Asus N53SM-DS71

When we first unboxed the Asus N53SM-DS71 ($979.99 list), we mistook it for a 17-inch laptop, particularly since we'd just tested its smaller 15.6-inch Asus K53SD-DS51 sibling. But no, the N53SM-DS71 is a 15.6-inch system too?just one in a bigger, beefier chassis, with bigger, beefier parts. Still, while those parts deliver first-class performance, the bulky N53SM-DS71's feature set falls a little short of our desktop replacement Editors' Choice Samsung Series 7 (NP700Z5A-S03) ($1,299 list, 4 stars).

Another slip we made on first acquaintance with the Asus N53SM-DS71 was pressing the wrong power button. It has two, one for Windows and one for Asus Express Gate Cloud?a Linux Gnome environment that boots in a fast 15 seconds or so (compared to about a minute for Windows) to offer a photo viewer, calendar, small selection of games, and Web browser with Facebook and YouTube menus. Express Gate is handy, though its interface isn't as friendly as some other dual-boot laptops' we've seen; we were disappointed it has no music player, since the laptop's Bang & Olufsen ICEpower speakers provide excellent audio.

Design
Measuring 1.6 by 10.6 by 15.6 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.4 pounds, the N53SM-DS71 combines a silver aluminum lid with black plastic sides and bottom, with a handsome silver plastic accent stripe wrapping around sides and front. The palm rest features a silky-smooth touchpad with a single bottom bar that serves for both left and right mouse buttons.

The keyboard is not backlit like that of the Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 ($979.99 list, 4 stars), but has a comfortably precise typing feel, with dedicated if small Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys and a numeric keypad?whose keys are slightly narrower than the primary keys?for number crunchers.

The 15.6-inch screen is bright and sharp, but its resolution is limited to the same 1,366-by-768 pixels of laptops half the price of the N53SM-DS71. To be fair, so is the Toshiba P755-S5269's, but the Samsung NP700Z5B-W01UB ($1,019 list, 4 stars) flaunts a 1,600-by-900 display.

Features
On the wireless front, the N53SM-DS71's Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi worked without a hitch in our tests. Users dreaming of beaming their audio and video to an HDTV set, however, will find that Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) is not supported. Neither is watching Blu-ray movies, since the optical drive is a generic dual-layer DVD?RW.

The hard drive is a spacious 750GB Seagate unit that spins at 7,200 rpm. To Asus' credit, it's largely free of bloatware, though you will find a Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 30-day trial. Also to Asus' credit is the two-year parts-and-labor warranty, with accidental damage protection for the first year.

Two USB 2.0 ports and microphone and headphone jacks accompany the DVD burner on the chassis' right side, with a VGA port at the rear. On the left are HDMI and Ethernet ports, a third USB 2.0 and lone USB 3.0 port, and an SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro memory-card slot. A two-megapixel webcam with sliding shutter or on/off switch is above the screen.

Performance
While we've groused about what the N53SM-DS71 doesn't have?a high-res screen, a backlit keyboard?it's time to acknowledge what it does have compared with the less expensive K53SD-DS51: a 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-2670QM processor and 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics. The combination gobbled up our benchmarks and roared for more, scoring 2,461?within shouting distance of the Samsung Series 7's score of 2,697?in PCMark 7 and tying the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (late 2011)'s ($1,799 direct, 4 stars) desktop replacement record of 1 minute and 30 seconds in our Handbrake video encoding test. It also finished on top of the charts with a score of 5.28 in the Cinebench CPU benchmark.

The N53SM-DS71 couldn't run our Crysis benchmark, but posted a playable 42.4 frames per second in Lost Planet 2 at medium (1,024 by 768) resolution and detail settings. It joined the elite 10,000-point club with a 3DMark06 score of 10,257 at the same settings.

The N53SM-DS71's time of 5 hours 14 minutes in our MobileMark 2007 battery rundown test is fairly good for a desktop replacement?competitive with the MacBook Pro 15-inch and Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269, though well short of the Samsung NP700Z5B-W01UB's 8:18. Its 56Wh battery pack is removable or swappable for a spare, unlike many more slender laptops' nowadays.

Our expectations for a near-$1,000 laptop have risen. The Asus N53SM-DS71 isn't lavish with features such as WiDi, and it's a little portly compared to some competitors?particularly our desktop replacement Editors' Choice Samsung Series 7 (NP700Z5A-S03), which packs everything from a high-res screen to a backlit keyboard and hybrid hard drive into an elegantly slim, MacBook Pro-style chassis. But it offers powerful performance, along with an above-average keyboard and sound. If you're looking for a productivity and video editing solution, it deserves a look.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE:
Compare the Asus N53SM-DS71 with several other laptops side by side.

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