ASUS has been promoting its devices on the market for a long time. Users know the motherboards from this manufacturer, video cards, monitors and other devices. The company, originally from China, is relatively young, but has already managed to seize primacy in many areas. Laptops are no exception. Today we look at the ASUS R540SA-XX036T.
Reviews like laptops always get positive. The company cares not only about the technical component, but also about the reliability of the entire model. So, many laptops live more than 10 years and become the best friend for the buyer. The company is also trying to keep up with relevance, hence the release of cool gaming models that have been conquering players all over the world for several years.
Diversity
It should be said right away that laptops such as ASUS R540SA-XX036T (15.6 ") always receive good reviews due to their specialization. Despite the huge popularity of gaming models, corporate working models are still in demand. The hero of our review refers to just such.
In general, a consumer laptop is always more popular, as it is more affordable, and despite the huge number of gamers, still, most users when buying a laptop pursue the goal of work or study. Therefore, the intended purpose plays a key role in the selection. If you need a good, reliable and simple laptop, you should choose a laptop ASUS R540SA-XX036T (90NB0B31-M01020) and its other modifications.
Simple laptop
The model belongs to the “X” series, which is entirely focused on budget models and can be useful to anyone who is looking for a working machine. Developing this generation, ASUS tried not to make boring models that would not stand out in anything. She made it so that, despite the technical specifications and simplicity, the laptop is equipped with an attractive design and proprietary technologies that are not always useless.
ASUS R540SA-XX036T received good reviews due to its appearance, value for money, budget and overall reliability. At the time of release, this device was able to seize primacy in its segment, and all its modifications were in demand among users.
Packaging
The box in which the new device fit was very thought out. Corporate identity can be traced here. The company often sells laptops in discreet but stylish boxes, on which there is a minimum of information, but at the same time they attract attention.
Before the buyer was a matte box, in front there was a manufacturer's logo and its motto. There was some information about the model at the back. There is nothing superfluous inside the box: charger unit, cable and documentation.
Design
Appearance of the laptop ASUS R540SA-XX036T reviews received the most flattering. The model looks sophisticated and stylish. The housing cover is made of high-quality dark plastic with a relief surface under the metal. The company logo flaunts in the middle. The bottom does not stand out with anything ordinary, there is not even a special cover that can be easily removed for mounting and cleaning the device.
An interesting solution was the color scheme. If on the outside the case is made in dark color with a shade of brown, then inside, depending on the modifications, the working surface received a contrasting light color, for example beige.
The dimensions of the laptop are average, but given that this is a user model, they are comfortable enough to transport the laptop from home to work and back. The model got 38 centimeters wide, 25 cm high, and about 3 cm thick. The weight is also acceptable - only 2 kilograms.
The quality of plastic, as mentioned earlier, is at the highest level. Its surface is pleasant to the touch, and wear resistance, as time shows, is excellent. By the way, all surfaces are matte, so dirt and fingerprints are not so visible on them.
The opening angle of the lid is about 135 degrees, which in principle is enough. This whole structure is held by two plastic hinges. They are strong and hold the lid well. In addition, as practice shows, their wear resistance is maximum. The only thing that some users did not like was the tight mechanism, which did not allow opening the laptop with one hand.
Work panel
Regarding this part of the device, the ASUS R540SA-XX036T laptop received user reviews the most flattering. The work surface looks nice and neat. The touchpad is slightly offset from the center to the left. It does not have additional keys that would be responsible for RMB and LCP.
The island-style keyboard is somewhat recessed into the body. The keys are at a comfortable distance. The buttons are quiet and small in size. Not everyone liked the lack of a separate unit for shooters, but you quickly get used to it. An interesting place was taken by the power button, the first time you can not notice it. It is part of the keyboard block and is located on the opposite side of Esc.
Details
Laptop ergonomics are good. It is easy to use, in principle, no errors arise. Conveniently located all the elements at the ends. There is nothing on the front, except for indicators on the inclusion of various functions and the laptop itself. And also there is a place for a card reader.
The rear end has freed itself from all possible slots. On the left is the place to install the charger, there is also a grill for the cooling system, behind it a connector for an Internet cable, also a pair of video outputs, USB and a combined audio jack. The right end is occupied by the Kensington drive and lock for the ASUS R540SA-XX036T. Reviews of dissatisfied buyers touched the combined connector, yet it is not always convenient, as well as a small amount of USB. In addition, there is plenty of space on the right side to fit a couple more.
Screen
But there is something wrong with the company’s display all the time, especially if we consider budget models. The screen size is 15.6 inches with a small resolution of 1366 × 768 pixels. The matrix is cheap TN + film, which many users complain about, who at least somehow understand this issue. Its main drawback is not quite correct color rendering.
All these shortcomings are still supported by a glossy coating of the screen, which creates unnecessary glare. Viewing angles are average, so such a large opening angle of the lid is almost pointless. The backlight in the display provides a good level of brightness, although it may not be comfortable working outdoors on a sunny day.
Specifications
As mentioned earlier, a series of budget laptops received many variations of technical characteristics. We have a review of the ASUS R540SA-XX036T (laptop). The characteristics of the reviews were not bad, since in principle, many understood that this is an average device, from which it was not worth waiting for unprecedented performance.
This option worked on the basis of Intel Celeron N3050, which is equipped with two cores. The frequency of the chip does not exceed 1.6 GHz. Although, as practice shows, overclocking allows you to increase the speed to 2166 MHz. A processor can work with only two streams of information, so its performance is mediocre. It was created using the 14nm process technology on the Braswell microarchitecture.
The chip has a built-in graphics adapter that operates at frequencies up to 600 MHz and supports DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.2. Video memory takes the amount of RAM and can work with 1 GB. By the way, the RAM was dialed DDR3L-1600 MHz and got 2 GB. There is support for up to 8 GB. Hard disk capacity reaches 500 GB.
Reviews
In general, the ASUS R540SA-XX036T received positive reviews. Buyers praised the laptop's stylish and attractive appearance, build quality and compact size. The island-style keyboard was also comfortable to use. The sound was also not bad. Praised for its quality and pleasant sound.
The hardware platform as a whole turned out to be energy efficient and ergonomic. It works with a good cooling system, and given that this is a regular user laptop, a cooler is quite enough.
Of the shortcomings, a very unfortunate screen was noted, which, by the way, was repeatedly found, even in other series from this manufacturer. He received not quite correct color reproduction, a glossy coating that strongly glare, and poor viewing angles. We noted a low performance, although this point was already clear from the specification of the model.