Asus N56VZ-DS71 first impressions

Just got my N56VZ-DS71 last night. Ordered it from Excaliber PC here. Called to see if they had it in stock Tuesday afternoon and they shipped it the same day! Thought I'd share some of my first impressions.

Build Quality
-This is my first ASUS laptop and I have to say I'm really impressed with the build quality. It feels really solid, the brushed aluminum is awesome!

Screen
-The screen is amazing! The viewing angle is very good and colors look really good on it. I'm not sure if it's an IPS panel but it sure looks like it.

Keyboard
-Feels like your typical chicklet style keyboard. Backlite keyboard is really nice. You can even adjust the brightness.

Touchpad
-This is the one area of the laptop I'm not very impressed with. The touchpad is really large and the right\left mouse buttons are integrated with the touch surface so it takes some getting used to. On the positive side the keyboard has a quick key to disable the touchpad.

Performance
-I haven't run any benchmarks but I tried playing Diablo 3 on it on max settings and it didn't even break a sweat. It didn't get extremely hot while playing, but the vent on the side does pump out a lot of hot air. The placement of the vent on the side is a nice features since it prevents blocking if you rest it up against something.

Sound
-The speakers are really impressive on this thing. It includes a detachable sub woofer that adds depth.

Bloatware
-There is a significant amount of ASUS bloatware that comes pre-installed. Typical of laptops I guess.

Anyway, if anyone has any requests I'd be happy to run benchmarks etc. later this afternoon.

 

How is the keyboard? Are the keys wiggly at all or are they pretty firm? Is the backlighting on the keyboard the same brightness from end to end or does it taper off a little bit near some keys?

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

 

Looks nice from what I've seen

I'm interested in the noise level
If you're just browsing, does the fan turn off, or is it working continuously ?
And, is the screen glossy, or matte ?

 

I only noticed the fan coming on while playing Diablo 3 and it was not very noticeable compared to other laptops I've had(Dell Stuido XPS 16 , HP Dv6). I'm impressed with the noise level so far.

 

I'm writting in one right one. I need go to a birthday party, but tomorrow i can tell you everything you want to know.

Mine is:
6GB (2GB+4GB) DDR3 1600
750GB 7200rpm SATA
Drive DVDRW Supermulti
15.6" FHD LED non glare
650M 2G

 

I am very interested in learning about the performance of the laptop with games (Crysis, Skyrim, BF3) as well as seeing some up close pictures of it. Seems like one of the best laptops for the price right now.

 

Can you make a video of playing music from the internal speaker? It would be even better to have a comparison with competitor.

 

I forgot to mention I am also curious whether the holes for the speakers go throughout the entire top of the laptop and whether this will collect dust easily.

I am also interested in seeing a video.

 

Thanks for the post
It's probably too soon to talk about that but have you some numbers about the battery life ?

 

Can you tell anything about the temps on the exterior? Is it still comfortable to work with while playing games? Can you post some pictures?
Thanks!

 

Keys have a slight wiggle to them, but not really noticeable. The keyboard light is even across the keys as far as I can tell.

 

Glad to hear the favorable review - especially as to diablo 3! I'm strongly leaning towards picking this model up but have been going back and forth over whether to buy through xoticpc in order to upgrade the display.

Based on your comments, it sounds like there might not be much benefit to paying for the 95% color gamut panel. Have you been able compare the screen to any full size monitor or other well regarded panel, side by side?

 

Cool notebook! When you mentioned it is brushed aluminum, does that mean it has a smooth feel to it, or does it feel like little ridges, or almost "chrome-like"? I really like my friend's ridged build quality on his asus. Just feels durable and new.

 

Weight and temps please

 

It doesn't get very hot while playing games. It seems to vent heat really well, and quietly. I have noticed that if you have something next to the vents on the left expect it to get warm.

It's about 6lbs. I'm not sure how to get exact temps. It's cool enough to hold on your lap while playing Diablo 3!

 

The aluminum is smooth, no ridges. I said brushed because it's not polished.

 

How long does the battery last ?

 

Became interested as well now, with the 1920x1080 display. Nvidia drivers for hdmi out as well.. good grief I'm fed up with ATI because of that.

But I'm wondering about the battery life as well.

 

So the display is top notch? I was thinking about going with Xotic with the 95% gamut but if the screen is good enough then I might wait for amazon to get it so I can purchase squaretrade with it.

 

That's more like it Ordered one right now.

I'm still kind of annoyed that it's literally impossible to get a flat 13 inch laptop with half-decent 3d performance.. You would think that AMD and Intel would want to show off either of their solutions with the new 22/32nm cpus and motherboards/graphics cards. Certainly saw that with the a6/7670m on the n53, that this is definitely possible to put inside a smaller chassis, even when overclocked. And that if they designed it that way, one of the trinity apus would be a perfect fit for a 1cm deep ultraslim notebook.. Took a small peek at the mainboard - there's a lot of air in the chassis, to put it like that..

But this is at least not too far off. At least when there's an actual 1920x1080 screen (and nvidia display drivers.. miss those..).

