Does the Asus K42JV-X1 have nVidia Optimus?

I have been reading reviews and other pages and the results are mixed. Can anyone who has this: Newegg.ca - ASUS K42 Series K42JV-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i5 450M(2.40GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M confirm?

 

Yes it has. I don't have this, but you can read in ASUS Reviews and Owners' Lounges about Asus A42JV, which is basically the same

 

I don't see a thread for that model.
Can someone link it and also confirm that it has Optimus?

 

Here is that thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/504753-i-just-bought-asus-a42jv.html

It's not a 100% confirmation, cause he doesn't have the exact same U.S. K42JV model, but the hardware looks to be identical.

Weird that there doesn't seem to be so much fanfare for the K42JV, but also weird that newegg seems to be the only place that has this model.

I'm looking for a compact gaming laptop now, and I've shaved my choices down to the Asus K42JV, the Acer TimelineX 4820TG-3195, and the Gateway ID49C08u.

 

Hey. I'm the one that bought the A42JV.

Seems to be the exact same model. I saw this one next to mine. It had a 500GB 7200RPM HDD and an extra jack for a mic.

Let me explain that when you right click on the desktop and go to the Nvidia control panel you can let the system decide what to do with the graphics card, or, as I have it set, you can select which programs will use the GeForce. Up to you how you want to set it. You can also set the preferences for the Intel Graphics card to save battery. Again, right click on the desktop and go to "Graphic Properties", that is for the Intel card. On to pof that, you have the PowerHybrid thing that you can set for Office or Battery power saving mode.

As you can see, there are really no differences.






Again, I think the K42JV may have an extra plug for a mic. Not sure. I didn't look when I was buying. Which video card depends on wether it is a JV/JR/JK etc.

Madmook is right. I am an American living in Thailand and I saw this model at the ASUS booth at a store called IT City in Pantip Plaza, Bangkok. It is like Circuit City sort of a thing. They have all computer manufacturers there. I am not sure why this is not more readily available in the US. Really surprising. Mine came with DOS. Never saw a computer in the US without an OS. THe next model up, which was the exact same thing other than the hard drive (may have been your K42JV) had Windows 7 pre installed. Other than that, it was the same computer.

I haven't experienced any sort of bottle necks because mine is a 5400 rpm hard drive. Runs very nice.

Been using it everyday, all day long at work for 2 weeks straight. Nothing to report that is bad. I love it. For the price, you can't beat it. No lose or parts falling off or chipping paint or anything. There is a guy here with an HP that is under or just about a year old (I remember like it was yesterday when he bought it) and already the fake painted chrome is all black and it looks like absolute crap. This one costs maybe an extra $200 more and it looks miles better and much better quality.

Only thing to keep in mind is the sound. I just found out it will make the jack crazy if you max out everything including the SRS settings. It vibrates too much and you may get intermittent ghost headsets being plugged in (at least the jack thinks so). As soon as I reset everything to default, everything went back to normal. So, for you own listening to Celin Dion, or whatever you listen yo :-D is fine, but for anything else, get a pair of nice headphones and it will sound great, just the speakers are not very loud, and I just found out why by accident.

BTW, don't think I am talking about the volume. You can set that as loud as you want to. I just went into every setting and equalizer and the SRS settings and put everything to max, even the equalizer I turned all the little knobs all the way up, max treble. So, I don't think a normal person would do that.

 

Hey ajarnfalang, do you think you could possibly run 3dmark06 and tell us what score you get (also need to know at what resolution it was run at, i.e. whether you connected to an external display to do the 1280x1024 default, or used the K42's 1366x768 lcd). Thanks for putting out so much info for that model. It looks like you're the only one on the internet posting impressions, besides the 7 reviews on newegg.

Hmmm, speaking of Optimus... the newest user review (added one day ago) says that it doesn't use it, but that the graphics can be "switched in the Nvidia control panel." - Customer Reviews Of ASUS K42 Series K42JV-X1

 

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Well, I thought about downloading it but it is a huge download. I will update my thread when I do. I don't use an external LCD.

I am not sure what that guy in newegg is talking about. See in this Nvidia Blog. This is a tutorial teaching people about the new Optimus Nvidia settings.

The NVIDIA Blog - Take a Look: New Optimus Interface

As you can see in the video, these are exactly my settings. This is a screenshot of my desktop:



When he talks about the "Manage 3D settings" in the Global Settings Tab, instead I have the same setting when I click up in the menu where it says "3D Settings", there is a check where it says "Automatically update "Preferred Graphics Processor". Same setting.

I will put in that thread that this is the Nvidia Optimus settings in case anyone is wondering.

Any other questions about this model, post in my thread. Should we make my thread a sticky? Because there is no info about this model on the net. Not in depth that I can see at least.