N56vz review and owners lounge - Techno Art

There are a number of various iterations of the Asus N56VZ out there such as the N56VZ-DH71, RH71, DS71, QS71, QH71 etc.

Some are US models, some are Canadian and then there are even various European versions. There is also the N56VJ models and they appear very similar although they feature the slightly less performing (compared to GT650M) GT635M graphics. Where the real differences lie is in how the various models are SPECIFICALLY equipped!

There is even the N56VZ-ES71 and that particular model features the i7 6310 processor, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, DVD player, HD 1366x768 (Non Full HD) screen and Windows 7 OS.

So, the moral of the story is that you have to be extra diligent in reviewing the actual specs on these models as the specific components can really vary!

Some things to look for are 1TB 5400rpm, 750GB 7200 rpm, 500GB 5400 rpm HDD drives. GT 630M, 635M or 650M graphics cards. 4GB, 8GB RAM. Blu Ray/DVD or DVD only. 1366x768 HD or 1920x1080 FHD (Full HD) screens. Windows 8 (just about all models) or Windows 7 (N56VZ-ES71 model).

Good luck in your quest as the N56 line of Asus notebooks are really great! I looked around for a long time when searching for the perfect notebook for myself and I ultimately settled on the Asus N56VZ-RH71 as it is the highest spec'd N56 model currently available and I am in totally in heaven... I just love this thing! :thumbsup:


...Glenn

 

Thanks Glenn

I ordered the N56VZ-DH71 off amazon.ca last night

I also have a 16GB ram kit and ssd on the way. I hope I don't run into issues like others have with the ram, but I'll have to wait and see.. And I have already set up a UEFI windows 8 boot drive for a clean install. So I'm hoping that will go smoothly.

I'll update you all once i have the new hardware installed.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Andrew,


Congrats on your new N56VZ purchase.... I am sure you will be pleased!

Please do update as I have now realized that I have an issue where I can not get into the BIOS in the usual manner of holding down the "F2" key while pressing the power on button!

Maybe now that I have the new SSD installed it is booting up so fast that the window to access the BIOS just zips by!

Let us know how you make out with your new notebook and see if you have the same issue with not being able to get into the BIOS during bootup after the SSD install.



...Glenn

 

Is the ODD in the N56VZ connected through a SATAII/SATAIII or USB port? I would like to replace the Blu-Ray player with a caddy and place an additional SSD in it for running Linux/Ubuntu...but only if it uses SATAIII.

 

Glenn,

That's pretty weird. I'll let you know if I run into the same issue. Can you just remove the SSD then access bios?

I thought i read a post saying that it was SATA III but I'm not certain.

Andrew

 

This is from the original post on this thread, "Sata connector supports Sata 3, in case you want to shop the fastest Solid State Drives to replace the one shipped with the notebook (transfer speeds easily peaked out on 500Mb/s read&write on my Corsair ForceGT). The laptop defaults the two sata ports to autodetect, so no worries with time-outs or lower speeds with an upgrade later on."

 

That's right, listen to the authority around here! Hahahahahaha! BWWAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*cough*

Only problem is that the caddy could have a converter unit of some sort. Take a look here in this thread.

 

I have been reading through here and saw you (nipsen) mention the Killer 1202 wifi card as an alternative upgrade. I purchased the card and started on my way to a swap out.



It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Would you or anybody have a go to place to see how this is done?

@nigmol did you find the wifi swap walk-through?

Thank you

 

I thought this was valid for the normal HDD connector, but the ODD is also connected through a SATAIII port?

 

Hi Repoman - where in Qatar did you get this Laptop? - I am currently based there myself and really fancy this lappy.

Cheers