Hi
I wanna purchase this lap top but I am worried about the heat that blown out toward the display,Is it an important issue or may damage the screen after a while or couple of month ?
If yes I think I have to purchase another lap top or maybe n550jv :(
sry for my bad english.
Hi Mike,
I’m hoping you could give me a suggestion.
I’m currently looking for an Ultrabook.
=========
My requirements are below:
BUDGET
I can’t go over $900.
PURPOSE
Large graphics editing (billboards materials with Photoshop, Corel Draw, Illustrator) and short-video editing (5min to 30minutes videos on Premiere Pro and After Effect). I also intend to play games on the laptop, mainly FIFA 13, Football Manager 2013 & SWTOR with highest detail and other AAA titles with medium details. Frame rate needs to be over 40fps for me to be able to enjoy it.
PORTABILITY
I need it to be thin(-ish) and light, like an Ultrabook. As I will to carry it everyday to the office and I love to work in a cafe.
BATTERY LIFE
Around 5 to 6 hours of web browsing/light work such as Words, Excel, etc.
OPTICAL DRIVE
I don’t care for optical drive. I prefer NOT to have it on the laptop.
STORAGE
I don’t care about storage, as I would slap a 256GB SSD on it.
RAM
I don’t care about RAM, as long as it supports minimal 8GB of RAM (most do, I believe). I prefer if it supports up to 16GB.
SCREEN SIZE & RESOLUTION
I prefer 13.3″ for portability, but don’t mind 14″ or 15.6″ if it’s thin and light enough. I don’t mind 1366×768 for the time being, considering no discrete mobile graphics card can play games with acceptable frame rates with 1080p. And I can’t find 1080p Ultrabook under $1000. The screen vertical viewing angle should be good enough. Matte/glossy don’t matter.
TOUCHSCREEN
Not an absolute requirement, but nice to have.
TRACKPAD
Not an absolute requirements, as I would use a mouse, but I’d love to have two-finger swipe.
OS
I have three legit copies of Windows 8 from MSDNAA, so I don’t mind if the laptop comes with no OS (or Ubuntu or Mac OS).
======
Now, with my above requirements, it seems the V551 is almost perfect.
My question are:
1. Is there any other laptop that suits my needs better?
2. Do I need a Core i7 QM (quad-core) for my needs (graphics & video editing)?
3. I’m afraid an ULV processor will hampers my productivity when editing large graphics. Is my fear warranted?
4. Does the Haswell version of the V551 last longer on battery vs. the V550 (Ivy Bridge) when doing video/light works?
5. Is it worth it to get the Acer Aspire TimelineU M5? It’s being phased out.
Not sure what V551 you had in mind, but I for one would look at the Acer V5-573G . Haswell + nvidia 750M + 8 GB of RAM.
It’s a 15 incher though, but it’s fairly slim and weighs about 4.5 pounds and I believe it will fit your budget. There’s also the 14 inch Aspire V7 you can look at, with similar specs, but only marginally more compact. and this looks out of your budget as well
I haven’t tested any of them myself and can’t say anything about how it feels, build quality, keyboard, trackpad, etc…
As for your questions:
1. See above
2. It would be recommended, but if you want a thing an light device, you’ll have to stick with an ULV platform
3. It really depends on how large your projects are but if you have realistic expectations, you should be fine. Your videos will take longer to render of course
4. Not sure, haven’t tested it yet
5. Could be, if you can find it cheap and don’t care that much about battery life
Wow thanks for the recommendations. I haven’t looked at Acer V5 in a long time, didn’t know they have one with GT750M. I haven’t even hearts of Aspire V7 before you mentioned it.
I was talking about the Asus V551LB with Core i5-4200U and GT740M. I said it was almost perfect because it ticks most of my requirements but $100 out of my budget.
The TimelineU M5, based on the review has 7 hours of continuous web surfing battery life.
Thanks for your review on Asus vivobook V551LB
it has got the exact and all the specifications what i have been looking for.it matches my budget(below 1000$) but not lunched in INDIA
For the point :-
is there any other ultrabooks with same specifications,which may be better than this one or equal to this in other brands( sony, acer, hp, dell)
suggest me any one i need to buy before this December
Great review… that I wish I had paid more attention about the screen, before buying an S551LB-CJ048H! The glare / reflections are most annoying since I occasionally work outdoors, and I’m considering returning the unit (otherwise, it’s OK).
In the N550 review, you made a similar warning, but mentioned the possibility of a “matte FTF panel” or, in the future, “a non-glare IPS option”. What model would you recommend to overcome this problem – even if it implies paying significantly more? Would the alternative be the Zenbook U500 series?
Any laptop with a touchscreen will get these reflections, due to the glass over the display.
Unfortunately, most laptops these days come with touchscreens. Not sure what your budget is, but you should find some options with Non-glare displays among 15 inchers. If you’re looking at ultra-slims, then yes, the UX51 could be an option. Last year’s Series 9 from Samsung could be one as well, but each has some quirks, make sure to read reviews first, so you’ll know what to expect
Many thanks, Andrei. Indeed, I dropped the touchscreen functionality and went for a (non-glare) N56VB-S4081H. A bit heavy, it’s true – but only 200 grams more than my current one, so I won’t really tell the difference!
Congratulations for your brilliant and useful work for all the community!
Joao
sheshan
November 3, 2013 at 8:28 pm
In price and availability
“Intel Core i7-4500U, 1 TB HDD + 24 GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Nvidia 740M – $1099;”
It doesn’t have 24gb SSD it’s 24 gb web storage given by Asus
Thank you for the review, it was really helpful.My overall first impression of this machine is positive, though I must say I'm really conflicted between the asus s551lb and the lenovo ideapad z510, and this is where I need your expert opinion.
On paper the lenovo machine seem to better in all the areas where the asus vivobook is weak at while offering similar-to-better specs (better processor, backlit keyboard , matte display with higher resolution) although heard about some issues with wifi connectivity , heating and possibility less overall reliability/build quality.
I'm really torn between these two since they are comparable and available in the exact same price. While I find touch screen to be a nice added bonus, it is not a priority in my mind, I care mostly about overall performance, reliability, and quality.
I haven’t tested the Z510, but I did see the Z500 in action and they are more or less the same.
There’s nothing to worry about the build quality, the Z500 is solid built and good looking and I doubt the Z510 is different. However, I can confirm that the Z500 I tested had wi-fi issues. I’m not sure if Lenovo managed to fix them or not. Best advice: head over to lenovo’s forums or the forums on notebookreview.com and see if you can find an Owner’s thread, where those who already bought this laptop can share some real feedback.
hi and thanks for the magnificent review
I actually bought this laptop tonight but I have an issue with the SSD partition, I’m confused why the operating system isn’t installed on th SSD partition?
and two other question:
1- is it possible to reinstall the windows on the SSD partition, if yes, does it do any good?
