Asus N56VZ-DS71 first impressions

Did you try installing the ELAN Pointing Device software for the touchpad? Maybe than the access to the touchpad with the FN key works again.

 

I was hell bent on getting this one until I saw that Singapore doesn't have the Full HD version

Is the non hd version alright? I never owned a 'premium' laptop before so I'm not THAT spoiled (hopefully). I fear with the talks of the bad touch pad and non hd screen will make me end up with a MacbookPro

btw nipsen,

compared to the GT650 DDR3 2GB on the N56, how good do you think is the 512mb DDR5 on the macbook?

 

It's about the same. But too little ram to exploit it completely for some of the games the graphics card can drive. Stupid to have to turn the texture sizes down when the framerate hits the cap anyway. Could get lucky enough to fill the ram with a complex blender context as well, I guess. But you would be using the intel graphics card for the most part outside dedicated 3d applications. Or else using the nvidia card for external displays while the notebook display is on, that kind of thing. Won't come into play for high resolution desktop contexts, no matter what anandtech says..

You really should go for a 1920x1080 display (or higher), though. It's a good way to get spoiled a little bit. ..can't you order it from HK, by the way..?

 

My N56VZ is 15.6" and has a resolution of 1920x1080, which makes everything really small. Quite annoying because it's difficult to read everything!

 

Thats weird. Just asked the Asus support and they said the Asus logo doesn't glow at all, it's just a reflexion of the light. Is that true, can everyone with the N56VZ confirm this?

 

Mine looks like its glowing... maybe its the light from the screen that bleeds through though. But it definitely lights up

 

Yes, the Asus support called me back and was confirming that the logo should glow. The weird thing is that they had tested a N56VZ and it also didn't work. So I guess that more devices are having this issue. My thoughts are that only those people got this issue who ordered it just a few days ago (like me). I hope someone who just bought it could confirm this.

 

You can go to appearance and personalisation -> display, and increase the size of the ui elements. And you get about the same work-area as before, just in higher resolution.

 

While that does work for windows itself, it doesn't work for other applications such as your browser, your messenger etc.

It also makes most icons looks blurry and misaligns a lot of items.

Thanks for the help though

 

I am curious to why when I booted my computer for the first time, it boots to a NON-UEFI BIOS... Aptio Setup utility, I just flashed the latest BIOS on the laptop, is there a different hot key to access UEFI Bios ?

F2 gets me into BIOS
DEL gets me into BIOS

No UEFI BIOS unless there is something I am missing ?

FOLLOW UP: Total time to install Win7 Enterprise = 11min 26sec from start to finish Fast lappy

 

Go to custom size and uncheck "Use XP style scaling." This turns on display virtualization, so bad programs get blown up instead of just fonts. Yeah, some things get blurry, but only as blurry as they would be with a lower resolution.

For software that actually does work fine but doesn't have the magic flag, find the .exe, view properties, and under compatibility disable display scaling. It'll revert to font-only enlargement.

It's imperfect but it beats having constant headaches from squinting to read the tiny fonts.

 

Hello NotebookReview!

I recently got the Asus N56VZ-V2G (Similar to DS71 but has 750GB Hybrid Drive) and so far it has been really great! Wonderful build quality, keyboard and screen. The touchpad does need to get some used to, though. Unfortunately, it seems like the subwoofer port is misaligned. So far the subwoofer hasn't been able to work. Also, it seems like there's some graphics issues when the laptop is unplugged. It throttles/switches to Intel HD 4000 (don't know which one happened) Is there any way to fix it before I send it to the ASUS Service Center? Thanks!

EDIT: My friend has an N46VM, and when I plugged in his subwoofer, it was okay. It turns out that the jack in my subwoofer is slightly too big. The port itself was fine (although I tried to force my subwoofer in).

