Asus N55SF Owners Lounge

Asus N55SF

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Asus N55SF Drivers ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Notebooks- ASUS N55SF

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Reviews:

http://www.gamingrig.com/asus-n55sf-review-multimedia-gaming-805/

evancg - http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...3-asus-n55sf-owners-lounge-2.html#post8082476

(Under construction)

Give your opinon about this great Laptop, and some benchmarks too!

 

Just bought the N55SF-S1128V (french version) to replace my good old FZ21S Vaio (nvidia's gfx chip fault...I'll try to service it since I'm still in the 4 years warranty window).

Core i7, 4GB, GT 555M Optimus, 750 Go@7200 rpm, 15.6″ Full HD matte screen, no BR player thou.

Didn't have much time to play with. I removed most of the bloatware, updated bios and couple of drivers (including Intel Graphics 3000) and so far I'm pretty satisfied. It feels robust, looks stylish, fans are quiet and it crunches everything I'm throwing at it. Keyboard (multimedia keys on the left) feels weird at first but I'm getting used to pretty quick (ESC is tricky).

I will prolly max it to 8GB.

W7 evaluation test : proc 7.4, ram 5.9, desktop aero gfx 5.5, gaming 6.8, hd 5.9 - Pic

Edit - Scores with 8GB : proc 7.4, ram 7.6, desktop aero gfx 5.8, gaming 6.9, hd 5.9 - Pic

 

And 2 weeks later the N55SF-S1357V is already available at the same price with Core i7-26 70QM and 8GB preinstalled...oh well...

 

other than newegg, do you know where else this can be purchased?

 

xoticpc.com
comusa.com

 

google is your friend

JR.com: ASUS N55SF-A1 15.6" Multimedia Notebook PC in PC Notebook Computers

ASUS N55SF-A1 15.6" Notebook Computer (Black) N55SF-A1 B&H

 

okish review... English isnt his first language so give him a lil room =P

Asus N55SF review – multimedia at its best, with gaming on top

 

Does any of you have problems installing ubuntu?

 

I do. I can't stand it!

Anyone looking for some reviews and more commentary hands-on should check out this N55 thread in the forums. I received one last week and am pretty pleased with it, except the terrible keyboard.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/605158-any-review-recommand-about-asus-n55sf-thanks.html

 

Hi PC world just did a review of the n55sf! They seemed to like it a lot!

 

I just received my N55SF-DH71 yesterday and have been putting it through the tests. After deciding I was not happy with my HP DV6tqe I paid the extra couple hundred bucks for the ASUS. So far I'm in love, and despite peoples frustrations with the keyboard, I don't find it that bad. I don't think it's as good as it SHOULD be for a nicer laptop, but it's perfectly servicable. Considering one of the things I hated about the HP was the keyboard flex (poor design on HP's part, it isn't secured very well along the top), I was very worried about the N55SF. Turns out - not as bad as I was expecting!

I do have a quick question about heat. So far the GPU does pretty well - reports at 67c max at stock speeds, and up to 75c if I overclock it.

The CPU's on the other hand report as high as 85c when doing CPU intensive tasks, and upwards of 95c - 97c for brief periods of time when really pushing the unit (mainly when it goes into Turbo from what I can tell). When idle it's around 51 - 55c which is what my HP did, so it idles at an acceptable temperature. The i7 is rated up to 100c so I know it's really hot but not breaking it's "up to" point, but do other people see similar numbers?

One other note, I notice when it's hitting those higher numbers, the fan isn't very loud. It's noticable, but I would expect it to be a bit noiser and pushing more air at that temperature. Anyone found a way to increase the fan speed? I wouldn't mind a bit more noise since I'm usually gaming when it hits those temps anyway.

 

Nevermind my prior post - I had to exchange the laptop because the LCD was defective and my replacement model tops out at around 85, even when stressing and turbo boosting. I guess in addition to the defective LCD screen, they also did a lousy job with the thermal paste!

 

So anyone got any reviews?

I'm thinking of getting this machine, but are getting kinda anxious about the lack of hype in this thread.

How are the GT555M holding up in newer games like skyrim and Battlefield 3?

