Novatech X55 MV Pro Review

Novatech X55 MV Pro Review
by Henry Butt



The X55 MV is essentially an update to the X50 MV which I reviewed a few months back as they are both based on the Intel Monteveina platform and fill the gap in the middle of Novatech’s range for a 15.4” multimedia notebook. It features the latest 9650M GT graphics from nVidia and includes Blu-Ray as standard which stands it in good stead against the competition especially with its great price.



Specification:

• Screen: 15.4” WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 (X-Glass)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB Cache)
• Memory: 4GB DDR2 (800MHz) RAM
• Storage: 320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
• Optical Drive: BD-ROM / DVD +/- RW
• Wireless: Intel 5100 AGN + Bluetooth 2.0
• 2 Mega Pixel Web Camera
• Battery: 9 Cell Lithium Ion
• Dimensions: 31mm x 367mm x 270mm
• Weight: 2.9Kg with 9 Cell Battery
• Retail Price: £895.85 inc. VAT (at time of review)

Build and Design

The X55 seems to be a somewhat sideward step in the design compartment from the previous X50. Gone are the sleek lines, borderless screen and sexy 3d paint finish, returning to a more traditional black and silver matte plastic finish. Even though this may not be as attractive as the blue shimmering gloss of the X50, it is very practicle as it doesn't show up any fingerprints whatsoever and makes the notebook more professional rather than the "toy" like image of the X50. Gone also is Windows SideShow, although this was really just for show so isn’t much of a loss in the grand scheme of things as it didn't really do much. I have to say however that the lid is very attractive. It is finished in sleek black glossy plastic with an “imprint” design similar to that of HP which makes it look really sleek and professional and makes it appropriate for both corporate and home environments, something which couldn't be said for the X50 and its eye candy. Worth noting is that this laptop is designed for easy servicability; The hard drive can be removed from the side of the notebook after the removal of only two screws and the rest of the components can easily be accessed under one large panel which only requires the removal of 3 screws. You do sadly have to chew your way through a warranty sticker... It is also nice to see for once that Novatech have actually branded this laptops as from what I have experienced in the past, their laptops have little or no branding. The X55 has a large silver Novatech logo on the lid and another below the screen which are a nice finishing touch that they dont usually bother with. It was also nice to find a microfiber cloth in the box just incase the lid attracts too many fingerprints!



Although the X55 may be slightly disappointing on the visual appeal front compared to the X50, build quality has come on leaps and bounds. This is mainly down to the switch of chassis supplier to Asus who are a much more established and renowned ODM than Vestel, the previous one. Even though almost the entire laptop is made from plastic, the construction is solid all around with little or no flex in all of the plastics which seem to be of the highest quality and finished in matte paint. Applying pressure to the back of the screen yields no show through whatsoever even when twisting slightly. The hinges also appear to be very solid - they infact hold the lid closed rather than the more traditional method of lid catches. All of the function buttons above the keyboard, thepower button and touchpad buttons are finished with brushed aluminium which adds to the sleek design and have a good action to them.



Screen

Novatech still haven’t fallen for the current trend of screens with a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather going for the somewhat standard 16:10 widescreen format. This comes in the form of a 15.4” WSXGA+ screen with a glossy finish which I have to say is far to superior to that of the X70 (the next model up from the X55). Brightness, image clarity and colour reproduction are good, however aren’t quite up to the level of the larger WUXGA notebooks in the Novatech range. Viewing angles are also good and there are no stuck or dead pixels. All in all the screen is one of the best parts of this notebook and is one of the areas in which Novatech have improved significantly over the X50.



Speakers

The speakers on the X55 are placed well on either side of the keyboard and are above average for a multimedia notebook, however aren’t brilliant in the lower registers where they would benefit from the addition of even a small subwoofer on the underside as is the case with the X80. The S/PDIF port makes a great addition to the included which can also be configured in conjunction with the headphone jack and microphone jack to produce multi channel output with the included sound software.



