ASUS N71JQ Owners Lounge

That's the X1, it's what I have and yes, it comes with no way to connect a secondary HDD.

Unfortunately, there's no good, affordable way for me to get the A1 for at least a few weeks, so I'll be sticking with the X1. I also have no need for Bluray, so the added cost wasn't worth it.

Whatever you buy from Newegg, make sure you'll love it before you order it because they don't accept returns - only exchanges for the same model - on notebook computers.

Eventually, and hopefully soon, I will come up with a mod that enables us to use that secondary HDD bay.. us being everything who keeps their X1


EDIT: I got an email back from AsusParts.eu saying that the HDD Board we referred to earlier "no longer exists" and they'll remove it from the site soon.

 

Sorry to hear that.
So it seems at the moment there is no solution to your problem.

 

Not yet, but I'll begin working on a solution soon

 

I can now verify that it will be 100% PITA trying to add a second HDD in the X1, and it's worth it to pay the additional fee for the A1 if you desire a second HDD.
If you buy the A1, you can easily pull the BD drive, take off the bezel and put it on a standard DVD drive and sell the BD to make up for most of the price difference, unless you want BD.

I'll be RMA'ing this notebook and grabbing the A1 a.s.a.p.

FYI: To get to the area where you need to install the second HDD board and plug, you need to remove that thin plastic bezel around the keyboard (you might want to order a spare, it's VERY fragile) and remove the keyboard. Under the keyboard is a handful of screws securing the motherboard and upper tray to the lower half. Remove them and keep them in a safe place.

Then flip the notebook over, remove the HDD and RAM covers and every screw you see on the bottom of the notebook, including 3 small screws in the HDD bay, 5 tiny screws in the battery tray, 3 under the DVD drive (you need to remove the single screw on the left hand side of the RAM opening and pull the DVD Drive out to see these 3 tiny screws) and multiple other screws that are obvious once you're this far.

After that, you need to remove the LCD ribbon cable, power cable, webcam and mic wiring from the motherboard. Then remove the motherboard from the lower half of the notebook shell and VOILA you're in.

It'll take you about half an hour to an hour to take apart, at least that to put it back together and a lot of praying that you don't have to send your notebook in for repairs because it's a PITA to do it all over again lol

Sorry this isn't more detailed, I'm assuming most just bought the A1 version anyway so this is a non-issue. Those who didn't and want a detailed tutorial, PM Me and I'll throw one together for you.

On a side note, on my X1 there are two PCI-E slots. One is a half-slot, which is occupied by what I believe is the Atheros WiFi card. The other is a full-sized slot, which is open. I'll test it out, but since it's there I see no reason why we couldn't use it for expansion on some other level.

EDIT: If you go through XoticPC you can downgrade the Bluray to DVD only for -$96, which brings the total to as low as $1220.60. That's not bad at all, less than $100 price difference than the X1 on Amazon!

EDIT 2: Sadly, I have to wait for my refund from Amazon now until I can order the A1.. they say it can take up to 2 weeks!

EDIT 3 (ha!): I'll be ordering the A1 with bluray from XoticPC, unless I find another reseller I already trust who has it in stock..

 

Amazon refunding can sometimes take a lot of time.
Here in Germany one time I sent a device back to Amazon's German branch.
They told me it should be refunded within two weeks.
It took them five weeks and two angry emails from me.

After that I never ordered anything other than books from Amazon.

If are going for the N71JQ-A1, you can also have a look at Gentech PC.
They are also very good and trustworthy. I ordered my N71JQ-A1 from Gentech PC in USA.
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchan...e=N71JQ-A1&Category_Code=AS17&Product_Count=6

 

I second that...I ordered my N71JQ-A1 on the 4th and received it on the 11th. FAST, FRIENDLY service from Gentech PC and the machine ROCKS!!!!!!

 

After much research, this morning I finally ordered the Asus N71JQ-A1.

For a while it was a toss up between the Asus G73 and the Sager NP 8760, but one required patience,, and the other was a bit outside my comfort zone price wise. And I don't game. So I'm happy with what I decided on.

But if not for notebook review, I would have ended up with a Sony F series, or a Toshiba Satellite. And I would not have known about xoticpc.com.

I'm glad I found such an informative forum. I learned a great deal here surfing the archives.

 

Congrats!
Welcome to the N71JQ-A1 owners. I hope you will a have lot of fun with it.

 

guess what.....i got the same thing...



I have actually sent it back yesterday...

 

Yeah, I mean I could have easily threw together a mod that enabled us to install a HDD in bay #2 and wire it through eSATA or USB3, but it seemed like a bad idea on a brand new laptop, and pulling it completely apart to add the HDD board seemed tedious.

