Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

Plexabit: Thanks for responding about the sharp edges.
The sharp edges are not a real big deal. Asus ought to put in a manufacturing step to sand them down or something. Just wanted to know if I didn't reassemble correctly. I'm putting in a new Blu-ray read/write drive and will pay more attention to this when reassembling. The tiny screws are a real pain.

 

Has the static noise been fixed by the realtek drivers update yet in headphones and speakers? I am looking to return my inspiron 15 7537 for this laptop because it has the same static/white noise issue through headphones....any other problems with this laptop? Does the matte screen affect screen quality versus glossy? Is the wifi good? Thanks in advance.

 

I realize this is a media laptop but I took a chance and installed battlefield 4 on it, ad after several hours with tech support at origin, they told me the laptop does not meet the minimum requirements due to weak graphics card. A bummer!

 

I call Bull. It should have enough power to run it, even if it's only on medium or low.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

And I agree! Battlefield 4 Benchmarked - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

You call bull ? I spent many hours trying to get it to launch and after 3 different Origin techs, I was told that the laptop did not meet the minimum requirements due to the graphics card, and they actually refunded my money.


Just looked at the benchmark info, and it seems as if it should run in medium settings. I may give it another try.
Has anyone who owns this laptop been able to get battlefield 4 to run?

 

Guys, I've got a problem. While I was on steam and running CSGO, it suddenly black screened and the laptop powered off like the power button light went off. I turned the laptop back on and suddenly all my games became slower, could it be GPU malfunctioning? Temps never reach 80C

 

Lol this is total bull****. I've played the whole campaign on this machine and some MP sessions. You can play on Medium and 1366x768 the best so far, High is too much but you could still tweak Medium a bit yourself.
I guess you simply haven't updated the graphics drivers because that very old preinstalled one doesn't run anything new for sure...

And such people are allowed to call themselves "Tech Support". Pfff.

The static noise has been fixed with the latest audio driver, yes. Other problems are keyboard issues due to heat on the data cable which can occur or not, the fans are never stopping to run but there is free program that takes care of this. The matte screen is perfect, it's bright, it has nice colors, big viewing angles. The wifi card is not the best but it does it's job. I for myself have switched to an Intel 7260 AC because I could get it cheap and it's faster. Ah yea, if you plan to play on this thing you most likely will take notice of CPU throttling which can be handled by adjusting the max. core multiplier in Intel Extreme Tuning Utility or the simpler way, download my program ThrottleToggle and disable throttling. The program ThrottleStop does the same but it didn't support the CPU of this notebook so I wrote a program myself but you can use that one as well now.

 

i need to know about the batter , cause its not removable so it will decrease its life cause if u plug ur laptop with fully charged battery , it will decrease lifetime , and for example i will put in my mind it is smart battery and will automaticlly disconnected after recharged , i saw many reviews and temp is around 80 Degree , and that for sure will decrease the life time of Li Battery
i need some one answer me guys because i thinking to buy it , please
thanks..

 

Hi, A new user here.

I acquired the ASUS N550JV in November this year, upgraded to Windows 8.1 but have never been able to get The Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth to work.
1. I uninstalled the drivers (ticking "Delete the driver software for this device") and then downloaded V8.0.1.306 of the Qualcomm drivers from the ASUS website (after specifying my serial number and OS)
2. Attempted to install it using Bluetooth_Suite_64 Executable then I rebooted my machine.
3. While I do get the Bluetooth Icon appearing in my system tray. If right click on the icon and try to "Add a bluetooth Device", I first get the "Cog" screen, then either a perpetual white screen or I just end up at the "PC settings" screen.
4. If I go in to Device manager, and attempt to "Update device driver", all I get is "Windows has determined that your device driver is up to date."
5. Did notice If I view the properties on the device (Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 HS) , it's location is stated as being "Port_#0005.Hub_#0003", is that correct?
Also, there are two other devices called "Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator" and "Microsoft Bluetooth LE Enumerator" with both their location as "on Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 + HS"

Never used Bluetooth while the Laptop was still running windows 8, so can't comment whether or not it was working in that version of Windows.
Can anyone advise where I should proceed from here to get Bluetooth to work on this machine? Many thanks.

