Pros: It's a fast machine. For compiles of 18,000 lines of C++, it's about 10-15% faster than a desktop 3.1 GHz Sandybridge Core i5. I like the feel of the keyboard. The touchpad is passable, but I resort to using an external mouse. Screen is nice for my purposes, which is mainly code development or other non-gaming activities. Easily upgraded to 16 GB RAM; flies with an SSD installed. Gigabit Ethernet works at its maximum possible rate.

Cons: Came installed with Windows 8-something. Immediately ditched that for a SSD and installed Linux. However, it's not well-supported under Linux. Asus should really provide support for such things as the function keys (screen brightness, especially), and their touted gamer audio. Linux also doesn't seem to recognize all USB ports, strangely.

WiFi NIC is 2.4 GHz only. Good grief, in this day and age all NICs should be dual band. Asus apparently does not provide any upgrade path for this module. Asus doesn't seem to provide *any* accessories for this computer - like a hard drive bay in place of the optical, or a replacement NIC. Oh well...

Other Thoughts: Overall, it's pretty nice, even with the drawbacks mentioned above. All the same, I'm considering selling it and getting something with 11ac WiFi. Battery life isn't the greatest, but that wasn't my main concern and certainly given the processor I wasn't expecting a long time on battery. Specs on Skylake systems seem about double on battery, but you could spend a long time chasing the ever better specs...

Pros: -Can play Starcraft on High with 60 FPS
-Works great for school
-i7 Processor

Cons: -If I had more money i'd buy a laptop with a better video card
-Windows 8.1 (Upgraded to Windows 10)

Other Thoughts: I am buying an SSD to go with this Laptop. It does take a while to load up, but it is fine after I get it starting.

Pros: None.

Cons: Update: DO NOT PURCHASE THIS LAPTOP. I am having constant driver power state BSODs. I updated my Nvidia driver as was required to play a new game. I'm now having constant crashes from the two graphics cards trying to hand off graphics duties to each other. I'm so disappointed. I was so thrilled at first and now I'm completely disgusted. I will never purchase an ASUS laptop again.

Worst. Mousepad. Ever. I'm using a small wireless mouse exclusively with it, which I've never done with a laptop before. Lost half an egg there. The backlit keys are a distraction. The glare from under the keys makes it so I can't see them, and the actual light appearing through the letter or number is faint. My ROG is much better and of course nothing beats the MacBook keyboard. I keep it turned off since the there's more contrast with the keys dark and the light from the screen. Another half egg off.

Other Thoughts: I've just order a ram upgrade to get it to 16G and I've order an upgrade for the wireless card as well. The speed with the built-in wireless card is way too slow for the file transfers I need to do over my network, but I knew this going in. More worrisome is that when I connected via ethernet to my network, the built-in network adapter kept going to sleep after a short while no matter what power settings I tried in Windows 10. Made it useless for large file transfers. I haven't taken any eggs off for this since I haven't finished troubleshooting. Maybe there's a setting in the BIOS and I also haven't had time to check to see if I have the latest driver. If it's a hardware issue, I'll take off a full egg for that since that's basic functionality.

Pros: 2 gig dedicated GPU RAM NVIDIA
Lit keyboard
On-board Intel graphics 4600
subwoofer surround sound system
sleek appearance

Cons: Graphics drivers are from 2014 and no update from ASUS. AND they don't let you update them easily- you have to work around a block to install Intel's latest. The NVIDIA drivers update easily, but are horrible. The update for the 845m to run Star Wars Battlefront worked less than a month, and actually crashed during Euro Truck Driver- not a graphically demanding game. I bought 2 of these in November as Christmas presents for my teenage sons, and I believe the NVIDIA GPU blew out in the 2nd week one of them was using it. I say "believe" because NVIDIA has no diagnostics. However, their GEFORCE experience shows a circle with a line through it next to the list of requirements to run, say whatever game, so I'm guessing that means I'm stuck. I don't know if its worse to have paid up front, but I'm not happy about making payments in the interest-free deal they offered at the time for a laptop that's already fried.
BTW- the surround sound will not work. No RealTek drivers or settings will run it. So it sits there looking cool. Great.

Other Thoughts: Looking at NVIDIA's user forum, they're obviously experiencing systemic engineering issues with this software. I would not recommend nor buy another NVIDIA product- they are not what they were a few years ago. Going with
ASUS was a gamble- but for the price I rolled the dice. I bought a transformer of theirs a few years back and they didn't stand behind it when the cheap audio jack snapped. So I'm not looking forward to trying to send this unit in to them. If they fix it and redeem themselves, I'll update my review and rating. But I don't have high hopes.

Pros: - The graphics for gaming was good for the price. Not spectacular but it got the average gaming experience done. It was better than my last laptop so I am happy with it.

- The keyboard is fantastic. The back lit keyboard is a great plus. I don't understand why the Number Lock key doesn't light up when it is turned on though.

- The screen does get dark enough to the point where it is comfortable on sensitive eyes which is a huge plus to me.

- Watching movies on this laptop would be it's best selling point. It doesn't have a built in sub woofer but the sound does get loud enough for you and a group of others can hear it for about 5 meters away.

Cons: - The mouse pad was unresponsive 60% of the time. On of the worst experiences I have had with one thus far.

- The IPS Panel was a complete lie. The picture quality was absolutely dreadful as the colors were washed out and viewing angles were nowhere near wide enough.

- The metal finish is very scratch heavy. Do not have anything that is even considered sharp withing a 2 foot radius of this laptop due to it absorbing anything and everything that can scratch it.

- It stays hot. This device never cools off unless I turn it off completely. I don't even have to be gaming for this device to instantly heat up enough for me to constantly feel it as I type and use the mouse pad.

- For some reason whenever I connect my Bluetooth headphones to this laptop, it will occasionally drop the device and forget it completely. I have to completely pair it again in order for it to work. The same goes for my PS4 controllers while gaming. It is very frustrating.

- I could never tell if the free subwoofer even worked a majority of the time, even when I maxed out my volume while playing movies.

- I personally had issues with the 3.0 USB ports due to my Toshiba and Seagate hard drives not being able to connect to the device even with 3.0 connection cables. All of my drivers are up to date so I cant imagine what the issue is. I didn't have this problem with my last laptop at all.

- I may be just unlucky this time around because my laptop slipped off my bed 1 time and dropped about 2 feet onto my carpet floor while charging and somehow pushed the charging doc inward to the point where I cant properly charge the laptop without my power cord slipping out. I never thought something like that would be so flimsy.

- The wifi card needs to be upgraded asap. The current card is wireless N and leaves a lot to be desired.

- A SSD is a must due to how slow this laptop runs and how delayed it responds to simple tasks.

Other Thoughts: - Unfortunately, I would never recommend this laptop to anyone. My experience with it was just that bad.

Pros: I like the spec's, everything except the spec's for the Panel

Cons: I wish the keyboard key colors were black.

Other Thoughts: Like many others, I've been questioning the panel, is it truely IPS or not? Based on input from others I was able to determine from the hardware ID that is was highly unlikely my laptop (as shipped & received) used an IPS panel. I reached out to customer service who requested UPC information which I provided. 6 days later I received an EMail from Customer Service confirming that the panel was a TN and NOT an IPS. Granted this is not NewEgg's fault, but even knowing this, they continue to market the laptop as having an IPS panel. Here's a quote directly from their web page in the Overview tab "Stunning Full HD IPS screen..."

Pros: Upgraded from an older laptop that wasn't able to record 1920x1080 resolution gameplay from elgato or HDPVR2. Now I'm able to record higher resolution gameplay.

Cons: Combo audio I/O jack does not recognize or pick up on audio from external mic when plugged in. When plugged in, it only recognizes it as an audio out device. Older slower laptop had a dedicated mic in jack that worked just fine for the past 3 years without any of these issues.

Other Thoughts: Had I realized or tested this combo audio jack problem sooner, I would have not bought this laptop, or returned it right away.
Now I can't proceed with getting my work done when I'm unable to record audio from my condenser mic. I can only hope a headset adapter will work for resolving this problem.
Shame on those who designed & implemented this combo audio jack.

Pros: Powerful laptop for the price ($699). If you compare the specs of this laptop to others in the price range, you'll see it comes very-well equipped.

Cons: Unfortunately, this is not an IPS monitor as stated on both this website and ASUS' website. I contacted Newegg regarding the issue and they told me to contact ASUS since all of the information comes directly from them. After spending a lot of time speaking to an ASUS representative, my case was escalated and this is the response I received:
----
Hey there Luke,

I apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this may have caused. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers. Products may not be available in all markets. Unfortunately the particular model you have does have the TN panel instead of the IPS panel.

Have a wondrous day!!

Michael B.
ASUS Corporate Customer Care Team
----
If you're used to using an IPS, you'll certainly notice the quality difference. Something to be aware of before your purchase.

Other Thoughts: If this laptop would have had an IPS display, I would have rated it 5/5. The false advertising is very disappointing and I'm not sure how it's legal.

Pros: I have modified this laptop from factory default by upgrading the HDD to a SSD, replaced the wifi card to a AC capable card, increasing the RAM, and replacing the DVD drive with a blu ray burner / player. my reason for the drive, and ram to any laptop due to speed increase and recommend it for all. The blu ray was due to I travel quit a bit and can watch movies on my laptop. Even without the upgrade this laptop was well worth the money, but the upgrades took it over the top. The back lite keyboard is great if you have never had one, when setting in a vehicle along side the road it is extremely helpful.

Cons: My only con would be it does not come with Windows 10 already installed.

Other Thoughts: Though this laptop is not the most current gaming laptop, it is great my use which is quite a bit of Auto Cad and Microsoft Access with the data base stored locally

Pros: FAST ! I wanted a laptop for work that had the speed and ASUS delivers it in a clean and classy package . Good screen and graphics,excellent sound quality,light and the laptop runs almost silent . Sale price of 699.00 was a nice deal too.

Cons: Malware,sadly it came infected with Malware which I had to remove,Yahoo search engine in particular would not disappear until I installed some high powered removal tools . Keyboard should have been black,hard to see keys in bright light..sub woofer is useless

Other Thoughts: My last ASUS gave me 5 trouble free years,it was a 14" gen1 i7 ,after having owned many other brands over the years ASUS was the only one that never crashed or left me stranded with dead hardware as it aged so when shopping for a new work laptop it was only natural to stick with who lasted the longest . Time will tell if the latest ASUS proves as durable as the last one I owned