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

It actually goes to sleep, power LED blinks and everything is fine... but then after about 3 hours of sleeping it wakes up by itself. The event log says it has been waken up by a power button, eventhough the lid was closed. I tried to reinstall chipset and gpu drivers, and still no luck. Any idea on what else or which driver could be responsible for this? I know for sure, that this started to happen recently, as a few months ago, it was sleeping as it should.

Thanks.

 

And you haven't got wake on mouse events enabled (or lan) or anything like that in the bios..?

 

Nope, and this also happens when nothing is plugged in (no mouse, no ethernet cable, nothing).

 

Finally after a total of four screens (one exchange, two RMAs) I've ended up with a servicable screen.

Notes to anyone out there thinking about going through the RMA process for a screen replacement:

Asus replaces the N550JK's screen with a slightly different LG panel from the N550JV. The JK comes with LP156WF4-SP H1, while the JV came with LP156WF4-SP B1. Data sheets will show these displays are very similar, but in person noticed the JV screens to produce a greenish/yellow tint to the overall image. After further investigation I believe the issue is that the replacement screen was not factory calibrated. You can calibrate it by using the intel graphics color management software inside the driver settings.

Replacement Screen Calibration Settings

Red & Green Contrast - 45
Red, Green & Blue Gamma - 1.3
Saturation (Advanced tab) - 15

Doing this will correct the gamma, give a more natural color temperature and help saturate the reds and greens to compensate for the cooler color temperature. While this set up may not be super accurate, it's still night and day compared to how the screen arrives.

Regardless of this, it seems the two panels have differing sRGB coverage according to notebookcheck, so I'm still disappointed they could not provide the JK screen.

On my second RMA (first one had yet another pressure mark and they managed to incorrectly set the hinge - it was terribly uneven) I requested that they replace the screen with the JK model's to which they did not comply. Due to this, I assume they only have JV replacement parts. Overall this last one is better with no obnoxious pressure/bright marks finally. It has a small piece of dust under the screen in the upper left corner and some minor backlight bleed (with a barely visible "light column") but I can live with it.

While Asus service itself was fine in terms of responsiveness, their quality leaves something to be desired. I used to stand behind Asus 100% but this experience has definitely opened my eyes. This machine will likely find itself on ebay once I find something else that fits my needs/budget.

 

Anyone have any idea why the 550JK-DB74T has so many negative reviews compared with the 550DS71T? Amazon lumps the reviews of the 550JK-DS71T and 550JK-DB74T together and while the overall combined reviews are relatively positive (4.0* out of 5) the reviews of the 74T (w/newer 4710 processor, 16GB RAM & 256GB SDD, matte touch screen{?}) are more negative. Are they made somewhere else or use different components? This model apparently was released in mid August 2014 and has had 17 reviews on Amazon. I was interest in it but was hesitating due to the lack of a Blue Ray drive and the many hardware problems noted. To summarize the problems note in the reviews:

8/15 1* DVD drive doesn't shut properly. On 2nd day the screen started flickering different colors.
8/22 4* Only problem was it had been advertised as having Blue Ray R/W drive and was DVD.
8/26 5* None.
9/3 5* Headphone jack a bit loose.
9/5 5* None.
9/7 4* None.
9/9 4* None.
9/10 1* Two day after received the screen went black. Also, the headphone jack didn't work.
9/11 5* 1st day the desktop not opening and it wouldn't type; fixed by reset(?). Poor touchpad buttons. States installed SSD is garbage. If buying recommends replacing installed 256GB SSD w/Samsung EVO 256GB for $130 (much faster and better battery life). Or the Samsung PRO SSD for $200.
9/18 5* None.
9/19 5* None.
9/20 1* Dead on arrival.
9/22 5* Had problems with the installed SSD; replaced with Samsung 840 1T.
9/24 2* Abysmally slow for the hardware. Poor optical drive design and screen hinges.
9/25 2* Screen sometimes shuts off when you tilt it.
9/25 2* Faulty trackpad.
9/29 5* First one had defective screen and unit was replaced.

