[Desktop-packages] [Bug 1377653] Re: HDMI sound output not detected / NVIDIA optimus laptop

I have the same N56VZ laptop running 14.04 as well, and can confirm this problem. According to http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio- document/gpu-hdmi-audio.html#_verify_your_card_exists the nVidia card should show an audio device in lspci output if HDMI is connected and enabled.

[Desktop-packages] [Bug 1088146] Re: Asus n56vz battery state is wrong or battery not charging at all.

I think the truth might be somewhere in-between. The BIOS on these machines seems buggy, but ASUS can provide Windows drivers to cope with their own BIOS problems. I am currently running a 3.8.0 kernel patched with Aaron Lu's work mentioned here: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52951.