Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

I don't actually know yet if it IS windows media player crashing explorer. It's just a coincidence that both have crashed at least 2 times in the last 24 hours.

 

Interesting. I'm trying to do that, but the "Mark As Active" is always blanked out, on all the partitions! So either they're all active, or they're not activate-able



This is how my partitions look after cloning the HD to an SSD (the SSD is the smaller one, on the bottom, DISK1). As you can see, DISK 0 has all these partitions on it from the factory installation (the OS II partition was the old Win8, which I just formatted). Can I get rid of the 300mb and 900mb partitions on the old HD?

Maybe I'll just remove my old HD and try to install Win8 on the "cleaner" SSD. Or is there a way I can temporary completely "disconnect" my HD temporarily, maybe in the BIOS?

 

I would temporarily disconnect the HDD and upgrade Windows.

If the HDD is in a caddy in the ODD slot, then you should be able to disable it via software. You can find the option in BIOS > Security > I/O Interface Security > SATA ODD Interface. Setting it to lock will disable the HDD.

As for removing the 300mb and 900mb partitions on the HDD, I would caution you not to do that. In case you ever need to reinstall your OS, the only source I know for the OEM version is that disk (booting into recovery). This is by far the worst decision Microsoft made with Win 8, there is no way to get an OEM iso from them.

[Sidenote] Even doing a clean install of Win 8.1 using a Win 8 key is turning out to be quite a challenge: although the upgrade is free for Win 8 owners, the setup will not accept a Win 8 serial key. In my case I would have to use a Win 8.1 key, install the OS, and then change the key to the Win 8 key I already own. It's incredible how MS is essentially inviting people to "borrow" serial keys in a potentially illegal action just to avoid a double install (Win 8 and then upgrade to Win 8.1)

 

There s a goid caddy bay For chance the DVD burner with an SSD/hdd For this n550 ??

Inviato dal mio Galaxy Nexus con Tapatalk

 

OK that worked perfectly! I disabled my HDD, and Win 8.1 worked! Woohoo! Thanks so much!

Now I have two small problems.

#1 : The windows Store app doesnt work. I cant open it, it just closes itself.

#2 : Chrome looks like crap. All the fonts (on the menu bars as well as on web pages) look blurry, like non true-type fonts or something. Everything else is crisp and clear (other programs, IE etc). * SOLVED. WINDOWS 8.1 DPI SCALING ISSUE. PUT BACK AT 100%*

 

Hi!
2 questions for you:

1. Since the upgrade to Windows 8.1, at each startup the virtual keyboard shows up, even if I disable it every time. How to fix this?
2. How to set the multimedia buttons to be linked to any app I want (like MusicBee or Media Player Classic) instead of Windows Movie Player?

 

Hello everyone, I am looking to upgrade to a new laptop and this one is jumping out at me because it is one of the only available Haswell laptops with a good screen still in stock at my local store. I had been considering the Acer V7 as well since it is significantly cheaper but it is out of stock, and my last Acer laptop was a piece of crap with a ton of fan problems that eventually led to constant crashing. For what it is worth my last Asus N61 had a lot of heat problems as well - at first it was just graphical glitches, eventually blue screens, then it was bricked.

Just two questions:

- How long does the battery last while watching HD video from a hard drive? I like to get about 4 hours 30 minutes of battery with this, enough to cover flights to most places in north america. I will be replacing the hard drive with an SSD so I believe that improves battery life as well.

- How well does the laptop fit on an airplane tray table? I currently use a 13.3" laptop that fits quite well.. the old N61Jq Asus did not fit very well but judging from pictures, it had a much fatter form factor than this new one does (much more pronounced wedge shape)

 

I haven't used this laptop on a plane yet, but note this is a decently sized laptop. It is bigger than most 15.6" laptops. Using it in a car or bus can sometimes be a pain, but it is possible. Getting 4.5 hours for watching videos is definitely possible on battery (atleast at lowest brightness).

 

I just messed up my Asus windows activation. Please be careful with win8.1

I was successful update to 8.1 without issue and running for 2 days. Yesterday, I was cleanning up my drive and saw the windows.old and windows.~bt. I proceed to delete those while offline.

little that I know after reboot my laptop, now windows asking me to activate everytime. Calling MSFT, they can't help (they really suck). Calling ASUS, they ask me to register account and try to follow with their process. I'll post more update later.

agghhh

 

Both windows.~bt and windows.old can be removed using the Disk Clean-up utility. Don't know if using it would have prevented the activation issue, but it does present the advantage of removing additional install logs and other files which remain behind after the upgrade. (they are probably needed in case of a rollback to Win8)

The more I hear about the OEM version of Windows, the more convinced I am to recommend buying laptops without an installed OS and getting a System's Builder license. As I mentioned earlier on the thread, besides not having all the downsides, it also comes with a great plus: the license is not tied to the unit, it can be moved to any other computer you own.

