[NEW GADGET][HANDS-ON] If owning a NX90 means no lunch for the next couple of months but yet you absolutely want to show off one of the best audio system in a notebook, fret not. N53 and N73 have your ego covered.
Frankly, there isn’t much differences between NX90 and N53/N73 besides the fact you won’t get a terrific laptop casing designed by David Lewis. What you will get is the new SonicMaster audio standard (the one in NX90, developed by ASUS with Bang & Olufsen and their ICEpower technology). So you can expect the same audio performance as their big brother model in NX90.
Exterior-wise, N53 and N73 comes with classic notebook casing from ASUS and again the build quality is something you expect from ASUS. The texture are steel-like and both of them aren’t lightweight devices at 2.7kg and 3.4kg respectively. Which is on the “heavy” side of things given the competition in the market. Which suggests, like NX90, the N-Series is not something you want to lug around everyday.
Interior-wise, the specifications are very similar to those of NX90. With the monster 1TB of hard drive as well as Core i5 to go along. Also packed in is the Nividia Optimus which allow you to switch between the integrated graphics and discrete graphics. We are not expecting a great deal of battery life though, probably along an average of 4 to 5 hours on intergrated graphics.
To wrap-up, if you are a follower of ASUS laptops and are due a refresh, the N-Series are probably the call for you to make the switch. Otherwise, the N-Series is not a stark different to other competitors apart from the audio experience that it can deliver on its own. Read my post on NX90 to see what we have to say…
ASUS N53Jn
- CPU: Intel® Core™i5-520M processor (2.4GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz)
- OS: Genuine Windows® 7 Home premium
- VGA: Nvidia® GeForce® GT 335M with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
- WLAN: Integrated 802.11b/g/n + Blueooth™
- LCD: 15.6” Full HD LED Backlight (1920x1080); 16:9 aspect ratio
- RAM & HDD: 4GB DDR3 RAM & 500GB SATA HDD (7200rpm)
- Features: Built-in 2 mega pixels web-camera & card reader
- ODD: Blu-Ray DVD Combo drive
- Warranty: 2 years international warranty
- Dimension: 391 x 266 x 29~39mm
- Weight: 2.7Kg (with battery)
SRP: SGD$1,998 (GST Included)
ASUS N73Jn
- CPU: Intel® Core™i5-520M processor (2.4GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz)
- OS: Genuine Windows® 7 Home premium
- VGA: Nvidia® GeForce® GT 335M with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
- WLAN: Integrated 802.11b/g/n + Blueooth
- LCD: 17.3” Hi-Definition LED Backlight (1600x900); 16:9 aspect ratio
- RAM & HDD: 4GB DDR3 RAM & 1 Terabyte HDD (2 x 500HB 7200rpm)
- Features: Built-in 2 mega pixels web-camera & card reader
- ODD: Blu-Ray DVD Combo drive
- Warranty: 2 years international warranty
- Dimension: 420 x 287 x 35 ~ 39mm
- Weight: 3.4 (with battery)
SRP: SGD$2,298 (GST Included)
Available: At all authorized ASUS resellers (including Sim Lim Square, Funan IT Mall & major retailers). From 20th July 2010.
More pictures taken at the launch event. N73 in action below, notice the lighting on the top right hand corner of the keyboard.
I would have preferred the pebble-style keyboard than the conventional one here with N73. There are dedicated audio management keys by the right hand side, very much like those of the NX90. N53 did not get the dedicated keys though.
