Asus N56VZ-DS71 first impressions

No worries here. Updated the drivers and all working as intended.

 

Thanks for the review. Did you only try D3 for the temperature test? What about other games and how long did you test? Are there any throttlings?

So, does anyone else have this issue about the noisy adapter?

Hodor.

 

Yes i only played D3. I also ran furmark + prime, for full load. See my previous page post. Temperatures go over 70 for GPU at furmark, but thats totally normal IMO.

 

Its waaay too big, it makes a noise when tapped lightly and the surface isnt that good. If your fingers are even a little sweatty, then you'll have trouble sliding them across the pad.

These dont break the deal and the pad is usable, but its still quite annoying.


//Supranium:
What drivers did you update? Nvidia? From what version to what version? I updated the nvidia drivers here: http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=N56VZ&p=3&s=390&os=30&hashedid=dQ05pflVfztxEczD it didnt change anything

 

Just bought mine a few days ago.

Its an amazing laptop, unfortunalty mine came with a 1366x768 resolution and a DVDRW drive (which I upgraded to Bluray) and this was the only configuration available in the store. Atleast games will now run at a higher framerate than other 650m with higher resolutions...

 

I had some time to spare with touchpad. I got used to it after 1 hour. IMO its a good touchpad. I had no troubles with it.

I updated everything through Asus update on first boot i did with it. There was 7 updates available for mine. Display drivers included.

Everything works flawless. Im now satisfied even with battery power. I got over 4 hours on browsing yesterday. Also watched some videos from youtube.
A very good laptop for 1000€. Im pretty sure i made right decision chosing it over Lenovo Y and XPS A502, which were on same league.
The screen is great. Sound is great. Everything else is good.

 

hello i want to buy asus n56vz with i5 procesor i want to ask what about quality is that on top keyboard aliuminium or plastic ? and what about hinges is good ?

 

So I just received my ASUS N56VZ yesterday. Love it so far.

BUT, I can't seem to find where to enable multitouch gestures. When I got under the touchpad's properties it only gives me options for my right and left mouse buttons as seen in this screenshot:

Could anyone help me here?

 

So, my Laptop arrived a couple of days ago no, as I am in Australia I have the N56VM, the major difference being it has the Nvidia 630M rather than the 650M. First of all I must say I love this laptop already! Absolutely brilliant! Although, coming from my five year old HP DV5 I think anything could seem amazing.

The laptop's best features by far have to be the display as well at the backlit keyboard. The colours are accurate, not to mention the brightness as well as the clarity! The keyboard is magical, I absolutely love having the backlight. I am often using my laptop in bed without lights and the keyboard makes typing a breeze.

When running the laptop is silent as well as being almost entirely cool. Like others have mentioned, the fan always runs but only on low revolution and is barely noticeable with a small amount of ambient noise. Speed Fan reports that in general operation the Fan fluctuates around 1800rpm. The cooling is done very well in this laptop, only a small amount of warm air blows from the vent on the side of the laptop even under heavy load. My last computer, the DV5 was absolutely terrible at this. It had a fan so loud listening to music was a hassle, not to mention the CPU running at 94 degrees Celsius. This Asus however, with a low load, the CPU cores never rose above 35 degrees.

I would like to mention is the touchpad, most on this forum have said it is terrible however I do not mind it. I guess mine doesn't have the issues of un-clickable buttons or a loose surface but disregarding those the touchpad is nice to use. The multi-touch gestures make browsing very enjoyable.

One thing to note with my machine is I did subsitute out the stock hard drive with a Seagate Momentus XT. This hybrid drive comes with 8GB of Solid State memory, enough to knock an entire minute of the boot time. Running the stock drive, a Hitachi 750, 5400, the laptop took 1:32 to boot whereas with the Momentus it was a mere 0:29. With this drive I did a clean install that ran smoothly, abolishing the masses of bloatware installed by Asus. I would really reccomend a clean install even if you don't swap out the hard drive, just to get rid of the crappy software!

After all this I do have one question. Does anybody know if this laptop would have the ability to run 16GB of RAM? As mine is the Australian version it only comes with 4GB, a bit of a weak point in my opinion. Specifically I am looking at two 8GB sticks of Corsair - On eBay. Even better if someone is running theirs with 16GB?

