* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Isn't it holiday? They don't seize operations (UPS)?

 

Toshiba Qosmio X505 is now available for $1099.99 with ...
1. i5-430M
2. 4 GB DDR3
3. 500 GB 7200 rpm HDD
4. 1 GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForcce 360M
5. DVD Drive
6. 18.4" 1680x945 (HD+) LCD
7. 1 year limited warranty

Is the Asus N61JA-A1/N61JQ-A1 are better than this model ? Which one should buy ?

 

That's like a totally different class of laptop. 18.4'' is much bigger than a 16'' laptop, pretty much to the point of killing its portability. That's the biggest difference to point out here. The graphics card is better than the one in the N61JQ, but the lower resolution of the N61 actually kind makes up for that difference by not being as taxing on the GPU when playing at higher settings.

I think all it really comes down to is your preference in size. And I don't know much about the reliability of Toshiba laptops, but that's something to look into too.

Edit: Oh and the N61JQ-A1 (not X1) comes with a 2 year warranty as opposed to the 1 year warranty of the Toshiba. All Asus models come with a 30 day zero dead pixel guarantee, and I don't think any company matches that.

 

You are comparing a 16" with an 18.4"

Which 360M is it?

The processor is a pretty weak dual core, non-hyper-threaded, when compared to the i7-720QM Quad core hyper-threaded processor in the ASUS N61JQ-A1.

The warranty and support is REALLY weak in comparison to the ASUS.

Essentially the same price...the ASUS N61JQ-A1 is a much better performer, and much better value.

 

the video card is a little bit better but that processor is too slow for me. I haven't seem an 18.4" laptop but that thing must be HUGE.

Price is very nice though though although I don't really like Toshiba's notebooks (for their style, fugly as hell especially with the round/oval speakers showing)

EDIT: Price is $1199 at newegg...where did you see that $1099?

 

that toshiba is actually smaller than the 17.3" N71JQ though

n71jq 18.40" x 12.40" x 1.80" 9.30lbs
toshiba 17.40" x 11.60" x 1.63" 9.70lbs

the screen resolution on the toshiba is 1680 x 945 which is weird... Is that still 16:9?

 

Its GTS 360M class I GPU and better than Radeon 5730
Yes the processor (i5-430M) is weaker than i7 quad core of N61JQ-A1. But N61JA-A1 has also same weaker processor with approx same price. Means we should not consider N61JA-A1 when it will be available for sale ?

Yes, Asus 2 warranty is better but again it depends on which country you are living. Asus USA may have excellent service but its substandard in my country (India).

Anyway these were my observations.
But as you all are saying Qosmio X505 is bad than N61JA-A1/N61JQ-A1, so we should not consider Qosmio X505 ?

 

The N61JA-A1 comes with Blu-Ray at that price. I think some resellers actually let you downgrade to a DVD drive though, making the price even lower. Hard to say though, since that model is discontinued in the U.S. At least for now.

 

18.4"!!! is it even considered portable at that size. I feel 16" is pushing it. Why would they pare the i5-430M with that video card. At least it's an i5, although that particular model is missing some i5 500 series features.

Really if you're considering an i5 wait for the 500 series to come down in price.

 

The accurate dimensions and weight on the ASUS N71JQ-A1 are:
16.5" x 11.5" x 1.5~1.75" (W x D x H)
7.9lbs, (with two HDDs and 6 cell battery)

 

Neither 16" N61JQ is also portable. Having said that I have not said anything about portability. Yes...as far as i5 concern, we should not go for i5-430M processor which is also on N61JA-A1.

 

Had I seen these correct dimensions before I would have bought it instead of the N61. NEWEGG F$#^@* me up!

 

What is the consensus on the built in wifi? If I go through powernotebooks, I'm considering the Intel PRO/Wireless 5100 802.11a/g/n, but xotic has an option for the Intel Advanced-N 6200 - 802.11A/B/G/N. What do you guys think is the best option?

 

the stock wifi works just fine for me. I personally don't see the reason to upgrade.

 

I posted this exact question over on the Networking boards. Got some pretty good answers too so have a look.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5890371

 

Donald, do you know if it is possible to upgrade the keyboard of the n61 with the g51's? they appear to be the same except for the backlight.

there was another user here that did that upgrade and the keyboard fit perfectly but it didn't light up.

