Buying and selling laptops can definitely be a pain in the butt if you don’t know what you want or what you are looking for. Everything kind of depends on what needs you are trying to satisfy when buying a laptop. This ASUS Q304U is a very decent choice for the college student that’s on a budget but has a bit of money to spend.
This ASUS was commonly found at Best Buy ranging from $400 (after some student discounts and sale) to about $750 at normal pricing. The takeaway here is if you pay attention you can get it for up to $350 less if you have the patience. You can also score a good deal and buy an used laptop from a person locally or on the internet. It’s always worth spending extra hour and researching available options especially when on a budget.
Performance
This laptop comes out of the box with 1TB of HDD space and 6GB of RAM for multitasking. If you want to upgrade the memory you can go up to 12GB. There are 4 GB soldered to the board and a 2GB stick that equates for the 6GB. There is no dedicated graphics card but the Intel® Graphics 520 will support light gaming with settings on low. Video streaming is pretty decent, but the sound quality of the little speakers is not awesome. Thus you will prefer to have headphones for any long stretches of watching videos.
360º hinges
It’s a sleek looking machine with its sandblasted aluminum silver casing with bright chrome 360º flex hinges. Speaking of the hinges, they work very smoothly and allow for a complete flip so you can use your 13.3″ laptop as an impromptu tablet. As soon as the hinges flex 180º they automatically deactivate the keyboard. Also the unique look of the hinge design is worth mentioning. Asus haven’t used them on any other laptop before this model. They definitely make this little convertible laptop stand out.
Processor
The 6th Generation i5-6200M processor has plenty of power to take on your day-to-day activities. It’s an ultra-low energy consumption setup that has dual-core, four-way processing performance. When you need extra power the Intel Turbo Boost technology delivers.
Considering performance, design and price this model could be one of the best selling convertible laptops for buyers on a budget.
Chassis
As far as design is concerned it’s a clean looking machine as previously mentioned. It only weighs 3.3-pounds and measures 0.8-inches at it’s thickest point. In order to achieve these sized ASUS did omit the DVD/CD drive and they added a 3-cell battery to power it. Weight and size are becoming the most important factors to look at when choosing a new computer. Portability and connectivity beat the rest. Convertibles next to ultrabooks are best selling laptops on the market for at least a couple of years. And this trend is spreading wider. Even though we all carry mobile computers in a form of smartphones but when it comes to any kind of work, laptops prove better than phones and tablets.
Interfaces
The interfaces you’ll find on this laptop are pretty standard. It comes with two USB 3.0 ports, one USB Type-C port, an SD card reader and a full-size HDMI port for easy connectivity to external components.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard has the common backlit capability (three levels of brightness) and has pretty good feedback for your typing experience. The touchpad is appropriately sized for the machine and is accurate to today’s standards. It supports all touch and multi-finger gestures since it’s running the Windows 10 operating system. The only thing you may notice is the slight keyboard flex in the middle of the keyboard. But if’ you’re only applying typing pressure it shouldn’t be noticed at all.
Display
The display is a 13.3″ Full HD 10-point multitouch screen for hands-on control. The 1920 x 1080 resolution boasts impressive color and clarity. Touch, tap, glide and make the most of Windows 10. It also uses LED backlighting.
Overall, this laptop is pretty decent for what it is. You’re not going to be solving global issues with it nor hack into the CIA. But if you just need a functional, practical and affordable scholastic laptop, it’ll probably work out just fine. And when you need to sell your old laptop in order to make room and extra cash for the new one Sell Broke will offer you best options. Just make sure to pack and ship your laptop to Sell Broke safely and rest assured to get the most cash for it.