 

I've had mine for a few days. I'm replacing an HP DV7-4060us (triple core AMD processer with ATI HD 5650 GPU). I also ordered and used a new HP DV6tqe (Core i7, AMD 6770m) for a couple of weeks but I'm returning that. The DV7 is still working well and though the 17" screen is great, it's just too big for me now (more mobile than I used to be).

So some quick impressions:

First the not so good:

Keyboard - I do prefer chiclet keyboards, but despite the bad reviews of the keyboard on the N55SF, it's totally useable. I've adjusted to it pretty quickly and I really don't have any major complaints. The keys have sufficient travel, and although they feel a little cheap in relation to the rest of the laptop, they certainly DON'T feel like they belong on a $300 laptop. The 10key is a little cramped (not full size keys) to make up for the media keys on the left side (more on that later). I'm still adjusting to the cramped size so if you're a HEAVY 10key user this may be a problem. I use it occasionally for homework and online banking without issue.

Lid - I actually kind of like the appearance of the glossy lid, but it is a fingerprint and scratch magnet. A nice plastic or textured rubber or something may have looked less elegant, but been less of a scratch risk.

Size - It's probably a TAD bit bigger (mainly deeper) than similarly spec'd laptops. Not huge, but about a half inch to an inch deeper (or longer, or however you want to say it - longer from front to back) due to the speakers, but more on that later.

The good:

Feel - Even though the laptop is basically all plastic, it feels like a high quality plastic and it's comfortable to rest your palms on the palm rest. As I mentioned before, the keyboard feels fine and I like the huge touchpad. The touchpad is not lower than the rest of the palm rest, there's just two lines to seperate it from the rest of the palm rest. I have not had any problems "missing" the touch pad or anything as a result of it not indented into the palm rest (as some have complained about). I think it looks and feels vey nice.

Sound Quality - My DV7t had decent speakers and a subwoofer. The N55SF has just the speakers and external subwoofer, but even WITHOUT the external subwoofer, the sound quality is very good for a laptop. Plug in the subwoofer and music, movies, and games sound great for a laptop. Compared to the DV6tqe I'm returning, it's a night and day difference. Of course, this sound quality creates a slightly larger laptop as the speakers are a bit larger than normal for a laptop, and result in the deeper design (and slick silver plate just below the screen).

Price\Performance - Obviously this will vary, but I find the laptop to be very quick and responsive. It comes with some bloatware you might want to remove, but nothing that degrades performance as badly as some of the pre-installed stuff Dell and HP include (the "Support Assistants" and "Upgrade Assistant" types of stuff).

Noise - Both my old HP and the new HP I tried were very noisy. The fan was on regularly and the laptops were nearly unusable on an actual lap, both due to their vents and the fact they ran extremely hot. With all the power in the N55SF it does run hot when gaming (Skyrim on high settings will get the CPU to 90c and the GPU up to 80c), it's VERY quiet.

The fan is always on but for every day use the fan is nearly silent. When gaming, it's audible, but not what I would consider loud. I'd actually like ASUS to release a BIOS update that allows us to speed the fan up - it could be a little louder and run a little cooler and I'd be happy with that. But in short, it's a quiet powerhouse, in part thanks to it's slightly larger casing than similar laptops, and well designed vent (big vent on the left). If you're using it in your lap or on a blanket, the only vents you cover are the vents by the RAM and HD. Even then, those are near the very front so chances are those aren't completely covered.

Other thoughts:

Some folks complain about the media buttons to the left, particularly in regards to getting in the way when gaming. They don't push as easily as the normal keyboard buttons, and after a couple of days of gaming I've not found myself accidentally bumping them when playing. I actually like having the volume buttons located there because I often play games without headphones in a room with others, so I like being able to quickly adjust volume depending on the situation (turn it up when talking to city folk in Skyrim, turn it down when battling it out with a Dragon).

