**UPDATE**
I've ran across a wi-fi disconnecting/cannot connect problem almost immediately during the first time I used this laptop on battery; HOWEVER There Is a Very Easy Fix to This. Go to control panel and in the top right corner make sure the "View by" is set to small icons then-> click Device Manager-> click on Network Adapters-> click on the "Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter"-> in the upper right hand corner there's a tab "Power Management," click that and UNCHECK the box saying "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." Hopefully this will help. I read a couple reviews on a similar model, the Asus N56VZ-ES71 and since its cheaper, more people buy it, and naturally the problem tends to show up more commonly. Don't worry, this is not a hardware flaw/problem nor is it a software bug, its just that the people at the manufacturing plant are too narrow-minded to think ahead, trust me, if you know how to use a mouse and read, this problem can be seen simply as a "setup" process like any other laptop.
**END**
I am very glad I found this laptop, I have absolutely no regret getting it (although a little on the expensive side). The overall design is very decent, it has a clean yet stylish look to it. I saw some people were hesitant to get this due to the lack of product specification. So I'll just spill it out right here-
Asus N56VZ-DS71:
Core i7 3610QM @ 2.3 ghz
8GB RAM (1600mhz)
750GB HDD (@5400rpm *sadface)
nVidia GT650m 2GB GDDR3 *sadface*
Blu-Ray/DVD Combo
Full 1080p (1920x1080) DisplayNon-glossy (Matte)
1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack
1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
4 x USB 3.0 port(s)(No USB 2.0 ports, but that's ok as USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with both USB 2.0 and 1.1)
1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
1 x HDMI
1 x SPIDIF speaker out
Battery6Cells 5200 mAh (Approximately 2.5 hr on high performance, 3-3.5hrs on entertainment, and about 4hrs on battery saving; not bad)
2-year limited International hardware warranty (Just follow the instructions they give you, easy to register)
Backlit keyboard
Huge trackpad (but that's understandable because it does support multitouch gesturei.e. pinch to zoom, two fingers scrolling, etc)
Another thing is how much Asus bloat ware that comes with the laptop, it has A Lot (but obviously just uninstall them if you want)
My thoughts:
Built quality is very nice, a very sturdy frame overall
PerformanceI personally think this one of this biggest pros, with a Core-i7 and 8GB of ram, very good for multitasking (which I do a lot), plus great for rendering videos (faster than my desktop lol, but then again my desktop was build in 2010)However with all that said, one thing that really bugs me is the 5400rpm hard drive, it really slows down the boot up time and opening large programs such as vegas pro, and IMO hinders the performance quite a bit. Another complaint I see regarding this laptop is using a GDDR3 version of the GT 650m rather than a GDDR5 model. While GDDR5 does give the card a 10-15% performance, its not that significant, a 10-15% boost in performance means a couple of extra fps in gaming, not that much; I was able to cope with that.
DisplayVery nice display, non glossy, as i stated before really clean, crisp look with the 1080p display.
GamingThis obviously isn't a gaming laptop but I installed Crysis 2 and was able to play it on High settings/1080p without any lag what so ever. If you're looking for a laptop that can handle occasional gaming, this is good choice.
Why I gave it a 4-Star: Mainly due to its 5400rpm HDD, I don't know how to stress this enough, it really drags down the overall performance of the laptop, not to mention, that usb 3.0 is a little useless given that the read/write speeds on the HDD itself is pretty slow. I will most likely go out and buy either a SSD or a better HDD to replace myself (don't get me wrong, the hdd is still ok, but compared to today's standards its kinda slow, don't worry though you can replace the HDD yourself). Other than that, I'm very happy about this purchase.
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I previously owned an Asus G73Jw Republic of Gamers laptop, which was phenomenal. But I needed something a bit more professional-looking for client meetings. I mean, who takes a web developer seriously when he shows up with a gaming laptop that looks like a B-1 bomber? Anyway, the new laptop needed to live up to its predecessor in terms of performance, engineering design and appearance (albeit in a more professional way). I also wanted something maybe a tad smaller, but not much. The old G73Jw was a beast, a 17.3" laptop in what seemed like a double-width 20" frame.
