Asus N50 Owners/Buyers Thread

Crap I knew I was forgetting something... Thanks for reminding me to post about it.

I had it going for 7.5 hours (had to go to school ) and that was with both the CPU and GPU at max usage. This way, I know that there is basically zero chance of it dying on me.

No errors, overheats, or BSODs with the undervolt. I might have to buy CPUgenie.....

It WILL install. I actually did the vista X64 install on a spare hard drive for tinkering purposes. I found basically no gain in going to X64, so I put the stock hard drive back in with 32 bit vista.

 

Hey guys I apologize for being a noob but could somebody tell me how to update my bios? It appears that I have 204 but I want 210. I already downloaded 210 but don't know what to do with it. Anybody?
Thanks in advance!!!
Copter

 

Put the file in C:\ or D:\ and reboot the PC, use "F2" to enter Setup when first booting... Enter in the Bios setup you will have an option to update/upgrade the Bios. Tell it the path where you downloaded it (C:\ or D:\) and update it. There are other ways, but at least it should be safe.

PS... Thanks for the headup on CPUGenie, avanish111

 

For a more detailed guide check my signature, but the post above pretty much says it all.

SDHC cards work in all new ASUS notebooks, so I would say there is a pretty good chance it'll work in yours. It even works on my 3year old V6J after a driver update.

Disclaimer: have not tried it on your type of laptop, of course.

 

here's a solution to a problem no one has mentioned yet

I turned on my laptop and suddenly I had no sound coming through the speakers. The realtek control panel shows sound is supposed to be reaching the speakers, and so did windows' sound panel. Scared my speakers somehow have karked it, I rebooted into express gate, and luckily my speakers work in there. So it must be a problem within Windows, perhaps a driver.

After almost tearing my hair out at removing and re-installing drivers, setting and unsetting default sound devices etc, I remembered that I recently turned off within the BIOS the POST sound that plays at bootup (when the ASUS logo appears).

I went to the BIOS and turned this back on and voila, complete sound back in Vista.

After that I updated to the latest BIOS and tried turning it off again, and then after a reboot, no sound in Windows again.

Ridiculous, huh? So a word of warning. Don't turn off the POST sound in BIOS.

 

That is another common problem to Asus notebooks. The common solution is to set the BIOS volume to 0.

 

The N80 series doesn't have this problem. I have POST sound Off and sound works in Linux and Vista.

 

Ahh I didn't know this. Will setting the BIOS volume to 0 affect the overall volume of sound within Vista, or does this just shutup the POST sound?

 

Another is to be careful when using the Wireless/Bluetooth switch, you can turn it off/on at the wrong time.

Eg. If you already hit Vista shutdown, and then hit the Wireless switch before it reboots or shutdown. Then turning the switch on or off, will always leave the Wireless and or Bluetooth disabled. i.e the OSD will show "Wireless Disabled" when the switch is On, and "Wireless Disabled" when the switch is Off...

It's happened several times, i managed to fix the Wireless one twice, but recently it happened to Bluetooth, i cannot find a way to fix it!... I'm not sure if DirectConsole will fix it.

PS.. Thanks E.B.E i will try a 16 or 32Gb SDHC card. (I figured before i purchased it would these days, but the manual seems to not like using the SDHC trademark in the manual, so i thought it may not.

 

I don't think it affects the overall volume of sound while killing the POST sound


On a side note, I finally have some free time next week. REVIEW TIME!!!

 

My mini-review of my N50Vn-C1S with 210 BIOS

1. Screen - adequate, not a fantastic panel by any means; but nice at 1440X900
2. keyboard - spacebar seems loud. I like my HP 6910p keyboard much better and some of my old Dells (D600 series).
3. Processor/GPU - Call of Duty 4 & 5, WoW, Dead Space all run well. FarCry 2 runs well to boot. Nothing slows it down.
4. Size - this is a big 15.4" laptop that is for sure. Luckily I don't lug it around all over the place.
5. Express Gate is a cool thing; but I've used it twice in the last 2 months only just to toy around with it
6. Facial recognition and fingerprint reader are nice to have and work well
7. Num pad is pretty useless as it's non-standard and what really bothers m is the cursor keys that are not easily found. no bump on the keys or anything to tell me where I am. Asus should have just cut out the num pad and given us a solid keyboard. It's not like this is a business orientated lappy afterall, with a 9650GT in it!
8. Not too much bloatware at all on it. I cleaned it up pretty fast.
9. 4GB of RAM well if it has 2GB I would have personally thrown in 2GB more anyway; but a 32-bit OS?

Keyboard lag - yeah, it's there. I improved with the synaptics changes someone suggested in the M50 thread on this; but really solved it with the removal of the synaptics driver and just using the standard Microsoft pointer.

Video driver - I have yet to experiment with nVidia's new video card driver for notebooks; but will soon.

Overall: satisfied with the lappy. Pretty good value and I got a MIR from Asus on it so all the better (picked it up from Canada Computers). Looking for a screen res. of higher than 1280X800 wasn't easy. Sure there is the Gateway FX series; but that is a monster and putting that on your lap for a short while might be a bother.

The included case, while nice, is BARELY big enough for the laptop itself.

The mouse ... I don't even know where it is anymore, it was wired and I had a wireless lying around.

I was tempted by the G50 series; but they are big and the money was out of my range.

 

Hi,

All prices following are in Australian dollars

I am in the market for a 15.4" notebook for work (some coding and word processing/Internet) and gaming (RA3, COD, etc). I am looking at getting either the :

ASUS N50vn-FP024g @ BD4U for $2585

ASUS N50vn-D1 @ p4 laptops for $2399

ASUS N50vn-B1BDAU @ bd4u @ $2165

ASUS M50VM-A1BDAU @ bd4u @ 1878

All obviosly have their pros/cons but basically I am torn between whether to get the D1 which has LED Backlit but only WXGA 1280*800 and T9550 2.66Ghz OR

B1BDAU which has WXGA + with 1440x900 without LED and P8600 2.4Ghz OR

FP024g which has both LED and WXGA + and T9400 2.53Ghz but at $2585

I have also come across the M50VM which has WXGA + but no LED and P8400 2.26Ghz but with a GeForce Go9600M GS 1GB at cheaper $1878

So many options!!

I am not really interested in Blu Ray or whether OS is vista ultimate or home.

I would appreciate opinions on whether the priority should be on LED, Resolution, T vs P processor and how the Geforce Go9600M rates against the 9650M GT for what I intend using it for.

Whenever gaming I would be plugged into mains power. Ultimately a 500Gb 7200RPM would be preferred but for me not the deciding feature.

 

It's really hard to say exactly, the price they have given for the N50vn (FP024G) is expensive, this is the local version (all the others listed are USA models) and i purchased mine in November for less money.

P series chips have less cache and use less power, they are slightly underperforming compared to T series, but any decent CPU choice like a P8400 or better is likely to be plenty. The difference between a P8600 and T9400 is likely minor in everyday use.

I personally think all laptops should come with LED backlighting and LED backlit keyboards.. At least Asus have started with LED backlighting on some models, It does help when the screens are glossy to have the LED in outdoor or bright conditions, the LED screens are also thinner and offer better battery life.

The 9600GT is not a lot slower than the 9650GT, they seem to get similar 3DMark06 scores. The 9650GT is likely clocked higher, and because it's a lower fab chip 55nm vs 65nm it should run cooler and overclock slightly better. The 9600GS is likely to be a little slower than GT however.

The slower videocard, with the higher resolution, is likely not the best idea for performance playing... Personally, I'd be looking at the D1.... It has all the go fast bits but avoids over pricing with lack of Bluray etc.

 

Thanks freakish, good points.

The Asus N81VP-C1 has just become available in Australia for $2400. It has the AT HD 4650 DDR3 Graphics on a 14" LED 1366x768 display. I am now torn as to whether the 14" with the better graphics card but less resolution will be good enough for the latest games when compared against the D1.

 

Yeah if gaming is likely to be a large priority on the notebook, I think the DDR3 Ati card is likely a nice choice. with a 1366x768 res it should play all modern games quite well for sometime, I would imagine. (Without going into gaming only machines)

I have learnt that i could live with a 14" version of my laptop personally. (and also the lack of numeric keypad) I personally needed a Nvidia card for CUDA development. But for games and multimedia the Ati 46xx series is very good as it also does HDMI 7.1 Audio output compared to Nvidia's 2 channel which avoids extra cables out of the notebook. I also see the N81 now has the IR receiver built in (About time Asus) which is nice over the N50. But otherwise i think both will serve your purposes fairly well. I wish Asus would get into the habit of having different resolution screens available too.

Given your choices, It would be between the N81vp-C1 and N50vn-D1 and it's a fairly tough call. I cannot tell with 3DMark06 how close the videocard performance is. If it is capable of a full 1500 3DMarks higher than the 9650GT without overclocking (about 500 when OC) it seems like it will give you a longer lasting gaming experience. In 12months time when games start pushing my N50, the N81 is likely to still have a few months of decent playing left.

Regardless, Good luck with your decision.

 

Just figured I'd stop buy and say that I'll be purchasing an Asus N50VN-A1B next month. First laptop and with the research I've been doing, looks like its the best one on my budget

 

how can I register on FTP server...

 

hi i would like to know if theres an atk driver for the hotkeys for windows 7?

thx!

 

how are steam games on the n50-a1b?

 

Realtek Cracklink sound on my Asus n50vn-as065

I'm running vista x64 sp1, bios is 2.10 .. all the drivers are latest... but problem is there..... when I play songs in iTunes or when I watch movies in mplays every few seconds I hear crackling sound....

so I have that problem in every programs.. I solved it only in TRAKTOR because I installed ASIO4all & managed to use that as resourse....

what could be the problem... I see alot of people are complaining... I tried almost everything.... & still the same...

please help...

 

Welcome to the club!

Try the driver for windows Vista. It should work.

If by steam games, you mean games that use Valve's Source engine, It's amazing. Left 4 Dead gets 40FPS with max settings, 1280x800 resolution, 16x AF, and 4X AA.

Try hooking up some speakers or headphones that are known to be good. Does it still crackle then?

Uninstall the RealTek drivers, and let Vista install the default Microsoft driver, and see if the crackling still happens.


Sorry for the lack of activity here during the past week. I've been a lot busier than I thought I would be.

 

I spent like 10 hours of gogling & trying to make it ...
tried with Microsoft drivers... & with Realtek 2.10 & with latest 2.18.... every time the same.... any alternative solution ?

it's not because headphones.. because when I in program for mixing set default device ASIO4ALL than that program works great... problem is that support of ASIO isn't for all applications...

so it isn't because hardware at all.... it's just if I could somehow manage latency of sound....

any soulution :/ anybody got similiar popping/crackling problem?

 

no the vista atk drivers doesnt work for me my hotkeys still doesnt work

any idea of wich ones of the webpage do i have to install?

 

I also get the problem, but only from time to time.... It suddenly fixes itself, or when logging back on it's resolved. Not sure what the issue is, I've also been using programs like Sonar 8.31 and Traktor and the sound issues are many. I'm generally (sometimes unsuccessfully) using the SPDIF optical output, so it doesn't worry me. It seems to be only when using the laptop speakers after i have switched between them or something along those lines the stutter/crackle happens.

ASIO4ALL can help make it useful, but god i wish Realtek would do better with their drivers and support (ASIO for example), and Vista just made it worse.

The issue seems to get reported on many notebooks, if you do a google search for "Dell Studio 15 Sound Crackle" you would find many people with similar issues. One of the fixes for them is to turn off Wireless and Bluetooth module or something along those lines, which would indicate some kind of EMI, which is quite common on inbuilt soundcards on motherboards etc. (It's as about as good a guess as i have)

You may wish to ask some questions on the ASIO4ALL forums, as the developer seems all too familiar with Realtek and driver/codec and vista issues, and there is a dedicated thread to Realtek stuff.

Meanwhile i will keep looking for a good USB or Firewire audio solution.

 

Did you update the BIOS to 210 yet? You have to download the BIOS from the N50vc section.

 

I had a reasonable experience with Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Amigo -- but that's a lower-end product. It didn't improve much on the integrated... but it did improve a little bit.

You could look at their SRM card. (I hope I got the acronym right).

 

yeah i did, i installed it before i installed windows 7.

 

i am thinking about picking up a N50vn. i am decided on two models, but not sure which is better.

- the N50vn-C1S with T9400, 1440x900(CLF), 5400RPM HDD

- The N50vn-X5A with P8600, 1280 x 800(LED), 7200RPM HDD

i can get them for around the same price, so i am not sure which is better. both have pros and cons.

i am majorly concerned about the LED vs CFL LCD's effect on battery life, higher RPM HDD's effect on performance, and the speed and power consumption difference between T9400 and P8600.

 

i have the N50Vn B1B, P8600, 1440X900 LCD, and i get about 2hrs 30mins battery life, about 1hr max when running NFS Prostreet, and 3hours max with good behaviour: just reading, Office mode, and surfing. Not sure but i believe the T9400 may use more battery power. not sure about the LED effect on battery life

 

Ok i think i have a lil issue. I had a Norton Antivirus technician, look at my system and settings after a new install of Norton 360 kept on crashing, and didn't allow me online. He got it to work after a good couple hours, and i did get an extra 30days subscription because of the inconvience, But i just realized that my touch sensitive buttons at above my keyboard don't work anymore. Does any one know how i Can enable them again? I have the N50VN B1B

 

asus released last friday a new ATK driver and hotkey utility finally my hotkeys are working in windows 7 YAY..

 

sup guys
i ordered the -D1 today
had originally ordered an xps studio 16 but cancelled
and was torn between this laptop and the acer aspire 8930

a little depressed that its only WXGA
but anyways....i saw that the HDD was 5400rpm but someone else said it was 7200? can anyone confirm?

 

Congrats on your new order
The D1 comes with a stock 320GB 7200rpm HDD.

 

here's hoping that it is
cause website i got it from wrote 5400
*fingers crossed*

 

May I ask which website this is?

 

ask and u shall receive

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37014&vpn=90NQYA6732GB9CQL350Y&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1066

scroll down

 

I think it's a typo on ncix's part. All the other Asus resellers' websites lists the D1 with a 320gb 7200rpm HDD.

 

I tried almost everything that was in my mind... I'm very good with solving problems... but this one is killing me... don't see any other solution otherwise to install XP & than sound should work I guess...

I tried with disabling wifi, bt, shutting down running programs, changings sound settings in every possible way etc. etc..

I tried few different realtek audio drivers & also microsoft's & always the same....

when ASIO4ALL is audio device when running TRAKTOR (music mixing program) than crackling is gone... that's because ASIO4all is using different latency...
if there is some way if I could make ASIO4all work with all audio application that would be solution....

I'm desperate, anybody please HELP

IS IT ONLY ME?? with n50vn & vista x64 sp1 that having crackling/poping sound REALtek problem?

I will kill myself, cant even watch a movie without constant crackling in my ears....

___
BGX

 

here is funny thing... in windows media player 11 there is almost no crackling when I'm on wifi hot/spot... when I get disconected it starts crackling a little... so my Atheros wifi card is definetly having fingers inside a problem...

but iTunes & other apps are crackling no matter what......

 

i dont have any crackling when i had it with vista 64 and now with windows 7,

i think its a hardware issue.

 

that's odd. Try updating your wireless card drivers?

Then again, on my old laptop, windows XP recognized the WiFi card as a high definition audio device before I installed the drivers for it .

 

I used dcp latency checking... & tested audio.. switching on/off thousand times wireles, lan, bt... & it started worked okay...but when Im restarted pc, same problem again.... its not Hardware... its something about wifi card software conflict 100%.... I will probably go back to XP :/

 

yay i got mine delivered today
the touchpad scroll is a little meh =\
but this machine is very very quiet =)

 

btw is it possible to dl and install 64bit with the key on the bottom of the notebook?

 

yes. you'll have to call microsoft for activation though.

 

how reliable would you guys say this laptop is?

Also for people that have owned it for a while how would you rate the build quality now that you have used it more often?


i am considering buying one in exchange of the sony fw i have, beause i dont feel like spending another 329CDN for the warranty, where asus provides it from the purchase.

 

This is probably the most reliable computer I've owned. It has never failed to boot, and I've gotten a grand total of 5 BSoDs in the 4 and a half months that I've owned the laptop, and all were caused by something that I tried to do (overclocking, undervolting, modding a game, etc)

The build quality is amazing. Nothing has broken yet, and there's very little flex in the plastic construction.

The only bad thing is that the glossy plastic scratches kinda easily, and fingerprints show up easily.

 

well thats good to hear. are you using the 1440x900 model?

like i love my vaio and all but i spent 1600$ CDN on it, and the extended warranty will cost me another 300CDN .. so i'd rather by the asus and get the two year warranty u know what i mean?




: Edit::


Also this laptop includes an air ioniser? lol whats all that about? can it be turned off? when turning it off does it actually turn off or it just says its off? i wonder if there is a way to test that.

I heard that some ionisers can be bad creating too much ozone..

 

Hey guys i found this forum so i thought i should register


im in the market for a new laptop.

I just found the N50vn-c1s today at Canadian Computers today for $1500.





Now these are the three laptops im really looking at

the gateway FX p7801-u (pretty much have this one scratched off my list, to big and cheap looking)

the hp hdx 16 (love HP because i have had great luck with them, good customer support/warranty, only downfall is the specs aren't quite as hot as the asus)

asus n50vn-c1s (just saw it today and it is very appealing so far, kind of weary about going to a different brand, the size is perfect, the warranty is nice, that keyboard lag issue scares me)


my needs are mostly media, downloading, gaming. Haven't really been into any games since i quit WoW a couple years ago but still want a good platform for when Diablo 3 comes out.

And i like to play live for speed once in a while.





I just emailed Canadian Computers asking if they sell extended warranty. I like to have atleast 4 years total coverage when buying a laptop.



ps- im using a compaq presario r3000 laptop that i bought new in 04 and it is time for something new. This laptop has been good to me even though i needed a new keyboard, motherboard, ac adapter. I blame it all on the 80 days or so of (played time) playing WoW. All probs were covered under the extended warranty i had.

^this is kinda why i want to stick to HP

so if any of you got some facts or suggestions i should know please tell me because i am still undecided between the asus or the hp hdx

 

No, I'm using the LED backlit 1280x800 version. Sorry.

The Air ionizer is worthless. It does nothing. I couldn't even tell if it's on or off, if it weren't for the light that turns on whenever the ionizer is on. It can be easily turned off using the touch-sensitive bar above the speakers.

Both the HP and Asus are good computers. They're both good companies, as far as warranties go, and they should both be great for what you want. I'd just go with the one that's cheaper.