ASUS N81Vp Review

IMO 1440x900 would be WAY too high on a 14" screen. 1280x800 is right on the verge of being too high, though it's probably almost necessary to make sure you've got enough screen realestate.

 

Yeah, different people will have different preferences. I actually prefer 1440x900 on a 14" and on a similar note, a 1680x1050 on a 15". Screen real estate is more of a necessity for me since I use photoshop on a daily basis.

 

I agree, i used a notebook with WUXGA on a 15" and it fell a bit too small 1680 is fine for 15" id say.

 

Resolution is a little like boxing. In boxing, they have different weight classes... light weight, welter weight, heavy weight, etc. And when you compare boxers, you generally compare them to boxers within their own weight class... which is based on 'weight', as opposed to tall/short or wide/slim-ness.

When looking at resolution, I figure it can be helpful to do the same. Going from the native resolution of the N80 to the N81, there is no change in 'weight' class in terms of resolution/pixels... but the N81 still outweighs the N80. I only bring this up, 'cause i've read SOOO many posts by people who complained that the N81 resolution went DOWN compared to the N80, simply because they saw a 9, instead of a 10, in the new pixel aspect ratio of 16:9.

For sure, you can have several ever increasing resolutions (weight classes) within the 16:9 ratio, and the same can be said for 16:10. But a lot of people aren't referring to that when they gripe about "16:9" being lower resolution than "16:10". If someone really wants to complain about low resolution, then yes, they should be referring to a higher resolution 'class'... not it's aspect ratio within it's current resolution 'class'.

In my earlier post, I chose to compare apples to apples and address this misperception many people seem to carry... and compared the N81 to it's obvious peer, the N80. If BOTH of their resolution is too low for someone, than fine... gripe about it and suggest an entirely different resolution class with your personally preferred aspect ration, being EITHER 16:9 or 16:10... but always remember, it's not the ratio that determines the resolution 'class'.

 

I get about 3.5 hours in battery save mode running office applications (OpenOffice and Gnumeric) with wireless lan turned off. Battery save puts the processor at 60% (max) and the screen at 40%. The cool thing is, that this particular laptop still feels pretty fast at 60%, and the screen is still plenty bright. Unless you're gaming or watching video, I wouldn't hesitate to run in battery save mode.

EDIT: Also, by default Asus sets the desktop to 16-bit color and hides the icons. I disabled that "feature" with the checkbox that says "power saving desktop".

Another edit: I tested it again today (March 13th). I set it to battery save, then did a budget in Gnumeric and typed a letter in OpenOffice. I touched the touchpad whenever I'd see the screen blank out. This time it lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes before going to hibernate.

 

Yay for low resolution screens! What happened to the old 1440x900 SXGA+ screen? We gave that up for this ridiculous 720p junk? Well at least now there's no incentive to buy a 14" Asus.

 

I really felt that way too, when I was considering going from an A8Js to the N81Vp. But, I did it anyway.... This screen is way brighter and has way better color. It's all about the LED backlighting. So I'm overall very happy. More resolution would have been nice, but the N81Vp does not in any aspect suck.

Also, it's only a 20% difference. The pixels are just laid out wider. Not really that noticeable in actual use.

 

I still say there is a 1600 x 900 screen coming.....Stay Tuned.

 

when?? probably buy one soon ,april, by then, will asus release a 1600x900 ?

 

This screen as someone else pointed out is actually slightly HIGHER resolution than the model it replaced, and regardless it's really high resolution for a 14" screen.

It looks great on 16", let alone 14" (and on my similar res screen I have to blow up text a bunch as it is).

 

Id be ok with that res on this machine.

What is a 14" targeting?

I say general use and business. For that its a great fit. The only times I see myself wishing I had really high resoluitons is for photoshop & video editing and a 14" is definitely not targeting those people.

I can make due with the little EEE for almost anything, so this would be just fine. I like 1680x1050 on my 15" it feels just right and a 15" is targeted for things said above as it has a lot more power packed into it.

 

EDIT: Stay on topic!

 

Hello everyone,

im looking to buy a N81vp soon. I was reading that someone said the ATI card in the n81 is better than the GeForce 9650M. If this is the case how come in GenTech PCs CoD4 demos, the GeForce equipped notebooks look more detailed.

I have included links to both videos for comparison.
N81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaV9Z7uY1Do

N50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr5CFRd-qf8

 

I think it's the ambient lighting conditions that's making the N50 appear to have better graphics. If you look at the settings, both are set the same with the exception of resolution. The N81Vp is set at a higher resolution, yet it still achieves higher fps in the demo.