 

I have my N550JV since August and from the beginning I had a battery wear of around 3,5%. I don't know if it's not calibrated or if this is normal but it doesn't really matter anyways. So now, 4 months later, I'm at a battery wear of 3,9%. The battery isn't charged until some specific loss is reached. If you leave the AC plugged in the notebook the battery will lose some capacity over time, so it's good it doesn't load at 99,9% already.
I just tested when it begins to load the battery again and this is at 94% or so(it said 93,5% when I last plugged in and it didn't load at 94,5%). 90% would be better if you ask me but it's better than nothing.
Also, the 80°C you've read were surely not refering to the temperature of the battery but of the CPU und GPU. Though it doesn't really matter because, if you look on the opened notebook onto the keyboard as if you'd use it, the CPU and GPU are at the top of the notebook, blowing the hot air out at the top in front of the screen and the battery is all the way down below the touchpad away from the heat sources. I therefore doubt the heat of CPU and GPU will really affect the battery life in this case.

The PC settings screen is the correct one for Windows 8(.1). If it doesn't automatically bring you there, you need to go from the "PC settings" screen to "PC & devices" and then to "Bluetooth". There you can link with your bluetooth devices.

 

Just bought an n550jv-db72t and upgraded to 8.1, also updated BT driver to resolve the shutdown issue. Next I tried to move to SSD and per instructions somewhere in this thread I used Easeus Disk Clone and selected to copy the "C:" partition as I did not want to copy over all the other partitions. I also created a recovery USB from Easeus so as to reboot to it an make the new SSD bootable but this is where I'm stuck. I've not been able to make the Asus boot off the USB, I changed the boot order in UEFI to first boot off of the US (which does show up as an option) but for some reason when restarting after save it always boots to the HDD.
Two questions:
1. Is there a set-by-step guide to migrate 8.1 to SSD with freeware that does not involve cloning the entire disk?
2. If Easeus is the only freeware, how do I boot to its recovery s/w on the USB flash drive? or is there a better way to load bootloader onto the SSD?

Thanks.

 

Hi Morv,

Many thanks for your reply.

Have tried going in to "PC & Devices" from that screen then Clicked on "Bluetooth" (left hand menu) and the interface just perpetually froze (Not responding).
Any other ideas? Seems the Wifi Networking works perfectly though (which I understand is off the same circuit / Device?)
Cheers.

 

Sorry, I can't help you further than this with the Atheros chip, I switched to an Intel AC 7260 together with Windows 8.1. As for the Intel card I haven't got any issue like a freeze in that screen.

 

Hi, you need to copy all patitions, at least every one before the OS partition as that contains the UEFI boot files. Otherwise you will encounter all sorts of problems.


To boot from USB, you need to disable secure boot in bios.

 

I recommend you uninstall the card (and software) from the device manager then reinstall the lastest driver from ASUS website.

 

Hi Morv,

I have also ordered an Intel AC 7260 and I am waiting for it to be shipped. I am worried about the capabilities of the current antennas for the Atheros card, are they capable of 5 Ghz band and the card will work properly on 5Ghz?

Thank you!

 

Hi, do you mind letting me know which program that you are talking about? The fan never stops even the computer is ICE cool which is fairly annoying.

 

Sorry, I don't know, my router also serves 2,4 GHz but there might be 5 Ghz ones in the university and there it worked without flaws.

[Vorstellung] NoteBook FanControl (NBFC) - ComputerBase Forum

The problem, with threads like this one, is that the thread starter almost every time doesn't update his post with general informations appearing throughout the thread. Sadly. So people come up and ask the same over and over again. Not your fault though.
I've added a link of the program in my signature so maybe it can be seen easier.

 

You wont need to worry about the antennas. We have upgraded many N550 to the AC 7260 and use the same antennas that are already installed. The card will work on 5Ghz as long as the router is 5Ghz.

 

Thanks, it works like a treat.

Regarding the repeated questions, does this forum have a WIKI function, like XDA, I am very happy to contribute.

