bragging rights? Asus N55SL

Hey guys, I just feel like bragging a little about my new school workhorse. I just finished ordering this thing from Newegg and it feels great. I was going for a Sager, then an M14x, then a Sager, but I finally went with this. It looks so awesome I can't wait to try it out.

Newegg.com - ASUS N55SL-ES71 Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory DDR3 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M

I might post a short review of this thing later, no video or pictures or anything too fancy. So did I get a decent deal? Too late anyway, already ordered.

 

Looks nice, for under $1200, it seems like a pretty good deal, even though I think they are reducing prices on all sandy bridge processors to make room for the ivy bridge.

 

Yeah but there is really no difference between the new stuff and the current stuff or so I hear. That's why I got it now and not later.

 

It's pretty solid, upgrade wise you may want to try selling that 5400rpm hd and getting a SSD. Take note that the 635m is just a 555m rebranded, but thats nearly top of the line for Asus anyways. Enjoy your new machine

 

Yeah now I feel like I kinda got ripped off. I got this one:

Newegg.com - ASUS N55SL-ES71 Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory DDR3 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M

only to find this one after with a 7200 RPM HD.

ASUS N55SF-EH71 Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz, 8GB DDR3, 750GB HDD, DVDRW, 2GB Nvidia GT 555M, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Black, 1-YR Warranty/1-YR Accidental Damage at TigerDirect.com

Why is the price like $220 different?

I was told I'm not allowed to upgrade the hard drive (dumb parents lol) but if I could I'd put a 256gb SATA 3 SSD in there once I could afford it lol. Crap, if I got the cheaper one I could put a SSD in there now. I feel dumb.

 

Nothing preventing you from pulling a stealth upgrade on them As long as you're paying for the drive, i don't see what the problem is as it won't void the warranty.

 

Building my desktop was a bad idea and now they don't trust me with electronics because it caused my father and I some stress. It taught me stuff though. As for my question, I'm not canceling the order but is the Newegg one still a good price even though the Tiger Direct one is so much cheaper?

 

New card. Prices pop backup to "normal" Tiger is clearing stock. You payed a premium for new tech.

Enjoy your machine Gamer. You have been bouncing around here for months figuring out what you want. Stop COMPARING and enjoy. There will always be something better around the corner in the tech game. Don't let it get to you.

 

Yeah I guess your right. I know I'm going to love this thing either way. I really need to learn how to stop obsessing, but it's so hard. I'm just a senior in HS/freshman in college, what do I give a darn anyway lol

It's just really dumb how they can slap a new sticker on the card, call it a new name, and reset the prices like that. It's like buying a 2011 car at a 2012 car price.

 

Not really.

They release the 5 series, then when they develop better tech they make a better card and make that the high-end 6 series and simply rebrand the rest of the 5 series into lower-model 6 series to fill the gap.

They just need to develop the high level new series, after that - High level old series become mid level new series. Mid level old series becomes low lvl new series. It's been this way for as long as i can remember.

 

Yes it's a slightly different model ASUS N55S F-E H71 vs. your ASUS N55S L-E S71 with the only difference being the slighty better hard drive.

First they are different models as I've mentioned (in this case the "older model" happens to be STRICTLY better from the specs.) Second comparing prices from one source (tigerdirect) to another (newegg) isn't realy valid, since deals change all the time. A slighty fairer comparison would be to neweggs Newegg.com - ASUS N55SF-EH71 Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory DDR3 750GB HDD 7200rpm DL DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M, which is deactivated so we don't know its price(likely about the same as your purchase price). The short answer is you spent $220 more for a strictly worse product. However when you ordered your laptop from newegg, tiger may not have been selling that for so cheap, as prices constantly go down, especially on the verge of new hardware and refreshes.

Indeed I agree with you 100%, I consider this sick rebranding to be a criminal action. Many (including AMD) unfortunately partake in this practice, and I dont foresee an end to it. Here is proof that its the same exact card NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M - Notebookcheck.net Tech .

It's not a terrible price but again you spent $220 more for a (slightly) worse product, so thats an answer in its own right. With that money differential plus selling the hard drive (the 7200rpm is worth about $20 more, totaling a $240 theoretical "loss" ) you would be able to buy a top tier 256gb SSD like the Samsung 830..

There is no new tech here, rather its a premium for a worse model. Sure Nvidia spew and claim its new tech, but its the exact same thing as the old tech. If you put the word "supposed" new tech, maybe your statement would be more accurate. Tiger clearing stock likely is the reason for the better price. Newegg is rarely the cheapest option any way, at best it usually will match low prices.

As I said its decent and you probably will like it barring any malfunctions/defective hardware. Its good to obsess to an extent so that one day when you grow up you'll have a chance at being informed about things and won't get easily taken advantage of.

Indeed this is so, the good news is you realize this fact, it means there is hope for you yet. Most people get ripped off their entire life and live in ignorance of that fact. In a few years when your spending your own money on your next real gaming laptop you will be certain to try to get maximum value from your purchase.