 

Am glad to see smaller notebooks becoming more well rounded. Battery life notwithstanding, I think this should do well if the price is right

 

You are right it sort of does sound like a fact doesn't it?

I can't see why people are making a big deal? Think about it its a 14"!!! Why do we need 1920 x 1080 screens and stuff on a such a smal notebook? People are just making it difficult

If you think about it, a 1680 x 1050 screen is a PERFECT size for a 15". The Icons and stuff look just right can you imagine a res like that on a 14"? That just wouldnt look good if you are getting a 14" 1366 is a fine size.

 

ohh alrite. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

You are so right. Have a +rep.

That's what he's been doing all over NBR.... "BELIEVE ME IT WILL HAVE A 4670 OR BETTER OMG STAY TUNED LOL"

 

what a troll lol.

See making a speculation sound like fact is different form saying hey this WILL HAVE THIS which i didnt say about the screen.

 

This problem has been solved.

 

Guys, please stay on topic.

 

Alright. I'll delete my posts, seeing as they'll be deleted anyways.

I probably misread your comment, going on my unstoppable rampage of giddiness when I find a powerful yet cool looking notebook

 

ok im erasing my posts this is over for now.

 

Indeed. There is a lot of wasted space vertically, should have gotten a 16:10 screen instead to save some pixels and money in production. 16:9 sucks anyways IMO.

I compared the data and dimension wise it's larger than a T400 and only a tad smaller than a Dell Studio 15.

 

Here is my reasoning: I hate 16:9 as most programmers or CAD users and the like do, because it eliminates vertcial viewing area, means more scrolling and less vertical viewing space. This notebook is of course not targeted at this kind of audience, but recently announced notebook panels are all 16:9 and this is now more and more becoming mainline. And it means that sooner or later 16:9 will replace 16:10 as it happened to 4:3 a few years back.

So I'm not completely off topic. This is why I "hate" this notebook

 

My N81Vp arrived yesterday from GenTech thanks to a speedy shipment by Ken (I am a fan now).
I have had a little time to play with it and so far I am impressed. The LCD panel has been a pleasure and I am very happy with the system as a whole.

I intend on doing some baseline benchmarking (more along the lines of boot/suspend/resume times and application start times, essentially the things that matter to me day in and day out) before going through the steps in the ASUS optimization thread to see what difference it makes.

Ultimately I imagine I will do a base Vista install and build up from that but we will see.

Anyone completed a Win 7 installation on one of these? That is pretty high on my list to try. After seeing how it performed on my MSI Wind I would love to see how it runs on this.

 

So to rephrase my question again, has the physical dimension of the N81 LCD screen panel been reduced compared to the N80 and F8?

From pictures, the size of the F8 and N80 LCD panels appear identical, but I think the N81 panel looks vertically shorter because of the extra 1cm frame around the screen.

I know that resolution wise...
F8va = 1440x900
N81vp = 1366x768
N80vn = 1280x800

But coming from an owner of a F8Va, if I had the choice of running a lower resolution at 1280x800, I'd rather have a bigger (vertical-wise) LCD panel to run it on. And as others have already mentioned, each bit of vertical space is essential for programmers.

 

Comparing dimensions only:

ASUS N81Vp-14.1"TFT(1366x768)-13.5x 10.1x 1.6” - 5lbs 11.1oz(6cell)
ThinkPad T400-14.1" WXGA(1440 x 900)-13.2" x 9.4"x1.47/1.12"- 5.lbs 4.8oz(9cell).
HP EliteBook-14.1"TFT(1280 x 800)-13.0 x 9.6 x 1.2" -5.2Ibs

The ASUS N81p is a little wider, thicker, heavier and taller than the Thinkpad T400 although it has lower resolution screen. With its 16*9 ratio, it's still as tall as most 16*10 laptops (taller than the T400).
The ASUS is CHEAPER though.

 

Probably designed better too...

 

Neither of those laptops has discrete graphics. Without a real graphics card, they aren't even in the same performance class as the Asus.

Also, where did the "5 lbs 11.1 oz" come from? I'm not necessarily disputing it. But GenTech lists the N81 as 5.2 pounds, NewEgg lists it as 5.5 pounds. Nowhere I've seen lists it as 5 pounds 11 ounces. If I had an accurate scale I'd check for myself.

 

The first page of this review.
I'll get the ASUS though, if i were to be looking for a new laptop. Its cheaper than the T400 and much more powerful. Plus i just love how this ASUS is able to manage heat and noise with all the power.

