Asus N61JQ-XV1

Hi, I'm looking into multiple brands for a great, portable gaming laptop between $900-1200 and the N61JQ caught my eye. For starters, for only about $1000, this sports an i7 740QM, 4GB 1066MHz, and ATI 5730. By my standards, the hardware packed into this is very good.

Is there a reason why this laptop is so cheap? I expected a notebook with these specs to sell for at least $1400 or more! Obviously Asus is a trusted brand, but I'm suspicious about the build quality and physical imperfections. What can any owner or former owner of any N61JQ model (as they all seem to be similar except for processors) tell me about:
- build quality: hinges, casing, etc.
- audio quality, I've heard it was very poor
- any other corners cut by Asus that might make this notebook not as good

After looking at so many other brands, seeing a cost for such great hardware seems unlikely. There has to be something wrong with it, and after trawling Google and Youtube for a couple hours, I can't find anything except audio! Thanks for any feedback and if this is actually a reliable, well-built, powerful laptop, I might actually spring for this!

EDIT: Is there any way to get this laptop in black? Everywhere I check (Amazon, Newegg, etc.) keeps coming up with Dark Brown N61 models.

 

Hey
i have the N61JQ ASUS
its GREAT laptop
build quality is great ... no one said anything bad about it except for skin peeling after time and bad usage .. like when you scratch your laptop ..
Audio is GREAT also .. if you check the asus site .. you will find that this laptop's first features is the altec lansing speakers with SRS .. believe me Audio is excellent .. even on highest settings .. sound still so pure

the usual for any laptop price to get down by time .. this laptop was first sold at 1000$ .. now its around 1100$ or something like that .. this is obviously enough to say !!

the ONLY con for this laptop is battery life .. on best conditions u can get 2.30 hours ... while in gaming .. 1 hour !!

except for the battery .. every thing else is great ..
whatever you read on any site of good specs .. this laptop will surprise you with special things you wont expect it !!!

you also can see the owners lounge here http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-reviews-owners-lounges/456659-asus-n61jq-owners-lounge.html
note : its the most active thread here i think

good luck

oh sorry i forgot ..
the laptop is BLACK .. i have been using this laptop for about 3 months now .. and i could never get that brown color that you see in pictures
only when in SUN light .. you can see its DAAARK brown .. indoors its black and no brown you can see !!

 

Thank you very much for your comments Yasser_Ahmad! rep+

The build quality sounds very normal, although I would have liked it to be more of an indestructible build, much like Alienwares.

From reviews and user comments, some people have said the audio is ATROCIOUS and that Asus lied about the Altec Lansing speakers. But I'm relieved to hear that the audio is actually excellent, or even at least mediocre.

I'm actually getting this laptop for $999 at Amazon. Where did you get yours? Perhaps people get these laptops in different places which might account for varying quality.

The battery life isn't a concern. I've already seen that the laptop can only last about 1.5-2.5 hours on a charge. With any laptop using a standard i7 and mid-range graphics card, I'm not expecting it to last 4 or more hours.

I'm glad to hear about the color. I really don't like color in my electronics (black or white) so it's good that it's nothing like in the pictures.

Again, the specs look incredible and for the price, it seems too damn good to be true. If Asus weren't a trusted brand, I'd steer away in an instant. Thank you again for your posts! I'm going to go out and get this great laptop for under a grand.