 

guys, really no one here using the HDMI outputs for 3D gaming on external monitor/tv

am I in the wrong thread ?

help most appreciated.

thanks

 

hi zoern, it can if you have hdmi 1.4 cable, a compliant tv and latest nvidia drivers:

3D Vision System Requirements

 

hm. please see here GeForce GTX 660M Grafikkarte mit Optimus Technologie | NVIDIA. sorry its the german site. anyway

scroll down to see the supported laptops.
the asus is nowhere to be found.

do you have actual experience with 3D games playing on ext hdmi 3d tv. and 3d movies ?

its great to see it on the nvidia website but that is no guarantee in todays world. real world experience would be great

anybody ?

 

Question. What's the point in buying one of the latest and greatest i7 quad core CPUs, if it's not going to turbo boost while playing games? Am I missing a point here..?

 

Not really, no. It's not exactly a secret that an i5 dual core system normally performs identically or better than an i7 in practice in games, and also many benchmarks. An i5 with higher clock will have better single-thread performance.

Depends on the workload, though.

 

Give me a few days, I will test the PC on my TV here via HDMI, I will also test some games to see how they work on the TV.

I just setup my laptop today, as in installed everything I need, now that app install is done, in the next few days I will test some games on it, as well as hooked via HDMI. If I can I will try to post a screen shot.

Hope that helps

 

Thanks for all the help so far guys, laptop should be here this afternoon or tomorrow, I have downloaded a fresh windows 7 iso, how would I go about backing up the recovery partition they give if I wanted to go back to their factory default with the bloatware one day?

 

wow, great and thanks in advance. I really hope the full hd 3d gaming will work via hdmi and i also hope the a 4k movie output for 3d movies , like BR will also work.

are you using a 3D TV, LCD or plasma ? I have a D550 and its a beauty, would be ashame not being able to use it with the asus for 3d gaming

thanks again for your help. I am looking forward to your findings

 

I'm having problems with my N56VZ that when the laptop is plugged in I can feel that it's statically charged. It's buzzing and I feel small shocks when I touch it. Anyone else have experience with this?

 

your wall socket most likely doesnt have 3 prongs. your extension might, but if the wall socket does not, then you will still have that problem. If the wall socket does have 3 prongs, then i am guessing the socket itself isnt hooked up to ground? i had this problem before with my asus (diff model)

 

I have a Panasonic TC-P46ST30(plasma) in my room and another Samsung 630 (LCD) Upstairs.

I will be testing with the Panny once I get going. The TV does have 3D feature yes, but I don't own glasses because I don't care for 3D at this moment. I will be testing games / x264 blurays / And maybe Bluray from a source disc. I have a lot of media on my server so I tend not to have a lot of discs.

I will be testing Video as well as 5.1 audio from the laptop to be sure everything is working fine. It will be via a Yamaha HDMI switched receiver (VIDEO / AUDIO)

I will try my best to get this done as soon as I can, I am just really busy this week so when I have some time I will try my best and toss up results and some screen shots if I can.

Other then that the laptop is great. I threw a SSD into it from out of the box. I would recommend anyone purchasing this laptop to purchase a SSD with it also, it will make it FLY !

As for the 750gb 5400rpm drive, I just pulled that sucker out and formatted it. I did not care to back it up, make a image or anything regarding it. I didn't care. This laptop can install windows + drivers from the ground up so I have no need to keep whatever Asus put on that drive.

I put the 750gb in a external USB 3.0 enclosure. So I have the extra portable space while I am on the road for all my media.

I like this laptop a lot. It has to be one of the best out right now (provided you spend the extra and toss a SSD in it)
It does everything I need it to and more. It is pricy but well worth the money. There is no reason this laptop shouldn't last you 5 years or more (provided you are not a heavy gamer)

Good work Asus. Still lots of testing to go, but I do not think this laptop will have any issues with whatever I throw at it !

 

That's what I thought, but they all have 3 prongs, I guess they aren't hooked up to the ground :/

 

So my roommates dog already chewed up my N56VZs charger! Does anyone know the best way to get a replacement with Asus? I dont want some knock off brand, I'd prefer for the exact same Asus charger that it came with and since my roommate is paying for it, price is not an issue.