The GT555m performance has been very good. I play Skyrim with a mix of high\ultra settings at 1366x768 and get 35-50 FPS (without overclocking the GPU). I haven't played a ton of other games but most games I've tried (Deus Ex: HR, Crysis benchmark, Medal of Honor, Dragon Age Origins) all run at 1920x1080 at high settings with 30 - 60fps. Overall, in my experience, I find the GT555m is slightly faster than the 6770m in games that are more nvidia friendly, and similar to the 6770m in games that are ATI\AMD friendly.

If I come up with any other impressions I'll post them. If anyone has any specific questions about the laptop I'd be happy to answer them.

 

Cheers helps me alot.

I loved the build quality on the HP DV6, and the trackpad had a really nice feel to it.
So it's a shame I have to let it go, but it seems to be suffering from overheating issues and huge software/driver issues which I am just not in the mood to deal with right now.

The N55SF's keyboard is what frightens me the most, it deffinately look cheap, no idea what the Asus were thinking really.

And also the scratchmagnet of the lid.

Probably gonna pick this up on saturday and see if I like it and It preforms any good.

 

I agree, the DV6 had a really solid feel to the build quality (other than the freaking keyboard - the flex in the number and F keys drove me nuts). Unfortunately I think the solid, compact feel was in part why the laptop has heat issues...the laptop is just too small for the components inside, leading to the heating issues. Regarding the driver issues, one thing that scared me was having to reply on HP to update the Intel\Radeon base drivers, then tricking the system into letting you install the newest Radeon drivers. I got it to work, but it seemed overly complicated and unreliable. I like that the N55SF uses Optimus so I really just have to install the Intel drivers and Nvidia drivers.

For me, once I saw the laptop in person and used the keyboard, the keyboard look and feel became less of an issue. No it's not what I would've put on the laptop, but in the context of evey day use, I don't find myself frustrated or disappointed in it (like I was the DV6 keyboard...I was reminded of the annoying flex in the top of they keyboard anytime I'd change the volume, quicksave, change weapons, etc.)

 

looking to get this laptop here in the uk,what worries me looking at asus main site there are already 62 updates for it. for a laptop which just come out.are there lots of problem with this laptop.

 

Not all of them are "updates" necessarily. A lot of those programs are part of the bloatware that Asus ships with every laptop. Plus there's the Windows BIOS flash utility. As far as drivers go, they keep a few older versions online in case you have issues with the newer ones (and the reverse holds true). I'd say better to have lots of updates to address potential problems than to have no response at all.

 

As mentioned by saturnotaku, most of those are NOT updates but current drivers that the laptop ships with. I actually went through to download anything that was out of date, and the only things I initially updated were the RealTek sound driver and the BIOS.

I actually appreciate ASUS listing as many drivers as possible, and being mostly current with third party drivers. With my HP and even my Dell before it, the manufacturer website either didn't HAVE the driver, or had an outdated driver.

 

Okey so i bought the N55SF yesterday.

Initial thoughts:

The bad:
I'm not sure I am able to live with the keyboard, it feels weird and cheap.

I'm worried the lid are going to get scratched once I move the laptop.


The Good
Oh my god, I never knew updating your graphics drivers could be this easy. Just go to nvidias homepage and select the GT555m and download. If you ever owned a laptop with an ATI card you know what I mean.

Everything else, solid build, looks nice, responsive and quick.

 

Hello all,

I just purchased (white) Asus N55-SF with the following spec:
CPU: i5-2410m
GFX: Nvidia 555M GT, 2GB DDR3
HD: 640 GB, 5400 rpm
RAM: 4GB
SCREEN: matte (yes! non-glossy) with 1600 x 900 resolution

I have been using it for several hours and here are my impressions (so far):

Some people have complained about the touchpad button (single button, it is plastic but feels very solid; does not feel cheap at all) but it is very comfortable to press and does not make too much noise.

Initially when I looked at the laptop at the store's display from where I bought the laptop from, I had the impression that the keyboard looked cheap. Surprisingly after a few hours of using the keyboard I feel comfortable at typing with it and I am getting accustomed with the design (the silvery look). There are some flex at the right hand side (around the numpad area, but all the letters, spacebar, and the enter button are very solid and stable). The directional buttons are a bit too small for my taste, I found myself accidentally pressing the numpad many times.

About the media buttons which are located at the immediate left of the keyboard, I have no problem with them at all. I played AC: Brotherhood for 2 hours and typed this mini review without accidentally pressing on the media buttons. If you accidentally pressed on the media buttons, you should not be bothered too much since they are made to be difficult to press.

I used HWMonitor and GPU-Z to screen the temperature. During intense gaming session (I used AC: Brotherhood and Deus EX HR to test the laptop) there was no throttle at all. The CPU got to 77-79 celcius, while the 555M GT hovered between 79 and 81 celcius (depends on which game, for me Deus EX HR gave a slightly higher temperature). I tested the laptop on a cooling pad; Thermaltake 23 CS. When the laptop was idle, the screened temperature for both CPU and GPU was roughly 42-45 celcius. The fan was silent when I played both games and the surface of the laptop was a bit warm, but still comfortable to have the left hand rested on top of the wristpad/left area of the keyboard. The right side of the keyboard stayed cool the whole time.

The basic (free) version of 3D Mark 2006 gave me 11,567 (default stock driver from the manufacturer). I did not remove any bloatware/perform clean installation of Win 7.

I won't comment much about the audio quality since there are so many clips on youtube that I am pretty sure did a better job than my poor review. Anyway, in my opinion the external subwoofer really contributes to the positive experience with the audio department. However, if the volume is cranked to the max, you'd probably (not sure about another batch of N55, but it happened on mine) hear some cracking/rattling (sorry I am not sure if I used the correct word to describe the scenario) sound from the speakers.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the purchase.

 

to any Asus N55SF owner.. can you provide me the model of the optical drive? i would like to know whether i can replace it with a caddy for secondary storage.. thank you very much

 

Hi,
the model/number of the blue-ray drive is listed as (in the device manager) :
HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW CT30P

Hopefully that helps

 

I purchased the N55SF-S2342V on tuesday. i7 2670qm 2.2ghz.

Aside from some kind of blemish on the metal rim around the top of the screen, and the fact the metal rim doesnt feel completely solid against the monitor along the top (I can push it down a mm or two) it's a pretty decent machine. Doesn't feel that solid but looks nice and the real selling point is the power under the hood.

I have some questions to other owners or people in the know.
What kind of temps do you get while gaming on intensive games? My cpu was hitting 88/89C last night in BF3. Seems a little high for my liking.

Also what voids the warranty in terms of maintenance and upgrading?
Can I change the ram / hard drive?
Can I reapply thermal paste and remove all dust in a few months time?

 

I have an i7 model as well. When playing Skyrim and Deus Ex: HR my CPU typically hangs around 87~, but at times peaks as high as 95~.

If you remove the bottom panel you can easily get to the RAM and HD. I'm not sure how easily you can access the CPU.

 

thank you very much!
do you have any issue with this notebook? about the heat and battery life?cause i'm planning to get this notebook by weekend.

 

Well... I personally have not encountered anything troublesome when it comes to my N55SF.

This the kind of temperature that I normally get (so far):

*) App : Google Chrome/Youtube/MPlayer/Maya + some photoshopping
CPU : 47-52 C
GPU : 44-50 C

*) App : Crysis
CPU : 80-81 C
GPU : 77-78 C

*) App : Metro 2033
CPU : 80-81 C
GPU : 78-80 C

*) App : Deus EX HR
CPU : 80-81 C
GPU : 73-74 C

*) App : AC Brotherhood
CPU : 80-81 C
GPU : 75-76 C

*) I get roughly about 3 hours on battery.

I heard some people reported high CPU/GPU temp on Battlefield 3. I do not have that game so I am not able to comment on that. My N55SF has i5 2410m in it, while some other N55SF have the i7....which are hotter. Consider this... dual core vs quad core (lower power consumption vs higher).

But I think you have to remember this... Asus N55SF is not a real gaming laptop; it is a multimedia laptop. A real gaming laptop (e.g. : Clevo, Alienware, etc.) has dedicated heatsink and fan for the CPU and GPU; in other words they do not share the same heatsink and fan. Multimedia laptops... no matter how good the build quality is, they will eventually face problems if you abuse it.