 

Thanks for this great review!

I personally think that 8GB should be really enough for general usage.

 

The nvidia 304.48 beta drivers are available and can be installed on the n56vz wiithout having to use a modified ini: Official NVIDIA 304.48 BETA Display Driver Feedback Thread For NVIDIA Geforce Desktop/Notebook/ION GPUs - NVIDIA Forums

My 3DMark 11 score went up from 2381 on 297.16 to 2431 now. I haven't played any games yet with the new drivers so I'm not sure about actual performance.

I can confirm by the way that I am also suffering the farting/clicking sound from the speakers, as well as a noisy touchpad. I should point out though that under normal use the touchpad does not make a clicking sound, it's only when I tab with sufficient force that it does that.

 

How is battery-life with the mighty momentus XT 8Gb installed?

Must comment on on the touchpad, mine is fixed to tight, it makes it noticeable hard to click. I compared it to one in the store, there is a difference I don't find acceptable!

 

Hello, I'm a french owner, I buy a 8GB kit Corsair Vengeance 1866mhz for this laptop. The laptop don't boot with this memory but with the 4gB default Hynix 1600 cl11 and a Corsair stick it works but at 1300cl9. I saw this review :

Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz CL10 Laptop SODIMM Memory Kit Review - Installation & Test System - Legit Reviews

The laptop is a N56VM laptop but with 3720QM. That is why I decided to upgrade to 1866 memory instead 1600. I also check in xotic pc who offer upgrade to 1866 from 3610QM.

I know in previous generation sandy bridge laptop, 1600mhz memory support from only 2720qm, 2630/2670qm only support 1333mhz so I'm not sure that 3610qm support 1866mhz memory but 3720 could ?

So, any N56vz owners had test 1866mhz memory upgrade ?

Thanks for your advices

EDit : the two sticks corsair works in a HP DM4 powered by a i5-430m at 1066mhz cl6

 

Hi all...

I see all of you are enjoying your new N56VZ's.

I am in the UK, can anyone recommend where to buy this laptop from? Alternatively, anywhere in France or Germany is also possible, and appreciated. (But the keyboard may need changing?)

Regards.

 

In Germany sold out. Next are supposed to arrive mid july or beginning of august. don't know about france

 

Amazon.de and amazon.uk both had it on their list. Price was the cheapest too. Only 3-4 eur/pound difference maybe.
I bought mine from computeruniverse.net since they had last one on warehouse and i got it within 4 days. The price was same as in amazon.de. 999eur + 12eur shipping.

 

I wasn't able to boot it up with 16GB RAM. But I've seen shops selling it with 16GB and reviews with 16GB. I'm only able to boot it up with 12GB (8GB+4GB).
I'd like some feedback from someone who was able to boot it with 16GB RAM.

 

Anyone have a loose subwoofer port. I always need to push the cable totally in the port in order for the subwoofer to work. And any movement of the cable will disconnect it??!!

 

I ran memtest86 + 4.2, the ram works at 1862 @ 6-6-6-20... with errors... windows crash...

 

Yeah, I think I saw your earlier post about this. Could is be possible that one of your 8GB sticks could be faulty, that being the cause? I too have seen them sold with 16GB.

 

Unfortunately the first thing I did after burning recovery disks was swap out the drives, I didn't stick around to test the power before and after. I can say however, using the Momentus I got more than two hours on high performance with the screen on full, although just browsing.

However, if I remember correctly, the 5400 stock is rated 700mA at 5 volts, the Momentus 7200 1.1 amps again at 5 volts. That would most likely be to compensate for the speed increase rather than the SSD.

 

Thanks for the reply. (Including the others!)

How was your experience with this retailer? I am understandably wary of ordering an expensive item from an unknown online retailer, are they reputable?

Also, the main thing is the keyboard. Did it come with a German keyboard? Because I would preferably want either a US or UK keyboard.

Thanks once again!