 

I have the faulty screen on my 71t. But as far as I know everything else is perfect and I can fix the screen issue by just plugging in the LCD flex cable correctly. I'm sure it is loose as when I apply pressure to the left top corner It does not happen.

 

I was reading that while IPS screens have better displays they also have slower response times which can cause ghosting in fast action such as movies and some games and it seems that most gaming laptops don't use them. Has anyone noticed ghosting of images while watching movies or gaming?

 

It really depends by the make and model, and this ghosting shouldn't be an issue with current models unlike the models many years ago.

 

It's generally accepted that IPS panels are superior to TN panels, but it's important to know the strengths and weaknesses of each technology. It mainly depends on what you're looking to use your laptop for.

IPS:
+ Good color reproduction
+ Great viewing angles
- Slow response times, averaging ~14ms
- Relatively more lag
- Many IPS displays suffer from "glow", though it's not really seen on notebooks

TN:
+ Fast response times, averaging 4-5ms
+ Less lag
- Poor viewing angles, unfortunately affects notebook screens to a greater degree
- Colors shift with viewing angles

While I'd say IPS screens reproduce colors better than TN, neither are ideal for professional work. Most notebook displays use 6-bit panels which aren't capable of covering the sRGB space, even with calibrators. Colors in games and movies will pop nicely, but the true strength of IPS on notebooks is the viewing angles, where TN just gets obliterated. If you've looked into the Lenovo Y50 at all, you'll know just how much wrath can be incurred by using a TN panel instead of an IPS. TN panel quality can vary but ultimately most people prefer IPS panels over TN ones on notebooks for this reason alone.

 

Yes, it produces lots of ghost depending on how fast action clips are and especially in games.
No doubt it's one of most beautiful and contrast rich display I've seen yet BUT It's response time is very high even higher than most of ips displays.

 

I haven't really noticed it unless I'm flipping through tiles quickly.

 

I used to keep my old laptop plugged in most of the time and only unplug if I wanted to carry it around the house. Mostly I used it plugged in. And I almost never powered it down because it took so long to boot up. Just closed the screen and left it that way til I wanted to use it again. I might or might not be a coincidence that I had to replace a power adapter and then the battery (Dell M1530). So now I have the n550JK-db74t with the SSD and it boots in a few second. So what is the best thing to do when I'm done using it? Just close the cover, or actually power it down. As for plugged in vs. battery - is it OK to leave it plugged in all of (or most of) the time?

 

This may sound like a strange question. But I've finally gotten around to trying the DVD player that came with my N550jk-db74t. I can't seem to find any software that plays DVDs. Is that possible? How can they have a DVD player in there and no software to use it? What am I missing?

 

There is something called Asus DVD. (Or similar) Microsoft doesn't provide the software anymore (to save money over licenses) so Asus provides it. You can also easily use vlc player to play anything.

 

Windows media player buddy.
But it does come with Asus media player or something of the like.

 

Depends on person, actually I've been using TN panel for years and using IPS is my new experience so I tend to observe the difference very quickly.

Plugging in most of the time or all the time is actually bad for battery. However I noticed that if you fully charge your laptop and then put it to sleep and unplug it then after an hour or so again plug in the charge It would not charge the battery and if you click on Battery icon it would conform saying: "99% available, Pugged in, Not charging.".

So your best bet is, fully charge the battery, unplug the charger and plug in again after an hour or so then it won't charge the battery however if your battery goes below 95% then it will start charging battery again and will be counted as a battery cycle so in that case it's better to use your battery instead. So you can use that trick within 99%-95% of battery level.

And also don't let your laptop battery to go below 20% otherwise it may damage battery because in that level battery might not be able to provide suitable voltages.

ASUS has provided you DVD software. Open "ASUS Installer" and click "Install". ASUS provided software "Cyberlink power to go" which is mainly intended for using DVD's.

 

OK. Thanks for those tips. One more porblem I'm having. I've red that I should be using Asus Backtraker to back up my system. But I can't find it. All the links I've found point me only to Asus support, where I am unable to find baktradcer. Does someone have a good link to it.

