Asus - 11.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Steel Gray (DVD, monitor)

[saralee]

Any thoughts on the above? Dad gave me a Best Buy gc. I was in the market for a laptop and tablet. This looks like a nice crossover between the two. No experience with Windows 8.

Thanks for any insight!

[Mr. Lee]

Originally Posted by saralee

Any thoughts on the above? Dad gave me a Best Buy gc. I was in the market for a laptop and tablet. This looks like a nice crossover between the two. No experience with Windows 8.

Thanks for any insight!

If what you need is a small carry type unit then that would work for you but note that it has no optical drive so you would then need to buy an external optical drive to make it a lot more usable. Also such a small screen makes it hard to use as we get older but for the young it should be no problem. I personally like at least a 14 inch screen and a unit with an optical drive but since you mentioned tablet then that seems to fit your needs.

HERE are the specs.

[Peregrine]

You do not need an OPTIC DRIVE anymore.
Going the way of the VCR, those are.
And an 11" screen is plenty, even for an old man.

[Mr. Lee]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

You do not need an OPTIC DRIVE anymore.
Going the way of the VCR, those are.
And an 11" screen is plenty, even for an old man.

Okay, so without an optical drive how do you play movies or burn cd's to have photos made off your computer or load programs bought on disc?

I watch movies on my laptop during long flights and I burn cd's or dvd's when I want to have photos or movie hard copies that are loaded on my laptop.

In the past I have used thumb drives to load photos onto, but in some foreign countries it seems like hackers must enjoy bringing in media with viruses, so it ends up on the photo shops equipment and then once they put your thumb drive into in their equipment to take the photos off, the virus is on the thumb drive, so the last time I did it that way I had to toss the thumb drive away because every time I put it in my laptop my virus protector went crazy and it would not allow me to run a virus run on the thumb drive.

I believe there is still a place in this world for optical drives, at least for me and those who use computers like my wife and I do.

Added, and at 64 years old I find anything less than a 14" monitor hard to use. I had a netbook for travel and had to sell it and get the 14" but younger people I am sure would probably not have that problem, yet my much younger wife also did not like the netbook and opted for a 14" laptop as well.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lee

Okay, so without an optical drive how do you play movies or burn cd's to have photos made off your computer or load programs bought on disc?

External optical drive. Plug it in at home. Copy the photos onto the hard drive. Rip the DVD into an AVI or MP4 file onto the hard drive. Then disconnect the drive, put it on a shelf and leave the extra weight at home.