 

And is there something the matter with the stock wireless card?

 

We don't have it up on our website yet, but all orders will be substituted with the new 6200 or 6300 as supplies allow. They are still in short supply, but that should free up quickly and be fully available by the time the ASUS N61JQ-A1 comes back in stock.

 

It may fit, but it needs motherboard support for the power to the lights, which is not available on the ASUS N61JQ-A1 board.

 

Some people say they have some problems with it connecting slower or dropping connections. Then again other people say they have no problems at all. The 5100 is supposed to be more reliable though and have better range from what I've gathered.

 

Since Intel 6200's are readily available customers with the 5100 started shipping today with the 6200. (Free Upgrade) Only 6300's with 3 antennas are in shorter supply.

 

Well I'm getting the stock card and I can only hope that one could purchase a laptop with everything working in its best condition.

Then again, my experience with Atheros is that they are excellent, however that was with my Toshiba in 2006.

 

Well it finally came at around 8:20, I immediately burned the backup disc's which took me a good hour twenty plus minutes. I didn't touch it while it was doing that. I have been installing software and doing updates since it finished. Really am happy with this laptop, and so far have no complaints and the screen looks fine to all who are wondering. Will post more later or tomorrow.

 

Glad to see you finally got your laptop!

 

Good stuff Jgoble! Did you order the faster 1333 MHz ram, or did it just come with it?

 

It's working ok for me but my problem with it is it only supports 2.4 not 5.0 and my dual router supports 5.0 .

 

No, I ordered completely stock! Nice little bonus.

 

is N61JQ support VT enable in BIOS ?

please someone check via securable software, it's only 115kb and microsoft software ( havdetectiontool.exe, it's only 180kb).

Because i need it to run XP Mode and some virtualization, it's very important for me.

Btw i just know that Y550 doesn't support VT enable in their BIOS n it's very annoying for me.

Thx a lot and i am sorry if myenglish is so bad.

 

Yes, VT is supported.

 

Any X1 owners with 1333 Ram? Which reseller did you buy?

 

I also once considered to buy Toshiba Qosmio i7 720qm version. It costed here with 8GB ram around 1800 euros.

I had looked at Toshiba Qosmio i7 720qm version next to ASUS N71vn and ASUS N61VN.
The Qosmio was the biggest and heaviest among them.
I don't know about you, but I really hated that black and red coloring sceme they use on it.
The colors made me not to consider it anymore as I thought it will attract lot of attention at my work place.
Many people use Thinkpads and Macbooks there.

 

Could u give me some screen shot with securable and havdetectiontool.exe picture ?

Because i got info :

1. some major brand doesn't give VT support because OS Win 7 home premium, so it's not important and useless to make system bios support VT.

2. some brand cut VT support from their processor although the default is supported because they got cheaper processor if there is no VT inside the processor.

This is will be my first laptop and i must sure this laptop really support VT because in mycountry N61JX is not available, so i will buy from pararel importer.

Thx u very much 4 your help and i am sorry if my english is so bad.

 

hello, fellow countryman!

Howdy?

Hindustan ki jay!

 

Doing well Jai Ho

 

I have a Intel 5300 card from my m860tu, would it work and perform better than the stock wireless in this laptop?


Also, if I change it, would the warranty be void?

 

New egg is where I got mine. Came with 1333

 

Maybe its a random thing. However, what I heard was there was no huge gain or difference with 1066 to 1333mhz laptop memory but I guess I'll judge that once I receive my laptop.

 

wat would u rather tho if given the choice?

 

deathwinger..what computer is the EDGE?

 

aaah, that's a tough one!

 

great
my amazon order got delayed indefinitely..

I`m going to cancel it and start crying.

 

Honestly I don't know if I'd notice the difference. The machine is blazing fast to begin with.

 

Powernotebooks.com

 

So, I got my X1 last week and had the weekend to play with it... Impressions:

1] Fast and cool. Doesn't burn my lap after hours of play and is as fast as my desktop (which is running vista at 3ghz).. I've only done world of warcraft on it, but I typically run 3 accounts at the same time. FPS is around 45 on the main window while running the other 2 windows at 10 fps (I throttle it down). Very pleased with performance..

