ASUS N81Vp Gaming Notebook Review

Introduction and Specifications

ASUS has hit a prime market with their Eee line and other netbooks, but ASUS is not forgetting about the mobile gamer either! Gaming and desktop-replacement notebooks are ready for a refresh and ASUS has delivered a powerful combination with Intel’s Core2Duo T9550 and ATI’s Mobility Radeon 4650. Today we have the N81Vp-C1 on the testbench and run it through the paces to find out if it meets our expections.

The Bundle

The N81Vp comes with the usual suspects: manuals, driver/recovery CD, Cyberlink Power2Go, carrying bag and power cable. On top of that, there is a cable tie, LCD cleaning cloth and USB optical mouse.

Specifications

Processor	Intel Core2Duo T9550 Processor @ 2.66GHz
Operating System	Windows Vista Home Premium
Chipset	Intel PM45 Express Chipset + ICH9M
Memory	4GB
Display	14″ HD (1366×768) LED backlight,Color-Shine (Glare-type)
Video Graphics & Memory	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650, 1G DDR3 VRAM
Hard Drive	2.5″ 9.5mm SATA, 320GB, 7200rpm
Optical Drive	5.25″, 12.7mm DVD Super Multi
Card Reader	8 in 1 card reader, SD,MMC,MS,MS-Pro,mini SD w/ adapter,MS-Duo,MS-Pro Duo via adapter
Video Camera	1.3 Mega Pixel web camera
Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN	Integrated 802.11 b/g/n Built-in Bluetooth V2.1+EDR (optional) Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100 ABGN 10/100/1000 Base T
Battery Pack & Life	6 cells: 4800 mAh
Dimension & Weight	34.2 x 25.6 x 3.60~3.72 cm (W x D x H) 2.50 kg, (with 6 cell battery)
Warranty	2-year limited global hardware warranty 1-year battery pack warranty 30days Zero Bright Dot LCD
Green Compliance	RoHS, Energy Star 4.0

As can be seen by the specifications, the N81Vp can be looked at as a desktop replacement system. With 4GB of RAM, Core2Duo processor, and the ATI HD 4650, this notebook should make a very decent gaming system or even a workstation. Read on to see how the N81Vp is layed out and how it performs.