2- what is your estimation on the booting elapse time?
appreciate your cooperation.
Excuse me, I want to ask, whether the battery is in the ultrabook (wrapped by a ultrabook) and how the shape of the battery if the battery is in the ultrabook?
as in the picture here of my less abundance and understand how the shape of the battery.
thank you
hi. i have the same notebook but it only runs the games that you played at 20fps. and that’s on a lower resolution? why is that? can you please help me with this?
Will the battery be damaged if i use it while charging? Games like WATCH_DOGS can only be playable if it’s in HIGH PERFORMANCE MODE WHILE CONNECTED TO AC SUPPLY. Can’t remove the batt since it’s not really removable compared to other laptops.(I use it in a well-ventilated place.)
Also, is it true that if laptops with non-removable battery (like this one) already reaches 95-100% while charging,it will automatically cut off the charging to the battery and just rely on the AC supply like a desktop?
Hey Drew. I’ve never been one of those persons who disconnect the battery and my laptops have done well over the year. That means the battery will be alright when using the computer connected to the power supply. And yes, most laptops have circuitry meant to protect the battery from overcharging.
Just to ask one thing im planning to buy this laptop on friday. and i just want to know about the ram memory since its mentioned here that it is soldered on the motherboard. Does it mean that there is no way to upgrade the ram in case? Since im planning to take the i5 / 4GB / 2GB Graphics Version.
I have just bought the Vivobook S551LB with the intention of increasing the RAM to 12 GB as I did very successfully with my wife’s ASUS S400-CA.
However, there’s no obvious SODIMM slot available, despite numerous websites showing specs which talk about “…4GB RAM soldered + expansion slot to a max of 12GB” and these sites offering compatible RAM upgrades:
Hi David. Initially I thought that there’s no way to upgrade the RAM, but after some further digging, I believe the RAM slot is hidden between the motherboard and the keyboard. That means you’ll have to somehow unscrew the entire ensemble to get access to it. I personally haven’t done it so I can’t say how difficult it is or if the memory slot is indeed there or not. Should be, there’s no other place where they could have put it.
Thank you very much for your help and the very quick reply.
Spurred on with hope, I stripped down my new machine and………..nothing!
The bastard thing has no options for RAM upgrade. There are no SODIMM slots anywhere.
I’m going to see how I get on with it with the onboard 4GB of RAM but that may not be long as I was planning to do a lot of video editing with it.
That’s surprising… If you’ll look at the HWInfo print-screen in this post, there’s clearly a 4 GB module mentioned, and the laptop has 4 GB of RAM soldered. SO that means there is one extra 4 GB module somewhere. Could it be behind that aluminum wrapping next to the pipeline?
Asus uses a very similar hardware layout for their newer Transformer Book Flip line and I was under the impression the RAM was under the MB. Unfortunately these test units are not mine and I’m not allowed to actually take them apart to see what’s behind the aluminum wrap or the MB…
Hi Andrei,
Many thanks for the comment.
I have just seen Alex’s comment below and I’ll have another look under the hood to see if I can get this cover off.
Alex
July 18, 2014 at 3:24 am
David,
I upgraded the memory which was accessible under a large rectangular steel cover. You can pry the cover off to reveal the memory.
My question is what’s the most RAM we can add? I have 8 now and I’m aiming for 12. Any ideas?
And was it difficult the take the cover apart? Seems really well soldered in place.
And yes, all these Asus laptops can take an up to 8 GB of RAM in the spare slot
David Tapp
July 19, 2014 at 5:39 am
Woo…Hoo!!!
Yes, that steel cover!
It’s not soldered on but has six small metal tabs which slot vertically into the motherboard. There are also 16 slotted tabs attached to the mobo, arranged in eight groups of two, which help to hold the cover on. You can see four of these tabs in the photo from your link. The ones you can see are marked CON8 and CON6 and are on the right side of the cover. The others are CON 9,3,2,7,5 and 4, going counter-clockwise from CON6.
I’ll be putting the cover back on after the upgrade because these CON-things look like they might need to be in electrical contact with each other via the cover. I’m no expert on this stuff but they look a little more important than just clips to hold the cover on. What do you think, Andrei?
I’m getting 8GB of RAM today if I can and will report back!
David, if you can take and share with me some pictures when performing the upgrade, it would be awesome. I’d love to have a post up on how to upgrade the RAM on all these Asus laptops (the Vivobooks and the Transformer Book Flips use the same exact approach), but unfortunately I don’t have any similar model around anymore. Thanks ;)
I’m not expert either and can’t exactly say what are those clips meant for, other than hiding (protecting? – but from what) the memory. I just wonder what’s the purpose of having any sort of charge passing through the metal shield and can’t seem to have a good answer to that. I’ll do some digging.
David Tapp
July 19, 2014 at 4:42 am
Great news, Alex!
I’ll see how it goes with this cover.
David Tapp
July 20, 2014 at 8:00 am
Hi Andrei,
An expensive experiment!
8GB wasn’t recognised – the laptop didn’t boot up.
Today I bought 4GB RAM and it works perfectly!
I have photos. Do I need a URL for them (I don’t really know how to do that, because I never need to) or can I email them to you?
Cheers
David Tapp
July 20, 2014 at 8:01 am
…….PS
The 8GB RAM stick could have been faulty, I suppose.
Hi David, it would be glad if you could email them to me, I’ll send you a message right now on the email used for these posts. Thanks a lot
Shahin Kordasti
July 28, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Hello,
I recently got me this laptop for work and I am running out of memory (got 8 GB total) so I really need to know if it is possible, or not, to install an 8 GB RAM in that slot.
I’m trying to find out if this will get an 8 GB module in that slot or not. David reported it didn’t work with his, but worked fine with a 4 GB module. Did you happen to see anyone saying anything about getting 12 GB of memory on this laptop?
Shahin Kordasti
July 30, 2014 at 9:23 am
Well the official Asus specification says "…up to 8 GB" in the slot asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_VivoBook_S551LB/specifications/. However that is for the S551LB model.
But the S551LN does not have that information specified. As I have that model I asked Asus about it and the response I got was:
Dear Shahin
Thank you for contacting ASUS Technical Support.
Your machine already has the maximum amount of memory installed, it cannot be upgraded past 8GB.
Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Doug
ASUS UK Support team
So it looks like, atleast those with the S551LN model, are shit out of luck :/
Hi Shahin, thanks for this. I’ll update the article so other can benefit from the info.
