Asus N550JV - user review and owners lounge

I noticed some of you guys downgraded to windows 7. I have been using win 8 for a week and I don't like it very much. I tied the start menu thing and wasn't impressed. Would someone be kinda enought to put up a guide or like a step by step process on how to install win 7? Also attach the urls of the places you got the drivers from. Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

Can I suggest that you try the Windows 8.1 preview - it's a free download and once the final version is released will be a free upgrade for Windows 8. You have to download about 2 gigs worth of update, which you can do through the store metro app.

I was horrified by the crappy mess that is Windows 8 - but with 8.1, you can restore most Start menu functionality and more importantly, get Windows to boot straight to the desktop and avoid the mess that is the initial metro screen.

With 8.1 and a bit of tweaking, it's pretty close to a lightweight version of Windows 7, and definitely a lot more usable than vanilla 8.

 

Be warned that in some situations, there is not upgrade path from 8.1 preview to 8.1 release. Not sure what those situations are, but Microsoft apparently said upgrading from the preview doesn't always work.

 

And one more warning: my N550JV was not stable under Windows 8.1 preview, most likely due to me not having installed the newest graphics drivers.

I'm not saying don't install Win 8.1, just make sure you install proper drivers.

 

Never had this problem before on any machine, but when I went to turn on my N550JV this morning, the bottom battery light was flashing red (even though my laptop was fully charged) and the screen was flickering like mad. I manually killed the machine and restarted, but I had the same problem the next 4 or 5 times. Finally, the light stopped flashing and the screen stopped flickering. This really freaked me out and I'm hoping it's an isolated incident. Anyone else dealt with something like this?

 

I second this. I found that sleep/hibernate wasn't working correctly in win 8.1. Shutdown sometimes hangs forever. I hope this is fixed in the released version of 8.1.

 

I did try 8.1 and noticed alot of bugs, I had my friend take it off for me With all that being said, can someone still try to do the Windows 7 guide. Thanks :thumbsup:

 

i will keep W8 until i see a stable version of the 8.1

 

I've got a question about updating drivers, can you just use the windows automatic settings? or do you need to manually search and find them, and how would you know which ones you need?

*edit* I bought it from a reseller if that makes a difference as far as if I'm up to date, I just assumed I was after i did the automatic checks

 

Good to know, but the person I was replying to is considering trashing Windows 8 entirely for Windows 7, so I assume that the 'risk' of trying 8.1 preview for a month or so is not a big factor.

This was pretty much my reasoning - 8.0 is basically unusable IMHO so I was willing to chance the preview. Glad I did.

Re stability, I haven't had any issues at all since installing 8.1 preview, though I do have the latest nvidia drivers installed.

 

I found with the wifi drivers that Windows did not find the most recent drivers which are available on the Asus website. So I would say with most things you don't need to worry, but if you are having problems and want the absolute latest check the Asus site and/or the manufacturer of the hardware in question.

The nvidia drivers should keep themselves up to date if you let them.

 

As for the two times that I've had my fans shut off on a sleep wakeup (I'm assuming) and only coming back online after restarting the pc and logging in ...

Fans don't restart until after logging in which made me believe it's not specifically a BIOS related error on 203, but rather an internal command changed by a buggy program that caused the BIOS to not turn the fans on until after the program was restarted after logging in.

I believe it was a P4G Hybrid that caused this (though I don't have any proof). At the same time, I have not yet had my fans halt throughout the school day following the uninstall of P4G and some other bloatware. I will continue watching anyway.

 

Does anyone know how we can control the fan? Lately for some reason on battery my fan is running faster than it did before (I can just barely hear it whereas before I couldn't). Because of this, my discharge rate is around 16-17mW whereas before it was 10-11mW (and my battery life has been affected pretty dramatically). I even have XTU and have voltage offset -100mV and yet I'm not getting better battery life...

 

I'm considering the N550JV that's advertised on Amazon. Almost ready to buy.
However, I am confused about which CPU this model actually has.
It's advertised as i7-4700HQ, but there a some posts saying it's actually i7-4702.

The difference matters because I am also going to upgrade the RAM and which RAM I get will depend on whether this is a low-power CPU.
As far as I can tell as a non-expert, the 4700HQ is standard power while the 4702 is lower power, so if it's a 4702 I could go with RAM that has a lower voltage rating.

Does the N550JV-DB72T (United States) actually have a 4700HQ or a 4702HQ??

 

As far as memory goes, you will only use low power DDR3L anyway, because all the N550JV with 4700HQ processor come with DDR3L as far as i know. (Mine did)

I'll paste details about my installed memory bellow. My best guess is everyone gets the same memory chips.

Module Manufacturer: Hynix (Hyundai)
Module Part Number: HMT41GS6AFR8A-PB
Module Nominal Voltage (VDD): 1.5 V, 1.35 V (operating at 1.35V as reported by software)
Supported Module Timing at 800.0 MHz: 11-11-11-28

 

No, i have memory of Kingston built in, it's called Kingston ASUS16D3LS1KBG/4G in HWiNFO64.
But the voltage and timings are the same, 1.35V and 11-11-11-28.