 

Here you go for official ASUS N550JK Drivers downloads: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download N550JK
And for ASUS Backtracker direct link: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Apps_for_Win8.1/Backtracker/BackTracker_Win81_64_VER307.zip

also when backing up system image make sure your removable media has at least 15GB, I have backup my image using ASUS backtracker and it taken about 16GB at least.

 

How distracting is the ghosting/tracking? Do you have DVD or Blue Ray and would there be any difference? If I go with this model I was thinking of replacing the DVD drive with a Blue Ray. I like action movies and action games but that would not be my main use. But if it really detracts from enjoying action films or games I'd try to find a laptop with an acceptable non IPS screen. Possibly an HP Envy 15 touch where you can customize the features you want such as Blue Ray, SSD, AC WIFI and 16GB RAM.

 

depends on scenes, If a big object is fast moving, then ghosting won't bother you much but if small objects are moving fast then you will miss sharpness of the scene.

I've plaed battlefield 3 & 4 and I've noticed quite blurriness (ghosting) when moving around.which can strain your eyes in short peroid of time.
(Because in these games you really have to look around really quickly and very oftenly).
So if your main use is Action movies and FPS games, better buy TN panel.

I ain't saying ASUS N550JK is a terrible mechine, I been using it for 2 months and I am really amazed by it's quality and capability.
But it's screen's high response time is really bothersome.

 

Intel Core i7-4700HQ 2.4GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Nvidia Graphics, Windows 8.1
I think this specs are good for gaming.

 

LOL, what webcam, DVDRW, Windows 8.1 and BT has to do with gaming?

Only thing which makes this machine good for gaming is Nvidia GTX 850m and I7-4700HQ and somewhat Intel-WiFi AC adapter.

 

If you had it to do over again is there another laptop you would have gone with? I was thinking of the HP Envy 15 touch but looking further into its reviews it apparently has a very poor quality screen, as well as other issues.

 

HP is no doubt cheating very much in quality and price these days.

Well, in market you really haven't got much choice except for those fat gaming laptops.
But again you have to compromise in the end...

 

HP quality is pure crap nowadays.

 

I am in the UK, Looking for the equivalent in the UK.
All i can find is this which comes out on the 14th of October.

N550JK-CM531H
Asus N550JK-CM531H 15.6-inch Full HD LED Notebook (Intel Core i7-4710HQ 2.50GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Windows 8.1): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Says its back but the pics are not!
Also impossible to find any other information about it anywhere. I mainly want to know if it has 1080p display. As a lot of the ones here have 1366x768 which sucks

 

im inclined to say if its listed on amazon as 1080p, then its 1080p. amazon has a really got policy on accurate descriptions, and are always compensating if they have incorrect information up

 

Have used my new N550JK for several days now and just wanted to comment on the screen. Mine came with a Samsung SDC324C. The colors, brightness, black levels and contrast on this screen are very good. Just a subjective comment for now. I'll calibrate it some time and get a better idea. But really liking it on first impression.

Oh, and I'm new to windows 8.1 but have tried out some of the on screen touch features. They too work very nicely.

 

Hey, we bought that one for my fiancé - although not the Touch version - even though everybody said the screen quality is poor. The viewing angles aren't too good, that's true, but if you're not into going pro with it, like making graphics, etc., it's a really neat notebook, well built, etc. She's really happy with it, even though before she had a rather high-end Satellite x205-sli1. The only thing she's not into is the "Beats" audio system, which falls short compared to Toshiba's Harman Kardon.

 

i'm getting this really weird bug on my boot screen with the asus logo. i see about 4 asus logos in a straight line horizontally and 4 loading circles as it boots up in addition to the normal logo. really weird

 

i had that happen twice! with some weird colored lines.. this all went away and nothing is being weird so i kind of shrugged it off. ive been gaming, playing stuff on netflix and designing in adobe photoshop. nothings off so im not too worried for now.

 

I recently Restored whole Windows using ASUS backtrack. After restore everything worked fine except WEBCAM!!!

