Asus N43SL/SN Owners' Lounge

Hi everyone Welcome to the N43SL/SN Owners' Lounge



Asus N43SL/SN specifications

Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M / Intel Core i5-2410M / Intel Core i7-2630QM / Intel Core it-2670QM
Dedicated Graphics: 2GB DDR3 Nvidia GT540m (N43SL) / 2GB DDR3 Nvidia GT550m (N43SN)
Integrated Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Display: AUO 14" 1366x768 LED display
Memory: 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3-1333MHz CAS 9
WLAN: Atheros AR5B195 (Wireless a/b/g/n single stream, up to 150Mbps, with Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, Bluetooth 3.0+HS capable)
LAN: Atheros AR8151 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet
Storage: 320GB 5400rpm / 500GB 5400rpm/7200rpm / 500GB Seagate Momentus XT / 640GB WD Scorpio Blue 5400rpm / 750GB 7200rpm
ODD: DVD SuperMulti / Blu-ray Burner / Blu-ray Combo
Camera: 2 Megapixels
Speakers: Bang and Olufsen ICEPower
Card Reader: 3-in-1 card reader (SD/MS/MMC)
I/O: 3x USB2 / 1x USB3 / 1x VGA / 1x HDMI / 1x Microphone-in / 1x Headphone-out jack / 1x RJ45 / 1x Kensington slot
Battery: 6-cell 47Whr / 6-cell 56Whr
Weight: 2.4kg (5.29lb)

Benchmarks:
I got the N43SL with i7-2630QM, 4GB RAM, 640GB HDD and GT540m. I upgraded the memory to 8GB and replaced the hard drive with a 500GB WD Scorpio Black. My benchmarks below are with the upgraded specs, so your mileage may vary

3DMark06:


Crysis:

If you cannot see properly, the max temperature for Crysis was 78 degrees.

WPrime:


FAQ:
1. What is the difference between the N43SL and the N43SN?
A: The N43SL packs a GT540m, while the N43SN has a beefier GT550m. Nothing an overclock cannot solve

2. Does it support switchable graphics?
A: Yes. It supports Optimus.

3. What is the battery life?
A: Generally with light usage it lasts for about 5 hours with the 56Whr battery.

4. What components are user-upgradeable?
A: The RAM, HDD and ODD are user-upgradeable. Doing anything more voids the warranty.

5. How does the wireless card compare?
A: My wireless card is a low-end Atheros AR9002WB-1NG which is an AR9285 wireless card paired with a AR3011 bluetooth module. The AR9285 does not suffer from connection drops, but it is a 1x1 card, which is rather bad for a card nowadays. There are different Intel and Atheros cards that can come with your laptop, so it's really down to luck as to what you get

===Drivers===

Spoiler

Please don't quote everything. It will make the thread extremely convoluted. Please only quote a portion of the listing which you have problems or questions with.

===AHCI===

Intel RST v11.1.0.1006 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 7/3/2012

===Audio===

Realtek HD Audio R2.6x Build 6564 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 7/3/2012

===Bluetooth===

Atheros Bluetooth v7.4.0.115 [TESTED - thanks ChasePack] [Updated] - Updated 28/2/2012

Broadcom Bluetooth v6.5.1.1101 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 17/2/2011

Intel PROSet/Wireless Bluetooth Software v1.2.0.0 [TESTED] - Updated 18/10/2011

===Card Reader===

Alcor Micro Card Reader driver v1.0.36.102 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 3/3/2012

===Intel Chipset Driver===

Intel Chipset Driver v9.3.0.1020 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 28/1/2012

===LAN===

Atheros LAN v2.0.14.15 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 13/3/2012

===Touchpad===

Elantech Touchpad v10.6.6.4 [TESTED] - Updated 26/12/2011

===VGA===
[Note] Install the Intel driver, then the Nvidia driver in order to avoid driver conflicts.

