N82JQ-A1 vs. U43JC-A1

I've been looking around the forums and have almost decided on what laptop I should buy. However, before I pull the trigger I'm looking for a little advice/opinions from those of you who own either of the two above. If you're looking for more info on my laptop needs, here's a link to my "What should I buy" post with the form all filled out. If you're too busy to click the link here's a condensed version of what I need from whatever I purchase:

A 14" laptop costing less than $1,500 USD that will easily handle MULTIMEDIA HEAVY PowerPoint presentations that are output to external projectors for playback in front of large groups (two to five thousand people) where stuttering, dropped frames, chugging and screen dumps are death. I also need to work in PhotoShop (heavy use), Illustrator (light use) and every once in a while audio/video editing (very light).

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Just for full disclosure, I'm also looking at three other laptops;

• HP Envy 14 - very similar to the N82JQ-A1, but past run-ins with HP support make me very hesitant to buy
• Sager NP5125 - Seems great, but people have JUST started to receive them so I'm withholding judgement for a few days.
• ASUS U45JC-A1 - Seems to be the same as the U43JC-A1 but without the bamboo.

 

I own an n82jv. I love this laptop. However, the lcd's on the ASUS offerings are very poor in terms of contrast and colors. If you're going to use photoshop without an external monitor, stay away. The sager or envy have much better screens. Personally, I would never get the envy 14 again due to its myriad other problems.

 

Would you say the ASUS screens are worse than, the same as, or better than the screen of my three year old Lenovo T61p?

 

I am just setting up my new N82JG-A1 right now, nice well built laptop. It's good and sturdy and really fast too! It's replacing a dell that blew apart structurally after only two years. As to the N82 screen. I thought it looked pretty good, The contrast is supposed to be on the lower side but the colors seem nice and vibrant. No doubt you could do a little adjusting in geforce drivers to get close. In the end I don't think you'd be disappointed against your older T61p.

 

That's great news about the screen because my T61p's were just fine for the type of work I do when on the road. If the N82JG-A1 is just as good or better when it comes to color rendition, then I'd be very happy indeed. Plus, I can always hook into an external monitor if I need color perfection. Now, I hope it's alright if I ask you a few more questions.

1. If by "setting up" your N82JG-A1 you mean doing a clean install, how difficult is it to install all the necessary drivers? If all you're doing is removing bloatware, how much of it is there and might it be better to do a clean install?
2. Does the laptop seem structurally sound enough to support constant travel through airports with all that entails?
3. Is it possible for you to post a full-size screenshot of the desktop running a program similar to PhotoShop? If not, then how about something similar to PowerPoint or Word? I'd like to see how the odd (to me) resolution will impact my work areas.
4. Does the laptop allow for 1024x768 output to an external monitor and what are the 16x9 resolutions it can output to an external monitor?
5. Is the little hinged door on the right side annoying? I understand there are two USB ports and the Ethernet port under that door and I'd think opening and closing it all the time would become annoying. Does it seem like it might break off or anything with constant use?

 

1. Yes there is lots of bloatware and what I did and what I should have done are two different things. I uninstalled bloatware and tried to make recovery discs. AI recovery sucks. I am now preparing to do a clean install instead and installing drivers is easy. There are many guides on this forum to do a clean install.

2. I like the build. It is actually for my University age son (it's his 18th birthday present) that destroyed a typical dell in two school years. This thing is quite rigid with what appears to be good hinges and the top of it (screen backing) is aluminum so the screen doesn't twist much. It's also pretty classy looking.

3. not going to have time for bit. Kids birthday and hockey stuff this weekend.

4. supports all the standard formats for output.

5. I could do without the door but there is still a usb port on the other side and we are wireless exclusively. I not sure if the door will last but if I had to access it every day I would just remove it anyway, it's not really necessary.

 

benamin,
Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

Does anyone who owns a U43JC-A1 have anything to say about that machine?

 

OK, the silence seems to speak for itself. My last question I guess is this:
Does anyone know if there's a laptop similar to or better than the N82JQ-A1 arriving in the next two weeks? I'd hate to buy the N82JQ-A1 this week only to discover something better comes out at the end of the month.
Thanks!