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 - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
See page two... added the HWMonitor screenshot and some commentary (similar to the above).The Crying Man - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Really? Why shouldn't people play games on notebooks? I've been doing it for over 8 years without problems.seanleeforever - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
gaming on a laptop is full of compromises. you never get a powerful enough CPU/GPU without paying penalty of weight/battery life/heat/noise/price. and two years later, you laptop is out of date and you have NO ABILITY to upgrade it.i am no stranger to notebook gaming. i had that very goal when i entered college (which was many, many years ago). i bought the most powerful notebook with best graphic card available. the system cost over 2k with coupons (which was VERY expensive, i might add). it was high price/heavy weight (5.2 lbs)/heats up like crazy, and poor battery life. it was out of date by the 3rd year in college and barely run any new games with decent settings.
Then, i bought another one (T61P) when it came out, again, the best graphic card in business and expensive like hell. it run games great in that year, but now cannot even run SC2 with medium settings.
the inability to upgrade is really what kills it. when you buy notebooks, you are paying more than Ram/HDD/CPU/GPU. you are paying the whole package. buying a gaming laptop means once the CPU/GPU is out of date, you gonna have to throw the whole thing out, no matter how great the monitor you have, no matter how good the keyboard is, no matter how awesome the system was designed. Notebook manufacture knows about it. they cheapens the design in other areas because they know you gonna move to new gears once Intel/AMD/Nv's new chip is out. long term reliably is no longer a concern (HP, i am looking at you). long term engineering test is complete out of the window because all it matters is to ship the units with the newest chip (the ENTIRE NV lineup were overheating, any body?)
i really love the way desktop works. i can dump a lot of money on a good monitor, keyboard, mouse, cage, audio, and knowing those parts are staying with me no matter i upgrade my system to i7 or i70.
the only thing that keep pushing for new notebooks are games. i can hardly find any reason to dump my T61P besides gaming performance. the new i7 cores are also extremely good (i only have i7 620lm, but it runs 1080 video, VHDL simulation, and matlab code without a problem). so this time around i dumped money into a well designed, ultra portable tablet with one of the best screen in business that i know i will use for the next 5 years. meanwhile i can built myself a gaming machine if i wanted for 30% of the cost.
JarredWalton
believe or not, a lot of people buying notebook not for gaming. i know anand has received a lot of computers in the past, why not create a lab to test
1: sound quality? fan noise?
2: screen quality? (like, take picture from all angels and compare it to others), screen reflection. out door view experience.
3: actual portability. when you travel (the reason for thin and light notebook), you want to work on the go. does the position of the fan make it easily blocked when playing on your lap or other soft surfaces? does it make machine overheat? effect on fan noise?
4. ease to use, such as how accessible is to the HDD and RAM? how difficult it is to do a full on re-store to factory setting? how about drivers support if your HDD is broken and you do not have a DVD shipped with system? how easy to make back on your person files using the provided tool? and how about notebook specific functions (like, if you have thinkpad, you have thinkvantage software that actually does some nice things such as check your system health, check your drivers and install them automatically).
my whole point is that there is SO MUCH MORE to tell other than your new notebook can run crysis and last 5 hours. in fact, gaming performance is maybe what i care the least because as soon as i see the GPU and CPU, i have a good feeling of what this can and cannot do. the Toshiba one is nicely done to point out the crapware that came pre loaded.