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Asus has earned a name for producing quality gadgets at affordable price points. Most of its mainstream line-up of laptops do justice to this reputation. Asus R558UQ notebook is an upgrade to the R558UR notebook. Asus claims this edition is a substantially improved version.
The machine comes in Intel Core i7 and i5 models. Both models feature USB type C connectivity and Nvidia GeForce 940MX dedicated graphics. The i5 variant under review here comes in Matt Golden, Glossy Dark Brown, Red and Dark Blue colours. The screen looks broad and body feels plasticky, though sturdy. It has a 15.6 inch LED back-lit screen with Full HD display and anti-glare properties. This version has a DDR4 4GB RAM. Therein lies the rub. The machine hangs when you multitask. I’m sure half the blame goes to the unsuitably dreary, feature-heavy OS — Windows 10 — which comes preloaded; still this issue handicaps an otherwise fine product.
That said, users can upgrade memory using a dedicated ‘door’ at the bottom of the notebook. The laptop comes with 1TB of storage, which, to be fair, helps the average user a lot. The display is crystal clear, warm and soothing, putting the visual experience at par with premium laptops. The VGM web camera is below average. Like in many of their laptops and phones, this is an area Asus needs to put in a lot more work. The audio quality is above average, thanks to Sonic Master; still it could have been a touch louder.
The chiclet keyboard is not backlit, but compact and features a dedicated number pad. If you are a fan of Asus’ keyboards, you may find this one cool. But to me it looks suitably complex and messy, making me miss keys, especially during fast-typing. There are three convenient USB ports. The battery seems to drain out faster than expected, even though Asus claims it lasts for over four hours.
Asus R558UQ–i5 connects to other devices without much hassle and performs seamlessly. The device plays videos smoothly if you use VLC, but on default Windows apps, they always lag. The device supports Asus’ Smart Gesture technology, which if you can invest some time and energy in, will work well.
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