The ASUS X-Series laptop combines premium design with all-round features to deliver a superb value laptop for work and play. It's ideal for entertainment thanks to a Full HD display and SonicMaster audio technology, which work together to create an immersive gaming and movie experience.
New power Intel’s 7th generation processor, codename Kaby Lake, is designed to make your laptop faster and more efficient. It’s purposely built to support Thunderbolt 3 and face-scanning cameras used for Windows Hello. Your laptop’s overall productivity will show improvement for flawless multi-tasking and playback of 4K Ultra-HD video will occur without delay or interruption.
High quality design ASUS X series notebooks are designed to complement great performance with clean, attractive aesthetics, and the X556UA is no different. It features a tactile finish and premium feel to ensure you'll be happy taking it with you, while the chiclet keyboard makes for a comfortable typing experience and a gesture-enabled multi-touchpad ensures navigation is simple and intuitive.
Brilliant images The screen on the X556UA features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, or Full HD, making it ideal for watching movies on. It also uses ASUS Splendid technology to ensure colours are accurate, with automatic fine-tuning helping to deliver brilliant, vibrant colours. Splendid technology also includes various modes for different scenarios, so you can easily tweak the setting to bring the most out of movies and photos or take complete control with the manual setting.
Top comments
rodman to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 1728#8
0 deals expert :confused:
Cenobite to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 1717#2
Other than not having an SSD, what's wrong with it? Can you provide a link to something better for that price? Considering getting a new laptop, so it's a genuine question
spannerzone to congrevecv
24 Jun 176#29
what? you think having 8gb ram is more of a bottleneck than fitting an SSD drive.... an SSD will be far better and noticeable performance boost than if you added another 8 or 16gb ram
stressedman
24 Jun 176#4
wow an i7-7500 is mediocre? I'm obviously out of touch!
Latest comments (55)
notoriousvak
27 Jun 17#55
OK I'm onto my replacement of this laptop. seems to suffer from the 100% disk usage problem and updates can't download without having some disk capacity... tried every known solution to bring the usage down but no luck. Overall very disappointing ASUS
fishmaster
25 Jun 17#54
For the general consumer, power efficiency is the primary objective rather than processing power. In 2011 most 15.4/15.6" laptops would last 2.5 hrs on battery, modern laptops can double this battery life performance and more.
shifty277
25 Jun 17#53
Thank you much appreciated.
Schoolboy error not googling it, the majority of manufacturers don't state the watt hour capacity only something like "2 cell or 6 cell" so just assumed the figure wouldn't be out there.
Thanks
notoriousvak
25 Jun 17#52
Just picked this up and I think the harddrive failed. guess we'll see how the replacement is...
spannerzone
25 Jun 17#51
For me it's Samsung if at all possible, I've got the 830, 840 and now 850 - all have performed admirably, the 830 is 5 years old and still at 100% funtionality. Don't get hung up on reviews that go on about limited re-writes but saying that get a Samsung 850 :smile: and you'll be happy ( no need to get the Pro version as most won't notice any difference and coming from mechanical drive to SSD the standard 850 will fly) - We've seen many people saying how SSD's are unreliable, fail often, short life expectancy - some is true and the same applies to mechanical drives, I've had more of those fail than SSD's (so far no SSD failures) - and it my SSD lasts 4 years I'm happy because I'll no doubt have got a bigger/cheaper drive in 4 years time.
I also have a number of Sandisk drives in lower spec (and relatives) computers and they've been very good too. I do have one Crucial mSata drive in a 24/7 micro server and that's been faultess for the last 2 years in solid use (never turned off)
Of course SSD's are now nearly double the price vs 18 months ago but even now I'd not even hesitate a millisecond about buying one. My work laptop has Win 10 Pro with 8GB and a mechanical drive and it is a total dog when compared to my older Acert 4GB/ SSD laptop - the supposedly professional work laptop sits there chugging away whereas the crappy cheapo Acer laptop boots in 15 seconds from off (not sleep) and is ready to use.
I would confidently say as would millions of others, an SSD is the single most noticable upgrade you can perform vs doubling/quadroupling RAM or faster mechanical drive. Windows installs in a fraction of the time, boot times evaporate, load times are better for applications and for me most importantly the machine just works better and more responsive. Of course gamers and hoarders need big space so that's where SSD's can be costly. I have an SSD for the OS and applications and a mechanical drive for storage.