Andrew M
September 8, 2014 at 2:48 am
Hi Guys,
I just purchased an 8Gb SODIMM and installed it under the silver cover – thanks for the tip as I couldn’t find where the alleged spare slot was!
I can confirm that the 8Gb module I used works fine and Windows 8 reports my machine as having 12gb of RAM.
You have to get low voltage ram – otherwise it won’t work. I purchased a Samsung 1.35v DDR3 1600 SO-DIMM module along with an 840 EVO 500Gb SSD which I’ll install when I get the chance.
This particular 8Gb module works for sure… I used the crucial ram tool to find out which one I needed (just google it!).
HI Andrew, thanks for this confirmation, I will update the post.
Shahin Kordasti
September 8, 2014 at 12:22 pm
Thanks for the info. Pretty funny that the official ASUS support say that 8 GB is max but indeed it is possible to get more, as the above example shows.
Alex
September 9, 2014 at 1:23 am
That’s good news that it’s up-gradable to 12 GB!
The most important upgrade would be to a full SSD. The 1 TB drive in my unit has 24 GB of SSD (“hybrid drive”) but this is still a slow 5400 RPM low-end drive.
My S551 unit stopped booting up last week and while it’s in for warranty service, I bought a Surface Pro 3. This has 8 GB Ram and CPU slightly slower, but seems much faster because of the SSD.
Well, yes, having an SSD inside any computer makes a huge difference. Regular HDDs (even SSHs or HDD+SSD combos) are a major bottleneck and replacing them with an SSD will make those computers a lot more responsive.
Kenneth T. Diputado
July 20, 2014 at 2:39 am
Will this laptop support a 2nd storage like HDD or SSD by changing the optical drive?
Re: SSD in optical bay, I was told by a computer shop there are adapter brackets available but they don’t do it, not common.
I also find the 8 GB RAM is not sufficient, needs reboot every 20 or so hours running (2-3 days).
Supplied 5400 rpm drive is slowing it down a lot, switching tabs on the browser shows blank screen for 2-10 seconds while RAM low.
Supplied drive (on my model) is 1 TB hybrid with ~25GB integrated SSD. Not fast enough, planning to replace with SSD.
Screen too dim. Impossible to use outdoors even when overcast. Planning to crack it open and identify the power for the LED screen, see if I can boost it somewhat. May need replacement screen soon…
I have bought this laptop in july, given it a good chance and I couldn’t be more unhappy.
It has an absolutely horrible display, ghost clicks on the touchscreen that has required me to disable the it to even be able to use the laptop. The trackpad has a decent feel, but keep opening side panels because of windows 8. I have tried downgrading to win 7 only to find that they have not supplied drivers for this. Thus I am stuck with a crazy expensive and utterly useless laptop.
I urge anyone thinking of buying one to stay far away from this line of Asus laptops unless you are on the lookout for an expensive paper weight.
I have bought this asus vivobook S551LB (core i5) in November last year.
But suddenly the touchscreen stop working recently. I didn’t do any changes but automatic windows update.
Can you help me how to fix this touchscreen, what’s the cause of the problem
I would like to know if all the S551 models have the same look and feel when it comes to the physical structure. I intend purchasing the S551LA from an online shop and went to view the S551 (core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD; there was no indication if it was an LA or LB) at a walk-in store.
Hey bro , will you give me some information?
I bought this laptop Asus K551LA core I3 4th generation. Can I upgrade the processor ? To core I7 ? And it had Intel HD graphics 4400 integrated. Can I install an additional Nvidia graphics card ?
It’s best if you review this laptop bro.
Hoping to get a response from you.
-Sazid
I can safely say, if your screen makes cracking sounds, call in warranty.
It will not last 2 years and the hinges will separate from the screen.
SO, if like me, just 4 months out of warranty period, you have to pay half the original price to fix this poor design & quality issue.
Google Vivobook S551 screen hinge and see for yourself.
Display adapter: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family(1.00 GB)
Display adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 740M(2.00 GB)
Motherboard: ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC. S551LB(Intel Haswell-ULT)
Monitor:72.3 inch, 1366 x 768
Monitor:15.4 inch, 1366 x 768
Notebook
My question is.. Is it possible to change the Intel or the Nvidia 740M Videocard for a better or/and faster one? Which one would you prefer if its possible?
My second question: How do i know if my drivers are the correct ones and that they are up to date? Is there any program that is perfect for doing that and is always uptodate?
And my 3rd question is: I got 8GB DDR3 RAM can i upgrade it to 12 or 16 maybe?
My 4rd and final question is: Since i upgraded to Windows 10 my bluetooth wont work proper. Its detected in the Actioncenter but not @ device manager or PC options. in services.msc they are operating Could you help me out?
1. No, GPU or CPU are not upgradeable on 99%of the available laptops.
2. Use Windows update or go the the laptop’s manufacturer website and download rivers from there. for the Nvidia graphics you could also look for the latest drivers for your chip on Nvidia’s website. Google is your friend here.
3. Would have to know the exact name and model of your laptop to answer that.
4. It’s a drivers problem but there’s little I can do. Device Manager or HWInfo will tell you the name of your Wifi chip (which includes the BT module) so you can then look for the latest drivers for it. Again, Google is there to help.
1. No, GPU or CPU are not upgradeable on 99%of the available laptops.
2. Use Windows update or go the the laptop’s manufacturer website and download rivers from there. for the Nvidia graphics you could also look for the latest drivers for your chip on Nvidia’s website. Google is your friend here.
3. Would have to know the exact name and model of your laptop to answer that.
4. It’s a drivers problem but there’s little I can do. Device Manager or HWInfo will tell you the name of your Wifi chip (which includes the BT module) so you can then look for the latest drivers for it. Again, Google is there to help.
Reply
Thank you very much for the quick response. Waiting on ASUS service for several days already……….. Nothing!
This is the information i could find on the stickers of my ASUS Notebook:
ASUS S551L NOTEBOOK
S551LB-CJ006H
E3N0CX048602103 24M
MDF 2014-03 CN9210
CM5: CQ10 15100-0748L200
Windows update is up-to-date it says.
I already installed all the updates given by WU.
Tried also: net stop wuauserv And net stop bits, deleted SoftwareDistribution and started both again after a reboot.
Thought maybe WU was the problem. It seems after reading all logs there are no problems with WU or any other update. Videocard runs like charm and got latest update installed.
To bad i cant replace the card for a better one. Seems 740M runs great but this card is just not good and fast enough for me :)
Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter is given as my WiFi chip i guess?
Still, No bluetooth detection anywhere except in the actioncenter and i dont know what is the correct driver to download and install then now.