Is it any good for using just to type on, by the way? In the sense that the computer idles and becomes completely cool/silent when you're just typing?

 

Yes, it is very silent, even when i play (at least with COD and AC) i barely hear the fan working, and with the subwoofer and this amazing sound you really don't hear anything lol.

 

.. that bucket seems like the weirdest idea ever.. I'm probably going to be sitting with headphones on, though.

Btw, could you check something for me? If you can. With Sisoft Sandra, for example. The mainboard tab should have some info on the Sata speeds. I'm wondering if I should buy a bigger sdd. But I won't spend a ridiculous amount to get an sdd with "sata 600", or sata 3, if the bus is locked on sata 2/300.

Might say something like "Bandwidth/Signaling speeds: 3Gb/s", or "6Gb/s".

The hdd tab will be unhelpful, because it reports the drive's signature and capabilities instead of the actual performance..

Annoying thing, because I checked the motherboard on the n53tk - this supports sata 3. That model specifically has it, since the graphics card is running on a pci-ex16 bus. So the signaling speeds need to be that high on the external bus. But the laptop is limited to detecting sata 2 for some reason. While the bandwidth is halved in some kind of hardware layer.. very strange thing.

And support is obviously extremely helpful when it comes to figuring any of this out, or perhaps noting that enabling sata 3 would not actually be a problem, and then let the ahci layer limit the transfer speeds instead. In the way it's supposed to be done.. But they had just turned it off in the bios instead..

The n56 mainboard is the same thing. It does support sata 3. But... is it disabled? "For any number of good reasons", to quote the guy on support

 

Product Showcase: Asus N56VZ Unboxing & Review - YouTube

just found that review on the n56vz. seems like a great machine

 

Anyonethat can check the monitor ID of the N56? To see which model/manufacturer it is.

Device manager -->monitor-->generic pnp monitor-->details and choose Hardware ID in the dropdown menu. Should say MONITOR\?????

Wonder if it's better than my N55, which has an very good panel.

 

Still a bit skeptical about the 3d performance, though. If it really is much ahead of the n53tk with the apu/7670m setup.

Will be interesting to test that out. I mean, if it can't run The Witcher 2 in high at 1080p anyway(won't happen). And it actually will be much warmer and use more battery while running dx9 games, or less detailed games, or 3d accelerated video/desktop, etc. -- then it's difficult to justify it practically. (..Apart from the fact that the nvidia drivers actually work, and the ati drivers don't, I mean..).

Did anyone with the laptop run a 3dmark11 test yet? 720p, normal test, etc.

edit: For example.. here are some stats from a clevo with a 650m:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3612QM Processor,CLEVO CO. W110ER score: P2406 3DMarks

vs. One of the 53/43tk laptops:
AMD Radeon HD 7670M video card benchmark result - AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics,ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K43TK score: P1566 3DMarks

(...also, a 660m score - graphics score virtually identical to the 650m:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor,ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. G55VW score: P2701 3DMarks
- this I don't understand. The 660m test should have been with gddr5 ram vs. gddr3. No difference in the score at all.)

But - apu - if you look at the numbers, the biggest difference is the cpu-score. Which is understandable since the test is ran at 1.5Ghz vs. 2Ghz. The graphics score is higher, of course - but by how much in practical performance?

Also note that the apu system in the test runs below "boost", with half timing on the memory bus. If you just raise the clock to 2.2Ghz, the 3dmark test jumps to 1700 - while the timing is still running at "half-rate".

And while it does that, the temperature never goes above 40 degrees, with a pretty low effect-drain. Obviously the apu also has pretty good performance while on battery and not using the discrete card..

 

I had first put this laptop on pre order but went with the g75 for now. This laptop is still on my list to replace my ul30vt. Thanks for the reviews.

 

Just gave in to temptation and ordered one up through Amazon (ships from, sold by J&R).

Can't wait for it to land. I also grabbed a slickdeal on a samsung 256gig, 830 series SSD. This should be one slick machine once I get everything configured.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

I wonder if they'll make a version with i5 + regular dvdrw, later in june-july...

 

Yes, they just have to wait for intel releasing the new i5 CPU line.

 

Seems like the right place to post my question

what about mobility. How much does it actually weight, is 2,7kg correct, and what about the power-supply, is it huge(perhaps some size measurements here as well) and does it add another ½kg to your bag?

Any experience with linux as well?
Maybe different people can check the what wifi card is included. As far as I can tell, it ships with to different cards. VERY important for linux

 

Regarding the brick, you can see it at 1: 42 here.
Looks pretty big.
No idea of measurements tho'

I also have a question:
How much does the hinge of the screen open ?
Is it a wide angle, or just a bit more than vertical ?

 

#32 Yeah exactly, looks a little bigger than standard, but kinda hard to tell what it will be like in real life.

 

I love the unit, too. Espcially, the backlit keyboard is a surprise. It takes me a few minutes to recognize the exteral sub-woofer.

Thank you for your post.

 

Does this notebook work with 3 monitors (the "internal" LCD, one connected to the VGA and another one connected via HDMI) ?

