ASUS N61VN Review

The N61VN is a new 16-inch gaming and multimedia notebook from ASUS designed to compete against systems like the HP Pavilion dv6t and Dell Studio XPS 16. It includes a built-in Blu-ray player and NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M graphics meaning it can handle the latest HD movies and newest games. Just how well does the N61VN stack up against the competition? Read our full review to find out.

ASUS N61VN-A2 Specifications:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2.0GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• 16" WXGA HD LCD display at 1366x768
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M 1GB GDDR3 memory
• Atheros AR9285 BGN Wireless, Bluetooth
• 4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM (2GB x 2)
• 320GB Seagate 7200.4 Hard Drive
• Blu-ray/DVD SuperMulti
• 1.3MP Webcam, Included Slipcase
• 90W (19V x 4.74A) 100-240V AC Adapter
• 6-cell 48Wh 10.8v 4400mAh Lithium Ion battery
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 15.4 x 10.6 x 1.5
• Weight: 6lbs 6.6oz
• 2-Year Global Warranty/1-Year Accidental damage
• List Price: $1,299

Build and Design
The ASUS N61VN has a rather inconspicuous outside appearance that doesn’t really hint at the multimedia and gaming beast housed within. I actually prefer this semi-professional look since it gives the impression you could be typing an essay or surfing the web instead of actually killing zombies or battling other online gamers. The contrasting textures inside and outside the N61VN are great in both form and function. The outside shell is finished with a glossy paint and a very subtle zen garden style design. The interior switches to an almost rubbery finish similar to the outside paint on a Lenovo ThinkPad. To your wrists it feels soft and it still retains traction even if your hands aren’t dry. The finish also resists fingerprints and most smudges which helps to keep it looking clean longer than a glossy finish. The only time you really start to notice marks on the rubbery paint is when oil from your hands start to build up in spots you frequently touch. This cleans off well with a microfiber cloth.

Build quality is excellent with a solid chassis, durable paint, and strong screen hinges. The glossy and rubbery paint resists most wear and tear very well. It was no problem keeping the notebook looking brand new after wiping down the glossy front and palmrest every few days. The notebook body is constructed in such a way to prevent most flexing and creaking sounds when carried. On a flat desk surface the palmrest has basically no flex at all and the keyboard only shows minimal movement from the tray itself under strong pressure. The thick screen bezel protects the display from front or rear impacts and doesn’t show any screen distortions from strong pressure on the back side. Even the screen hinges feel strong, requiring two hands to open the display. When close they have enough tension to keep the screen snug against the body without falling forward if you have the notebook standing up vertically.

Users looking to upgrade components will find it no problem with the complete access ASUS provides. The hard drive, system memory, wireless card, processor, and heatsink are all replaceable with the two access panels removed. Usually most systems only give a glimpse of the processor or heatsink through the main access panel, requiring you to fully disassemble the notebook to reach those parts. To save space ASUS used an integrated graphics card soldered to the motherboard instead of the MXM-standard which is sometimes user upgradeable. The only component with a "warranty void if removed" sticker is the processor which is normal for the majority of notebooks. Another item worth noting is the unused mini-PCIe slot has no header soldered to the motherboard. This means users thinking about adding a WWAN card or other device won’t be able to.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The ASUS N61VN offers an island style keyboard with four-row numberpad. The wide 16” chassis gives plenty of room for non-condensed keys while still maintaining a good border around the perimeter of the keyboard. The keyboard is very comfortable to type on and once you get used to the Chiclet-style keys it is very responsive. You can notice some minor flex under strong pressure but it was only the tray moving, not the underlying structure. Individual key action is smooth with a quiet “clack” emitted when fully pressed. Multimedia keys are limited to mute, volume up and down, and play/pause. Another thing missing from this notebook is a backlit keyboard which seems to be standard on most ASUS models in this pricerange.

ELAN touchpads have come a long way since I first started to see them introduced in popular notebooks. The first generations had trouble with lag and finger tracking, but now they are on par with the latest Synaptics touchpads. The ASUS N61VN includes a multitouch enabled ELAN touchpad that is very intuitive in use. It supports two-finger scrolling, zooming, rotating, as well as three-finger magnifying, swiping, and window selection. The ELAN utility also supports multi-finger clicking to emulate a middle-button click and pop-up menu by default. These can be changed to other options including (but not limited to) start menu access and return to desktop. Lag is minimal at worst and only noticed under very fast repetitive motions. Touchpad sensitivity is excellent but it can’t be adjusted through the software interface. Below the touchpad is a single rocker-style button for left and right click. It has shallow feedback and gives off a solid "click" when pressed.