Max-Power
24 Jun 17#21
I was considering this for an upgrade from my Samsung i7-3630QM... don't think I'll go for it, but great deal none the less.
ashman33 to Max-Power
24 Jun 17#22
My laptop from 2014 has a i7 4700mq in it. It drains the battery rapidly but from what I read in the thread will bench higher. I wonder if yours would also bench higher than the 7500u
LewsTherin to Max-Power
25 Jun 17#50
Dont, that cpu trumps this crappy 7500u
stressedman
24 Jun 176#4
wow an i7-7500 is mediocre? I'm obviously out of touch!
LewsTherin to stressedman
25 Jun 17#49
Yup, it is mediocre as only a few years ago this would be an i5 as its only a 2 core 4t cpu.
A lot of people here tend to forget about the price of products when complaining about specs. absolutely pathetic.
rkl
25 Jun 17#46
It does amaze me that in 2017, SSDs are still considered optional extras on laptop hardware that's otherwise mostly reasonable. There's not even an SSHD drive in this (which I consider too much of a compromise myself, but maybe that's just me), yet it has an almost obsolete DVD writer and a USB 2.0 port (why is this still a thing? It does have another port that's 3.0, but why aren't both 3.0?).
jamgin
25 Jun 17#45
oos
Bitbotbang
24 Jun 175#1
Hahaha! £479 for a mediocre laptop on 2017?? Seriously guys??? I must be in another version of this life!
Cenobite to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 1717#2
Other than not having an SSD, what's wrong with it? Can you provide a link to something better for that price? Considering getting a new laptop, so it's a genuine question
rodman to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 1728#8
0 deals expert :confused:
supermann to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 17#11
It has a 7th generation core cpu. Remind me again which generation is current at this time?
maccauk to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 173#26
knobhead
kris147 to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 17#33
TW4T
coolio887 to Bitbotbang
24 Jun 17#36
The pound is still very weak so what used to be an ok price is actually a decent one.
meherenow to Bitbotbang
25 Jun 17#39
You strike me as the kind of person who knows nothing about everything and everything about nothing...
jamgin to Bitbotbang
25 Jun 17#44
More question marks, more question marks!
shifty277
25 Jun 17#43
Does anyone know the watt hour capacity of this battery?
Batteryinfoview will show it for any owners of the laptop..
SSD is the biggest bang for buck improvement you can get for any price if using a HDD - was so about 4 years ago still the same now -
Unreliable - my Samsung 840 has 2 years usage logged probably about 4 years old and still at 100% health
congrevecv
24 Jun 17#34
**JC1997** are you serious, which laptop has 1TB of RAM and 1PB of storage
**spannerzone** yes 100%, as every one here is my witness.
1-Friends of mine have similar laptops to mine with standard as on the shop shelf RAM and experience freezing that I don't.
2-I've read a lot of horror stories where SSDs go wrong and loose every thing
I have 32GB as above, 24GB up from the 8GB that the Asus one here sells with. Fitting extra RAM tends to be easier and less risk prone
arch68 to congrevecv
25 Jun 17#40
can you tighten this loose SSD so it's less horrific? :wink:
congrevecv
24 Jun 17#38
**spannerzone** At the moment I use WD Black, very nippy and reliable.
Which SSD/ SSDs do you have in regular use for at least 6 months?
I've been considering a Crucial MX300, but it appears to have a short life expectancy
spannerzone
24 Jun 171#37
(Hint) JC1997 is clearly not being serious whatsoever, no consumer laptop in the world has 1TB of RAM and 1PB of storage!
So you've not got an SSD drive then? You really are missing out and if you go over you will be annoyed at not doing so years ago, this isn't a guess it's absolutely the what everyone finds when they finally go SSD.