Anyway, let's get on with this review.
As always, I go nuts searching the web for reviews when making a new purchase, especially when it is substantial. I was surprised to see what you can get for almost half the price of what I paid for my G73Jw originally. When sorting the products here at Amazon based on user reviews, the N56VZ was right near the top. How great is that? Still not satisfied, however, I continued my search on other sites and read about various laptop models at forums all over the place. Everything kept coming back to the N56VZ. My previous experience with the G73Jw was so awesome, that the name Asus was always atop my list anyway.
I did it. I ordered the N56VZ. I'm an Amazon Prime member, so I got the 2-day free shipping. However, I wanted it NOW, not in 2 days. While waiting anxiously for it's arrival, I performed a full backup on my G73Jw and commenced with the mourning process.
When the N56VZ arrived, I immediately plugged it in, turned it on and listened to the Hallelujah chorus in my head. I knew that the first boot-up would take longer than a normal boot. But I was not prepared for massive amount of time the 5400rpm hard drive would take. Subsequent boots were quite lengthy and a bit appalling. But hey, I knew going in that it shipped with a slow HDD. Fortunately for me, I was planning on removing the 256GB solid state drive from my G73Jw and placing it in the N56VZ, but I wanted to see how the N56VZ performed right out of the gate. And it was painfully obvious that the HDD just had to go. The HDD that is shipped with this machine is ridiculously out of place in the specs, so save yourself some trouble and add an SSD to your cart when you order this lappy. After installing the SSD -WOW -the N56VZ comes to life and in a seriously HUGE way. I removed one star from my rating simply because the 5400rpm HDD is a total joke in this system.
Now that we have the ONE negative aspect eliminated, on with the drooling!
The screen: FANTASTIC. The one thing I hate the most about new laptops are the stupid shiny screens. If you have lots of windows in your home or you use your laptop at cafes and restaurants, you know that glare is a big deal. You may also remember the older laptops that had matte screens but the colors were washed out and dull. But worry no more! Asus has made the awesome of both worlds come together. The viewing angle, color and clarity of this monitor are all top-notch. The G73Jw's screen is quite awesome as well, so I had that for comparison and the N56VZ's matte screen means that it wins this race.
The case: EXCELLENT. Sure, the bottom is plastic but who cares? Aren't most laptop cases entirely made of plastic? In the case of the N56VZ (pun intended), we have upped the ante with aluminum on the backside of the screen and the top side of the main unit. It's beautiful to look at and Asus deserves to be proud of this one. The combination of aluminum and plastic works.
The cooling: AMAZING. Much like the G73Jw, the cooling of this laptop is based on funneling. The N56VZ may only have one "afterburner" as opposed to the G73Jw, but it does a great job of keeping things cool. And just when I thought the G73Jw had the quietest exhaust fan ever, the N56VZ comes along and defies that. I can't even hear it running. At all. The heat is all pushed to the left side, meaning that you can have the laptop on your lap without feeling like you are sitting in a convection oven. Imagine that. Plus it's not really that hot anyway and the keyboard/pad surface always has that nice cool, aluminum feel to it.
The graphics card: INCREDIBLE. I'm not a big gamer, but I do appreciate quick response times from Photoshop and other graphics-intense design software. At the advice of someone on a forum somewhere who posted a crazy-long review about the N56VZ, I installed the driver directly from nVidia to replace the one supplied by Asus. Probably not necessary as I didn't notice anything different, but I do now have the latest driver. Also, I use the HDMI and VGA connectors simultaneously to fuel two LG Flatron E2360 23" monitors without issue.
The sound: WOW. Ok, so it's not like listening to your $5,000 home theater system, but it does give all other laptops a run for their money. With or without the included external subwoofer, the sound is great for a laptop. Also, the subwoofer does improve the sound far more than I expected it to. My daughter and I were laughing as I unwrapped it from the box. "HAHAHA yeah right, it's just gimmick!" But then you could hear "THUMP" in stereo as our chins hit the floor when I plugged it in during Boston's More Than A Feeling.
The ports: COOLNESS. All of the USB ports are version 3.0, which is backward-compatible with USB 2.0. Don't pay attention to Amazon's specs for this laptop, it does indeed have 4 USB 3.0 ports. Also, after watching a few video reviews of the N56VZ, I was pretty convinced that it did not have a card reader installed. Not one of the reviews even mentioned it, as if they didn't know it existed. Well, I'm here to tell you that it does indeed exist but is cleverly disguised in the front of the main unit on the left side. The sloping underside of the case makes it hard to see and it looks like it's just a grip for the access cover on the bottom.
The wireless: GREAT. Both the wifi and Bluetooth are very capable and strong. I use a Bluetooth mouse and it connects without any trouble. One tiny irritation: every time I boot up, I get a notification that says the Bluetooth is not discoverable. Duh! It's set that way by default and is an appropriate default setting, but the driver (I'm assuming) finds it necessary to nag me about it.
The performance: UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE. I don't use the stock Asus Instant-On feature because -well -why? With the SSD installed, there's no time for silly animated logos. It zooms right by the Windows 7 boot animation, barely allowing me to see the little colored balls swirl around for a split second. I'm literally taken to the login screen in about 8 seconds. As for overall performance, this thing gets the job done. As wonderful as my G73Jw is/was, the N56VZ makes it look like child's play. The amazing combination of processor, graphics card and 8GB of RAM makes the N56VZ a joy to use. Just remember, there is a bottleneck unless you swap the stupid stock HDD with an SSD (I suppose a 7200rpm HDD or hybrid SSD/HDD might help significantly as well).
The summary: WORDS ESCAPE ME. Either I'm easily satisfied or this lappy really is awesome (once again, except for the stupid stock HDD).
Planned modifications/purchases: I have already ordered a Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive (Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive ST95005620AS) and a SATA 2nd HDD caddy for 12.7mm Universal CD/DVD-ROM (NEW SATA 2nd HDD caddy for 12.7mm Universal CD/DVD-ROM) so I can have a data drive for my project files and other data. I'm going to make use of the removed optical drive in the USB 2.0 Slim DVD/CD-RW Burner External Enclosure Caddy Case with SATA Connector (USB2.0 Slim DVD / CD RW Burner External Enclosure Caddy Case with SATA Connetor For all Laptop Notebook dvd cd burner[ Case only!! Drive is not included !!]) and I purchased a Case Logic VNA-216 16-Inch Laptop Attache (Case Logic VNA-216 16-Inch Laptop Attache (Black)).
Also, I plan to add some photos to the product listing at ASUS N56VZ-DS71 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) in the near future.
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I just got this speed monster yesterday via Amazon from J&Rs. What can I say about the speed...it's fast...VERY fast. Anybody wavering on the edge over to go i7 3rd gen over a 2nd gen I say just do it. The extra $$$ is well spent IMO. I see somebody else has just added a full list of specs which until now was not listed on here. The ES model doesn't have a Blu-Ray ROM and I think comes with only 4Gb DDR3-1333 RAM and 1366x768 res screen but is available for about $200 less. So if you're on a tight budget that might be a better choice. But do yourself a favor and get to see the beautiful 1920x1080 screen on this one beforehand. It is really that nice and I believe it's an IPS screen. No dark patches and a wide viewing angle.
As with the previous reviewer the Hitachi 5400rpm HDD supplied is completely out of place in this system. After verifying everything worked I swapped it out with my 2yr old Intel 80GB X-25M SSD. WOW now it becomes a totally different animal. Running Cinebench 11.5 the results are CPU test 6.25 and GPU 3D animation test was 43.03fps! That outperforms an earlier i7 960 chip running at 3.2Ghz. Cinebench claims 2.3Ghz for this (though maybe faster with Turbo Boost running). Boot time is now about 21 seconds from cold boot to Win 7 desktop screen.
