Asus N43J* Thread

[FelixC]

Got my N43JM last weekend and thought I'd post some impressions of it, what I've gathered so far. I haven't seen a lot of these floating about, so I guess we could do a single thread for all JWhatever subtypes. Am I doing this right?

I need to clarify a couple of things before I get on with it. Specifically, this is the N43JM-VX005V, but right off the bat I've performed some upgrades on it, so some impressions in this post may apply only to this modified version, not the stock unit. I'm probably also going to make a couple of references, for comparisons' sake, to my desktop PC (C2D E6420 2.13Ghz 4MB L2 cache 1066Mhz FSB, 3GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM, Xpert Vision nVidia 9800GT 1GB VRAM DDR3, 7200RPM HDDs, with a Dell 2209WA monitor) and my old laptop, Acer Extensa 7620G (C2D T5550 1.83Ghz 2MB L2 cache 667Mhz FSB, 2GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2400XT VRAM 512MB, 160GB 5400RPM HDD).

A lot of this will be general impressions, unfortunately I don't have much time to run detailed benchmarks. Okay, let's get to it.


Specifications:

• 14'' LED Backlit 1366x768 LCD;
• Intel Core i5 460M: 2.53-2.8Ghz, 3MB L3 cache, 2400Mhz FSB;
• 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz RAM;
• nVidia 435M 1GB VRAM DDR3 (with Optimus);
• Patriot Inferno 120GB SSD (upgraded from stock 320GB 5400RPM HDD);
• Sony Optiarc BD-5730S (upgraded from stock DVD SuperMulti DL);
• Interfaces: 1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x eSATA/USB 2.0, 1 x Line-in Jack, 1 x Headphones Jack, HDMI out, VGA out, RJ45 Ethernet port, Wifi toggle switch, SD Card slot, 2 Megapixels Webcam with security shutter, Kensington lock;
• 6 cells battery, 4400 mAh 47 Whrs ;
• Bang & Olufsen ICEPower speakers;

Build & Components Access

Well, the unit looks absolutely gorgeous as far as I'm concerned. The lid and palm rest are made of brushed aluminium, and also aluminium in the speakers grille which fits in beautifully when the unit is open, and is still partly visible between the hinges when the lid is closed. I guess there's little point in my discussing aesthetics, you can see it for yourself in pictures and make up your own mind. Here's a few:






Regarding build quality, the laptop feels very sturdy. There's very little flex to the middle of the lid, a lot less than the plastic lid on my Extensa had. I've noticed a very discrete click sometimes when resting my wrist on the right side of the palmrest, and when grasping the top edge of the lid, but it's all barely noticeable. The hinges are perfectly set, there's no wobble of any sort to them. Overall, the entire unit feels very solid and well put together.

There are just two items that I'm not particularly happy with in the build design. First, the ODD tray door. While aesthetically pleasing, the wedge shaped door extends itself to under the unit, the bottom of the laptop, to where you're quite used to grabbing the laptop from when picking it up by the sides. I try to remember to grab it by the one of the corners on the right side, so I don't put pressure on the ODD tray. The other issue is with opening the lid - there's a small tab on the lid itself, but no indentation on the lower part of the laptop. And since the the hinges are quite strong in keeping the lid closed at those angles, you need to pull on the tab with one hand and slip a finger under the partly opened lid and onto the palmrest under it to keep it in place. Having a bit of an indentation there would've made a difference. Both minor issues when it comes to it, but fairly dubious design choices.

If you're obsessive about fingerprints, like me, you'll probably end up wiping the aluminium parts quite often, as well as the screen bezel, the latter being the more visible culprit. If you're not the obsessive type, however, the smudges on the aluminium itself won't be easily noticeable from a distance, as the striations on the brushed parts work quite well to conceal them and the lip of the lid has a sanded finish which hides them even better.

Some comments on the screen. First off, I understand that the N53 and the N73 have a plastic overlay, a screen protector that's flush with the bezel. Unfortunately, the N43 doesn't have this, the LCD is indented from the level of the bezel. As for image quality - the dot pitch is good, the 1366x768 resolution is sharp enough on the 14'' screen, and the colours and contrast are fine enough. The let-down, however, are the viewing angles. Hardly a surprise, I'd seen an N53 "in the flesh" before ordering my N43, so I knew full well what to expect. But coming from staring into a beautiful eIPS panel (2209WA) it can be off-putting to see your image shift with any variation on the vertical viewing angle. With regards to surface reflections, the screen is glossy, but not overly so. I've used it both indoors as well as with natural light, on the train, and I've never gotten any irritating reflections to distract me from what I was doing.

