Update: $299 + Free Shipping! 15" Ultrabook wannabe (great mom laptop)

[Pneumothorax]

I dunno if this is getting too OT for here, but the USB stick I created using the method above was worthless. I think the only way to do a clean install of Win8 on a SSD is to 'acquire' a win 8 ISO or just cloning the original HD which I loathe to do onto a SSD. Not sure if Win8 needs to have registry mods done to make it SSD aware.

 

[jonno]

Kaido- Thanks again for recommending this unit. I've had it for 24 hours and pretty much love it. The naysayers haven't a clue. I have quickly adjusted to the windows 8 weirdness and am awed by all the new, fresh technology in this thing. The only minus so far is that sometimes the asus clickpad software loses its swipe ability; but that's just bonus anyway if it works. I've been able to install some very old software that works fine. Photoshop7 for example. Had a problem installing AntiVir Free Desktop; kept blue screening and then I couldn't delete or uninstall ANY of it. Discovered Safe Mode after a few attempts of searching. Even Safe Mode on this thing is swanky looking. That enabled me to ditch all the avira files and registry entries. I tried a handful of Start Menu programs and decided StartIsBack is my fave; it'll cost $3 for two licenses after 30 days. Worth it. And asus has a utility that enables almost instantaneous shut down and startup (sleep mode) that says will work for 176 days with my current battery charge. That alone makes me not worry about trying to get an ssd in there. The hd is fine. I mean it takes Photoshop 10 seconds to launch instead of 3-4. Thanks again. A GREAT deal.

 

[Kaido]

I dunno if this is getting too OT for here, but the USB stick I created using the method above was worthless. I think the only way to do a clean install of Win8 on a SSD is to 'acquire' a win 8 ISO or just cloning the original HD which I loathe to do onto a SSD. Not sure if Win8 needs to have registry mods done to make it SSD aware.

I'll see if I can snag the laptop tonight and see what's up with the restore system.

 

[Kaido]

Kaido- Thanks again for recommending this unit. I've had it for 24 hours and pretty much love it. The naysayers haven't a clue. I have quickly adjusted to the windows 8 weirdness and am awed by all the new, fresh technology in this thing. The only minus so far is that sometimes the asus clickpad software loses its swipe ability; but that's just bonus anyway if it works. I've been able to install some very old software that works fine. Photoshop7 for example. Had a problem installing AntiVir Free Desktop; kept blue screening and then I couldn't delete or uninstall ANY of it. Discovered Safe Mode after a few attempts of searching. Even Safe Mode on this thing is swanky looking. That enabled me to ditch all the avira files and registry entries. I tried a handful of Start Menu programs and decided StartIsBack is my fave; it'll cost $3 for two licenses after 30 days. Worth it. And asus has a utility that enables almost instantaneous shut down and startup (sleep mode) that says will work for 176 days with my current battery charge. That alone makes me not worry about trying to get an ssd in there. The hd is fine. I mean it takes Photoshop 10 seconds to launch instead of 3-4. Thanks again. A GREAT deal.

Yeah, pretty amazing for $329. And speaking of amazing deals and cheap/decent technology, I also just picked up a 50" LED LCD TV (goodbye tax return lol) for my dad's PC for $399 at PC Richard's (CAD use + movies, big screen = win)...the energy sticker on the front says $17 a year to run. Picture is awesome, weighs just 50 pounds with the weighted base, ridiculous size, and amazing price:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2300353

Anyway - yeah I installed StartMenu8 from IObit, been working out great (boots to Desktop & skips the MetroGUI, disabled Hot Corners, disabled the Metro SideBar, and free!), but I was still getting those weird swipe things, which turned out to be from the multi-touch trackpad software. I disabled that and set it to only do mouse, tap-to-click, and 2-finger scroll, nothing else, and it works great now. Almost like Windows 7! Really easy to use. Enjoy!

