QUOTE(erszebeth @ Jun 26 2013, 09:31 AM)
Hello guys..
Sorry for the late review. I've encountered several compatibility issues regarding RE-15. The driver that comes with it mainly for W8 OS. But I'm using W7, so need to find myself a suitable driver.
First Impression:
The laptop is super light. I really mean it. It is a 15 inch laptop, but I found it to be super light. My previous Asus N43SL felt way heavier than it and suprisingly it's lighter the MBP 15. The size is slightly larger than my Asus N43SL and friend's m14x but for sure felt lighter than those 2. Surprisingly, this RE-15 can fit in into a 14 inch case. Now I dont feel regret on getting this instead of RE-13. I really thought this RE-15 is gonna be big and heavy, which turns out to be otherwise. Small, lightweight and I dont feel the burden of carrying it around. Plus the 15" FHD already makes the icon on my desktop really small and tiny. I can't imagine on how it'll look on RE-13 FHD display. I know we can change the reso to 900p or 768p, but what's the point in getting a FHD screen but use lower reso for it. Well that's just my opinion, everyone have their own preference.
Architecture
I choose default back cover colour, and I really like the colour though I'm very afraid I might regret it at first. I'm quite surprise with the finishes of this RE-15. The build quality though its based on mainly plastic, but its great. I hardly feel the presence of a plastic feel. Another thing is, it is a perfect camouflage. Now I shouldn't be worried and afraid to use this RE-15 for meetings and appointments etc, and I dont feel worry of using it in the public places because I bet most of them doesn't know the beast lies within the laptop. I really having difficult times using my former m17x for my works as it will attract a lot of attention.
The keyboard feedback is marvelous. Its really soft but so responsive. So I would say RE-15's keyboard is perhaps (IMO) on par with those on alienwares.
However, the 'Onkyo' brand printed on the palm rest is not really up the hype. The speakers are really weak. Lacks of bass and mid-bass details. High note can be distorted at times. I've heard lots of laptop speakers, and this is surely not the best I've heard. The sound quality is below average. Even my 5 years old Acer 4937G produce better sounds than it. Though all of this can be solve by using external speakers.
Software
Similar to Alienware, RE-15 is totally absent from bloatwares. From the registry, only 16 software/drivers present right after the driver installation.
To those of you who plan to use Windows 7 on this laptop, you guys gonna have a hard time. The drivers that come with the laptop is mainly for Windows 8 though some of it is compatible with Windows 7 OS.
First problem is the wireless problem, I can't use the driver that comes with the CD, I need to search it on my own where you can find it in the link below.
Realtek Wireless Driver for RE-15 W7
Second is the USB 3.0 problem. Up until now I still can't use the USB 3.0 connector but I'm sure the driver lies there somewhere. Will update the driver link here later once I've found it.
Third is the Audio problem though it easily done. I just uninstall the Audio driver that comes with the disc then it works charmingly. I believe the nvidia driver comes with the HD Audio itself.
I'll update this post if there is any problem in the future.
P/S: Though I'm having tons of drivers and software issue with RE-15, I didn't encounter even once BSOD.
Performance:
Haven't done any stress test on it so far as I'm busy trouble shooting my drivers problem.
Up until now, I've only tried Guild Wars 2, ultra setting, games work charmingly. Forgot about the FPS, but if I'm not mistaken, it should lies somewhere 40~60 fps. The same with Skyrim, all ultra without any problems. I'm gonna try Sleeping Dogs, Crysis 3, and Metro Last Light later tonight.
Probably gonna go through some benchmark tonight after working hours.
The Haswell, I can really feel the improvement over my sandy bridge cpu. It is really responsive, fast, no problem at all in doing multi tasking, and the battery run times by normal surfing and some microsoft word, about 4~5 hours and still have 10~15% battery power left. Haswell did really a good job in preserving the battery usage.
Thanks for the time you guys reading my lousy review.
[attachmentid=3505542][attachmentid=3505543][attachmentid=3505544][attachmentid=3505545][attachmentid=3505546]
Thanks for the review » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Sorry for the late review. I've encountered several compatibility issues regarding RE-15. The driver that comes with it mainly for W8 OS. But I'm using W7, so need to find myself a suitable driver.
