While traveling for event coverage is awesome, it can get pretty tiring, especially with having to lug around cameras, lenses and a tripod. While I don’t bring the heaviest equipment, I still do feel the weight on my back. That’s the reason why I’m incredibly particular with laptops. When on the go, I would gladly trade an ultra powerful one for a lighter and smaller device.
I was delighted when ASUS lent the ASUSPRO P5440U. I brought it with me to 2 trips – one in Jakarta, Indonesia and the other one in Shenzhen, China. It was my buddy in churning out articles, answering email, doing social media and sending videos.
Solid and Sturdy
I’ll be totally honest, the ASUS Pro is not the sexiest looking laptop out there. Its overall design is a little vanilla but can definitely still leave quite an impression with its matte grey finish. One thing that concerns us while we’re out of the office for event coverage here or abroad is the abuse our notebooks take during the haul.
Thankfully, the fear that our laptop would somehow crack or get damaged during the trip was alleviated because this ASUSPRO notebook is primarily made out of solid magnesium alloy; making it solid and sturdy without being a burden.
Light and Portable
As I’ve mentioned before, portability is extremely important to me when it comes to my travel laptops. The ASUSPRO only weighs 1.23kg. It was hardly a bother even for a petite girl like me. I carried it around everywhere and my back was totally fine. I also like that it didn’t occupy much space in my bag. It easily slipped in and out of the case during airport security checks with ease.
Power in Portability
I mainly used the ASUSPRO for WordPress, social media and email. I didn’t play any games or edit videos and I found that for my purpose, the device has more than enough power to breeze through everything. It has an i5-825OU processor paired with 8GB RAM that is expandable to 16GB, 512 GB SATA3 M.2 SSD, 1TB HDD, and an NVIDIA GeForce MX130 GPU with 2GB GDDR5 RAM. There were no lag nor slow downs at all.
The keyboard had a nice amount of travel to it and each key has a bit of a dish, which meant pumping out articles was a comfortable experience for me while I was out and about. It’ll take some getting used to if you’re coming from a different notebook but the adjustment period shouldn’t take long.
Complete and Versatile
One pain point of a notebook with a small form factor is that it might not have all the ports you need to get work done or you’ll need to bring along extra accessories that have a tendency to get misplaced. It’s a great thing that the ASUSPRO has a complete set of ports including a USB-C port with Power Delivery support, two USB 3,1 Gen 1 ports, an HDMI port and an SDXC card reader; making work travel a lot simpler and easier.
Long-Lasting Battery
There are places that lack sockets so I was thankful for the long-lasting battery of the ASUS PRO. I was able to work in event venues, the airport and the plane without having to worry about the device running out of juice. It is equipped with a 50WHr 3-cell battery that is rated for up to 10 hours on a single charge. From experience, it delivered very well.
Perfect for Travel
The ASUSPRO gets my vote for portability. I would gladly use it again for out of the country trips and event coverage. Then again, I also have to mention that it’s not for everyone. I am a light user so it is perfect for me but if your work requires a lot of computing power, then you may need a more powerful laptop by your side. Still, if you’re looking for a great, durable travel device that you can bring anywhere, then this device may be worth considering.
The ASUSPRO P5440U is priced at Php 72,995.