 

[Kaido]

I dunno if this is getting too OT for here, but the USB stick I created using the method above was worthless. I think the only way to do a clean install of Win8 on a SSD is to 'acquire' a win 8 ISO or just cloning the original HD which I loathe to do onto a SSD. Not sure if Win8 needs to have registry mods done to make it SSD aware.

See the reply here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1734-73-bios-asus-x501a

I did a search for "recovery" in the Start Menu (StartMenu8 app) and found RecoveryDrive.exe. It gives me the option to restore to a 16gb USB stick, or to a series of CD/DVD discs (you have to click through a few screens to get to the optical disc option, and you'll need a USB burner plugged in). I also have the option to make a recovery USB stick using a minimum 512mb stick.

What did you have problems with when you did it?

 

[Pneumothorax]

See the reply here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1734-73-bios-asus-x501a

I did a search for "recovery" in the Start Menu (StartMenu8 app) and found RecoveryDrive.exe. It gives me the option to restore to a 16gb USB stick, or to a series of CD/DVD discs (you have to click through a few screens to get to the optical disc option, and you'll need a USB burner plugged in). I also have the option to make a recovery USB stick using a minimum 512mb stick.

What did you have problems with when you did it?

I made a USB stick with the software, but once I boot up with the stick, the only options are to repair the windows install or to load up the recovery partition on the original HDD. When I had the blank SSD installed, there was no option to install a recovered win 8 partition. I ended up firing up acronis and just cloning the original HDD.

 

[Kaido]

If you're looking for a different brand, there's a daily exclusive deal at Slickdeals today for basically the same machine, but from Dell: (Inspiron 3521)

http://slickdeals.net/

Right at the top banner - "Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop for $329.99 w/ Intel Pentium processor, 4GB memory, and 500GB HDD. Use code 0TZWZ4BLTP?LLF Free Shipping!" It has a 1.6ghz Sandy Bridge Pentium 997 CPU.

 

[Kaido]

I made a USB stick with the software, but once I boot up with the stick, the only options are to repair the windows install or to load up the recovery partition on the original HDD. When I had the blank SSD installed, there was no option to install a recovered win 8 partition. I ended up firing up acronis and just cloning the original HDD.

Hmm. Did it ask you for a 16gb stick, or for the 512mb stick? It sounds like it loaded the emergency recovery software instead of the reinstaller to your USB stick.

 

[ControlD]

Can this thing play Minecraft at an acceptable frame rate? Been looking for a laptop for the kids that will work for MC, as it is surprisingly hardware hungry.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Hmm. Did it ask you for a 16gb stick, or for the 512mb stick? It sounds like it loaded the emergency recovery software instead of the reinstaller to your USB stick.

It asked for a 16gb stick which I of course provided. Unless I'm missing something... But I went through all the menus and none provided a scratch install option.

 

[Kaido]

They are not shipping these online anymore...in-store pickup only, where you can find them - at a discounted rate of $289:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+1...501a&cp=1&lp=1

Model: X501A-BSPDN22

SKU: 7685047

 

[holden j caufield]

I'd get this for my mom but 1366 x 768 might be low even for her.

 

[mechBgon]

I should edit the description: "This is a great laptop for your mom if you're looking for a budget laptop and if you're an ATOT nerd who is willing to set it up for her so it works nicely" :awe:

btw, here is my Windows 8 setup procedure:

1. Initial laptop setup (username etc.)
2. Run all Windows updates
3. Disable automatic updates (this disables the automatic restarts in Windows 8)
4. Disable UAC & regedit the enableLUA key to 0 (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\)
5. Install IObit's StartMenu8 & disable hot corners & the Metro Sidebar
6. Set the theme to Windows default (not the Asus default)
7. Make sure Windows Defender (aka Microsoft Security Essentials) is up & running and updated
8. Change the power settings to my liking
9. Install Chrome & all the other good stuff

Acts really similar to Windows 7 like this. Nice cheap laptop (er, Ultrabook Wannabe ).

I have to remark on the UAC step there. That's a substantial loss of security. It also disables file & Registry virtualization tricks that help older software cope with the post-WinXP world. Max out UAC, that's my advice. It's not that hard to deal with, really. And disabling Automatic Updates is a pretty daring move, if you mean disabling them altogether.

On the topic of security, the Ivy Bridge CPU is also preferable over the Sandy Bridge, whether it's Celerons, Pentiums or Core-family processors. Ivy Bridge has a security feature called Supervisor Mode Execution Prevention (SMEP) that's like a specialized form of Data Execution Prevention. It helps stave off elevation-of-privilege shenanigans that an exploit might try to use. So Ivy Bridge if possible. Win8 is the first and only (desktop) version of Windows to support SMEP.

The link in my sig has more security suggestions for those who're setting up a system to hand over to their parents/kids/SO who aren't tech-savvy. There's a lot you can do to pave the way for a secure future.

 

[Kaido]

I have to remark on the UAC step there. That's a substantial loss of security. It also disables file & Registry virtualization tricks that help older software cope with the post-WinXP world. Max out UAC, that's my advice. It's not that hard to deal with, really.

Yeah, for sure. The UAC stuff drives me nuts tho. My setup for my mom is automatic antivirus plus running Chrome in Incognito - you lose history, but it prevents add-ons from loading. So perhaps not the tightest security setup, but it solves the nag issue. Although I've noticed it now reverse-nags you - "this app needs UAC enabled to run" or somesuch. I need to dig into that more at some point, but I don't have anything at home that runs Win8 and don't care enough to pursue it too much :biggrin: I did find some more discussion here:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1120770-windows-8-run-everything-as-administrator/

 

[donfm]

The lack of an optical drive sucks, means you have to put more work into making it decent. That adds more to the overall cost.

How many ultrabooks have you seen that have optical drives?

 

[JBT]

This is tempting, it looks to be in stock on the other side of town. But I don't have a laptop at the moment and this could be really handy.

 

[soulcougher73]

Grr nothing in stock here in KC

 

[Kaido]

Kaido- thanks again for great info. Any idea what size media the recovery files need? Will it only work usb or will the card reader work as well? Thanks.

I finally had a chance to look at it today - I had a successful backup! I used a 16gb SanDisk Cruzer (which I know is bootable) - they go for $11.49 on Amazon right now:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer...dp/B005FYNSZA/

Basically did this:

1. Format the USB stick using NTFS
2. Do a Start Menu search for RecoveryDrive.exe and open the program
3. Walk through the steps and select your USB stick and let it format it
4. Takes awhile; I ended up with 5.73gb free out of 14.8gb

Did a quick test boot to the stick and it seemed to work (I didn't wipe the drive haha). Very lame method of recovery, Asus - there should be a more obvious way, but I guess most consumers wouldn't do it anyway, so meh. If I ever do the SSD + 8GB upgrade, I'll post back in!

 

[Kaido]

New model available - $299 + Free Shipping online:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+1...lack/7685047.p

Model: X501A-BSPDN22
SKU: 7685047

It looks exactly the same as the original model (same Ivy Bridge Pentium 2020M & HD graphics), but the model number is different. Still an awesome deal, and $30 less now! I used it again today and my only real (minor) complaint is that the arrow keys are the same distance from the other keys, which makes finding them by touch kind of difficult.

 

[Kaido]

If anyone is still looking, a new i3-based model is out for $369:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+1...lack/7906079.p

Same specs as before (4GB/500GB/Win8) with the exception of the CPU/GPU - it now uses a 2.5ghz i3-3120M (dual-core with hyperthreading, so 4 cores in Task Manager) and has an HD4000 GPU, which is a huge leap over traditional integrated video cards:

http://ark.intel.com/products/71465/Intel-Core-i3-3120M-Processor-3M-Cache-2_50-GHz

MSRP on the CPU is $225, so the laptop is basically an extra $144 haha. It's a 22nm 35w chip btw, and has VT-x support.