2014 Asus N550JK -DS71T quick mini review and opinion so far

No difference, just color.

 

I just got it 2 days ago, i didn't open it or disconnected anything. You think i should just return it?

 

The keyboards and track pads are the same except for the backlight color. Keyboard is actually pretty good. The track pad is kinda meh, but I never use those things anyway so I may not be the best judge. Even among crappy tack pads I've seen better. Not a fan of the whole clicky pad thing instead of actual buttons but ymmv. I'd suggest a nice portable mouse. The Microsoft Arc Touch is wonderfully compact. I wouldn't want to use it all day but it's great for an hour here and there when you'd rather not mess with a stupid touch pad.

 

Sounds like a HDD clicking. If you're comfortable with it you can disconnect the HDD and power it up just to be sure. If not, I'd just return it and get another if you still can.

 

Received my N550jk yesterday, first thing I did like with every laptop is disassemble it to pop in my ssd. Although there is no access port it is still fairly simple to replace as there are no stupid locking plastic tabs to break haha.

I did notice that the cooling design of this laptop is terrible... They block the vents with the screen so the fans always have to work harder to force the hot air away plus the dual fans share a heat-pipe. I wish they would have kept the heat pipes separate but I understand they were trying to keep this laptop less expensive.

 

I can only disagree with the statement regarding the cooling.

I've been using this PC to play BioShock Infinite (and also Diablo 3 and League of Legends) and I average 75 degrees. Game settings are of course maxed. The highest temperature I've recorded is 83 C. Furthermore, the fans on this notbook are incredibly efficient (OR the components simply dont heat up as much). Even under load the system runs quietly. In idle it makes no noise and averages in the high 30s. I'm not sure what impact the shared heatpipe has, but I have never used a better (notebook) computer in terms of cooling.

 

I completely agree, the cooling system works flawlessly. If you look closer you'll see that the screen doesn't block the air flow, it just redirects it downward. And the shared heat pipe helps equalize the temps between the cpu and gpu to prevent hot spots.

Sent via Tapatalk because I'm slacking off at work.

 

I know what you mean about a mouse, and if I use it on a table or desk then that's the way to go. Fact is that I most often use my laptop ... on my lap. Sometimes I'm catching up on email or browsing while sitting on the couch watching tv. Might even do a little on it in bed before I go to sleep. For me it is an absolute requirement that the keyboard and trackpad work well. I'm still using Windows 7 but any new laptop I'm considering will come with 8.1. I really don't know how much I'll use the touch features but if I don't get a laptop with a touch screen then I sure as heck want the trackpad to accept touch gestures and interpret them correctly. Does the G550 or N550 meet this requirement or should I be looking elsewhere?

 

Yeah, touch gestures work just fine with the touch pad. I'm just not fond of the design. I like having buttons instead of the clicky pad. Not that it will matter much. If you plan on leaving Windows 8 on the laptop you'll find using the touch screen a lot easier than the touch pad. And the keyboard really is great. I don't have a single complaint about that except maybe it's not as good as my full size mechanical on my desktop. But who would expect it to be?

I've installed Windows 7 on mine so the touch screen is not quite as useful. Touch support had been vastly improved in Windows 8. About the only improvement if you ask me.

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LMHO!

It's easy as pie!
To run game on internal or discrete gpu:
Right click on game shortcut>Run with Graphic processor>Click on which GPU you want to play your game on.

If you want more permanent solution, then:
Go to Nvidia Control Panel>Manage 3D settings>Programs settings Tab>Select your game from drpodown list>Select preferred graphics from below dropdown list>Click on Add button.

That's it!

TouchPad and Numpad are only 2 things which I hate on this NoteBook to be honest.

TouchPad is very sticky and very stiff. They should have made touchpad surface little bit more slippery so that finger could have less strain.
And for the worse, touchpad has very very basic and non-customizable gestures. This touch pad supports gestures for more than just 3 fingers but yet ASUS decided not to make use of it.

Numpad is really made useless in this PC. It's soo cramped that sometimes moving 1 finger at a time becomes a challenge for Excell stuff and using 2 fingers is impossible.
Really bad engineering by ASUS.