I have no freezing on PC's with 4GB ram and an SSD, perfectly usable, a hundred times nicer to use than any mechanical drive I've ever had. They're very reliable if you get a half decent brand and model. I'll never use a mechanical drive for the OS in any computer ever having had SSD's in desktops for 5 years now. Mechanical drives are so slow regardless of ram. I think you should give it a try.
andbek
24 Jun 17#35
Out of stock now :disappointed:
painstick
24 Jun 17#32
Touch-screen = No - pity, looks decent enough otherwise.
paulpso
24 Jun 17#12
Decent spec, shame about no dedicated graphics. But who buys something like this for gaming anyway. It will play older or simpler stuff okay. Also keep in mind a laptop i7 is no comparison to a desk top i7. They're only dual core for a start.
fishmaster to paulpso
24 Jun 17#13
Most i7's in laptops are dual core now, but quad core versions do exist that are used in higher end laptops.
kitana8 to paulpso
24 Jun 17#31
Best not to state inaccurate info for people who may not know much about computers and putting them off for no reason...U processors are dual core. I have i7 which is quad core on my laptop... i7 HQ processors are quad cores and becoming generally more common but obviously will cost closer to the 1k mark.
the gap between desktop and laptop is becoming closer and closer but obviously depends what your need is and how much you can spend.
JC1997
24 Jun 171#30
for this price in my world can purchase a laptop that has 1tb ram and 1pb of storage. so cold for me :smile:
congrevecv
24 Jun 17#28
**jaydeeuk1** only having 8GB of RAM will slow it down far more than any hard drive. The 32GB Laptop I have here, though only I5, 32GB has a WD Black hard drive is fast enough
spannerzone to congrevecv
24 Jun 176#29
what? you think having 8gb ram is more of a bottleneck than fitting an SSD drive.... an SSD will be far better and noticeable performance boost than if you added another 8 or 16gb ram
congrevecv
24 Jun 17#27
**jaydeeuk1** only having 8GB of RAM will slow it down far more than any hard drive. The 32GB Laptop I have here, though only I5, 32GB has a WD Black hard drive is fast enough
Yiddo4life
24 Jun 17#25
It will i7 3630qm is 7594 this is 5250
congrevecv
24 Jun 17#24
**jaydeeuk1** only having 8GB of RAM will slow it down far more than any hard drive. The 32GB Laptop I have here, though only I5, 32GB has a WD Black hard drive is fast enough
place operating system on a New ssd inside and your laughing
Keep the 1tb hard drive for documents etc
This is a 15w TDP i7 and the older 4 core i7 6700HQ benchmarks a heck of a lot faster 50% higher but with a TDP of 45w
Cretus.Maximus
24 Jun 17#19
Seems a great deal IF you can access the hard drive and battery without voiding the warranty. Great find if so.
iEimis
24 Jun 172#18
You can't get everything for the price, newest gen kaby lake i7 as well as 8gb ram and FHD panel. SSD is a minor upgrade, and if you sold HDD as I suggested you would probably spend anywhere between £10-£20 extra which is not a lot.
jaydeeuk1
24 Jun 17#17
Not a bad price, but with a HD instead of an SSD this will feel sloooooooow.
iEimis
24 Jun 172#7
Not sure about this particular model but usually easy to put an SSD in, sell the hard drive for £30-£40 on Ebay, get a 250gb SSD for £50 ish as posted on here somewhere yesterday and you have a very capable machine for a decent price. Before Capacity Police start saying that 250gb is not enough, Laptop isn't meant to be a storage device in 2017 with all the cloud services available for free.
fit.finlay to iEimis
24 Jun 17#16
For that money, should have ssd in it on purchase
paulpso
24 Jun 172#15
Yeah. This is from 2016. But to be honest the laptop i7s from 2011 were quad core and bench higher than this, which makes this look really bad. But they were in very expensive machines so.. And this is a U version, which are lower tdp and thus generally weaker. The older ones were scaled back desktop ones, Like the same sandybridge architecture and stuff.
11jaylo99
24 Jun 17#14
how much is it for the i3?
paulobrien
24 Jun 17#10
Great price.
undertakeaap
24 Jun 17#9
:stuck_out_tongue:
schmoog
24 Jun 173#6
The spec is hot for the money - i7 Kaby Lake (newest soc)/8GB-DDR4-2133MHz/FHD IPS isn't that common under £500.
The build quality looks pants - there's a review on notebookcheck for a different model in the series; the casing is what you'd expect from a plastic laptop. Flex on the lid, warp on the base.
Though it is a laptop. If you want a metal chassis or flush compact glass touchscreen at this spec it'd be a lot more.
wh431
24 Jun 173#5
Dont care abt dedicated Graphic card but lack of ssd is a no no.. Looks good otherwise.
thebigi
24 Jun 171#3
The laptop doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, which is a real let down with having such a decent processor.