 

Agree with decoupling the OEM type of licensing in BIOS. I would strongly suggest to backup the other two folders prior to delete them.

I finally get it to work after some weird maneuvers on my part. ASUS support was giving me conflicting information between two different techs.

However I follow this procedure then somehow my activation is back (beat me no clue how):
1. register your account with https://account.asus.com or https://vip.asus.com
2. register your product
3. Go to Other Support, then you see the Activate WIN8.
4. Click on GO, then copy and pasted the error message within your activation windows (you should view the link provided on ASUS web site to find out where it is.)
5. After that, it works for me.

 

Hello all,

I was wondering about the procedure to upgrade to Windows 8.1 (what drivers should I use etc.)

Thanks

 

i did the update the same day of the release and everything is working great on my machine right now!!

 

You didn't have to update any drivers and such? I heard that Asus had some Windows 8.1 drivers but couldn't find them (I'm actually getting the laptop tomorrow if all goes right)

 

comparison with latest MBP: (top of the line with retina, but lower cpu and nothing else)

Display: 1920x1080 vs 2880x1888
Weight: 5.8+ lbs vs 5.4 lbs (approx. due to larger battery)
Drive: 240evo vs 500 G (SSD vs. flash)
Wifi: 7260ac vs ? probably same due to similar cpu and support for 802.1ac.
Memory 16G on both.
Graphics: 750M DDR3 vs Intel Iris + 750 M GDDR5
Battery life: 5 hours vs 8 hours
Cost: $1299 vs $2599

Just sharing, but I enjoy my Asus so far.

 

New Graphic driver for 750 M version 337.

 

The latest MBP is not even that interesting anymore. If you want too see what 2000-2300$ can get you, take a look at XPS 15 or it's professional counterpart, the Precision M3800.

The N550JV still has tremendous value for money though.

 

For all those who want to know how much power their device is sucking out of the battery you can use BatteryBar.
I'm using this for weeks now and what is shown seems to fit with reality so you can see what impacts your battery drain.

My experiences:
Out of the box with latest drivers on Windows 8.1:
Idle: 10-11 mW
Watching a video from HDD(VLC Player): 13-14 mW
Surfing: 18 mW (Atheros wifi)

I switched my HDD for a SSD(128GB Toshiba Q Series, lowest power consumption I could find and still fast as ) and the ODD for a HDD caddy with the HDD attached. I also changed the WiFi adapter to the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 AC.
Idle: 9-10 mW (less if I'd only use the SSD)
Watching a video from HDD(VLC Player): 11-12 mW
Surfing: 13 mW max. (Go to hell Atheros )

Still I had in mind that the battery drain while idling was once much lower even before the changes of hardware I made.
So yesterday I wanted to watch a video again and went to Airplane Mode but it didn't really change much.
After this I thought that I could disable the ethernet adapter aswell as I'm on battery and have the WiFi if I need Internet connection.

So, this is the result:
Idle: 6-7 mW (!)
Writing a text: 8 mW
Watching video: 10-11 mW

It seems like the drivers for the ethernet adapter never go into power saving mode so it always drains your battery in a unnecessary way.
Also after shutdown and reboot I had to enable and disable it to get the same effect again which is a further indicator for crappy drivers, at least I think so.

Still if it stays that way you could use it for writing etc. for nearly 7 hours which is pretty great for university life which I'm using it for.

If you want to install BatteryBar and tell me if you experience the same
I'm speaking of the FullHD non-touch version in my case, most likely touchscreen ones aswell as HD resolution ones will differ.

 

Nice Morv !

This lap is among the best for battery life when tweaked properly compared to other laptops as powerfull. Especially when you get rid of that Atheros power sucker. It's great to have such power on board and still a better battery life than many so-called ultrabooks.

I tried to disable useless stuff like ethernet, webcam, bluettoth etc... via the bios or device manager and it didn't change power consumption at the wall in my case. Hell, i even deactivate the touchpad.

When i unplug my fans, it shaves almost 1W. So if Notebookfancontrol works anyday and we can turn off the fans for basic stuff/low loads, it might improve the battery life a little.

