High-end laptop winner
Asus N55SF
Verdict
Quad-core power, fast Nvidia graphics and Bang & Olufsen speakers, and all for a very good price
Review Date: 6 Dec 2011
Price when reviewed: £613
Overall Rating
Alternative products
Dell XPS 15
Not quite as classy as its predecessors, but the newly affordable XPS is a bona-fide entertainer
Apple MacBook Pro 13in (2011)
It gets very hot and noisy when pushed hard, but there’s little else to criticise on this magnificent piece of hardware
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Comparison
| Product |
Dell XPS 15
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Apple MacBook Pro 13in (2011)
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Asus N55S
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| Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Code | XPS 15 | MacBook Pro 13in (2011) | N55SF-S2342V |
| Review Date | 8 Dec 2010 | 10 Mar 2011 | 6 Dec 2011 |
| Price ex VAT | £582 | £1,083 | £613 |
| Price inc VAT | £684 | £1,300 | £736 |
| Overall rating |
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| Features & Design |
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| Value for Money |
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| Performance |
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| Warranty | |||
| Warranty | 1yr collect and return | 2 yr return to base | |
| Physical specifications | |||
| Dimensions | 381 x 266 x 39mm (WDH) | 325 x 227 x 24mm (WDH) | 379 x 261 x 38mm (WDH) |
| Weight | 2.860kg | 2.040kg | 2.790kg |
| Travelling weight | 3.3kg | 3.6kg | |
| Processor and memory | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i5-460M | Intel Core i7-2620M | Intel Core i7-2670QM |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel HM57 | Intel HM65 | |
| RAM capacity | 4.00GB | 4.00GB | 6.00GB |
| Memory type | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| SODIMM sockets free | 0 | 0 | |
| SODIMM sockets total | 2 | 2 | |
| Screen and video | |||
| Screen size | 15.6in | 13.3in | 15.6in |
| Resolution screen horizontal | 1,366 | 1,280 | 1,600 |
| Resolution screen vertical | 768 | 800 | 900 |
| Resolution | 1366 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1600 x 900 |
| Graphics chipset | Intel HD graphics/Nvidia GeForce GT 420M | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | Nvidia GeForce GT 555M |
| Graphics card RAM | 1.00GB | 2.00GB | |
| VGA (D-SUB) outputs | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| HDMI outputs | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-I outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DVI-D outputs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DisplayPort outputs | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Drives | |||
| Capacity | 500GB | 500GB | 640GB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 466GB | ||
| Spindle speed | 7,200RPM | 5,400RPM | |
| Internal disk interface | SATA/300 | ||
| Hard disk | Seagate ST9500420AS | ||
| Optical disc technology | DVD writer | DVD writer | Blu-ray reader |
| Optical drive | Optiarc AD-7700H | ||
| Battery capacity | 4,900mAh | 5,200mAh | |
| Replacement battery price inc VAT | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Networking | |||
| Wired adapter speed | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec | 1,000Mbits/sec |
| 802.11a support |
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| 802.11b support |
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| 802.11g support |
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| 802.11 draft-n support |
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| Integrated 3G adapter |
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| Bluetooth support |
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| Other Features | |||
| Wireless hardware on/off switch |
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| Wireless key-combination switch |
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| Modem |
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| ExpressCard34 slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ExpressCard54 slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Card slots | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| USB ports (downstream) | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| FireWire ports | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| eSATA ports | 1 | ||
| PS/2 mouse port |
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| 9-pin serial ports | 0 | 0 | |
| Parallel ports | 0 | 0 | |
| Optical S/PDIF audio output ports | 1 | ||
| Electrical S/PDIF audio ports | 0 | ||
| 3.5mm audio jacks | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| SD card reader |
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| Memory Stick reader |
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| MMC (multimedia card) reader |
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| Smart Media reader |
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| Compact Flash reader |
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| xD-card reader |
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| Pointing device type | Touchpad | Multitouch touchpad | Multitouch touchpad |
| Audio chipset | Realtek HD Audio | Bang & Olufsen ICEpower | |
| Speaker location | Either side of keyboard | Above keyboard and external | |
| Hardware volume control? |
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| Integrated microphone? |
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| Integrated webcam? |
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| Camera megapixel rating | 2.0mp | 0.9mp | 1.3mp |
| TPM |
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| Fingerprint reader |
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| Smartcard reader |
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| Carry case |
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| Operating system and software | |||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Mac OS X | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| OS family | Windows 7 | Mac OS X | Windows 7 |
| Recovery method | Recovery disc | ||
| Software supplied | N/A | ||
| Battery and performance tests | |||
| Battery life, light use | 5hr 46min | 10hr 12min | 4hr 55min |
| Battery life, heavy use | 1hr 16min | 1hr 26min | 1hr 21min |
| Overall application benchmark score | 1.61 | ||
| Office application benchmark score | 1.35 | ||
| 2D graphics application benchmark score | 1.74 | ||
| Encoding application benchmark score | 1.53 | ||
| Multitasking application benchmark score | 1.82 | ||
| 3D performance (crysis) low settings | 60fps | 30fps | 111fps |
| 3D performance setting | Low | Low | Low |
| Overall Real World Benchmark score | 0.83 | ||
| Responsiveness score | 0.82 | ||
| Media score | 0.85 | ||
| Multitasking score | 0.81 | ||
Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk