Asus N80Vn-GP011C: First Impressions/Review

I'd figure I'd chime in here. This lappy is a beast for upgrades. This lappy can take full advantage of the t9800 and run quite stable. I havent had any problems running COD4 or Fallout 3(med settings on an external monitor 1400x900) take a look at my thread. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=344547

 

@sh1nigam1
Wow dude I cant believe you put a T9800 in this lappy jejej I though this laptop could explode with the T9500 because it was too much core power but since you say it runs well and didnt get burn the motherboard am sure the n80vn-C1 is a good buy.

 

Hey Gaming Nurse thanks for that... And you can try this one please http://www.drakensang.com/demo/Drakensang_DEMO_setup_ENGLISH.exe and give some impressions about performance and the game itself

Thank you

 

WOW Great Thread!
I have read it all and its very informative.

I was SET to pull the trigger and buy the N80Vn-GP011C.
Now i am kinda stuck into what to buy. This will be my first laptop.
I will be using the laptop I buy for gaming, graphics programs like photoshop, music, video editing, ect.
I will buy my laptop next week PLEASE help me choose.
My 3 choices are:

-N80Vn-GP011C

-N80Vn-C1 - Will the faster processor make the battery life shorter than the GP011C? What are the advantages of vista 64 over 32 besides recognizing more than 3gb of ram?

-Dell Studio XPS 13- Would having DDR3 ram instead of DDR2 make it better for gaming even though the graphics card and processor are inferior to the C1?


These 3 are in the price range im willing to spend. Any advice to make me make the right choice will help.

 

Well here's my review on the performance the FEAR 2 demo...



AWESOME!!! I let the game choose the "optimal" settings which set it all at "medium" with HDR turned on. The game plays extremely fluid and in my opinion looks BETTER on this PC then it does on the PS3 version, which i also downloaded to do a comparo. I went back to graphic options and tried everything turned on to max and was still able to play the game. In dark corridors the gameplay was very fluid but once more lighting came up like fire and outdoor areas it begain to lag a little bit. Again i stick by my opinion by saying that this laptop is seriously the best gaming laptop for the price. Totally amazed....

 

Again, for having this computer for about a week now i can tell you that you will be thoroughly impressed with this particular model (N80vn-GP011c). If you can still find it i'm sure it'll be cheaper as well. I'm not sure what your uses with this computer are but if it's for gaming, browsing the internet, school, mobility then by all means go with this model. I don't believe that spending an extra for the C1 version justifies the price difference. Yes you will be getting a faster processor and the 64bit version of Vista but i'm sure you won't tell the difference in performance. Plus, if you can find a 64bit vista online you can use the same serial key that comes with the GP011 model. You can then get most of the 64bit drivers from the recovery disk that ASUS provides. ALso, if you're still missing some drivers you can always download them from the ASUS website. There's my 2 cents.

 

Just for the info, how much I am suppose to pay if I upgrade the processor and Ram (from 4 to 8GB) instead of buying the newer version of N80Vn?

 

If you can wait a few more weeks, you may want to wait for the N81vp to come out. It will have a more powerful ATI 4600 series card, hopefully the HD 4670.

 

I think that we all be really dissapointed with ASUS if they put a 4650 instead of a 4670. The sad part is that I read that models will have the 4650 and the F80Se will have the 4570... both are crap against the 9650m GT.

@Gaming Nurse
Could you try Drakensang pleaseeeeeee???????? And Thanks for your FEAR 2 imressions

 

HEy Everybody there is a new model in da house the n80Vn-X5 Check it out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220488

It looks very similar to the GP011C but I think that doesnt bring the LED screen and the HDD is 7200rpm.

What do you think about this model????

 

hello,

i was previously set on purchasing the n80vn-c1, however this news of the n81vp has gotten me torn. supposedly, the newer model saves up to 35% of battery life and sports a better video card than the 9650 the n80 is equipped with. so:
1) you guys think the n81vp is a significant upgrade over the n80?
2) is it worth the price?
3) just a side note, is excaliberpc.com a reliable online retailer?

thanks guys! appreciate it

 

Here's another update on FEAR 2...I'm now playing this game with ALL settings at "MAXIMUM", no AA and Anisotropic x2 and runs buttery smooth. THE GAME LOOKS AMAZING ON THIS LAPTOP...

