Asus U41JF-A1 (Core i3 380M 2.53GHz - 14)

Pros: Performance, Display, Battery life, Warranty

Cons: Flex in the keyboard, stiff mouse button. Some bloatware, but easy to remove.

Summary: The other reviews have it right, though Dan has some valid points as well. This thing goes all day on a battery charge and the performance is lightning fast. The display is beautiful and the 1G Intel 425m video card really makes a difference. I'm not really a gamer, but I'm scientist that works with the images quite a bit, typically in ImageJ. This laptop handles them with ease and I'm very satisfied with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop performance as well. While the specs boast a 10+ hour battery life, I don't think it will go quite that long with typical use. However, I charge at night, bring it into work (nice not to have to bring the power adapter) and it lasts all day. I like the 14" screen, which is just the right balance between portability an usability, imo.

However, keyboard flex is noticeable and cheapens the feel a bit. It also comes loaded with bloatware, but it's quite easy to remove. Mouse performance is good and it supports multi-touch and edge scrolling; both work well. Dan points out that there's lots of competition in this price range. That's true, but I defy you to find another computer with an 8-10 hour batter life with this kind of performance.

One thing I'll stress that others haven't is the killer warranty. Asus provides a 2 year warranty standard PLUS a 1-year accidental damage warranty. Wow. On the registration card that came with it, they even promise to up that to 2 years if you send it in within 40 days. That kind of warranty says a lot about the product. Add that to most other computers and you're out another 200 bucks. Hopefully it will live up to it. This is my first Asus computer after using Compaq, HP, and Dell laptops in the past, and so far I'm very pleased.

Updated on Mar 22, 2011

Update: I've been using this computer constantly for the last 10 days, and overall, I'm still quite pleased. However, I've had to re-download a driver pack because the function hotkeys stopped working. Also, the Asus camera utility that came pre-installed was corrupted and wouldn't load (I was going to delete it anyway - the camera works fine with Skype, Google chat, etc). These things aren't a huge deal to me, but if you're not a tinkerer, you might run into some frustrations. That makes my rating a solid 4 now, since a 4.5 should be nearly perfect experience, which it was for a while.