Asus N71JA/X77JA first impressions/mini review.

My asus X77JA arrived today, and it's actually an N71JA, there is an sticker on the laptop and on the box it came in, but beside that it's an N71JA. Install and stickers on the bottom of it says N71JA.

Specs of my computer:
17,3" 1600x900 LED backlit LCD. (manufactured by LG)
Core i5-430M 2,26GHz
ATI Radeon HD5730 1Gb DDR3 (650MHz core / 800MHz memory)
500Gb 5400rpm HDD (Seagate momentus ST9500325AS)
Super multi DVD-drive (LG GT30N)
4GB DDR3 1066MHz
Atheros N-wireless
USB 3.0
4400mAh 6 cell battery.

Hardware choices first thoughts:

Positive:
Silent DVD-Drive while watching DVD-Movies.
Monitor is decent, just turn down brightness a bit, I find 1600 x 900 res good enough for 17".
one USB 3.0 port!
It is pretty light weight compared to what I expected.

Negative:
Had preferred intel wireless
Seagate HDD slightly more noisy than WD HDDs.
I had preferred an larger battery for an 17" laptop (4800mAh or 5200mAh)

Initial impressions:
It looks damn good! A lot better than I had expected.
Keyboard is awesome, I've not used any laptop keyboards that is near it.
Sound is well above average from the built in speakers and sub, still laptop speakers is laptop speakers.
Silent under office usage.

Heat:
Cold during normal use
At MAX stress test (prime95 + Furmark running at same time) it peaked out at 92 deg C. No programs shows the temp of the ATI HD5730 as far as I can find. Maybe it doesn't have temp sensor? That is quite hot, but even during gaming it hardly gets this much stress.

Update:
Score 7905 in 3DMark06 (1280 x 768)

More to come as days pass by, 3dmark, vantage and some thoughts on battery runtime etc

 

Thanks for the pics and initial impressions.

Whats the display like? Good black levels? High max brightness level?

 

The max brightness is way too high, at about 30-40% brightness it's good, not really tested black levels yet.

Also ran into first issue, and it's related to the wireless network somehow. Not sure if it's hardware or software related yet. I'm connected to the network at full strength but I do not have stable internet connection, sometimes I'm getting full speed, sometimes I can't even access the internet.

Pinging sites shows a lot of package loss or high latency. Updated atheros drivers, didn't help.

Considering installing an clean w7 copy, but doubt it will fix it.

Also it doesn't look like it supports switching from the AMD GPU to the intel GMA chip for power saving, which I find very disappointing.

 

Thanks for the impressions! Really interested to see the vantage score.

 

when did you order it, where did you order it from, and what were you told as eta when you ordered it? congrats on your purchase

 

I'm confused, if it is the N71, how did it get an LED backlit LCD?? I thought they weren't LED. Maybe the JA is upgraded?

Second, are they all getting Atheros? Or is there a way to make sure it isn't?

And do you have to get Seagate? I thought you could get WD?

Otherwise, I'm really glad you like yours!!

 

I ordered it same day as it came in stock (last friday), ordered it at komplett.no (Norway) (komplett is mostly nordic countries + few selected EU countries)

 

I'm fairly sure it's an updated model. Yes it has LED backlight according to specs at least.

I'm not sure about the network, maybe Atheros cards are only in the X77 models to save cost, since the X77 models cost less than the N71 models.

You can't customize asus laptops here in Norway, they all come directly from Asus, no retailers has hardware customization options.

 

And now for the next issues/drawbacks:

If you want mobility, don't pick this model, the battery runtime is very disappointing. At battery saving profile while doing basically nothing it lasts just over 2hrs. This probably translates into less than an hour of gaming, and just over an hour of DVD-Watching (not tested though).

My main issue right now is that as soon as I disconnect the power cord I loose my wireless net (it doesn't find my net anymore), tried different power saving options, tried to set wireless to "maximum performance" also when using the battery. Updated atheros drivers. No luck.
This is most likely an software issue, but I'm afraid I have to do an clean w7 install to fix it, which shouldn't really be needed - it should work "out of the box".

 

Interesting review

Watching for more news

 

Weird it doesn't give the gpu temperature, have you tried siw?

 

Tried HW-info and realtemp only. Will check after work today

 

thought you might be in europe...i havent seen that laptop even offered on websites servicing the states. a lot of people seem concerned about the color. doesnt bother me, but maybe you can give people a first hand account on what the color looks like. how many usb 2 slots are there?

 

P3578 in vantage which is very good considering an HD 5650 card (onlly difference was 50MHz lower GPU clock) in an core i7-720QM based scored P3450. http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650-Graphics-Card-Review.24035.0.html A lot weaker CPU and I got better score is good.

No SIW doesn't report GPU temps either.

It has 3 usb 2.0 ports and one usb 3.0, total 4 usb ports.

I like the colors/Design a lot, one of the best looking laptops I have used.

