N56vz review and owners lounge - Techno Art

Hi,

Today I received my N56vz with Windows 8 but I am not happy with it.
I have the following problems:
1. The keyboard is slightly misplaced, i.e. the keys are not in the center of a hole.
Aesthetic wise I can live with that, but the keys on the left end (tab,caps, shift, strg) are sometimes hard to press because the get stucked.

2. Sometimes, the touch gestures stop to work. I could not figure out why. Asus Smart Gesture is installed and does not crash. (I have a fresh install of Windows 8 with all Drivers)

3. The display flickers on battery. I was able to fix that by disabeling the Intel display power savings technology.

4. I was surprised that this unit comes without WiDi.

Does any of you have similar problems?

Cheers

 

Hello!
I have my N56VZ since a few months ( like 3 ), and now I'm getting a new SSD of 512GB as replace of the current Hard Drive, and while I'm at it I can clean the computer and add new thermal paste. There's a tutorial of how to do this? I mean, I've opened other laptops before, but that was just removing the Hard Drive cover and the CPU and the Sink were visible, but, I think that's not the case with the N56VZ.

Someone can explain this on detail please?
Cheers

 

Anyone could share their GT650M DDR3 overclocks?

 

..something specific you're looking for? I linked to supranium's scores in the review - that's the limit of the vbios at the moment. He also had the memory clock things start to get unstable. You can set the core as far as it goes with the current bios without any problems, need to change the volt, etc. ..actually, not sure if changing the volt is actually possible, even with a bios mod..

 

I'm looking for memory clock speed and so you're saying that I can max out the Core clock with no issues ? 135 MHZ if I remember correctly.

 

Right. +135 in MSI Afterburner, or 1085Mhz. Memory doesn't seem to have any problems for me at 1000Mhz (+100). ..that raised the temps 5-10 degrees. So think of that as a safe overclock. But monitor the temps and so on. GPU and CPU is on the same heatsink, so you should have something to go on. Just raising the core clock had practically no effect on the temperature, though.

Probably the most comfortable graphics card to overclock ever made -- the kepler cards -- with the dynamic frequency scaling, and so on. Idles on the same speeds as before, that sort of thing. ..maybe it's possible to underclock it a bit on idle as well. That'd be an idea. Getting the frequency on the processor down to 800Mhz, and you can add an hour on the battery on small tasks. So if the graphics card would idle lower as well..

 

Did you got any artifacts when you were trying out overclocks (namely memory)? And does the +100 on memory and +135 on core, bring how many more fps on games? If you did the test ofc.

 

I put some 3dmark11 scores in the first post. Varies a bit between different games - I didn't really bother with it at first, but it's a pretty big increase. Specially lower fps-limit is higher, and keeping the fps to the sync is more snappy. Does a lot for the graphics.

But I don't think you actually get artefacts like that on this card. Seems it either works, or else it croaks. So in a sense, any amount of overclock is safe.. But like I said, the +135/+100 clock is something I use all the time. So no risk with the cooling on this laptop. None, I promise you.

 

That's good to hear, I already tried +135/+0 and it was totally fine, the temperatures were surprisingly the same. Just when I added +135/+253 I got artifacts (for like 1 sec because I closed the game right away and changed back to default) so I got a bit scared. I'll try the +135/+100 and see how much bigger increase it actually does. I was just worried that it'd damage the GPU or something.

 

really? 253? Nice. Mine croaked way before that. It's further than supranium got as well. Probably is different quality ram on these cards, then. They all work fine for standard clocks, but some have more overclock potential than others. And also normal that the temp raises dramatically when you increase the memory clock.

So make sure you look at the graph while playing. Maybe have a hwinfo64 graph running on the gpu temp and the block temp. I think 75 degrees or so should be around max when on load, just to be safe. You won't actually have problems until the card will reach 85-90 degrees, though. But then again - I didn't think you would see artefacts like that Bet the chips probably got really warm there.. Probably is less snappy cooling on the ram-chips as well. So it might heat up the card itself as well as the cooling block.. And that's something that won't kill the laptop right away, but might shorten it's life a bit in the end.

So don't overclock funtil a 90 degrees peak temp, or something like that..

