Asus K42JV-X1 vs N82JV-X1

OK, I'm ready to pull the trigger on a notebook for my son, who's starting college. He likes the 14" Asus and wants some gaming capability, and I'm liking the looks of the Asus i5/GT335 models.

Here's my question - these two are nearly identical. Why does Asus have two similar models with such different names, and is there any compelling reason to go for one over the other?

The both have i5-450M, GT335, 14" screens with same resolution, 4GB RAM, 500GB-7200 drives.

K42JV-X1 from Newegg - $1018 shipped (includes CA sales tax)
Newegg.com - ASUS K42 Series K42JV-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i5 450M(2.40GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M

N82JV-X1 from Amazon - $999 shipped (no sales tax)
Amazon.com: ASUS N82JV-X1 14-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop Dark Brown: Computer & Accessories

The only difference I can see is that the N82JV has USB 3, which doesn't matter much now, but may be useful later, and the K42JV has the extra accidental warranty specified (the Amazon page doesn't list any warranty info).

The Asus webpage doesn't have either model, and seems to not be very up to date.

What am I missing here, if anything?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

I've been trying to figure this out for a couple weeks.
Aside from the usb and webcam not too much of a difference it seems. n82 reviews consistently cite a flexible keyboard, while the newegg k42 reviews say its fine.

 

Right - forgot about the webcam.

The Amazon model shows a 2.0 MP webcam, while the Newegg model says 0.3 MP.

Now, 0.3 MP, which is 640x480, is fine for web chats and such - many webcams support video 800x600 (0.5 MP), but go much higher, and bandwidth gets to be a problem. Most 2 MP webcams (1600x1200) only take pics above 800x600, and that just doesn't seem too important on a laptop.

The keyboard thing may be a bigger deal, but I have to wonder if there's really any difference between these two in terms of the case and keyboard, or if there aren't enough reviews yet to dig out it out.

ETA: Input from a user on another forum lead me to compare the I/O layout:

The N82 has both mic in and headphone out, while the K42 has a single port that can be used as one or the other - you need a USB headset to use voice and headphone at the same time. Looks like the basic sound configuration - Altec, SRS, but mediocre speaker performance - is about the same on both.

Looks like there are some basic I/O differences - the N82 has USB2, RJ45, and ESATA/USB connectors behind a door on the right side (which can be a pain), while the K42 doesn't have the door or the ESATA/USB connector.

 

Can anyone with the n82 comment on the internal temperatures during movies or gaming?

 

The presence of only one audio jack in the K42JV is a bummer also, especially since people say the built-in mic quality is terrible. This means that you'll have to plug in another mic if you're webchatting, which would then mean that you can't use headphones or anything. Would be a minor nuisance, but it's sure to get annoying down the road. In fact, everything related to audio with the K42JV seems to suck.

 

Im pretty sure the internal audio components of the n82 and k42 are the same.

Anyways I just pulled the trigger on the n82jv from amazon. Since there's no reviews here, i'll let you guys know how it goes in a few days.
$80 more for usb 3 and esata and a better webcam should be worth it.
I only hope the keyboard flex is not bad or is easily fixable with tape.