 

Kingston 1,35V too.

I just put a Toshiba ssd 128GB, pretty awesome since it is not put to shame even by a 128 GB 840 pro while having slightly better consumption. Windows boots within 10s. Unfamous ssd but very balanced as it beats any 120GB 840 samsung non-pro at lower power consumption. It's pretty cheap also.

Toshiba Q-Series 128GB 2.5 Inch / HTRAN101 - SSD Review - SSD Reviews, Data Sheets and Comparison - ssdreview.com

I'm now idling at 10W with 80% brightness and wifi on. I listened to a mp3 during 30 minutes and the battery only fall from 100% to 95%, battery life seem incredible for a quad lap. The lap is very silent at idle now, the 5400rpm HDD was way noisier than the fans. I cloned W8 with Easus todo which is a very clever software as it allows you to clone from a 1TB HDD to a 128GB SSD as soon as your HDD have <128GB of used space. Prettty cool.

I play BBC2 multiplayer at 2,5ghz on 4 four cores with -100mV undervolting and 50fps limiter on GPU via Nvidia inspector. Rock solid 50fps framerate with only 50W at the wall, the fans don't even kick and the cpu doesn't break 68°C. Gosh i love this lap

 

That would be nice but how is that supposed to be possible?
The battery has 59 Wh and if you are even idling at 10W and listening music should be higher so that would be 5 Wh for your 30 minutes which are ~8%.
If you had 5 % for 30 minutes that would lead to 10 hours of runtime which the Samsung Chronos 770Z5E reached with it's 91 Wh.
Not that it wouldn't be something to wish for but it just doesn't seem plausible.

By the way how are you measuring the consumption? Is there an Asus tool? Samsung had a view for that in the energy settings tool and i thought i somewhere saw something like this from Asus but i'm not sure.

And another question: Is it possible to launch XTU silent with a profile? Always starting XTU manually is a little bit annoying. Or is there any other tool able to do this?

 

Thanks for both replies. That answer my question perfectly. I needed to know if I can buy 1.35V RAM instead of just 1.50, and from what you've said, I obviously can.

 

Hello all

I have just bought this laptop and am looking to replace the hard drive with a Samsung 830 ssd (256GB). Is this just a case of using the Samsung Data Migration tool with a USB to Sata cable? Will this work? Cautious of the OEM license of Windows 8 etc.

Also how difficult is it accessing the hard drive to replace it?

Thanks

L

 

yeii my new laptop arrive, but i am work, i need to wait

 

Anyone else miss having a numlock indicator? Petty, I know... 1st time I've owned a laptop with a numpad.

 

Got my laptop yesterday and spent a few hours trying to work through Windows 8, getting all my drivers updated and my Windows Updates to work (what a nightmare). I *think* I have most of the software up to date at this point.

I've been testing the laptop very lightly at this point, really just playing a bit of League of Legends. Playing at 1080p and medium settings the CPU pushes to ~70 within 15 minutes and stays there. If I limit it to 99% (which I think I will do unless playing very intense games/operations) than it is in the mid 60s which is OK I guess. I was just thinking that for the laptop to be at ~70+ with LoL doesn't bode well for more intensive programs if it throttles at 80. Any thoughts or do these temps seem ok and the last 10 degrees take a lot to climb to? I almost feel like the fans aren't running enough... laptop is just as silent playing LoL at 70 C at it is at idle. Speaking of which, just playing music thru youtube and the CPU cores are all about 45. Seem fair?

Sorry for dumb questions above, just trying to make sure paste/temps are all right.

Final thing is that I cannot monitor my GPU temps!! GPU-Z froze on me every time I tied to use it and HWMonitor is not displaying the 750M temps. I assume it is working correctly because LoL played smoothly, but for all I know it is overheating/the 4600M is doing the work! Any idea how to get the GPU to show up in HWMonitor ?

Thanks for the help! I have mixed feelings about the laptop so far, I really like the screen quality, aesthetics/size, and even the speakers/kb/mouse. Just Windows 8 updates has been a pain to get working so far and I'm still feeling out the strength/heat of these specs. Had a few too many crashes for a computer this fresh too, but I'm hoping it was just working out the kinks!

 

Have you updated your graphics drivers? I had the same until i did this.
The preinstalled Nvidia drivers are just old and they're also only an adjusted version of a Nvidia driver where the GT 750M wasn't on the market.

For the temperature part: It will throttle soon if you play a game with a bit more complex graphics.
But you can disable it with ThrottleStop 6.00 Beta and with normal usage(no benchmarking) you still stay around 80°C while pushing both the CPU and GPU to 100% the temperature goes up to 85-88°C, at least in my case.
As you most probably won't ever push both to 100% with a game or normal usage you won't have problems.

 

Thanks for the advice on Throttlestop!

As far as the GPU, I have updated the drivers. Bit of a mystery I guess, I will do some more tweaking to see if I can get some temps from one program or another.

 

Try MSI Afterburner, that was also working with the preinstalled driver so there shouldn't be any problems.