Intel HD Graphics v8.15.10.2622 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 21/1/2012

Intel HD Graphics v8.15.10.2653 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 7/3/2012
(Extract the files, go to device manager, right click on Intel HD Graphics, select update device driver software, browse to folder where you extracted the files. Requires an older version of the Intel driver to be installed.)

Nvidia Geforce Verde Driver Release 296.10 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 13/3/2012

Nvidia Geforce Verde Driver Release 296.17 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 7/3/2012
(Extract the files, go to device manager, right click on Nvidia Geforce GT 540M/550M, select update device driver software, browse to folder where you extracted the files. Requires an older version of the Nvidia driver to be installed.)

===Wireless Display===

Intel Wireless Display Software v3.0.13.0 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 3/2/2011

===WLAN===

Atheros WLAN v9.2.1.470 [TESTED] - Updated 14/12/2011

Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers v15.0.1.1 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 15/3/2012

===USB3===

Fresco Logic USB3 v3.5.30.0 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 15/3/2012

===Utilities===

Asus Wireless Console v3.0.27 [TESTED] [Updated] - Updated 2/3/2012

Asus ATKACPI utility v1.0.0015 [TESTED] - Updated 2/3/2012

KB Filter v1.0.0.3 [TESTED] - Updated 20/12/2010

The reason why most of the drivers are not from Asus is because these drivers are newer than the ones released by Asus. Drivers which are marked as [TESTED] have been tested by me and work perfectly, while those with [NOT TESTED] have not been tested and I would appreciate if someone could test them and report if they work. Also, if anyone has drivers newer than the ones I listed, feel free to drop me a PM and I will be more than happy to update the listing. Thanks

Useful links:
( Official Asus N43SL) drivers: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS N43SL
( Official Asus N43SN) drivers: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS N43SL
Warning: The bios for both notebooks are not compatible with each other. Download the bios for your specific system only.

 

Cool!! I wanted to see one of this to share experiences and knowledge with other owners.
Can I ask you a couple of things:

1 - How to overclock the 540M graphics card? (You can just point me to a guide)

2- Does you laptop comes with a USB sleep and charge port? I thought the USB 3.0 port had it but at least in mine it doesn't works. Is there a way to activate this by installing software?

3 - This may be a noob question but how do I update the BIOS and are there any risks involved?

4 - Is there a specific Optimus software? I can't find it anywhere, only the normal Nvidia control panel.

I have a N43SL with a i7-2630QM, 4 Gb RAM DDR3 and a 320Gb 5400rpm HDD.

I already have a dual-boot system with Kubuntu and Win7.

I installed the latest Elantech drivers ( version 8.0.7.0) which enable a wide variety of multitouch gestures (excluding chiral motion every move is included) but have a slight problem: if the laptop hibernates the multitouch gestures are disabled when the laptop wakes up and can only be re-enabled if the computer is restarted.

 

1. To overclock, there are two choices: MSI Afterburner or Nvidia System Tools. I would recommend the Nvidia System Tools because it integrates nicely with the Nvidia Control Panel, and because to force MSI Afterburner to overclock the GT540m, you have to modify the config files like so:

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner and open MSIAfterburner.cfg. Look for the lines:

and replace them with:

This will allow MSI Afterburner to overclock the GT540m as well.

2. No, AFAIK the N43SL/SN does not come with that function. It has to be built into the hardware, software mods won't do the trick.

3. You can update the bios by following the instructions here. I will recommend updating the bios via EasyFlash as it is the safest of the three. Do take note that you have to update with the bios file on a FAT32 formatted thumbdrive if you use EasyFlash as there are reports of corrupt bioses when flashed from a NTFS formatted drive.

4. The Optimus control software is in the Nvidia Control Panel, under "Manage 3D Settings".

5. As for this I have not experienced it before since I normally do not use the touchpad and I don't use multi-touch gestures. You might need to ask on another forum regarding this issue to see if anyone has experienced this problem.

 

Hi there.

Thanks for this thread.

