ASUS' N82Jv: Jack-Of-All-Trades
by Jarred Walton on September 11, 2010 11:10 PM ESTASUS N82Jv-X2: More of the Same
Those familiar with ASUS will find the usual assortment of good and bad in the N82Jv. The overall build quality is good, but we're still dealing with a predominantly plastic chassis and there's the usual bit of flex that accompanies such designs. In terms of technology, ASUS is ahead of the curve with USB 3.0 and they've been the biggest adopter of NVIDIA's Optimus Technology since day one. We've seen a lot more Optimus laptops start to show up, but right now the N82Jv comes with the fastest CPU+GPU combination of the bunch. The next generation 400M GPUs from NVIDIA are nearly upon us, so that may change in the near future, but it would hardly be a surprise to see ASUS at the forefront of 400M Optimus notebooks.
That's all good, but the areas we've complained about in the past remain unaddressed. The LCD is a huge blemish on an otherwise good design. Is it that hard to get good LCDs? (Hint: Ask Apple where they get the MacBook Pro panels.) How about a larger battery than the 47/48Wh size that's so ubiquitous in entry and midrange laptops? I suppose if you're trying to hit a $1000 price point, yes, it's difficult to get such upgrades, but let's just forget a hard price point and put in some quality to separate your brand from the pack.
Perhaps we're being a bit too hard on ASUS. After all, the N82Jv really is one of the better combinations of features, performance, and pricing currently on the market. If you read our review of the N61Jv back in March and wanted a faster GPU and a smaller chassis, the N82Jv provides both. In that sense, the N82Jv preempts the N61Jv and warrants a Silver Editors' Choice award. Then in May, we looked at the U30Jc and praised the battery life/capacity but lamented the slow GPU and poor LCD quality. Notice a pattern yet? Six months is a long time, and while the GT 335M is a nice update in the graphics department, we really wanted it back in March. ASUS literally did nothing to address our complaints with battery capacity and LCD quality. Standing still doesn't win extra points, and in the hope of encouraging ASUS to ship a better LCD next time, we're skipping the award. The ASUS N82Jv gets our recommendation and an honorable mention, but if Editors' Choice grades start at 90%, it's about an 86%.
Our introduction called the ASUS N82Jv a "Jack-of-All-Trades", and so it is. The corollary to that unfortunately holds as well, as this is a Master of None. It does so many things well, but in no area is it truly exceptional. The GT 335M is able to play games at Medium detail and 1366x768, but any more than that and it starts to choke, and it lacks DX11 features for the forward looking users. The CPU is good for most tasks, but it will struggle with computationally intensive tasks. Battery life is above average…as long as average includes a bunch of $500 to $600 entry-level notebooks. And finally, build quality is decent, but you're not going to sway any business users away from their ThinkPads, Latitudes, ProBooks, etc.
Don't get me wrong: this is a good laptop and certainly worth serious consideration if you're in the market, but there's only so many times I can say, "Yes, but…." The N82Jv with an 8-cell battery like that in the U-series would be a bronze award, or the N82Jv with a good LCD but the same 48Wh battery would garner a silver. Give me both and it's a Gold Award for sure. And bonus points for upping the build quality to a sturdy magnesium/aluminum frame like that in the MacBook Pro/ThinkPad, plus drop in a new GeForce 400M GPU. For all those upgrades, I'd happily recommend paying $1300, and such a laptop could go toe-to-toe with the MacBook Pro 13 and even come out on top—depending on your aesthetical slant. But $1000 for the current implementation puts it at the MacBook level, and just like we recommend most users spring for the Pro 13" (or 15"/17"), we're stuck wishing for something that doesn't yet exist.
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JarredWalton - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - link
I guess I *heard* about the Envy 14 (or the old Envy?) six months back. Here's hoping it will still arrive soon....Roland00 - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - link
4 months is a life time in the computer world though. Almost every series gets a refresh every quarter.Now the old envy were 13 inch and 15 inch. They were released during Oct 09 to coincide with the windows 7 launch. While I praise HP vision they didn't really sell well in stores due to the fact they were expensive (starting at 2000+ at the time), had no optical drive (which I see as a benefit but some customers couldn't understand) and the 15 inch cold get very hot. The 13 inch was designed to be fast enough with a culv or lv processor and 4330 video card and up to 14 to 18 hours of battery life (depending on configuration, measured in mobilemark, a bad test I know.) How it obtain this battery life is it had a standard 4 cell battery but it also had a detachable 6 cell battery that was the entire width and length of the laptop so if you attached the battery it is just like the laptop got thicker. The envy 15 inch had the same philosophy with the battery but it instead packed a quad core, a 1080p screen, either a 4830 or 5830 (depending on refresh), and up to 16gbs of memory. On paper, the first envys were trying to be a windows macbook pro that were either trying to be faster (competing against 15 or 17inch) or had better battery life (competing against 13 inch and macbook air).