 

That 35% battery life is just a marketing gimmick ASUS throws around. I'm pretty sure the N80 sports the "super hybrid engine" as well, so the battery life should be about the same for both laptops. As for your questions:

1) There are no benchmarks around for the new ATI cards around yet, so no one can know for sure how much of an upgrade it will be...or what types of models will be offered for the n81vp.
2) If you mean the N80...then yes.
3)Yes, they are well known around here.

I already have an N80Vn-GP011C and I am very happy with it. If I were in the market right now though, I would wait and see what the N81 has to offer. It might be a couple months.

Keep in mind, there is also this Newegg model which just came out that is a couple hundred cheaper than the C1 with just a slightly slower cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220488

 

d/l'ing the demo right now. Hopefully this game is as good as the original. I'm going to play it on my 1680x1050 monitor, so I might be able to run it on med-high settings. I have to admit, I miss my old quad-core desktop with an 8800gt, where I could just crank everything up and go to town. I just didn't have room for that beast anymore.

 

I would much prefer the LED over a faster hard drive.

 

thanks, squads. however, i've checked out the 4600 cards and i believe the 4670 will pack a 512 ddr3. still wondering about the price difference between the n80 and n81 though..

if it comes out in a couple more months, i might not be able to wait. need a machine asap. and as it is, seems like the n80s been doing great for you guys.

regarding the x5, though, is it much of a difference between a 2.4 vs a 2.66 processor?

 

From what I have heard, the T5800 (2.0 gHz, 2mb cache, 800mHz FSB) in the lower models can be a bottleneck. The upgrade to the 2.4 is very worthwhile, but you will get diminishing returns with the 2.66. The GPU will really be holding you back in most cases.

A note on the 4600 series and Asus N81. I have not found any site making claims to whether the N81 will have the 4650 or 4670, so I wouldn't assume either way. I have also heard (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that the 4600 series can have either DDR2 or DDR3. Asus generally seems to cut costs in this area, offering DDR2 models. Again, the talk in this model is mostly conjecture as there are no specs around that I can find.

 

wow, thanks man. real informative replies. just one last question, in what respect does diminishing returns affect the gpu-processor relationship? you mean a vid card upgrade would be more suited for the c1?

 

Any Idea what the price range of the N81vp will be?

Just curious to know why you think that the 9650m GT is a better card. Will it work better with the c1's processor?
Im just trying to get as much info in before i buy my laptop.

 

@Inhuman
If you look to the chart of notebookcheck in this link http://www.notebookcheck.org/Tarjetas-graficas-moviles-lista-de-Benchmarks-nueva.2552.0.html they put the 9650 in the 34th place and the 4650 in the 51th (this is a bit especulative cuz there are no benchmark of the 4600 series)

The Most Balance in Performance/Price was the GP011C but with the actual model I suggest you to buy the C1 for sure

 

But obviously it depends on want are you going to do with it...

 

Alot of Gaming(FPS's, RTS, ect), Graphics mainly on photoshop CS3/4, some video editing, besides the usual web surfing, office programs and such.

I can get the C1 for about $1250(maybe a bit less). Im having a hard time not buying it or the GP011C.
But when i make a big purchase like this i dont want to regret it if the up coming asus laptops with the radeon 4600 dd3 cards perform better.
especially if they are in the same price range as the C1 or the GP011c.

 

i have the same sentiments as inhuman. does anyone know the release date of the n81vp? im closely leaning towards the c1. is the extra $150-200 worth the price?

 

I dont know why ASUS make us suffer the agony to be waiting the release of an utopical n81 that we assume it should be better from the actual n80.

Why ASUS!!! Why You do That!!

 

Hey good news newegg have the GP011C again and a bit cheaper

 

What I mean is the T5800 processor seems to cause slowdown in some CPU intensive games such as Left4Dead. In that case the CPU is the bottleneck. Your games will only run as fast as the slowest part of your system. The P8600 does not bottleneck the GPU in any games I have come across, so moving up to a faster processor will not net any gains when gaming (it will give you a better 3Dmark score, which means nothing). It will be a bit faster for video editing and such, but for gaming, the video card becomes the limiting factor.

Downloaded the FEAR 2 demo and could not get a playable framerate at 1680x1050 all medium, no AA, trilinear filtering, HDR on, AO off. It mostly hovered around 20-25 and dipped into the teens. This game really needs about 30fps to play, so it looks like no external monitor for FEAR 2.

 

Interesting. Did you try playing it on your laptops monitor? I'm actually able to play the game with EVERYTHING maxed with AA 4x, Anisotrophic 8x and Vsync turned off and it plays quite fluidly. What do you think about the game Squads?