Found several different drivers when searching on google.
Perhaps you know which one to install? Would mean the world to me!
Keep up the good work Andrei, and thanks a lot again!
This offers details on upgrading the RAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJxaMFtcJaA , and there’s some extra in the article. From what I remember, this laptop comes with 4 GB of RAM on board and can take another 8 GB DImm for a total of 12 GB. Yours probably has a 4 GB DIMM , you’ll have to replace it. Software like HWInfo can show you more details on the type and amount of RAM.
Once again, you are the man Andrei! I found the driver. Seems to work on other peoples devices so lets hope on mine to. If not, ASUS should prepare themselves on a massive riot tomorrow ;) Just kiddin’ then i just have to wait for the next driver or call asus customer service to pump some awesome beats out of my Bose system again. But Andrei for now you did a way better job than a HUGE company like Asus and i owe you big time! Keep up the good job and i shall reply later if this Bluetooth driver works under Windows 10 Pro in my case and when i updraded my RAM to 12.
Bonjour, je m’appelle Rodrigue KENNE.J’ai un souci avec ma machine asus vivobook S551LB 1.0 . Elle ne detecte plus la batterie. Il y’a une croix rouge sur l’icône de la batterie et on affiche”aucune batterie détectée”. J’aimerais savoir s’il y’a moyen de remédier a ce problème. Merci.
The battery is probably dead, this happens after a while. You should address your issue to an authorized service and they could offer a more detailed reply.
Thx for the complete and detailed review Andrei,
especialy your article about upgrading the RAM.
My version of S551LB , comes with only 4GB RAM,and no SSD, evertything else the same.
Upgrading to WIn 10 with only 4GB RAM, proved disastrous. I kept getting " the instruction at 0x00000000xxxxxxx referenced memory at 0x0000000000xxxxxxx. The memory could not be read"
and using the Asus VivoBook app ( shortcut using botton on top of numpad #7), I could see that it is using over 3GB of RAm of the toal 3.9 GB RAM available.
Now, could you tell me how Can I speed up the CPU speed ? since you said it could go up tp 3GHz?
The CPU adjusts its speed automatically based on the tasks it has to handle.
Win 10 works fine on 4 GB of RAM without errors. I'd reckon something went wrong with the upgrade, you should try to perform a clean install from an USB drive, you'll find details about it online. Backup your data first though, a clean install requires a format of the drive from the Windows setup app, so you'\ll loose everything you already have on it and end up with a fresh computer, just like the one you take out of the box.
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Table of ContentsThe Best Premium fanless laptops and ChromebooksFull-size fanless laptopsFanless ultrabooks and Windows ultra-portablesFanless Windows-running Mini laptops In this article, we’re discussing fanless laptops and silent Windows ultrabooks...
Rick
July 9, 2013 at 11:09 pm
Wait, I though the screen was 1366 x 768, and not 1366 x 1768.
I think u have a typo.
Andrei Girbea
July 10, 2013 at 8:07 am
right :P thanks
Dave Voelker
July 13, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Misspelling in the first paragraph: “…while loosing the bulk.” Correct spelling is “losing.”
Rick
July 15, 2013 at 4:33 pm
No Problem
Reza
July 20, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Perfect & Amazing :-)
10/10
4th Gen Intel Processor
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 740M (WoW)
Thank a lot ASUS :-)
mark
August 2, 2013 at 4:00 am
hi, can you review the acer aspire v5-473.
also on haswell.
thanks.
Andrei Girbea
August 6, 2013 at 8:54 am
i’ll try, can’t promise anything
Masoud
August 4, 2013 at 10:29 am
Hi
I wanna purchase this lap top but I am worried about the heat that blown out toward the display,Is it an important issue or may damage the screen after a while or couple of month ?
If yes I think I have to purchase another lap top or maybe n550jv :(
sry for my bad english.
Andrei Girbea
August 6, 2013 at 8:55 am
it could be an issue down the road
ZULKHAR
October 14, 2013 at 6:47 am
ultrabook s551 sound is very poor, could have office software pre-installed.
Carl
August 5, 2013 at 4:28 am
Hi Rick
The benchmarks rate lower than the Asus N550, but on your review the frame rates are better for this Vivobook.
Can you explain this please.
Andrei Girbea
August 6, 2013 at 8:56 am
not sure who Rick is… but it’s pretty simple: the vivobook runs games on 1366 x 768 px resolution, while the N550 runs them on 1920 x 1080 px
elzafir
August 15, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Hi Mike,
I’m hoping you could give me a suggestion.
I’m currently looking for an Ultrabook.
=========
My requirements are below:
BUDGET
I can’t go over $900.
PURPOSE
Large graphics editing (billboards materials with Photoshop, Corel Draw, Illustrator) and short-video editing (5min to 30minutes videos on Premiere Pro and After Effect). I also intend to play games on the laptop, mainly FIFA 13, Football Manager 2013 & SWTOR with highest detail and other AAA titles with medium details. Frame rate needs to be over 40fps for me to be able to enjoy it.
PORTABILITY
I need it to be thin(-ish) and light, like an Ultrabook. As I will to carry it everyday to the office and I love to work in a cafe.
BATTERY LIFE
Around 5 to 6 hours of web browsing/light work such as Words, Excel, etc.
OPTICAL DRIVE
I don’t care for optical drive. I prefer NOT to have it on the laptop.
STORAGE
I don’t care about storage, as I would slap a 256GB SSD on it.
RAM
I don’t care about RAM, as long as it supports minimal 8GB of RAM (most do, I believe). I prefer if it supports up to 16GB.
SCREEN SIZE & RESOLUTION
I prefer 13.3″ for portability, but don’t mind 14″ or 15.6″ if it’s thin and light enough. I don’t mind 1366×768 for the time being, considering no discrete mobile graphics card can play games with acceptable frame rates with 1080p. And I can’t find 1080p Ultrabook under $1000. The screen vertical viewing angle should be good enough. Matte/glossy don’t matter.
TOUCHSCREEN
Not an absolute requirement, but nice to have.
TRACKPAD
Not an absolute requirements, as I would use a mouse, but I’d love to have two-finger swipe.
OS
I have three legit copies of Windows 8 from MSDNAA, so I don’t mind if the laptop comes with no OS (or Ubuntu or Mac OS).
======
Now, with my above requirements, it seems the V551 is almost perfect.
My question are:
1. Is there any other laptop that suits my needs better?
2. Do I need a Core i7 QM (quad-core) for my needs (graphics & video editing)?
3. I’m afraid an ULV processor will hampers my productivity when editing large graphics. Is my fear warranted?
4. Does the Haswell version of the V551 last longer on battery vs. the V550 (Ivy Bridge) when doing video/light works?
5. Is it worth it to get the Acer Aspire TimelineU M5? It’s being phased out.
Thanks bro!!!!