I believe theres a easyest way to install latest nvidia drivers.
Download latest nvidia driver (for GT540M are 275.33) and extract them to somewhere.
Go here and download nvwi.inf (INF modified) and replace by the one in the extracted location. For me worked without any problems.

Do you find any difference with power4gear? Made some tests with and without this software installed and there wasn't many time differences

Many thanks,

kodiak

 

I did look at the inf file, I did not notice an entry for my graphics card with subsys id 15F21043, which was why I wrote the guide in case someone had the same id as me and could not use the modified inf file from laptopvideo2go. If someone could compile the list of subsys ids across all N43SL/SN laptops, I can make a modded inf that supports our graphics cards.

For Power4Gear, I distrust these power applications because in my experience they don't do anything, or they negatively affect battery life.

 

Hello,

After reading this thread I want an N43 so bad. Where can I buy this in the U.S.?

My question is how light does it feel? It looks a bit thick, is it? Will it make me look like I'm carrying an outdated Dinosaur around?

 

Thanks too456 that graphics driver information is really helpful I'll have to try it when I get mine back from asus : s I fell victim to asus not highlighting updating the bios with a ntfs drive... anyway otherwise I love my n43sl.

Simplenotebook:
Its not being released in the us I had to get mine from malaysia.I think the n45 will be released there sometime soon though. And no its not thick its just right. looks awesome way better than u41 n45 and don't get me started.on u46 s.

 

The laptop is 2.4kg (5.3lb). I used this laptop after using a Timeline for a while, and transitioning from 1.8kg to 2.4kg isnt exactly the best experience, especially for the first week or so as I had to get used to the extra weight. When bringing it around, it's actually rather stylish and does not make you look outdated, but rather it makes you look cool

 

The laptop is a bit thick and bulky compared with other 14'' laptops. For example the Samsung QX412 is very thin and light compared with this Asus or even the C Series from Sony.
However it packs a lot more power than most 14'' laptops as well. With an SSD and expanded RAM this laptop is a monster.

As for the looks, it is rather stylish with most of its surfaces being brushed aluminum and it has a nice design.

It also feels solid since the hinges of the screen are very thick.

It also has great sound for a laptop.

The smartpad from Elan works ok bt you need to install the drivers that I mentioned before if you want full multitouch on the touchpad such as pinch-to-zoom and 3-finger gestures.
The keyboard isn't one of the best though. It has a bit of flex and the keys are too large and close to each other which facilitates mistype mistakes.
As for the screen I would recommend getting a matte display cover. It makes wonders.

If you don't have it in the US I would recommend to look for alternatives though.

 

Thanks for the answers! I'll try the overclocking with the Tools from Nvidia and the BIOS update.
The touchpad point wasn't an issue though. I was just informing other users what to do if they want to enable multitouch on their touchpads.

 

Any opinions on the need to upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB? Any point considering this when everything runs smoothly?

 

Personally, I have 8GB of RAM, but I hardly ever go past 4GB in usage unless I run some 3D modeling software or Firefox suffers a memory leak 8GB is useful however if you want near instant wake-up from sleep time, since I disable the pagefile and thus waking up from sleep occurs entirely within memory, which makes for a very awesome startup time to tease your friends with

 

I can see that as an advantage. I think I'll wait a couple of years for an upgrade, when I actually might need it.

Anyone who's had any experiences with the USB 3.0 port? I bought an western digital my passport disc, those pocket size ones which are powered with the USB cable. It was a total disaster, turns out that the disc isn't getting enough power from the laptop when using USB 3.0, worked fine with 2.0, but that's not really why I bought it. I'm returning it and probably buying a western digital 1TB with external power - a lot bigger and inconvenient, but seems like it's no other way.

 

The USB3 port might be malfunctioning, since its supposed to provide 900mW of power compared to USB2's 500mW, so it should not be providing too little power.

 

Hmm... I hope it's not. I found quite a lot of reports on the same problem after a quick google search, so I hope it's a common problem and not something wrong with my port.

