Asus N551JK review

BENCHMARKS

The 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-4200H processor is paired with 8GB of RAM. In our multimedia benchmarking tests the laptop managed an overall score of 68, performing particularly well in the single-core focussed photo conversion test, in which it managed 82. In real terms, you’ll be able to perform multimedia tasks at a decent speed, although render times will be longer than on a similarly-priced desktop PC.

You also get the added bonus of a capable graphics card: the Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M is a mid-tier chip capable of handling some more recent games at medium settings at the laptop’s native Full HD resolution. In our standard Dirt Showdown test at 1,280×720 resolution and High graphics settings the N551JK produced an average frame rate of 78.7fps. Upping the resolution to the laptop’s native 1,920×1,080 pixels yielded 41.7fps, which is still easily playable.

Very challenging games with advanced graphics effects will be more of a challenge for this chip, though. Our representative test is the ageing but still graphically advanced Crysis 3. A quick run through the game’s Swamp level on High settings resulted in a very jerky 19fps. However, dropping the graphics to more reasonable 1x anti-aliasing and Low texture settings saw the average fps rise to 37.9, which we’d call playable, if not pretty. You’ll have plenty of room to store all your games and other files thanks to the 1TB hard disk. There’s no SSD or SSD cache for speedier storage performance, but at this price we wouldn’t expect it.

DISPLAY

The N551JK’s screen has a quality Full HD (1,920×1.080) panel, giving you plenty of room to put windows side-by-side and have more room to breathe when browsing the web and editing photos. Colour performance was extremely impressive, with the screen capable of displaying 94% of the sRGB colour gamut, according to our measurements. This is a major step up when compared to similarly priced laptops, with vibrant colours displaying accurately on screen. Contrast levels of 754:1 and black levels of 0.48cd/m2 lead to a nicely balanced image with plenty of detail visible even in more subtly shaded images. Make sure you turn off Adaptive Brightness in Windows, as it is extremely irritating on the Asus N551JK, constantly flickering between light and darker settings.

CONCLUSION

The Asus N551JK is a supremely impressive laptop at an almost unbelievably low price, with a good processor, dedicated graphics and a superb screen. At this price, it’s the best desktop replacement laptop you can buy.