Now I been more impressed with the 14.5 inch and the 17 inch for while they may be bigger and heavier due to the optical drive, they are trying to be more "balanced" via having more moderate price options available at the start.
blackrook - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
How does it all work? Do they send products to you spontaneously, or is it agreed upon by both you guys and the companies?I'm intrigued with what you guys would think of it...even though I already bought it. Almost like a reassurance that I've made a solid decision, heh.
Fingers crossed.
JarredWalton - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Either they contact us or we contact them, trying to get products for review. Some companies are more than happy to send products out (i.e. ASUS) while others seem to sample few if any products.mrmbmh - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - link
Hi,very nice article! thx Jarred!There are some popular notebooks you've not reviewed yet..... like U45jc Asus and HP dm4 (light-weight 14"s)
Can you review them or at least join them into LCD comparison benchmark?
Thanks.... : )
zoxo - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
You can be assured that the LCDs are utter crap on those too. The Envy from hp seems to be a step up, but it doesn't have matte option. What a shame!Akv - Sunday, September 12, 2010 - link
The proportion of gamers in the comments of reviews websites is almost 100%, but that is not the proportion of users, who might for example prefer a reduction of price in exchange for graphics just sufficient for productivity and video. Or the same price with an increase of storage, of silence instead of gaming, etc.The divergence between users when it comes to laptop is even stronger, so much so that I would not be surprised if the proportion of users who want gaming on a laptop was insignificant, although still of course quasi 100% of reviews websites comments.
I regret that, on this website as many others, the heat and noise are not even evoked, whereas it seems to me the main element of the build quality for a laptop.
I was interested by the expertise on LCD quality. If I have to pay for a laptop I really want to display photos correctly, and to be able to read comfortably. I would be ready to accept less horsepower in exchange for better display. I would not even refuse an atom netbook with a perfect matte screen.
seanleeforever - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
that, my friend, is a good comment.i too overly frustrated with all the gamer's comments with cares nothing except GPU and CPU. there is much more to a laptop than play games. (besides, you shouldn't play games on notebook anyway)
if the image is the key, consider the following as rule of thumb.
best :IPS/AFFS+ screen, they are the best (lenovo X201 Tablet, HP dream color)
second to the best: MVA screen in Fujitsu T5010
distant third is 8-bit TN panels w/ RGBLED backlight (Alienware and Dell Precision M6500)
distant forth is 6-bit TN panels w/ RGBLED (Dell M4500, sXPS16, Lenovo T/W510, W701/ds, Apple MBP (15-17"))
you would also need to consider the heat, noise, fan position, key layouts, which is something anand will never cover in detail because it doesn't sounds as cool as GT335M.
JarredWalton - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
It's not a case of it "sounding as cool"; there just isn't much to say that's noteworthy. If the laptop is particularly loud and/or hot, we'll make a note of it, but the N82Jv is basically "average" (or perhaps even below average) in these areas. That comes form the components, with the HD 5650 and GT 335M built to hit specific TDPs so they can fit in laptops. If you're not doing anything taxing, the N82Jv runs cool enough that there's no worry. At load, fan speeds ramp up and it gets warmer.Vivek and Dustin don't have the necessary tools for testing power/temp/noise, so I haven't been focusing on those in order to keep the reviews consistent. But since you asked, the N82Jv runs at around 70-80F temperatures (give or take) idle, and bumps up 5-10F under load. The keyboard and palm rest tends to be a bit cooler than the bottom, though certain areas get hotter than others, naturally. The hottest spot I found under load was on the bottom under where the GPU sits, and it was 105F.
Noise levels are basically at the limit of my SPL meter at idle (30dB), but under load it can get noisier. I measured 39 dB(A) at a distance of about 12". So as a whole, this is good and certainly nothing I would consider problematic. I'm far more concerned with the plastic chassis and low quality LCD on the N82 than I am with the heat/noise.
The Crying Man - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
You guys could all use HWMonitor or GPU-Z at least to give us an idea of temps at idle or load.