Asus K501LX mini review

The unit that I have is the K501LX-EB71 with the 256gb ssd, i7-5500U, 8GB ram, and 2gb ram GTX950m. So overall, I have been very impressed with the k501lx. This is basically an ultrabook with the power to play current gen games on medium settings 1080p. The battery life is around 4-5hrs from surfing the web and watching youtube. Due to the SSD, the bootup time is around 10-12 seconds. I feel like for the price point of $800, you are getting an excellent deal. However, I have run into some issues that just cannot be ignored. I took the liberty of listing the other issues that I have encountered. let me know if it's just my unit or a more common issue.

general issues:
-some of the keys have a strange clicking feel to them. feels like they will pop out the keyboard or one of the key clips was broken. but generally speaking, the keyboard has a very satisfying click.
-the sensitivity of the touchpad is ok at best. sometimes it works great, but other times it refuses to register a click. Asus touch gestures could be better.
-the screen, although sharp, has a lower max brightness than I am used to. and the colors seem to be slightly washed out. Since the 1080p panel is a TN panel, expect poor vertical viewing angles. I'm pleased to say that the horizontal viewing angles are fairly decent for a TN panel. Also, since this is a matte display, everything is still fairly visible in an outdoor environment.
-there is a noticeable cracking and/or clicking sound/feel when holding the laptop from the front on the left or right edges with one hand.
-the backlit on the keyboard is fairly uneven. it's brighter for certain keys than others.
-the fan noise is very annoying. it's on even when I'm not doing anything. it turns on the second I turn the laptop on.
-the vga webcam is one of the worst webcams I have ever used

As for the materials that were used to construct this laptop, both the lid and the entire palmrest is made out of aluminum. The bottom and the screen panel are plastic. If I was to give it an estimate, about 60% of this laptop is made out of aluminum.

Furthermore, If you get the i7 version, the laptop will come with a empty sata bay for any 7mm hard drives.

update: I found out that the cracking noise coming from holding the laptop was from the screws not being tight enough. I can confirm that, after tightening the screws, the noise and cracking feel is no more.

So my final rating for this laptop goes something like this:
screen: 7/10
specs: 8/10
specs for the price: 10/10
built quality and overall design: 8/10
webcam: 4/10
battery: 7/10
touchpad: 7/10
keyboard: 8/10
backlit: 8/10
overall rating (not an avg): 8/10