Processor and Performance

The X55 sports the Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor which runs at 2.4 GHz. This is maybe slightly underpowered compared to the rest of the components in the notebook such as the 9650M GT graphics card, however will cope well with most of the things you could throw at it, and if you really think this will be a problem, you can configure the notebook to your specification before you buy it.



Novatech have also opted to include a faster 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive rather than opting to the slower 5400rpm versions. This can also be upgraded to a larger 500GB hard drive or an SSD if you require extra storage space or speed. It is notable that this runs at least 10 degrees cooler on average than in the X70 even though it is the same size and speed of hard drive. This means improved thermal design means that the hard drive is likely to last longer



The X55 has also been upgraded to include the nVidia 9650M GT graphics card which features 1GB of DDR2 graphics memory. This is currently one of the most powerful mobile GPU for mainstream notebooks and this should handle most games that you throw at it at reasonable settings, although Crysis may be a push. The X55 didn't do quite aswell in the benchmarks as the old X50 which is probably down to a combination of an inferior CPU and the DDR2 memory which limits the 9650M GT's potential. All in all it would have been nicer to see this card with DDR3 memory.



Benchmarks

CPU-Z



GPU-Z



Windows Experience Index



Super Pi



HD Tune



3DMark 05





3DMark 06





Heat and Noise

The X55 uses a single fan cooling design which cools both the CPU and GPU almost silently. I have been using the notebook for quite a while now and haven’t noticed fan noise at all. It also stays cool to touch all over unlike many notebooks which burn your legs when you use them on your lap. During gaming, fan noise is slightly more noticeable, however is far from intrusive.



Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is very solid and suffers from no flex whatsoever. It has a really good typing action and doesn't miss a stroke. It is also nice that someone can produce a laptop keyboard that is comfortable to use (unlike various MSI ones I have used recently) and that doesn't make excess noise when typing. It does however have the small issue annoying placement of the “Fn” and “CTRL” keys which are the wrong way round. The keyboard also seems very well fixed to the machine unlike in the previous X50 where it seemed a little loose and would bend a little in the bottom right hand corner.



The touchpad is very decent. Responsiveness and texture are good, although it is quite easy to knock when typing and the button which is supposed to disable it does nothing at all. The touchpad buttons are far superior to those on the X50 as they are solidly constructed from aluminium, although do make a large clack when depressed. It also features a deadicated scrolling area to the right which is useful for navigating your way up and down websites. Nicely placed between the touchpad buttons is a fingerprint reader which works brilliantly allowing protection for windows and also as a quick access button using different fingers for different applications.



Input and Output Ports

The X55 has almost every connection you could possibly need, notably an E-SATA port and an HDMI port for high definition video output. There is also the old style VGA port in case you need to output to a projector or an old monitor. There is also a memory card reader in the front which is compatible with most mainstream memory cards.

All descriptions are from left to right



1. USB Port
2. USP Port
3. System Exhaust
4. HDMI
5. E-Sata
6. (TV- in preparation)
7. Expresscard Slot



1. Optical Disk drive
2. 2 x USB Port
3. RJ-11 Modem Port



1. Memory Card Reader
2. Mini-Firewire port
3. Headphone Jack / S-PDIF
4. Microphone
5. Line Out



1. Kensington Lock Slot
2. Battery
3. RJ-45 Modem Jack
4. VGA Port
5. DC-in Jack

Wireless

The X55 makes use of the Intel Wifi-Link 5100 AGN card which has an excellent range and achieves decent speeds even when only using a G connection. The laptop also features Bluetooth which allows you to connect it up with your phone and various other devices



Battery

Battery life is where this notebook really excels. Even though it has a powerful discrete graphics chip, it still manages to achieve around 4 hours of battery life, partly due to the high capacity battery included as standard. The only problem however is that this battery protrudes from the back of the notebook, although I believe this is a small price to pay for the benefits of the improved battery life.