So far I am quite happy with my N55SF.

 

This is such an apologist attitude. This laptop may be marketed as a "multimedia laptop" but why does that mean it shouldn't be able to run flat out? Why put in a cpu/gpu that the laptop can't support at 100% over long periods of use?

Abuse would be overclocking. Simply playing intensive games that the cpu/gpu are designed to cope with and run well is not abuse. Even running stress tests does not constitue abuse, furmark prime stable should be an industry standard.

I bought this laptop for gaming. When weighing up the balance between brand, components and cost this came out best bang for buck to me. So far I'm a little cautious of the temps, but I will have no qualms RMA'ing it should it start to overheat or any other malfunctions through use.

 

Well... <sigh> maybe you were right after all. This is my 3rd laptop actually. My previous ones were Dell Inspiron (with 7800 go) and Asus G1S (with 8600m). Both were pretty much technologically primitive since they use 80nm tech. They easily heat up and plagued with the whole Nvidia fiasco (remember back then when they initially said there was nothing wrong but later admitted there was?). I had the same problem as well and had them returned/serviced quite number of times lol (it seems I had bad luck by receiving bad units perhaps). That is why I am so delicate when it comes to multimedia laptops.

Good luck with your unit anyway. I have been having a good experience so far with N55, and I hope you do too

 

anyone know was the sata spec is?

 

Hm...you mean the one under (Device Manager) IDE ATA/ATAPI Contoller ?

It says Intel (R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller

I am not sure what you meant by spec though.

 

ah.. i'm so disappointed.. apparently, Asus N55SF in my country only comes with glossy HD display.. such a dealbreaker..
well anyway thx guys, and know that someone's envying you for your little purchase

 

I thought the glossy display is for N75SF only ? I had no idea that some N55SF come with the glossy display. What is the resolution for the glossy display anyway? Is it 1366 x 768 or 1600 x 900?

If it is 1600 x 900, I would probably still get it though... I mean 15" laptops with such resolution are a bit difficult to come by nowadays... (mostly 1366 x 768).

 

Sorry this is a bit of a repost:

Im researching this laptop.

In the UK, perhaps we dont have an option for the full HD screen? Im not sure. I wanted to find the 8GB RAM/Full HD model to see what it costs, as the 1600x900/6GB model is being heavily discounted at the moment - a steal at £750 from most major outlets. I doubt you can get a new 15.6" laptop with a GT555M for less than that.

General question for everyone btw

 

it's HD resolution, a.k.a 1366 x 768, which is the deal breaker for me, not the glossy display..
yup i agree, it's hard to find a decent resolution for 14" or more notebooks, especially in my country

 

What about battery life?

 

Just got my asus n55sf a few days ago. absoloutley love it but the media keys arent exactly great... the play button opens media centre and the change track buttons dont work... ive tried re installing the atk package and the bios is up to date but still no luck...anyone else having the same problem or has anybody found a way to chage what the media keys do?

 

My version comes with i5 2410m. On 70% brightness, accompanied by several youtube session and some Microsoft Office, I managed to get 3 hr 15 min. Reduce the brightness to 40-50% and I got nearly 4 hours.

 

I meant is it sata 3 Got one now
7

 

Hi guys!

I've bought an ASUS N55SF-S2276V 15.6" Laptop in the UK 2 weeks ago. I took it home, set it up and as soon as I heard the Windows sound coming up I realised that the left speaker makes a rattling noise. I opened several videos and the problem persisted. I checked everything in settings, but everything seemed to be ok, so I thought it must be a manufacturer's fault. I returned it the next day and had it exchanged for a brand new one. Same thing... took it home set it up. Everything seemed to be ok for a couple of days. Then the right speaker started to produce a distorted sound when I listened to music.... I thought I am not going to exchange it again...I'll wait a bit... went away for the weekend came home, wanted to watch something, put the subwoofer in...no sound...at all from the subwoofer. This time I decided not to exchange it again, but have it repaired as I am fed up with setting up the things over and over again... Atm it's still with the repair centre...so fingers crossed...
I was wondering if any of you guys had the same problem with Asus? Or is it just my badluck?
Do you guys know if this repair affects my warranty at all?
Thanks

 

Hi guys!

