The focus of this article is the budget mobile device ASUS X554LJ. The reviews of the owners assure that this laptop along with high performance has a very attractive price (25-30 thousand rubles, depending on version). The gadget will be interesting for both students and office workers, because it is affordable cost that is a priority for buyers with a small budget.
First meeting
Although the device is inexpensive, the manufacturer packed it in a company box in the form of a convenient case with a plastic handle for easy transfer. The box is very tight, so you should not worry about the contents during transportation. Like all budget devices of the manufacturer, the ASUS X554LJ laptop has a simple package: the gadget itself, a charger, instructions and driver disks. It is better not to throw away the packaging from the laptop, as there is a clause in the warranty card requiring the owner to provide the entire device in service, including the box, to the service.
For some modifications of the device, which are sold without a licensed operating system, the box contains a disk for restoring the Windows 10 system. Naturally, it is a trial; after 30 days of operation, it is recommended to purchase a license.
Appearance and build quality
Although the laptop belongs to the budget class, ASUS manufacturers, unlike competitors, decided that its appearance should be attractive. Firstly, the mobile device for its 15 inches is very compact and lightweight - this applies to all modifications of the ASUS X554LJ. Black plastic was used in the manufacture of a laptop case of very high quality. When you try to deform the device, there is not even a hint of creaks. The lid, although it opens with a little effort, but it works silently.
Judging by the reviews of the owners, the matte finish of the entire case and the plastic frame around the screen are confusing - they are very easily soiled, easily attract dust and collect fingerprints. Fans of cleanliness should always carry a special rag with them to eliminate pollution on the mobile device.
Low cost security
When you turn on the owner of the laptop ASUS X554LJ for the first time, the review starts from the display. For hours you can talk about the low quality of obsolete TN + Film matrices, but it is thanks to this technology that a mobile device has a low cost. A widescreen screen with an aspect ratio of 16: 9 and a resolution of 1366x768 dots per inch looks somehow poor, but, as practice shows, this is quite enough for entertainment and work.
And if this notebook has obvious problems with color reproduction (it definitely won't work for design and creative work), then the viewing angles are completely in order, because the manufacturer installed LED backlighting. Its presence is very clearly visible when working in nature - the backlight eliminates sun glare on the laptop display. It is worth noting that LED backlighting also partially solves problems with black color and its shades, at least in dynamic scenes of multimedia and games this is noticeable (you can distinguish objects, rather than observe a gray spot).
Interfaces & Connectors
But the presence of interfaces is very difficult to call a budget mobile device ASUS X554LJ. A review of the connectors located on the side panels of the laptop gives the feeling that the user is at least a representative of the business class. There is the most important component - a DVD burner, which was abandoned several years ago, but decided to install again due to its high reliability (saving data up to 100 years, against 8 years on SSD and Flash media). It is located on the right panel along with a card reader, one USB 2.0 port and a combined interface for connecting headphones and a microphone.
The left panel is no less interesting: a power connector, an RJ-45 network connector, an D-Sub analog output (more popular in Russia than digital interfaces), an HDMI output, and two USB 3.0 slots. By the way, in this device, when installing the Windows operating system from flash drives, USB 3.0 ports do not see the boot sector of the flash drive, so many owners are very pleased that the manufacturer installed one USB 2.0 port on the right panel.
Remote Control
The presence of a full-sized keyboard in a 15-inch device is now hardly anyone can be surprised, but the presence of a digital unit is possible. It is also full, the buttons are large, which eliminates the accidental pressing of the wrong key that is needed (convenient with the blind typing method). Having examined the keyboard in detail, you can find a strange similarity of appearance with MacBook devices - separate square buttons with a small stroke and easy return. Even identical rounded corners and lettering are present in the ASUS X554LJ laptop. Responses of owners note that symbols are inconveniently applied. Everything is marked with white paint, and it will not be easy for the average user to navigate between the Cyrillic alphabet and the Latin alphabet.
But the installed touchpad is great. He is huge, very sensitive and non-marking. It is a pity that the manufacturer did not provide it with multi-touch function, then he would have no price. It’s a pleasure to work with the touch pad, and if you need to turn it off during operation, you can do this using the function key, which is very convenient.
Multimedia center
A high-quality audio system was always absent in the budget device, but the entire line of ASUS X554LJ XO220H laptops changed the impression of cheap gadgets for the better. The sound is decent, it seems that the entire keyboard is a stereo system. And if you use the proprietary equalizer, which is supplied on one of the disks in the configuration, then you can achieve 5.1 surround sound.
The explanation is quite simple: the manufacturer has installed chips that are used to create sound cards of the game class of the Xonar series. It is clear that not the board itself, but only its elements, however, such an innovation brought the budget laptop to a high level in sound quality. It’s very nice to play games, watch movies and listen to music from a mobile device in decent quality.
A serious approach to performance
It is worth noting that the most productive processor was chosen for the laptop ASUS X554LJ - Core i5, from Intel. Apparently, the designers considered that the modification of the Core i7 would bring the gadget out of budget-class devices. And, as practice shows, complete with a discrete GeForce 920M video adapter (sometimes there are 950M modifications) and 4 GB of RAM, it’s possible not only to launch productive games, but also play them at the minimum settings.