 

@unibombz: thanks man. seems like you do enjoy the techno beast a lot. your setup sounds alright ! SSDs rock! I have an Intel on my old C2D. SSDs make you actually feel your computer. responsiveness is sooo much better. I plan to get a sammy 830 for new the laptop. g´night

 

My n56 just arrived.
Love it at first sight but the display constantly adjusts the brightness a little bit. How do I turn this off?

 

I have a little buzzing too. Anyone knows how to make it disapear?
Anyways I'm ok with it, but is it bad for laptop itself?

 

Hello! I'm thinking about buying this notebook mostly for day to day web browsing, email, writing, school, and from the advanced stuff: programming, web design, editing, etc. Is it a good choice? I don't intend to play games, I need it for serious work, but I want the latest hardware bundled with all that.

I also have one direct question: does it get hot or loud from 3-4 hours of constant usage I described? So, no 3d rendering, but work in development, reading pdfs and occassional hd youtube videos?
I have a really bad expirience with hot and loud MSI so please answer with detail and examples, thanks!

Also, is a Macbook pro 2012 without Retina (15 inch) a better but more expensive choice for what I need? Btw I mostly need windows for .net development, so I would have to run it virtually or in bootcamp...

 

Hey dusanjov

Running windows on a Mac isn't such a good idea. It's possible but its really unnecessary IMO. Most people I know get Macs mainly because of OSX and because it looks cool

The ASUS N56VZ is perfect for the functions you have described. The RAM can be upgraded to the max, and easily out spec the Macbook but still would be cheaper by $700-1000 so for a person running windows I highly recommend this laptop

Compared to the MSI, the ASUS N56VZ has much better cooling from the reviews I have read.

 

i really like the looks of this laptop......it allmost looks like the mac pro, and i believe asus tryed to make it look like it...if you download pics of both, wow, how close they look.....i am going to get this laptop, just got to get the $ saved up.....on the screen, is the 1368 screen look good??"????

 

I'm 99% there was a link in here somewhere for a HD caddy for the blue ray drive? (I want to swap the standard HDD into the dvd slot and load up a SSD!)

Cheers!

 

Hey. I am thinking of buying this laptop, and if I buy it, probably gonna play some games with it. Anyone playing Skyrim on this laptop? What's the average fps, say on High/Ultra settings?
Also give your fps ratings from any other games you've played.

Thx.

 

@wraeth: *shrug* ..all the laptops with a 640m, 650m or 660m cards are a bit curious, since they are extremely overclockable. And they also have some dynamic underclocking, which is extremely effective when you just want to get to the vsync, and stop there. You can pile on quite a lot, for example in Skyrim, since the engine doesn't use too many repeated shader passes. And get the vsync at 30fps -- and then the card will throttle automatically so it doesn't draw more power, produce heat, and so on.

This means two things - you can overclock this card to hell and back, to raise the lower fps-limit - but still have extremely low difference in heat, since the card drops when the vsync is reached.

But standard setup on this card is 1920x1080/ultra in Skyrim with about 21-24fps. Turn it a bit down, and you have a comfortable and stable framerate. In the Witcher 2, standard setup with aa/high preset+larger textures/720 resolution, it stays on 30fps (or, the lower limit is 30fps). But since the limit upwards is so low, The Witcher 2 will push as hard as possible, and that's where I've had the highest temps (flats out at 78 degrees with a 990/1000 clock). Heat is not a problem almost no matter what, though, because of the cooling system...

Just making the point that any laptop with one of the kepler cards will have very predictable performance, and can be very comfortable to game on (and the nX6 laptops in particular, because of the silent and extremely good cooling).

HDDCaddy » Winkel

You should switch the hdd to the caddy, and boot from the ssd, though

 

FPS stays 15 fps while recording with fraps on BF3 full ultra.
My videos:
Asus N56VZ-DS71 Battlefield 3 (Ultra) - YouTube
Asus N56VZ-DS71 Gameplay - YouTube

 

Well, i wouldn't say that.