 

Hi all, I'm looking for a replacement for my laptop and has my eyes on the N43SL. I saw on the front page the hassle of upgrading to Nvidia's Verde driver, anybody tried the latest 280 driver? Do you guys still have to mess with the inf info? The N43SL in my country doesn't come with any OS so need to manually install all the drivers. I prefer clean system without all the funky "system optimizers" since I had only bad experience with them.

How about the speakers, does it really sounds great or just so so? I'm specifically torn between the N43 and A43. In my country, the N43 and A43 is equipped with the same Core i5-2410m, GT540m, 2GB RAM, and 640 GB HDD for US$759 and US$729 respectively, but the N43 has 4400mAh battery while the A43 has 5200 mAh.

So it only comes down to the speaker quality and design. Is the US$30 extra worth the speaker and smaller battery on the N43? Asus doesn't have a configuration option in my country, so I'm stuck with the options.

 

The latest Verde drivers don't need any modifications for my system, so you should not have the same problem. As for speakers, they are louder and better than most laptop speakers, with the slight hint of bass that you cannot get in most other laptops. A 4400mAh battery might last 3 hours on idle, so you might want to take that into consideration. Mine lasts 4 hours with the 5200mAh battery.

 

Just did an overclock of my 540M to the settings of the 550M. Since the 540M seems to be an underclocked 550M i thought those settings would work ok.

At least in FurMark and 3DMark06 things seem to be working ok.

My score on 3D Mark06 after overclock was 9925 3Dmarks. Is it a decent result?

My system has a 320Gb5400rpm HDD and the 2630QM Core i7.

 

By the way just found this review of the N43SN.

If anyone is interested in this laptop I must say I agree with the conclusions of that review. The screen is average, the keyboard flexes a bit and it's a bit heavy for its class. But it is solid and has a nice touchpad

 

Interesting review, I agree with most of it, although I don't agree with the weakness of the keyboard - after getting used to a new keyboard I find it very comfortable to use, the minimal flexing is not bothering me at all.

The screen could have been a lot better of course, and can be annoying in heavy lit places with a lot of light sources - I think that's the only real drawback of this laptop. It seems like high quality matte screens hike the price level a lot though, I wouldn't have been able to afford that. Hopefully we'll see non glossy screens as a standard in a few years.

 

I think that's not bad

 

I just bought a matte screen protector and it makes wonders on the screen in term of reflectiveness. However it doesn't compensate the poor viewing angles.

 

Strange, the matte protector I got gives perfect colour reproduction for about 178 degrees around. I'd say mine improved the viewing angle dramatically

 

You guys have a link to where I can find a matte protector for a 14" widescreen?

And btw, is the DVD-rom multi-region? i.e. can play any dvd regardless of region?

 

Mine does not come with any region, but it depends on the country in question, since other countries may have different configurations from mine.

 

Turns out after some research, that I can change the region of my dvd-rom five times only.

Is green onions supply the page you got the screen protector?

 

I got it from a local company, think it was called e-Power, not sure if it is available elsewhere

 

You can find matte screen protectors easily on e-bay. Just search for the model name and matte screen protector and something should come up.

 

Must be doing something wrong. Can only find for mobile phones and asus transformer. Can you put a link please?

kodiak

 

Repasted my N43SL. Took about an hour (not including 2 failed attempts a few weeks earlier). The biggest problems are the screws everywhere (I counted close to 40 screws) and the fan refusing to be pried off in order to flip the motherboard. After all that was done, I got a 10 deg drop on load, so it wasn't too bad need to wait for it to cure first, then I'll post final temps, but preliminary temps for my computer is as follows:

After 3DMark, with IC Diamond, GPU overclocked 750/900/1500


Do note that with the stock Asus paste the max temp for the CPU was 93 degs, and the GPU was 73 degs. Not too bad a drop, and this is without waiting for the paste to cure

 

Kai Anti-Glare Screen Protector 14.1" Asus U45 U43 N43. There you go.

But you can find cheaper without being specific to the model.

 

Thanks Gaugamela.