 

It says 5ibs 11ounces on the first page of this review.

I'll get the ASUS though, if i were to be looking for a new laptop. Its cheaper than the T400 and much more powerful. Plus i just love how this ASUS is able to manage heat and noise with all the power.

 

T400 is available with an ATI 3470.

 

Which doesn't come close to what the n80 or n81 have though.

 

It's not quite fair to compare the Lenovo T400 with the Asus N81Vp. They are in completely different classes - business vs. consumer.
The T400 will have a much sturdier build to meet the needs of a road warrior, while the N81Vp is a budget gaming notebook, jammed pack with power and multimedia features, coupled with the best GPU for a 14" form factor that's enough to satisfy most gamers.

 

Yeah that is kinda strange, the T400 is a solid deal but graphically couldnt touch the N81...where did that come up anyway? lol

 

I'd almost rather have the N81 than my G50, because I love 14.1 inch notebooks in terms of portability and the Mobility Radeon 4650 would be enough power to play my most important game (actually it's overkill!): Battlefield 2!!!!

But if you look at the youtube videos chronicling the N81's gaming capabilities, it's quite impressive. There is a video of a guy playing Crysis with a mixture of medium and high settings. Quite impressive for a 14.1 inch laptop. Not to mention it's got one of the best Core 2 Duos you can get. $1300 for the N81 is quite the solid deal. And after thinking about it, I'd rather have the N81 instead of the G50 but the G50 just has that extra "umph" I need for playing newer games, especially at rather high resolutions, unless it's Crysis or STALKER: Clear Sky of course.

 

Hi!
I'm looking for a laptop that can replace a desktop computer at home and that can be carried out pretty easily, and this one seems to be the best choice...

I just wondered (as I use it on a 1920*1200 24" screen at home) if you guys have seen some benchmarks or just tried it on such a big resolution. Is it to possible to play recent games like L4D with a good image quality in 1920*1200?

Other question, do you know if there is some 9 cells battery for this computer? How much longer does it last if there is?

Thank you!
Taharoa

 

hi! i'm looking for a new machine for audio recording and stumbled across this one. now I#ve got a big favor to ask of you n81vp users. for consideration i need to know about the dpc latency of this notebook. it's possible to check using the dpc latency checker available for free on this website: http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml its possible to run and check without install. it'll be great if one of you would post latency results. Please post which os you are using, too.

 

What's it need to be below? I just checked on my n80nv, and it's mostly hovering around 120-130ish, but shot to 929 when I was doing something or other. That's with like 20 programs open though, if that matters.

 

i guess below the yellow bar, try shutting some programs und run the tool again. thx

 

You know, I forgot to mention that that was with 100% utilization of both my CPUs and GPU going on in the background

 

ok, then

 

Hi
I have asus g50vt-x1 and this laptop really good for gaming but with a big problem: Heavy weight!!!!!

for this reason I want to replace the g50 with n81vp.
Do you think n81 is as good as g50,considering better portability?(of course I know 4650 is weaker than 9800gs)
Is there any better 14inch laptop?(from other brands)
thanks in advance.

 

No answer?

 

Uh no. 4650's and the N81 is the best it could get for a 14 incher. But at least with the smaller form factor and relatively low native resolution, you could both game on it and remain mobile. The second best currently out there is a Sony CW with its Nvidia GT230M, which is a little bit worse than the 4650.

 

AFAIK some reports of owners said it was quite big for a 14 incher, to the point it could be a 15 inch laptop with a 14 inch screen. But dont quote me on that.

I suggest using the owners lounge.

 

14" N81VP = 2.5kgs with HD4650
15.4" MSI GT640 = 2.74kgs with GTS250M + i7 cpu, 1680x1050 LCD.

Worth waiting for the release of the GT640.

If want really good gaming consider DIY ViDock + HD5870. If can find a candidate x2 capable notebook then would get > 20k 3dmark06 as shown by the benchmarks. External LCD though but get a stack of portability.

 

Peronsally the laptop you've already got sounds plenty small to me. I mostly not my n80nv because it was the closest and cheapest mix of features that worked for me, and size didn't' really have anything to do with it.

Of course it's my first notebook really, so maybe if I end up with an 18.4" notebook next I'll think differently, but hopefully not.

 

Hello people!
I am the happy owner of the Asus N81VP-D1, running Windows XP x64!!!
(Sorry, I decided to wipe it out...disappointed)
Who wants to know how to install XP x64?