Asus N55SF reviewed- proper blend of multimedia and gaming

The Asus N55SF is the latest addition to the Asus N53SN line of powerful and reliable 15-inch laptops. The new notebook comes with a different design than its predecessors and with a few tweaks concerning features and technical specifications and could possibly become a very successful multimedia and gaming laptop.

In the following lines we will quickly review the new Asus N55SF, trying to determine how good of a job has the Taiwanese computer manufacturer done when it comes to the design, the features and the performance offered by their latest laptop.

More details are available over at gamingrig.com , where you can read a more thorough review of the Asus N55SF notebook.

Design, ports and features

While the previous generation Asus multimedia laptops were made out of aluminum, the N55SF is made out of glossy plastic, which is pretty uninspired, to say the least. Aside from the fact that the laptop is pretty unaesthetic( so as not to say ugly), the plastic makes the case easy to scratch and smudge with fingerprints.

The rectangular body with sharp edges is another thing we don’t like very much at Asus’s new laptop, even though the chromed stripe around the screen gives the notebook some sense of style. The number of ports, on the other hand, is extremely generous, the N55SF featuring two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, as well as a microphone and a headphone jack and a VGA port. The built-in speakers and the microphone are also top of the notch.

The N55SF is a looker, but some of you might not like the glossy exterior

Actually, the audio system on this baby is far superior from anything you might find on the 15-inch laptop market right now, the two 32mm speakers offering great sound quality for a portable computer.

More about these in the clip below:

Keyboard, touchpad and screen

The keyboard on the new N55 is a classic one, with proper sized flat keys that offer decent spacing and a pretty high level of comfort. The travel is great, there isn’t much flex and the keys also look pretty good, being covered in a silver coating. In addition to that, you have an extra column of multimedia keys on the left side of the keyboard.

The touchpad, made from soft plastic, feels comfortable and is at the same time proper sized and responsive. On the other hand, this is a bit imprecise on occasions, which is a weak point, but not a very important one.

As far as the display is concerned, we almost have nothing to object here, giving that the 15.6-inch screen with 1600×900 pixels resolution offers great contrast, sharp colors, good brightness and excellent viewing angles.

You won't find better audio on a 15.6 inch laptop these days

Performance, graphics and battery life

The Asus N55SF will come in a few different versions when it will officially hit stores, with no less than six processors from which you can choose. You will have the i3 2350M, 2330M and 2310M, the i5 2430M and 2410M and the i7 2670QM and 2630QM. All these are produced by Intel and they will all probably offer pretty high performance levels. You will also have 2 GB of dedicated memory, plus 4 GB of RAM and the possibility of expanding your memory up to 16 GB.

The graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GT555M and, while the N55SF is not a laptop for gaming per se, it will allow you to run most of the modern games available right now at a more than decent quality level.

In terms of battery life, the 6 Cell 56Wh 5200 mAh battery does a pretty decent job if you think about the hardware under the new N55’s hood. It should thus provide you with an autonomy of about three, three and a half hours at a medium power usage or well above four hours if you turn off the wireless and activate the Power Saver mode. On the other hand, when playing games you shouldn’t expect more than an hour, an hour and a half of autonomy.

And here’s another clip with details on performances and gaming:

Pricing and availability

The Asus N55SF hasn’t been officially released on the laptop market, but is expected to be available by the end of September. We have no details regarding the official pricing of the notebook, even though the rumors state that the N55SF should start at about 700 or 800 dollars, for the lower versions, and should cost even 1000 or 1200 bucks, when talking about the high-end configurations.

Asus multimedia laptop, with gaming abilities: the Asus N55SF

If these suppositions prove to be true, the upcoming Asus laptop could become a selling success, looking at its excellent quality-price ratio, a thing that is almost traditional when talking about Asus products.

Wrap-up

While the new Asus N55SF fails to impress in terms of design and looks, it is a pretty solid, powerful and reliable laptop overall. The screen is great, the performance level is at heights, the audio quality is probably the best on the notebook market right now, and these are things that should make Asus’s new laptop a good piece of computer equipment.

Whether you are looking for a multimedia notebook, a gaming laptop with a decent price tag or just an overall solid and reliable portable computer, the Asus N55SF could be the perfect device for you!

Tags: gaming laptop, gaming notebook, laptops