 

Thanks. Ended up cloning the disk with Easeus, there was no option to selectively copy certain partitions. Now I have at least 2-3 unneeded partitions on the SSD, especially the Data partition - I'd rather just have everything in one contiguous usable space. Eventually I might just delete the 20GB Recovery partition and expand out the Data one to get the 20GB back. Other than data there was one more partition that did not look like it was part of typical windows install but I could not find out what it had.

 

Just upgraded mine to AC7260 and the funny thing is that I get about 120Mbps on 802.11n/2.4GHz and only about 25Mbps on 802.11n/5GHz. I don't have an AC router so I have no idea what throughput you would get on that. I don't have any interference on the 5GHz channels, so I do have to wonder if the antenna on the Asus chassis is not tuned for that frequency. BTW, I do get about 120Mbps on another computer on the 5GHz band connecting to the same router.

 

Is that other computer also equipped with an AC7260?

 

I'll be getting one of these next week. I've had trouble deciding between this and the Samsung Ativ Book 8, but the samsung was more expensive and ugly than this one

 

Don't forget that samsung uses third gen chip.

 

Hi Guys,

I have compiled a guide on how to upgrade to SSD and clean install windows 8.1. See what you think. Please post any questions and I'll update the guide as long as I have the laptop. I will compile a FAQ one as well so we don't have to fish through all 100 pages for some information.

SSD upgrade and Clean Installation of Windows 8.1

 

Now the FAQ post is live, please let me know any questions that you want me include.


ASUS N550JV Entertainment Laptop Frequently Asked Questions

 

Yeah, but there is very little difference between the 2. There's more difference between the graphics card, plus the samsung battery life is huge. I just don't think it's worth it for the price. I don't know why Asus doesn't put better batteries in their laptops

 

I know the performance is similar but can't help feeling that samsung just being lazy or trying to off load lots old chips.

Regarding the Asus's battery, I think it's the space. Personally I would prefer a larger battery over blu ray drive.

 

How is the new 12-27 BIOS handling? Any surprise throttles?

 

Try swapping the white and black wires.
Someone has reported a huge improvement with the atheros.

 

I'm generally enjoying this laptop very much, but I'm having a major issue with the System and System Interrupts taking up a constant 10-17% of the CPU even when the system is completely idle.

LatencyMon reports that ACPI.sys is generating ~51000 DPC/s and ~17000 ISR/s when on Balanced or High Performance power settings. When on Power Saver, ACPI.sys generates ~16000 DPC/s and ~5000 ISR/s. No other processes are generating interrupts anywhere near these numbers. I've attached View attachment latencymon report.txt for more details. I've tried to collect more information with xperf does it does not seem to provide any useful clues.

System Explorer shows a continual 9% CPU spent on interrupts and 6% CPU spent on System threads (the vast majority of which is consumed by the ACPI.sys thread).

I have tried the following:
- Installing BIOS versions 206, 207, 208 (currently running 208)
- Uninstalling, reinstalling, and/or updating graphics (nVidia + Intel), chipset, wireless, and other drivers
- Uninstalling and reinstalling ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid and ASUS USB Charger Plus software
- Booting into Safe Mode
- Disabling the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery device
- Disconnecting USB devices
- Disconnecting the power cable
- Disabling HID-compliant touch screen device

None of these have had any effect on the issue.

The system is the Asus N550JV-DB72T modified with a HDD caddy (containing the original HDD) in the optical drive and a Samsung 840 Pro in the main HDD slot.

If anyone have any help or suggestions they might be able to provide, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks in advance

 

Had the same, turned out it was the HDD caddy. Bough another, more expensive one from hddcaddy.com that is labeled as tested for this model and it works without problems.
Just swap hdd caddy and odd again for testing and see if the CPU load is gone. If so, you've got the origin.

 

Read here.

 

Wonderful! With the old optical drive the issue is gone entirely. Following fabri2's link, I dismantled the HDD caddy, and interestingly enough pins 4,5 and 6 for the SATA slimline power connector were all soldered together (though it looks like the solder to pin 4 may be a factory defect). In any case, I don't have the soldering ability to perform the modifications described in the Sony S15 ODD thread, so I'll be taking your recommendation and purchasing the hddcaddy.com model.

