The one thing which separates Windows powered notebooks from its competitors is the availability of cheap laptops. When Windows 8 was first introduced, the cheapest machine with the mentioned OS could be purchased at around $1000.

However as time has progressed, now you can afford the Asus X202E at a price of $499 only. The Asus X202E is a Windows 8 powered multi gesture touchscreen laptop which is not a slouch when it comes to performance.

The design of the laptop is average with a thickness of just 0.8 inch thickness, and is relatively heavy for its size at 3 pounds. There is brushed metal on the top lid of the laptop, although major portions of the laptop are plastic, apparently showing where Asus has introduced the cost cutting factor. The keyboard could have been constructed a little larger, but it serves the purpose.

Tagged along with it is a large touch pad which felt a little less responsive at some times. However, Windows 8 users will find themselves using the gesture inputs on the touch screen more frequently than the touch pad.

The Asus X202E has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution on a 11.6 inch display. Although the resolution is not high end, but it is perfect for the small sized screen. The laptop runs on an Intel 1.8 GHz Core-i3 processor with 4 GB DDR3 RAM and 500GB hard disk.

You cannot complain about the specs in contrast to the price tag. Although the HD4000 internal graphics card is not powerful, regular computing like surfing the internet, playing movies and songs, word processing etc. are not a problem on the device. However, the laptop does not have enough battery juice as it can barely run for 4 hours while watching movies continuously. You’ll have to carry the charger wherever you go with the Asus X202E.