Screen and Speakers
ASUS includes a WXGA resolution screen with this configuration of the N61VN. This is very disappointing given the built-in Blu-ray player and gaming nature of this notebook. At a minimum for the 16” screen size they should have offered a 1600x900 panel… especially with its $1,299 price tag. The display rates average in terms of color saturation and contrast. Viewing brightness was adequate in our bright office but with an all-glass style screen cover outdoor viewing would be difficult. In the office I found the comfortable viewing brightness level to be 90-100% and 60-70% in my home. Viewing angles were average for a screen of this resolution but weaker when compared to notebooks of this price range. Vertical viewing angles showed some color distortion in as little as 10 degrees forward or back. Horizontal viewing angles were better as colors stayed accurate even at steep angles.

The onboard speakers were average compared to other 16” notebooks, with good high notes but weak midrange and low-frequency response. Peak volume levels were fine for watching a movie or listening to music in a small room. For watching movies the volume was set to 100%, as any lower would be hard to understand if there was too much background noise. Headphones or listening through a stereo connected over HDMI would really be the best option for this notebook.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the ASUS N61VN was great with three USB-ports, one eSATA/USB combo port, LAN, VGA and HDMI-out, and two audio jacks. Additional features include an ExpressCard/34 slot, a SDHC-card reader, and a quick access wireless on/off switch.

While the system includes a Blu-ray drive it doesn’t include anything to decode Blu-ray movies. ASUS includes a crippled version of PowerDVD 9 that prompts you to upgrade to a better version to play Blu-ray movies when a disc is inserted. The Acer 8940G was another notebook that didn’t include Blu-ray software even though it included the drive. These days it seems like manufacturers are trying to find new and inventive ways to save money, even if it passes unexpected costs onto the consumer.

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Performance and Benchmarks
Since the ASUS N61VN was released around the same time as the G51J we were partially expecting Intel Core i7 processors in both systems. Even though each system is quad-core, the N61VN comes equipped with the older Q9000 Core 2 Quad processor. With that said the notebook still performs quite well in a wide range of tasks. With the help of the 7200RPM hard drive startup and shutdown times were excellent and programs load without any lag. Gaming performance is very good with the NVIDIA 240M, handling many of the latest games with ease at the system&rsquo;s WXGA resolution. Playing through a level of Left 4 Dead with FRAPS running in the background we saw an average of 66FPS, a peak of 107FPS, and a minimum of 35FPS. This was with all detail settings set to high and anti-aliasing turned to its lowest setting. HD movie playback was no problem either, with 1080P video barely bringing the system load above 10%.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution (higher scores mean better performance):

HDTune hard drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
The N61VN handles its heat output very well when performing low-stress activities like browsing the web, typing documents, listening to music, or watching movies. The palmrest and keyboard stay just above room temperature; which is great if you sit at your notebook for hours. This changes while gaming though as the system warms up considerably within the first 10 to 15 minutes. With the processor and GPU tasked the palmrest and keyboard measured around 90 degrees, with a hot spot on the bottom measuring nearly 100 degrees near the exhaust vent. If you were playing a game with the notebook sitting on your lap this would probably get pretty uncomfortable.

Noise from the cooling fan was minimal under normal conditions. With the processor near idle the fan stayed off most of the time and occasionally spun up briefly. While gaming, noise increased with the spinning faster and it staying on longer.

Battery Life
The N61VN performed quite well on battery even though ASUS only includes a 48Wh battery standard. In our tests with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and Windows 7 on the Balanced profile the N61VN stayed on for 3 hours and 22 minutes. During the test power consumption varied between 12 and 14 watts. Considering the battery had to power a quad-core processor, mid-range graphics card, and 7200RPM hard drive, getting above 3 hours was very good.

Conclusion
The ASUS N61VN works very well as an entry-level gaming system with media playing capabilities. The NVIDIA 240M graphics paired with the Intel Q9000 processor handled modern games at a lower WXGA resolution without completely destroying battery life. The system has a slimmer design compared to a true gaming system like the ASUS G51J and it also weighed a good deal less. With that said the system does have a few limitations, including a lower resolution WXGA panel and no included Blu-ray decoding software. For most buyers when they see that their notebook includes a Blu-ray drive they generally assume the system can read and play movies. That wasn&rsquo;t the case with the limited version of PowerDVD 9 that was included. Besides the screen and limited software the N61VN still has quite a few things going for it. It has a good design, a very solid chassis, and a great keyboard. Given the missing Blu-ray software I think the best advice I could give people looking to purchase this system would be to checkout the N61VN-A1. It offers the same features as the N61VN-A2, but instead of a Blu-ray drive it has a standard DVD-multi drive and costs $100 less.

Pros:

• Responsible looking design
• Great build quality
• Good gaming performance

Cons:

• Limited WXGA resolution
• No Blu-ray decoding software

Related Articles:

• ASUS G51J Review

 

Great review, thanks. Battery life is also really good considering it has a Blu ray drive, quad core and (considerably) good GFX.

