Asus N80Vn-GP011C: First Impressions/Review

Sorry, I'd let ya know if I had it

Yeah, it's confusing because the name is almost identical to the much worse <$700 model. Though that model isn't too shabby for the price either!

 

I think the gloss is wearing off of my laptop lid, it have worn off of some of the rubber stoppers on the LCD but on the outside of the top it looks like my laptop goes from black to gray to black. I'm pretty upset with this because I baby this laptop but it seems the gloss can't even put up with a few months of light use and being carried in a laptop bag.

 

Anyone try using an anti-glare screen protector yet? Initially I liked the glossy screen, but now it's driving me nuts.

There's some generic-model Green Onions brand for 14.1" screens on Amazon, and Boxwave has a slew of anti-glare films for various laptop brands/models but sadly none for Asus:

Would this one fit do you think? How uniform are laptop screens (aside from diagonal measurement obviously)?

http://www.boxwave.com/products/cleartouch/cleartouch-screen-protector-hp-pavilion-tx1410us_3230.htm

 

That price is way to high, check this site I put one on my HP 2133
www.photodon.com/lcdprotect-sheet.htm#charttop

 

I see that the N80Vn-X5 is back to $999 on Newegg with the original price now saying $1149.

 

Is anyone getting "key-shaped-smudges" on the screen of their laptop? I've recently started noticing hem recetly, as if the keys are in contact with the screen when the computer is closed.

 

I don't think I have. The screen on mine (X5) is recessed quite a bit from the plastic around it, so that probably protects it.

 

Could these two things be connected (I know it;s not the same laptop but the second user might also have worn rubber stoppers)? Worn off rubber stoppers (if they are what I think they are, the ones placed on the LCD bezel) mean the screen sits closer to the keyboard.

If there is a fair amount of screen flex, it can happen that the keys touch the screen.

Neither of these things bodes well for the build quality of this laptop I'm afraid.

You could put a cleaning cloth in-between the keyboard and the screen. Also make sure not to put too much pressure on the screen.

 

Yeah, except there isn't much screen flex, and even if the rubber stoppers somehow wore off (which should take years, if ever), there's still plenty of space between the keyboard and screen.

If it's assembled correctly, I don't see how the keyboard could possibly hit the screen. Maybe if it was totally removed, and just sitting there on top of the laptop...

 

Ubuntu 8.10 x64 works exceptionally well. I've had my X5 for just 2 days and am newb at linux. So far I have fast reliable wifi (on my n router and on my school's enterprise network) and Google Earth with OpenGL. Suspend works perfectly. Hibernate works except when you wake it up, it goes into express gate automatically by default. I got 3 hours out of the battery on the 2nd charge, with default Ubuntu power management (which I didn't notice except for the screen dimming). Memory card reader works. Webcam works. Speakers turn off when you have headphones plugged in. Volume, brightness, etc. hotkeys work. Ubuntu can read and write to the vista partition. I use my cell phone for portable music and Ubuntu has bluetooth data transfer built in-- runs about 80 KBps !

I kept Vista factory and put Ubuntu on the 150gb empty partition that comes factory. All the configuring was painless. Also I have played with the vista x64 quite a bit and so far all my software works in it.

Only regret is the keyboard still sucks in Ubuntu.

Edit: You asked about the recovery: My Ubuntu did break my recovery partition even though I left it alone during the install...

 

hey guys, i got a question for those who game on the n80. what's the maximum temp you've ever hit, and what's the safe temp limit for the n80? thanks

edit: anyone else had trouble with their bluetooth device? mine claims the drivers still aren't installed.

 

I think it's happening because of keyboard flex. The "key-shaped smudges" are only on one part of the left side of the screen, where my keyboard is more flex-y. Sigh...guess I'll start putting a cleaning cloth in the laptop when I shut it. And no, my rubber stoppers are not worn off.

 

THe only place mine has any real flex is kind of in the middle a bit-but even still, I don't see how it could possibly hit the screen. I mean to do that I think it would have to be horribly mis-assembled.

 

I tried closing my screen and pressing on it and looking in the gap but I never saw the gap close. This is on an N80Vn-X5, but they should all be the same chassis. I haven't had an issue with marks on my screen and I've carried it around every where I go.

 

Given the other people's comments this seems to be a fault with your particular unit. You could use it as grounds to claim an RMA and get the problem fixed, perhaps?

