The ASUS Vivobook F510UA: A Budget Laptop with a Big Bang

Hey guys, this is Austin. It's always fun to check out the $5,000 laptops of the world, but in reality, this is what you should buy. At $500, this ASUS Vivobook F510UA has a lot going for it.

Inside, there's an Intel 8th Generation Core i5 8250U, which is a huge step up in performance. These new U series processors are a big deal at this price point. The fact that you're getting a full quad-core CPU on board means you're getting so much better performance than any kind of older budget option.

The only real downside is that you're not going to have any dedicated graphics for gaming, but if that's something you're interested in, the Acer Aspire 5 is a better option. Removing a few screws on the back of the laptop will give you access to everything you might want, including the memory, which comes with eight gigs by default.

But it's super easy to upgrade that to 16 gigs, assuming you didn't have to pay $90 for another stick of RAM. The base model of the laptop, which is what I have here, will run you $510 on Amazon. That gets you a standard one terabyte mechanical hard drive, but there's also an empty M.2 slot if you want to upgrade with an SSD.

Interestingly, Amazon actually sells another SKU of this laptop which just has that SSD installed. It's going to be 128 gigs as well as the one terabyte hard drive, and it's going to cost $600. But trust me, if you don't mind opening up the laptop and reinstalling Windows, it's an easy way to save yourself 50 bucks.

If you want the extra speed, spend the extra $40. It makes a huge difference over the stock hard drive, but beyond that, there's no wonder that so many people are picking this guy up on Amazon.

The laptop features a 15.6-inch panel with a 1920 by 1080p resolution. Now, that resolution might not sound impressive at first, but when you put it compared to other laptops in this price range, especially the Acer panels, this is going to look so much better.

The color and contrast are a lot better than what you would expect at this sort of price point, and that even includes the bezel. But, even though it's a 15.6-inch display, the actual overall footprint of the laptop is pretty small.

However, not everything about this laptop is great. The speakers sound okay, but they especially gettinny at higher volumes, and a lot of that is because they're on the underside of the laptop. So, you should probably just get a pair of headphones.

But around $500, this really does feel like a solid sweet spot. Spend even $100 less, and you're going to be seriously sacrificing on performance. But when you start to spend more, you're not going to see any massive performance gains until you get into a much more expensive system.

The main thing is that you should definitely upgrade with the SSD. It's going to make a huge difference over the stock hard drive, but beyond that, there's no wonder that so many people are picking this guy up on Amazon.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.It's always fun to check outthe $5,000 laptops of the world,but in reality, thisis what you should buy.At $500, this ASUS Vivobook F510UA,which is a wonderful,easy-to-remember name,has a lot going for it.Inside, there's an Intel 8thGeneration Core i5 8250U,and that's kind of a big dealat this kind of price point.These new U series processorsare a huge step up in performance,and it's really nice tosee them trickle downto even fairly affordablelaptops like this.With a full quad-core CPU on board,you're getting so much better performancethan any kind of older budget option.That Core i5 can boostup to 3.4 gigahertz,which should be more than enoughperformance for most people.The only real downside isthat you're not going to haveany kind of dedicated graphics for gaming,but if that's somethingyou're interested in,the Acer Aspire 5, which I'vetalked about many, many times,is going to a better option.Remove a few screws onthe back of the laptop,and you're going to get access to, well,basically everything you mightwant, including the memory,which is going to comewith eight gigs by default,but it's going to be super-easyto upgrade that to 16 gigs,assuming you didn't have to pay $90to pick up another stick of RAM,but, I mean, the option's there.The base model of the laptop,which is what I have here,is going to run you $510 on Amazon.Now that's going to get youa standard one terabytemechanical hard drive,but there's also goingto be an empty M.2 slotif you want to upgrade with an SSD.Now interestingly,Amazon actually does sellanother SKU of this laptopwhich just has that SSD installed.It's going to be 128 gigsas well as the one terabyte hard drive.It's going to cost you $600.That doesn't sound crazy,except that you canactually do it yourselffor a lot cheaper, whichis exactly what I did.This is a 128-gigabyte ADATA SSDthat I was able to pickup for just under $40.Now if you don't mindopening up the laptopand reinstalling Windows,it's going to be an easy wayof saving yourself 50 bucksif you want the extra speed.And trust me, if you'rebuying this laptop,spend the extra $40.It is going to be so, so much faster.With the SSD upgrade pairedwith that eight gigs of RAMas well as quad-core CPU,you're looking at a veryreasonably powerful computer,especially considering the price.Now I know especially when it getsinto creative applicationssuch as video editing,that's going to makethis a lot more usable.I know especially if itwas me a few years agowhen I was first starting out,I would've absolutely killedto have a laptop like thisthat was going to be so cheap.While we've got the laptop opened,you'll also be able to see the Wi-Fi card,which is not only easy toupgrade if you ever want to,but it's a pretty solid card in itself.You're going to be gettingdual-band AC Wi-Fi,and that speaks to a lot ofmy thoughts on this laptop.The ASUS engineers did a good jobof picking a prettysolid list of components,and they didn't reallycut any major cornerswith the laptop design.The only real issue hereis actually going to bewith the battery life.With only a 42 watt-hour cell,it's going to give youa decent battery life.ASUS claims about eight hours,and while that's going tobe a little bit ambitious,it could be better,especially considering thatthere's all this space up herewhich could totally be used for battery,although I assume that that's probablyfor some higher-end versionwhere they would stick the dedicated GPU.At this price, the designis going to be all plastic,and that's not really necessarilygoing to be a bad thing.It's pretty well-built.There's going to be alittle bit of screen flex,but there's not a whole lotif you actually go aheadand press down the keyboard.It is a fairly well-built laptop.Port-wise, it's a good selection.You're going to begetting three USB-A ports,a USB-C, as well asHDMI, a headphone jack,and an SD card reader.If you're not catching the trend yet,it's not going to be spectacular,but there's really no corners cut.It's going to be a good selectionof pretty much everything you need.Like most laptops in 2018,you are going to be gettinga Windows Precision Touchpad.As you expect, it workswell, there's solid tracking,and you're also going to be gettingsupport for all thedifferent Windows gestures.Essentially at this point,most of these Windows Precision Touchpadsare going to be very equivalent.There's going to be minor differencesin the actual surface area and stuff,but it's going to be totally fineand so much better thanold-school trackpads.A really nice touch is the additionof a fingerprint sensorbuilt into the trackpad.Now I'm not a huge fan of the positioning.It's going to get a littlebit in your way here,but the good thing is isthat it's going to havefull support for Windows Hello,which makes logging in much, much simpler.Honestly, this is somethingI like to see on any laptop,so it's especially nice to see iton something that's goingto be so affordable.The keyboard is going to be classic ASUS,so it's going to have a fairly light touchwithout a lot of feel, but importantly,they completely nailednot only the layout,but also the spacing between the keys.Now it would be nice tosee some backlighting,but again, we're talkingabout a $500 laptop here.While it might not lookimpressive on paper,the display on this guyis actually pretty nice.It is a 15.6-inch panel witha 1920 by 1080p resolution.Now that resolution might notsound all that impressive,but especially when you put itcompared to other laptopsin this price range,especially a lot of the Acer panels,this is going to look so much better.It might not be thebrightest thing in the world,but the color and especially the contrastare a lot better thanwhat you would expectat this sort of price point,and that even includes the bezel.Even though it's going tobe a 15.6-inch display,the actual overall footprint of the laptopis actually pretty small.- But it's not exactly going tobe the best solution in the world.- What's also not the bestsolution in the worldare going to be the speakers.So they sound okay,but they especially gettinny at higher volumes,and a lot of that is becausenot only are they not allimpressive in the first place,but they're also going to beon the underside of the laptop,which means that you should probablyjust get a pair of headphones.At around $500, this really does feel likea solid sweet spot.Spend even $100 less,and you're going to beseriously sacrificing on performance,whereas when you start to spend more,you're going to get nicer thingslike build quality and stuff,but you're not going to seeany kind of massive performance gainsuntil you get into a muchmore expensive system.The main thing is, though,is that you should definitelyupgrade with the SSD.It's going to make a huge differenceover the stock harddrive, but beyond that,there's no wonder that so many peopleare picking this guy up on Amazon.