 

I've had more time to mess around with mine. I didn't notice the speaker crackle until after I updated the bios. The cd drive makes noise from time to time when not in use. The fan is very quite when just browsing. The keyboard is also very nice. I've gotten used to the touchpad and it's not so bad. It just wasn't installed very well. There's a small gap on the left side of the touchpad and the chassis. The speakers are amazing, especially when hooked up to the subwoofer. The screen is gorgeous.

It's stupid that they would put the ac port on the same side as the odd. When I plug the power cord in, it obstructs the odd. I think Asus is slipping on their quality and design. Still a great computer though and I'm glad I bought it. Just as some little annoyances

 

I am not sure, but I don't think WIN7 home premium is supposed to handle more than 8G. But how it reacts to it, I don't know. Perhaps a trial with professional or ultimate?
They should be compatible with more than 8G.

 

Guess that is ok, it runs for about 3 hours when surfing, tested by notebookcheck.de.

A macbook guy wrote back that he was very pleased with the performance in spite of it knocking of two hours battery-life

 

I got a bit over 4 hours on mine when surfing. Battery saver mode and screen 2 nothes below max brightness.

 

Can you take a picture of the subwoofer port? Mine was misaligned with the chassis hole, but I was able to push it to the correct position.

 

Mine is misaligned too, and when tried to push it down with the subwoofer cable pin I almost broke the pin.

Here is a pic:


There is this tick sound coming from the subwoofer everytime I skip a track.

 

Just curious, I am looking to get this laptop via xotic PC and have a couple of questions. First, I think I remember hearing that there was a 50 dollar coupon for those on this website? Is this true and how do I get it. I have also seen complaints on the build of the track pad and woofer port. I know that xotic constructs the comps themselves so would the build quality be better or is that part of the preasembled shell that they are given to fill? Thanks.

 

Which better between N56vz and DV6 7000 with ivy bridge? I would buy some laptop, and i want to know the comparasion between two of this laptop? Can someone give me some advice? thanks

 

I was tossing up myself between these two Laptops and after a large debate I did choose the Asus. I am not regretting it at all! From what I can tell the DV6 is made from a lot more plastic parts whereas the Asus is solidly built from Aluminium. While the N56 does not have th finger print scanner like the DV6 it instead has Asus's face logon system that in my opionion works just as well. The Asus has a backlit keyboard which is a major advantage. I would defiantly suggest the N56 over the DV6.

 

Thanks for your advice, but its just the case right? If i use my laptop mostly like desktop, which better? Mostly for gaming and do my homework. Is Dv6 still good?

 

hey i'm on the same boat here, either Y580 dv6 or N56VZ. i guess the Y580 has the best graphics 660m, dv6 and N56 has the 650m but dv6 is ddr5 whereas N56 is ddr3, don't know how much of a difference there is but i'm guessing in real game play there's only a few FPS apart.

IMO N56 has the best build quality with the aluminum case. but that being said i am a little biased to unibody metal surface because i'm currently using a MBP.

if you've been to the dv6 thread there seem to be a lot of keyboard flex, peeling screen bezel problem.

as for the Y580 there seems to be a hard drive overheating problem due to the CPU and GPU layout. but some suggested that it can be fixed by changing the stock HDD to the optical drive bay and buying a SSD.

so far i haven't heard of any particularly bad stuff with the N56 in terms of build quality but that doesn't mean its trouble free. if anyone has had experience with dv6, N56 and Y580 I'd love to hear about it, but i'm in no rush to buy a new one.

 

I dont really know about dv6 peeling bezel, but i'm very interested with dv6, but i'm still confused which better between 3 of this laptop. In my country, lenovo is not very popular than the other country, but i want to know the review of this 3 laptops. Thanks for your review, but i need more review to make a choice

 

ecaedus, this quote gives of bit of a overview of the problems people have with the n56, they are pretty minor and i haven't seen anything major that has repeated with more than one person (they were isolated cases).
Pretty much the list would be:
-Speakers crackle when browsing, such as switching pages. (Some report it others don't and others say it is normal for this to happen)
-Haven't seen this much but this person reports noise from the cd drive
-A problem alot of people have is with the trackpad, it seems to be offset and doesn't fit the chassis right for a lot of people and some people have trouble getting used to the clicker, but it still works fine and only is a annoyance
-I have seen reviews saying the subwoofer makes farting noises at times
-Others report the subwoofer port is offset so you cant hook the subwoofer up

Pretty much all minor problems and these are the only problems i have found from multiple sources, sometimes people only have one or two of the problems other times they have no problems. I have only seen one fatal review in which the screen was grainy and the computer in general was not right, but this was a isolated issue. I'm also thinking of getting this computer and probably will. These small issues are worth the pros of the computer by far to me.

