Asus N56VZ-RH1 vs Lenovo Y580 vs HP dv6-7214nr

I am considering the N56VZ-RH71 and have been testing this along with Lenovo Y580 and HP dv6-7214nr models. So far, I like the N56VZ the best - but one thing bugging me is the lack of WiDi on this model. Asus online page for the model has the WiDi s/w, but when I try to install it, it says WiDi is not supported. Is there ANY alternate N56 model with WiDi that I can consider?

Here are my thoughts on differences between the 3 laptops:

My usage: Web surfing, fair amount of video editing/conversions, photos editing. Little gaming.

Specs:
N56 – i7-3630QM, 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM, 750GB 7,200RPM Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT650M (2 GB, but only DDR3) - $1,000 from Microcenter
Y580 – i7-3630QM, 8GB DDR3 – 1600MHz, 1TB HDD storage + 16GB SSD cache, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX660M - $1,100 from Costco
Dv6-7214nr – i7-3630QM, 8 GB DDR3, 750 GB hybrid (7200 rpm), NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M switchable (2 GB GDDR5, up to 1.65 GB) - $1,140 from hp.com
Winner: Y580

Warranty:
N56 – 1 year labor and parts, 1 yr accidental damage. Microcenter extension is quite expensive.
Y580 – As I got this from Costco, has 2 yrs parts and labor. Squaretrade extension for 3 yrs of accidental damage is only $100 through Costco.
Dv6 – This particular model is 2 years parts and labor. Extension is expensive. But you can get the Costco Squaretrade coverage if you get a model that Costco carries.
Winner: Y580

Screen:
N56 - Brightest whites – probably a tad too white, but beautiful screen. Matte display big plus!
Y580 - Warmer screen, so whites are yellowish but colors look better. No matte on this almost single-handedly ruled this one out for me.
dv6 - Warmer screen, so whites are yellowish but colors look better. At least it is matte.
Winner: N56

Keyboard:
N56 - Awesome. No cheap feel, good amount of travel. 3-level backlight.
Y580 - Pretty decent too. Single level backlight.
dv6 - Cheap feeling keys. Little travel caused typing errors more than I would like. Single level backlight.
Winner: Draw between N56 and Y580, slight edge to N56.

Keyboard lights:
N56 and Y580 – The lights for Caps Lock, Wireless etc are on the edge just below the touchpad. Takes more time to figure if Caps Lock is on.
Dv6 – Lights are where you would expect them to be – on the key!
Winner: dv6

Touchpad:
N56 - Mixed bag. The touch part is pretty good, but clicking is the worst of the three. Using tapping to overcome that, but would STRONGLY prefer separate buttons. Smart gestures though work the best of the three - so, mixed bag.
Y580 - Better than N56. Buttons work more reliably. But gestures are worse, and they work the opposite of the way N56 does for scrolling. I find N56 more intuitive.
dv6 - The best! Smaller touchpad means less palm issue and separate buttons for presses is awesome. Basically gets out of the way and lets me focus on work rather than the pad.
Winner: dv6

Noise & Heat:
N56 - Very quiet, even when fan comes on. Always cool.
Y580 - Quiet too.
dv6 - Noisiest. Fan is loud! Similar to my experience with current 5 years old. HP dv6500 laptop.
Winner: I haven't done any brutal testing of this to singe the winner, but HP is certainly the worst.

WiFi:
Winner: N56 and Y580. HP dv6 finds the least number of networks in the neighborhood.

Optical Drives: N56 and dv6 come with Blu Ray, Y580 does not. Highly model dependent, though.

Power Cord: dv6 loses – its connector sticks way out and feels more likely to dislodge than the N56 and Y580.

WiDi:
Winner: Y580. I really wanted this, but the particular models I have of N56 and dv6 do not have them. Bummer!

Other minor stuff:
1. Design – N56 has industrial grey board, while Y580 and dv6 have the sleek-looking black. I am partial to black, but not a big deal either way.
2. dv6 is the lightest!
3. dv6 has fingerprint reader, which is AWESOME!
4. dv6 has single key access to various functions such as brightness, volume etc using Fn keys – you do not need to press the “Fn” key for these functions. Brilliant! Why don’t other manufacturers do this is beyond me.
5. N56 – Very few issues, but a few I have read here, such as locked BIOS and subwoofer crackling, are disappointing. As I am leaning most towards this one, I didn’t read threads of others in as much detail.
6. N56 – Network cable is quite difficult to take out (haven’t tried this on others yet).
7. Y580 – Display lid is slightly difficult to lift open.
8. Y580 - The wifi connection seems to be losing connection on this one. I may need to test this a bit more to be sure, though.

Bottom Line so far:
Dv6 – This will probably be the first to get eliminated. Reasons: Heat, noise, cheap-feeling keyboard keys. Will be returned. I will certainly miss its awesome touchpad, direct access Fn keys and fingerprint reader.
Y580 – Pretty decent machine if you are ok with the glossy screen. Also has better specs for gaming. I will most probably return this – but only due to screen being yellowish as well as glossy.
N56 – This one is the most balanced package – FOR ME! If it had the few user-friendly features that dv6 has (touchpad with separate buttons, direct access Fn keys and fingerprint reader) and the WiDi that Y580 has, it would have been perfect!


Would love to hear thoughts from others who may have compared these or similar models!

 

Hey sarge, great review!

Just wondering, you said " Y580 - The wifi connection seems to be losing connection on this one." I've been considering these 3 laptops as well, and this Y580 wifi problem occasionally appears in my searches.

Just how bad is it, actually?

 

Hi - I have seen it maybe 3-4 times, but hard for me to say as I find myself using the Asus most of the time. I have seen this mentioned in a few threads too, and google search seems to show many users with the issue. I know that would irritate the hell out of me for sure!

Which one are you leaning towards so far?!

 

Well, I've been leaning toward a dv6t-7000 (a Windows 7 machine). But I'm concerned about what you and others have said about the heat/fan noise. Also, there are huge threads on the HP forums about how the Beats audio causing the audio to go up and down like crazy.

With the Asus, I've read that people have trouble with the touchpad. One question I have is, where did you buy the Asus? It doesn't seem like you can buy them on the Asus website like you can with HP and Lenovo.


Going back to the Y580 wifi problem, does it just disconnect for no reason at all? And when you reconnect, does it all get going again pretty quickly?


Thanks!

 

I bought Asus from Microcenter - Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!
You can get same from Amazon too, and probably cheaper too.

Asus touchpad is certainly its weakest point, but its gestures work the best. Still not overly difficult to live with, and seems like this is the least bothersome of the issues in these 3 laptops.

Y580 wifi - yes it disconnected for no reason at all when other laptops sitting next to it continued right along. Had to close the browser and reopen after maybe 10-12 seconds to start working again.

HP noise and heat I have lived with for a few years now, so I know for sure I don't want to deal with it any more, esp the noise. HP has been trying to fix this (Cool Sense etc) but they still haven't got it. Asus, on the other hand, excels at this.

 

Great stuff, thanks sarge!