ASUS N53JF: Midrange 15.6” 1080p, Take Four
by Jarred Walton on December 28, 2010 1:40 AM ESTConclusion: Four, Four, Four for My Headaches...
Four leaf clovers are supposed to be lucky, but getting four good 1080p LCDs in a row on notebooks is apparently asking too much. Looking at previous ASUS offerings, the N53JF ends up being better in some areas compared to the ASUS N82Jv and N61JV, but worse in others. Performance is one area that has improved, though it’s not such a major change that you’d want to upgrade. Mostly, the DX11 enabled GT 425M is a match for the older GT 335M, and while the chassis is larger we have to keep in mind that you’re getting a 1080p display and a Blu-ray combo drive. Battery capacity still trails the U-series, which is unfortunate, but our bigger complaint is that the keyboard actually feels worse than the chiclet design on the N61/N82. Perhaps that’s just reviewer preference, but it would be nice to at least have keyboard backlighting and less flex. Getting at the internals is also more involved this time around, and while it isn’t a major issue we do prefer ease of access over hidden screws under the rubber feet.
The more difficult comparison is Dell’s XPS 15—the difficult part coming from the fact that the LCD upgrade that pushed the XPS into Gold Editors’ Choice territory is now MIA. Take out the LCD and the XPS 15 suddenly drops down to Bronze territory—or perhaps Silver if you’re generous and really like the speakers. We know quite a few people that weren’t particularly keen on the rounded design of the XPS line, so without the display it becomes a much more iffy proposition. I do have to say I’m more than a little irritated that the HP Envy 14’s Radiance panel and Dell XPS 15’s 1080p B+GR LED upgrades have both disappeared after the initial launch and reviews. That is not a trend we want to see, but at least the XPS line doesn’t have glossy bezels: one step forward, one step back.
Given the price, performance, build quality, and aesthetics, I can see quite a few people preferring the ASUS N53JF over the XPS 15, at least if you get the 1080p model we’re reviewing. It runs relatively cool and quiet but delivers decent performance. However, if you’re going after a good 1080p laptop, we’d go for the Clevo B5130M over the ASUS, by virtue of its higher contrast panel. If you don’t mind the 2008-era glossy plastic aesthetic of the Compal NBLB2, that’s also a good choice at a similar price, with lower battery life in trade of slightly higher graphics performance.
With the Christmas shopping season just past and CES (and the Intel Sandy Bridge launch) coming up next week, there’s no need to run out and buy any of the current generation of notebooks. If Sandy Bridge manages to meet expectations, the only way we’d consider buying the soon-to-be-outdated Core 2010 notebooks is if prices drop—or maybe if Sandy Bridge models end up costing at least two hundred dollars more than the current offerings. That means $800 for this laptop would be reasonable, assuming Sandy Bridge dual-core laptops (with Optimus GPUs) launch at around $1000. We’ve still got a couple more 2010 laptop reviews to clear out before CES is upon us, so you should see reviews of the smaller Dell XPS 14 and the long-awaited HP Envy 14 shortly, but neither one will really alter the mobile landscape. While there are quite a few decent laptops out there, there’s nothing clearly ahead of the competition, and the competition is about to intensify. That usually means better prices for consumers, so we can’t complain too much, but we’d prefer paying a bit more for laptops with higher quality displays.
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Kaboose - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
i sure hope that is why there isn't a single dell laptop offering a 1080p screen at the moment. (including alienware taxed items)chemist1 - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Hi Jarred,Thanks for the review. A friend of mine recently priced out a Sony Vaio F series laptop: 16.4" 1080p screen, Blu-Ray R/W drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M GPU, and an Intel Quad Core i7-840QM Processor (1.86GHz, turbo up to 3.20GHz) ---he said it was about $1300. Perhaps that is worth a review.....
cgeorgescu - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Very nice laptop... Check out the "premium" screens on all Vaio models, really nice, not led-backlight or any fancy stuff but perfect angles, 100% adobe RGB, perfect. And matte.I've got not the F but the EC because of 17.3 instead of 16.4 and two drive bays.
chemist1 - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
correction: just checked it myself, and it's $1300 (on the Sony site) with a Core Quad i7-740QM processor (1.73GHz with turbo up to 2.93GHz).The EC series cgeorgescu mentioned might be an even better buy. With a 1080p 17.3" screen (a bit more suitable for 1080p than the F's 16.4) , Blu-Ray R/W, ATI HD 5650 (don't know how that compares with the 425M on the F series), and Core i5-580M processor (2.66GHz, with turbo to 3.33GHz ) (Core i7 not offered on the EC series), it prices out to $1200.
And, as with the F series, if you downgrade from a Blu-Ray RW to a CV/DVD RW, you can subtract $150.
chemist1 - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Further, if we downgrade the EC series to make it comparable to the Asus reviewed here (Blu Ray read only + CD/DVD RW, Core i5 460, 1080p), the Sony site has it at $1020 --- nearly the same as the $1030 Asus but with what I understand is a much better screen (plus the extra drive bay that cgeorgescu mentioned, and the free Adobe Acrobat/Photoshop bundle).JarredWalton - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
Don't forget that quad-core Clarksfield CPUs are horribly power inefficient, so you'd sacrifice quite a bit of battery life. Given that Sandy Bridge will address this, there's basically no point in looking at any more Core 2010 or Clarksfield laptops.chemist1 - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Understood, thanks for your reply. But that leaves unanswered the obvious follow-up question, which is that of why, given that these Vaios have been out for a while, and given that they may represent the best value available in ~$1K laptops (say, the dual-core EC series), you folks didn't include them among your recent looks at mid-range laptops (e.g., the Vaios weren't mentioned in your 11/15/10 "Holiday Buyer's Guide: Notebooks"). Did you consider them and discount them for some reason, or was it something else? Since choosing what to review from amongst a large universe of products is a significant part of what a tech journalist must do, I was just wondering what goes into these sorts of decisions.JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
The biggest issue is that Sony basically has no interest in seeding reviewers with hardware. While you could try to buy/review/eBay laptops, I don't have enough time/money to go that route, and we've been busy with other items. We did mention the VAIO Z in the guide, but most of the time I have difficulty justifying the Sony Tax. And not all Sony laptops have good displays either -- I've looked at more than a few at Best Buy, etc. Without hands-on time or input from someone I trust, I'm not willing to recommend a laptop as having a good LCD. :-\I'll see if I can get Sony to be a little more forthcoming at CES, but I've gone down that road before to no avail.
chemist1 - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Thanks for the explanation! Why there had been no review of this particular (and seemingly high-value) part of the Vaio line was something I'd been curious about for a while, so it's nice to understand the manufacturer's role in this (a factor I had not considered).Hrel - Tuesday, December 28, 2010 - link
You guys and ur glossy bezel on the screen. Put ur thumb on the edge of the screen to open the laptop, there, problem solved. lol. wow.Other than that nit-picky sillyness I was REALLY saddened to see those low scores on that Asus. I read it had to same display as the Dell used to and got all excited then those scores... I guess they had to save money somewhere to hit 1000 bucks AND have a blu ray drive. Honestly, I almost never use disks at all anymore and have never even touched a blu ray disc. Don't include any CD drive at all, put in a bigger battery and better screen and non-name-brand speakers that don't suck and I'd be good. If the marketing guys insist on a cd drive use the cheapest one you can find.