Asus N53JF Owner's Lounge

I'm in the same position, trying to find somewhere in the UK that stocks this model. The closest I have found is ASUS N53JF-SX168V:
Intel Core i5-460M(2.53GHz)
15.6" 1366x768
4GB Memory DDR3
640GB HDD
Blu-Ray combo drive
NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
£750 (simplyasus.com)

But I really want the 1080p screen, which this model doesn't have. Incidentally, neither the XE1 nor SX168V are listed on the Asus UK site.

 

I gave up in the end and purchased a Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 from the States - turned out to be a lot cheaper (however still no FHD).

Sorry to tell you but I do not think you'll have much luck finding a FHD N53JF in UK, I searched for hours on end and nothing came up.
However if you do manage to find it, please let me know!

Edit:
Oh, I also emailed several sites asking whether they were able to get hold of the XE1, the most successful reply was from eBuyer with:

So if you wait a while they may eventually stock them.

 

Cheers for the info. A laptop with a Core i5/i7 processor, 15"-16" FHD screen and blu-ray drive for a reasonable (sub £900) price is proving very tricky to find. I would go with Dell, but I really want it asap, and not have to wait the 3 weeks or so it takes them to build it.

 

I looked at Sony Vaio and found these:

* Intel® CoreTM i5-460M, 2.53GHz
* Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* 320 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
* 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
* Blu-ray Disc(TM) player
* 39.4 cm LCD, 1920x1080, webcam
* ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB
* Wi-Fi
* Bluetooth

For: £769

But the free blu ray drive offer ends tonight! So that will up the price to £820 or something.
I think that is a brilliant deal, however in the end I went for:

Intel ® Core ™ i7 720QM 1.6GHz
15.6" diagonal high definition LED Display (1366x768)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics with 1GB DDR3 dedicated graphics memory
4GB DDR3 memory
500GB Serial ATA hard drive

For £710.

If you're interested in the Vaio, go here and customize it to your liking:
https://shop.sony.co.uk/shop/ipc/di...000000009_EB3&cCharGroupName=$BASE_GROUP)/.do

 

Yeah, thats the other one I spotted apart from the Dell, cheers. Problem is the lead time is 2-3 weeks, and apparently Sony dont support Optimus like Asus - I quite like the idea of auto switching to Intel graphics when performing simple tasks. I found a preconfigured Sony VPCF12M0EB for £880, which I may have to settle for, though Id rather pay that sort of money for a "new" laptop rather than a discontinued model ( http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony_VAIO_F12M0E-B_Core_i7_Laptop_VPCF12M0EB/version.asp?PID=1711). It still doesnt solve the Optimus problem though, and it has the older GT 330M card.

 

Oh, sorry didn't realise you wanted a preconfigured model.

You may or may not have heard of the make Medion, anyway Sainsbury have a pretty good deal on one of their laptops that you may want to check out:

Medion Erazer X6811 Gaming Graphics Nvidia GTX460M Core i7-740QM 4GB 640GB 15.6" HD Ready High Performance Laptop - Electrical gifting - Gifts - Home and garden - Sainsbury’s

But you may want to try and find more information about Medion first of all as they are definitely not one of the top laptop manufacturers.

 

The Medion has the lower screen resolution though - if I decide to accept defeat with the 1080p screen, the Asus N53JF-SX168V I linked to earlier seems a reasonable buy

 

Oh, I thought the Medion had a FHD screen, on the Sainsbury specification page it says:
Maximum screen resolution: 1920 x 1080

My bad.
And yeah the Asus does seem like a good buy, and the looks of it are awesome as well.

 

hi, does anyone know where is the air "intake" on N53? I can only see one air vent on the left side, is it in or out???

 

Intake is front bottom. The vent on the left spits out hot air. If anyone's interested on screen specs there's a thorough review on anandtech. Its a little glum but its useful. They really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to come up with anything to complain about.

