* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Brochiller u need 2 update your sig...

 

A Question for some of you guys that already received your N61jQs...how did yall go about getting the bloatware off the laptop? I ordered mine from powernotebooks...so I do not know how much will be on it. Can I just do a normal uninstall on the stuff I do not want and then use a reg. cleaner after r something ?

 

But won't it be up to the store ultimately to give that warranty and thus if they don't want to honour the warranty after one year your only real choice from that point is to go directly to the manufacturer?

 

Should have got A1 their warranty is for sure 2 years I think. That is what amazon and other websites are saying. I am returning my x1 and gonna get a1 instead.

 

When buying from Bestbuy, Newegg or other of the "big box" type stores you have to be careful to read and understand your warranty and your configuration. Sure, the price may be less but you always get what you pay for, and the reason is that the configuration, and often the warranty terms, are usually less than when buying from a "Channel" reseller. "Channel" is industry talk meaning not a major national brand or mega-store or mega-etailer. The "Channel" is America's backbone of small business.

Whenever you see -Xx that means it is a "special" product SKU (that is component and warranty configuration) that was developed for that mega-store or mega-etailer.

Whenever you see -Ax or -Bx that means it is the "standard" ASUS SKU that goes into the Channel. These are almost always with better standard configurations, and often with better warranties.

So, be sure to read and understand your warranty before you buy, so you are not left saying later on that the warranty "should" be this or that, when in fact it is what it says it is and nothing more.

 

Fixed

I'd like to know this too. I heard a lot of the programs Asus installs are actually useful in some instances, so would it be best to just uninstall what I don't need or go another route? Also, how is the HDD partitioned on this laptop when you get it?

 

The only real bloatware (we call it scamware) is the Trend Micro Internet Security Suite. You can uninstall that as you would any application.

The rest are utilities that come standard with ASUS laptops at no cost, and they are quite useful. If you are worried about the resources they use, and you have no use for some of them, then just uninstall what you don't want as you would any other application.

The standard Windows 7 Home Premium installation comes with 3 partitions instead of the standard 2 partitions of a Windows install, the 3rd being a recovery partition.

 

So do you think it's best to just leave the partitioned the way it is then? I guess it would be pretty useful to have a recovery partition, but I'm really not very knowledgeable on things like this.

I also ordered mine with Windows 7 Home Premium, but I got a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate from my University. Is there anything special I should do to before upgrading, or just go for it?

 

Has anyone just formatted the drive and did a clean install? I have never used any type of recovery feature in windows before...is it worth it in windows 7...

 

I just ordered the N61JQ-X1 from newegg and am currently at the " charged" stage. I'm starting to wonder if i should cancel my order and go with the A1. Any suggestions on what i should do?!

 

I would cancel the order and go 2 powernotebooks.com and get an A1 with Diamond Thermal Paste...they are very friendly at powernotebooks and the prices are great. Also, when they add the thermal paste is does not void warranty.

 

Only problem is I'm from Canada, and newegg is cheaper on shipping, is the difference in price really worth canceling the order?

 

I would get the A1 then bro... it has the 2 year warranty for sure from new egg right ? also comes with 500gb hd.

 

I just ordered this from new egg as well and if you click the link under manufacture info it still states 2 year.

Copied and pasted from newegg.ca

Manufacturer Warranty
Beyond any applicable Newegg return policy, this item is warranted independently by the product's Manufacturer. Below is a summary provided for convenience only and may not be accurate or current. Use this link for full details.

Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (parts): 2 years
Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (labor): 2 years

But my invoice is showing 1 year

 

Alright so i canceled the order for the X1 gonna go with A1. Thanks for the advice!

 

Is it really worth it to send my X1 back because of the warranty issue? (It'll be here on monday but its already been shipped so I can't cancel it) Everything else about it seems to be great. Also, is there really any need to do a clean OS with this laptop?

 

I'd definitely go with the A1. You get the warranty with great, personal customer service from the reseller.

 

Could any link me to the temps list for this model? Don't feel like scouring through 22 pages of posts.

Also any know the sound of the fan @:

idle
moderate usage (i.e browsing the net, hd streaming, watching hd movies at the same time)
gaming (any current titles should be fine)
maximum cpu usage (i.e. prime95)

 

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums. I've been following this thread, and I'm considering buying the A1. I do some casual gaming, but I'm mostly interested in the notebook for its multitasking capabilities and fast speed.