 

Hello All,

I am thinking about getting the N550JK-DS71T from Newegg.com but I am concerned about the screen being too glossy. Can anyone tell me how glossy the screen is of this model?

Thank you,

Jan

 

If you use it indoors, there should be no major problem with reflections. It's no MBP, but it's still a pretty bright and vivid display. If you use it in a room with a strong backlight or outside, then at times the reflections can be strong, but it's not a major problem in my opinion. Sometimes it's just a matter of simply changing the angle.

 

The display is gorgeous with not too much glare. I sold my 2012 HP ENVY 17t-3200 to buy the N550JK-DS71T and while I was cleaning files off the HP I was surprised at how awful the screen was and how I had just thought that was normal.

 

Even at SATA I or II, the SSD will still be faster than a hard drive, as well as use less power and be less prone to data loss if it gets bumped while on. There are still many advantages to the SSD, so if the extra cost is worth it to you, do it.

 

SSD in my case, must only be used for OS and applications for now, not for personal and important data.

And If your SSD fail, there will be no chance of getting your data back.

In my opinion, upgrading to SSD in this machine isn't worth it because HDD in it is already fast enough to run tasks smoothly.
SSD is only beneficent for compiling big files or for system start up/shutdown/sleep etc.

 

Is the lack of full gesture support you're talking about just a driver issue? I mean is that something ASUS did? Can I find out who the manufacturer is and go find their own driver and install it in place of the ASUS driver?

 

Here's a list of all the gestures that function with the Windows 7 driver. Not sure if there are additional functions in Windows 8 or not.

 

Synaptics It is! the manufacturer!
If you had luck installing Synaptics drivers, surely tell! .

If you also didn't had any luck either then don't blame me for blaming ASUS for not having full sets of gestures supports.
It's a basic feature which ASUS should have had provided.

It's same in windows 8.1 as well.

Just basic gestures support. they are really missing more 3 fingers gestures and 4 finger gestures.

 

I disagree, as SSDs do not fail as often as you imply here. Good, frequent backups are always important no matter what storage medium you're using. Upgrading the HDD to an SSD is the single biggest improvement you can make to speed up any system, including the ASUS N550JK-DS71T.

 

It's not a Synaptics TouchPad, it's an Elantech. Might try to find generic drivers and see if it has better gesture support. I wouldn't hold my breath though, I'm guessing Synaptics has patents/copyright protection for many of them.

 

Anyone Tried ASUS smart link? Looks really cool and works really well!

remotelink.asus.com

 

Also, Here you go for latest ElanTech TouchPad drivers from ASUS:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download Touchpad

I strongly recommend everyone to download latest drivers because it fixes keyboard missing key stroke problem. But it might break ASUS smart gestures.

 

Guys I will be getting the n550jk variant with the touch screen. Is that one still very in terms of screen quality?

 

its absolutely great. its super bright too. i have it on lowest brightness and its still very bright. anyone else feel the same way?

 

That can be a bad thing lol

 

If its still too bright you can further adjust brightness in Nvidia Control Panel.

 

Could you please explain how?

 

Right click on the desktop -> NVIDIA Control Panel -> Display -> Adjust desktop color settings.
Select With the NVIDIA settings, and then adjust Brightness/Contrast/Gamma to your liking.

 

Thank you very much for your reply Kevin!

I don't see 'Display' in the left-hand pane. Please see the attached screenshot.

 

I see, seems like it opens up options depending by the machine.
Try the driver from laptopvideo2go instead.

 

I did a quick online search and figured out that due to Optimus, I'm meant to make those kinds of changes using the Intel Display Driver. Does that make sense to you? Will downloading the driver from laptop2go make a difference?

 

I have another, unrelated question:

I'm considering upgrading my RAM and am not sure how to best proceed. The way i see it, I have two options:

1. The Cheaper Option

I can buy an additional 8 GB stick of the same make as the one currently installed in the notebook. This costs around 80 euros.