 

Ya I played it on the laptop screen with the above listed specs and it was super smooth. I'm sure I could pump up the settings at 1280 no problem. 1680 seems to hurt this video card alot, as most games play at about 2/3 of the 1280 rez FPS.

Did you have HDR on btw? That makes a huge difference in quality. I would lower most settings before turning it off.

The game feels like it was built for consoles...but that is like any other big-time FPS these days. What that usually means is it becomes too easy playing it with a m/k. Just hit the slo-mo, tag a couple headshots...run to next area...slo-mo, headshots, and so on. Its good to play without using slo-mo to make it more challenging sometimes.

 

Hey somebody has tried Age of Conan in this laptop??? Is there a free server to this game???

 

I highly doubt that ASUS will put DDR3 memory in the N81. They seem to just shove in 1 GB of DDR2 and call it a day.

 

hmmm... You may be right.
If in fact Asus does put ddr2 in the n81, the specs wont be that much better or maybe the same as the GP011C or C1, am i right?
Or do the 4600 Radeon cards do some things that the 9650 gt doesnt?

 

only the fact that it supports direct x10.1

 

only 0.1 by far.

 

I really wanted the N80VN-GP011C but it seems to be out of stock everywhere I check. Looking at how much you guys are enjoying it makes me want it badly lol. Anyone have an idea of when the n81 will come out?
Would you guys recommend waiting for the summer to buy a laptop or get it now? Thanks.

If they do put ddr3 that would be insane but I kind of doubt they will as well.

 

If you need a laptop now, get one now. The waiting game is neverending.

 

Yea that's true. It's not a must right now but it would be nice to have so I don't have to use my crappy desktop. Say I wait till the summer there won't be major improvements you think?

 

Besides the new ATI cards, I don't believe anything earth shattering is coming out.

 

I dont suppose Asus will fix the keyboard flex problem with the C1. They would just replace some hardware from the N80Vn-GP011C's shell right?
I would hope they would listen to their customers complaints about little things that were not right with their previous laptops using basically the same components/shell.
And of coarse improve on them. Even if the release time of each isnt that far apart.

 

I believe its the exact same chassis, just newer guts.

Hopefully the N81vp will address some of these issues.

 

6070 3DMark06 score with 179.28 driver in recently downgraded xp ...man this thing is awesome... pure/left4dead/fallout 3 run very very smoothly..

 

Do you guys have an idea which interface N80Vn-C1 sport for the DVD optical drive? Still E-IDE or is it SATA? I'm planning on buying one and I would like to replace the original drive with Blu-ray burner, on e-Bay the go as low as $350 for 2x blu-ray burner Panasonic UJ-220 for IDE. Will this work or I need to shoot for SATA drive? Thanks!

 

GenTechPC lists on their website: 2X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive : $319.
Maybe you could PM Ken and ask him what the connection is.

 

is the N80VN-GP011C good as the N80Vn-X5 ????
seen on newegg pic N80Vn-X5 IS LED
i cant find N80VN-GP011C no where

 

I wouldn't try AoC on this, or any other computer. WotLK is much better

 

Question for those who have the N80Vn-GP011C.
I went to bestbuy today, and took a look at the asus models they offer.
Particularly the X83Vm-X1. I really didnt like the color or the "feel" of it. Cant put my finger on what it was, but it looked and felt cheap. I guese it was the design as well.
Does the n80vn-gp011c "feel" similar to the X83Vm-X1 ? For those of you who have held both.

Maybe it was because I also was looking at some dell xps's and even the gateway fx laptop they had on special looked real nice and felt solidly built(I thought it looked ugly in the pics before i saw it in real life).

 

Newegg has the N80Vn-A1 with the WXGA+ (1440x900) for $799 after a $100 rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220390

I'd look at bestbuy but buy from Newegg or other on-line retailer so you get the full mfg warranty. Pay with AmEx and get another year added to the warranty.

 

The Best Buy versions are always the cheaper quality ones. Don't buy an Asus from them.

 

Bestbuys Gateway FX is the bottom of the barrel version too. Still a good price for what you get.

 

Thank you 4 your recommendation, I am not interested in AoC anymore... My eyes get caught by another game, a really promising game:

Dragon Ball Online (Daaaaaamn is EXACTLY the game I dreamed 12 years ago)

Sorry for all the WoWaddicts but I think this will be THE game in MMORPG, only hope to run it the n81 ejejej

 

It suppouse to be released this year!!!!

About the n81 It is true that it will get a 3DMark06 around the 7K????