Opening post
The ASUS X-Series laptop combines premium design with all-round features to deliver a superb value laptop for work and play. It's ideal for entertainment thanks to a Full HD display and SonicMaster audio technology, which work together to create an immersive gaming and movie experience.
New power
Intel’s 7th generation processor, codename Kaby Lake, is designed to make your laptop faster and more efficient. It’s purposely built to support Thunderbolt 3 and face-scanning cameras used for Windows Hello. Your laptop’s overall productivity will show improvement for flawless multi-tasking and playback of 4K Ultra-HD video will occur without delay or interruption.
High quality design
ASUS X series notebooks are designed to complement great performance with clean, attractive aesthetics, and the X556UA is no different. It features a tactile finish and premium feel to ensure you'll be happy taking it with you, while the chiclet keyboard makes for a comfortable typing experience and a gesture-enabled multi-touchpad ensures navigation is simple and intuitive.
Brilliant images
The screen on the X556UA features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, or Full HD, making it ideal for watching movies on. It also uses ASUS Splendid technology to ensure colours are accurate, with automatic fine-tuning helping to deliver brilliant, vibrant colours. Splendid technology also includes various modes for different scenarios, so you can easily tweak the setting to bring the most out of movies and photos or take complete control with the manual setting.
Top comments
Latest comments (55)
Schoolboy error not googling it, the majority of manufacturers don't state the watt hour capacity only something like "2 cell or 6 cell" so just assumed the figure wouldn't be out there.
Thanks
I also have a number of Sandisk drives in lower spec (and relatives) computers and they've been very good too. I do have one Crucial mSata drive in a 24/7 micro server and that's been faultess for the last 2 years in solid use (never turned off)
Of course SSD's are now nearly double the price vs 18 months ago but even now I'd not even hesitate a millisecond about buying one. My work laptop has Win 10 Pro with 8GB and a mechanical drive and it is a total dog when compared to my older Acert 4GB/ SSD laptop - the supposedly professional work laptop sits there chugging away whereas the crappy cheapo Acer laptop boots in 15 seconds from off (not sleep) and is ready to use.
I would confidently say as would millions of others, an SSD is the single most noticable upgrade you can perform vs doubling/quadroupling RAM or faster mechanical drive. Windows installs in a fraction of the time, boot times evaporate, load times are better for applications and for me most importantly the machine just works better and more responsive. Of course gamers and hoarders need big space so that's where SSD's can be costly. I have an SSD for the OS and applications and a mechanical drive for storage.
https://www.asus.com/Laptops/X556UA/specifications/
Batteryinfoview will show it for any owners of the laptop..
BatteryInfoView
save £100 and add ssd here
Unreliable - my Samsung 840 has 2 years usage logged probably about 4 years old and still at 100% health
**spannerzone** yes 100%, as every one here is my witness.
1-Friends of mine have similar laptops to mine with standard as on the shop shelf RAM and experience freezing that I don't.
2-I've read a lot of horror stories where SSDs go wrong and loose every thing
I have 32GB as above, 24GB up from the 8GB that the Asus one here sells with. Fitting extra RAM tends to be easier and less risk prone
Which SSD/ SSDs do you have in regular use for at least 6 months?
I've been considering a Crucial MX300, but it appears to have a short life expectancy
So you've not got an SSD drive then? You really are missing out and if you go over you will be annoyed at not doing so years ago, this isn't a guess it's absolutely the what everyone finds when they finally go SSD.
I have no freezing on PC's with 4GB ram and an SSD, perfectly usable, a hundred times nicer to use than any mechanical drive I've ever had. They're very reliable if you get a half decent brand and model. I'll never use a mechanical drive for the OS in any computer ever having had SSD's in desktops for 5 years now. Mechanical drives are so slow regardless of ram. I think you should give it a try.
the gap between desktop and laptop is becoming closer and closer but obviously depends what your need is and how much you can spend.
CD to SSD convertor
place operating system on a New ssd inside and your laughing
Keep the 1tb hard drive for documents etc
This is a 15w TDP i7 and the older 4 core i7 6700HQ benchmarks a heck of a lot faster 50% higher but with a TDP of 45w
The build quality looks pants - there's a review on notebookcheck for a different model in the series; the casing is what you'd expect from a plastic laptop. Flex on the lid, warp on the base.
Though it is a laptop. If you want a metal chassis or flush compact glass touchscreen at this spec it'd be a lot more.