the battle of the ASUS 15"

Hey guys,
This is my first post in this forum!

It's time I finally get a laptop so I've been looking for one for a couple of weeks now. I've been looking as ASUS laptops because they have gotten good reviews both on their models and as a company. I used to be familiar with them because they made pretty good motherboards and other pc components.

What I'm looking for

screen: 15" WXGA+ 1440x900
processor: Intel core duo
Price range: <1100 US$
video card: dedicated, good for some gaming, and great for dvd playing as well. I do not want a video card that will drain too much battery though.
ram: 2gb +
hd: 200 gb+
drive: dvd burner, no need for blue ray
weight: I'm not looking for a heavy desktop replacement, I still want to be able to move around with it although I won't be traveling much with it.

The laptop i see most often that meets these requirements is the asus N50 series, they're sold by many asus retailers. It isn't the only model though, others like some F3 series and F5 series are available.

Any advice on which model to get guys?

If anyone has an N50 could you comment on how sturdy it feels and the touchpad itself? I'd like a decent touch pad, i saw some X83s at Best Buy and the touch pad wasn't very attractive, the L and R mouse buttons felt a little tough to press.

 

lol just get an asus G50vt and call it a day.

if that is too heavy the Asus N80/N50 is a fine choice good luck

 

thanks for the input

I'd get an N50 or N80 over the G50 series because i'm not a gamer. I just want to retain the possibility of gaming in my laptop i.e. i want a decent video card.

 

also i've read reviews that the glossy surface readily collects finger prints which doesn't sound attractive at all

i'm also looking at the x59 retails around 800 bucks now
any comments on that one?

 

Not at all...

 

what made you decide to get the N80 over the X59sr?

 

i cant speak cause i dont own one but the LED screen in n50/n80 is GORGEOUS look at pics in the asus review forum you will see what i mean.

 

Definitely stay away from the G50 if battery life is a major factor, or be prepared to get a spare 9 cell. The max I've ever eeked out is 3 hours, but with painfully low brightness and no wifi. The G50 would give you 2+ hours under more reasonable settings.

 

Welcome!

The overall sturdiness is good, and the synaptics touchpad itself is very good and responsive (although i would like to see Asus update their synaptics drivers to include more recent two finger gestures etc.)

The silver buttons were indeed very stiff and awkard for a few days, but after 3 months i haven't even thought about it until you mentioned it again.
You can't accidentally press them, but they are softer then when i first got it.

I do believe it is actually a good notebook, the keyboard I'm typing from now is really good. I also wanted the ability to play the odd game, but mainly for general duties and professional applications. And for this the N50 is a really nice mix. The glossy black top is easy to clean, and while it collects dust easily the fingerprints surprisingly don't seem to be an issue. Noise and heat is minimal.

The LED screen is great, however be warned that the LED screen is only 1200x800 models, other screen options on the N50 do not have the LED backlighting, such as your requested 144x900. (I would of liked that res too)

Hope it helps...

 

thanks, that resolved my concerns for the N50 but i'm also drooling over the m51 seen here

m51 @newegg

The main difference is that it is powered by a Turion X2 rather than a core 2 duo

Thoughts on Turion: don't have any experience but...
-read that they drain more power from the battery
-they aren't as performant and that as a rule of thumb intel was the way to go for laptops
the clock speed for this particular model processor is 2.20 ghz with 2mb of cache memory

here are the specs from amd.com amd's specs

 

i own an m51Sn, so I can't really speak to the Turion in it specifically. However, they are generally not as good as the C2D's. The M51 are ok at everything, but don't really excel at anything.
Pros:
Looks decent, good performance, good port selection, solid build quality, ASUS warranty
Cons:
Awful battery life (~3 hrs absolute max), kind of large for a 15" laptop (big bezel)

 

thanks for the help guys
in the end i decided to opt for the x59sr which was 200 bucks off on newegg, with the tax it was still cheaper at newegg then elsewhere.
+ i didn't need the specs that the N50 i was looking at had. I'll be fine with a 1280x800, in fact most of the laptops i saw at Best Buy and Circuit City (which is now bankrupt and liquidating) were 1280x800, not one single 15" notebook at those retail stores had a 1440x900 resolution, and it didn't bother me.
i now own an ASUS laptop