Looking to buy - could really use some help

Hi guys,
I am a photographer and do a lot of photo editing. I had a Toshiba laptop that literally went up in smoke a few days ago (typing VERY slowly on my son's iPad now).

Not sure of the exact specs on the Toshiba ...

Was pretty slow using Adobe CS5 and using Canon's software for video was impossible. (I downloaded a free trial of another editing program but didn't get to try it before a short circuit in broken hinge smoked the thing)

Would cost way more just to get an estimate than it's worth.

I know I'd probably be better off with a desktop, but I do a good deal of tethered shooting (use a laptop as a viewfinder, can focus remotely, etc.), so a desktop
Would be useless for that.

Found an Asus n53SM-ES72 on Amazon...guess its a new model since a search on this site comes up with nothing. Seems to have good specs, but I am not much of a computer guy....I7 processor, 2gb video RAM, 6GB memory RAM (can add 8 more GB of RAM for $44. Not sure if that would help???

Price is $900 which seems pretty good for what it seems to be - also about as high as I want to go.

Amazon.com: ASUS N53SM-ES72 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver Aluminum): Computers & Accessories


I'm confused about some issues so I tried calling Asus....didn't get far with them, they told me to call Amazon.

I bought Windows Ultimate after big problems with Vista on the Toshiba....I asked if I could install it on the Asus, Amazon person said yes, but not sure if it would require me to spend a month downloading the utilities that seem useful, or even necessary (like for controlling video and stuff like that). I don't know if I even gain anything with Ultimate??

Also I don't get why the hard drive is partitioned.....seems like it would make things more complicated ....I read that it's easy to change the size of partitions
but as I said, not a computer guy.




Would really appreciate any advice....any suggestions,etc. I think I spent more on repairs on th Toshiba than it cost me (plus a free repair while under warranty) so reading that Asus is highly rated for reliability is what attracted me at first...but makes me wonder about some comments on Amazon reviews about flimsy keyboard, etc. - Still, the reviews are very good overall.


Do you guys think this would be a good choice for me? Would adding the extra RAM be worthwhile -cost seems reasonable,just not sure if it wold have any effect..
Thanks for any input ....

Edit...forgot to ask how much differnce 7200rpm HDD will make over the 5400 I had? Just loading CS5
on the Toshiba probably took 2 minutes ...rendering some effects was also excruciatingly slow. I realize it was an old computer and things have changed...just wondering what I should expect. I wouldn't mind a larger screen, but do want the 1080 resolution ....for editing I'm sure it would be a benefit. Problem I see with a larger screen is battery life and portability ....but neither would be a deal-breaker. Just that I saw a 17" Asus at Best Buy and it was quite a bit more $. - not even sure of the specs it had because getting help there...well, I gave up after an hour. Looked like 20 customers looking at computers and one person working in the section.....nice that they had thee people selling cell phones and NO customers???



Richard

 

Anyone? PLEASE? Can you guys fathom how long it took to type all that on an iPod ??



TIA

 

Looks good to me but there is some aspect need to be checked, the gpu and screen quality and touchpad before proceed.
can't confirm if this gpu is gt540 or gt550 or 28nm kepler based need a real user to confirm, a 630m can be any one of these no doubt they are more than enough for your use
For your use Screen quality should be better than mainstream. ture its fhd but can't say about the pannel quality
Preferable u won't use mouse so touchpad should be good enough which too can't confirm from any review
Regarding your copy of Ultimate is it x64 or x86 nvm you won't need anything more than that comes preloaded hpx64
for your purpose fast hdd is must so 7200rpm is must

confirm touchpad is below avarage
keyboard flex
overall build quality is sub par trading with good spec
Not a proper review can be found
please wait for some Owner of this perticular model to share their view

 

I can fathom how long it took to read all that.
would help to condense it.

but in summary- yes, the two asus laptops will be more than enough for your needs.

n53sm is the newer version of the same laptop.
hardware is pretty much identical.
the gt630m and gt540m are near identical. nvidia just renamed the 540m to 630m

core i7 quad core is more than sufficient for photo editing.

7200rpm loads stuff a little faster, but after that, you rely mostly on ram and cpu.

ram is dirt cheap these days.

these two laptops come with 2 ram slots, which are filled already.
you can buy one 4gb ram stick, and replace the 2gb ram stick already in there.

hard drive partition is recommended to separate operating system with data.
best reason I use 2 partitions- if OS needs reformatting, you can keep all the data on 2nd partition, and just reload OS on first partition.


the only 17" asus at best buy that i know of is a gaming laptop which has very poor battery life. As a photographer, that's not what you want.

1080p screen won't use more power than a 720p screen of the same size. difference is negligible.

 

Thanks for responses. Win 7 Ultimate I have is x64...what's the difference?

The comments about the gpu are over my head. I just noticed that the newer (sm-ex72) has double the ram of previous model. (2GB on newer, 1GB on older)

Link626 stated both units have only 2 memory slots....looks to me like it's 4 with 2 empty. Amazon reviewers said they added 8 mb to go to total of 14mb??

