Review of Asus N55SL-S1016V Notebook

The SL comes with a 500 GB hard drive and 8 GB of memory. Another major difference compared with the SF is the price. Whereas Asus price-tagged the Asus N55SF-S1124V at EUR 1100 ($1400), the SL is only EUR 900 ($1145). That is reason enough to take a closer look.

 

Connectivity

The SL sports two USB 3.0 ports, but omits FireWire, eSATA and ExpressCard. The subwoofer of Asus N55SL-S1016V Notebook is a small highlight. The ports are distributed on the notebook's left and right sides. Only the 4in1 card reader (MMC/ SD/ MS/ MS Pro) is on the front.

Communication

 

The SL packs an Atheros AR8151 PCIe Gb ethernet controller (10/100/1000MBit) and an Atheros AR9285 (bgn) wifi module. Bluetooth is included, but UMTS is not.

Scope of Delivery

 

The scope of delivery is bigger than usual. In addition to the laptop, the battery and the power adapter, you will also find the aforementioned subwoofer. Asus also includes a matching subwoofer bag and cable ties.

Keyboard

 

Asus still uses the wave keyboard. The keyboard's layout takes some getting used to and may need a lot of patience especially in the beginning. Instead of placing the escape key in the upper left corner, Asus integrates a key for switching between performance profiles here. This leads to frustrating keyboard errors where trying to bring up an in-game menu (usually with the Esc key) instead switches to a low performance profile and causes intense stuttering.

Touchpad

 

The adequately sized touchpad has a pleasant, rubber-coated surface and merges seamlessly into the SL's design. It is integrated so seamlessly that you can quickly slide off the touch-sensitive surface since there is no clear edge. Of course, multi-touch support is included.