2] Screen. Bright and beautiful. I do miss 1920 * 1200 (or whatever it is), but I am getting used to it. My desktop is running dual 24 inch monitors at that level, and this obviously isn't a 24 inch monitor. Overall, satisfied.. It was a little weird at first as the 16 inch monitor seems very wide, but not very tall. Once I moved the taskbar to the left hand side so I could use the full length of the screen, it is much better...

3] I need to get used to having the 64 and 32 bit versions of explorer. Adobe flash doesn't have a 64 bit version yet, so youtube or any other video doesn't seem to work unless you are using the 32 bit version while surfing. 64 bit browser is faster. I was using the wireless and seemed like both versions would bog down. I plugged in the ethernet and things have picked up. Not sure why the wireless was browsing slower - I'm sitting right by the router and getting full 54ghz signal strength.

4] 4gig ram seems to be plenty. I do all my video editing on my desktop (3 terabytes of space), and it seems to handle the high def video from our camera ok. I will test it out on this and see if it processes any faster. Which brings up a question...

Does anyone know of a good piece of software that I can use to simply move DV video from the tape to the hard drive in AV format. I don't need any bells and whistles, just something simple. My old Viao had some software called DVGate which was great.

5] Touchpad. Very responsive, I haven't figured out how to use the 2 and 3 finger stuff. I set it to turn off when a mouse is in the usb. I have a tackstick thing on my lenovo tablet that I'm used to, so need to get used to the touchpad again...

6] Battery life. It isn't good. I was playing WoW with three accounts up yesterday and the battery lasted, on a full charge, about 50 minutes or so before i started getting warnings. It said I had about 13 minutes left (22%), so lets say it will go an hour. Now, i was running the high performance, which I'm sure eats the battery, so you will have this thing plugged in most of the time. That doesn't bother me...

7] Sound. For a laptop, its awesome. These are hands down the best internal speakers I've had...

8] Satisfaction. This is a $999 laptop from NewEgg. I am really happy with what I got for the money. I did remove the one partition so the C: drive is one big drive. The hard drive space is no biggie since I have so much on my other machine. It is quiet. I don't think I've heard anything from it. No fans coming on and off or anything. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good machine. If you can get the A1, and the main difference is hard drive space & the back lit keyboard for another $65, then I'd probably go that route. This thing is great...

 

Ha, I figured as much since I remember you didn't want anybody opening your laptop up. Lucky.


@mm1434
Glad to hear you're happy with your purchase so far and that you haven't had any kinds of problems yet.

While you're right about the hard drive space being bigger with the A1, neither version has a back lit keyboard, unfortunately. However, the A1 does come with a 2 year warranty vs. the 1 year warranty of the X1.

 

I believe it would work better. Some might say you wouldn't notice the difference. If your router supports 5.0 then you could connect in that with the 5300. Alot of people were choosing the 5100 over the 5300 because 5300 supports 3 antenas and we only have 2 so you were paying for overkill. Now some are recommending more upgraded models by intel. But if I had an extra 5300 laying around I sure would put it in mine. And no it would not void the warranty.

 

If the Intel 5300 you have is half-size card then it will fit the notebook, but as the notebook comes with only two antennas, it will not work at full potential.

The warranty would be void only if you try to remove CPU/GPU heatsink.
You can change WLAN card without problems.
It is very easy to change. You just have to disconnect the two antennas and remove the two screws and it will pop out.

In case you have to send the notebook for repair, then maybe you have to remove the WLAN card that you built in yourself. Otherwise, it may come back with a stock WLAN card.

Edited: It seems allyw123 was faster in typing.
In any case I will leave my response also.

 

Things I would like to see/change on N61JQ are ...

 

you know what?
dell and sony have what you're looking for...go there so you'll stop ing flike a girl about the negatives of this computer.

 

That's a very lengthy wish list you have there Bhai.
But I think it's not going to be fulfilled by ASUS.
If you want higher resolution screen than better think about N71JQ.
As far as I know many people who received this notebook got DDR 1333 RAM in it by default.