Andrei Girbea
August 16, 2013 at 8:43 am
Not sure what V551 you had in mind, but I for one would look at the Acer V5-573G . Haswell + nvidia 750M + 8 GB of RAM.
It’s a 15 incher though, but it’s fairly slim and weighs about 4.5 pounds and I believe it will fit your budget. There’s also the 14 inch Aspire V7 you can look at, with similar specs, but only marginally more compact. and this looks out of your budget as well
I haven’t tested any of them myself and can’t say anything about how it feels, build quality, keyboard, trackpad, etc…
As for your questions:
1. See above
2. It would be recommended, but if you want a thing an light device, you’ll have to stick with an ULV platform
3. It really depends on how large your projects are but if you have realistic expectations, you should be fine. Your videos will take longer to render of course
4. Not sure, haven’t tested it yet
5. Could be, if you can find it cheap and don’t care that much about battery life
elzafir
August 16, 2013 at 8:58 am
Wow thanks for the recommendations. I haven’t looked at Acer V5 in a long time, didn’t know they have one with GT750M. I haven’t even hearts of Aspire V7 before you mentioned it.
I was talking about the Asus V551LB with Core i5-4200U and GT740M. I said it was almost perfect because it ticks most of my requirements but $100 out of my budget.
The TimelineU M5, based on the review has 7 hours of continuous web surfing battery life.
Guillaume
September 18, 2013 at 3:22 pm
Hello !
Is it possible to change the SSD ?
Thx
Sheshan
October 13, 2013 at 8:06 pm
Thanks for your review on Asus vivobook V551LB
it has got the exact and all the specifications what i have been looking for.it matches my budget(below 1000$) but not lunched in INDIA
For the point :-
is there any other ultrabooks with same specifications,which may be better than this one or equal to this in other brands( sony, acer, hp, dell)
suggest me any one i need to buy before this December
eager to receive email from you
thank you
Joao Oliveira
October 29, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Great review… that I wish I had paid more attention about the screen, before buying an S551LB-CJ048H! The glare / reflections are most annoying since I occasionally work outdoors, and I’m considering returning the unit (otherwise, it’s OK).
In the N550 review, you made a similar warning, but mentioned the possibility of a “matte FTF panel” or, in the future, “a non-glare IPS option”. What model would you recommend to overcome this problem – even if it implies paying significantly more? Would the alternative be the Zenbook U500 series?
Many thanks
Andrei Girbea
October 30, 2013 at 10:12 am
Any laptop with a touchscreen will get these reflections, due to the glass over the display.
Unfortunately, most laptops these days come with touchscreens. Not sure what your budget is, but you should find some options with Non-glare displays among 15 inchers. If you’re looking at ultra-slims, then yes, the UX51 could be an option. Last year’s Series 9 from Samsung could be one as well, but each has some quirks, make sure to read reviews first, so you’ll know what to expect
Joao Oliveira
November 4, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Many thanks, Andrei. Indeed, I dropped the touchscreen functionality and went for a (non-glare) N56VB-S4081H. A bit heavy, it’s true – but only 200 grams more than my current one, so I won’t really tell the difference!
Congratulations for your brilliant and useful work for all the community!
Joao
sheshan
November 3, 2013 at 8:28 pm
In price and availability
“Intel Core i7-4500U, 1 TB HDD + 24 GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Nvidia 740M – $1099;”
It doesn’t have 24gb SSD it’s 24 gb web storage given by Asus
Tell me best alternative for Asus vivobook v551lb
Hisham
December 18, 2013 at 11:04 am
my s551lb touchscreen doesn’t not working since the day I it, what should I do?
Bassel
February 10, 2014 at 10:16 am
Thank you for the review, it was really helpful.My overall first impression of this machine is positive, though I must say I'm really conflicted between the asus s551lb and the lenovo ideapad z510, and this is where I need your expert opinion.
On paper the lenovo machine seem to better in all the areas where the asus vivobook is weak at while offering similar-to-better specs (better processor, backlit keyboard , matte display with higher resolution) although heard about some issues with wifi connectivity , heating and possibility less overall reliability/build quality.
I'm really torn between these two since they are comparable and available in the exact same price. While I find touch screen to be a nice added bonus, it is not a priority in my mind, I care mostly about overall performance, reliability, and quality.
Please help, I need your recommendation .
Andrei Girbea
February 10, 2014 at 5:41 pm
I haven’t tested the Z510, but I did see the Z500 in action and they are more or less the same.
There’s nothing to worry about the build quality, the Z500 is solid built and good looking and I doubt the Z510 is different. However, I can confirm that the Z500 I tested had wi-fi issues. I’m not sure if Lenovo managed to fix them or not. Best advice: head over to lenovo’s forums or the forums on notebookreview.com and see if you can find an Owner’s thread, where those who already bought this laptop can share some real feedback.
amiR
February 23, 2014 at 8:58 pm
hi and thanks for the magnificent review
I actually bought this laptop tonight but I have an issue with the SSD partition, I’m confused why the operating system isn’t installed on th SSD partition?
and two other question:
1- is it possible to reinstall the windows on the SSD partition, if yes, does it do any good?
2- what is your estimation on the booting elapse time?
appreciate your cooperation.
Anne Marie
February 25, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Does the Vivobook work without the battery when the adapter is plugged in? And also would you recommend this for a uni student?
Andrei Girbea
February 25, 2014 at 4:03 pm
no, the battery is encased
Ahmad Maulana
March 17, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Excuse me, I want to ask, whether the battery is in the ultrabook (wrapped by a ultrabook) and how the shape of the battery if the battery is in the ultrabook?
as in the picture here of my less abundance and understand how the shape of the battery.
thank you
Mehdi
April 11, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Hi,
I have Asus S551LB with 4GB Ram. May I upgrade it by another 2GB Ram?
That means use two Ram, is it has 2 slots for this?
Cheers
kike
April 29, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Does it have keyboard lights?
Andrei Girbea
April 29, 2014 at 8:48 pm
the keyboard is not backlit
alex
May 3, 2014 at 3:40 pm
the games that you played are running slow on my s551lb. even on lower resolution? why is that? i’m getting disappointed here.
alex
May 3, 2014 at 3:53 pm
hi. i have the same notebook but it only runs the games that you played at 20fps. and that’s on a lower resolution? why is that? can you please help me with this?
Andrei Girbea
May 4, 2014 at 10:27 am
Did you check the power profiles? Make sure it’s running on High Performance
alex
May 7, 2014 at 8:57 am
yeah. now they run smoothly. thanks!