2. The More Expensive Option

I can buy two high-end ram sticks (I'm thinking of Corsair Vengeance). This costs around 150 Euros.

Of course, the ideal option would be to simply add a stick of Corsair Vengeance to the existing ram. However, I heard its a bad idea to mix and match different types of ram. Therefore, I'm wondering if the performance enhancement I would get from two sticks of corsair vengeance is worth the significantly steeper price...?

 

I'd just buy the one stick. I actually tried both and there was almost no discernible difference in speed. Went ahead and put the corsair in my older laptop for a selling point and kept the factory ram (plus the new stick) in my Asus.

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1) Do you really need so much RAM?
2) You can try different brand, but the is always some chance, that you will face issues. You can be lucky and first bought will work flawlessly, but you can have bad luck and will have to try more brands.

 

Thats what I thought. The notebook is already quite snappy as is, so I'm guessing the extra 8 GB will only become noticeable when doing certain tasks...

 

He never said he "needed" more ram. Said he wanted it. And the corsair will work great, it's already been well rested in this laptop.

I'd still only buy one stick. Benchmarks just didn't show any improvement with the faster timings. Not worth the money.

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I do game a lot and I am a pretty heavy multitasker at work. I have noticed that my 8 GB occasionally reaches the brink. That being said, I dont really do things where I need 16 GB e.g. video editing. So i guess, if anything, this should be an endorsement for the cheaper option...

 

You won't notice any difference with 16 gigs over 8 unless you're doing very heavy photo shop/video/CAD work. There just isn't much call for it. My ocd just demands I full the slots. Lol

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much easier way to sub decrease brightness is via Intel Graphics panel.
Go to: Intel Graphics properties>Display>Color.

Anyway, ASUS has out new BIOS update which decreases brightness even more without any tweaks.

 

Guys I'm thinking about getting the MSI gs60 ghost pro instead of the n550jk just because the MSI has a gtx 860m with gddr5 ram. The screen is still best in class too and so is the other hard ware. It also has one of the best key bored in class. And its thin!!!

 

And it ought to be best in class too with the 30% price premium over the N550JK. Looks nice though.

 

Amazing sells it for $1250. It's only $150 more.

 

The MSI GS60 860M is of Kepler core and not the Maxwell core. I have bench against the 860M Kepler and the 850M Maxwell beat it in half of the tests.

There maybe a MSI GS60 with Maxwell (not sure?), but you will be taking a gamble to land one with Maxwell even if that is the case.

 

No way seriously? How can I possibly know which one it is precisely? Exactly why would nvidia make the 860m worse than the 850m especially when the 850m has ddr3

 

Lots of different configurations of each so it's hard to say what price difference are. From the least expensive N550JK I've seen, to the most expensive Ghost the difference is darn near a thousand dollars.

 

Doesn't sound reasonable.

 

i checked the asus updater, all up to date, where else should I be checking?

 

ASUS Live updater is a piece of junk, It doesn't work and neither it shows ANY updates.

You should be checking this: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download N550JK

Here's what ASUS updated by now:
1.Power4Gear Hybrid
2. Instant Key
3. USB Charger
4. BIOS
5. Audio driver
6. Intel Graphics
7. Nvidia Graphics
And Asus also has added a brand new software named "ASUS Back tracer", Which is also available there.
Tho its just a backup/restore utility but nice to have

 

Hi,
I'm deciding between these laptops:
Asus N550JK 15.6" MATT IPS FHD / i5-4200H / GTX 850M 2GB / 8GB RAM (860€
Acer V5-573G 15.6" MATT IPS FHD / i5-4210U / GTX 850M 4GB / 8GB RAM (725€
Lenovo Ideapad Y50-70 15.6" GLARE TN FHD / i5-4200H / GTX 860M 4GB / 8GB RAM (830€
Lenovo Ideapad Y510p 15.6" MATT TN FHD / i5-4200M / GT 755M 2GB / 8GB RAM (700€

I need a laptop for everything (programming, gaming, movies, ...).
Would you recommend the Asus or something else?

 

For me it's either the Asus or the MSI gs60 ghost.