Webcam now no longer works, Drivers are working perfectly and for just peace of mind I also tried to check webcam in Ubuntu 14.04LTS and results were same.
When I open camera by any app e.g. Skype,Windows App etc, The status LED lights up just fine solid white but All I can see from webcam is the black screen.

I can't seams to find a fix but it's definately an BIOS related bug. So I advice to all the onwer of N550JK, Do no Restore OS!!!.
If anyone can help me regarding this matter, I would really appreciate that.

 

Guys my touch screen just stopped working out of nowhere :/

 

Check your touchscreen driver status in Device manager>Human Interface Device>HID-Complaint Touch Screen.

 

Its not their and device manager keeps refreshing like crazy

 

I recommend you to do System restore. It seams like driver issue, I think you trid to update drivers from 3rd party software which caused this problem.

 

I recommend you to do System restore. It seams like driver issue, I think you trid to update drivers from 3rd party software which caused this problem.

 

I dont do 3rd party software updates

 

I have been having multiple problems with overheating on this model. I purchased in August. I spoke with Asus yesterday and they have requested I send it back RMA for repair or exchange. I was wondering if maybe my use of it is why it is overheating.

I have 2 24-inch monitors hooked to it through MDP and HDMI. I play games through MDP and have browser on HDMI.

I use Notebook fan control to run at 100% fan.

I have a fan pad underneath it and fan blowing from front to back in front of the pad(because of the problems I have already had).

I have the processor max dialed down to 90%. I have cleaned the fan regularly.

The CPU still overheats regularly. I was just wondering if I was using it in a way that might be taxing that CPU. Like 2 monitors running. Should I switch to 1?

I upgraded the HD to SSD and put in 16g of Corsair memory.

Any thoughts?

 

Reapply thermal paste?

 

I just bought this for $1k from Micro Center. I also bought a samsung 850 pro 256 SSD. I need instruction in layman's terms on what I need to do next if I don't have a copy of the Windows 8.1 core edition lying around, and i want to transfer the OS to the SSD. Is there a step by step explanation somewhere for people with no experience with any of this? I was going to have it done by xoticpc but they were asking for an extra $200 right off the bat. Everything else seemed like a good deal there, but i couldn't rationalize spending an extra $200 for the laptop to have it serviced through them. Although, now i'm thinking i should have.

 

Guys I accidentally wiped my whole hard drive installing ubuntu. How do I download windows over again and reactivate it? There is no key on the back!

 

That reminds me.... I only have the 3D settings options branch, no Display or Video options. I checked System Information in NV CP and it recognizes the 850M, so I don't think it's stuck on the Intel graphics. But something seems to be missing.

EDIT: N/M. I see that it's natual this way.

 

It's maybe burned into the bios. Have you tried just installing windows again?

 

I found an iso torrent and installed the right version of windows. It all workd prett good now.

 

I updated my drivers to the ones you linked to and I don't think I've experienced any dropped keys. It might be a placebo effect, however, but I would like to keep them installed just the same.

Now, the problem is the touchpad. It's still active when I have my mouse plugged in, whereas before the Smart Gestures setting worked to disable it. I guess that's the drawback of using these drivers.

Does anyone know of any other way to disable the touchpad while a mouse is plugged in?

 

There's option. Go to Elan tech driver propertise and there's option to disable internal mouse upon connecting of external mouse.

 

Thanks! I did try looking for some sort of Elan properties before but couldn't find anything like that. I've since reinstalled Smart Gesture and locked out the touchpad for now because I was accidentally erasing entire documents with my palm. I'll try reinstalling those Elan drivers manually when I have some downtime and experiment. Where would I find the option? I don't recall seeing anything like that or being able to find any Elan configurations anywhere. (Devices, drivers, mouse/input properties via CP... Nothing.)

 

It's depending on from where you download elan tech drivers. usually asus provided elan tech drivers don't have any customization option.
Try these drivers: http://www.mediafire.com/download/3xbmjbvuf67zhsv/Elan_touchpad_11.7.8.5.exe

 

ASUS has just released new BIOS update for Embedded Controller.
I've flashed it and it seams to be working well and good.
Just changes I observe is the system overall feels snappier.
I'll update if I observe anything new with this BIOS update.