ASUS UX51Vz-XH71 15.6" Ultrabook Silver Aluminum

Pros: The keys are awesome. The screen is big and very clear, no pixel issues or bleeding edges. All function keys work properly. The Audio in this thing is amazing, especially with the sub connected. With the raid0 I get a write speed close to 1 GB/s (wicked fast). The graphics are phenomenal as well, runs all my games without a hitch on almost ultra settings. Battery life is close to 6 hours without any kind of load going on, really not bad considering the i7 and gt 650m. I highly recommend uninstalling windows 8 and reinstalling windows 7. It was simple, and the OS is worth the switch. Also, I got mine with 12gb RAM installed, and the battery life didn't even suffer much at all, this is worth it because I can run 3D animation programs without a hitch on this machine, rendering a 2 minute animation took me only 4 minutes! That's crazy fast.

Cons: The track pad isn't the best. Sometimes scrolling is weird, but I usually use an external mouse also. Idk why people are complaining about the fan noise so much. It's really not that bad, don't let it deter you from this excellent notebook. Also, the case is excellent. Idk why people are complaining about the chasis, its really strong, I don't see any flex at all, because there are practically no plastic parts.

Other Thoughts: It is an expensive notebook, but with its features it is very future proof. I won't be needing a new computer for a few years.

Pros: Internals are great. The raid0 get nearly 1GB read, which is insane fast. Processor is solid. Its specs are great all around.

Cons: I blame myself for this one. The packaging suck. the case does not have beveled edges so your wrists end up looking like you are a wrist cutter after ten minutes. It is trying too hard to be Apple. There is no way to lock the FN key so all functions require two key presses, even macbooks figured this out right. TLDR: the case is uncomfortable.

Other Thoughts: if you dont mind a worthless chassis, the specs are worth it

Pros: The screen and sound was far beyond what I was expecting for a unit that's this compact without sacrificing screen size, I did not want a small screen. This is great for desktop gaming anywhere, high level productivity and I'm really impressed with this computer. Durable, brushed aluminum case, it looks beautiful and will stand up to everyday use. Full keyboard with white LED back lit keys make using it in every environment easy.

Cons: Windows 8, which is much better with classic shell. Heat. If you plan on running intensive software for a long period of time, take breaks. The cooling fans on it do work, and if you give it 10 minutes it returns to a normal temp pretty fast.

Other Thoughts: I'm very happy with this purchase. For all the features this has packed into it, it became my primary computer.

The No CD thing: This doesn't seem like a big deal. Most people aren't buying this as their first computer, between phones, usb sticks, network shares, the internet, there's plenty of ways for you to get your software on this machine. Daemon tools gives you a virtual disk drive if all you can think to do is rip a CD and copy it over. Everything I've installed so far has been digital downloads, I'm not going to miss it.

Bluetooth is a nice touch.

Pros: This is a really great high-end laptop. It's speedy and offers most of the customizations options in the BIOS you'd need for this level of machine. Adding boot options is a pain, but beyond that, its top notch. If you have another copy of Windows 8 available, it's a breeze to reformat and do a clean install minus all the recovery partitions and such. However, there is not a lot of extra stuff on here in the first place. Most of the ASUS utilities provided are actually useful (and some of them are required for some the fn keys to work), and there are only a few other apps and programs installed on top of that. The trackpad is not bad, and the gesture support is pretty handy. The sound and video quality are amazing, and the weight given the size is great. I haven't tried any heavy gaming yet, but I'm sure it will be able to run most things on decent settings.

Cons: The only real con is that, as an ultrabook, the hardware is highly customized. It comes with 8GB of RAM, but 4 of those are soldered to the motherboard, so you can only upgrade one stick (assuming you're willing to pry the bottom off while you're still under warranty). This limits you to 12 GB of RAM max. Similarly, the dual SSDs are custom and can't be replaced easily.

Other Thoughts: It's expensive, but if you need a solid work or development machine that you can actually carry places, this is top notch. It's also fairly cheap considering it has 2 256GB SSDs packed into it.

Pros: An exceptional laptop in MOST respects.

Cons: Fan noise! The fans are always on - even at idle. This wouldn't be so bad if the fans ran very slowly (and therefore silently) but they don't. They make a high pitched noise that is always there.

Other Thoughts: The fan noise is the only problem I have with what is otherwise an excellent laptop. But for a price that rivals a Retina Macbook I expect better. This is a known problem, check the forums and the review by Notebookcheck. Asus has yet to even acknowledge it let alone address it, which could be as simple as a bios update. As for me I will be exchanging for the Mackbook.

Pros: Awesome laptop for mobility. 4 lbs!

Cons: Overlooked the fact that there is no optical drive. Would have been nice for NewEgg to suggest this in "May We Suggest". Not a deal breaker though.

Other Thoughts: Difficult to load Office 2010, when there is no optical drive and you have 3 CDs for the software.

Pros: Incredible, light-weight Ultrabook. Fast! SATA3, 8 GB memory, USB 3, GT650 graphics etc. Great looking screen.
Ready to go out of the box with RAID0 enabled and minimal bloatware installed.

Cons: Windows 8, bleh! Make sure you get Classic Shell and SkipMetroSuite so you can get rid of that pesky metro start screen. Otherwise Windows 8 seems faster and perkier.

Other Thoughts: This is probably the best notebook I've ever owned. Great balance of size, weight, performance etc. I love it!
The backup OS and files are on an enclosed DVD, but this unit does not have a DVD player (scratching my head). They should have put a bootable USB thumb drive in there IMHO.

Pros: It's fast, small, light, it's one heck of a notebook. I love the backlit keyboard. The chicklet style keys are very smooth.

Oh! And the packaged subwoofer is pretty awesome as well.

Cons: Win8... but we all knew that. Bit of a battery hog.

Other Thoughts: Also, if you've watched reviews like I have you might see that the review models come with external DVD drives. My unit did NOT. Repeat, this model does NOT come with the external DVD drive you might have seen on various review sites. It is referenced in the user manual too for "Some models". I wonder which ones...