ASUS N53S Core i7-2630QM Sandy Bridge 15-in Notebook Review
Introduction and Specifications
Brushed aluminum has become synonymous with luxury electronics, and the ASUS N53’s (N53SV-A1) exterior is clad in it like a suit of armor. The lid and palmrest are both coated the velvet-smooth metal, resulting in an instantly impressive finish. The usage of aluminum on the N53 has a dark gunmetal tint – like the ASUS U33JC Bamboo laptop we reviewed some time ago, the N53 goes for elegance rather than flash.
Laptops are compromises. Despite continuing reductions in processor power draw and the physical size of hardware, there are still trade-offs that must be made. Batteries can be made larger to provide better portability, but this increases weight and size. Laptops can be made smaller, but this can make the user interface uncomfortable, and limits the hardware inside. Powerful processors and GPUs can be stuffed inside, but this increases weight and cost while it reduces battery life. And the list goes on and on.
Not all compromises are equal, however. There is a reason why 15.6” laptops are the most popular and, contrary to the belief of some tech-heads, it isn’t because consumers are stupid. Rather, it’s because many people don’t move their laptops very far very often. But even in this large category we have a wide range of products; while the recently reviewed Toshiba C655 and ASUS G53 have the same display size, they couldn’t be more different otherwise.
And now we come to the ASUS N53, a laptop that seems from afar to the ultimate compromise - a laptop that may not be the best at anything but offer a lot of everything. Let’s take a closer look.
The Core i7 processor is quad-core, but the slowest model available. The GPU is quick, but not as fast as what you’d find in a “true” gaming laptop. The 15.6” display is as mainstream as you could ask for, and while the 750GB hard drive isn’t the biggest you could stuff inside a laptop, but its close. Even the price is a compromise; at $1099 it’s not a bargain, but it’s not outrageously expensive.
But compromise isn’t bad. Laptops are often asked to do many things, and a laptop that can do most things well may be a better choice than a laptop that can do some things perfectly, but at the price of doing other things poorly.
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This article is unreadable under firefox 4
What do you mean? I am reading it under FF4 right now...
Same here, the article is compressed to a one inch column.
Dan
Just clean the cookies for pcper.com
what about full hd screen with gt550m graphics? I want to see benchmark scores with msi's new gen crazy models
i own one of these laptops and i play games with it...
yeah it ain't exactly the best thing u can have but there is a good way to play games...
put everythig on high and very high and just lower the resoloution to 1280x720...
fps will go up wildly!
well,u always need to do sth about weakness of ur system... ;)
Not much a computer for the price
Can you comment about the 1080p display available for this series of notebooks?
My muse pad on the Laptop stopped working any idea how to fix it.?
install the drivers found at your manufacturers website.
To ryan shrout....This week in computer hardware is a great podcast. thanks for providing it to the community of hardware nerds like myself, and for someone to finally review my asus n53s laptop properly. Before I bought this laptop no one reviewed it besides a couple of mentions in forums. I think Matt Smith the author spoke graciously and precisely about the asus laptop. this is my first laptop and i enjoy the power and versatility. Also pcper.com is refreshing in a world of websites with articles that read like ad space with lame marketing terminology copied straight from the manufactures website. Not sure if anyone notices the abundance of these misleading, non informal sites but i do. thanks ryan and matt
Also to anyone who buys this laptop it can be upgraded to 16GB of ram...which i did for a mere 60 bucks from amazon....Virtual Machines, Hello. A word of warning my right hands thumb always bumps the mouse pad and takes the focus off of what im typing this is a real nuisance and i have had to consciously keep my hand titled to the right..this is more annoying than a problem to me i am very forgiving and this is a reason this is my first and probably my last laptop ever. I am a desktop junky with the need for gaming horsepower and really dont travel or need a laptop i do however utilize this as a roaming(friends and families homes) gaming machine which it works very well for and you must bring the large power brick with you...(i hit the mouse pad two times while typing that last sentence)and i have medium sized hands ..I played skyrim on this machine and it plays very well(smooth framerates) with everything maxed out with default resolution of 1366x768 side by side with my desktop(q9450@3.2GHz, 6GB DDR2ram, gtx570, 2.5" velociraptor drive) I think my asus laptop played it a bit more smooth...I am beginning to think my q9450 is showing its age but not sure because i had to reinstall due to strange popping with my audio and extreme stuttering with video playback ...Im not sure what the problem was but after a clean reinstall and more scrutiny to my tinkering habits my desktop is running fine but i havent retested skyrim due to a lack of interest of that game...I cant stop playing team fortress 2 lol I love valve. sorry for the crazy rant im a computer junky.
What RAM did you buy? Having 4 GB of RAM sucks, I'm thinking 8 GB?
the link is below....
Corsair 8GB (2x 4GB) 1333mhz PC3-10666 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9
http://amzn.to/xPT1Ll
This asus is suppose to have more everything, than the sony fz480e I've had since 2008. The Asus isn't near the computer to me , one of the main things is the wireless connection is not near as good as the sony,normally the sony has 2 more bars than the asus,so if the connection is marginal,which it is where I'm at the sony has much better reception
This computer is not worth the price at all. It is very slow, and crashes a lot. Do not buy this.
Have been using Asus N53S for about 6 months now and I can honestly say it is the WORST laptop I have ever owned, and I have owned a LOT. Even worse than HP!
1. Dark keys, light lettering on keys. In half light you can't see what you are doing. This is one of the most annoying things about it.
2. Keyboard is like a trampoline. Horrible to use.
3. Battery dying at a fast rate - from normal, careful use.
4. BLUE SCREENED REGULARLY until I re installed it and now it blue screens only occasionally - despite running Win 7 64 bit.
5. Blu-Ray looks terrible for a Blu-Ray.
6. NVIDIA Graphics driver frequently comes in "Solve PC Issues"
7. Kept update with required Windows patches IT IS SLOW to boot slow to shut down.
8. Freezes for up to 45 seconds FOR NO REASON often. Yes, OFTEN. Then it comes out of it.
9. Has an overall CHEAP feel about it. Cheap and nasty.
ASUS N53S is truly an annoying, aggrivating P.O.S.
i have had none of the problems you mention what so ever. added 16GM 1600MHz RAM. I LOVE this machine
This laptop is totally great! Works soooo well. I used it for more than a year now. I'm working on Adobe softwares a lot (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) and works like a charm. This is the best laptop I ever had!
http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/Video-Perspective-AMD-A10-4600M...
Take anything Matt says with a grain of salt. He is a known Intel fanboy.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/amds-trinity-laptop-apu-makeuseof-explains/
Proof of his fanboyism.
New AMD A-Series APUs Win 2012 Best Choice of COMPUTEX
Straight from http://www.techpowerup.com/166813/New-AMD-A-Series-APUs-Win-2012-Best-Ch... And Matt says they are bad. But then again he said "Noone cares about battery life" in that same article.
Sad but true.
J'ai un ASUS N53S
Je voudrais savoir si mon portable possède un tuner TV...
Si ce n'est le cas quelle serait la (ou les) marque(s) que vous me conseilleriez d'acquérir pour pouvoir recevoir la TV sur mon ordinateur portable.
Je possède l'option VOO passionément (TV, Internet, Téléphone)
et je ne sais comment m'organiser...
Merci d'avance pour votre réponse.
Yves Loriau (0495 54 96 30)
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