Asus U41JF-A1

Huge 83WH battery. Over 8 hours on a single charge. NVidia's 400 series graphics is a gamer's delight. Good horsepower from the Core i3 processor. Lovely aluminum design. Lightweight. Reasonably priced

Keyboard flexing can be detected

The Asus U41JF-A1 is the most well-balanced mainstream laptop, combining excellent power with all-day battery life.

Great graphics performance ; Excellent battery life (7.5 hours)

Subpar build quality ; Poor keyboard ; Inaccurate touchpad ; Fingerprint magnet ; Not enough ports ; Despite fantastic performance and battery life, this notebook fails to deliver in terms of build quality.

Despite fantastic performance and battery life, this notebook fails to deliver in terms of build quality.

Solid performance; includes switchable discrete graphics; slim body.

Two-tone body doesn't come off as high-end; lots of competition in this price range.

The Asus U41JF is a workmanlike but uninspiring 14-inch laptop that offers decent performance and graphics and excellent battery life, but costs nearly as much as a MacBook.