Asus R558UQ

                Asus R558UQ is one of the few notebooks that are already running the latest 7th generation Intel Core processor. And at Rs48,990, it is not very expensive either. It succeeds the Asus R558UR notebook which ran Intel’s 6th gen processor and sported a price tag of Rs46,598. What makes the new notebook interesting, apart from the interesting price tag, is that it is available in more eye popping colours, has better configuration newer specs and is lighter than its predecessor.

                   The R558UQ is a big screen notebook which like most other similar notebooks has a bigger footprint and requires a bigger bag to carry it. It looks slim and weighs 2.3kg, which makes carrying it around easy. It is available in four colour options — matte golden, glossy dark brown, red and dark blue. The all plastic exterior helps keep the weight in check but also gives it the look and feel of a budget laptop, especially the glossy brown variant. Despite the slim profile, the side panel carries all relevant connectivity options. The optical drive, VGA port, and LAN are still in vogue in many workplaces. The there is the HDMI port so you can hook it up with a bigger display or a projector. It also offers one USB 3.0 port and one USB 3.1 Type-C connector for faster data transfer.

                    The keys look flat and small but allow for quick typing after a while. They are also responsive and don’t require extra pressure to be applied on them. There is ample space between the keys which means you can type for long hours without worrying about tapping the neighbouring keys by mistake. The big letdown, in the keyboard, is that the keys are not backlit, which means you can’t use it in the dark with ease as laptops with backlit keyboard. The compact size of the keyboard leaves ample space for hand rest and touch pad. The touch pad is responsive but feels a bit small. Asus R558UQ is the first crop of Windows 10 notebooks running on Intel’s 7th Gen (Kaby Lake) Core i5-7200U Processor clocking at 2.5GHz and paired with 4GB RAM. It uses a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 940MX (2GB) graphics card which is a bit old but powerful enough to handle modern games. It was able to play some of the most demanding games like the Crysis 3 or the Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 at lower resolution and special effect settings without any stutter. The notebook offers 1TB HDD storage which means you have ample space for your movies, HD movies and games. Powered by a 2 cell Li-ion battery, the laptop lasted four to five hours on modest use and about an hour of non-stop gaming session, which is quite impressive. We also liked the audio output. Powered by Sonic Master speakers, we didn’t have to fall back on headphones even once while watching a movie or gaming. The unit I tested was no doubt fluid across all the applications tested on it. The Windows 10-based laptop runs graphics-heavy games without any hiccups. It is not only powered by Intel's onboard HD graphics 620, but also comes with Nvidia GeForce 940MX GPU with 2GB of dedicated DDR3 RAM. The same GPU also powers the Core i7 model. 

                 Battery has always been one of the deciding factors when it comes to laptops. In case of the Asus R558UQ, the battery performance is nothing groundbreaking. The 38Wh 2-cell li-ion polymer battery lasted for around 6-7 hours on average use during my testing. On heavy usage, which included few hours of video streaming, internet browsing and multitasking, the laptop ran for approximately 4 hours. Light users might be able to stretch the battery life to 9 hours or more.