If down the line you have $200 saved up and you want to upgrade to an ssd that will be a decent course of action. Its not the end of the world though if you don't upgrade/have the money.

Best Regards And Enjoy Your Machine,
SlickDragon

 

Again, i don't see how.

How is the average consumer supposed to know how a 240 compares to a 335, a 460, a 555 or a 635? How do they know if they should upgrade a 460 to a 510M? Or are they taking a performance hit?

They don't. There's too many models, too many series.

Which is why when they release the new series, they consolidate the previous series (if they are the same tech/gen) into the new series so you know how they compare to the rest of the series.

Which is also why when they rebrand cards, they don't push the price up or try to sell it off at "top of the line". 90% of the time when something's rebranded, it drops in price.

Product rebranding is one of the greatest things to affected the IT market in recent years. It's unbelievable the amount you can save just by using rebranded products. Zotac rebrands Saphire, Gainward rebrands Palit... It all simply comes down to the core components of what you're purchasing.

 

Its criminal because its passed off as new, while in reality its just recycled old crap. This is more egregious with the top tier Gtx series where the purportedly new Gtx 670m and Gtx 675m are just fermi rebrands of the 570m and 580m. Prices stay the same or are even more initially, due to these cards having a new upgraded number. See for yourself the strictly better asus with the 555m at over 20% cheaper than the 635m garbage.

I won't waste my time trying to convince you otherwise on this issue that you've stubbornly defended, just note that your in the minority on this matter and your justifications for these crimes are falling on deaf ears. Go enjoy your low tier 435m- I mean 540m, and try not to be envious when Ivy Bridge's Mediocre IGP HD 4000 makes it obsolete.

 

Slick, mark my words, if I ever have the opportunity to get a gaming laptop, then I'm getting one of these.

Maingear PC | The F131
Gaming Desktop - Best Custom Desktops | Digital Storm

They do things that some people (like me) can't do or don't have time to figure out. Case lighting, dual graphics cards, raid settings, etc. Of course I can just as well get an MSI GT783 or whatever it will be in 2-4 generations.

Well this will be my last computer purchase for awhile so I guess I'll stick with the Asus from Newegg. The other Newegg one is sold out and it won't be restocked I bet because of the new one. I'll consider this a good learning experience and move on. I'm still happy with the system I paid for, it's just that I could have gotten a better deal had I looked into it even more. On the other hand, the one I ordered is out of stock now.

The only question I have now is for the graphics card. Is it a 128 bus or a 192, and how big of a deal is it? I can't tell.

 

I know its an HP and its also an i5, but how does this make you feel? HP Laptop Coupon: Pavilion dv7t Core i5-2430M 2.4GHz, 6GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, 17.3" 1920x1080 LED, 1GB Radeon HD 7690M, Blu-ray, WiFi N, Win 7 Prem $650 + Free Shipping - Slickdeals.net

it also has a 2 year warranty and the option to customize.

 

1) that's a 17" which is too large for me
2) I'd still take an Asus over an HP given similar specs
3) guess what I'm typing on right now? I got it early

The Asus also came with an accidental damage warrany, which idk if that HP does. I got 2 extra years regular from Newegg.

 

It cost you double.

 

Hey, could anyone, how owns N55SL post GPUz screenshot here? I want to know, which version of GT 635? is in this notebook, thanks.

 

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/12/04/23/ch2.png

 

Here is the Gpu z review of 635m

 

Please do submit ur as soon as possible.
I got this model abt 2 weeks back. Very impressive ,great looks as well.
Only problems being with the "w" key and the fact that a lot of memory is used even when it is just switched on, almost 2 gb ram being used and about 95-100 processes running.

Also it hangs a lot. As soon as I plug in a usb drive, it starts refreshing and then the explorer gets stuck i.e. not responding. Might be that there must be some king of virus in the pen drive but still any and all help is welcome.

 

Shubhankar, can I ask a favour of you? I have the N55SL and seem to be having issues with the nVidia display adapter. I can't seem to enable it, despite updating drivers, rolling back drivers, setting Power4Gear to every setting...are you using the Intel and nVidia drivers that came loaded with the laptop? I click on the nVidia control panel and it states it can't find any nVidia hardware.

I've emailed Asus technical support for help but they haven't been much help so far.

Oh, you say you have hangs with the laptop. Yu can try disabling or uninstalling some of the stuff that Asus insist on loading on your machine, maybe even of the Intel software that you don't need. There are as you say, over 100 processes running, I'm pretty sure there is a lot of stuff you can live without.

 

Dear GavinT , i am using the same drivers that came loaded with the laptop
and mine is running fine. I opened the nVidia control panel and it displayed the information of my GPU.

 

Also I've removed most of the services from automatic startup but still it is quite slow for an i7 quad processor and even if it is idle still about 5-6% of memory and 25-30% proceesor is always busy.

I will be taking it to the Service Center but sugeestions are welcome.

 

guys got my n55sl no problems awsum experience. Only problem the chrome strip not properly attached to screen..and therefore a few gaps visible..from where display light bleeds in the dark. Anyone else facing this defect or should i claim warranty for it. Please reply quick..