While I don't do much gaming, this notebook can perform as one. Mostly it will be used for everyday web browsing, email etc. and photo/HD video editing. It handles my Sony a77 24MP images like they were 15yr old 500k GIFs LOL Instant. No waiting. Photoshop v7.0 opens up the fastest I've ever seen. I haven't yet installed Sony Vegas Pro 8 but I expect it to be quick too. A word on the graphics performance. The 3rd gen i7 Ivy bridge series now has an on-die Intel video chip included. So there are 2 graphics chips, this one and the 2Gb nVidia 650M. The Intel is used for run-of-the-mill performance applications and the 650M kicks in when needed. This is supposed to save battery power. Having not run any tests yet on that I can't comment. The battery is a 6 cell 5200mAh one.
One bad thing is the manual Asus supplied on the utilities CD/DVD. Nowhere does it mention the command to access the BIOS on cold boot. After some trial and error, I found it's the delete key. Why that isn't mentioned I don't know? Every other computer I've had over the years does (and I've had quite a few). One more thing to mention. On the supplied Win 7 HP install, you have to run the utility disk to get the Blu-Ray drive to read anything. Why that wasn't done as part of the factory install again I don't know? Despite the physical size which is typical for a 15.6", the weight is only 6lbs making it quite easy to carry. Most of the "gamer" spec notebooks seem to be heavier. The supplied subwoofer is a nice touch as it adds a bit extra bass end for the sound. Not quite Hi-Fi quality but better than the more usual tinny notebook sound.
If you have a spare $1200 lying around and are looking for a decent notebook or like me, a desktop replacement (be gone 4yr old Q6700 tower!) which won't break the bank yet reward with high performance, I'd say look no further. I did also consider an MSI GE60 at first but those are in limited supply it seems and marginally more expensive. 4 stars given, knocking one off for the lousy 5400rpm HDD.
Honest reviews on ASUS N56VZ-DS71 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
I am an experienced pc user. I was looking for a sleek, stylish, and most importantly powerful laptop to replace my previous laptop (a massive and obnoxiously heavy 17.3in gateway FX gaming laptop).
THe exterior is a work of art. The sleek lines, and very solid aluminum exterior leave nothing to want for.
The performance is very good. I wiped the computer right off the bat, and replaced the hard drive with a Crucial M4 solid state drive and I get 12 second boots consistently. Thats 12 second boots, not waking from stand-by.
The built in "instant-on" feature actually works as advertised. I am usually very wary of such voodoo from manufacturers trying to boost sales, but for the short time I had the stock hard drive in, it would truly wake up in 2 seconds. Plus, the other feature that comes with that software can give you absurd standby battery life. It claims right now that I can leave it in standby for 120 days before it runs out of battery. I have yet to test this, but considering they did not lie with 2 second wake-up, I believe it.
Speaking of manufacturer voodoo, I was expecting the supersonic soundmaster extreme or whatever they are calling it to be pointless, but the mini subwoofer actually helps a ton! These are the best laptop speakers I have seen, or heard rather, ever. They are still laptop speakers though, and I will still use a good set of external speakers, or headphones, when I'm listening to music.
The graphics performance is good. I can run Shift 2 Unleashed at all max fluidly. I haven't tried skyrim but I expect it to be pretty good. The screen is beautiful, one of the best I have ever seen in a 15in laptop. The keyboard has good feel, and the backlight is good (Not great, there is some bleeding around the keys and I have seen better).
The portability is what you would expect from a 15in laptop. It isn't exceptionally light, but is certainly portable.
My one complaint is that the size of the screws used on some of the components is ridiculously small, but unless you plan on serious upgrading or modding then this shouldn't affect you.