The mistake was thinking that the keyword was Matte instead of Anti-Glare.

P.S. - For those who want to update both of N43 Atheros cards can download the latest drivers here.
Regards,

kodiak

 

Removed. If you want the newest available post, expand the spoiler under the drivers section on the first post

 

This is gold! Thanks!

 

does this notebook support sata3? i want to change this hard disk.

 

The motherboard is SATA II, but SATA III is backward compatible with SATA II so it should not be a problem to put a SATA III drive into a SATA II slot. The only difference is that speeds will be capped at SATA II speeds.

 

but someone said that if u sata2 ssd to sata2 mobo, it's better than use sata3 ssd to sata2 mobo because of compability issue.

 

There is no difference, because of the way SATA III and SATA II work. If you put a SATA II SSD into a SATA II motherboard, then the SSD will run at SATA II speeds. If you put a SATA III SSD to a SATA II motherboard, it will also run at SATA II speeds. However, because SATA III SSDs like the OCZ Vertex 3 use Sandforce controllers which are one of the best in the market, it would be better to use a SATA III SSD as the controller will be able to push the SATA II interface to the max, whereas SATA II SSDs may not be able to do that.

 

Hi,

Own the n43sl for a couple of months.
Has anyone succeeded into installing windows uefi mode?
In all my attempts the computer hangs before the setup. Any ideas? Faulty BIOS?

Chrs

 

Hi,

I'd like to ask whether it's safe it install graphics drivers directly from both Intel and NVIDIA, especially the NVIDIA Verde? I've checked it using NVIDIA Smart Scan and it recommended to use ASUS drivers as it said:

"The manufacturer of this system requires that you download the driver for your GPU from their support site."

Thanks.

 

It is perfectly safe. I'm running it now with absolutely no problems.

 

OK then, I'll give them a try.

Thanks.

 

The bios for N43SL has been updated to 412 to support the i7-2670QM processor while the bios for the N43SN has been updated to 411 to update the thermal policy and to support the i7-2670QM. Links to the download page are available on the first post.

 

Hi there.
My N43 has two OS. Ubuntu and Win 7 64.
The boot time since the OS is chosen in grub is OK but before grub, for sometimes, it takes too long on the ASUS logo (I believe it's POST).
Does this happens with you also?

Regards,

kodiak

P.S. - Is there any disassemble guide for our notebook? Want to take off the lcd cover to apply a anti-glare film.

 

I only run Windows 7 on my computer so I have not experienced that problem.

As for disassembly, I disassembled the laptop until I could removed the motherboard but did not pry the screen open, you should not need to open the cover since there is no LCD protecting glass, you can just apply the film directly. Disassembly is a PITA and I really don't recommend trying unless you really know what you are doing, because you are dealing with a few hidden screws and many small and super-tight screws. Not to mention voiding the warranty.

 

Thanks

kodiak

 

Just got this laptop, just did a clean install of windows, but when i was reinstalling the drivers included with the package, i didnt see the camera driver anywhere? any help?

also would anyone know what the indicator light between power and caps lock does? because its always off and i never see it blink

 

The camera driver is found under the camera section of the Asus download page. You have to install the one that corresponds to the device ID of your camera.

As for the light that never turns on, it's *supposed* to show if you're using the integrated/dedicated graphics card, but it is controlled by some piece of software that I did not install. As of now I still can't figure out which software/driver controls it despite testing using every driver and utility available from Asus.

 

thanks a bunch got the camera working

ok thanks for the info about the light!

 

Hi guys I need help.Tried to OC my GPU on my n43sl using Nvidia System Tools and tested it with 3dmark6 with no probs.
The problem is when I run Starcraft 2 or Dragon Age 2(Just playing these two games now anyway) the screen would like go blank for a sec and resume.
I realised that after this happens my GPU OC settings would revert to stock settings...really stumped here....The main reason for my wanting to OC my GPU is to get Starcraft 2 running better on Ultra Settings...Any help is appreciated..