1st of all The shape is totally different.
2nd At least in mine the back Screen part of the Laptop is Black.
3rd sure it is aluminium but the base of the laptop is plastic. Which imo is definetily better and gives a more solid case. Not to mention accessibility which doesnt exist at all to Macs

But ok, the keyboard for example is a total copy lol. Which is a pitty becasue i dont like it... I like the glow and all but i would like a normal Laptop keyboard that in case soemthing is wrong i can easily change. Now to access it is really hard.

Hmmm, now that i mention stuff, i would liek to mention i dont like the usbs at the right, they always get in the way with my mouse...I think i hae to get a hub :/

But this Laptop is a good piece of tech...

Can i ask you how you overclock it? Though i don't think i will, cause in RoI that i play a lot i get soem heat...Nothing much but in general i dont like to get a lot of heat.

Also dont forget the laptop is made from 2 parts, plastic and aluminium.

The expansion factors are really different...Maybe it could cause some defects in time in the case...I would hate that...

Aluminium = 22.2(10-6 m/m K)
Plastic = 30.4 (10-6 m/m K)

its a ratio of 3/2... So i guess we put it to the test...

 

I have to disappoint you GT650 is not a competitor, even compared the old GTX460 personally, and I have the asus G73 N56VZ so that's 460 wins in 650 about 5-7 fps. and if you overclock the 460 with a standard frequency of 675mhz up to 770. difference is even larger. If you want to play you need to take the GTX series cards

Compared to games such as Mafia Dirt and Battlefield 3 in exactly the same settings.

Ps GT650 can be considered for purchase if the laptop resolution HD + 1600x900.

Owners N56Vz I really need your help. I wanted to reinstall the operating system. and formatted the drive C. Then the restoration of the console, which runs through F9 can not find disk files, and then what comes out the error.



If you can, send me the files so I can restore windows

 

Has anyone tried a wired 360 controller with the N56VZ? My version only has 4 USB3.0 ports and when I plug in the controller windows told me "Device driver software was not successfully installed." and it just doesn't want to work. I tried the drivers from the microsoft website but those did not help.

 

Thanks mate, perfect

 

hello! another asus n56vz club member here

while I'm quite happy with my purchase, I've got some little anoyances, mostly software ones:

1) currently I can't find any sane method for installing windows 7 from usb flashdrive. It keeps nagging for "a required cd/dvd device drive". The solution is utterly strange for me: when at this driver request screen, turn the power off. Then boot again from the same flash drive and bang! No driver is asked for. I'm wondering why there are little reports on this issue, and no real solution..

2) I can't figure out how to prevent wi-fi adapter from autostarting after every reboot, it just keeps starting even though it was disabled last session.

3) Massive annoyance in my eyes: in order to make backlight fn+F3/F4 buttons work I'm forced to install that heap of bloatware called ATKPackage. Why in the world does it take 10 background services to do such a simple thing? Just take a look at this utter pile of junk:

asldrsrv.exe
atkosd.exe
atkosd2.exe
dmedia.exe
etdctrl.exe
gfnexsrv.exe
hcontrol.exe
hcontroluser.exe
kbfiltr.exe
wdc.exe

yes, just to display volume/brightness/whatever notifications and turn the backlight on. we really need some driver hacker here.

and 4) still can't figure out why I can't assign GT650M to media player classic, the entry in nvidia control panel would only display "integrated graphics" grayed out.

as to hardware annoyances, the touchpad is way too sensitive and the aluminium is kind of too soft (heard of issues with other aluminium cases too) - today I managed to scratch the corner by accidentially hitting it lightly with a cellphone. Good thing it's not made of lithium, for example.

 

Not an N56 owner (yet) but my sense with other Asus machines is the infamous ATK package serves a number of keyboard "hotkey" functions, such as not only toggling devices but also (possibly) media controls and power profiles. But you're still right -- that's a ridiculous number of services.