Drew
June 5, 2014 at 6:31 pm
Will the battery be damaged if i use it while charging? Games like WATCH_DOGS can only be playable if it’s in HIGH PERFORMANCE MODE WHILE CONNECTED TO AC SUPPLY. Can’t remove the batt since it’s not really removable compared to other laptops.(I use it in a well-ventilated place.)
Also, is it true that if laptops with non-removable battery (like this one) already reaches 95-100% while charging,it will automatically cut off the charging to the battery and just rely on the AC supply like a desktop?
Hope you would answer these questions. Thanks! :\
Andrei Girbea
June 5, 2014 at 8:34 pm
Hey Drew. I’ve never been one of those persons who disconnect the battery and my laptops have done well over the year. That means the battery will be alright when using the computer connected to the power supply. And yes, most laptops have circuitry meant to protect the battery from overcharging.
Carlo
June 8, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Hi Andrei,
Just to ask one thing im planning to buy this laptop on friday. and i just want to know about the ram memory since its mentioned here that it is soldered on the motherboard. Does it mean that there is no way to upgrade the ram in case? Since im planning to take the i5 / 4GB / 2GB Graphics Version.
Thanks,
Andrei Girbea
June 11, 2014 at 8:53 am
NO way that I know of on this particular model
farid
July 8, 2014 at 11:32 am
Does it support to upgrade RAM to 16GB ?
David Tapp
July 10, 2014 at 7:48 am
Hi Andrei,
I have just bought the Vivobook S551LB with the intention of increasing the RAM to 12 GB as I did very successfully with my wife’s ASUS S400-CA.
However, there’s no obvious SODIMM slot available, despite numerous websites showing specs which talk about “…4GB RAM soldered + expansion slot to a max of 12GB” and these sites offering compatible RAM upgrades:
amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Memory-VivoBook-S551LB-UltraBook/dp/B00JTY8PCI
edge.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=E9BF8100A5CA7304
memorystock.com/memory/ASUSVivoBookS551LB.html
What’s going on with this Vivobook S551LB?
Are you sure that no upgrade is possible? I mean, even Amazon are selling RAM upgrades for it!
Where’s this mysterious upgrade slot?
I am really confused by this, especially as I have spent good money on a laptop because it was upgradeable.
What is your opinion, please?
Many thanks,
David
Andrei Girbea
July 10, 2014 at 9:18 am
Hi David. Initially I thought that there’s no way to upgrade the RAM, but after some further digging, I believe the RAM slot is hidden between the motherboard and the keyboard. That means you’ll have to somehow unscrew the entire ensemble to get access to it. I personally haven’t done it so I can’t say how difficult it is or if the memory slot is indeed there or not. Should be, there’s no other place where they could have put it.
David Tapp
July 12, 2014 at 9:03 am
Hi Andrei,
Thank you very much for your help and the very quick reply.
Spurred on with hope, I stripped down my new machine and………..nothing!
The bastard thing has no options for RAM upgrade. There are no SODIMM slots anywhere.
I’m going to see how I get on with it with the onboard 4GB of RAM but that may not be long as I was planning to do a lot of video editing with it.
Cheers
Andrei Girbea
July 14, 2014 at 4:58 pm
That’s surprising… If you’ll look at the HWInfo print-screen in this post, there’s clearly a 4 GB module mentioned, and the laptop has 4 GB of RAM soldered. SO that means there is one extra 4 GB module somewhere. Could it be behind that aluminum wrapping next to the pipeline?
Asus uses a very similar hardware layout for their newer Transformer Book Flip line and I was under the impression the RAM was under the MB. Unfortunately these test units are not mine and I’m not allowed to actually take them apart to see what’s behind the aluminum wrap or the MB…
David Tapp
July 19, 2014 at 4:41 am
Hi Andrei,
Many thanks for the comment.
I have just seen Alex’s comment below and I’ll have another look under the hood to see if I can get this cover off.
Alex
July 18, 2014 at 3:24 am
David,
I upgraded the memory which was accessible under a large rectangular steel cover. You can pry the cover off to reveal the memory.
My question is what’s the most RAM we can add? I have 8 now and I’m aiming for 12. Any ideas?
thanks
Andrei Girbea
July 18, 2014 at 4:26 pm
Can you get a bit more specific? Which rectangular steel cover? This one: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/asus-s551-memory.jpg ?
And was it difficult the take the cover apart? Seems really well soldered in place.
And yes, all these Asus laptops can take an up to 8 GB of RAM in the spare slot
David Tapp
July 19, 2014 at 5:39 am
Woo…Hoo!!!
Yes, that steel cover!
It’s not soldered on but has six small metal tabs which slot vertically into the motherboard. There are also 16 slotted tabs attached to the mobo, arranged in eight groups of two, which help to hold the cover on. You can see four of these tabs in the photo from your link. The ones you can see are marked CON8 and CON6 and are on the right side of the cover. The others are CON 9,3,2,7,5 and 4, going counter-clockwise from CON6.
I’ll be putting the cover back on after the upgrade because these CON-things look like they might need to be in electrical contact with each other via the cover. I’m no expert on this stuff but they look a little more important than just clips to hold the cover on. What do you think, Andrei?
I’m getting 8GB of RAM today if I can and will report back!
Yay!
Andrei Girbea
July 19, 2014 at 7:26 am
David, if you can take and share with me some pictures when performing the upgrade, it would be awesome. I’d love to have a post up on how to upgrade the RAM on all these Asus laptops (the Vivobooks and the Transformer Book Flips use the same exact approach), but unfortunately I don’t have any similar model around anymore. Thanks ;)
I’m not expert either and can’t exactly say what are those clips meant for, other than hiding (protecting? – but from what) the memory. I just wonder what’s the purpose of having any sort of charge passing through the metal shield and can’t seem to have a good answer to that. I’ll do some digging.
David Tapp
July 19, 2014 at 4:42 am
Great news, Alex!
I’ll see how it goes with this cover.
David Tapp
July 20, 2014 at 8:00 am
Hi Andrei,
An expensive experiment!
8GB wasn’t recognised – the laptop didn’t boot up.
Today I bought 4GB RAM and it works perfectly!
I have photos. Do I need a URL for them (I don’t really know how to do that, because I never need to) or can I email them to you?
Cheers
David Tapp
July 20, 2014 at 8:01 am
…….PS
The 8GB RAM stick could have been faulty, I suppose.
Andrei Girbea
July 21, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Did you end up returning them for a new DIMM? Or what?