 

Hello all, one repeated question: Did ANYONE suceeded with driver for ITE CIR remote receiver in Win XP? I tried with every single version I found on the net, failed on every single attempt. Thi driver is the only one missing on my system and I have Asus remote which may work with it. Any hint? THANKS!

 

They make a remote for this? I wouldn't mind one...

I didn't even know if had infrared. I don't see drivers for it though :-/

 

Nope I searched everywhere but no beans. I ended up just disabling it under device manager.

 

Sorry to bug you guys again but you definately have been more helpful that asus' forum. I've been using a Seagate freeagent hard disk for a couple of months and for some weird reason vista 32 stopped recognizing it when I plug it in now. It still works with eSata but I use pro tools music software and it doesn't seem to like the eSata connection with the n80vn.
Any help please? The firewire card is appearing in device manager and it says that it's working properly (stupid vista).
thanks

 

I went for the Asus Digital Home remote on ebay for $15. It comes with USB IR receiver, so it should work even without integrated CIR port, I thought I could make it work directly with my laptop, without having the USB receiver connected. But anyhow, I have remote on the way, when it comes I will find out

And also, you can get Bluetooth remote, which recharges in ExpressCard slot. Unfortunately I found this one just after I bought the IR one.

 

Have you tried the hard drive on a different computer, and tried different ports on your laptop? Do your ports work for other devices?

I use a Seagate external drive for backups that's USB only, and have had no issues. Haven't had any issues with any of my USB ports, as far as I know.

 

sorry guys ended up being the external. they took it back right away. thanks for the replies and sorry.

 

Hey guys, I have a question for you. How does the X5 model compare with the other models like X1, A1 or C1?
And also, how does the N80 in general compare with the newer N81?

 

I don't remember what those other ones are exactly. The X5 is basically the replacement for the one in this thread's title. Almost the same thing.

The N81 is very similar, but has a faster CPU, and unfortunately uses ATi video, at least in some of them. It's a faster GPU, but ATi doesn't support their mobile GPUs, so there's no way I'd touch one.

If the N81 with an Nvidia GPU is out though it's probably just fine.

 

Hi guys, good news for XP users. At least for me Asus deployed the set of XP drivers for N80Vc. I gave a try to the infrared port driver and gues what, it WORKS!! Last nonworking device is gone Take a look at it at: http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=N80Vc

Have fun!

 

Does anyone else have theirs:

-not save passwords for Windows networking resources (including Exchange accounts)

-require you to approve the touchpad driver every single time you boot the system?

 

I don't have either of those issues.

 

Awesome find buddy!

 

Has anyone tried Left For Dead on this? How does it play?

 

I think someone mentioned something about it earlier? I'd imagine it would play fine, but I've never played it. Been working through some older games, but Crysis seems to run well enough when I installed it just to see.

 

Older games? I've been playing Civ 3 and Panzer General II.

 

Anyone had any success getting tv-out through the VGA port of the N80Vn-GP011c? I bought a vga->rca/s-video adapter, but I can't get a display to come up on my TV. I know some mobile video cards can support TV-out through the VGA port, and some can't. I can't find any specs which tell me if the 9650m GT can do TV-out through VGA. (Basically, I'm trying to get my laptop screen to display on a normal TV).

 

You have the tv set to use s-video as the input source? You have the laptop set to use an external monitor?

 

I didn't know you could do VGA to S-Video. Is it some kind of special output the port has to have?

 

I have an adaptor which connect to VGA and makes either composite, S-video or EURO-SCART output. But this is external blackbox, power supplied from USB port. Works fine for me, but good enough just for movies. Any serious work on classic televison is madness.

 

Question for specialists: Any idea how to remap the Asus dedicated special keys to do different thing? I would have different use for keys like Splendid or Power4Gear, but I have no idea how to change them. Any hint? Thx!

 

Here's the deal as I understand it: Many video cards have the built-in function of being able to transmit an s-video/RCA signal through the VGA port. For these video cards, all you need is a "passive" VGA->s-video/RCA ADAPTER to be able to get a signal on your TV. Many other video cards do NOT have this functionality. To get these cards to display on a TV you need an "active" VGA->s-video/RCA CONVERTER. This converter (a "scan converter") is a powered device that has circuitry which can convert a VGA signal into an s-video/RCA signal.