For those looking to access the components for upgrades, here's what's what (thanks essense!): there are two panels on the back of the laptop, neither of which have any screws visible. The small panel in the middle is secured by a screw accessible inside the battery bay, easy to spot, and will allow you to access the RAM modules and the screw securing the ODD. On the bright side, the wedge shaped tray door makes the optical drive very easy to take out once unsecured, but it's also fiddly to swap over to the new drive too, so arm yourselves with patience. The larger panel is opened by removing the screws under the two rubber feet, and gives access to the hard drive. Thumbs up on replacing the keyboard, though, with four plastic clips holding it in place it's a piece of cake to replace.

Here's two pics of the back of the unit, panels closed and open:



Performance & Usability

As a quick ballpark, here are the Windows Experience scores on this spec:

• Processor 6.9
• RAM 5.9
• Graphics (Windows Aero) 4.6 (running on the Core i5's integrated GPU)
• Gaming Graphics 6.6 (running on nVidia 435M discrete GPU)
• Hard Disk 7.9 (with SSD upgrade, not on stock HDD)

I've installed Metro 2033 for a quick test drive of the graphics hardware, it's quite alright. It's a fairly intensive game, with graphical options fixed to four presets: Low, Normal, High and Very High. I played the game on my desktop at 1680x1050, DX10, on Normal, sometimes switching to High with slightly choppy framerates. I don't recall the actual FPS count, I'm afraid. On the laptop it looks like the way to go is, at native 1366 x 768 resolution, Low settings on DX10. Switching to DX9 looks worse with no improvement to framerate, DX11 gives me some weird graphical artifacts and a far worse framerate. FPS count goes from 20ish in busy outdoors action, to pushing 50 in cramped interiors. I believe the game may well be playable enough on Normal settings as well, if I get to testing it some more I'll update with my results. So - not phenomenal, but in good standing. I've also tried Portal - native resolution, details on max, 8X MSAA and 8X Anisotropic Filtering, about 60-70 FPS as a general thing, drops down to around 40-50 when you're got portals opened up around, viewport-in-viewport and all.

As a minor nitpick, I foresee having to work with special, dedicated Optimus drivers may well be a pain in the backside. Already had a little run in with them, Metro wanted PhysX, and it kinda made me hurr durr a bit as it turns out that there's a special version of it for Optimus, and for some reason the general Optimus driver I tried to install off nVidia's site wouldn't recognise my hardware, seemed to list only 300M series as compatible. We'll see, I'll cross that updates bridge once I get to it.

Heat-wise, it stays cool during Windows work (CPU at 39°C in SiSoft Sandra), especially with the SSD the palmrest doesn't heat up at all. You start Max or a videogame, and the exhaust on the left side will start pumping out hot air, but the rest of the laptop stays just as cool, barely any warmth on the bottom of the unit.

Okay, audio side... I like it, the B&O speakers are measuring up quite nicely. I'm sure there are other laptops out there to match it, but it's better than what I've heard so far from laptops, and certainly ahead of my old Extensa. One thing I've noticed is that if you turn all the volume sliders all the way up, and then also toggle the Adaptive Volume in Asus SonicMaster to High, you will get some distort. Though I think you're fine with Adaptive Volume on Low, no distort and the the sound comes across loud and clear. It's hard for me to offer a very accurate opinion here, since my usual audio is provided by a Sony STR-DE197 amplifier, but good audio was a point of interest for me, since I'd be relying on the laptop's for when I go visiting my folks on holiday, and I think the N43's will hit the spot.

Keyboard. Nothing to write home about. A little flex to it, alright to type on, but hardly exceptional. Mine came with a Portuguese keyboard, I swapped it out for a US layout one (something like $15 including shipping from China to the UK), and on the bright side that's a really simple process.

Touchpad. I love the feel to it, wonderfully smooth texture. Decent size, multi-touch, driver options are quite customisable. Two-fingers scrolling and two-fingers tap for middle-mouse button functionality, three-fingers tap for right-click. There are now some updated drivers from Elan for this device which I do recommend, they add a bit more in the way of config potential. Overall very happy in this department.

