ASUS VivoBook F512 Thin and Lightweight Laptop, 15.6” FHD WideView NanoEdge , AMD R5-3500U CPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Backlit KB, Fingerprint Reader, Windows 10, Peacock Blue, F512DA-EB51

Nothing can make you feel like a relic from the past faster than trying to learn to use these sleek new laptops after having been a "desktop model only" nerd for too many years. My fingers are too clunky, the keys are definitely not where I expected to find them, and the backspace key is my new best friend. Actually, I never thought I'd cross over to a laptop at all because they were too compressed and I am way to old to want to tackle muscle memory lessons on where to find the keys.I had it in my head that I could breeze through it. After all it was just a laptop computer and I was computer savvy. My brother was an IT guy for many years of his life, so I figured most of my issues could be resolved with a simple "call Bob". R-I-G-H-T!!! Not only had I not upgraded my old computer for many years, I hadn't upgraded the operating system and ... OMG this laptop came with Windows 10. After about my 5th call to my brother in less than an hour, he very carefully suggested that I might want to purchase a manual on how to use Windows 10. I think think he also said "for dummies", but it was kind of under his breath and garbled. So, I bought the one for dummies, and another one for senior dummies. Good thing he lives too far away for me to drive down to see him ... LOLI love this laptop. As far I know it works great ... my fingers not so much but they're slowly learning how to touch type again. This one has a nice large screen and the keyboard is very comfortable. I've always used a mouse, so the finger pad is more annoying than hard to use. I know I could attach a mouse, but I'm determined to learn how to use it as it is.My old computer system was clunky and took up the better part of a desk surface. That required me to sit in the back bedroom when I used it and I always felt shut away from everything. This laptop fits great into a roll-top desk I have in my living room and I'm learning.As you have guessed, this is less of a review of the laptop computer and more about the shortcomings of its clunky old user. To be absolutely honest, the laptop is great ... it's the user that needs and upgrade.

I originally bought this computer with the intentions of programming on the go.Let's get the bad out of the way first. This laptop is not designed, nor advertised for gaming by any stretch. You'll be able to get away with some older games but forget about getting reasonable performance at reasonable graphics levels on anything more modern. We're talking just barely getting 60fps on Spyro: Reignited Trilogy at 720p, lowest graphic preset. But that's impressive for not being a gaming laptop. Just keep your expectations in line.The good: This thing is blitzing fast in practically every other regard. This is where the SSD and CPU really take center stage. Everything is incredibly responsive and installs are very painless. Overall usage had me forgetting I wasn't on my desktop at times, so I give this a laptop a solid A+ in that regard. Boot times are damn near instant and restarting to finish installing applications happens in under 10 seconds.Battery life has yet to be tested very well so I can't comment too much on that just yet. I'll update when I get more usage out of the battery but from the get go, it seems pretty standard.Screen quality is again very standard. It's not winning any beauty contests compared to a decent ISP panel but again, it's not advertising itself as being anything spectacular in that regard. You get what you pay for and with this laptop, you're paying for the SSD/CPU performance which it absolutely nails.Style: I absolutely love the way this laptop looks. It's clean, sleek, and professional. Nothing over the top but doesn't look or feel cheap. Build quality is very solid. Obviously it's no MacBook in terms of build quality but it's also less than half the price of a MacBook so again, you get what you pay for.Sidenotes: My first unit had an odd manufacture defect on the screen; A white blotch that was only visible under certain conditions, namely over more muddy colors like off shades of white, dark blues, etc. It was incredibly distracting but I contacted Amazon who stayed on the line with me while we discussed possible solutions with ASUS and ultimately resulted in Amazon sending me a replacement unit in less than two days. The new unit has none of these issues and looks to be exactly what I was looking for in the first place. So good on both ASUS for making a decent laptop and Amazon for honoring the exchange.