 

Update the ethernet drivers directly from Realtek.

The new driver has more power options and allows Windows to properly shutdown the device while not in use. I was able to reach 7-8Wh power usage in idle with this driver (no lan cable plugged but without disabling the device).

 

Sounds good, will try this

Ok it definitely lowers the consumption but it still takes more than when it is deactivated, so unless I need to use the ethernet port while on battery I'll leave it deactivated.

Also, how could I check if the one USB port on the left has power on it and deactivate it? I don't need this and might want to deactivate it.

 

Check the Advanced tab in device Properties: there are several power related options there, including Wake On Lan options which might affect standby power and an Auto Disable Gigabit which can be configured to enable while on battery. Other options like Energy Efficient and Green Ethernet sound power related but say little to me without some form of documentation.

To me power consumption appears the same with the device idle/off, but should you choose to keep it disabled you might want to check what happens after system restart. (as you already did on previous driver)

 

On the topic of power savings, don't forget to use the Intel XTU utility to reduce the CPU voltage. I use a -100mV offset. It now idles at .59V instead of .69V. When running at full loads the tweak certainly makes it cooler and less likely to throttle.

 

So as power savings go:
1. Use XTU and undervolt CPU
2. Update to latest divers
3. Upgrade wireless card from Atheros (to Intel 7260?)
3. Windoes 8.1?
4. SSD (just an upgrade that one should do)

And thats all I can think of at the moment, but suggestions are more than welcome. Im getting the touchscreen one today and would like to get about 6 hours with low brightness etc.

 

That's about it, yes. Windows 8.1 not necessary for this as I didn't find any improvements regarding the power consumption but no problem if you want to update it.
Also it hasn't got to be the Intel 7260 AC(there's an n-version, too, watch out if you want the ac one!), you can also take others from Intel. I took that one because it also supports newest WiFi standard and I didn't want to buy another one in some time.
I guess SSD will help you only if you don't switch the HDD with the ODD or it isn't used(HDD can switch off if not used, so if you're mobile only use things from your SSD and you should be fine) and you may take the Toshiba SSD, too. Samsung Evo for example takes around the double while doing something.

 

Okay thanks! Since I'm stripped of money due to the laptop itself, I'll probably get the Intel 7260

 

the 7260ac will make you happy. that what I got.

When i checked mine with everything as @coercitiv, my idle is about 9k-10k mW (ethernet on/off does not make a different). I do have the Samsung 840 evo, intel 7260ac, 16G and the crazy glossy touch screen.

There is not an option so far to disable the touch screen. I did not see it yet.

for Average, the batteryBar app report I would have about 5 to 5-30 hours if i use less and mostly idle. I'll watch more and maybe turn on the trial mode to get the graph posted.

 

Getting your license key of win8.

NOTE: this is for your own, and not to share the license with others as key only work with asus and may revoke)

Use belarc Advisor.

good luck.

 

Turning off is now a bad idea because the new driver and the settings of the advanced tab are doing a very good job.
Got 6.075 mW on idle with activated but not plugged in ethernet, shortly it was even below 6 at 5.9somewhat

So, thanks for the hint!

 

Battery bar with 60% brightness and wifi on then with wifi off and minimum brightness

Battery is not even full and 6,4¨% damaged. I can go up to 11 hours with fans off.

768p screen FTW

 

That is the price you pay for pushing more pixels and on battery the screen does take up a large chunk of power.

 

Naw not really, Samsung Ativ Book 8 lasts around 10 hours in normal use with browsing etc. and it has also 15,6" FullHD, i7 Quadcore and a more powerful GPU(although that doesn't really matter in that case) but it has a 91 Wh battery and costs the same.
So you see if the manufacturers want they can put large enough batteries in these notebooks.
But sadly Asus didn't seem to want to put in such a battery.

Still the battery life seems ok to me now with the tweaking etc., 5-6 hours are enough for me.
If Asus would have put a 91 Wh battery in the N550JV we had the same battery life.

And sure you're right anyway. The hardware needs more power and if the manufacturers don't upgrade the battery capacity we get poor runtime. But that's what the manufactures should take care of, especially for expensive models.

 

In other words this is the price we pay for Asus insisting to keep the optical drive: we loose some autonomy and chassis ruggedness but win a bit on flexibility, especially for those using it as a desktop replacement unit.

