Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

I've had something similar happen, but only once. I cannot speculate on the cause though. Could you briefly explain what keys do not work, when does this happen (any trigger action?), and how long the issue lasts? Does it go away on it's own?

 

I think in my case, it happens whenever I wake mine up from the sleep mode. This latest time it happened, though, it lasted about 5 minutes, where keys like spacebar, n, b, z, and I think caps lock too didn't really register my keystroke. I had to spam hitting on that same key about a dozen times before one even showed up on my screen. And yes, about 5 minutes later, it somewhat slowly fixed itself ie. keys became a little more responsive, and showed more outputs on the screen, but still wouldn't register every keystroke. Eventually it was gone.

 

Hmm, it seems the problem is almost identical, both in behavior and keys affected. Next time it happens please test Spacebar and main Enter key (the numpad Enter should work though). This is really strange.

 

I think the spacebar bug happened to me twice already. Apparently, the capacitor that register the keystroke seems to be on either ends of the button, and not in the middle.

 

I also have a loud hissing sound when using my headphones, did you every solve this problem? I've tried messing with all the audio controls and nothing happens same old loud hissing sound

 

Can someone tell me how I can install MaxxAudio again?
I am using the driver provided by Asus but MaxxAudio isn't installed with it although it is present in the extracted drivers file aswell as in the installation file in programs.

 

Hey Morv, try reinstalling but 1.delete the contents of the config folder after you unzip the installation files. 2. Also delete the same file from c:\windows\system32\Drivers. Not too sure about the latter actually. But 1. worked for me..
* File in question is "rtkhdaud.dat". Delete from both locations prior to reinstallation.

 

Thanks, that helped, now it's installed and working

 

Hello, does anybody experience any problem with the wifi connection?
also, i've 750GB 7200 HHD version and yet the booting time is more than 2 minutes, is that normal?
Thank you

 

Glad it helped

 

The inferior support options for this computer is a real negative.
Not much in the way of a user guide provided in the box (no info on the BIOS, for instance).
Does ASUS even have a users' support forum?

 

Hey everyone, what Power Plan do you use? For day to day use?

 

Bought this laptop a week ago and is having some startup problems. Sometimes laptop is stuck on Windows loading screen, sometimes it becomes unresponsive when it boots to desktop, I could move the mouse cursor but cannot click open anything, nor task manager opens up. I have to force restart is several times to get it to normal working. This problem happens only few times, rest the laptop works perfect and is very powerful. I think clean re installing of Windows 8 will help ? As I don't think it could be anything hardware related. Someone here had similar problem ? Or could help me ?

 

I did not see a post with similar problem, but would suggest to patch all drivers to latest, and update your win8 first prior to do fresh install. (crazy 970 posts to read )

Ofcourse fresh install may always help cause you control what put in there, but time is long.

 

hmm... I think that corroborates my theory... 2.6Kg is for the touchscreen version. 2.35Kg for the non-touchscreen.

 

Everything except the sub-woofer is working on Ubuntu 13.10 Final Beta with UEFI Secure Boot. It took a lot of reading and configuring, but the information is out there. Before the final Beta, there were some issues, but those seem to be long gone.

I must say that this Asus N550JV (non-touch) with the Samsung EVO is incredibly fast! Steam games are incredibly fast and with Bumblebee (!), graphics are really great at full res and high settings. Touchpad blows because its over sensitive and has integrated buttons that are always active.

I returned the Clevo for this. So glad I did!

Hope that helps! BH Photo still has the non-touch in stock.

 

Interesting to hear (no pun) you complain about the sound quality on this N550JV. I have the opposite reaction and find them to be awesome. Even without the subwoofer (not working yet in Ubuntu). I did notice differences in sound quality with different media. YouTube didn't really sound as good as Google Play Music where I have 320kbp MP3. Playing games in Steam (Ubuntu 13.10 final beta) is really good. No rattles or any other peculiar noise.

White noise with a headset on is a little strange. But that goes away once sound is applied to them.

 

Big help with your write-up. Thank you!

UEFI enabled after installing with secure boot off works great. Just go back into BIOS and Launch from UEFI Ubuntu 13.10 Final Beta.

For the subwoofer, it looks like we have to wait for the maintainer to update the alsa code. https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

 

Do you have any specific URL for reading prior to install Ubuntu? Is it similar to the Fedora instruction?

I plan to get Ubuntu dual boot with Win8 after I backup and finish setting up on Win8 with upgraded hardware.

tks.