The weak link in such a system is a magnetic hard disk, which although it works via the SATA III interface, but the spindle speed is limited to 5400 rpm. The situation can be corrected by installing an SSD drive, which, as tests show, increases system performance by 35%. For example, you can play World of Tanks at minimum settings with stable 35-42 frames per second.
Kid with character
Those buyers who want to save on a purchase should take a closer look at the cheapest device ASUS X554LJ (i3 5005U). It is easy to guess that the system has a less efficient Core i3 processor operating at a frequency of 2000 MHz. And this does not mean that the platform for productive applications will be weak. The dual-core baby copes with its tasks perfectly.
System performance is guaranteed by the same components that are installed in a more expensive version with a four-core processor ASUS X554LJ i5. A rather strange decision of the manufacturer in creating a line of their devices: the filling is identical, but the difference is only in the processors.
An attempt to occupy a business class niche
Modification ASUS X554LJ 90NB08I8-M06800 undoubtedly should interest potential buyers who are looking for a device in the business class. The manufacturer made this gadget from very high-quality white plastic, supplying it with all the productive components that are installed in other models of the line. For an elegant white color you will have to pay about 5,000 rubles (if compared with black models). But it's worth it, because outwardly the novelty looks presentable. Such a device on the head’s desk will clearly emphasize its status. Of course, upon a detailed examination, a cheap LCD matrix and a keyboard with function keys immediately indicate that the laptop belongs to a budget class. But here it is up to the owner to decide for what purpose he needs a gadget in white color.
Wireless Interfaces and Advanced Features
The standard Wi-Fi module that supports 802.11bgn technology is not satisfactory. Everything works stably on native drivers that come with the device. A nice addition is the presence of a Bluetooth module that works according to the 4.0 standard. Data transmission, high-definition wireless audio, a modem and other functions are also within the power of this technology.
All additional functionality (multimedia control, wireless interfaces, screen, touchpad and the like settings) is controlled from the keyboard. The manufacturer placed the adjustment on the “F1 - F12” buttons, setting the correspondence using the “Fn” function key on the device’s keyboard. But in the ASUS X554LJ XO220H laptop there is quite a lot of free space between the display and the keyboard unit, it was possible to take out the function keys separately - the owners note in their reviews.
Cooling system
Special attention deserves the cooling system. Two small coolers are responsible for the circulation of air flow in a laptop. They can operate at high speeds, but their rotation does not cause extraneous noise, which indicates high-quality components in the production of the ASUS X554LJ laptop cooling system. Owner reviews note that the cooler block itself is available for each user. It is enough to remove the bottom cover in order to clean not only coolers from dust, but also the processor along with the chips on the motherboard.
In order to remove the cooling system, you only need to remove the protective screen, which presses the fans to the motherboard and is held by four screws. Removing the bottom cover does not void the warranty, so self-cleaning a laptop from dust will save finances and spend it on something more useful than paid service at a service center.
Work autonomy
Notebook ASUS X554LJ has a small battery capacity (2600 mAh), but it is enough for the device to work on a single charge for three hours. A serious statement by the manufacturer is confirmed by some features of the system:
- economical processor can work in energy saving mode (when watching video or browsing the Internet, the consumption is 15 W);
- discrete video adapter without load is turned off, transferring control to the integrated video platform;
- on four gigabytes of memory, the system disables the swap file, which means that the hard drive does not work either.
In their reviews, the owners note the fact that the laptop can work on one charge and 4.5 hours, but for this you need to turn off all wireless interfaces and reduce the screen brightness and sound volume to 70 percent. It is worth noting that the four-cell battery is prone to the effect of memory. Therefore, it is recommended at least once a week to discharge the capacity up to 3-5% (applies to those users who are accustomed to working on a constant charge from the network).
Device Upgrade
Quite confusing things are with the installation of additional DDR3 memory modules to increase system performance. The manufacturer said in its specification that the laptop ASUS X554LJ XO518H supports the installation of only 4 GB of RAM. However, the analysis reveals that two DDR3 slots are occupied by two 2 GB modules. If you replace them with two identical 8-gigabyte memory sticks, you will find that the system works fine on 16 GB of RAM. What is the catch, it is not clear, but the result will delight all owners unequivocally.
It is recommended that the hard drive be upgraded, because it is he who turns out to be the weak link in the system when launching productive games. The standard 2.5-inch form factor for the hard drive allows you to install any suitable size SSD on the market. Naturally, for high-quality and stable operation of the video adapter, you must take care of the availability of fresh Nvidia drivers.
Finally
In general, the ASUS X554LJ laptop reviews of the owners are positive. An inexpensive gadget (25,000 rubles) from a budget class, which has a fairly productive components (processor, video card). The mobile device of this series is very popular among students and home users who decide to upgrade outdated equipment. The system, which is very economical in terms of energy saving, has high performance in operation. And the absence of noise, high-quality sound, the presence of all kinds of multimedia interfaces only contribute to ease of use.