Any idea as to the number of fans this thing has?

Duane

 

A great looking laptop. It looks almost as good as competitions (XPS16, Vaio FW), and I prefer its look over that of G series.

That being said, I don't really understand what this laptop intends to be. LCD seems to be vastly inferior compared to other laptops of this size and price (again, XPS16 and FW). It directly compete with their own G series in price, and Q9000 is a bit of unusual choice....

 

Great review Kevin, hey, how come you are using the Windows 7 without the Aero Interface?

Interesting how this scored better than the 1747 using an i7 and 4650 on 3DMark06, yet when accounting the CPU as power, the i7 eats the C2Q. So the GT240M is not bad...

 

Its disabled for the benchmarks.

 

Awesome review, i already have a owners lounge with some extra pictures from david:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=419712

 

That and we prefer not to put any stress on the GPU for our battery tests.

 

Agreed....this does seem to be a bit of an oddity.

Given the comparatively low resolution, I would venture to guess this was included so people could play at somewhat high resolutions without sacrificing battery life (anything higher and I suspect it would move into G-series territory...) ??

The lack of any Blu-Ray decoding software, even a basic/no-frills player, kills it for me and am inclined to agree with Kevin's suggestion that shoppers check out the 'A1' model ($100 less, DVD multi drive instead of BR) instead.

 

No Blu-ray decoding software? Stingy.

 

One note about the Asus N61VN. I just received mine and am very pleased with it except for one thing.

The touchpad doesn't work too well. It makes jerky, choppy movements. If you try to hover over something, the cursor is bouncing everywhere.

Oddly, I uninstalled the Elan touchpad drivers that came with the unit and the problem went away. The drawback with that is that you lose the special touchpad features like scrolling and zooming.

 

The N61VN-A1 on Amazon doesn't list a Blu Ray drive...is that correct?

EDIT: Yeah, looks like it's the A2 that has Blu Ray, for $100 more MSRP, but it's either sold out, or not available yet.

The GPU is a little weird to me. Not terrible, but I'm surprised it doesn't have a 96 or 112 core GPU considering Asus models for the same price do. (Though 48 core will definitely play today's games...and unlike the G51j this one is hopefully STABLE.)

 

I should have asked too...does this ship with Asus' 120 watt PSU?

 

Currently the N61VN only ships with the 90w power brick. During most reviews I keep the power bricks plugged into a Kill a Watt to see how far they are stressed while running benchmarks and under normal use. The N61VN only hit its higher limits when it was under stress and charging the battery from near empty. Unlike some other notebooks with slightly higher specs I think the 90w paired with this notebook should be fine.

 

Makes you wonder why they didn't go with the i7 as I doubt it would have raised the price too much.

 

I didn't realize this would just be using Asus' 90 watt PSU! That's the same as my current N80. I think I'd still buy the 120 though, just to have the extra overheard since they're apparently compatible.

Coldmack, regarding the i7, not sure why they didn't include it, but the use of a Core 2 is one of the reasons I'm looking at this. The PM55 chipset has a USB problem, which (most severely for a lot of people) screws up iPod/iPhone support. I've read that Asus has issued BIOS updates for (some? all?) their i7 systems, but most companies haven't(?)

At any rate, this is supposed to be stable and not have weird issues, so that's why I'm looking at it

I figure there's probably not a huge difference between a 1.6GHz i7 and a 2GHz Core 2 anyway when you're engaging all the cores (since the 25% clock speed advantage has to help offset the more powerful i7 core).

 

I would have the N61VN-A1 as my #1 contender except for the above - if it had the 1600 x 900 panel resolution, it would be ideal for me.

Is there any similar Asus that has that?

I find it's an either or with Asus regarding specs I want.

If it has a 1600x900, it's either way over my budget or it's missing eSATA. If it is within my budget, has a Core 2 Duo P8700 or better and eSATA, the res is lower, often 1366 x 768. 'Can't win... :-(

 

i think there will be a hardware update on the n61 for 2010

listed as the
ASUS N61JA-JX046X

Intel Core i5 430M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
16 inch 1600x900

this would be great.

http://www.hardware.info/en-US/productdb/bGpka5ibmJLKZcg/viewproduct/ASUS_N61JAJX046X_N61JAJX046X/

 

Not for me. I'd need an Nvidia GPU, plus I'd want to be sure the PM55 USB issues have been straightened out.

 

Cool, so this and the Aus X77 will both have the 5730..........

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=445345

What i want to know is X77 is coming in January i wonder if this notebook will as well?

 

The screen is not of 1600x900, its of 1366x768
In a 16" screen such low resolution means its NOT FULL HD ( Source)
Any update on pricing of N61Ja ?