Thank you so much for your help (the both of you)! I'll report back as soon as I can to say if the new caddy gives a permanent solution for these problems.

 

Before you try any surgical procedures, you might want to have a look if your case have any switches in the back. Most good quality ones should be able to switch mode to match different laptops.

 

How did you get on with the sleeve? I'm on the hunt for one also for this laptop.

 

Hello all,

I always used to format and install a fresh copy of OS. I did the same with my new Asus 550JV Later I came to know some drives does,t work with this method.

I cant return back to previous stage as I format my HDD with Diskpart method. Now How can I redo the same with new OS windows 8.1?

Now I have only one Partition. Also I cant enable fastboot and Secure boot on Bios as I do not have recovery partition.
Some one Help me return back to my previous stage!!! Please!!!

 

Just search for 15.6" sleeves...? I don't think there is any special sleeve for this notebook as there is no reason to do so. It's a standard size thus every sleeve for this size should fit. Also it's not a Macbook where you use standard things, put "for Macbook" in the name and add 30$ extra

You need a Windows 8(.1) disk. Search for a untouched ISO and get it, can't give you links though as there is no public download, or ask some friend if he has a Windows 8 disk.
Also, you should have noticed that there is no Windows 8 DVD in the package and that the recovery partition, which you deleted, is there for this instead. Think before you're doing such things and if you don't know what you're doing then don't do it unless you know how to fix it. Or maybe ask before doing it...
Still, your recovery partition is gone as you repartitioned the HDD and I can't imagine getting that back. Also you'd need a working Windows 8 system to do the recovery which you don't have either.

 

I appreciate the way you helped! Thank you

 

Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Help

You can now grab the ISO if you have an upgrade key from microsoft.

 

You can try a clean install by following my guide

ASUS N550JV Entertainment Laptop SSD upgrade and Clean Installation of Windows 8.1

 

You will need a retail key if you want to download an ISO from Microsoft. I cannot understand why they are doing this.The OEM keys are legit as well.

 

For your information; I have installed Windows 8.1(NTFS) but quick view button doesnt work and Some softwares like Power4Grid, USB chargers plus have problem in installing. I didn't complete reading the guide which you have shared. Thanks for sharing and I will come back after reading the completely


Amazing Guide :thumbsup:
Edit: I will try Rufus tool for burning ISO

 

It is a bit odd as they have freely distributed them before.

A retail upgrade key would need to be found to download it.

 

Hey guys. Just throwing a question out there..
I am a seaman and going to be docking in Houston TX in about one month. Do any of you know of any stores aside from Best Buy that have a local outlet from which I could buy this. Since I'm coming in on a ship I won't have an address to have it delivered to so an in-store pickup is really the only option for me. I would have no problem going to Best Buy but from what I've read here and see on their website they have been sold out for some time now with no prospects of restocking this product. I haven't made contact with a Best Buy sales rep though because I cannot find the info on how to do that on their website.
Do any of you have any info if they will get it back soon at least? I really want this lappy as my old one is already almost dying on me and can not find a way to buy it .
Thanks in advance for any answeers.

 

Somebody please help me! I was playing Crysis to see if the notebook could handle it and it suddenly crashed. Then back on the desktop on the bottom right notification corner, a little message came up and said that "The graphics driver has stopped working or like it got disconnected". Then the screen went all yellow. I panicked and turned the notebook off. When I turned it back on, I can't find the GPU and only could use the Intel hd driver. I installed the latest GPU driver and restarted my computer but nothing happen. Can someone please tell me how to get my GPU back. Thx so much

 

Hey NDNPwn ...if you look in the device manager does your nvidia gpu apear with an yellow exclamation mark and appears as Error Code 43?
If so you need to reflash the Bios to one of the new versions....I beleieve version 208 is now available on ASUS website. Hope this works for you as it is a common problem with this notebook

 

Hi -Jinx-

Thank you for the quick reply

Like you said, the GPU does have a yellow exclmation point and it says error code 43.
How do I update the bios?