Affordable secondhand Laptop: ASUS A455L Review

 College students are always on the hunt for affordable yet capable laptops to get them through years of study. While not the latest or greatest, secondhand and older models can provide decent performance if you know what to look for. The ASUS A455L packing an Intel Core i3-4005U processor and Nvidia GeForce 930M graphics is one such option worth considering for its mix of productivity and light multimedia abilities.

Asus A455L

The Core i3-4005U is a 4th gen dual-core CPU released back in 2014. While clearly showing its age compared to modern laptop chips, it still has enough horsepower to handle typical productivity workloads like writing papers, browsing the web, streaming video lectures, and basic photo editing. You can even get away with light multitasking across these apps without too much slowdown.

Where the A455L really shines for students is its dedicated Nvidia 930M GPU. While entry-level, this discrete graphics solution allows for vastly better performance in GPU-accelerated apps and games compared to relying on integrated graphics alone. You can comfortably run older titles like CS:GO, Dota 2, and Rocket League at 1080p medium-high settings and still maintain smooth frame rates.

The 930M can also accelerate GPU-accelerated applications like Adobe Premiere for basic video editing tasks. This can make the A455L a capable multimedia machine for its age and price point. Just don't expect to be rendering 4K video or playing the latest AAA games at high quality.

Other specs like 8GB of RAM and a 1TB 5400RPM hard drive are typical for an old system like this. They're far from impressive now, but perfectly adequate for basic productivity use cases. The 14-inch 1366x768 glossy display is also nice with good enough brightness and colors, though viewing angles are relatively poor.

Where the A455L does show its age is in its chunky, dated design aesthetic. At nearly an inch thick and weighing 5lbs, it's a slightly thick laptop that will feel heavy compared to modern Ultrabooks. Its all-plastic construction also gives it a slightly cheaper feel, despite being reasonably durable overall. I/O is acceptable with USB 3.0, HDMI, LAN, and an SD card reader.

The biggest trade-off for the performance you get is battery life. With a smallish 33Whr battery powering dated yet power-hungry components, you'll be lucky to get 3 hours of real-world use between charges for typical productivity workflows.

Overall, if you can look past the ageing design and mediocre battery life, the ASUS A455L offers great bang for your buck as an affordable secondhand option for college. The Core i3/930M combo provides enough performance to power through coursework while enabling some casual gaming and multimedia editing in your downtime - not something every budget laptop can claim. Just don't go in expecting it to be as fast or efficient as today's latest models.