I really hope Amazon doesn't take forever with refunding me.. edit: I just contacted Amazon and they're going to give me an advance refund once they see it in-transit. They've done this before with items I've had to return, so hopefully they do this time as well.

 

I found answers to questions I asked earlier on the forum: I chose the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. Delighted with easy connectivity and use! Cost was $48 after price match at Staples. I selected the HP Officejet 6500 wireless printer. Setup was slick and works like a charm! Price: $149 at Staples. I also took the advice of Forum members and downloaded OpenOffice Suite 3.2 Free as an alternative to accepting the included Microsoft Office 2007 for $149. Thanks folks for the advice.

 

Hi, I have one question that bothers me. I have read on some messageboard that N71JQ has a problem with overheating. Some of the users even said that it heats so much that you can't keep your hand near the keyboard. Is it true? I know that this model isn't the coldest one but is a heating a big problem? Is it possible to use this notebook on a bed sheet without burning the whole house? Is a gaming comfortable? Do you use some cooling pads maybe?

 

I read this thread. Unless I skipped something? There isn't much said about the screen except it is bright? How is the viewing, resolution and colors? Over heating doesn't seem like an issue how many fans does this have?

 

Hi Guys

Very close to pulling the trigger on the one from Amazon. Question:

As I understand, the one at amazon doesn't has BR driver and the extra HDD..correct?

And everything else is the same? I'm hoping so as I don't need BR nor the second HDD (already have a HTPC with BR/TB storage).

Thanks

 

I've been playing Left 4 Dead 2 maxed out @ 1600x900 for 2-3 hours at a time and haven't had any overheating issues. In fact, I haven't had the keyboard issue you speak of, either.
There is a vent directly to the left of the keyboard, and presumably the CPU or GPU is just under the keyboard, so I can see why the keyboard would get a little warm, but it's never been hot for me.

I'm comfortable gaming on it. The entire panel around the keyboard, minus the speaker is rubberized and is pretty comfortable to rest my wrists on while using it.

1 Year Asus Global Warranty + 1x 500GB HDD + DVD Only = $1163 - Link
2 Year Asus Global Warranty + 2x 320GB HDD + Bluray = $1357 - Link

The X1 ($1163) does not have a SATA connector for the second HDD bay, so you're limited to a single HDD until they release the HDD board for this model or someone finds another way to wire one up.

The X1 comes with DVD only, no Bluray. It also has a 1 Year Warranty instead of the 2 Year found on the A1. It still comes with the 1 Year Accidental Protection and 30 Day No-Dead Pixel Guarantee found on the A1.

If these things aren't an issue for you, buy the X1. If you want even one of the above things, buy the A1 as it would cost you about the same to add even one of the above items to the X1 at this point.

Personally, I had an RMA set up for a refund on my X1 but have since contacted Amazon and tried to cancel it only to be told they couldn't, but would ship me a new X1 instead.. I'm planning to funnel the money I saved into a new iPod and an external HDD

 

^ Thanks man!

I didn't know about the Amazon 1 yr warranty though. My HP HDX18 just got destroyed by my toddler and his sippy cup (long story) so I've been looking at something that offered accidental coverage as standard and that's how I fell on the Asus.

I priced the A1 on Xotpicpc and without the BR drive, it does fall to $1254 with free shipping (almost $90 more but getting the second HDD). I emailed them to see if they can take out the second HDD to see that drops the price to $1200's. If they do it, I'll pull the trigger fom XoticPC.

Thanks again for the warranty info!.

 

Just a shout out from the N61JQ lounge. Check out this link. It shows someone installing a backlit keyboard on a Asus UL30. What do you think about the chances of using this on a JQ? http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=465841&highlight=backlit
And check the conversation in this link. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6018092&postcount=1964

 

EDIT: It's not an Amazon 1 year warranty, it all goes through Asus.. the X1 is a "barebones" notebook, which is covered by the 1 year warranty only. The A1 is considered premium and receives the premium warranty of 2 years from Asus.

I priced that out as well, and it's a very good deal but keep in mind that Asus won't warranty that optical drive, XoticPC will. I actually almost did the same thing but didn't want the hassle of explaining to Asus why the original Bluray drive wasn't installed if/when I had to send my notebook in for servicing.

The A1 is priced great as-is, though. The X1 has the exact same ADP (Accidental Protection) Warranty as the A1, it just has the 1 year hardware warranty instead of 2.

We would first need a backlit keyboard that would snugly fit in our chassis, since our notebooks have a numberpad as well.