First Impression:
The laptop is super light. I really mean it. It is a 15 inch laptop, but I found it to be super light. My previous Asus N43SL felt way heavier than it and suprisingly it's lighter the MBP 15. The size is slightly larger than my Asus N43SL and friend's m14x but for sure felt lighter than those 2. Surprisingly, this RE-15 can fit in into a 14 inch case. Now I dont feel regret on getting this instead of RE-13. I really thought this RE-15 is gonna be big and heavy, which turns out to be otherwise. Small, lightweight and I dont feel the burden of carrying it around. Plus the 15" FHD already makes the icon on my desktop really small and tiny. I can't imagine on how it'll look on RE-13 FHD display. I know we can change the reso to 900p or 768p, but what's the point in getting a FHD screen but use lower reso for it. Well that's just my opinion, everyone have their own preference.
Architecture
I choose default back cover colour, and I really like the colour though I'm very afraid I might regret it at first. I'm quite surprise with the finishes of this RE-15. The build quality though its based on mainly plastic, but its great. I hardly feel the presence of a plastic feel. Another thing is, it is a perfect camouflage. Now I shouldn't be worried and afraid to use this RE-15 for meetings and appointments etc, and I dont feel worry of using it in the public places because I bet most of them doesn't know the beast lies within the laptop. I really having difficult times using my former m17x for my works as it will attract a lot of attention.
The keyboard feedback is marvelous. Its really soft but so responsive. So I would say RE-15's keyboard is perhaps (IMO) on par with those on alienwares.
However, the 'Onkyo' brand printed on the palm rest is not really up the hype. The speakers are really weak. Lacks of bass and mid-bass details. High note can be distorted at times. I've heard lots of laptop speakers, and this is surely not the best I've heard. The sound quality is below average. Even my 5 years old Acer 4937G produce better sounds than it. Though all of this can be solve by using external speakers.
Software
Similar to Alienware, RE-15 is totally absent from bloatwares. From the registry, only 16 software/drivers present right after the driver installation.
To those of you who plan to use Windows 7 on this laptop, you guys gonna have a hard time. The drivers that come with the laptop is mainly for Windows 8 though some of it is compatible with Windows 7 OS.
First problem is the wireless problem, I can't use the driver that comes with the CD, I need to search it on my own where you can find it in the link below.
Realtek Wireless Driver for RE-15 W7
Second is the USB 3.0 problem. Up until now I still can't use the USB 3.0 connector but I'm sure the driver lies there somewhere. Will update the driver link here later once I've found it.
Third is the Audio problem though it easily done. I just uninstall the Audio driver that comes with the disc then it works charmingly. I believe the nvidia driver comes with the HD Audio itself.
I'll update this post if there is any problem in the future.
P/S: Though I'm having tons of drivers and software issue with RE-15, I didn't encounter even once BSOD.
Performance:
Haven't done any stress test on it so far as I'm busy trouble shooting my drivers problem.
Up until now, I've only tried Guild Wars 2, ultra setting, games work charmingly. Forgot about the FPS, but if I'm not mistaken, it should lies somewhere 40~60 fps. The same with Skyrim, all ultra without any problems. I'm gonna try Sleeping Dogs, Crysis 3, and Metro Last Light later tonight.
Probably gonna go through some benchmark tonight after working hours.
The Haswell, I can really feel the improvement over my sandy bridge cpu. It is really responsive, fast, no problem at all in doing multi tasking, and the battery run times by normal surfing and some microsoft word, about 4~5 hours and still have 10~15% battery power left. Haswell did really a good job in preserving the battery usage.
Thanks for the time you guys reading my lousy review.
[attachmentid=3505542][attachmentid=3505543][attachmentid=3505544][attachmentid=3505545][attachmentid=3505546]
It sure looks heavy based on the outlook, nice to know that its light~
Grats on your purchase again~~
Jun 26 2013, 10:00 AM
Quote
0.0306sec
0.57
6 queries
GZIP Disabled