 

man i wish someone could compare this to the samsung 17.3 ivy bridge series 7. That one is 6.26lb only but packs a 17.3. The 17.3 is real nice but man, it doesn't fit my backpack nor do i want to be "that guy with the huge laptop screen" in front of their face in class.

 

..not that difficult to do. The depth on the n56vz with the i7 build is 2.7 to about 3.5cm.The series 7 is 3 to 5cm. It's about 10cm wider, and a few cm longer. Weight 3.5kg. n56 2.7kg.

In other words, the screen area is a bit more dominating on the series 7, but the actual frame isn't that much larger. The difference is the width and the weight, along with the bulkhead frame.

Of course, you still can't treat the n56 like an Eee, so it's about preference here.

If you compare with a 13 inch Vaio, for example, that is about 1cm slimmer on the height compared to the n56. And 10cm shorter on the sides. The height is actually not that different again. And it weighs 1kg less.

But you still can't toss it on the couch like it was an Eee anyway.

The Series 7 comes with a 6970 card. Should perform well, ends up at 3100 3dmarks in 3dmark11 against the n56vz' ..2800? On standard timing.

But the problem is the heat. The samsung gets hot. Really freaking hot. That's been the problem with these kits all along. So if what ^ was said up there about the n56vz ending up at very low heat, and still acceptable performance on standard timing. Then that's something that really makes all the difference.

Of course.. you still can't toss it around like an Eee anyway. So I don't know...

 

I´ve got the new Samsung 700Z7C 17". It doesnt get hot, it gets a little warm, no problem, I cant hear it, its very qiuet, silent in normal use, very fast (took a SSD), great sound (INTERNAL subwoofer) just 1" thick, 6 hours of battery life during normal use, an astonishing piece of hardware. BUT: Im not gaming, just producing video and audio. Im coming from HP Elitebook 8560p 15" and Im very happy with it.
But 17 " remaining 17", there is no way to hide it. BTW, the Samsung is quite small for 17 ".

 

Seems (to me) that Asus could have made a 2nd hdd bay in the N56VZ if they really wanted to.
(picture from GentechPC's video).
Am I expecting too much ?

 

I think that Full hd resolution in 15' is too excessive. Hd ready (1366x768) is better for eyes and long-lived for gaming.

 

1366x768 is too low for 15''


1600x900 is perfect !

 

1600x900 is not available for Asus n56

1366x768 you can play all games > 30fps

Full HD resolution is recommended for high-end VGA (7970 or 680gtx) in display 17'

 

What about FHD in the 11" Zenbook prime ?
Resolutions are only gonna get higher, scaling needs improvement though.

 

Full HD increases productivity as you are able to work with two windows at the same time. It's almost like having a second monitor on the road. This benefit is of course in addition to the better quality of movies and pictures. Because this laptop is intended for multimedia, anything less than full HD is unjustifiable. I don't understand why people prefer lower resolutions but grainy displays are sadly the industry standard. Therefore, you shouldn't complain if one laptop finally has higher standards than you...

 

It's right if you have a bigger monitor(23/24' is perfect!) ..otherwise you lost sight.

 

That's a very good point. ..But if you run the graphics card on full load, the chassis gets warm.

There's also the thing that with that use, you probably could get away with a more economical setup with... for example a Sandy Bridge setup with only the Intel HD graphics. And basically lower the effect drain 30w. For office-use, you're just powering a 3d card on idle, or using it for desktop effects. ..Even if you wanted a separate card, thinking that that would work better with dual desktops, etc, you could still do well enough with the latest dx11 capable "HD graphics" series cards.

Don't understand why laptop developers won't push hard on that. Getting high resolutions on the screens, specially the small ones, in order to mirror a desktop on a second screen easily, or run a separate window for a, say, 720p tv in a part of your laptop screen, etc. That's the kind of thing you could sell a massively underpowered 3d card on..

I mean.. that's why the Series 7 runs that long on battery as well. It's relying on the integrated HD3000 card, not the extra dedicated graphics.

It's a nice laptop, though. But not exactly alone in the lineup with falling down on, you know.. 50w drain on fairly low effect, with chassis temps normalising on 40-50 degrees.

That's why I was so impressed with the a6/apu scores on effect drain, for example. That I could run four cores+graphics effects, light gaming, flash.. (using only the apu) for 30w on 25% load. That's something less than half of the series 7 when running on less processor drain (see Cnet's test for funny watt-based results). On battery, I managed to peak out at 51 watt when setting the max processor state (boost) to 2.6Mhz. That's the same as the "near idle" Series 7 drain. And that "graphics card" can easily handle dx9 games. It outperforms Intel graphics by leaps.

... that series 7 still was on the absolute top of the line when it comes to effect drain, though. Like you say, it's a great kit(even if there's no way to hide the huge screen ).

But still... Not hating on it or anything. But there's that part here where it should be possible to construct something with a more economical setup..

 

What scores does it get in 3dMark? Both 6 and 11 would be nice.

 

They could but that space below is the mainboard so it's not deep enough to put a 2nd HDD.

 

Nobody around that have the N56VZ?

(bump )

 

Here yo go: