Asus N550 vs N551

[Bouzoo9]

I am currently debating which one to buy out of 2 mentioned above. The main differences are:
N551: 850m 4GB, 1000 SSHD (1000 HDD + 24GB SSD), i7 4710hq, 12GB RAM
N550: 850m 2GB, 1000 HDD, i7 4700hq, 8GB RAM

The main difference is that n551 is 90 $ more, and since I am already spending ~ 1200 $ every dollar counts. Is getting n551 worth it? I mean I can buy more RAM in the future, and I know that 4710 vs 4700 makes almost no difference, so does SSHD and 2 GB of ram more make any difference (since I'll be playing only in 1080p)? I'll be buying the next laptop in 5 years so this one has to last. It will be used for movies, gaming, university (not heavy usage), etc. I don't live in the US so these 2 are my only options atm.

 

[Bolin]

850m 4GB vs 850m 2GB. Does it specify which one is maxwell? I am sure the 2GB is maxwell but the 4GB may or may not be maxwell too. If only one of them is maxwell it wins, otherwise, the 4GB version wins

SSHD vs HDD ---- no explanation is needed ----
WINS LOSES

i7 4710hq vs i7 4700hq. The difference is almost non existant
WINS LOSES

12GB RAM vs 8GB RAM. You can always buy more RAM
WINS LOSES

"The main difference is that n551 is 90 $ more, and since I am already spending ~ 1200 $ every dollar counts. Is getting n551 worth it? I"

Spot the differences: 4GB RAM increase, i7 4710hq, 24GB SSD, 2GB vRAM (Assumming both GPUs cores are maxwell).
4GB RAM ~=~ 40$
24GB SSD ~=~ 12$
2GB vRAM ~=~60$
i7 4710hq - i7 4700hq ~=~ X$
--------------------------
~ 112$+X$
~ (112+X)$

I guess you know what ~~ is (I can't type the proper symbol here)

 

[Bouzoo9]

Hey Bolin thank you for replying. The funny thing is both GPUs are Kepler, no GDDR5 option. And, well, I know that 90$ is worth it if but I mean will those few things that N551 has make that big of a difference? Especially when I don't think I'll ever be using those 2GB when playing in 1080p. And I've read on some forums in my country that people haven't noticed any difference between HDD and SSHD

 

[Bolin]

Hey Bolin thank you for replying. The funny thing is both GPUs are Kepler, no GDDR5 option. And, well, I know that 90$ is worth it if but I mean will those few things that N551 has make that big of a difference? Especially when I don't think I'll ever be using those 2GB when playing in 1080p. And I've read on some forums in my country that people haven't noticed any difference between HDD and SSHD

Kepler is okay too, the difference is only ~10% in perfomance and 25% less power consumption (although I doubt anyone would use the nvidia GPU when on battery). I guess you can upgrade keplers (in some models) which is a plus

"I know that 90$ is worth it if but I mean will those few things that N551 has make that big of a difference?"

Let's see, 850m 4GB vs 850m 2GB. Both are equally fast, however, if more than 2GB vRAM are needed the 4GB version will outperform the 2GB version. When are 2GB or more needed? When playing games on Ultra at 1080p. Watch dogs consumes ~2,5GB from what I've heard but I doubt the 850m can have good fps at Ultra with 2GB or 2TB of vRAM.

SSHD vs HDD
The full explanation is pretty long. In short, the SSHD should always outperform the HDD by a long way. It boots and responds faster, the OS feels way more smooth and when you run something that fits in it it'll load way faster than it'd on the HDD. The HDD will only beat the SSHD if its mechanical part is faster and whatever file you're playing is bigger and doesn't fit.

There's actually no difference between both i7s besides a few Mhz

8GB RAM is enough but more is always better

I'd personally go for it if I weren't on a budget. You can also buy the n550 and buy more RAM later if you feel like you need it and an SSD would be cool too. 2GB vRAM more in an 850m shouldn't really make that much of a difference.

 

[jaguarskx]

If every $ counts then just get the Asus N550.

The overall performance between the GT 850m 2GB vs 4GB is minimal at best especially if DDR3 VRAM is being used. That probably imposes about a 25% performance penalty compared to using DDR5. Therefore, games will not really be able to make much use of the extra 2GB of RAM. Increasing the quality of textures also increases the demand on the GPU itself which in turn reduces performance. If you are doing digital art work using very high resolution image files, then I would say the extra 2GB of RAM is worth the extra $90.

The difference in performance between the i7-4700HQ and i7-4710HQ is very minimal and you are likely not going to notice any difference unless you are doing something that is extremely CPU intensive and you want to shave off as much time it take to complete it. For example, encoding video is extremely CPU intensive where the difference between the two CPUs could be like 400 minutes vs 385 minutes when encoding a high quality video.

12GB vs 8GB of RAM for average use makes no difference. Again, working with very large files like digital art can take advantage of the extra amount of RAM.

Lastly, the difference between a HDD with a 24GB SSD cache and no cache at all should really not be a big deal. Yes, sometime programs can open faster, but only if the operating system is automatically some of the data on the 24GB SSD depending on your usage.

 

[Bouzoo9]

Thank you very much
I'll wait for a week, few shops should get the N551 and hopefully they'll have lower prices and perhaps N550 prices drop. If not, I'll prolly get the N550.