As for my wireless issues, it seems it has nothing to do with power cord being connected or not, if I move my laptop to another room in my apartment it looses connection. I suspect an hardware fault (did they forget to attach the antenna, or maybe the antenna cable is loose/broken?). Anyway I think I'm going to return it, even while the laptop is awesome the network issues is not something I can live with.

 

is it possible to switch between the graphics?, Like disabling the pci-express from the bios and using the integrated video card

 

No.
Looks like asus has not enabled the possibility to use the integrated intel GMA card on this model.

 

Shall I move this to the Reviews subforum?

 

Pretty stupid imo, whats the point of integrated graphics if you cant use it to increase battery life... i hope they release some program that enables switching from os.
Could you test how long battery lasts, something like notebookreview does (70% screen brightness, wireless on, balanced profile in win and webbrowsing till it turns off) so we can compare results with other notebooks?
Also, can you somehow check if you got 120W adapter with it?

edit: @ E.B.E.
discussion is relevant not only to this laptop but also to n71ja and n61jq/n71jq and since we have little info about them i think it would be best if this stayed here for a bit longer or if the review was reposted in reviews subforum.

 

I'm pretty sure they only come with the 90W adapter. I would like a battery life test too, but I don't want him to burn his lappy out!!

Could you get any pics of the machine all around if possible? To prove it's not purple?

 

i finally managed to google up, i thought 120w ac adapter would be shipped with n71/61 just as it is with g51j, but no, for some reason they're using 90W... i fear throttling might be the issue here as well...

 

Can we get a different one? Maybe from NewEgg or something?

 

different adapter? sure. but, unless i'm wrong, things aint that simple. afaik, throttling is done by bios and it assumes you have 90w adapter so you have to use program in os that overrides it. program called ThrottleStop by unclewebb helps with dell bios but he still didnt adjust it to work with asus...

but i dont think we dont have to worry yet, cause i thought gtx260 consumes less power then it does. from notebookcheck it needs ~75w, and 5730 needs less then 30. even if n61/71 use 90w adapter it shouldnt throttle as entire laptop needs ~45-50w less then g51j. i was wrong with my original assumption... unless someone who knows more about the issues says otherwise

 

http://www.notebookinfo.de/bilder/n...-p8700-2-53-ghz-90nx0a114n1172vl151/00001602/

A lot of high quality pictures there, my PC looks identical to the one on these.

The back of the monitor looks brown/greyish, not purple, and the details makes it look awesome.

 

90Watt AC adapter.

70% screen brightness, wireless on, balanced profile (adjusted to not turn off monitor/got to sleep, and to stay on until there is only 1% left of battery capacity).

Using batteryeater "readers test" to simulate low usage only:

System Info
Manufacture
Model
ModelEx
OS
CPU Info
CPU Manufacture Intel Corporation
CPU Model Celeron
CPU Frequency ~2260Mhz
CPU Extensions | MMX | SSE2 | HT | Enchanted SpeedStep
CPU Cache Info
Level 1 Instructions 0
Level 1 Data 32
Level 2 Data 0
System RAM info
Total Memory: 3949Mb
Memory slots 0 ( )
Display Device Info
Adapter ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
Resolution 1600x900
OpenGL render device ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
OpenGL driver version 3.1.9210
Vertex shader version 3.0
Pixel shader version 3.0
Hard Disk Drive Info
S.M.A.R.T. Supported and Enabled
HDD Model ST9500325AS
HDD Serial
HDD FirmWare 0002SDM1
Main Battery Info
Device Name K72J-44
Manufacture ASUSTek
Serial #
Unique ID ASUSTekK72J-44
Chemistry Lithium Ion
Temperature Termal Control Not Present
Designed Capacity 48400mWh
Full Charged Capacity 48785mWh
Designed Voltage 10.8V
Current Voltage 9.736V
Manufacture Date 0/0/0
Cycles Count 0
Cells count 3
Force charge support Not Supported
Force discharge support Not Supported
Benchmark results
CPU BEmarks 0
GPU BEmarks 0
RAM BEmarks 0
HDD BEmarks 0
Work Done
Pi calculations 524 Cycles
HDD read\write 0 Mb
Fames Rendered 0 Frames
Benchmark Options
Resolution 800x600x32
FullScreen Disabled
Mode Reader's Test
Results
Total time 2:11:00
Discharge rate (minimum) 4294940456 mWh
Discharge rate (maximum) 4294948475 mWh
Discharge rate (average) 4294943873 mWh

 

a bit disappointing, but its kind of a dtr so i guess it ok...

edit: n61ja and n71ja use HM55 chipset which supports switchable graphics, i think we can expect some update from asus that will enable switching sometime in the future... that will prolong battery life.