I am very very happy with this PC, and I would recommend it to anyone (and with the ssd it blows anything else out of the water). If you are considering a mac, stop, and buy this. It has all the aesthetics, is cheaper, and equally/more powerful.
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I, as most of us and likely you, spent many weeks researching for dozens of hours about the perfect laptop for me. If I'm going to spend over a grand on something, its worth looking into and reading reviews like this right? So I'll get right into it.
Note: I've been using this laptop for about 2 months, extensively every day
-Overall Build Quality-
This is an Asus, so it has amazing build quality. The keyboard feels 95% perfect (more on that later), very sturdy with little to no sound when typing which I love. I'm typing this during a lecture actually, and no one can really tell...haha. The hinges for the screen are two big clearly metal pieces so very durable. The screen never feels loose at all. The backing of the screen and the screen itself has little flex and does not feel like a cheap plastic thing it feels like a $1000+ computer screen, as it should.
The touchpad and handrest area are aluminum and very sturdy. Despite the little holes for the speakers I don't see how you could get dirt in there unless you eat cheetos while typing. So don't do that. Eat cheetos with your feet like a real man.
I must say, however, that the USB ports are stiff as hell. I have to pull pretty damn hard to get various USB cables to come out iPod, hard drives, whatever. I guess that it being stable and such is good as you'll NEVER have a USB device accidentally fall out, but I feel like after several years I might damage the port by pulling. Devices never just slide out they jerk out, which is never good.
It comes with a Blu-Ray disc drive and it works perfectly. I, as most people, rarely use the disc drive, so it hasn't been tested a bunch, but burns just swell. However, the drive itself pokes out about 3mm from the right side of the laptop so it looks a bit unperfect. Too bad.
-Touchpad/Keyboard-
As said above the keyboard is very quiet and easy to use. I never see the point of number pads and wish that companies didn't see them as a good thing for 15.6" laptops, as it shrinks the arrow keys and right shift of this keyboard. It also shifts all the keys and touchpad to the left (check the pics above) which is a bit awkward, but even with my huge hands it doesn't affect typing. I do something (or did rather, kinda stopped now) sometimes type like this when capitalizing. The WOrld TRade ORganization, in other words I would hold the left shift down a bit more than usual. I seem to not do it anymore though, so I guess you stop after a while. The backlight of the keyboard is perfect as far as I can tell.
The touchpad, as ALL touchpads, doesn't beat Apple Macbook touchpads, but it has multi-touch features and is easy enough to use. The right/left clicking borders are a bit ambiguous as there are no physical clicking buttons, but I use a mouse whenever at home, and the few times I use my laptop out of my pad it isn't a big deal to get used to.
There is also a programmable button on the top left of the laptop under the left hinge that I programmed to turn the touchpad off/on, which works perfect for when you're using a mouse or typing a lot.
-Ports-
As I mentioned above, the USB ports are stiff. Probably the WORST THING ABOUT THIS LAPTOP is the port placement. By far the dumbest placement ever, without putting ports under the spacebar. All of the ports save power and the mini-sub are on the front 1/3 of the device, which makes using a mouse slightly annoying. When you plug in stuff on the right side cables can get in the way. Using a USB stick and a right-handed mouse seems like it should involve your arm being 6 inches away from the right side of the laptop while using it. I'm a tall, large guy with big hands so it's easy to get around, but for short-armed folks, be warned! Look at the port pics before buying!
There is no eSata too, which sucks, but there is an HDMI. Yet again, the HDMI is near the front (on the left) which is dumb...should be on back like the Clevo/Sagers!
-Screen-
The screen on this baby is huge and absolutely gorgeous. The matte is a better decision over glossy if you use it outdoors, and even indoors, looks brilliant. Playing HD movies and HD games looks much better than any screen I've ever used. 1920 x 1080 is such a great resolution, even 24 year old me will increase the size of text on many webpages for easier viewing.