Andrei Girbea
July 21, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Hi David, it would be glad if you could email them to me, I’ll send you a message right now on the email used for these posts. Thanks a lot
Shahin Kordasti
July 28, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Hello,
I recently got me this laptop for work and I am running out of memory (got 8 GB total) so I really need to know if it is possible, or not, to install an 8 GB RAM in that slot.
BR,
Shahin
Andrei Girbea
July 30, 2014 at 7:58 am
I’m trying to find out if this will get an 8 GB module in that slot or not. David reported it didn’t work with his, but worked fine with a 4 GB module. Did you happen to see anyone saying anything about getting 12 GB of memory on this laptop?
Shahin Kordasti
July 30, 2014 at 9:23 am
Well the official Asus specification says "…up to 8 GB" in the slot asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_VivoBook_S551LB/specifications/. However that is for the S551LB model.
But the S551LN does not have that information specified. As I have that model I asked Asus about it and the response I got was:
Dear Shahin
Thank you for contacting ASUS Technical Support.
Your machine already has the maximum amount of memory installed, it cannot be upgraded past 8GB.
Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Doug
ASUS UK Support team
So it looks like, atleast those with the S551LN model, are shit out of luck :/
Andrei Girbea
July 31, 2014 at 9:35 am
Hi Shahin, thanks for this. I’ll update the article so other can benefit from the info.
Andrew M
September 8, 2014 at 2:48 am
Hi Guys,
I just purchased an 8Gb SODIMM and installed it under the silver cover – thanks for the tip as I couldn’t find where the alleged spare slot was!
I can confirm that the 8Gb module I used works fine and Windows 8 reports my machine as having 12gb of RAM.
You have to get low voltage ram – otherwise it won’t work. I purchased a Samsung 1.35v DDR3 1600 SO-DIMM module along with an 840 EVO 500Gb SSD which I’ll install when I get the chance.
This particular 8Gb module works for sure… I used the crucial ram tool to find out which one I needed (just google it!).
Andrew.
Andrei Girbea
September 8, 2014 at 9:07 am
HI Andrew, thanks for this confirmation, I will update the post.
Shahin Kordasti
September 8, 2014 at 12:22 pm
Thanks for the info. Pretty funny that the official ASUS support say that 8 GB is max but indeed it is possible to get more, as the above example shows.
Alex
September 9, 2014 at 1:23 am
That’s good news that it’s up-gradable to 12 GB!
The most important upgrade would be to a full SSD. The 1 TB drive in my unit has 24 GB of SSD (“hybrid drive”) but this is still a slow 5400 RPM low-end drive.
My S551 unit stopped booting up last week and while it’s in for warranty service, I bought a Surface Pro 3. This has 8 GB Ram and CPU slightly slower, but seems much faster because of the SSD.
Andrei Girbea
September 9, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Well, yes, having an SSD inside any computer makes a huge difference. Regular HDDs (even SSHs or HDD+SSD combos) are a major bottleneck and replacing them with an SSD will make those computers a lot more responsive.
Kenneth T. Diputado
July 20, 2014 at 2:39 am
Will this laptop support a 2nd storage like HDD or SSD by changing the optical drive?
Andrei Girbea
July 21, 2014 at 7:10 pm
not sure you can find a cradle for that…
Alex
July 30, 2014 at 5:57 am
Re: SSD in optical bay, I was told by a computer shop there are adapter brackets available but they don’t do it, not common.
I also find the 8 GB RAM is not sufficient, needs reboot every 20 or so hours running (2-3 days).
Supplied 5400 rpm drive is slowing it down a lot, switching tabs on the browser shows blank screen for 2-10 seconds while RAM low.
Supplied drive (on my model) is 1 TB hybrid with ~25GB integrated SSD. Not fast enough, planning to replace with SSD.
Screen too dim. Impossible to use outdoors even when overcast. Planning to crack it open and identify the power for the LED screen, see if I can boost it somewhat. May need replacement screen soon…
Otherwise good hardware except screen.
Raj
August 18, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Hi Andrei;
I need your advise; Is it ok for Official worker 8 hrs/day (Indoor). or any other product recommendation for good enough.
Thanks;
Jakob
November 17, 2014 at 6:40 pm
I have bought this laptop in july, given it a good chance and I couldn’t be more unhappy.
It has an absolutely horrible display, ghost clicks on the touchscreen that has required me to disable the it to even be able to use the laptop. The trackpad has a decent feel, but keep opening side panels because of windows 8. I have tried downgrading to win 7 only to find that they have not supplied drivers for this. Thus I am stuck with a crazy expensive and utterly useless laptop.
I urge anyone thinking of buying one to stay far away from this line of Asus laptops unless you are on the lookout for an expensive paper weight.
Janter
January 21, 2015 at 11:01 am
I have bought this asus vivobook S551LB (core i5) in November last year.
But suddenly the touchscreen stop working recently. I didn’t do any changes but automatic windows update.
Can you help me how to fix this touchscreen, what’s the cause of the problem
Andrei Girbea
January 21, 2015 at 12:49 pm
Sounds like a component failure. You should address the seller/service and see what they have to say about it.
Alex
January 21, 2015 at 7:54 pm
You might also consider trying a previous system restore point. This fixed my touchscreen problem with no apparent cause.
Sue
February 15, 2015 at 6:50 pm
Hi there Andrei
I would like to know if all the S551 models have the same look and feel when it comes to the physical structure. I intend purchasing the S551LA from an online shop and went to view the S551 (core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD; there was no indication if it was an LA or LB) at a walk-in store.
Would really appreciate your help.
Thank You
Andrei Girbea
February 15, 2015 at 8:52 pm
all models are the same on the outside, the differences lie on the inside. the LB has a dedicated graphics chip, the LA does not.
Sazid
April 14, 2015 at 11:28 pm
Hey bro , will you give me some information?
I bought this laptop Asus K551LA core I3 4th generation. Can I upgrade the processor ? To core I7 ? And it had Intel HD graphics 4400 integrated. Can I install an additional Nvidia graphics card ?
It’s best if you review this laptop bro.
Hoping to get a response from you.
-Sazid
Andrei Girbea
April 16, 2015 at 2:21 pm
you can’t upgrade the CPU and the graphics on this laptop
sazid
April 25, 2015 at 6:14 pm
thanks man.
Biker
April 24, 2015 at 1:08 am
I can safely say, if your screen makes cracking sounds, call in warranty.
It will not last 2 years and the hinges will separate from the screen.
SO, if like me, just 4 months out of warranty period, you have to pay half the original price to fix this poor design & quality issue.
Google Vivobook S551 screen hinge and see for yourself.
Ankit Kumar
December 15, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Hi….I am looking forward for this laptop but as you mension it’s cons … Is it so wired ?
