• Asus N53SN Review

    Asus N53SN Review

    Roydon Cerejo, Mar 22, 2011 1711 hrs IST

    A powerful feature rich multimedia notebook

    Sturdy build quality, great performance, powerful components, USB 3.0, decently priced, good bundle, decent battery life, speakers sound good for certain music genres

    Trackpad gets in the way while typing, SonicMaster program doesn't work well all the time, no backlit keys

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Just like cell phones, choosing a notebook is no a walk in the park these days. From basic netbooks to multimedia notebooks to high-end gaming laptops, we are spoilt for choice today and while it's still nowhere close to the choice and pricing of the West, I think we are getting there very soon. We've done plenty of Asus EeePCs in the past and quite recently, some of its high-end gaming systems were tested, but we haven't covered the middle playground - notebooks that offer a healthy mix of performance, rich features and a decent battery life to boot. Asus has recently launched a bunch to notebooks catering to this very segment and today, we have one of its top-end models called the N53SN. The entire 'N' series line-up focuses on the audio aspect of the notebook with Bang and Olufsen's ICE audio processing chip inside.



The N53SN is all about multimedia performance and in order to get the best, it is packing some of the latest hardware. For starters, we have Intel's latest SandyBridge CPU, the Core i7 2630QM which is a quad core multithreaded CPU running at 2.0GHz with Turbo upto 2.9GHz. The other big addition is the new Nvidia GT 550M with Nvidia Optimus and 2GB GDDR3 dedicated memory. The rest of the system specifications include 4GB RAM, 750GB 7200rpm drive, full HD 15.6-inch screen and finally a BluRay combo drive. Let's see how all this translates in the real world tests.

Asus bundles along the charger with drivers and instruction manuals. 

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Asus N53SN Review Asus N53SN USB 3.0 Intel Core i7 2730QM SandyBridge



Discussion Board
(20) Comments
Rita
,Brussels, on Dec 02, 2011 06:58 PM
I am working on an ASUS N53S Intel Core i5-2410M, 2.3 GH, I have quite many problems with this machine, it is regularly freezing down with Linux Ubuntu 10.10 and my colleges who use windows on it have problems with it as well. One of them has a problem, that if she connects an outer screen to the notebook and then switches it on, it will use the new screen, but the laptop`s own screen is not working at all. So we have 4 of the same machine in the group and we do not have very good experiences with it.
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HOSSEIN
,IRAN, on Oct 10, 2011 03:22 PM
I LOVE YOU ASUS.I WILL BUY YOU SURELY
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Andre
,Augsburg, on May 05, 2011 03:39 AM
Come on guys, what kind of judgement is this?? - "no backlit keys"... what a nerd comment... this is far from being a must in any computer since we normally have light in our environment! - "trackpad gets in the way while typing"... turn it off! There is EVEN an option that allows the trackpad to turn off automatically when you plug in a mouse! Who uses trackpad anyway? This notebook is a fair desktop replacement and a decent user will plug in a mouse whenever he can. - "SonicMaster program doesn't work well all the time"... who's going to use it anyway? A decent user configures the sound card once and never bothers again. I didn't need it. What's the big deal about the sound? The speakers are noticeably better than normal notebook speakers, but the sound has to be especially equalised to optimise what comes out from them. If you'll use external speakers or headphones you'll want for sure to turn all off. This only means that there is no significant downside about this notebook, and you rate it 3.5? Completely wrong. 4.5 would be fair. It doesn't earn 5 because it's expensive and one can't access all important components easily.
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Bob
,Stourbridge, on Sep 11, 2011 10:55 PM
Very fair points, like so many professional reviews, they select inconsistent choice for likes and dislikes.
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Bob
,California, on Aug 09, 2011 05:38 PM
Though be wary, I think this is a good laptop but some versions may be prone to the Intel HM65 design flaw recalls which affected a whole bunch different laptops with cougar point chipsets this year. http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/6/sb/CS-032521.htm I got mine recently and luckily it is the updated fixed B3 (rev 5) stepping version and not the flawed b2 (rev 4) stepping version.
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Arjun
,Delhi, on May 14, 2011 02:25 AM
This LAPTOP IS OLD AND OUT OF QUESTION NOW Since HP has launched dv6 6017tx Which is 20,000 RS cheaper and provides better performance than this. Waiting for it's reviews.
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terbilko
,London, on May 16, 2011 08:50 PM
dv6 6017tx better performance !?!? It has less memory , worse graphics, NOT full hd, slower hard drive ....... Basically less of everything.
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Sid
,kolkata, on May 20, 2011 01:02 AM
The 6017tx is an amazing laptop, with the same CPU, and more importantly a much better GPU-The 6770M, which is almost as good as the NVidia 555M which is found in the Alienware M14x. As for the RAM and the Hard drive, they can be easily swapped out. The only downside is the FullHD screen, but for almost 20,000 INR less, totally worth it. Graphics that powerful will run all games in atleast medium settings for the next 2 years.
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Bob
,christerfa@hotmail.com, on Aug 09, 2011 05:32 PM
Yeah not to mention HP have the highest failure rate for laptops out of all the brands. High specs don't mean much if your laptop is likely to be killed a a year or 2. ASUS builds are far more reliable right up next to toshiba makes
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Chickenlittle
,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Jun 14, 2011 01:51 PM
I have the i7-2630QM version with 8Gb ram (2x2gb + 1x4gb). Comes with Nvidia GT550M. Have been using this laptop for 3 months now, running memory hungry programs such as Photoshop CS5, AutoCAD, SonyVegasPro, and of course games. So far the laptop has been performing well, with no visible lag in all programmes except on Photoshop when painting a A1 size pictrure simultaneously with iTunes and Chrome. But then again it only lags momentarily when saving, nothing else. Speakers are awesome. In an open corridor with lots of people passing, max volume can be heard up to 11 meters away. Battery life may be compromised when gaming but unlike my friend's Alienware M15x, I can still play games with full graphics on battery. He needs to plug it in to do that. (Pwned!) Screen brightness is not extremely good. Afternoon sun can totally make the screen redundant unless maximum brightness is used outdoors. Size and weight are manageable. The charger brick is large though... Overall, If you need power in a laptop, get this. Really worth it. PS: Tweaked the Windows7 to start up in 13 seconds from shutdown.
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Deepak
,Delhi, on Apr 14, 2011 03:27 PM
Are you sure this model comes with FULL HD screen as default? Please Reply Please Reply Please Reply Please Reply Please Reply Please Reply Please Reply
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yash
,delhi, on Apr 01, 2011 04:57 PM
whats its price
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Imran
,Mumbai, on Mar 22, 2011 09:39 PM
I think it's Core i7 2630QM, not 2730QM, because Core i7 2730QM don't exist.
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Roydon
,Techtree, on Mar 23, 2011 11:34 AM
Thanks for pointing it out Imran. Fixed!
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Imran
,Mumbai, on Mar 25, 2011 09:44 PM
No problem. Glad it helped.
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Abhishek Vaid
,Delhi, on Mar 23, 2011 02:02 PM
I really don't understand these Techtree idiots. In their opening paragraph, they make this excerpt. " but we haven't covered the middle playground - notebooks that offer a healthy mix of performance, rich features and a decent battery life to boot ", and in the last page, they reveal the price to be around 70 K. Then how can a 70K notebook be "middle playground candidate" !!!
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aditya
,Delhi, on Mar 23, 2011 02:11 PM
yea even i agree with you but what they meant was probably middle ~ average performance...:)
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manan somani
,delhi, on Mar 23, 2011 12:05 PM
rightly said ... the specs page should be there in the full specs format for every review
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Tony
,New Delhi, on Mar 23, 2011 11:34 AM
Why have u given this laptop 3.5 stars? I think it deserves 4 if not a 4.5
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Ravi Shanker
,Coimbatore, on Mar 23, 2011 11:06 AM
Nice review.I'd really like it if you guys can put up shots of the screen from various angles.Although it does actually represent the screen quality we can atleast make out the viewing angles.Also,a separate page with all the specifications & where to buy link is really appreciated!
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