Asus 14" U43F Bamboo Core i5 Notebook Review

As has become the norm these days, Asus includes little to nothing when it comes to accessories. No cables, no dongles, no adapters, no cases, no sleeves, no microfiber cloth, nothing. The only thing that ships in the box is the machine itself, an AC plug and a power brick. The rest is up to you.


On the software front, Asus is a little more giving. A 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium is included (thankfully, because there is 4GB of RAM in here) as well as Adobe Reader 9, Intel's Wireless Display app, a trial of Microsoft Office 2010, Windows Media Center, a set of Asus utilities, Best Buy's Software Installer (which we aren't a fan of; it feels like bloatware and dominates your screen upon the first boot-up), CyberLink's Blu-ray Disc Suite (despite the lack of a Blu-ray optical drive), Trend Micro Internet Security trial (another piece of bloatware; the full version we'd be kinder about), and NEC's USB 3.0 Host Driver (for the solo USB 3.0 port). Overall, the boot-up time isn't hindered too much by bloatware, but we'd recommend getting rid of the Trend Micro suite as soon as possible; the annoying alerts pop up far too often and impede every day work and program installation.