ASUS Ultra Thin Processor L203MA DS04 Microsoft

My Old Chap Richard said GREAT CASUAL USER LAPTOP.

Ok, just to get everything out in one sentence: This is the perfect laptop for the CASUAL laptop user! Which is a good thing!

This is a great little laptop! for $200 this is a steal. 64 gigabytes is enough for windows 10. If you get a 128GB mini SD card, then this laptop will work great for you. Now if you plan on using this to store pictures, videos and other files, for awhile, then you will run out of space (with the laptop alone). But with a mini SD card or a flash drives to store your files, you'll be fine.

If you are a heavy computer user and need it for heavy video editing, photoshop or a heavy gamer, then obviously this won't work for you. I use windows movie maker. It works just fine. This can play light games or games that have been released from the early 2000's (if you play on Steam).. Newer games that need Gforce and what not.. Obviously not. This laptop is for the casual user, but can hold its grounds when using other programs.

I have used adobe elements for video editing.. Does it work. yes, it does! is it the best computer to use it on.. haha, no. But it does work on this laptop, though this isn't the idea computer you'd used a program on like this. But if you're on a tight budget and don't mind the laptop taking a few extra moments to process everything, then go for it.

The keyboard and the mouse pad works like butter. I love typing on this thing. I've typed on several 11.6" laptops and had trouble, but I have no problem typing on this.

GREAT LAPTOP and VERY HAPPY!!

My Old Chap Ken say Top Choice in this segment.

This is the only ultra-book I could find with a 64gb ssd, 4gb RAM, weighed only 2 pounds (actually 2.1) and cost $200. If your expectations are reasonable (i.e. don't expect to find a large screen, don't expect to run intense programs or games) then I think you will be happy with this.

The notebook comes with Windows 10S (not windows 10) which can be upgraded free and easily. If the upgrade is not made, then you are limited to the programs/apps in windows' store which is not very comprehensive. The only issue here is that the Windows 10 version the upgrade goes to is 64 bit (not 32) which has compatibility issues with some older programs.

I found the eMMC disk drive to be fast, the computer boots in a few seconds. There is a Micro SD slot. 256GB micro sd card is only around $25 and is immensely helpful in increasing available storage (buy a name brand only; i.e. microcenter, sandisk, pny, crucial, kingston, etc etc). The internal eMMC drive or the RAM can not be upgraded.

WiFi is strong, the screen is only 11.5" but is very bright and has very good resolution and color. The USB ports are V 3.x. The keyboard does not feel cramped or compromised in any way despite the small size of the notebook. Too bad it does not have a trackpoint which would be very helpful in navigating more precisely on the small screen.

I have only had this so far for a week so I can not comment on durability. The card slot seems a bit flimsy.

I have been unable to get anything near the "whole day" claim on a battery charge. 6 hours is about it but obviously that is still very good.

Overall I believe this is a very good choice especially for this price range; this laptop is not much heavier than a tablet but is much more useful. Also, Windows 10 is far more versatile than the Chrome OS, in my opinion anyway.

My Old Man Shannon A experience Linux mighty mouse at a great price!.

I bought this on Prime day to replace an android tablet. Wanted something a little more capable, yet portable. I installed several Linux distros without a hitch. Settled on Mint 19. It's rock stable and runs smooth as butter. I added a 200gb micro sd for data storage and have a 2 tb slim USB HD for more extensive things like video. I haven't found much that this mighty mouse will not do. If you need am inexpensive portable Linux machine, look no further.

All you kind folks having winows problems on this laptop, save yourself a boat load of headaches and jump off the Microsoft bandwagon. Try linux. Mint is a great place to start. It will easily handle your web, office and email. I have even edited photos with the (free) equivalent of Photoshop and Lightroom ... GIMP and Darktable. I understand that there is a place for Windows et al on a more capable machine, but for something this light and portable I have not found a better way to go.

My Fellow Mr. U. said Inaccurate description.

I was sent an L203MA. From the first moment, the touchpad was weird. It only was accurate when I started the curser when my finger was 1/2 inch from base of the track pad. Now that may have fixable software problem, but the downloaded driver files specific to this model would not work with it as recommended by ASUS as a possible fix. Now that problem was nothing compared to my main complaint. The From the manufacturer description in Amazon said that this model came with a backlit keyboard. In the ASUS FAQ and later confirmed by the ASUS Chat representative, it did not. I am returning this unit today. I have never given a one star rating and am doing this to make sure that others be aware of the inaccurate description provided in the item’s description.

My Old Chap MI in DC Talk Zips Right Along.