 

Hey guys, especially Supranium because of his throttling-test:

I have a question regarding the throttling.
I want to run video editing and 3d compositioning software like Premiere, AfterEffects and Blender respectively, and now I wonder if any of those will cause the notebook to throttle down its cpu speed, as it does with FurMark and Prime run at the same time...

Has anyone experienced something like this?

Best regards!

 

Hi all owners... (And readers)

I was initially considering getting the N56VZ, but it is not yet available in my country. (UK) And when it does come available, I expect it to come with a very large price tag.

Right now there are some pretty decent deals on the previous generation, the N55SL precisely. Is it worth waiting for and getting the N56 series do you think? Or is it better to just grab a deal on the N55 series?

Also, some of the defects that some users have been reporting have put me off this laptop very slightly, such as the touch-pad issues, and speaker crackling issues.

Unfortunately though, the N55 does not have backlit keyboard, and it is Sandybridge i7-2670QM vs i7-3610QM. Is worth paying extra for the performance increase?

 

In regards to the dv6 vs. N56 vs. Y580 debate: I was having the same debate and went with the N56 for several reasons.

I got it over the dv6 for the following: the dv6 build quality had problems (CD/BR drive misalignment, peeling bezel, keyboard wave) of which only the bezel seems to be an actual worry and not an annoyance, and the big issue, over heating. The heat was the deal breaker for me. However the dv6 has some great qualities. It has a solid keyboard despite the wave, it is the thinnest, and, to me, it looks the best. Plus it has the finger print reader and a msata slot. The final pluses are it's matte screen and the gddr5 650 vs the gddr3 650 in the N56.

I choose against the Y580, in large part, due to the glossy screen. I don't care if the colors don't "pop" as much I want to be able to use it anywhere. I am a college student so using it outside is a large possibility. It is also the thickest, though the .1 of an inch won't really be perceptible. It does have some major pluses though, not the least of which being the GTX 660. This is definitly the pick for those who want the best gaming. It also has an msata slot which is very nice. The Y580 does have a hot hard drive but I have seen many people say it won't effect longevity. Another thing i have seen is a slightly loose CD/BR drive. It was, for me a close tie with the N56 for looks. I like the key board but I despise when manufactures leave the sides as solid plastic. The N56 and dv6 both put some silver on the top half to make it look better (plus it slims the look down).

The reasons for the N56 are simple. One is the screen, matte is the way to go and I have read good reviews on it. Two, the keyboard is said to have little to no flex. I also like the looks of this laptop, I am sucker for silver metal uni-body looking laptops (though not necessarily mac clones, the Sammy Series 7 is the best looking laptop on the market). I will not render a judgement on the speaker pattern until i actually have the laptop in my hands. It does have the worst graphics and thus not as future proof but if, like me, you are ok with non ultra settings it will be fine. For playing civ V and portal and the old republic it will be sufficient. As for the minuses, the build quality issues I don't think I will face since I got it from xotic pc whom, if i understand right (please correct me if i am wrong), gets the shells and then puts in the internals and puts it back together. Everything I have heard about the company is good and I would expect higher then normal quality control. Thus the trakpad/ woofer port are not a concern (hopefully!). Also, the strange sounds sounds like a driver issue that should be fixed as the comp gets older.

Overall you can't go wrong with any of them. I would be leery of the dv6 longevity due to heat but from what I hear some laptops don't have the issue so you might be lucky. Hope this helps!

DISCLAIMER: I have not actually held any of these laptops, all this information comes from excessive lurkage on this website. This is the information I have found and just wanted to consolidate it so that others may use it to make their decisions.

 

#337 I had the n55 in mind to, but I am very pleased, that I waited for the n56. Although I had to send it back, do to touchpad miss fit, and a sloppy space key. From reading reviews on n55 I believe the n56 is indeed superior in both performance and design/feel good.

