ASUS VivoBook 14 F415EA-UB51 14" Laptop Computer $400@MC

[gibster]

ASUS VivoBook 14 F415EA-UB51 14" Laptop Computer - Grey; Intel Core i5 11th Gen 1135G7 2.4GHz Processor; 8GB DDR4-3200 - Micro Center

Get it now! New technology meets a wide range of exclusive usability features, a diverse color choice, and always-great affordability for everyone.

www.microcenter.com

Not sure if this is a great deal (but it is cheaper than anywhere else), but I needed a decent laptop for my daughter, and this seems to fit the bill, maybe it will work for somebody else.
Intel Core i5 11th Gen 1135G7 2.4GHz 4C/8T Processor; 8GB DDR4-3200 RAM; 256GB Solid State Drive; Intel UHD Graphics, 1920x1080.
This CPU has Xe graphics, so much better than the old 630 UHD. There is a vacant SODIMM slot, so I updated the memory with an 8GB stick to 16GB total, I read some people even add a 16GB stick for 24GB total. Also, the onboard 256GB NvMe drive is 2280, and can be exchanged, so I replaced it with a Samsung 980 1TB drive. Cloning the drive was somewhat a crazy DIY affair, used a combination of Macrium Reflect and gparted, and was able to successfully clone all partitions and expand the OS drive.
After all that, it still works, and using PassMark PerformanceTest, I got a 38th percentile laptop, not too shabby. My Lenovo with a 5800H Ryzen and RTX 3050 gets 65th percentile, so for half the price, I think this is very decent. Granted, I added upgrades, but these same upgrades should cost you less than $150 nowadays, I just happened to have these items around gathering dust .
Display is just OK, not as bright as I would like, but sharp. There is no microSD card reader despite it being in the description, not sure what the deal is there.
I feel the 3D performance is decent, but a little below Vega 8, which is the closest thing I can compare it to. It may be due to the CPU, as I'm comparing this Intel CPU to a 5700G, so by itself, Xe may be OK, but it may need a better CPU to beat Vega (the PassMark CPU score is like 10K for this CPU, 22K for the 5800H, not sure what it is for the 5700G, as I don't run Windows on it - I would imagine also around 20K though). I also ran Unigine Superposition Benchmark, got around 1900 on Medium/DirectX, I get about 2700 on a Vega 8 Medium/OpenGL in ubuntu. Not quite apples to apples, but close enough to get an idea.
External metallic gray color on the laptop looks good, light weight and not too huge to carry around, small power cube, also decent lighted keyboard with 3 light levels, that's about it. Win11 upgradeable, but I'm holding off the upgrade for now.

 

[yottabit]

Thanks for this. picked one up for family member that was on a ~$400 budget - actually had it shipped to them for the extra $20 so haven't even seen it yet, but they love it. might upgrade to 16 gb ram for them down the line. the 1080p matte ips display is very nice for the price point. everything else I was finding like the similarly sized ryzens were 1366x768. also Win10 is a nice selling point for some

deal seems to still be available

 

[Oyeve]

Not bad at all. NE has it for 10 more.