I really, really like this little gizmo. Looks good, feels as solid as one can expect, nice response feel on the keys, crisp display and bright, and lightning fast... for a reason. First things first, I ripped Windows out of this mini laptop shortly after powering it up. Why? Windows is a memory and resource hog. Secondly, the amount of information they want just to run the laptop outside Windows S mode is ridiculous. Hence, Windows had to go, so it I took it out.

In place of Windows I installed Manjaro Linux, based off the Arch Linux distro, using the Xcfe interface system. Both are considered light weight and just seemed perfect for this mini laptop. The OS slid right in without a single problem, it picked up all the hardware on boot-up, and the response times proved better than I hoped. As a test of the battery, I loaded up Youtube with 15 hours of videos and let it run. After nearly exhausting the 15 hours of videos, the laptop battery finally gave up. It impressed me since it played for 14 hours and 27 minutes non-stop. Moreover, the speakers sounded much better than I thought they would. A little tinny, but what could anyone really expect? The laptop never got too warm, either, considering it is a fanless system. It just powered through without a hiccup.

After ten days of regular use it seems rock solid. The shakedown period ran without a hitch. The distro comes with automatic updates, so the OS is kept fresh and update. The WiFi range is quite good. I remained connected to my WiFi for just about fifty feet, and the signal needed to pass through walls. The camera is okay, but to be honest I do not use it much if at all. I simply tested it. At just over two pounds, it travels well in my backpack and I use it during my commutes to and from the office. LibreOffice runs like a champ. GIMP runs like a champ. Audicty runs like a champ. KPatience is quick and fun. Firefox with extensions is incredibly fast... faster than on my main desktop.

This is a great little mini laptop and, with the Manjaro OS changes, is worth more than purchase price. I highly recommend it since it proved so amenable to modification. I would definitely buy again.

6 Months Later... I still love this mini-laptop. I use it almost every day. Mostly I use it for writing, streaming music to a Bluetooth speaker, and a little web surfing, and I could not be happier with this machine. I made the right choice of swapping out the OS. I have recommended it to others, and I know of at least 3 other people who purchased one. They also seemed pleased, but I don't want to speak directly for them.

My Old Chap Robert Ullrich experience Pleasantly surprised and imprressed.

I bought the ASUS Vivo book to replace an HP Stream I purchased at a local chain. As an author, albeit not well-known, I use a laptop primarily for writing. I also create my own graphics and maintain my website. The Stream quickly ran out of storage space, making it a constant (weekly) endeavor to free up space. Then - the death knoll. Not enough space to update Windows 10, and Microsoft would no longer offer service or support for my version of 10.

I was unfamiliar with ASUS, having located the Vivo on Amazon. The specs were sufficient for my needs. The bonus of Office 365 for a year was a plus as a 19-year user of Office. Slim and lightweight, easy to carry. Graphics are good, as is sound and compatibility with my desktop.

The most impressive feature to me? Power on to ready to use is 10 seconds. The Stream took 30-45 and my aging desktop - up to 2 minutes. For $190 dollars, I am as pleased as I've ever been with a laptop/notebook. I'm even getting used to Windows 10, and I love the Cloud storage. I would recommend to someone on a budget or if your looking for a fast and efficient laptop/notebook, (a pretty nice option)>

My Fellow Z. K. say Play WoW at work!.

I bought this laptop to leave at work so I can log on to World of Warcraft during my lunch break everyday and work on my character(s) professions. (I installed WoW on a MicroSD card since the 64GB internal drive is not enough room.)

I was skeptical WoW would even run, but it does! I turn all the graphics settings all the way down, and get anywhere from 10-45 FPS in the open world, and 5-15 FPS in the cities.

This might be my best purchase ever! I cannot wait for WoW Classic!

My Old Fellow Dia tell us Warning! Stopped working after two days!.

Would give this item 0 stars if possible- needed a small travel computer for a trip I was taking- thought this would be perfect in place of outdated Chromebook I had previously. Received it in seemingly new condition- used it for two days and tried to turn it on on the day we were leaving, and NOTHING- wouldn't charge, turn on, ZERO. (yes, I tried all the tricks) Thankfully was able to run to UPS to return for a full refund (thanks Amazon Prime!), and picked up a slightly larger device (from a different manufacturer) at Best Buy.

My Buddy George Heath say Great unit, but I got a lemon. (It Happens).

 ASUS makes great products and when it comes to electronics every now and then you get one that doesn't work.
This was my case..
The instruction manual recommends charging for at least 3 hours before running it off the battery alone.
I let it charge for close to four hours and it said it was 100% fully charged.
BUT when I unpluged the power cord the unit shut right off.
And it would not start up unless I plug the power cord back in.
I'm guessing the battery was bad or something along those lines..
Anyways,
While I had it plugged in and powered up it seemed to be really nice...
It was fast.
Setup was easy.
It has an excellent display and sound.
I have nothing negative to say about this laptop other than the one I received was a lemon and would not power up unless it was plugged in.