I've bought an ASUS N55SF-S2276V 15.6" Laptop in the UK 2 weeks ago. I took it home, set it up and as soon as I heard the Windows sound coming up I realised that the left speaker makes a rattling noise. I opened several videos and the problem persisted. I checked everything in settings, but everything seemed to be ok, so I thought it must be a manufacturer's fault. I returned it the next day and had it exchanged for a brand new one. Same thing... took it home set it up. Everything seemed to be ok for a couple of days. Then the right speaker started to produce a distorted sound when I listened to music.... I thought I am not going to exchange it again...I'll wait a bit... went away for the weekend came home, wanted to watch something, put the subwoofer in...no sound...at all from the subwoofer. This time I decided not to exchange it again, but have it repaired as I am fed up with setting up the things over and over again... Atm it's still with the repair centre...so fingers crossed...
I was wondering if any of you guys had the same problem with Asus? Or is it just my badluck?
Do you guys know if this repair affects my warranty at all?
Thanks

 

I have had an N55SF-DH71 now for a few weeks and the performance is great in the multimedia and games I have tried so far - nothing seriously taxing for an i7 and GT555M, but it is reliable. The one terrible flaw of this machine however is the AWFUL keyboard. The key travel is flaky, I am constantly missing Fs and Ks and many other homerow keys are inconsistent even though I have tried cleaning the keyboard already, no improvement. The numeric keypad keys are smaller, and crushed against the main keyboard like an afterthought, and the worst decision of all- placing the multimedia function keys to the left side?? What idiot thought this up? there are ACRES of space to top and bottom, literally 3" of empty space being taken up by the speaker grille on top, but instead they place these keys BESIDE the keyboard, where your fingers will constantly trigger functions by accident when you try to hit Ctrl, Shift or Capslock while typing. Placing the power buttons embedded within the keyboard at top left and right is also rather poor design too.

Also, with a machine at this price point why is there no backlit keyboard? Every competitor in this $1200+ range has one, why not this N-series machine? I am very seriously considering how I could mod this keyboard to add an EL wire for some basic lighting, or wondering if the size and shape of the keyboard panel would fit from another ASUS laptop.

 

I bought asus N55SF i7 variant full hd resolution model just 3 hours ago.The sound is mind blowing, even in my sony MDR-XD200 headphone it is freaking awesome, never heard such sound from this good old headphone.................
but there is a slight problem when i m listening through my headphone I m hearing constant humming sound through the headphone and it is exteremely annoying, anyone knows any fix of it ???? please suggest me if u have one. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi guys

What driver version are you ussing for the nvidia 555m card? is it save to install 285.62 Driver? it's not released on the asus site...

 

Hey there,

I bought the Asus N55SF two days ago with the i7 2630QM.

However, the CPU get peaks of 97ºC when gaming, and the max operating temperature of this processor is 100ºC.

I'm using a cooling pad, but I can't seem to find a solution to reduce the heat. Disabling turboboost kinda reduces the CPU performance...

Do you guys get this high temperatures when gaming?
Any solution to this?

Regards.

 

I'm using 285.62 from the nvidia site and so far so good!

 

how did you install it? do you remove the old driver beffore instaling the new or what?

 

guys, i just bought asus n55sf 2 days back.. everything seems fine ( didn't try gaming yet ) but i got one concern. i'm still using their win7 home premium that comes with lots of asus software and not gonna format anytime soon. the music now! button on top left is a good one new feature tht i hvnt seen on any other laptops. when i press this button it shows the screen but doesn't play the music now! insted it shows me msg saying repair or reinstall . the thing i have is the repair installer and i click it doesn't complete in middle error comes n stops. in my eSupport folder i got 1.0.5.0 installer 335mb size and the same thing is available in asus support drivers site. what shud i do to be able to run music now! ??? any help pls...

 

I just installed them directly... when you install them they uninstall the old drivers (makes you reboot 2 times to complete both operations)

 

I'm getting those temperatures too, it's really scary.

How do you disable the turbo boost?