I've got the xe1. I never thought I'd care for 1080p on a 15" laptop. After a week of use I'd can't stand looking at anything less. Thx Essence for the links. I got mine off tigerdirect.ca

 

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

 

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.

 

@ 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.

 

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.

 

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?

 

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)

 

^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.

 

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.

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.

 

^You are posting in the wrong thread. Please re-read and respect this thread's title again and then go start your new thread elsewhere on your different model of interest. Thanks.

 

no disrespect meant. But there are people who can and possibly are wiling to return their notebooks for the SB chips. So if a review comes out, I thought it was of a good tone to point it, if that doesnt fit your values, Im sorry.

across the entire forum there is people who are already returning their laptops.

 

Can you please report back if your new unit has this problem fixed or not? I am currently in process of making decision weather to RMA it or not. Not much sense in it if I get the new unit with old problem back.

 

I RMA'd it before i went on vacation so I won't see it until late february

 

Although I don't physically see my laptop, this is the result of my RMA:
new LCD issued and replaced
and
"Didn't find high pitch noise"

Lol.

 

Hehe, so I don"t even have to bother with trying to RMA it. Btw, have you noticed some problems with your display, or is it just a diversion from fan noise? Thanx.

 

Nah, I had a cm of dead pixels so I had to RMA it

Damn I'll be so choked if the SB N53 don't have whine................

 

I have the N53JF-XE1 and other than the cooling fan and occassional hard disk access noise I don't hear a thing.

Does this noise only come around when the processor is in a continual, constant state of red lining?

 

My gamma settings and Power Option settings seem to be resetting whenever the laptop goes into standby/shutdown/hibernate. Is anyone else noticing this? My gamma settings reset higher than I adjusted, and my Power Option settings get reset to "Power4Gear Entertainment." How can I get them to stay put?

 

it happens when your CPU is trying to save power
try just surfing the web in a very quiet environment without music on

 

I've noticed that the multi-toutch features of the touchpad behaves a bit buggy - even after installing the newest drivers (v7.0.5.13) from the Asus support site.

This WHQL driver (v8.0.7.0) on the Techspot site includes huge improvements to performance + adds edgescrolling which is a bit easier to use compared to 2 finger scrolling.

I thought this was worth sharing

(credit to HOLYMOLY for posting a link in this post)

Why doesn't Asus have this driver on their support site?!

 

Check out the following thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/494250-asus-n61jq-driver-thread.html

Especially, regarding the TouchPad drivers!

Kind regards,

KOR!

 

Thanks. I downloaded the 8.0.7.0. Elantech firmware straight from their own site, just to be sure, and it seems much better than the factory installed version.

I had been frustrated previously that just very minor brushes against the touchpad while typing would reposition the text's location to a wrong position almost any time I typed more that a few sentences. Voila! Problem gone!

EDIT to add: Edge scrolling I get, but I need a tutorial of all these multi finger gestures for zooming and such. Any links anyone? For instance, once I zoom a bit, how do I then get back to exactly 0X zoom (none), other than "that looks about right"? I see no zoom factor "indicator" for feedback, that is.

 

Have anyone noticed a "click-clack" (like a clock needle) sound coming from the right area (HDD-DVD)? I heard random click-clack sound and it's very anoying. HD Tune says the HDD is perfect :/. Is it normal or should I RMA it?

 

Hi, new N53jf owner just getting things set up.

Everything going ok but I can't seem to get the bluray to play. Tried media player (hate that thing) it tried to play and pixelated badly then said the disc was the wrong format. Other blurays it just saw as data discs. I installed PowerDVD 10, and it either sees them as data discs or flat locks up.

I've done the Asus update and Window (HomePremium64) updates, still no go.

Seems to play dvd's fine.

Any ideas?

Oh, and sorry about intro-ing with a problem.

edit++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OK, got an answer from Asus support RE: d/l'ing ASUSDVD 9 and all is well.

Cripes, you think they know back in Taiwan that there's a problem? I googled this and it's been going on for years.

