Review Asus N550JV-CN201H Notebook

[spike]

hi there,

i tried getting a mini displayport to vga adapter and it doesn't seem to work. it detected the monitor once, and worked for about 30 seconds and the screen went blank. and doesn't work since. any advice how i can address this problem?

Thanks!

[Ashley]

Hey guys - just a tip on this line of products from an owner of an N550LF.

I'm a huge, huge supporter of Asus laptops. If I could choose any brand, I would choose them - their design is usually perfect and their laptops are powerful for the price. If you're on a budget, holy s***, they're fantastic.

However...

This line is atrocious. I mean this with every bit of sincerity. Here are a few things to note that happened with my N550LF:

• The touchpad is horrendous. Uncomfortable, no real certainty as to where you're meant to press on it to click.
• The display on my N550LF (which is because it's touchscreen, mainly, is terrible. You CANNOT see the screen outside. I'm not exaggerating here - any sun glare on the screen and you're going to have a bad time.
• The hinge cover between the monitor and the base snapped off. Multiple people have reported this issue. It's weak.
• The disk drive cover is plain bad. The eject button is bizarrely placed, and more importantly: mine fell off. I had to superglue the cover back on.
• Did I mention that both the main headphone jack and the mini subwoofer jack died within the first three months of ownership? I rely on a USB soundcard at this point.

And now we come to this week. After a year and a half of ownership.

The keyboard is failing. Badly. Specifically, the 'Enter', 'b', 'n', 'Ctrl' and 'Space' keys have all effectively died. But here's the thing: this is a common occurrence with these Asus laptops! A complete hardware fault that would require keyboard replacement. So sure - I could replace the keyboard - but why should I waste ~£50 replacing a keyboard with all these other ridiculous build quality issues?

'Nuff said. I almost feel betrayed by Asus as a company, lol. I may buy from them again, but please, please, please: avoid these laptops.

[Cole M]

This laptop is amazing, i have had mine for over a year. no hardware issues, gaming performance is quite good. there are a number of games that will only run on medium settings but still looks really good. the matte screen is amazing, works outside with no issues, very wide viewing angles. the touchpad is pretty nice as well, your finger glides across it smoothly and the smartgesture software from asus makes it very easy to use


10/10 will love this laptop forever <3

[Miltiade]

OK guys i have this laptop almost 2 years . The only upgrade you should make its a SSD hard drive . Asus made awesome job . If you want one multimedia laptop this is the one . I play some games but with normal settings . THIS IS NOT A GAMING LAPTOP . The sound is very good & the quality also. Nice screen and nice keyboard . 9/10 from me .

[Andrew]

So, I have that laptop since October 2013, almost 4 years and there are my conclusions:
1. It's a great laptop!
2. The only one real con is GeForce GT 750M which is so old, and run modern games at mostly low/sometimes medium settings.
3. Upgrades I have made:
- replaced optidrive with SSD, and transferred a system to it. Using original HDD now as a storage only;
- replaced wireless WiFi+BT card with new Intel card which supports 802.11ac and BT4.0;
- installed additional RAM, now it have 12GB in total, which is enough.
4. Touchpad is so perfect and comfortable! Never had a problem with it.
5. Battery life 4 hours now reduced to about 2.5 hours only, after almost 4 years!
6. Love the stock external mini-subwoofer, it really helps when i far from home for 4-5 months.
7. Perfect LG display with Splendid save-my-eyes mode.
8. Also, never had any problems with a keyboard, as someone noticed below.

For now, considering replacing it for Vivobook Pro 15 N580, ever it have a 1050ti, not just 1050.

That's all, thanks for reading!

[AA]

Have had this laptop for 8 years, spilled a cup of tea on it but it still works good!

[Jesica]

I've had this computer for 8 years so far. Still use it. I want to upgrade now but I want the new to last as much as this one. Although that's probably too much to ask :'(

[Fraser May]

I read this review back in 2014, and it was one of my deciding factors in getting this laptop. So glad I did! It has been incredible and lasted more than 8 years so fa, despite heavy daily use. Still runs modern games, such an awesome machine. Thanks for running such a comprehensive review.

[NikoB]

Immediately after the end of the warranty, my N550JK had a screen panel burnt out, I had to replace it with a new one even better in quality, and also broke (it broke for many owners, for some more than once even in 1 warranty year) the audio jack, the components for which were installed by Asus obviously from the trash, because my other laptops work quietly with the factory years. I had to suffer and solder to a new one myself.

Plus, the screen cable was made in R&D by morons - it is too close to the screen and stretched and not securely fastened by anything.

While it is still in working order, with 16GB of memory and an SSD, having worked for more than 6 years, but the fact that it does not have hardware VP9 / AV1 decoders on the GTX850M greatly complicates surfing on it with maximum video quality for an fhd screen on the same youtube even with i7 4700HQ.

By the way, WD used this version in test labs as a reference laptop for testing their SSDs once ...

[Agus]

I bought this laptop in 2015. And today 2024, it still work, although the battery has been replaced many times. Unfortunatelly, it's hard to find 'multimedia' laptop with affordable price today.

[NikoB]

Yes, I also look at the market with sadness and don't even see anything interesting in the 2024 models.

I'm no longer satisfied with small screens 15.6-16. I definitely need 18" 4k@120Hz with 16:10 and a contrast ratio of at least 1500:1. And of course not in a monster like the MSI Titan, but in a lightweight laptop without a discrete gpu or no more than 4050.

Fully packed with ports (getting the most out of the Zen4 Phoenix+-level SoC), conveniently located on the sides and back. With a good classic keyboard with a classic numpad and good elastic feedback with 1.8mm key travel.

And of course, as quiet as possible. Those. Weight doesn't really matter, and neither does battery life. And with the correct power supply at the back or an angled round plug on the side towards the back edge of the laptop.

The new Zen4+ series is even more boring - they have no advantages over the old Zen4 Phoenix other than a bloated and useless NPU unit.

Surprisingly, the producers came to an agreement. In reality, professional models cost inadequate money considering their durability during frequent transportation on the street, which I personally no longer need.

And there are no models with 18" 4K in the business/office series at all.

I am sure that such models will be in great demand among various workers working remotely or in offices, as a fairly comfortable replacement for a desktop.

[NikoB]

My N550JK, by the way, still works with the original battery (7% wear level), because it is connected to the power supply 99% of the time and almost never turns off, only to sleep mode and back.