 

Soo... So far I have done:
2. I tried to update Intel HD 4600 drivers, but the version on the site seems older than the one installed with Windows 8.1 upgrade. I however installed Realtek ones for the ethernet card.
3. I've uninstalled Qualcomm Atheros drivers from device manager and from programs, and installed "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Bluetooth Software for Windows 8.1*" from here. However in device manager page there was no clue that the new drivers were installed, and clicking on "update drivers" it downloaded again Qualcomm's ones.

This said, the consumption is still around 11-15mW, and the battery life isn't apparently improved (it says 2h50m at 73%).
What should I do, especially concerning wireless card?

P.s.: I'm downloading XTU, although I don't know how to properly use it. And I have a SSD, but I still have to do the exchange with the HDD (I will do it someday)

 

1. Your linked HD 4600 driver is 5 months old, you've been searching wrong. This is the newest: http://https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23323&lang=deu

2. Installing Intel drivers doesn't magically convert your Atheros WiFi card into a Intel WiFi card You need to buy a Intel WiFi card and swap them.

 

1. Oh, I wonder why Google redirected me on the wrong page... I am now downloading the correct drivers, although the installed one aren't so old.
2. I feel so stupid right now. I've searched where it was stated that the wifi card had something Intel for minutes... LOL

Thanks!!

 

Why is it every time I try to install this driver, it says "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer. Please obtain the appropriate driver" ????

 

Because you're behaving in a logical manner, and we can have none of that here!

Uninstall current driver, then install the new one. Most likely the driver you already have on your system is "signed" by the OEM and the new one is generic, so the installer refuses to go along for fear you might loose some customizations made by the OEM.

Updating a generic driver with a newer one will not require any more uninstalls.

 

Upgrading to Windows 8.1 seemed to have caused an OEM driver to be installed, too.
I definitely had the previous current driver directly from Intel but yesterday when I wanted to update the driver it told me the same so my guess is that Windows 8.1 has updated the Intel HD driver itself somehow.

Just so you know about it, not that you think you're crazy if you experience the same with the same conditions

 

Anyone know how to change which program the keyboard shortcuts link to?

In Windows 8 the Calculator shortcut (Fn + Numpad Enter) opened up the desktop calculator app, but since installing Windows 8.1 it's been opening the Metro app, anyone know how to change it?

 

Mine still opens the regular calculator application even after updating to 8.1

 

Hi, I've been leaning heavily towards getting the N550JV to replace my current laptop, and I had a few questions about the actual specs of the N550JV (there seem to be a slew of "specs" from different sellers/review sites, and the early posts seem to indicate this is mainly ASUS' fault):

1. What is the actual weight? The primary "review" by c_man (post 1) says 2.7 kg (bit under 6 Lb). Is this for the touch version (laptop+battery only)? I've seen a few sites use 2.52 kg (~5.5 Lb) and some use 2.7 kg almost interchangeably between the touch and non-touch variants.

2. How does the battery life between touch/non-touch versions compare?

3. Does it come with the Mini Display to VGA connector, or is this a seller specific inclusion/bad info? Pro-star lists this as a standard accessory, but I didn't see it anywhere else (then again, many places also don't list the included min-sub).

4. How is the build quality of the power port/ports in general? Main reason I ask is because my current laptop's power port was terrible to begin with, and has only gotten worse with age (it's at the point where it will only make contact at this really awkward angle and any planetary alignment change/butterfly flap will disconnect the brick from my laptop).

 

Just checked my N550JV-CM236H with touch and Samsung EVO 840 250Gb instead of HDD. It was 2.552 kg.

Tormod

 

1. Non-touch version with 5400rpm hdd and 8gb of ram: 2.4kg + 0.5kg of feeder.
2. Reading here it seems it doesn't change much, it's always around 4h of normal usage, 5h on idle.
4. They seems solid.

 

I've just completed installing all the updates on my brand new N550JV, but after installing Windows 8.1 my touchscreen has stopped working, there are no 'Pen or touch' options in the settings menus, and I can find no touchscreen drivers on the Asus website - anyone got any suggestions for getting my touch screen up and running again? Cheers

 

I cant disable secure boot, the option is greyed out. Is there any way to reset the uefi and disable secure boot?

 

Have you had a look at the advanced restart options in windows 8?

 

No, I'm using ubuntu. I disabled secure boot for it to boot, after installing it with the correct nvidia drivers I enabled secure boot again so that windows 8.1 doesn't complain about it.. Ubuntu still works but I can't disable secure boot. Will have a look at windows options.

Edit: Still grayed out.

 

lol i don't even have that Secure Boot option in BIOS sigh.

 

You could try doing a CMOS reset.