So my basic question is whether the 9650m GT has the built-in ability to output a s-video/RCA signal through its VGA port, so that all you need to get the signal on the TV is a $3 ADAPTER rather than a $40 CONVERTER? I can't seem to find any documentation on nVidia's site or any other sites which say if this card has this function. I played around with an ADAPTER and I couldn't get it to show up on my TV, so my guess is that the card lacks the function, but I could have been doing something wrong.

 

I tried Civ4 and had no luck. Anyone get it to work on the N80 w/Vista64?

 

Dang, that's a game I really want, but for some reason still don't have. I'd try it if I had it :-/

What kind of error are you getting? Do you have Nvidia's newest drivers installed? I think they're from February (or March?)

I guess beyond that you could try getting it to launch in admin or compatibility mode. I've run across a lot of programs that don't work great on 64-bit oses, but so far games have seemed fine. (It's mostly DVD burning programs that seem to hate 64-bit)

 

my impressions of N80Vn notebook .....

So far everything working fine, only TV tuner device disappearing randomly and fingerprint reader sometimes too.

PROs - great specs for the price, lot of extras in the box, interesting design if you like glossy look

CONs - different mentality of ASUS products (being also a ThinkPad user), consumer grade device, XP drivers exist but not supported, little documentation, etc

if you possibly have some good or bad experiences with this TV tuner (DVB-T hybrid, YUAN MC770A ~ DiBcom 7700) please let me know ... thanks

 

hey, im a new user and i dont own an n80, but its one of the notebooks i'm considering buying.

are there any known issues with this laptop? or annoying things you users have noticed? i looked around this thread and noticed a lot about nvidia drivers...

anything you could inform me about would be a great help! thanks :]

 

The keyboard is the only thing you should be concerned with. The rest of the system is great.

 

oh thanks, i clicked the link to your n80 review. ive been looking for some but there arent many :/ im guessing nc the laptop is still relatively new.

is the issue with the keyboard the sound? i want to buy a keyboard protector [if any are available.. right now cant find any on ebay.] for it so the typing sound would be cushioned..

it's not like loose or anything right?

i'll probably be downgrading from my vaio on build quality, but the customer service with sony is a piece of .. :/

 

I'm pretty happy with mine. Still seems like a nicely designed piece of hardware, less gimicky than many notebooks, and there have been hardly any people with issues on here.

My two theoretical complaints-I think the screen isn't super high quality. If I were actually using it as a primary display, I'd want something larger and better (though it's not unusable). The keyboard issue is just that it's terrible...but it's average by notebook standards. I think there are better keyboards on notebooks, but personally I wouldn't use any for any long term typing.

 

It looks like the N80's have now been superceded by the N81's. The screen on the N80 has a pretty narrow field of view. The keyboard can be kinda mushy on the left side. The n81's seem to share these same 'features'. When I'm at home I use it as a desktop replacement and use an external monitor/mouse/keyboard. When on the road it's fine. Performance is great and I like all the ports and their locations. I'm still very happy with it and would get one again.

 

Yeah, me too I think. I push it HARD too, and am frequently running Folding @ Home on both the CPUs and GPU.

 

Yes, the only thing I don't like is the screen.

There's a very strong vertical brightness gradient. The bottom of the screen is bright while the top of the screen is dark. You have to sit just right so that it looks "ok" but you can still see it.

 

I've got the X5 from Newegg, which is now out of stock(or discontinued) and have no complaints about it. I even spilled an entire cup of coffee into it, so I immediately shut it down, and drained and cleaned it out, without any damage. I would have to say, very good spill protection, most of the coffee entered the keyboard area, but didn't get to the mainboard. This is my portable gaming rig, and not my primary laptop, and it great for that. Yeah, the viewing angles aren't as good as the could be, blacks aren't as black as they could be, ctrl/fn swapped... but there's plenty of choices out there, these(N80/81) have a good balance of price/performance, and I'd buy another if anything was to happen to this one .

 

I have been getting a line across the screen where the keyboard seems to touch the screen when the notebook is closed because of lid flex.

I finally went to clean it with 50/50 isopropyl/water and it doesn't come off.

It seems pretty obvious the keyboard was scratching the screen when the lid was closed.

Is there a wax I can use to make the line go away?

What are the chances of Asus doing anything about this design flaw?

 

I'm not understanding how that's possible or a design flaw. On mine, the keyboard is flush with the rest of the base, but the screen is recessed from the rest of the lid around it. Then on top of that it has tons of rubber stopper things that would make the gap bigger. It's one of the biggest gaps I've seen on a notebook (which is a good thing, I think )