Last month I bought an ASUS K70IC-A2, however I returned it. It was a fantastic laptop, but it was much bigger than I expected and it would not fit in my backpack!

Are there any students/commuters here who have the A1 or X1? Is this notebook too heavy/bulky to take back and forth between home and school/work on a daily basis? Opinions?

 

Yes, I would leave the recovery partition because it will become very handy should you have to reinstall your Home Premium for any reason.

First thing I would do before upgrading is to make sure Ultimate will give you additional features that you would actually need or use. See the comparison at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare.

If you do decide to upgrade you are going to want to go into the BIOS and change your boot order to Optical Drive first (otherwise it will just continue to boot into your Home Premium on your hard drive). Remember to go back into the BIOS when you are finished and set your boot order back to hard drive first.

Then start your installation, and you will come to a place where you are going to want to delete all existing partitions, and then create a new partition for your Ultimate installation. Then Format and continue with your installation.

Once your Ultimate installation is complete put the Drivers CD in and either select all, or deselect drivers or utilities you don't want to install, and then install.

Next, go to Windows Update...repeatedly...until there are no more updates available.

Finally, install all of your applications and restore your data.

DONE.

See why I say be sure Ultimate has features that you really need or want?

 

I was actually pleasently surprised when it booted. I've never gotten a preinstalled notebook with 2 (C: and D partions before. I was planning to make the second partion myself but I didn't need to. And as for the bloatware all of it is Asus utilities. They do eat resources and you might not need them. But you have to be carefull not to uninstall everything, as there is also stuff for hotkeys, usb 3.0 controller and things like that. But the actual Asus "software" you can get rid of. Nice thing is you get on a dvd so you can install it if you need to.

And Mike Hunt depends if you care about the warranty. If you don't then X1 is a good laptop.

 

How big is C Partition....and the size of D...Also where does it place the third partition with system recovery ?

 

The recovery partition is about 15-16GB. I believe the C partition was around 120GB with the remainder on D. I remove the data partition and combined the space with C, since both partitions are using NTFS I didn't see any advantage. Windows 7 disk management makes that pretty easy.

Looks like I fixed the locking up issue on this laptop. It was either something I removed or added. I ran a restore from the included disks (not the ones I created when I got the laptop) and everything seems to be running great ever since. It was definitely something I did.

 

Nice find. Too bad it says it may not be accurate or current .

C: is 78gb and D: is 219gb the rest is hidden.

 

For those with the X1 does you computer have a sticker next to the touchpad. Mine does with the specs of the machine. At the very bottom left it should have the warranty info. Mine says 24months (I have an A1 from powernotebooks).

I'd be curious to see what the X1's are that were purchase from newegg.

 

Xismo you have 320gb HD ?

 

Yeah it's the X1 so 320gb.

 

IF you use the cd restore point...will you lose files on computer....if you have cd restore point why even have a partition on the HD for restore ?

 

It's 12 months

 

I believe if you use the DVD backups you make from the AI recovery burner it will restore the PC to that exact moment (I'm not 100% on this). If you use the restore DVD that comes with the laptop all your files are wiped if you didn't back them up.

I'm not really sure of the reason for the restore partition. Maybe for those that loose or damage the DVDs. I usually keep it until I need the space. It's going to be a while before I get close to filling this drive.

It's always a good idea to backup important data somewhere other than the hard drive. Preferably somewhere not even at your house, like one of those online backup services.

 

I was reading and it says the restore partition drive will take like 30 mins compared 2 couple hours off dvds. I will prob burn the dvds first thing then uninstall AI recovery....what did you end up taking off the laptop Adamal....bloat wise ?

 

Well actually I'm not sure about that. I think the only thing I would want it for would be to run older games in XP mode. I don't know much about how comparable older games are with Windows 7 though. Is it something that I have to think about or research or do most older games have no problem running on 7?

 

any updates on the keyboard backlight situation?

 

I took off the MS Office trial, the ASUS updater, the Anti-virus app, and the asus screensaver. I intend to take off more later, but I also went through msconfig and stopped any unnecessary apps from loading up (mainly all the dvd software).

 

Any benchmarks for the 5730?

