Asus N53SM-DS71

Hey does anyone own this machine? I was thinking of sending back my Envy and getting this.
Amazon.com: ASUS N53SM-DS71 (15.6-Inch Screen) Laptop: Computers & Accessories

 

I have this laptop. Just with 5400RPM 500gb hdd and 4gb RAM. HP Envy is in another league. This laptop is a budget choice with a great bang for a buck. Stay with HP.

 

I just got the Asus N53sm-es72 this past week from Amazon. It seems to have almost identical specs, except the es72 (according to what Amazon shows) has a 2GB nVidia graphics processor while the DS71 shows as only having shared graphics memory with the main CPU...

I didn't see what the resolution is on the DS71, but the ES72 has a full 1080 HD screen. Looks amazing!!!!!

I was curious and called Amazon since it seemed like the ES72 had more and better features for less money. The agent I spoke with seemed to feel the same way. She told me that it's not that unusual for Amazon to post weird prices and sometimes you DO get "more" for less $.

I called again to speak with a different agent to see if maybe someone else would have a better idea. I got essentially the same answer except he thought the DS version might have a longer warranty. But he wasn't positive...he too said what the woman I spoke to first said...that the ES72 seemed to offer more for about $50 less.

The Asus global website only shows the N73sm notebook without any further designations or specs. The Asus USA site shows the N53 in 4 different configurations, but none are the SM

I looked at the HP Envy specs on Amazon - the 15" model is a few hundred more than the Asus - and has one gig of video memory rather than the 2 gigs on the N53sm - es72. Also limited to two slots with 8gb of ram. The N53sm notebooks have 4 slots and can take 16 gb if that matters to you.

I'd assume the HP Envy must have a better build and maybe some other features, but it seems that dollar for dollar the N53sm (es72) can't be beat. I did what one of the reviews did - tried to spec a Dell the same way as the N53sm-es72 and it was over $1500.

This is my 4th or 5th laptop in the past dozen years and I'm pretty impressed..Build quality is good (much better than two more expensive Toshibas I had) and seems better than an HP I sent to my son in 2004 when he was in the Navy (don't remember the model, but I paid over $1000 at a Circuit City store here in Florida and he was able to pick it up in the CC store he picked it out at in Hawaii - I paid for it here and they handed it to him there (Best Buy wouldn't do that for some reason).

I read about "keyboard flex" on the Asus N53 laptops, but unless you really try to press down hard I don't see or feel any - my only complaint is that I'm not used to a flat keyboard - the last laptop I used (Toshiba that went up in flames about 2 weeks ago) had concave keys, so I got used to that..I looked at an Asus "ultra-book" that had a lit keyboard, but it only had a 256gb solid state drive, which would be plenty for most people, but my photo editing software would probably take up any room left after whatever space Windows takes up.. it was more than 50% more expensive and no way to change the battery - or add ram. All sealed up. Nice little notebook though - just like a MacBook Air...and a 13" screen is probably too small for my purposes. (nice unit though - could be made in the same factory in Taiwan as the MacBook)

The 15.6" N53 is kind of big - a big bezel around the screen (beautiful hi rez matte finished non reflective screen) - but I guess to fit the full size keyboard there was no other way to design it - not with the number keys (which I could live without). Battery life is surprisingly good ...getting about 5 hours using the battery saving mode. There's also a dedicated on/off switch to boot up into a linux OS in about 5 seconds if you just need to use the laptop for something quick and easy (but with graphics that are not right for the screen). There's also a "fast boot" option where you can start full Windows in a matter of seconds (haven't tried it yet, so don't know HOW fast)- this loads the stuff you need to get started first and while you are working continues to load all the rest of the Windows files. Not sure how effective it is - sounds like a good idea though.

I got this machine for photo editing and it's exactly what I need - I also like the looks of the machine- nice aluminum top - brushed finish so no fingerprint problems that some of the shiny units have (including some more expensive Asus notebooks).

Sound is pretty good, but not spectacular - B&O makes high end stereo equipment - or at least the nicest looking designs but a laptop just doesn't have room for a big enough speaker (I know one of the Asus laptops comes with a separate sub-woofer).

Overall I'm pretty impressed with the N53SM (lots of innovative features and very little bloatware - I was able to get rid of the few useless programs and trials I didn't want in minutes....

As far as value goes I don't think anything compares spec -wise....I'm sure there are better build quality machines and others with faster i7 processors and faster video cards, but for what I got for $900, I don't think I could have done better (plus $44 for an additional 8GB of RAM I should have tomorrow (not sure why Amazon wouldn't just stick it in the overnight shipment of the computer)

Hope this helps.

Peace,
Richard

 

I spent a few days making sure I got all the bugs out of the machine. Today everything was running perfectly, so I started installing my software.

I can't believe how fast this thing is (or how slow my Toshiba that burned up two weeks ago, must have been) - the Toshiba Satellite would take at least a full minute to open Photoshop cs5 - maybe longer ...sure seemed longer.


This opens it in under 2 seconds!!!!

I realize that the Toshiba (4 gigs, AMD Turion 64...256mb video ram) was old..(5 years) - but it also took forever to open old versions of Photoshop - so did the laptop I had before that and the two before that one (four others over the past 10 years..so on average one every 2 years). I wouldn't expect an old laptop to be effective with new software, but I've had Photoshop 7, then CS (which was PS8), then CS2, and than CS4 - so at the time I had those older versions of PS, the laptops were pretty much of the same "vintage" as the software. And every single combination of laptop and Photoshop took forever to start up - at least I got to read the credits and see the names of the hundred or so people who collaborated in creating the software...or I could have lunch, take a shower, read a book, take a nap...now UNDER 2 SECONDS! I'm just stunned!

Peace,
Richard

 

Does this laptop support gesture with its touchpad, like swipe to go back in web browser?

Thanks.