 

Yeah at 253 I started to get weird things on the game menu haha. So I switched back but I dont see any improvement on fps on any game tho with a +100 on memory so I'll maybe leave it at +0 but I do see some increase on the +135 on the core clock and my temperatures are really low. They're around 64ºC. and 68ºC max. But I wont touch memory anymore haha. The cooling is fairly good on this laptop. Just that I turned the turbo off the i7 because it can reach some temps such as 85ºC something I do not want. So I turned it off, games dont even need the turbo. And I've played tons of games from 2012 even on this laptop. So my CPU is around 70ºc when I'm playing. What's your CPU temps ?

 

They're similar. GPU a bit higher, but that depends on the kind of loads you have, if the activity is high and so on. Running The Witcher 2 is going to give you heavier tasks than MW2, that sort of thing.. Processor.. it's completely normal to get 85-90 degrees on an i7 with boost on all cores. Usually will be higher than that as well on most configs if you compare them to this one. It's not really something to be worried about though - the temps when running at 2.2Ghz on all cores tends to be marginally lower than when running up one core at a time to boost. These processors just run that hot, and it's already over the absolute comfort zone in terms of never getting caked goop, etc.. So there's nothing to do about it, really.

Still - should work just fine, since the cooling actually is as good as it is. And because most programs never will make the processor run to boost with more than one or two cores at the same time. Will very likely not go over 85 degrees normally. I usually see 81 max.

 

Interesting. I always was scared of the 85's and stuff when I used turbo to game but to be honest I don't really see any gain in FPS so I just turned it off. Only when a game will need the turbo boost or an application I'll turn it on again, since I'm happy with the 73ºC max. How many fps and settings you have on The Witcher 2? I also noticed that this laptop cooling system is probably one of the best I've ever had. Really impressesed to be honest with this laptop cooling (for a laptop of course). The only thing I don't understand is why Asus went with a GT650M DDR3 instead of a GT650M DDR5 for a 1080p screen.

 

1280x720 in "high" preset runs to the vsync at 30fps easily for .. 99% of the game. You will probably notice some extra framedrops without the boost on, since that game scales over more cores. I don't know, you could enable the power-saving function (800mhz lower limit), and add auto-demotes instead - might lower the temp a bit, specially in the games optimized for one core anyway.

The gddr5 vs ddr3 thing is a bit difficult. We've seen a lot of information about it that has just been false. Memory bus width, for example - on the gk107 chip at least, the actual bandwidth to the core isn't higher than on any other variant of the card. It's the internal bandwidth that has to be higher to fulfill the transfer speed requirement to the external bus. That's why the gddr5 chips run at higher frequencies internally, etc. And the reason you would pick gddr5 ram modules is because they were intended to be cheaper - a more uniform design that could be fitted to several different cards and modules. To be able to produce them in bulk, etc. The intended area for use not being just laptops, in a low volt clock. But desktops and other cards as well, with the same high power-profile.

The practical benefits for us are less easy to get hold of. We've all heard the preaching at Engadget and Anandtech about how the Macbook retina could only have been possible because of gddr5 ram, and so on. But no one can actually come up with some tests that show the benefits of that ram. Notebookreview as well have been wandering back and forth on this, going with "shoulds" and "probably". And lately claiming that the gddr5 variants of the cards are shipped with lower core frequency, but have the same performance. Again, there's nothing to actually substantiate this. See it being claimed by people on the forum as well - that the gddr5 variants are somehow magically faster, even though they score the same scores, and perform identically. When I tested a hp with a 650m/gddr5, I got the same results as on the ddr3 variant, and at the same core speeds.. So I don't know..

Basically what we have to go on is identical 3dmark11 scores between the cards (anyone can check this). While the gddr5 cards have lower overclock potential, and also consistently become hotter. And.. that's not unexpected, since the ram will run at higher voltage and frequency internally.

So in practice, the ddr3 modules have the same performance, but better overclock potential and lower heat signature.. Anyone can test this, so I don't understand why it's so persistently believed it's the other way around.

You can bet any amount of money that Asus didn't pick this card because it was a good choice for this rig, though. Knowing how they work, it's at best coincidence. They would probably shift it to the more "commonly wished for" gddr5 variant in a heartbeat if they were in the process of finalizing the n56 now..