 

yeii i have my new baby, and this video card is working very good

today Asus released a new version of the BIOS (206)

 

Guys is this level of backlight bleeding normal? I'm particularly distracted with the vertical line on the left side of the screen.

 

@KgSager

If you undervolt the CPU by around 100mv - 115mv using Intel XTU, it helps to keep the temps down quite a bit. Without it my CPU would throttle after a few minutes running Prime95, with it I didn't see any throttling.

Also, keep the vent off the ground, either with a cooling pad or just by propping the back up somehow. As long as it's something more than the regular rubber pads on the bottom. If you aren't doing that already, that'll help a lot.

 

Can someone confirm it is a torx T5 which is needed to open this laptop?

I have an intel wireless card in my hot little hand.

 

That range of 100-115mV undervolt is exactly the range where my 4700HQ becomes unstable under high load.

People who are new to undervolting should set their target lower. A 50mV undervolt should be a safe start for everyone, but anything approaching 100mV will require stress testing.

Yes, definitely T5.

 

Great, thanks! Will install the intel card tonight and report on whether it improves my wifi issues.

 

When you're opening it, may you make pictures of where to pull and how to open the case without damaging it? Or better, if possible, a video?
I want to replace the bluray drive with a SSD and maybe looking if eGPU would be possible with the mPCIe slot of the wifi card(pulling the cable out of the ODD bay maybe, whatever) but i'm always a bit afraid of damaging that stuff, though i completely disassembled a Samsung R580 once to change the CPU but i had a detailed manual for doing this in that case.

Anyway I would appreciate any information regarding this, even if it's only text

 

i just installed everything again, and it seems to be working fine

so thanks again guys!! for all your help, this laptop is awsome!!

which tool do you recommend me, to check the temperature and performance of my cpu??

 

Just use ThrottleStop, it shows you the current clock as well as min. and max. temperature of your CPU.
And if you want to have the total power you need this program anyway.

 

Thanks again Morv!!

 

Hello all, I am stuck and need help...
This is driving me mad.

I cannot enter bios on my brand new N550JV...

I mean, pressing F2 key like mad before, during and after Asus logo, nothing happens and I always end up in Windows 8.

Tried different keys (DEL, F1, Fn+F2, whatever... same result).

Tried pressing once, continuously, whatever... spend almost the entire afternoon doing startups/shutdowns trying to get in the damned BIOS, nothing...

Any special trick or anything I am missing?

I have used the laptop for a week, removed several Asus bloatware, left the Asus software for the fn keys and the instant key. Everything is working fine in windows 8.

Please helpppp!!!!

 

You probably have UEFI BIOS active. If you do, read this.

 

Thanks I am reading it now... I knew I was missing something lol... I knew about this UEFI stuff but not this w8 part
THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't get this.
Are some having UEFI and some a usual BIOS?
I can easily access my BIOS by pressing F2 and don't need to access it via Windows.

How is that possible? Does it depend on the model of the N550JV?

 

It's possible for me to get the touch version for the same price as the non-touch. How reflective would you say the display is? I won't use it outdoors a lot, but I will have it with me in school where the lightning is somewhat bright.

 

Why would you want to choose a touch version over non-touch matte version? Especially if you say that you want to use it in school and even if you only use it at home, these things are damned makeup mirrors.

 

i like my touch version!!!

i never had one before, but is cool to navigate using the touch jejeje

 

The reason I'm asking is because I really want the touch-function, although if the display is to glossy I don't think it would be worth it. I've been looking at laptops in my local shopping mall, and the amount of light that reflects of the display varies from model to model, and that's why I'm curious if people who own the touch-model have issues with reflections.

 

Ok, i guess then javier_83 is your person to ask

 

I have the touch version, the touch is nice and several things come much more naturally with touch and it makes the whole windows 8 experience better, it does smudge a lot however so i usually end up wiping the screen with the cloth they provided about 1 or 2 times a day. The glare just kinda depends, if the brightness is down its kinda bad, which my brightness is down a lot to save battery, but you do get used to and once you turn the brightness up its really not a problem unless theres a light source right over your shoulder or something but its easy enough to move. oh and the colors are fantastic. So for me I really like it, but its really personally preference whether or not you'll get annoyed or distracted or whatever, I even have ADD and i can deal with it so you prolly can too hahaha

 

not at all, for example in the black border you can reflect yourself, but in the screen is very good, you dont reflect that much like other laptops!!

 

I just bought the N550 and was listening to music when i noticed a static buzz in the background. Does anyone know what is causing this?

 

How are other people finding the keyboard. I am coming from a Das mechanical keyboard with my desktop and my only experience with laptop keyboards have been two of the best (Macbook and W530 thinkpad) so maybe I am a bit spoiled but I feel like I am missing all sorts of key strokes. Is this keyboard considered a decent laptop keyboard and just takes a bit of time to get used to?

 

I had this problem too. It's most likely caused by faulty shielding around the audio jack from high frequencies. I updated the BIOS to 206 and now it's thankfully gone.