 

Hi,
I'm currently under BIOS 206, and thinking about upgrading to 207... Since I don't have any issue at this very moment, should I do the upgrade? Is it worth it? Does it change something in practice?

By the way, I have noticed a strange noise (like a soft "click") when the notebook is on idle... It could be the hdd, but I don't understand why... Does it happen to you, too?

 

I have these clicks, too.
Which HDD is built in your notebook?

Upgrading to BIOS 207 didn't change anything for me(fan speed etc...).

 

699GB Hitachi HGST HTS541075A9E680 (SATA)

If it doesn't change anything I think I will remain with my "old" 206, thank you!

 

I've also got a HGST but the 1 TB version.
So I guess it's normal for these and not a faulty HDD.

 

After looking at a lot of options the past few weeks I think I've settled on the Asus N550JV as my next PC. The DDR3 instead of GDDR5 is kind of a bummer, but the only high end game I really want to play is Civ 5, so I'm not too worried. I'm looking at Gentech as a reseller since they offer a military discount in addition to the cash discount and a have pretty good prices for SSD upgrades (planning on 750GB Samsung 840 EVO, the upgrade costs less than the bare drive at the moment), as well as 802.11ac. I'd probably spring for more ram and an IC Diamond repaste too. The price for the ram looks similar to other 16GB kits and I'm not confident about my pasting skills with something conductive.

I'm a little concerned about the constantly running fans though. I've heard they're quiet, which is great (that's what killed all the Clevos I looked at and the Gigabyte P34G) - but how much dust do they pull in? Is it a weekly cleaning situation, or more like a monthly or bi-monthly? I also feel like Torx screws are just asking to be stripped, even with the exact bit, so fewer cleanings = better.

EDIT: I'm kind of wavering from Gentech now after getting an email back from them in broken English that didn't seem to really grasp my question. Does anyone recommend another reseller over them? I see ProStar has the N550 with the same options for less and Xotic has it for around the same price with a lower end SSD.

 

If you're planning to buy the N550 from Xotic, you should know that they just received (and ran out) of their most recent shipment of the DB72T. They have an ETA of 4-6 weeks for their next shipment. I believe they're hoping for the DB71 in the next 2-3 weeks.

 

Why are resellers having such trouble getting inventory?
Is Asus pulling the plug on the model for some reason?

 

You may want to check Amazon if you can put thing together. My laptop and upgrades will arrive tomorrow.

Also there is computer King from there or on eBay has the same setup.

I go with Amazon.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

I did a fresh windows install after installing the ssd, after which it has taken 2.5 minutes to connect to my wireless network upon boot... it may have taken that long before too but I didn't pay attention much. also my connection seems to drop once and a while despite having the a great router. will this intel ac 7260 wifi card clear up those issues?

 

The reason the fans are quiet also guarantees a lower dust buildup - they run at low rpm. I'm not sure why one would need to open a unit in order to clean accumulated dust in the radiator area - there is a simple, safe, and very effective way to do this: use a vacuum cleaner. It sucks air through the vent, spins the fan the same way electricity would, and cleans most dust in seconds.

 

The keyboard bug is back, and this time it lasted more than 10 minutes and several machine restarts. I even uninstalled every Asus software i could - InstantKey, ATK Package - but that did not have any effect.

Keys affected were Z, N, Space, main Enter. I'm baffled and a bit worried this can happen at random occasions, without warning. If this happens to only a handful of people it might still be hardware related.

 

My n550jv EC has just gone haywire. Fans at full speed and no battery information (yet it was on battery power) . Wouldn't shutdown had to press power for like 30 seconds to have the light bulb symbol led turn off. Has anybody had this issue? I'm on bios 207.

It seems fine now, but time will tell.

Edit: It happened again!

 

Ok i'm stayin on 206

 

I'm interested to know about this. my order arrive soon within hours. I don't want to go to 207 if i don't have too.

Edited: yes I can download 206 instead of 207.

 

I had a similar thing, but I was plugged in and I believe on bios 206. I was trying to boot into a USB Linux installation and when it first started, my fans ran at full power and the screen started to flicker. Holding the power button for a long time and booting it back up again did not have the same issue, and I haven't seen it since.

 

Hmm since I do use linux, quite often even, it might have something to do with it. Maybe it pokes something on the smbus or similar and it takes off.

Btw: only the audio is crappy under linux (white noise on headphone out, haven't tested the speakers) the rest works fine even the optimus thingy.

 

I've updated all my drivers to the newest version including the bios and still have the keyboard problem. What I've noticed is that this seems to occur only when I resume or boot the computer on battery.

 

I was under the impression that using vacuum cleaner on the vent isn't as safe or as effective as opening the laptop and using compressed air. I'm sure it also depends on the type of vacuum cleaner, but I've never tried it.

With that said, I can't imagine ever needing to go through weekly or biweekly cleaning. I clean my current laptop (which always has fans running) every few months and that has worked fine.

 

I think this has been asked a couple times now, but any progress on being able to control the fan speeds? I feel my fan is running too fast even though there is no load on the PC

 

Has anyone got the final version of Windows 8.1 working on this thing? Any comments/problems?

 

I am playing civ v (original, no gnk expansion) on this laptop ATM. I have had to set CPU to Max 99%, vsync on and all in game graphics setting to low to stop it getting too hot.
With these settings my graphics temp goes to 80 degrees and cpu temp goes to 70 degrees before it feels the need to reduce heat.
The good thing with these settings is that the CPU doesn't throttle back to 800mhz, at most it drops 200mhz while playing.
Hope this helps with your decision. I have heard that civ v is resource hungry due to poor coding and this has been addressed in gnk expansion - be interested to hear from anyone who can confirm or deny from first hand experience.

 

Yes, doesn't matter which guilds you follow for linux distros. Might be different here and there... Shouldn't be too bad.

A member here posted this link that was very helpful: Nyblnet Labs: Running Linux on ASUS N550JV - Fedora 19

I'm really impressed with the performance. I didn't think I could replace my desktop with a laptop, but with this, I've managed to do so once I figured out how to get all the devices plugged in and out of the way. I'm using a Plugable 7 port USB 3.0 powered hub and it seems to do the trick.

Keep in mind you can't boot from an external device or DVD/CD/USB Flash with the UEFI in Secure Boot.

 

@roblopes: thanks. I'll try it after few weeks to ensure a stable system.

Here is a good reading on configuring SSD to optimizing for Windows vs HD:
How to Maximize the Life of Your SSD.

How to Migrate to a Solid-State Drive Without Reinstalling Windows

From my Samsung 840 Evo, it also recommends to turn off the following (giving you have more than enough memory: Hibernation, virtual memory/paging, Prefectch).

Loving how fast this thing fly.

 

Depends on how you measure effectiveness. For me doing 80% of the job with 20% of the effort sounds pretty effective.

 

Folks,

I apologise if this question has been asked before, but what HDD caddy would replace the DVD drive in this? Is there any specific model I should be looking at or would a generic 9.5mm fit? Also, can the aluminium bracket that is the DVD cover be removed from the DVD tray and fitted onto the caddy? I'm new to this so would really appreciate some help. Many thanks!
Bob

 

I have no idea why you are quoting me
I already own this notebook for 2 months and responded to another one who asked for clicks of the HDD.

Beside that I wouldn't force myself to play on low only because the notebook is throttling.
I'm playing Civ 5 with GnK expansion on High in 1366x768 resolution with disabled throttling and my CPU temperature got max. 84°C while playing.
If you want to play on low you could have aswell bought a notebook with HD4600 oder another IGP.
If not, get ThrottleStop or ThrotteToggle and use your notebook at max. performance.

Edit: Ok, now I see you wanted to quote the post below mine The "Reply With Quote" button is always below the post you want to quote

 

Thanks for the info guys.

Can anyone provide some more details on idle fan noise? I've seen Youtube videos where a meter reports 40dB (pretty loud for idle) and then users/reviews mentioning 35dB or lower. Decibels aside, what would you compare the actual noise to? Barely audible wind? Someone blowing out candles? A car air conditioner on low/med/high? Etc.

 

Just a whisper. You can hear it only in a very quiet environment.
With android app "sound meter" I measure 35dB next to the fan, 30dB at user distance from the notebook (completely mixed with environment sounds). At this moment I have to concentrate in order to hear it, and there isn't any particular noise which silences the fan's one.

 

That's reassuring, thanks a lot.

 

@ Morv
yes was replying to the post below yours from Nemt but thanks for the info. Did you notice any improvement going from vanilla to gnk in terms of performance?

@Nemt
most people have commented that the fans are quiet, I find them to be acceptable even under full load. BTW my screen is 1080P

 

I can't tell, started with the Gold Edition with both the main game and GnK and some DLCs just some days ago.
Still, I can't complain about performance though I'll see if it runs well on at least 1600x900 resolution because 1366x768 is a bit small for that game. I've played an 8 hour long game with a buddy lately and didn't find anything to be annoying(fps or other things) beside that.