 

XP mode isn't really good for running games. Also you do not need ultimate for XP mode. Pro (which is cheaper) will do.

 

I cant get the Backlite to work.. on keyboard

how do u boot into Express Gate ? I dont see anything on bootup

 

To get into express gate, first shutdown the computer. Then press the media button in the top left (it looks like a power icon with a slash and a guy running). It's also in the manual. The computer should turn on and boot into Express Gate. It's a pretty neat little app.

 

I'm having second thoughts about the N61!!! I haven't actually received it yet but maybe I should've spent an extra $300 and go for the G51JX because of the higher resolution and backlit keyboard. I can't cancel my order though, it's been shipped already.

What I don't like about the G51 is that it's so bulky and flashy.
My other option was the Dell Studio XPS 16 but that one doesn't have a numeric keyboard which I actually use a lot.

 

You can consider HP dv6t quad edition available now for $899 with coupons which has full size keyboard with numeric keypad. Also Toshiba A505 i5 version, Sony F & E series are looking good.

Else if you can wait till March, Clevo will have lots of new models announcement at CeBT (mar 2-7).

 

Does any know or can get the contrast ratio for N61JQ-A1 or X1 LCD?

 

I don't want to take up anymore space in this forum on neweggs warranty.
This should be about the laptops and not Newegg. And since most people ordered the A1 model they are not affected anyway by the warranty problems with the X1 ordered from newegg.
I have resolved my disagreement with Newegg to my satisfaction.
If anyone wants to contact me about this issue then send me a private message. Please do not contact me unless you honestly purchased the X1 from newegg in the first few days it went on sale,when they were listing a 2 year warranty.
Basically the X1 model is now and always was supposed to be under a 1 year warranty. My contention is that it was listed as a 2 year warranty origionally on newegg. Newegg does not agree with that contention.
But if this problem honestly applies to your situation I might have a solution for you. That's it I'm done with that!!!!

 

For those that want their temp off of the video card OC-Freak told me about a little program called AMD GPU Clock Tool. It can read the temps off of the ATI HD 5730.

 

Ok I lied, one more thing on Newegg orders. To anyone that posts the question ( Should I exchange my X1 for an A1). Really only you can answer that. It is a personal choice. Do you want to spend an extra $65 to $100 to upgade your HDD from 320gb to 500gb and your warranty from 1 year to 2.
I know what my choice would be but it might be different than yours.

 

Everest was able to read the GPU sensor as well.

 

Hey for anyone that might have had the same lock up issues as I was having. I tracked the problem to Microsoft's Security Essentials anti-virus program. I'm exactly sure why but after re-installing it, the computer began to hard lock again. Once I disabled the real-time protect no more lockups.

As far as temps, I've been using real temp 3.4 and the low was 50C with a max of 78C. I was playing TF2 for about an hour with everything cranked up to max while recording the temps.

UPDATE:

The lockups were caused by the AHCI drivers. You need to install the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" from ASUS's website to fix this problem if you have it.

 

Just a heads up on the 1 year accidental warranty. There ia a small card in your paperwork from your package. It needs to be filled out and mailed in with a copy of your reciept. Just going online and registering is not enough to make sure you qualify for the accidental warranty. Send that card in! Now before you forget!

 

Just ordered the ASUS N61JQ-X1 from Newegg. Can't wait to get it in. It took me forever to find the exact laptop I wanted but once this came out, it made it clear that this was the right one. I really was avoiding an integrated card as I play some games and watch a lot of movies. I am glad to have found this forum to give me more insight on the ASUS laptops as this is my first and was always a Gateway buyer but could not find a good priced one.

 

Welcome to the lounge! I'm sure you will quickly come to the conclusion that you made the right choice when you fire that thing up.
Let us know what you think when you get it.
Before your laptop ships make sure you read about the difference between the X1 and A1 models on the lasts few pages of this thread.

 

I had read about the warranty and other things about the A1 and decided its not worth spending an extra $400 to get it since I have an external 1tb and don't care to spend that money to go up a 180gb and gain a year on the warranty. I had just ordered mine on Friday night so I am sure I will get it by Tuesday or Wednesday then I will post up my thoughts. I have 3 laptops now but they are outdated.

Gateway MX6453
Acer Aspire One
Fujitsu mini but not sure the #s are as its from 2003, still works fine with win xp pro on it.