Not sure why dchinu said preferable to use trackpad - I use both, but for editing photos at pixel level (magnified over 100%) mouse seems much more precise....maybe I am missing something, or maybe I'm just used to using mouse....so many years using desktops b 4 I ever used a laptop . Guy I worked with in late 1980s had "portable" Compac that could have weighed 50 lbs.

Still confused on partition....if OS needs reformatting from what I understand Asus does not supply restore disk. Thought (from asking tech guy at Asus) that there is a hidden partition with restore??? Seems weird to me not to get a disk with a new computer.

I guess the partition isn't a big deal....I have a LOT of programs but keep my files (mostly pics) on external drive and for commercial clients on CDs... Just keep more recent images on HDD ...but they take up a lot of space....raw images are about 25mb each and jpegs are about 10mb each.....so 35mb for each image adds up quick.

Hope an owner of either of these machines can chime in. .. Really need to order something very soon (by mid week at latest)...some Samsungs look good but most have slower HDDs. And none seem to have HD rez screens.

Sorry post was so long, but that's how lost I am.....I've been using software forever, but don't know squat about hardware....Still remember most of the DOS commands. I know it's likely majority here weren't born before Windows became usable with ver. 3.1 . Even then I remember having to write auto exec batch files using DOS once a week or so because that's how often it seemed I needed to reinstall Windows which fit on 5 or 6 floppy disks IIRC....

Yes 17" Asus I saw at Best Buy was a gaming machine (rog)...not sure what difference it makes what they call it.....but yeah, I figured the battery life would be horrible. Made that mistake 10 years ago with my first laptop.


Thank again!!

Peace,
R.

 

Well I am an owner of the ASUS N53SV-Eh72 and now im kinda mad that Amazon updated the stock the week after i got mine. But no biggy cuz this laptop is great. The screen I have to say is really really nice. Absolutely no glare on it at all. Also it is true that it has 4 RAM slots and you can go upto 16 and some have claimed more so idk bout that. But i did add a 4gb stick and have 10gb total. The HDD comes partitioned but it isnt harder to make it a whole partition if thats your preference. As far as the gpu goes, i looked up the benchmarks and it doesnt seem to be a big difference between the GT 630m and the GT540m. I overclocked mine and it was pretty easy to do. I think the 630 would OC better since it has more dedicated memory but im not a pro at overclocking. Other than that the laptop is really nice and it rarely ever heats up. The battery life is average tho, lasts up to about 4 hours with normal use.

Heres the Nvidia GT630m benchmarks: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

And the Nvidia GT 540m benchmarks: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Another laptop you can look at is the HP Envy 15" which is on sale for 950. Its a really nice machine too but i couldnt deal with the gpu so i returned mine.

 

Rsinghtoor....thanks so much for the info...sounds great. I will take a shot and order.

I thougt Amazon was really liberal with returns & exchanges. Couldn't you have exchanged yours for the new version since it sounds like it became available just one week after you got yours? Thought you had 30 days to make exchanges??

Any comments on the reviews that knocked the keyboard? General build quality?


Thanks again....really the kind of info I was hoping to get - although I have NO idea about what over-clocking accomplishes or How to do it. ( I'll try using the search function and see if I can learn a bit about it) anything that would help to speed up Photoshop would be great...and maybe a new faster computer woul make the software from Canon usable for processing video...old computer (5 year old Toshiba) couldn't even get the video program to do anything at all. I don't do much video, so I'd like to not have to buy more software for the small amount I do. ....and have to learn it! lol......Been using Photoshop for a dozen years and still get lost sometimes.



Peace,
R.

 

you don't need to reinstall windows ultimate, the Home premium that comes preloaded is more than enough for most of user.
Than u don't need any repartioning or reformating. Just uninstall unecessary bloatware from the machine and you good to go.(optional too)

About restore disk, there is a recovery partition or you can make urself recovery dvd for future if hdd fail (optional)

You need a good fhd screen for editing and fast hdd and most of your video software will probably work on this

if u mainly use mouse than its good than i suppose this machine will be more or less sits on desk most of the time.
For build quality i think you have to check for yourself

 

For $965, I got mine for twice the power for the GPU.

Look for N55SF on tigerdirect. I think it is out of stock now. But I was considering both N53SV on amazon and ASUS N55SF-EH71 but finally decided on this.

Everything is good except the keyboard. But overall it's a very good buy !

EDIT: I tried looking it up on tigerdirect but apparently it was out of stock. Anywhere on the web is selling for $1.1-1.2k . I guessed I made a very good buy

 

Got th N53sm on Tuesday from Amazon.....very impressed! Amazing machine for the money....even compared to other Asus machines .....some strange pricing that made me think I must have missed something on a couple more expensive Asus machines with lower specs, but the person I spoke to at Amazon couldn't figure it out either....she said it looked to her the same way.

BTW it was a snap to change to a single partition as long as there is no data on the D drive.....just went into the control panel, found "disk management" and it took 5 seconds (yay Google)!

Very pleased and thanks for the input....really helped making the decision easier for someone like me that uses but doesn't know how computers work.....sort of
like how most people are about their cars.... LOL

When I was a teenager I used a timing light and spark plug gap tools...and knew how to adjust a carbeurator ( just not sure how to spell it)

Now there's no such stuff - all hidden away and I guess timing is computer controlled.


Thanks again,
Richard