Asus N53JF Owner's Lounge

[mzil]

I think I may have a reason for why that anandtech review linked to (^ above) was surprised that what they believed to be the same AU screen performed with inferior "brightness" and "contrast" compared to the same in another (Dell?) notebook they had checked out.

If you were a reviewer you'd of course bypass any battery conservation mode and put the unit in the top level, maximum, "High performance" mode as the "Power4Gear Hybrid" utility built in calls it. Right? WRONG! That mode strangely is not the brightest for the LCD. One of the intermediate modes called "Entertainment" is. You can not have maximum brightness nor maximum contrast ratio unless you make the whites as bright as is humanly possible!

He goofed.

[He is right however that the "super duper B&O speaker system" is nothing special at all. The laws of physics can't be broken. Speakers that are 1 inch (or so) in diameter don't and never will have bass. End of story.]

[megezihans]

I think I may have a reason for why that anandtech review linked to (^ above) was surprised that what they believed to be the same AU screen performed with inferior "brightness" and "contrast" compared to the same in another (Dell?) notebook they had checked out.

If you were a reviewer you'd of course bypass any battery conservation mode and put the unit in the top level, maximum, "High performance" mode as the "Power4Gear Hybrid" utility built in calls it. Right? WRONG! That mode strangely is not the brightest for the LCD. One of the intermediate modes called "Entertainment" is. You can not have maximum brightness nor maximum contrast ratio unless you make the whites as bright as is humanly possible!

He goofed.

[He is right however that the "super duper B&O speaker system" is nothing special at all. The laws of physics can't be broken. Speakers that are 1 inch (or so) in diameter don't and never will have bass. End of story.]

I intended to order an ASUS N53jf here in Belgium or in France in a configuration mostly according to the XE1 (certainly with the FHD screen).
However the recent review from anandtech mentioned above makes me doubting. Especially the negative comment on the FHD worries me.
I should use it as a multimedianotebook, kind of all-purpose: Some gaming (not high-end), watching a movie, internet, officework, but also some photoshop. Should the bad results in contrast and brightness in the review of anandtech keep me away from the notebook?

In Europe I read some reviews of owners who are very satisfied with the great FHD they have on the N53jf. Are they talking about the same screen?

Any suggestions in the same price category are very welcome? (It's only my second notebook; my first was an acer 5920g).

Thanks

[mzil]

I have zero reservations regarding the contrast and brightness. I think that reviewer simply errantly had it what he mistakenly thought was the brightest and most vivid mode, "high performance", not knowing that the Asus turns the brightness down to "8" in that mode, for reasons I don't fully understand, and that instead "entertainment" is the brightest battery conservation mode with a factory default mode setting of "10". [Note: I am putting the numbers 8 and 10 in quotes because they are not an actual measure of illumination such as "nits", lumens, lux, candlepower, etc. but they are however the literal number the Asus utility uses to describe what it has done in these two modes. These aren't my arbitrary assessments; they are the verbatim description Asus uses, that is.

Keep in mind I'm not a nearsighted fanboy looking to defend my product at all cost. I've already mentioned that the absolute black level is not very good (although LCDs never are), and the off axis viewing is not good at all either, since it uses a TN TFT LCD, but their gripe about the brightness being low is inaccurate. They simply had it in the wrong mode which is understandable considering Asus' terminology of "high performance" being used on one of its dimmed modes.

P.S. I just wrote this in the brightest setting, "Entertainment", and I would say it is too bright for indoor livingroom lighting. It would be better for outdoors use. Also keep in mind that one can adjust the brightness on the fly on a scale of 1-10 from the Fn F5 and F6 keys quickly and easily.

[SomeGuy135]

@ megezihans

You can't go wrong with this laptop. The infamous delll laptop that anand mentioned in his article had a monitor upgrade that is no longer available. Objectively the screen is crystal clear, and unless you watch movies in the sun outdoors a 350 nits monitor is overkill anyhow. If you are looking for a reason to go with Asus just google laptop reliability.

[allidea]

Has anyone noticed noise (sounds like quiet high frequency squeaking) coming from N53J (my guess is it comes from fan) and is pretty irritating if you work in very quiet environment? Since I have installed SSD I do not know where from could this sound come else from than fan, but it drives me crazy and I am thinking about RMAing it.

[essense]

Has anyone noticed noise (sounds like quiet high frequency squeaking) coming from N53J (my guess is it comes from fan) and is pretty irritating if you work in very quiet environment? Since I have installed SSD I do not know where from could this sound come else from than fan, but it drives me crazy and I am thinking about RMAing it.

Yes, i've been calling it CPU whine because when you put the laptop under-load or turning off the cpu idle thing, it disappears. I have already RMA'd mine hoping it will be fixed.

[FelixC]

Yes, i've been calling it CPU whine because when you put the laptop under-load or turning off the cpu idle thing, it disappears. I have already RMA'd mine hoping it will be fixed.

I thought this problem was universal for Core iX systems, or at least on the new Asus N*3 series, have you heard from anyone owning a unit without it?

[Karamazovmm]

the n53sv review is out, now it looks a good buy
Review Asus N53SV Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

its basically a bonus for people that waited a bit.

Basically the lowest part of the quad mobile the i7 2630qm can kick the hell out of the i7 940xm, the performance is a little bit better, but the price difference....

the performance of the i7 2720qm is also magnificent, being 50% faster than the i7 740qm, so yeah SB is here to make some people happy (including me)

[mzil]

^From that review of the N53SV:

"Additionally, videos can't be completely enjoyed in Full HD with Blu-Ray drive configuration."

If that is true, then the the N53JF-XE1 is a much better machine for me. I can watch 1080x1920 full HD resolution blu rays on its screen, full resolution, full screen, no problem.

[Karamazovmm]

lets be honest and quote the whole paragraph although badly translated, you can get the idea that if you have a non FHD screen you wont be able to see a FHD blu ray movie on it, it will inevitably appear at a lower resolution.

Either HD or Full HD is used optionally in the Asus N53 series. Our sample had the HD display with the lower resolution of 1366x768 pixels (Samsung SEC5441). Although this is the current standard of compact 15 inch notebooks, it doesn't always supply enough overview on the display. For example, during multitasking, so when several simultaneously opened windows are in use. Additionally, videos can't be completely enjoyed in Full HD with Blu-Ray drive configuration.

Aside the review in anandtech the playback of blu ray was flawless

Inevitably and regret we can agree that the wait for some will be well paid:

- The GPU is much better
- The CPU is much faster
- The Battery is greater

too bad that they didnt change the keyboard.