Steffen B.
January 4, 2016 at 2:48 pm
Hi! Ive got :Windows 10 Pro NL ( x64 – 64 bit )
Full Activation
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4500U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Memory: 8076 MB DDR3 SDRAM 1596
Disk: 500 GB
Display adapter: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family(1.00 GB)
Display adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 740M(2.00 GB)
Motherboard: ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC. S551LB(Intel Haswell-ULT)
Monitor:72.3 inch, 1366 x 768
Monitor:15.4 inch, 1366 x 768
Notebook
My question is.. Is it possible to change the Intel or the Nvidia 740M Videocard for a better or/and faster one? Which one would you prefer if its possible?
My second question: How do i know if my drivers are the correct ones and that they are up to date? Is there any program that is perfect for doing that and is always uptodate?
And my 3rd question is: I got 8GB DDR3 RAM can i upgrade it to 12 or 16 maybe?
My 4rd and final question is: Since i upgraded to Windows 10 my bluetooth wont work proper. Its detected in the Actioncenter but not @ device manager or PC options. in services.msc they are operating Could you help me out?
Greetings Steffen B. from The Netherlands
Sorry for my poor english
Andrei Girbea
January 4, 2016 at 3:03 pm
1. No, GPU or CPU are not upgradeable on 99%of the available laptops.
2. Use Windows update or go the the laptop’s manufacturer website and download rivers from there. for the Nvidia graphics you could also look for the latest drivers for your chip on Nvidia’s website. Google is your friend here.
3. Would have to know the exact name and model of your laptop to answer that.
4. It’s a drivers problem but there’s little I can do. Device Manager or HWInfo will tell you the name of your Wifi chip (which includes the BT module) so you can then look for the latest drivers for it. Again, Google is there to help.
Steffen B.
January 4, 2016 at 3:54 pm
1. No, GPU or CPU are not upgradeable on 99%of the available laptops.
2. Use Windows update or go the the laptop’s manufacturer website and download rivers from there. for the Nvidia graphics you could also look for the latest drivers for your chip on Nvidia’s website. Google is your friend here.
3. Would have to know the exact name and model of your laptop to answer that.
4. It’s a drivers problem but there’s little I can do. Device Manager or HWInfo will tell you the name of your Wifi chip (which includes the BT module) so you can then look for the latest drivers for it. Again, Google is there to help.
Reply
Thank you very much for the quick response. Waiting on ASUS service for several days already……….. Nothing!
This is the information i could find on the stickers of my ASUS Notebook:
ASUS S551L NOTEBOOK
S551LB-CJ006H
E3N0CX048602103 24M
MDF 2014-03 CN9210
CM5: CQ10 15100-0748L200
Windows update is up-to-date it says.
I already installed all the updates given by WU.
Tried also: net stop wuauserv And net stop bits, deleted SoftwareDistribution and started both again after a reboot.
Thought maybe WU was the problem. It seems after reading all logs there are no problems with WU or any other update. Videocard runs like charm and got latest update installed.
To bad i cant replace the card for a better one. Seems 740M runs great but this card is just not good and fast enough for me :)
Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter is given as my WiFi chip i guess?
Still, No bluetooth detection anywhere except in the actioncenter and i dont know what is the correct driver to download and install then now.
Found several different drivers when searching on google.
Perhaps you know which one to install? Would mean the world to me!
Keep up the good work Andrei, and thanks a lot again!
Greetings, Steffen B. from The Netherlands
Andrei Girbea
January 4, 2016 at 4:39 pm
Hmm, this thread might help: tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/14918-qualcomm-atheros-bluetooth-driver-windows-10-a.html
Andrei Girbea
January 4, 2016 at 4:37 pm
This offers details on upgrading the RAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJxaMFtcJaA , and there’s some extra in the article. From what I remember, this laptop comes with 4 GB of RAM on board and can take another 8 GB DImm for a total of 12 GB. Yours probably has a 4 GB DIMM , you’ll have to replace it. Software like HWInfo can show you more details on the type and amount of RAM.
Steffen B.
January 5, 2016 at 4:58 am
Once again, you are the man Andrei! I found the driver. Seems to work on other peoples devices so lets hope on mine to. If not, ASUS should prepare themselves on a massive riot tomorrow ;) Just kiddin’ then i just have to wait for the next driver or call asus customer service to pump some awesome beats out of my Bose system again. But Andrei for now you did a way better job than a HUGE company like Asus and i owe you big time! Keep up the good job and i shall reply later if this Bluetooth driver works under Windows 10 Pro in my case and when i updraded my RAM to 12.
Well done mate!
Rodrigue KENNE
March 9, 2016 at 9:52 am
Bonjour, je m’appelle Rodrigue KENNE.J’ai un souci avec ma machine asus vivobook S551LB 1.0 . Elle ne detecte plus la batterie. Il y’a une croix rouge sur l’icône de la batterie et on affiche”aucune batterie détectée”. J’aimerais savoir s’il y’a moyen de remédier a ce problème. Merci.
Andrei Girbea
March 9, 2016 at 2:21 pm
The battery is probably dead, this happens after a while. You should address your issue to an authorized service and they could offer a more detailed reply.
KENNE
May 12, 2016 at 10:31 am
The problem is that i don’t know any authorized service here in Yaounde Cameroon!
Raju Ahmed
May 21, 2017 at 10:15 pm
Hello Andrei Girbea,
How can I enable Asus S551LB laptop keyboard and mouse. At this time keyboard and mouse are not working.
Thanks,
Franklin A
December 13, 2017 at 9:26 pm
Thx for the complete and detailed review Andrei,
especialy your article about upgrading the RAM.
My version of S551LB , comes with only 4GB RAM,and no SSD, evertything else the same.
Upgrading to WIn 10 with only 4GB RAM, proved disastrous. I kept getting " the instruction at 0x00000000xxxxxxx referenced memory at 0x0000000000xxxxxxx. The memory could not be read"
and using the Asus VivoBook app ( shortcut using botton on top of numpad #7), I could see that it is using over 3GB of RAm of the toal 3.9 GB RAM available.
Now, could you tell me how Can I speed up the CPU speed ? since you said it could go up tp 3GHz?
Andrei Girbea
December 14, 2017 at 4:39 am
The CPU adjusts its speed automatically based on the tasks it has to handle.
Win 10 works fine on 4 GB of RAM without errors. I'd reckon something went wrong with the upgrade, you should try to perform a clean install from an USB drive, you'll find details about it online. Backup your data first though, a clean install requires a format of the drive from the Windows setup app, so you'\ll loose everything you already have on it and end up with a fresh computer, just like the one you take out of the box.