ASUS K50IJ

Solid build quality; long-lasting six-cell battery; comfortable, backlit keyboard; multitouch touch pad; a year of AV protection included.

Next Class features add to the bill; underwhelming preinstalled software; no HDMI.

The Asus K501J-BCN5 serves up long battery life, a backlit keyboard, and a year of AV protection. Unfortunately, these Next Class features add a considerable sum to the price; we like a cheaper yet similarly configured Asus K501J model better.

Solid build quality; attractive yet understated design; comfortable keyboard; competitive performance; multitouch touch pad.

No HDMI; a tad on the portly side; slim arrow keys.

The Asus K501J-BBZ5 is a well-built, good-looking budget laptop with enough power for most home users; however, many would-be buyers will bemoan its lack of an HDMI port.

Subtle, attractive design; comfortable keyboard; very good battery life, performance for its class.

Limited growth potential.

As long as you won't need more than what it already has, the budget-friendly Asus K50IJ-RX05 is money well spent.

Excellent CPU and GPU for the price; secondary instant-on Linux OS; separate number pad.

Big and heavy; no Bluetooth; lights can't be completely shut off; no dedicated media controls.

The Asus G50VT-X5 offers great gaming performance for under $1,000, but it's missing some basic amenities we've come to expect, and the lightning-bolt design may not appeal to all.

Affordable price; attractive case design includes LED lights; 10-key number pad; near-1080p display resolution; combined 500GB of storage space; Express Gate software lets you access media and the Web without booting Windows; laptop comes with external...

Woeful battery life; poor speakers; lacks hardware media controls.

The affordable, gaming-oriented Asus G50V delivers playable frame rates in a portable, 15.4-inch case. If not for a 17-inch gamer from Gateway, we'd say this Asus laptop is an unbeatable value.