These operating system-specific gestures were responsive, but numerous times, our regular mouse movements were confused with Windows 8 gestures, bringing up a menu when we really wanted to just move the mouse.

Windows 8 gestures, such as swiping in from the left or right, can be initiated within the touchpad or from starting just outside the edge. A small gray line displayed the boundary between a left and right click, but we wish that it was an indentation, so we could locate the two sides by feel.

The touchpad's integrated buttons were snappy and responsive. Two-finger scrolling was likewise accurate. We easily pinched to zoom in Internet Explorer and in the Photos app. We noticed only a slight difference between each setting, but we did prefer the movie mode regardless of what was playing.Ĭlick to EnlargeThe touchpad measures a large 4.1 x 3.9 inches and has a completely smooth finish. Audio remained clear even at the highest volume.ĪSUS includes the AudioWizard utility, which lets you control various sound settings by categorizing the audio output as music, movie, gaming or speech. When we played Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now,' the piano and cymbals were loud and clear, punctuating Freddie Mercury's vocals. We played Macklemore's 'Thrift Shop' and were impressed with the bass backing up Wanz singing the chorus. Powered by SonicMaster hardware, the ASUS S500CA's speakers sounded rich and loud, easily filling our small testing room. Fingerprints and smudges were not a big issue during our testing but, as with any touch screen, it will definitely need to be wiped clean after a few days of use. The S500CA's all-glass touch screen proved responsive, allowing us to quickly swipe through applications and navigate the Windows 8 tiles screen. Unfortunately, this is significantly dimmer than the category average, which is 226 lux. On our light meter, the ASUS S500CA shone at 147 lux, which is brighter than the Acer Aspire V (139 lux) and the Dell Inspiron 15z (146). However, the glossy display made it so we could easily make out our own reflection, as well as the lights behind us, as we watched the darker scenes.

Viewing angles were decent images started to darken at around 45 degrees. We watched 'Life of Pi' trailer in HD and were impressed with the bright colors in the various scenes set in India as well as the clarity of each wave and water drop during a turbulent time at sea. Click to EnlargeImages and video were bright, crisp and clear on the ASUS VivoBook S500CA, which features a 1366 x 768 15.6-inch LED display.

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