 

^ The preloaded software Cyberlink PowerDVD works for me. [I'm unregistered despite their urging and there was some momentary window suggesting I add a patch which I haven't done, yet]

Are you in "High performance mode"? Might your disc be dirty or scratched? Have you tried other store bought BD movies?

edit: [the above all written prior to your edit]

 

Thanks for the reply mzil. Enjoying the great viewing now. Everything is working fine, except I seem to have thrown out the dedicated keys for sound. I think the answer is here http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/222868-asus-atk-hotkey-downloads.html but I haven't tried it yet


edit: Thought I'd go to PROGRAM UNINSTALL and select REPAIR on the ATK installation, rebooted and whammo, everything is working again. Whatever I unhooked was set straight.

 

i'm at my wit's end with this. i was encountering a number of problems with windows 7 home and decided to reinstall it from my asus recovery partition. now i'm stuck on a screen that says "setup is preparing your computer for first use". it's been on this for hours. i can't get off the screen to boot from a disc, or get into the bios, or anything. i really have no idea what to do.
otherwise the computer is great though, hah! i was pretty impressed with the full hd and blu rays look phenomenal. i don't know if i'll ever get to actually see that screen again, but...

 

^I suspect your keyboard's period button might be faulty.

 

Uh-oh...
Intel hit with chipset design flaw in Sandy Bridge rollout | ZDNet

I ordered mine on the 18th, so I'm hoping I got older stock.

 

.... I just ordered one.... I'm assuming I'll have to send it in to have the chip replaced right away?

What ram should I buy if I want to double to 8?

 

I believe the ram expansion would be this;
8GB (2x4GB Modules) 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM

If someone would verify?

 

Computer memory upgrades for ASUS N53Jf Laptop/Notebook from Crucial.com

Not a product or vendor endorsement but this seems to be a go to source fopr answering this question. My local computer store used this site for instance.

 

I popped open my JF, only 2 slots.

 

Didn't appear to be stacked slots.
Here's a photo from a review, for what it's worth.
http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/893/asus-n53jf-14-internals-bottom.jpg

 

You know, looking at that photo from anandtech, it has the wrong ram. It's showing DDR3-1333. According to Asus, and recommendations a few posts back, it should be DDR3-1066.

 

Edit: answered my own questions via the power of critical thinking and google. Answers in bold if anyone cares. Notebook ordered and eagerly anticipating

Hi, I want to order the N53JF-XE1 but I have a few questions:
- Is it possible it will have the Sandybridge SATA flaw?
No, the only N53's affected are the SN and SV
- I plan to upgrade immediately to SSD. Can it take advantage of 6.0 Gb/s (SATA3) or should I save a few bucks and get a SATA2 SSD?
No, HM55 does not support SATA3
- I plan to upgrade immediately to 8GB RAM, ok to use DDR3-1333? I'm pretty sure it's ok just making sure.
Yes it can handle 1333 MHz RAM

 

Hi everyone! I just received my N53JF-XE1 in the mail a couple days ago and after a few hiccups (including formating the system and installing a fresh copy of windows 7) I'm almost on my way to success. Recently I've noticed a new issue, though; when I try to run youtube videos in full screen mode adobe flash crashes, the browser freezes, and I have to use the task manager to close it. After trying a few things I set my system to run chrome (and firefox) only with integrated graphics and youtube started working properly, so my theory is that it's the optimus switching that's causing the crash. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

 

b_george

I have the same model, about 1 month old now.

I used to be able to do full screen youtube, but now I get a black empty screen w/o a freeze, I hit ESC and get back to the web page playing the video. I wonder what changed?

May I ask why you had to do a reformat and fresh win7 install?

 

Hmm... so if this is a recent change then maybe it's a driver issue; anyone try reverting to an older NVIDIA patch?

I reformatted because I was getting all sorts of system errors (BSOD) after uninstalling the bloatware. It was easier to just do a clean install of windows 7 and then install the ASUS drivers myself.