 

This is for Fragster and others deciding between the X1 and A1: I placed my order from xoticpc and decided on the A1 and downgraded the BluRay drive to DVD. The price isn't much more than the X1 and you get:

1. 2nd hard drive which is great for performance since you can move the windows cache file to it and speed up program launch times. Not to mention slightly more total overall space. If you want this later on the X1, it might not be possible to add in.

2. Anyone with an X1 correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've seen says the X1 has 1066Mhz RAM and the A1 comes with 1333Mhz

3. Better warranty on the A1.

I will be using this machine for programming and gaming so bluray was not important to me, while speed was. SSD's are going to be dropping in price over the next year and having two drives gives me the option to upgrade one to SSD in the future while still having a bay where I can have a standard HDD with plenty of storage. That was why I chose the A1. Hope this helps you guys make a decision.

 

For me I can attest that the left hand side of the keyboard next to the vent does get pretty warm when gaming, though temperature sensors indicate that the GPU Temp is pretty normal at 65.0C.

It doesn't get uncomfortable, but it's pretty noticeable.

 

I have ordered my N71JQ-A1 from B&H Photo and Video for $1322 with free shipping and no tax. My question is if anyone has found a good bag for this laptop?

 

Agreed. I thought this over last nite and I'm going for the A1 from XoticPc without the BR drive. For another $100, I'd rather have complete 2 yr warranty and a second HDD option. Now waiting on PAypal to release my funds from my sale of my salvaged HDX before I order it.

I have one more question though and posted it over in the general Asus section (my bad) so if someone can answer it, that'd be great. About the wireless upgrade....

Thanks again to all.

 

I have bought this Decota Take.Off Smart XL bag for mine.
I like it very much. It has enough space for all the accessories that I carry with me. It cost me 35€ from ebay, and sending was free of charge.
http://www.dicota.com/start.php?page=page_productDetails&office=6&ds=1356

 

I have also read before that Atheros card is not that great so I went for an upgarde to intel 6200 WIFI card.

 

^ Thanks Turbo.

 

I don't get some of these dimensions. I tried out a friend's Targus bag and it fit even though the dimensions didn't agree.

The Dicota bag says it's 17.5" wide yet the N71JQ is 18.40" wide. The Laptop compartment claims to be 16.7" wide. What gives?

 

Hi everyone,

Had this baby for about a week now and I'm loving it! The other day I formatted and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

However, the original ASUS preinstall came with a version of PowerDVD that could play blu-ray discs which I can't find on the drivers disc that came with the laptop.

Do I have to buy my own copy, even though the N71JQ comes with a preinstalled copy?

 

According to the Asus website the actual dimension of the computer is 42 cm which translates to 16.54 inches. The problem I am seeing is most bags only take a computer up to 16.5 and I am wondering if it will fit.

 

1. 2nd hard drive which is great for performance since you can move the windows cache file to it and speed up program launch times. Not to mention slightly more total overall space. If you want this later on the X1, it might not be possible to add in.

RE: That second SATA slot really is a bonus, but I'd be willing to bet that the SATA board for slot #2 pops up fairly soon for X1 owners. Still, should it never be released to the public or for easy-purchase, WD already has a 1TB 2.5" HDD that should slide easily into the X1. It's only 5200RPM with 8MB cache, but they'll improve the model over time and it will be a non-issue for the majority.

As for a speed increase, I'm no expert on this matter but the X1 runs pretty fast as-is, even with Photoshop CS4, Office 2007 and a few web pages open at the same time (including my favorite C&H Shorts on YouTube, which I happen to have been watching on-the-side while photo editing earlier this evening).

2. Anyone with an X1 correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've seen says the X1 has 1066Mhz RAM and the A1 comes with 1333Mhz

RE: My X1 came with 1333Mhz. The packaging on the X1 and A1 both indicate 1066Mhz RAM according to my research, but resellers claim 1333Mhz, probably because that's pretty much all we've seen them ship with at this point.

3. Better warranty on the A1.

RE: Very true! Although you'll probably never need it, it's a nice freebie if you're upgrading to the A1 for the second HDD and/or Bluray anyway.


The plain and simple of it is this: If you have the extra funds, go with the A1 for it's added features, otherwise the X1 is more than suitable for the majority.

 

I decided to go with the A1 for the Blue ray and 2 year warranty

 

I have the Case Logic VNC-17 in black. My X1 fits perfect, but takes up the entire notebook pouch. There's plenty of room for my power brick and cable, extra slimline DVD burner, extra battery, mouse and a few discs in the accessories compartment.

This case may not be suitable for you, but at least it gives you a basis of what the N71JQ will fit in.

Congratulations!

