Performance: Overall this laptop's performance was very good. Tasks like email, word processing and web browsing will be accomplished quickly and you can even accomplish some tougher tasks like photo editing and mid-range gaming near top speed. It was among the fastest with writing, creating spreadsheets, video chat and other productivity tasks. It was among the fastest for mainstream gaming, viewing and editing photos and editing music, and among the fastest with productivity and Web-based tasks such as word processing, Web browsing, casual gaming and video chat.
Portability: This laptop is a good choice for traveling. At 8.25 hours, battery life was long enough to get you through a typical workday. At 2.8 pounds, this is lightweight for a laptop this size.
Ergonomics: Some of the laptop features, such as its keyboard, touchpad, and labeling, were well-designed, and were comfortable or convenient to use. The keyboard has large keys and was comfortably sized. Its high contrast letters were easy to read. The power button was conveniently located, but its labeling was hard to read when the laptop is off. The touchpad was among the largest of those tested, and provides ample space for different touch gestures.
Display: The display quality was excellent overall. Colors were accurately reproduced, realistic, and natural looking. The laptop's display was brighter than most and it's anti-reflective, a plus for viewing in a brightly lit room or outdoors. The display has a wide viewing angle, especially important if more than one person needs to see the screen at a time, say, for a video or presentation.
Useful features and attributes on this model include: There's a 256GB solid-state hard drive, which uses less power and accesses data more quickly. You can connect common external devices such as hard drives and Blu-ray burners to the USB 3.0 ports for maximum performance. Gigabit Ethernet provides fast transfer of data over a local network. This laptop is compatible with HDMI for connecting to an HDTV.
Downsides: There's no optical drive like a CD or DVD reader, so you'll have to buy an external drive if you need one. The battery is not easily removable.
