Product Listing

ASUS NX90Jq - Aural Nirvana

By Aloysius Low - 6 Oct 2010
Launch SRP: S$3888

Performance and Benchmarking

Performance and Benchmarking

While the NX90Jq was designed to impress externally, ASUS hasn’t neglected the internal hardware, packing the unit with more than decent components in the form of the Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz) and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M . For comparisons, we've singled out the Sager NP8690 and the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550P notebooks which have similar processors and other components to the ASUS NX90Jq. From specs alone, it seem like the ASUS has an edge over the Lenovo machine but it could be outclassed by the Sager. Let’s find out in our detailed benchmarks.

Notebook Comparison Table
Specifications / Notebook ASUS NX90Jq Sager NP8690 Lenovo IdeaPad Y550P
Processor Intel Core i7-720QM
(1.60GHz, quad-core with 6MB L2 cache)
Intel Core i7-720QM
(1.60GHz, quad-core with 6MB L2 cache)
Intel Core i7-720QM
(1.60GHz, quad-core with 6MB L2 cache)
Chipset Intel HM55 Intel PM55 Intel HM55
Memory 4GB DDR3 4GB DDR3 4GB DDR3
HDD 2 x 640GB SATA 7200 RPM 1 x 320GB SATA 5400 RPM 1 x 500GB SATA 5400 RPM
Video NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M

 

Futuremark PCMark Vantage

As usual, we start off with the trusty PCMark Vatnage benchmark for an all-round experience of the system. While it doesn’t have a crazy high score like the Sager NP8690, it easily outscores the Lenovo IdeaPad Y550P by quite a bit. Then again, the results are to be expected from a machine using this processor and having discrete graphics unit like the NVIDIA GeForce GT335M. This is not a bad thing to be honest, just that it's not anything out of the blue. The performance is definitely good compared to other lower specced notebooks.

 

Futuremark 3DMark06

On the graphics side of things, the NVIDIA GeForce GT335M held up well, delivering a score of 8324 3DMarks. While it’s not in the Sager NP8690’s class, the NX90Jq still holds its own pretty well in a benchmarking scenario. Let’s see how it does when it comes to a real world gaming benchmark in our next test.

 

Far Cry 2

If anything, being able enjoy the booming sounds of explosions and gunfire while traveling in the very noisy African jungles would make sense with the audio capabilities of the NX90Jq (at least in comparison to most other notebooks). So we hoped the notebook’s hardware would keep up to the task. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint as it scored around 21.39 fps at 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution at Very High quality. While commendable for its hardware specs, that's still going to be a pain to have a smooth game play. However toning the quality to Medium quality settings made the game much more playable with 36.71 fps.

If you’re willing to dial down the resolution though, at 1280 x 1024 pixels resolution and with graphics set at Medium, the game play was smooth with an average frame rate of 46.29 fps. What about with Very High quality settings? As you can see from the graph below, it dropped to about 27 fps which was quite decent. Of course the Sager notebook scored almost twice that result with a much more powerful GPU in return for an almost non-existent battery life. There's always two sides to the equation, so lets check the battery life and power consumption aspects on the following page.

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8.5
  • Design 9
  • Features 9
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 7.5
  • Mobility 8
The Good
Unique design
Good performance
The Bad
Pricey
Audio performance not outstanding
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