ASUS E410 Intel Celeron N4020 14-Inch Laptop

I am very comfortable using this laptop. The screen quality is excellent for me, and I should know I have eyes that aren’t that great. I don’t do gaming so I can’t comment on that. I basically just check my email, bingo, and shop on Amazon. Laugh out loud.
This particular model does not have a touch screen, and I am fine with that. This type of laptop for my contemporaries who just need something to zip off an email or shop on Amazon.

I saved two PDF documents and my storage space was full

Over the years Chromebooks have dominated the low cost laptop market. This offering from ASUS provides those that need or prefer a Windows OS an option for that at an incredibly attractive price. While the components are quite low end, you can’t ignore the fact that it is an incredible value for the price point. While you won’t be doing much intense computing or gaming on this device, it does make for a terrific starter laptop for children. It could also be a good option for those that just want to check email, web browse, and do basic computing on a very lightweight and portable device.

Pros: – The bargain basement price. – Decent audio. – Very lightweight and sized perfectly for portability. – A trackpad that doubles as a NUM pad. Very cool idea. – A full HD screen.

Cons: Storage is limited but you can use external storage if needed.

[REVISED Apr 6 ’24 for storage issues – see end.]

I bought two of these. The oldest is 18 months old and still going strong (although the screen isn’t as bright as the second one, which I never use except to update it). My first one was just $150USD and now the same model has gone up by $40USD. It’s still a great buy.

You can also find a nifty review on YouTube by the user First Look.

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PROS:

1. Excellent battery life. It really does last for 8+ hours provided you’re not doing anything intensive like accessing a high-capacity USB HDD. Keep in mind that a bigger screen, a bigger built-in HD will drain your battery faster.

2. Weighs 2.8 pounds (under 1.5KG).

3. Still a great bargain at the current price (I bought two for $140 ea. over a year ago).

4. The 14″ LED screen works well for most purposes. I’ve noticed that my oldest one (18 months old) is losing brightness. But for the price, I’m not worried since I only anticipate 2-3 years’ use out of it.

5. Built tough like a tank – compare to Dell.

6. Comes with Windows 10. The update to 11 is free. You’ll lose some built-in HD space, but it’s worth it.

7. Built-in webcam and mic. I’ve used them for Skype and WhatsApp – not great quality but if you’re traveling they’ll do fine for those or Zoom.

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CONS:

1. Only 2 built-in USB ports. You’ll need a USB hub. Note that a typical (unpowered) USB hub will not take a large-capacity USB drive. So if you want to run two of them, a powered USB hub helps, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZ46YVRK/ [NOTE: I actually daisy that with a standard USB hub and plug the former’s power connector into it. It doesn’t short on me.]

2. The built-in keyboard and mouse pad are minimally useful. For traveling, consider a small external pointing device and a roll-up keyboard. (Which is yet another reason to have a USB hub.)

3. Very little useful space on the built-in solid state hard disk (about 38GB available for apps and data). A USB HD will fix that problem; for traveling use large-capacity memory sticks. IMPORTANT: you have to turn off Windows’ restore points otherwise your on-board space will deteriorate quickly. Be sure you back it up when you get it (you’ll need a USB CD drive or a bootable memory stick). I keep very few “data” files on it. [Keep the ESC key pressed for boot options.]

4. Not terribly fast, the processors are rated at 1.1GB. Supposedly it can be overclocked but I’ve never tried. It’s a nice addition to a desktop, but most certainly NOT a replacement.

5. You need to know your way around Windows for the best results. For ex., I had to create my own batch file to run MSPaint. (It’s designed to prefer MS Office 365 which I refuse to deal with. Consider Apache Open Office – it’s free.) Even tho’ the processor is 64bits, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many 32bit applications seem to run on it.

6. The built-in speaker sound quality is **dreadful**, but one can’t complain given the size and weight. For traveling consider bluetooth headphones/speakers or USB speakers.

7. Keyboard keys aren’t backlit, but then the keyboard isn’t very useful as I noted. When I’m in bed w/ wife, I just use an external backlit keyboard (lots of choices here – I like: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRMCPPZ5/ … that said, if you’re on a plane and the lights are off, you’re probably just going to have to live with your cell instead … there’s just not enough space on a tray table. For my money, it’s not worth paying more for a built-in backlit keyboard.

8. Will not hibernate (see below).

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HD SPACE NOTES (built-in HD):

1. I get the best results from setting PAGEFILE.SYS to a min of 2000 and a max of 3000 (roughly 2G & 3G respec.). Go to
Advanced System Settings | Performance | Advanced (virtual mem) … you have to restart afterwards.

2. I can’t get this to hibernate (an annoyance when traveling). However HIBERFIL.SYS still exists. I got an extra 1.5GB by disabling hiberneration with this command (run from the command prompt as an administrator or power shell):
powercfg.exe /hibernate off

The designe of the laptop gives it a sleek look that belies its entry level price point. The thin prodile and dark finish makes for an appealing looking laptop. Once you get your hands on it you can feel that the entire chassis is made out of lihgtweight material. The performance matches what i would expect out of an entry level machine device. There isn’t going to be a lot of extra bandwidth for heavy multitasking, but things like light web browsing and word documents are well within the capability of this device.