The VivoBook V551LB-DB71T is outfitted with a three USB ports (two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0), an SD card slot, full-size HDMI out, a stereo headset jack, Ethernet, and a Kensington lock slot lets you tether the laptop for security. A tray loading DVD+-RW optical drive lets you read and burn to DVD—a feature that's become increasingly difficult to find as manufacturers jettison the drives to offer slimmer designs. Inside the laptop you also have 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for all of your wireless needs.

A 1TB, 5,400rpm hard drive offers plenty of storage space, but unlike an ultrabook, you won't get the additional cache of flash-memory needed for faster boot and wake times. Preinstalled on the drive is Windows 8 (64-bit), along with a selection of programs and apps, like a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 365, Intel Anti-Theft, Skype, FreshPaint, and Asus Vibe 2.0. The VivoBook V551LB also comes with Asus WebStorage, providing 32GB of free cloud storage for three years. Asus is also generous with its warranty, with a one-year international warranty and accidental damage protection, with 24/7 technical support and a 30-day "no-bright spot" warranty on the display.

Performance

Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T The VivoBook V551LB-DB71T boasts a fourth-generation 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-4500U processor—also seen in the Sony VAIO Pro 11 (SVP11215PXB) —which is one of the first of Intel's new Haswell CPUs to hit the laptop market. With the combined might of a fourth-generation processor and Nvidia GeForce GT740 graphics (with 2GB of dedicated memory), the Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T offers category-leading performance in almost every test we ran.

Reviews

The good: The Asus VivoBook V551L is a thin, attractive, and seemingly well-constructed laptop. Its midrange discrete graphics card and 4th-gen Core i7 processor give it overall very good performance and battery life. And it has a 1TB hard drive and DVD burner.

The bad: For the V551LB's near-$1,000 price, the screen is pretty disappointing, as is its slow-spinning hard drive. Also, its keyboard is not backlit, which, again, for the price it should have.

The bottom line: An attractive, solidly built 15.6-inch thin laptop with overall good performance, the Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T is held back by its lackluster display.