 

Good too hear the X1 has the 1333Mhz memory! That's the first I've heard. My use for this laptop is probably not the norm so the X1 may be a good option; for most people the benefits of a second hard drive may not be worth the upgrade.

However, I will be using it for programming, which is a file access intensive activity. One reason I choose this model is the 7200rpm drives, having two is even better because windows writes to the page file all the time, moving this off to another drive improves performance by allowing the system to write/read two things at the same time (page file on one drive + whatever else you are doing on the other). When I mentioned speed, I was referring to the impact the hard drives have on compile (turning C, C++, <insert language of choice> into machine code) times. Compile times are heavily impacted by how quickly the files can be loaded from the disk. Some intensive Photoshop operations will also trigger heavy use of the windows page file, so for heavy graphics/video work the dual drive setup would also be beneficial. In this scenario you would place your video/graphics on a different hard drive than the page file to get the boost.

If you don't plan to do programming or heavy graphics work or some other file intensive activity on this laptop and bluray is not important, then the X1 is probably for you. Also keep in mind that resellers like xoticpc and gentech will discount around $100 for downgrading the bluray drive to DVD, this makes the price between the X1 and A1 nearly identical and you get the second drive with the drive caddy (allows drive to fit snuggly and not rattle around), and the second drive connector on the motherboard, that from what I've read on other forums is hard to reach, so even if the board is released later you'll save yourself a lot of headache. Anyone getting the X1 should go into it assuming it will forever be a 1 drive system.

 

I have this Decota bag for my N71JQ-A1 and it fits perfectly.
The bag dimensions are 42.5 x 32.5 x 6.0 cm and the laptop dimesions as also mentioned on ASUS website are 42.0 x 28.4 x 3.70cm.
N71JQ is not 18.4" wide. It's width is 16.5". The diagonal legth of the monitor is 17.3".

 

Weird. Every site I've been to lists it at 18.4 wide and that's what I've been basing my shopping on.

Example: http://www.provantage.com/asus-n71jq-a1~7ASUL0QH.htm

I actually bought one of these for it but the thing was far too wide.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/aaa5/

And not by just a half inch, hence my confusion.

 

The Width of the Dicota is fitting almost perfecty. I think there is only around 0.5cm gap to the notebook.

On the hight side the bag is about 4cm higher than the laptop.
Actually, the internal pouch/compartment where the notebook sits in is also about 4cm lower the the hight of the bag. I measured this compartment and it is around 29cm high where as the hight of the bag is around 33cm.
You can look at this internal compartment here in the pictures: http://www.dicota.com/start.php?page=page_productDetails&office=8&ds=1356

The notebook depth is around 28.4cm. So the notebook is fitting completely into this internal compartment without extending outwards in contrary to what the photo on the Dicota site shows. I think if one buys 18.4" notebook then that one will extend outside the compartment. That could be the reason why Dicota provides about 4cm more bag hight than the hight of this internal compartment.

 

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.aspx?sku=TCG200

Here's one that was lying around the house as a friend of a roommate brought it over, and I decided to try it out. My laptop fit snugly with little-to-no room for movement in the laptop compartment. Unfortunately I couldn't have it, but it's certainly one worth looking at.

 

Someone mention transferring the Windows writing files to th eother harddrive to improve speed. Would this mean taking it off the primary which has the OS and putting it on the secondary? If yes, how do you do (I'm a noob) and how much improvement do you see with this?

Also, I second the Targus, I want to get one. Tried it out in store (Best Buy) and it fit perfectly.

 

I don't have Windows 7 at the moment but here's how you do it on XP:

1. Go to start menu and right click on "my computer" and select "properties." 2. Go to the "Advanced" tab.
3. Click "Settings" in the Performance section
4. Click the "Advanced" tab in the Performance Options window. (Yes, this is a double advanced change )
5. Click "Change" in the Virtual Memory section
6. You will see the Virtual Memory window that lets you pick which drive the page file is on. Select the secondary drive. Also choose "Custom Size" and set both Initial and Maximum to the same number, make it something large at least as big as your RAM so something like 4092 or double that. How much you will actually need depends on what you plan to do with your machine. Just remember that this much disk space will forever be consumed (until you change it in this menu).
7. Click "Set"

Then "OK" until all the windows are closed. That's it. You'll have to reboot then you're set. You've just moved your page file, plus you've also fixed the size. This prevents windows from resizing the thing all the time, which 1. takes time and 2. Fragments your hard drive which will slow down file access over time.