-Processor/RAM/Video Card Performance-
The only new game I've played is Guild Wars 2, which I have played a lot of! It is one of the most graphic intensive games out right now (especially graphics card), but I turn all of the extras on and all settings on high except draw distance. There are ultra settings for a few things, but everything at my settings gets me 15-35 fps, 15 for 100~ people in huge online battles or boss battles, but everyone's computer will chug during these events. Sometimes it will go as low as 8 fps but I expect that when things go crazy flashy. I am using the newest beta drivers made for GW2 and they helped a lot.
I haven't had a single crash on this unit yet, period, nor blue screen. So that's good.
The single large fan port on the left WILL shoot out steaming hot air, so if you're left handed and a gamer, gooooood luck. I've left glasses on water and my phone on the left while playing GW2 and when I touch them I almost get burned. I REALLY wish every laptop maker put the ports in the back like Sager, but as a right-handed person, this doesn't affect me so much. Just be careful.
When doing normal stuff, it just shoots out room temp to slightly warm air.
-Storage-
I replaced the HDD with a 120GB SSD before I even turned it on for the first time. It was very easy to do so, but the bottom plate covering the RAM and HDD kit was a tiny bit difficult to snap out, but once I got the hang of it, it was simple. The 750GB 5200RPM 2.5in drive is sitting in an enclosure kit and works swell, and my SSD ensures my laptop is DEAD silent. I play Guild Wars 2 on it and even with such a powerful game (running at 85% max settings, mind you), all you hear is a tiny hum of the fan. I'm guessing having the original HDD would make it louder, however it sitting in an enclosure kit still makes no noise. It does get a tiny bit warm, while my SSD does not! I recommend making the upgrade I did.
As expected, files on my SSD open like lightning and my computer boots quite fast, less than 15 seconds.
However, when I wake my computer up from hibernation it takes as long to do this as it does to boot up, maybe LONGER, which sucks. Also, when I boot up sometimes my computer auto-boots into my CD and sometimes my SSD, regardless of going into my BIOS and changing/saving boot priority. I'm sure I can change this with a bio update or something, but I just don't care enough at the moment.
-Battery Life/Portability-
This thing's battery life surprised the hell out of me. At about half brightness doing web stuff and no gaming, I get a bit less than 5 hours of battery life. When gaming and max brightness, between 2 and 3. If I lower brightness to the lowest setting I can squeeze out close to 6 hours I think, which for this size of computer and its power, is amazing! I had a MBP before this and purchased a brand new battery only to squeeze out less than 3 hours on a 15" model. Pathetic!
It is a very large laptop but isn't as heavy as you'd expect. Since the build quality is good you don't have to worry much about it breaking. Also the battery doesn't jut out at all which is good.
-Sound/Speakers-
As I'm sure you know, this laptop comes with surround sound speakers and a mini-sub to plug in and when using this, it sounds a LOT less tinny, but the sound is coming still from the center of the laptop, so it doesn't sound as good as almost any pair of speakers over $40. If you're a person who travels a lot and wants to watch movies/music for a group of people, this will be super awesome for you!
-Warranty/Support-
I haven't used the support system, but Asus laptops come with a 2 year warranty with 1 year of accidental damage/spilling protection. This is unheard of in the laptop market and one of the several reasons I love Asus!
I guess that's all the points. Here's my pros/cons
+++PROS+++
+ Very powerful, especially fast with an SSD upgrade
+ Incredible Battery Life!
+ Great speakers
+ Great 2 year defect/1 year accidental warranty included
+ Fantastic build quality all around
+ Gorgeous screen
+ Relatively light
+ Great keyboard
---CONS---
Keyboard has a pointless (for almost everyone, except accountants?) number pad which shifts the whole keyboard and shrinks it
Touchpad isn't the best, but compared to most laptops is good
Port placement is by FAR the WORST part of this laptop all but the VGA are at the front 1/3 of the left/right side of the laptop! Beware left-handed users!
The fan is on the left and shoots out melting heat
Despite these cons, they are minor, and this is my favorite laptop I've ever gotten. The port placement is quite a pain, however.