So let's have also a quick look at the other buttons and LEDs. Power button obviously, the Wifi toggle I mentioned under specs, and a second power button, which will toggle between Power4Gear Hybrid's four different power options while in Windows. If the computer's off, however, that second power button will launch the Express Gate utility. Though considering that with the SSD installed it takes just under 23 seconds to boot to Windows' login screen I don't see much inclination to use it. LEDs for Power, Battery Charging, Hard Drive In Use and Wireless On just under the touchpad, another Power On, Express Gate / Power Plan LEDs (and buttons), Caps Lock and GPU (blue for Intel, white for nVidia) LEDs below the speaker grille. Also, thanks to veon1 for pointing this out, there is no dedicated volume rocker unfortunately, unlike on the larger N53 and N73 iterations which have it in the transparent lining with the power buttons and LEDs, you only get Function key combos for those media controls.

Oh yeah, almost forgot - no Bluetooth. Like, seriously Asus? I mean, yeah, an adapter is six quid, no big deal, but still. I'd kind of expect it for the asking price. Maybe I'm missing some technical reasoning behind its lack. Also, no expansion card slot. Of no concern to me, I've had one on the Extensa for two years and never had use for it, but thought some of you may be interested. Anyway...

Battery life, nothing overly impressive, reviews were fairly accurate. With Battery Saving options enabled, you can probably expect around 3-4 hours of doc editing and light browsing, may well be towards 4-5 hours with screen dimmed all the way down and Wifi off. Asus only have a 6 cell option, stupidly enough, so I've gone ahead and ordered a 9 cell knock off as a backup (will take a while to deliver, I'll update after). Keeping my fingers crossed it actually turn out to be an acceptably reliable 7200mAh 9 cell, we'll see. Edit: In the meantime, coladuna has received his 9 cell battery, and here are some of his impressions of it along with a picture of how it fits in the laptop.


Summary Comments

On the plus side, superb, elegant design, great build quality, good CPU and graphics, USB 3, great sound on the move. Downside, mediocre screen angles, fairly average keyboard, bluetooth available only on some models, no expansion card (for those in need of one), battery life not particularly impressive and no official 9cell available. Also, note that no N43 models currently have BD burner options, if you want one you're gonna have to install it yourself like I did.

So, hope this info's useful to any interested. Your mileage may vary depending on what you want from it. For my needs, I absolutely love it, great overall package.

For those interested, let me put up some details on the retailer I got it from, too. N43JM-VX005V from WSI Bytes & Gadgets in Portugal, and they also offer an upgraded version with 8GB RAM. Was very satisfied with their service, e-mail replies were quite prompt and their sales rep was very helpful. Do note that if you want to get something from them and ship to outside of Portugal you'll need to place the order via e-mail, you can't do it through their site. Shipping to the UK cost me €36 and took 5 days (slight delays on account of bad weather), via Nacex Europe in Portugal, TNT on the road from Portugal to the UK, and APC Overnight in the UK. Other resellers that memebers here at NBR have found are in Poland, offering a variety of configurations of N43JQ and N43JF, and also an N43JQ-VX020V on offer from a retailer in Germany. For those in the UK, it looks like (thanks NZwaveraider for the info!) Asus have no plans to release the model locally, so importing may well be your only option.


P.S. It's a pain to find a sleeve to fit it. I've tried a 12-15'' neoprene sleeve, kinda fits but laptop's just slightly too thick and long and keeps the flaps opened wide apart from it, then tried a 15-16'' from Staples and that's a tad too loose on it.

[Dio]

Good write up Felix, I was looking hard at this notebook for a few months waiting for its release.
When it finally was released I was disappointed in a couple of things the original design had a chiclet keyboard which for some unknown reason was replaced for the current one and also the battery life.
Curious as to why the latter considering Asus have 8 cell batteries in almost all their designs of late, maybe a weight issue?
If you don't care about battery life then I think this is a real contender in the sub 1k notebooks with the current included hardware.

I ultimately ended up with the U43, design and battery won me over.