As for performance, you'll mostly notice if you you do a lot of file intensive work. or heavy graphics work and try to do other things that read the hard drive at the same time, like launch a program while processing some video effects etc... You may also notice page file heavy programs like Photoshop may launch quicker since the page file is on another drive it can write to the page file while loading up the plugins at the same time. Also if you're going to edit video/graphics, make sure you don't put the video/graphics on the same drive as the page file for best performance. So if you move the page file to the second drive, keep your work on the primary drive when speed is important.

I expect the process is similar on Windows7, I'll know later today when my laptop arrives. If it's significantly different I'll update here.

 

Thank you for the input on the bag for this laptop. Anyone that already has their N71jq please if you could rate it on a scale of 1-10 for me please?

 

Hi Guys

I'll be joining the club tomorrow. My funds from a sold HP will be cleared tomorrow and I'll order mine from XoticPC without the BR drive. Also will upgrade the wireless card to the Intel. Since the thermal paste is ony $20, I might get that too.

Very excited as this is the first time I'm going with something that's not a HP or a Dell.

 

The thermal paste option will void your Asus warranty, leaving you with a warranty only through XoticPC. You will also lose the Accidental Protection Warranty and the 30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee.

I'd avoid changing the thermal paste unless you absolutely can't live without it

 

. Highly appreciate your feedback. So why does XoticPC offer these 'upgrade's knowing that they are violating Asus's warranty . Or maybe they should put a disclaimer on those options so people know about voiding the warranty when they upgrade the thermal paste.

Thanks again bro.

[EDIT] Just emailed Justin directly concerning this .

 

They have it on their warranty page. Although it does say that only the "customized components" are warrantied through them, Asus does put a "warranty void if removed" sticker on the GPU and CPU, and they aren't required to honor their warranty if those stickers are removed/broken.

As for why it's not much more obvious, I'm sure the majority of people considering the thermal paste upgrade are aware of the warranty issues. However, it would be nice to have a link or asterisk next to the upgrade for more guidance.

It wouldn't be that big of a deal if you didn't lose the ADP Warranty, unless XoticPC went under before your warranty was up, of course.

 

Okay...got received a response from Justin (XoticPC) and this is his response.

_______________________________________
Hello Thank you for your email.

The thermal compound upgrade does not void the Asus warranty. J
Thanks, Justin W
_______________________________________

 

It could be the authorized ASUS dealers have some sort of special agreement with ASUS.
We should ask the persons who had the thermal compound upgrade to see if they got new Warranty void sticker.
I am not sure, but maybe the authorized dealers put new "Warranty void if removed" sticker after they change the thermal compond or otherwise maybe ASUS USA ignores the broken sticker if you buy notebook from one of these authorized dealers and the dealer indicates in the invoice that thermal compound upgrade was done.

I knew that warranty in USA will not be void if I order this upgrade for my notebook, but I was not sure how the international warranty will work then.
In any case I did not want to risk my warranty in Germany so I changed my mind and I did not order this upgrade when I bought my N71JQ from USA at Gentech PC.

 

That's not the response I got from Asus "Tech. Support" on two occasions.
You can believe that information as-is from Justin, he appears to be an honest and reputable guy around here, or you can contact Asus themselves for verification. I'd email Asus so you have it in writing, so to speak.

Unless, as mentioned above, Asus is providing XoticPC with replacement warranty stickers. In that case, you shouldn't worry.

All that aside, it clearly states on the XoticPC website that the customized part will be covered through XoticPC only. I'd be willing to bet that means the CPU if they're not replacing the warranty sticker. That said, if the warranty sticker for the CPU isn't intact or replaced after the thermal paste is applied and you send it into Asus for repair - for any reason - and they see that, they're not required to honor their warranty. Food for thought.

 

Werd.

I'm ordering mine tomorrow and will simply go with stock thermal (casual gaming only as I'm mainly a console gamer so shouldn't put the lappie under too much load).

Also read that the Intel 5100 wireless upgrade might not be so much of a upgrade so I'll stick with Atheros stock card. I just bought a Buffalo N router for home as anything more than 54M connection on my laptop would be more than decent.

I just realized I'm ordering a 'stock' N71 without the BR drive . I just got bitten on my old HP for not having the accidental warranty (which ironically cost me only $90 when I bought it year ago) so this time, the 2 yr warranty with the accidental first year is vital to me at all cost.

 

is it just me and im going crazy or is there like a deep laugh track that sounds randomly in windows7?

 

You hear it, too

 

Yes, I think also Intel 5100 is not that great a card.
You can get the stock for now and if you need in the future a card that supports 5GHz connection then maybe you go later for Intel 6200 WIFI card.

I upgraded my WLAN card myself. I bought an Intel Advanced-N 6200 from an eBay shop in UK. It works perfectly.

Here I wrote more info: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6023469&postcount=2025