I just received a little ASUS $149 laptop ordered from Amazon. Pretty amazing little machine, especially for the money. It's aimed at students, wonder if that is why it is so inexpensive. Just look for BR1100C series (non-touch screen) or BR1100F series (touch screen with 360 degree hinge). For that price, this is what you get:
3 lb, 11.6" touch screen laptop.
Intel Celeron N4500 CPU
4GB RAM
Screen is an 11.6" touch screen IPS display at 1366 x 768 resolution
USB Ports: Has one USB 2 port, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A port, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C port
Full size HDMI port
Gigabit Ethernet port
WiFi 5 or 6 depending upon the model
64GB or 128GB eMMC storage
Open M.2 slot for an NVMe Gen 3 SSD drive <-- This was a big selling point for me
Includes a stylus that docks in a "garage" built-into the unit
Precision touchpad
Works in laptop, tent, and tablet modes.
Keyboard is NOT backlit
Two cameras
TPM 2.0 (firmware TPM)
Claimed 10 hour battery life
Designed for easy servicing (I can attest that this thing is really easy to open)
Made extra rugged with rubber bumper all around, spill resistant keyboard, extra tough ports and hinge
Ships with Windows 10 Pro (not Home). Fully supports Windows 11.
I slapped a 1TB NVMe in mine and, while it's not a fast machine, it does work very well for basic tasks
A few notes about installation / setup:
Machine ships with Win 10 but I wanted 11 on it. When doing a clean install, the touchpad does not work during installation. If you backup your drivers prior to starting installation, you can install the "I2C" driver during installation which will allow the touchpad to work during setup.
After setup, when you install all drivers, either manually or by restoring backed up drivers, be aware that it may take a very long time to install all drivers. The problem is the DTS APO driver. For some reason this driver seems to take a minimum of 30 minutes to install. I worked around this by slipstreaming all the drivers into a Windows image so that when I do a clean install all the drivers are already preloaded.
If you plan to install an NVMe card, be aware that that there is no screw to hold it down inside the unit. Make sure that any NVMe you purchase comes with screws or order them separately. Be aware that there are two different common size screws in use for NVMe drives.
3 lb, 11.6" touch screen laptop.
Intel Celeron N4500 CPU
4GB RAM
Screen is an 11.6" touch screen IPS display at 1366 x 768 resolution
USB Ports: Has one USB 2 port, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A port, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C port
Full size HDMI port
Gigabit Ethernet port
WiFi 5 or 6 depending upon the model
64GB or 128GB eMMC storage
Open M.2 slot for an NVMe Gen 3 SSD drive <-- This was a big selling point for me
Includes a stylus that docks in a "garage" built-into the unit
Precision touchpad
Works in laptop, tent, and tablet modes.
Keyboard is NOT backlit
Two cameras
TPM 2.0 (firmware TPM)
Claimed 10 hour battery life
Designed for easy servicing (I can attest that this thing is really easy to open)
Made extra rugged with rubber bumper all around, spill resistant keyboard, extra tough ports and hinge
Ships with Windows 10 Pro (not Home). Fully supports Windows 11.
I slapped a 1TB NVMe in mine and, while it's not a fast machine, it does work very well for basic tasks
A few notes about installation / setup:
Machine ships with Win 10 but I wanted 11 on it. When doing a clean install, the touchpad does not work during installation. If you backup your drivers prior to starting installation, you can install the "I2C" driver during installation which will allow the touchpad to work during setup.
After setup, when you install all drivers, either manually or by restoring backed up drivers, be aware that it may take a very long time to install all drivers. The problem is the DTS APO driver. For some reason this driver seems to take a minimum of 30 minutes to install. I worked around this by slipstreaming all the drivers into a Windows image so that when I do a clean install all the drivers are already preloaded.
If you plan to install an NVMe card, be aware that that there is no screw to hold it down inside the unit. Make sure that any NVMe you purchase comes with screws or order them separately. Be aware that there are two different common size screws in use for NVMe drives.
My Computers
System One System Two
-
- OS
- Win11 Pro 23H2
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Home Built
- CPU
- Intel i7-11700K
- Motherboard
- ASUS Prime Z590-A
- Memory
- 128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
- Graphics Card(s)
- No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
- Sound Card
- Realtek (on motherboard)
- Monitor(s) Displays
- HP Envy 32
- Screen Resolution
- 2560 x 1440
- Hard Drives
- 1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
2 x 8TB HD
- PSU
- Corsair HX850i
- Case
- Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
- Cooling
- Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
- Keyboard
- CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
- Mouse
- Logitech MX Master 3
- Internet Speed
- 1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
- Browser
- Edge
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender
- Other Info
- Additional options installed:
WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
-
- Operating System
- Win11 Pro 23H2
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
- CPU
- Intel i7-1255U
- Memory
- 16 GB
- Graphics card(s)
- Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- Sound Card
- Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 13.3-inch IPS Display
- Screen Resolution
- WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
- Hard Drives
- 2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
- PSU
- USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
- Mouse
- Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
- Keyboard
- Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
- Internet Speed
- 1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
- Browser
- Edge
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender
- Other Info
- WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