 

I would advise against the N55. For one thing it's ugly (I know, I know, personal preferance and all that) As far as the Sandy vs. Ivy I would say the performance increase is negligible for all but a hand full of people. So far the major plus of decreased power consumption seems to be a farce, also the improved graphics will be negated by NIVIDIA graphics. The major plus to me is native support of USB 3.0 So if you didn't care for looks (or have different tastes) the processing power shouldn't sway you. The reason I recomend against it is the graphics. If i am correct that only comes with the 635 ( source). The improved graphics is defiantly a reason to get the newer computer, for me anyway. The N56 is also smaller in every dimension. So if you don't care about graphics performance or size get the N55, but I would say the N56 is defiantly worth the extra money.

 

Hey!

I honestly have no idea, if it throttles down a bit while using those programs. However, i bought this notebook to my brother, who uses similar software for his projects. Hes first impressions are that the notebook is amazing fast on everything he throws at it. Im suspecting that hes emotions are empowered by the fact that he used to have Dell D630 with T7300 processor and 128mb quadro gpu.
Anyway. hes more than happy with hes new toy.
Have not encountered any keyboard or touchpad issues. No sound issues as well. Everything just works perfect.

 

in a previous post by someone i saw that the SATA port for the main HDD bay is only SATA 2? so if i put a SSD in that bay it will only give me a top R/W spped of 300Mbps even when the SSD is capable of something near 500Mbps if connected to a SATA 3. is this correct can anybody confirm this?

if the main HDD bay is only SATA 2 then i'm gonna choose Y580...

 

Thankyou for your description, i think i will buy n56vz cause i want to use my laptop for 4-5 years and maybe asus give the best durability than HP dv6

 

Hey guys I bought a N56VZ yesterday and I got one big issue with it. Whenever I try to play Diablo 3 the game doesn't run smooth at all, game is choppy as hell. The game runs good for a few seconds like it should be and then it goes choppy, repeating it over and over. Tried highest settings and lowest, no change. Also had the same issue with 2 other games...

I already reinstalled Windows, tried 3 different drivers and I'm now using the standard drivers that came with the CD. Could this be a laptop issue or is it software related?

 

Some people have complained about sudden drops in fps going up and down, if you have the laptop plugged in so its not running on battery then the problem is probably the drivers needing to be updated. This is just from what i have seen on forums, unfortunately nvidia hasn't put up a official update to my knowledge. My vote is software (from what i have read)

 

@beejay same here. I have heard a lot of good things about Asus build quality and the opposite for HP. I need this to last me through college. Where did you order it?

 

Thinking of picking one of these up in the next few days. Quick question for anyone who has one: Does the GPU throttle on battery power, and if so, by (roughly) how much?

Oh, also, rough estimate on battery life while browsing the internet and such?

Thanks!

 

Yeah it was running on battery, apparently it switches to the Intel card to save juice, no way to turn it off? I imagine the battery being sucked dry very fast though. But then again, is it even a good idea to keep the laptop plugged in at all times?

 

I'm in Indonesia actually, maybe i'll buy in the retail store. Which laptop did you choose ? I'm still confused to choose a good laptop.

 

Xeritos: I think someone asked before if it was possible to turn it off, and i'm pretty sure its a no (not completely). As far as keeping it plugged in: i see nothing wrong with it, maybe you could take the battery out if you have the laptop plugged in for very long times to save the battery as some people say leaving the battery in causes its life span to decrease. You could search optimus on google to see if you can turn it off, i doubt it though.

Serephucus:
As i was saying to the other guy the Nvidia Geforce GT650M does have optimus technology so it switches to integrated graphics automatically to reserve power when on battery (as far as i know). People have complained of this problem where it switches back and forth undecided between performance and battery saving making the fps go up and down. On battery length: most people say around 4 hours maybe 3.5-4 when just browsing casually but i don't own the laptop (yet) so i can't support this.

Also: Does anyone know how much of a difference 5400 rpm has vs 7200 rpm performance wise? It would cost 75$ for me to upgrade to 7400 and im wondering if it is worth it.