And the internet crawlers and engadget would have loved the laptop then, of course. Even though they probably didn't actually own it, test it, or use it themselves.. :/ Just how this stuff works, I guess, but it does me off, have to admit that..

 

That's great, But I saw on youtube that The Witcher 2 runs at 900p high preset real good on this laptop. ( I got a 1080p screen) So those options would suit me well. Yes I didn't notice that but that's mostly because I might of not played games that are real CPU bound, the only one I got and play once in awhile that's CPU bound is Guild Wars 2 and that game (without turbo) and 1080p runs like a charm almost all maxed out. I do also agree with you that the DDR3 and DDR5 versions are not too different from eachother, but isn't DDR5 better for a 1080p resolution or it won't make much of a difference? (Sorry not too great on this , still learning) I also noticed that these cards generate less heat. But I also got a question, so the Core Clock probably can clock more than +135 easily ?
So far I am not going to overclock because I see no reason to but just want to teach myself in case for the future. Does the DDR3 ram on the GPU bottleneck at a high resolution such as 1080p?
I also noticed that hte GT650M DDR5 can easily overclock to a GTX660M, do you think the GT650M DDR3 can archieve such results?
I also think that benchmarks of the DDR3 Vs DDR5 are kinda not accurate because they tested games that I own and they said avg FPS would be for example 20, while in reality I actually get 40 or much more. Take Guild wars 2 for an example on this card Benchmarks.

Thanks for your time, you helped me a lot in understanding my own computer components. I might do a 3Dmark11 and share the score (at stock) and compare them with the DDR5.

 

the 660m has stock clock at 950Mhz. So .. yeah, you can get that easily. What happened is that all the gk107 cards (640le, 650m, gtx 660m) have the exact same chip, with different memory configurations and vbioses. So they're easy to overclock up to where the 660m is.. A lot of people have modded the vbios on a 640le, for example (the s13 vaios), and set the clock to 660m level and above that. This doesn't have anything to do with the ram on the card, though.

People argue like this: I have seen a lot of gddr5 cards being easily able to overclock. Therefore I conclude that gddr5 ram enables magical overclock speeds. Without.. checking to see if the same happens for the ddr3 variants. Which it does. Like I said, the overclock potential on the ddr3 ram usually is higher. The highest scoring overclocks on 3dmark11 are overclocked Clevos with ddr3, for example. Same with the benchmarks for games. If you have a Samsung with a 660m, and a different brand with different ram and processor you're testing against, you will get different results from that. Even if the gpu was identical. That's why the 3dmark11 scores were so interesting - you had the identical gpu score on the gddr5 and ddr3 cards, with different cpu and combined scores. ..

Don't really know how far the core clock could be set. I'm imagining that at some point the core clock will need much faster ram than we have on these cards (with this bus) very quickly when you get over 1000Mhz. That the interface as it's designed, or the bus, just doesn't allow more. The increases flat out the more you raise the clock, it seems as well, so that seems probable. But I don't know that. It's possible that if you modded the bios and raised the core clock, it would improve performance a bit more before the card would get too hot. Might try it out at the end of the laptop's lifespan, I guess. It's the ram that might be possible to get the most increases from, but.. hear and stability.

Should be relatively easy to get 30fps in 1920x1080 in The Witcher 2, by the way. But you would need to turn off all anti-aliasing (I think that disagrees a bit with the way they use layers...), some passes for the lighting, and things like that. So it depends on what you prefer. But like you say - most modern games will easily run in native 1080 without much problem. The thing is that if you raise the resolution to twice the amount of pixels, the full screen anti-aliasing routines always take four times as long to complete. In some titles they've implemented the FXAA schemes, and they scale better. But generally, disabling excessive AA and increasing the resolution works perfectly fine, yes. Nothing fundamentally different between oversampling and higher resolution.

One thing on the overclocks.. the laptop and hardware makers often come up with recommendations and standard settings that are less optimal for lifespan and comfortable running than what you can do yourself. So don't get some sense of false security that nothing will break, just because you have the standard settings. For example with the n56 - it's set up so you can run the processor until it overheats and shuts down at the hardware limitation at 105 degrees. The scheme Asus employs to avoid that is essentially to halt the running of the processor a bit at all speeds, to slow it down, slightly. So as long as the cooling solution doesn't break, the processor will hover around 75 degrees on normal running. Then, if you do grind the cache-hits and force the processor to maintain boost -- there's no passive scheme here that actually disables boost and cuts it off completely. So you can force it to reach 95 degrees very quickly, even with that cooling scheme. And this is not healthy for the processor. But they've still allowed that, because they don't have a clue how this works.

Same with the gpu. It can very obviously handle a lot more heat than you get on stock clocks. And that's great, of course. But they've still set in a passive throttle that isn't actually connected to any gpu functions on the computer. So if the cooling solution breaks, basically, it's going to overheat and burn.

So don't think too highly of "recommended" and "standard" settings. In the sense that the computer is still going to burn if the cooling fails, also on the stock settings.

 

Hi.

I'm going to buy an ASUS N56VZ with these specs:

- Intel i7 3630QM 2.4GHz
- nVIDIA GT 650M 4GB DDR3
- 8GB RAM
- HDD 750GB 7200rpm
- Display 15.6" FULL HD (1920 x 1080)


I have some questions:

1. If I replace the BR drive for a HDD caddy, will I loose the warranty?
2. Can I put a Samsung 840 Pro in this laptop? What are the interfaces available,1 mSTA and 1 SATA 3 or 2 SATA 3?
3. Will the hard drives run as SATA 3 or this laptop has the same problem has the Sony Vaio S wich only runs as SATA 2?
4. Does this laptop really supports 16GB of RAM. I want to put 16GB of Corsair Vengeance, is it possible? Some people say it only supports 8GB, but there's a model wich has 16GB from factory..
5. What are the most common problem (if they exist) of this laptop?

Thanks

 

1. Normally no, if you don't damage something.
2. Yes, this laptop will love an 840 Pro. Put the HDD in caddy and the SSD in exchange of HDD. SATA3 interface
3. My SSD (Samsung 830) has SATA3 speed reported by CrystalDisk info and HDD (Seagate 750GB/7200) is reported as SATA2, but I believe it's HDD interface to blame.
4. Yes, I installed myself 16GB Corsair Vengeance, no problem.
5. So far a little noisy HDD at idle, the 'a' key is not working sometimes.

 

1. ..well, you don't need to open the chassis, so no.
edit: 2. Two sata 3.. or, one internal hdd bay, the other sata port is pulled over to the optical drive bay. They're both the same from the point of view of the bios, by the way - no "oops, the optical bay drive times out and disconnects for no reason even though there's no optical drive there", and so on.
3. No, not the same "specific models have efi-enabled sata3" issue as with the vaios, no.
4. As long as you exceed or match the existing ram specifications, you can still use the same locked timing in the bios, yes.
5. ..no, compared to most laptops you really don't have much to complain about with this one. Be aware of a couple of things when you first get it, though: Heat leaks, keyboard keys (and hardware buttons) not correctly mounted, plugs and ports misaligned. If you get any of these, send it back in.

(Oh, and install Throttlestop, turn on the power-saving, and get another hour on battery. And install the old touchpad driver, since the "smartgesture" thing is terrible.. The Asus guys... not the best software and bios tweakers..)

 

How can I know if the specific model of the N56VZ I want supports 16GB of RAM?

In my country (Portugal) there are 3 N56VZ new models, but only one has 16GB of RAM:

N56VZ-S4301H - 6GB
N56VZ-S4278H - 8GB
N56VZ-S4277H - 16GB

My idea was to buy the cheaper one (S4301H) and with the savings, buy 16GB (2x8GB) of Corsair Vengeance.
But, I don't know if all models supports the 16GB.

The ASUS site is not model specific, it just has one common page about the laptop, and says that the N56VZ only supports to 8GB of RAM:
ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS N56VZ

:s

 

Hello,

what kind of max temperatures are you guys getting while playing some of the new demanding games like BF3? After 2 hours of intense BF3 gaming (low/med settings 1920x1080 res) on 64 slot server I end up with max temperatures of 94-96*C for the CPU cores and 85*C for the GT 650M. My room temp is around 23*C. To me those temps seem a bit high. The game runs really smoothly all the time even though the temps are really high. So should I be worried about these temps or just keep gaming like normal?

Idle temps for the CPU cores are around 38-44*C.

Cheers

 

@sekundat: seems a bit high on the gpu. But it's not alarmingly high. If you're lucky with the loads, you can reach 95 degrees and the passive trip-point for the cpu in about.. 10 seconds. And then this will heat up the cooling element, and cause the reported/surface temp on the gpu to appear artificially high, it seems. But you're right they seem a bit high. Worst I've managed to get, with the overclock on the gpu, was 85 on the cpu, 82 on the gpu.. Still, as long as the temps are stable, I kind of don't think it's anything to worry about.

It's interesting that you have so low idle temps, though. Is this a new revision with the higher clocked i7, or something like that?

@crow: All the models "support" 16Gb. The way it happened was that the hm76 motherboard obviously supports 16Gb. Also supports bus-speeds high enough to run 1600Mhz ram, that sort of thing. But Asus has locked the ram-timing and settings, while locking the bus-speed. So a lot of ram-chips with either higher speeds and higher latency, or lower latency and volt, for example, won't boot. This can be expensive chips or not - they just won't boot since the settings you're locked to has to be compatible, which they're not.

So Asus "solved" that by putting "up to 8 Gb" in the specifications, instead of just fixing the bios-settings. Obviously if you then bought any amount of 8Gb chips -- they also would not work, because they too need timing that is the same or better than the hynix chips in there already. But they "get away" with that, because very few buy the 4Gb version while buying another 4Gb chip themselves. Or just buy another 8Gb chip to switch out the first one. So mission accomplished at Asus! And of course the ram-timings are still braindead.

Note that the timing they've picked isn't just the standard ones that come with the bios (i.e., compatibility settings) - they're worse than that. And the guys on support still had the cheek to insist the settings were recommended to them from intel. That they were therefore perfect and should not need to be changed. Now... let's just avoid discussing the entire "majority of 16Gb chips, including all cr1 chips for 1600Mhz, along with any 1.35v chips will fail to boot" issue, while skipping past the fact that the hynix chips are actually overclocked at the current settings on all the laptops - which probably means they have a number of errors on normal operation, which will increase returns and support requests" - thing. Not important. Let's focus on copying Apple some more instead, while making an entirely new touchpad app that hangs on both win7 and win8, and frequently locks up with 100% cpu-activity... etc., etc.

 

Thanks for your answer!

Unfortunately I have the older version of this laptop with 3610QM

I guess I'm just going to use this laptop for gaming and stuff like no tomorrow, until it breaks down. I've got about 22months of warranty left

The heat in heavy use is the only problem I have with this laptop. My idle temps seem really good, and the fan noise is really low. I just ran 10 mins of prime95 blend test and it gave me 90*C max temp for the CPU. I guess it's not really bad. Seems like BF3 really puts my laptop at it's knees, the heat from the GPU probably increases the CPU temps a bit. On less demanding games like Team Fortress 2 I'm looking at CPU temps of about 75-80*C.

 

Hm. Strange.. because those are low temps, even for this laptop. Guess it might be a different cooler with lower heat-capacity but better transfer, or something like that..

But if you monitor the temps and they simply peak out and stay where they are on heavy loads like that over time, I doubt there will be any problems. ..Just go over and have a look in the Clevo, Samsung or Dell forums if you're still worried the temps are too high.

 

Sorry nipsen, but didn't understood if can or not use those RAM sticks (Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB) up to 16GB on any N56VZ.

 

..I think so. Ref. this thread here, pick a model that has been tested: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/677457-asus-n56vz-16gb-ram-thread.html

 

I bought this laptop two days ago and love it so far. The audio is the best I've heard in a laptop by far, and the gaming performance compared to my 11 month old Sony is so much better.

I've been having some BIOS related problems lately though, as I'm trying to perform a clean install of Windows 8 using an MSDN disc. I pop in the disc and try to boot from it after restarting the machine, and I've learned that the DVD drive isn't a boot option for some reason... The only boot option I have is the WIndows Recovery Partition, but even that doesn't boot properly after I select it.

I've already gone through the BIOS to see if there are any options I can change regarding the boot options, and even when going to create a new boot option, the only thing to choose from is "(series of numbers)HD[and another series of numbers here]"

I have not changed any settings whatsoever, and I once before had the option to set the main HDD as a boot option, but can't even do that anymore.

Is there something I'm missing? I'd like to know what I can do on my end, and I'm hoping I don't have to send it in already. I'll be able to provide some pics if you want to see what's up.

 

LOL am I stupid or what...

...I just noticed that the little laser etched holes in my laptops palm rest thingy are not holes, but actually just little dots of black paint . Only a couple of them are actually real holes, and those are for the speakers. So the only air intake my laptop has, is the little vent grill in the bottom of the laptop. Haha, no wonder I have such high temps!

 

Uhm, what about all the holes your keyboard offers? ;-)

 

Hey guys, I just got an N56VZ and I noticed a strange issue with my Touchpad. In Windows it behaves normally. Left click is left click and right click is right click. However, when I start a game, left click does nothing and right click left clicks. Does anyone else have this issue? I've tried multiple drivers and even without any driver and it always happens.

 

Haha, you're right!

I went ahead and ordered a Zalman NC-2000 cooling pad. I'm also going to try to clean the notebook's internals from dust with some compressed air, though I doubt there's much dust inside as I've had the laptop for just 2 months. But hopefully I'll see a bit healthier temps on the CPU and GPU

What really confuses me, is that you guys are getting so low CPU temps, but in notebookcheck's reviews they measured around 95*C CPU temps for N76 and N56. Seems a bit unrealistic for me that they got both laptops with defective cooling. BTW what kind of P4G settings you guys recommend for gaming? I'm running no less than 100%max and 100%min setting for the CPU...

 

Hello all,

I finally made up my mind and purchased an Asus N56VZ-DS71 from Band H photo Video with these specs:

2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM Quad-Core
8GB of DDR3 RAM
750GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
nVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Graphics (2GB)
15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display
1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
Blu-ray Player with DVD Burning Options
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
Integrated Webcam, Microphone & Speakers
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)


I had fully intended to purchase a Samsung 830 SSD and start from scratch with that drive but was in a hurry and forgot. UPS should deliver the N56 today and I need to have it up and running in 2 days as we are traveling for turkey day. Couple of questions aimed at saving me a bit of time:

Does the OS come pre-installed or will they include the WIn 7 DVD? Is there an activation/license code?

Since I will eventually ( within 2 weeks) be getting the SSD and intend to have the OS on it, is there a streamlined set up I can do where I will not have to install all the bloatware but just the most necessary drivers and utilities since
I will not be fully utilizing the N56 but will merely be using it for web surfing and checking email until I get the SSD. I heard the McAffee free trial was interfering with the audio so I know about that and will delete it. I also read where you must install the utilities first before the OS or the optical drive won't read properly?

Any new drivers from the Asus/Nvidia sites that are problematic and best left uninstalled?

Is it possible to replace the wifi card on this machine with something a bit stronger?

I would also really appreciate a link or a tutorial with step by step instructions on how to successfully move the OS to the new SSD. This should include both the physical and software aspects. I want to get a Samsung 830 series 256 while they are still around and just use this as the only drive. I will take out the included 5400 drive and use for external storage. I do have a DVD of Win 7 home premium 64 bit on hand and my daughter is in a class where she can get free downloads and licenses for most any OS so I could utilize that as well. I have an external hard drive at my disposal but I do not have any image software like Norton Ghost.



Many thanks for your help!

BTW: Sorry if I posted more than once; got a bit confused about which thread to post in.

 

Hi all.

Wich HDD caddy do you recommend for the ASUS N56VZ?
Where should I buy it? (must be in the EU)

Thanks

 

Hi,
My subwoofer doesnt seem to be working at all....when i play music there is no sound from the subwoofer..(Brand new pc)

Do i need to install or enable something on the pc??

Please help!

 

I have bought N56VZ with DVD burner and want to install a Blu Ray Combo instead. Where can I find one?
Greetings!

 

guys please check if you have such noise from subwoofer when scroll pages in IE for example, example
http://www.photoz.lt/test.mp4

 

@seosad: Standard sizes, so you can order any you'd like. If you care about how it looks, make sure the face-plate is detachable, that sort of thing.

@crow: HDDCaddy This one is simple and functional.

@Lizzieb: Preinstalled with restore partition, etc. Activation key on the underside. If you want to install a different windows version, you can unregister your win-key (if you registered it), and then use the same key on the next install.

I kind of wondered about making a slipstreamed boot with just the needed software, and so on. But if you install a fresh windows, and just run the driver install disk, that's really all you need. There are no drivers that will break anything here, really.

One thing you might want to do when you get the laptop is to install a new touchpad driver.. do searches like this on google "drivers asus download touchpad", and get a link to the device-specific pages. Then pick a new driver. You can tweak things like "number of lines" down a bit in the windows driver for the mouse as well.. Since the plate is bigger, the scroll seems more floaty because of that..

Someone did replace the wifi-card on their own. Basically one screw and a normal clip-on contact point. Pictures elsewhere in the thread. Can't say the antenna or wifi card is specially bad on this laptop, though.. In the noisy environments I work in usually, it's perfectly fine.. Might be there are other modules that work better. But usually the reception quality depends on the laptop and the way the antenna is set up, not the chip itself.

New install, possibly using Clonezilla for mirroring and backing up the existing partition schemes, and so on -- take a look in the guide in my signature. It's not extremely complicated to use Clonezilla. Just download it, boot the dvd, keep some fresh backup source ready.. Change hdd/ssd, repeat backwards. Just make sure you shrink the original partitions before you try to mirror the drives to a smaller ssd. You can do that in the "computer management" thing in windows.

 

Did you try hitting esc on the asus boot screen? Seems strange it doesn't even try to boot from it..

Yep. Through the keyboard. Pretty smart.

Well, it might be the programs you're running and the workloads you have will busy the computer more easily.. Like I said, the way the bios and trip-points is set up doesn't actually prevent the computer from practically running at boost constantly. And I can make my laptop hit 95 degrees pretty much instantly as well with for example prime95. Because then the intervals between boosts should be lower, and the temp will likely not increase so fast above that because of the passive trip-point.

Say if you have windows updates running in the background (likely), or antivirus, that sort of thing -- then that's going to fill the process diagram full if you're running any other program at the same time. So that might be it.

Btw, I still think notebookcheck's n56 was broken. At least from what it said at the beginning - they apparently reached 105 degrees and instant throttle (this is the hardware throttle - not possible to circumvent that - usually there's another throttle preventing the cpu from ever reaching that temp). And so was their conclusion - that the cpu throttled, because it didn't run at full speed when it hit 105 degrees. Doesn't work like that. And like many people report - we get nowhere near the hardware limit on this laptop no matter what we're running, even if it's synthetic runs that reuse the cache-hits (like prime95).

 

There are 2 standard sizes of HDD caddys. For n56 you need 12,7mm
I personally bough the cheapest one and it works just fine: SATA 2nd HDD HD Hard Driver Caddy for 12.7mm Universal CD / DVD-ROM Optical Bay | eBay

I believe other makers just put their logo and charge a little extra on their behalf

 

Interesting tidbit of info today.. I talked to Xotic asking about the Asus n56vz-rh71... I was told that asus has discontinued that model, and instead are selling the N56VJ-DH71 model, with the GT 635 graphics card. Anyone else heard this, and have info on why they would have done that? It basically ruined my desire to buy this...

Are they going to continue the N56VZ-DS71 model? It's easy enough to update to windows 8, that's not the issue... Just makes a person scared of what to expect for the future of this laptop series... Finally nail down what I want and they are discontinuing... Again, not a big deal if it's just the one model, but if they jack up all the gt 650 cards... That would be a bummer.

 

Could this possibly mean that Asus is updating the N-Series?

 

I was joking about it earlier, that the n56vz would become a limited edition of some sort. But it makes sense - a bit on the expensive side to make, definitely lower profit margins than most of the nearby variants - and it apparently had a lot of returns, small faults with the heat pipes, and so on.

edit: so this.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230617
..might mean customers are more clever than I think. ..That they've sold out quickly.

 

It would be a big mistake to "downgrade" N56VZ to a weaker GPU, it would persuade to run away a lot of soft-core gamers that are very pleased with GT650M and would give a free hand to competitors (such as HP ENVY dv6-7214nr).

 

Would it be a smart idea to pick one of these up as soon as possible then before they are all changed?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

It's more that it might take a while before Asus supplies more of the ddr3/650m version.. Might possibly only be a problem in some specific markets.. Have heard before that specific models of phones or laptops were not requested by sellers in the US, for example. So no one imported them. And.. then of course "no one" wanted them either.

So probably not really going to be a problem to get hold of one eventually. But it could be a combination of the n56 not turning up in the "new" lineup with windows 8. Or that it doesn't fit in the win8 lineup, or that there's a new revision coming up with similar hardware. So sellers might not be able to import more even if they tried, or something.

But perhaps they really won't be picked up again or produced any more, because of the cost, possibly high number of returns, that sort of thing.. Who knows.. Stranger things have happened.

I mean, I talked to a guy in one of the larger "chains", as we call them here, of electronic equipment shops. The boss in the store :/ He had a very straightforward theory about how this worked. He knew.. somehow.. that "people" only wanted iPhone and Samsung Galaxy III. They knew that because.. they had psychic people working for them in marketing, I guess. So that's what they supplied, and that's what the sales figures nationally supported: they were only selling these devices, and that's what "everyone wanted"..

So when I came in and asked for a nexus 7 or an LG4x, he didn't know they existed, or why these were interesting devices. And he defended that by referring to how "everyone" wanted iPhone and Qualcomm and Samsung Plastic Galaxy III. And that he was just "following the market".

So I said.. you know.. but I don't want that. I'd like to pay you money for a device you could effortlessly import for me today. And I want it because of.. blabla, controller support, chipset capabilities, battery life, power gating, and yaddayadda, slimmer, smallest device with most processing power. And "I'm your market as well, aren't I?".

And I literally got a line back about how I was just a marginal hardcore audience. Presumably because "most people" just want what it says in the brochure from Qualcomm and AT&T.

It's so very convenient: "most people want what we're already advertising and selling the most of". End of discussion.

 

Nipsen, I'd like to buy this laptop. Do you think it's worth the risk? I must have overlooked any overheating related comments during my research. Have you had any issues with yours or was this with a specific -- first gen -- build?

 

Very good points. I went ahead and bit the bullet on a N56VZ-RH71 anyways about 5 minutes ago. I figured eh, why not? I mean seriously, this is a great option.. and it came with WIN 8 pre-loaded and by all accounts these models have been doing well. I may very well pick your brain though on a few issues, such as SSD replacement hard drives after I get it if that's ok? I consider myself a middle of the road knowledge guy when it comes to computers. I can do many things the newer IT guys from my company can't figure out, even though I am not in IT nor have I ever been.. But I spent a lot of my time in college in the MUD crowd, and did a little bit of scripting and such.. and learned some stuff from my brother about hardware builds... and of course the week I have spent probably 48 hours worth of time researching which computer I wanted taught me a lot about hardware specifics and what is good/bad, etc. But I really am just barely scratching the surface of all the stuff I have read here.. lol Then again that's why I'll never own an apple product.. Too restrictive. I spent crazy amounts of hours learning about phones and tabs before I settled on the ones I have too.. Played with a couple iphones... they can keep them.. Far too frustrating when you go in and expect to find menus to do tasks which I consider simple on my Droid Razr Maxx, but simply don't exist on iphones. But unfortunately the guy you talked to is right... 75% or more of consumers, could care less about this stuff and buy what they see on TV... iphone and Galaxy S3. Or whatever is cheap. So really, those of us who want to tinker, and learn, and get into the reasons as to why things do what they do, and make them do what we want them to do, are a small category of people.

~ Jarod

 

^*nods*

Just look out for any heat-leaks and so on, and -- no problems, no.

Honestly, the cooling on this thing is uniquely good compared to what you get elsewhere, even for slower components. That's what sold me on it, actually. It's quiet on idle, as well as when it revs up, but it's still more than enough for the components, and to keep the surface pretty much cool (20-25 degrees) no matter what. Apparently they use these plastic channels between the heatsink and the exhaust to lead the heat away. Clever, cheap, works.

Apparently it works just as well on the 14 inch version.

 

Great. Thanks. What's a heat-leak?