 

I have now packed down my Asus X77JA to send it back to the dealer. Wireless is broken, I suspect hardware fault (card or antenna). If the dealer finds hardware issues I'll get an new one, if the dealer doesn't find any hardware issues and the card is just this poor I'll get my money back.

So I won't be able to do any more tests for now at least.

Beside the wireless issue and a bit poor battery life the laptop is awesome. GREAT keyboard, good trackpad, awesome disign, fairly quiet operation, low noise optical drive, great performance and so on, just what I were looking for.

 

any idea whether N61JQ-A1 has switchable graphics?

Sorry if i posted it in the wrong thread, but it seemed relevant to me.

Thanks

 

I think we already established the N61 does, the N71 doesn't. It depends on the chipset they are using I believe.

 

Does this laptop throttle? Could you run Throttlestop and test to confirm please?

 

N61JQ-A1 doesnt have arrandale cpu so no, it doesnt support switchable graphics. N61JA might as (according to asus webpage) it comes with HM55 chipset that supports switching.

@ Risco
It's unlikely that to throttle as entire configuration stays well within 90W (at least on paper), but noone did any real tests to confirm that so far.

 

Have you got a breakdown of the TDP please? Still be nice for certain as I do not want to be stuck with a throttling laptop after seeing the crap Acer, Dell, Sony and HP are pulling.

 

The i7 version could possibly throttle, but unlike Dell XPS 16, Alienware M15x, or Studio 17, this Asus won't have power-hungry 1080p RGB screen and the video card should take less wattage then 4650/4670 or GTX 260m.

 

noone measured peak power usage for this laptop.
however, g51j (you can check g51j throttle topic) peaks @ 133W if you're "copying files from the DVD drive while also running prime95+furmark"
g51j has power hungry display and gtx 260 (which alone needs 75w).
5730hd needs 26w only which is 49w less then gtx 260. all the info is taken from this site http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
its easy to do the math, lets say you load n71jq like that g51j, instead of 133, it would peak @ 84w, and it has 90W adapter so its within the limits. also, its unlikely that you'll ever load the laptop that much during normal use or gaming.
i hope i'm right

 

I already did the math, my concern was the Dell XPS used a 90W ( albeit with a more power hungry display ) Hence my concerns about this being on a small PSU.

 

This is not a Dell.

 

No s**t sherlock!

 

My point is, yes we know the Dell's have throttling problems on the same adapter type and similar blah blah blah. However, not all laptops do the same things. And furthermore, we have no idea yet anyhow, since we only know of one person who even has one of these so far. We do not know the TDP breakdown yet.

 

X77/N71 is pretty huge at 18.4x12.4x1.3-1.5 and heavy at 9.3lbs

think I might settle for N61JQ-A1 which is smaller.
And I might have add IC Diamond paste on CPU/GPU with the reseller.

probably will get better framerates on 1366x768 too.

still deciding on the 1366x768 resolution though, hope it is not too bad for work/gaming.

OC, how can you comment on the sound in this notebook?

 

I am pretty sure those dimensions are wrong! That puts it in league with an 18.4" notebook!!!

 

The speakers are great, well above average for an laptop. I've used an toshiba with harman kardon speakers some years ago which was also as good, other laptops falls behind.

Even the Acer Aspires with "tuba bass" are far from as good.

 

Are you sure that the non arrandale CPUs don't support switchable graphics. I thought the i7-XXXQM models just didn't support "Demand Based Switching". If demand based switching is different then they might support it.

 

yea, i'm sure -___-

new core i cpus dont _support_ switchable graphics, they either offer it or not, its chipsets that can either support it or not.
arrandale containes two dies, on 2nd one, instead of having extra two cores, they have integrated graphics processor, thats the reason why they cant be quadcores. situation is opposite with clarksfields which have extra two cores but dont have igp.

 

You have the version with one hard drive is there still space to put in a second hard drive? So you can have a SSD and HD? Or did they do something else with that extra space?

To bad i can't find this version on the dutch komplett website In holland i can only find the JQ and JV but i prefer the JA...

 

Not opened it, and can't check now since I returned it. But I'm pretty sure you can add another harddrive of your own choice in the free bay.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Got an new Asus X77JA today, and the wireless network works perfect. So first one was indeed DOA

 

I think I'll do an new write-up and post it in the review forum, to get all my findings in one or two posts.

 

Hi guys, can you confirm, that your version of N71JA has the following issue?

Today, I was at a local shop and basically forced the shopboy to open the HDD bay for me, when presenting the notebook. I should add, that it was the 1x 640 GB HDD version, no other is available in my country. I have to say, that I was shocked. There was the said HDD, but the second bay was empty - without sata and power connectors. There is simply no way to add secondary harddrive, which makes this notebook nothing but a big scam from my point of view.

Could any of the actual owners confirm, that this applies to your version as well?

Thank you

 

That is correct, it's not possible to add an 2nd harddrive in the free bay since cables/adapters are missing.

 

Full review posted in review section:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=457517