[FelixC]

Yeah, the battery issue's irritating indeed, an 8 or 9 cell option would've been aces. Could be some obnoxious move to provide an artificial limitation to further distinguish the N*3 series from other models and prevent possible cannibalisation. I seriously doubt it's a weight issue, it hangs on the scales at 2.4Kg with the 6 cell, and this isn't meant to be an ultraportable. We'll see if that 9 cell knockoff I ordered turns out to be anything reasonably passable.

Added some pictures to the opening post. I'm not too good with the camera but they should help round up its appearance in addition those on the official site.

[Karamazovmm]

the cannibalization is possible due to the new gpu in the n41, it uses the gt425. I was actually aiming for the N43 but seeing that the n41 is way more portable and has better battery life (as it appears) I will go for that one.

The loss of the B&O audio is a major bummer.

The manufactures have to make more concise lines, there is too much, this only leads to confusion, in the consumer side, and loss of profit on their side.

They have learned nothin with ASrocks

[coladuna]

good review.
I ordered one from B&H on Sunday.
Hmm.. interesting point about the lack of bluetooth. B&H website clearly states that it has Bluetooth. I did buy under the assumption that it has.
I too have a 9-cell battery on order from eBay. It claims to be a genuine ASUS battery but I guess it's a false claim. I just hope it lasts more than a few month as the last laptop battery I bought on ebay didn't last more than that before it started losing charge.
I'm not expecting any surprises as I already had a N53JQ but returned it due to faulty Bluray drive and bought this instead for the portability.
B&O speaker was a big deciding factor for me. I'm sick of tinny sounding laptops and not being able to hear anything unless I have an earphone plugged in.

[yun]

Good review.
How's the noise when it under load?
Other owner told me it's quiet

[FelixC]

Hmm.. interesting point about the lack of bluetooth. B&H website clearly states that it has Bluetooth. I did buy under the assumption that it has.

If the seller specifically said it has it, I'd imagine it does. The official Asus page states that it is available on selected models, unfortunately the JM-VX005V is not one of them. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

The manufactures have to make more concise lines, there is too much, this only leads to confusion, in the consumer side, and loss of profit on their side.

Yeah, they could do with tightening the ranks a notch. I think their idea is to cover as many price ranges as possible with different options, but it does lead to a rather byzantine lineup of products.

Good review.
How's the noise when it under load?
Other owner told me it's quiet

Um, yeah, seemed perfectly quiet to me. Granted, when I ran games it was just about a meter away from my desktop's PSU fan, but I think that if there were a noticeable increase in noise I'd have caught it. The only way I could tell it was running under load was the GPU LED turning white and by putting my hand over the left side exhaust. Edit: Yup, checked again. Turned the desktop off, tried Max and Metro, the only way to hear the fan is to put your ear down next to the unit, from normal distance I just can't hear it one bit.

P.S.

the cannibalization is possible due to the new gpu in the n41, it uses the gt425. I was actually aiming for the N43 but seeing that the n41 is way more portable and has better battery life (as it appears) I will go for that one.

Wait a minute, when did that happen? Like, i5-460M with an nVidia 425M and up to 10 hours ideal battery life? That's a pretty awesome package. Did this refresh happen in the last week or two, 'cause when I was looking I got the impression that all of Asus' long battery life options came with a 310M at best?

[Karamazovmm]

here it is: ASUS U41JF-A1 14" Notebook - Silver. ASUS U41JF-A1

good price, also.

This will compete finally with the acer 3820tg and the 4820tg. I wish that the U36 would use the gt415m instead of the gt310m, like his brother the U31.


Now the problem is that I cant believe that in order to reach all parts of the market you have to have such a long product line. You can and you need to save by mass production, better orders, lower prices, and so forth, scale gains are what they use, but it appears to me that they could push the price lower if they shortened the product line the need to produce less and order the same hardware would be... more profitable.

[FelixC]

Yeah, that does look pretty good. $100 less than the N43 on the same site, but that's with an i3. And then Asus start with the hit & miss features again, why doesn't it have USB 3? I mean, this line just got refreshed, right? Eh.

[Karamazovmm]

I thought it was supposed to have USB3?? But for me this is a no issue... Im not going to get this lappy until its refreshed with the SB chips.

The i3 is easily swappable as far as I know, but I might be wrong.

I would like for them to remove the ODD and put another fan and a higher powered GPU, NV or AMD it doesnt matter, just make it more powerful