I ended up returning it the next day and ordered a different laptop.
later I'll probably order another one of these, hopefully getting one that works right and I'll do a proper tech review on it.

My Old Fellow Alessandro AD say Perfect portable typing and research station.

Wow wow wow. I can't find enough good things to say about this portable powerhouse. I'm a pretty hardcore gamer who also uses a lot of graphics intensive programs like Photoshop and Unreal 4. This laptop... is not for that.

It's for those times away from your high-end programs, where you need 10 chrome tabs open in a coffee shop while you're experimenting with Microsoft Word layouts. It's for when you're out in the woods and want to sort and organize the photos on your camera's SD right then and there. It's for trips where you want to travel light, but still want the world at your finger tips.

OK, OK, enough flowery language. Let's get to the pros / cons:

Pros:
-The keyboard feels great, with a nice balance of being chunky and "clicky" while still being compact. Once you get used to its size, it's pretty easy to get close to your fastest typing speeds with minimal errors.
-This thing is really light. Maybe I'm too sued to heavier laptops, but seriously, this thing is effortless to bring around. Throw it in a backpack, tuck it under your shoulder, do whatever. This thing is pretty durable from what I can tell, so all that lightness doesn't come at the cost of having to gingerly secure it in a special compartment. Any ol' laptop bag / pocket will do!
-The battery life is great! Maybe I'm too used to being tethered to outlets by more power-hungry machines, but I was able to get hours of typing and Chromeing out of this thing. The key I've found (as with most machines) is to keep the brightness a bit low when you're not plugged it, it can make a big difference.
-ASUS has always made my favorite laptops and this one is no exception. If you're a fan of ASUS' work, you'll find everything you know and love about and ASUS packed into a tiny package.
-The ports, lordy, the ports! So many ports in such a tiny machine.
-The screen is far brighter and more colorful than I was expecting. My other laptop is a "state-of-the-art" ROG Strix II, with a high color accuracy, high refresh-rate display... the issue is they never calibrate said displays and they always end up coming out sickly yellow, requiring hours of manual adjusting. Not this little fighter though! Bright and beautiful right out of the box! Color pureists will notice things can get a bit washed out, but it's certainly preferable to the yellow tint of other machines.
-The price is the best I've seen for the quality of machine you're getting. This thing is durable, sturdy and built for a few specific things it excels at. It's definitely given my productivity a boost and is well worth the investment.
-There was pretty minimal bloatware on the machine, which was great.
-Office 360 for a year is a HUGE plus. Also be sure to upgrade the machine to full Windows 10 (from S), the process is free, fast and jarringly painless.
Cons:
-Even 64 GBs is not a a huge amount of space. This is definitely more of a document and cloud oriented device. If you're hoping to put your entire music library on this thing you're going to need to expand the storage. If storage isn't an issue, than this is probably the book for you!
-Similarly the 4 GBs of RAM can make this little engine chug sometimes. Don't expect it to be happy with running 20 chrome tabs at once,n or for it to instantly load pages the moment you click them. It's certainly fast enough, but as someone who's coming from a 16 GB machine the little differences can be noticeable.
-The touch pad is ... OK. It's not terrible, but (much like all touch pads these days) it loses tracking now and then and lacks any real buttons for the left and right. I never much enjoyed touch pads to begin with so maybe I'm biased.

Closing thoughts: If you like what you've read, read more reviews and honestly take the dive. If you're looking for a durable portable typer, that can do a little bit of everything this is your machine!

More closing thoughts: A story for you, about ASUS laptops...

In winter I got an ROG Strix II, a very powerful and very pricey machine. It was maddening getting the thing to work properly. Getting photoshop to play nice with the dual graphics. Getting the screen to not look yellow. Getting the damn speakers to not crank the bass. Many of these issues are still unresolved and frankly though I love the hardware I'm more than likely going to have to start from square one with that thing.

I was all emotionally prepared to go through the same process with this little trail-blazer. I was ready to troubleshoot and troubleshoot and finally get something that mostly did what I needed. To my absolute delight, this machine seems to be the last bastion of PCs that do everything right, everything the way they're supposed to, right out of the box. I haven't had to troubleshoot a single thing about this beautiful laptop and honestly couldn't be happier. If you're looking for something portable, something durable, something to up your productivity and most of all something easy to work with, this is the laptop for you.