I also haven't seen a definitive explanation for Optimus switching (mostly reverse-engineering and educated guesses) but surely it's an important clue that the settings are labeled as "preferred", like a maitre d' who takes your $20 and then just sits you where he pleases. An interesting and unresolved challenge is to get WEI to rate the NVIDIA card. Probably not important, but it seems to bug everyone that it doesn't recognize the dedicated GPU.

-Matt

 

Just purchased my N56VZ-DS71 from B&H Photo with a Samsung 128GB 830 Series SSD for $1,336.42USD including shipping to New Zealand. Once import duty taxes are calculated the entire purchase is still cheaper than buying the lower spec R501VM in New Zealand (same laptop just equiped with 630GTM, 4GB, 500GB etc).

Just need to order that Winkel HDD caddy now...

 

I just got a N56VZ-RB71 to replace my N70Va (BTW what is the difference between the DS71 and a RB71?) So far I am pretty impressed other than the couple issues that people have already mentioned. Here are my issues:
1) Very tight USB ports
2) The subwoofer constantly make noises (ie farts). To me it seems to be related to the screen. Anytime the screen changes it makes noise.
3) The touchpad on mine is not flush or recessed on the edge closest to the keyboard. It is actually a little raised. If I gently press down on that edge it will become flush, but so far eventually it raises up again. Should I be concerned about this? In other words should I return it or try to Asus to fix it?

My main reason for getting this was the screen. It is hard to find matte screens and I personally don't like glossy. In this regard I have not been disappointed. The screen is beautiful.

 

My N56VZ arrived this morning:
1) I agree, the USB ports are tight. I think after using them they will become wider
2) Don't know, I dont care about the subwoofer
3) Mine has this issue also, I know some more people with this problem. Some reviews also mention this so I think it is 'by design' (or a flaw they didn't bother to fix)

 

1. I agree USB ports are tight but work fine
2. Dont have any fart noises with my subwoofer but I haven't used it too much
3. That seems wrong... my touch pad is flush. I'd say if its an annoying issue to you then take it in and get a new one

 

On my N73SV I just need 4 (bold in your quote), and everything works. I used autoruns from sysinternals, and disabled everything that starts from the Run section in the registry. in the Services app I turned the ATKGFNEX service start to manual. ASLDSRV service starts and it starts all the processes it needs, by itself.

WEI does detect the NVIDIA graphics, the thing that brings down the numbers is that with newer graphics driver the Nvidia card gets turned off and on during the WEI run. Turning on the card causes a slight delay which then gets translated into lower average fps and a lower result. With 300 series drivers you can get a good result by turning on the NVIDIA for everything in the driver options and restrating the computer. In my case even the Gadgets than keep the Nvidia card on and the result reflects the strength of the Nvidia card.

To turn on the Nvidia card for greyed out programs use Nvidia Inspector.

 

Question: why do people care about the wei index?

 

Answer: tens of thousands of years of hominid evolution (and more) have taught us to favor quick, simple outward signs as indicators of long term-performance.

Breasts and hips = good mother.
Muscles and money = good father.
Etc.

The WEI feeds into that instinct. It's quick, simple and to the layperson, has the truthy feel of being consistent across machines. Scratch beneath the surface, and any good nerd will tell you it's not so informative.

But I learned today that it does (???) access the discrete GPU, just not for 100% of the assessment which dings the score (oh duh I just referenced the post above). Didn't know that!

-Matt

 

hahaha!

But yeah, it will use the intel graphics. Unless the driver adds a profile for the library the wei test uses. You could be running the test without graphics acceleration at all, if the intel drivers aren't updated.

 

No, it will not use the Intel graphics, it will use the Nvidia graphics which you can also clearly see if you look at the driver version number it detects. The default Optimus settings will make Winsat.exe use the Nvidia card. The only problem is the problem I outlined which happens in between the tests. Powering up from D3 to D0 and restoring the device state takes some time unfortunately. Once the card is up, it performs the way it is supposed to.