Operating System and Software

For this review unit, Novatech installed a 64 bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium, however it is available with most flavours of Vista or XP or even without any operating system if you desire. Sadly there was no operating system disk included, although I am becoming aware that not many system builders include these anymore and if one is needed, they are available from Novatech upon request. The only software included as standard is for recording CDs / DVDs and a free 60 day trial of Microsoft Office. All the appropriate driver disks are also included and there is a recovery partition in case you need to reformat the notebook.



Customer Support

Novatech provides some of the best customer support I have ever experienced from a computer manufacturer. Every issue I have had with the laptop I purchased from them has been dealt with in a professional and efficient way, and I have been nothing less than 100% satisfied with it. Novatech have both phone support and a live chat which I have tried out and both seem to be very helpful and I have to say their live chat is on a whole different level to that of Dell. As standard, all Novatech laptops come with a 12 month return to base warranty, however for the cost of around £40, this can be upgraded to a 2 year C & R warranty which I think is well worth it for the small extra cost.



Conclusion

The Novatech X55 MV Pro does not only offer solid build quality and great performance, it also provides excellent value for money, emphasised by the fact that the Rock Pegasus 520 which uses exactly the same chassis is almost £400 more expensive for this configuration although it does include an extra year of warranty. This definitely makes it one of the best value for money notebooks around and is well worth consideration if you are looking for a mainstream multimedia laptop.



Pros

• Great Build Quality
• Excellent screen quality
• Blu-Ray as standard
• Available with a variety of operating systems or none at all
• Great value for money
• Almost silent cooling

Cons

• Disappointing Design
• CPU slightly underpowered
• Hotkey buttons above keyboard don’t work

Thanks to Chris and Charmaine at Novatech for organizing this review unit for me.

 

Its actually the Z97V

 

I can't figure out why an earth would you pair a 9650M GT with a 1 GB of GDDR2. Seriously ... GDDR2 ?!?!

Anyway, great review. Thumbs up!

 

Great Review, nice and thorough.

oh? very similar

 

Strange: My P8600 can only manage 49s for SuperPi. Is the one in this computer overclocked? 1.31V is high for a P series CPU.

John

 

As far as I'm aware it isn't overclocked at all... I'll run the test again later after I have finished the second battery test... After fiddling around with settings it would seem the battery close is going to get closer to 6h than 4h

 

cpu z v1.46 can't read mobile cpus right.

anyone else dig the looks of this machine? i can't stand gloss.

 

this is an asus rebadge.

 

The same thing. If you look closely, it has Z97V written on the white serial number label on the bottom of the notebook.

I wonder how did they apply the branding on the glossy lid so it wouldnt wear off.

 

From what I can see it looks like the branding was applied at point of manufacture of the chassis... it is too advanced to have been done like the small stick on badge below the screen which is done by Novatech... I assume that they were built to order by Asus for Novatech

 

Hi

Thanks or the great review

I am looking at getting the novatech x55mv or mv pro.

Is it worth the extra for the pro version?

Also does anyone else own the x55 and what are your views on this latop?

Would you reccoemnd it?

Thanks

 

It's just an Asus M50V rebrand. The M50V's are already two generations outdated btw.

 

Thanks, I thought so, but wasn't completely certain.

I was guessing Asus, but couldn't think of a 15.4" model that had the 9650M GT.

 

@CHRIS4414 - I would recommend this laptop... If I was in the market for a laptop right now i would almost definatly buy this one.

@plasma. - It is an ASUS Z97V not an M50V. The M50V is one of asus' own modles whereas the Z97V is in their whitebook range for resellers. It has only been out for 6 months and as far as I'm aware, Novatech waited until now to release it because there were some large delays in shipping of this model.

 

Oh yeah, I was just looking at the back cover. The interior is def a different laptop to the M50V.