* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

I'll let others who already have theirs respond to the "is it worth it" questions.

On the very first page for the ASUS N61JQ-A1 it says in bold red:
CALL FOR ESTIMATED SHIP DATE

There is a new shipment coming in next week. There will hopefully be enough to fill all back orders (it isn't pre-order anymore since we have already shipped dozens), with some left over for new orders.

 

Any games in particular you want to see? I don't have many new games, but some of the ones I do have are Empire: Total War, Bioshock (orignal though), and Fallout 3. I'm always up for downloading some demos though if there's one you have your eye on.

 

What'd you think of Empire: Total War, by the way? I just got my A1 a couple days ago and I'm looking for good, semi-new (so they're cheaper) games to play that my old laptop couldn't handle...

 

no dude, not talking about you.

 

Hey guys im assumin most of you use ur n61jq at home on a daily basis like a desktop.. how often do you turn off the notebook? Or do you guys leave it on 24/7

 

Good question

True performance/heat numbers will come while running on 24x7.

I seldom shutdown my PC except automatic windows restart still doing well for the past 5 years though I have started seeing some swelling capacitors on board

 

For anyone that is interested, I just got notice from some UK retailers that they have this laptop back in stock now.

 

The N61JQ shipments are coming in the following week, not next week. As of this week, 3/10-3/11 is the ETA when ASUS is expecting their shipment.

 

Bioshock and Fallout 3 would be great man, i was hoping maybe Dirt 2 and COD6 if you get some demos, but those should do, thanks man

 

Huh?! I just checked and it is listed. Oh sure, this happens 2 weeks after I get mine from them?!

I really hope they make a 2 year warranty retroactive!

 

Hmm...Asus not giving you guys concrete information. One saying next week, the other saying week after.

I hope to god this isn't what their after sales service is like (for warranty and accident coverage usage).


Reading what I am on the forums though, this is precisely the laptop for me, anything else could prove disappointing (from power to mobility ratio) so once I get it within a month, I'm happy.

 

ETA's change unfortunately based on production or their shipments coming from HQ. ASUS didn't expect this model to take off as well as it has. We have had 3/11 as the ETA since the beginning of the week.

 

I have the N71JQ (same cpu & gpu)
Dirt2 in Directx9 runs at 30 fps (high details, 1600*1900, aax2)
COD6 perfect (max details; 1600*1900; aax4)

 

I am no gamer at all other than WOW. Do the 2 games that you mentioned here have higher criteria of hardware (CPU&GPU) than WOW? I want to go with N71 however a bit afraid that I can't play high setting with WOW on 1600*900, instead the N61's lower resolution.

Thanks.

 

WOW should be perfect even on 1600*900 with high settings. It's an old game

 

hi:

my battery only last 1:40 with battery saving mode, brighnthness to minimum, bluetooth off. Only light surfing in web.

i need that one of you with a n61jq do a full charge to battery and then enter in bios and let the pc shut down alone to see how much time it last. This way i can compare without different types of use and see if my battery is damaged or not.

Can someone help me and do this little test?

 

I haven't gotten to play it a whole lot, but I did just try a quick battle to see how it played on this and it runs great. First I tried a naval battle with a ton of ships and the water effects which seemed pretty GPU intensive and I got a steady 30-40 FPS with everything at high. I also tried a land battle to see how the went and it went just as well. As for the game itself, I've only heard good things about the entire Total War series. When Empire first came out it got some bad reviews just because it faced some comparability issues, but those are patched now and it runs just fine.

I usually put mine in hibernate overnight and when I'm not using it for shorter periods of time I'll put it in stand by.

Yeah no problem. I'll do my best to do them this weekend but I'm pretty busy so I can't promise anything.

 

When they originally listed the X1, it showed a 2 year warranty as well, which was a typo. Only the A1 comes with 2 years.

 

Hello Guys,

ASUS has uploaded on 23/02/2010 a new driver for our ATI 5730 graphic cards.

Here is the link:
http://support.asus.com/download/do...me=VGA_ATI_Win7_64_z869210.zip&f_type=1&os=30

From the name of the file in the list Version V8.692.1.0 it's not clear, but when you start downloading you will see VGA_ATI_Win7_64_z869210.zip.

The driver version for ATI 5730 is 8.692.1.0 and dated to 22/01/2010.

 

I doubt they would be dumb enough to start posting their mistake after getting it fixed. At least I hope they wouldn't be. It is very possible that ASUS modified the warranty for Newegg. It may also be possible that it is the same typo as before. We just don't know 100% until someone gets one.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

For anyone else like me running the 10.3 beta Catalyst, the driver version included in it is 8.7103.0 and the date on it is 2/5/2010.

 

Ack. Well, even if they are giving a 2 year, it isn't retroactive. The warranty is based on the serial number of the notebook. Mine is tied to a 12M warranty. What sucks is that it is based on the date of purchase and not the date of delivery.

 

I don't think newegg gives you warranties beyond the manufacturer warranty. Just look at the warranty tab on the page (which still says 1 year btw). FWIW, Amazon.com is still showing 1 year warranty on the X1. I guess you could call to double check.

 

Newegg allows extended warranties to be purchased. All ASUS notebooks come with a 2YR warranty. I think the X1 is an OEM laptop for Amazon and Newegg which is why it doesn't fall into the 2YR category.

It's OK. It was just wishful thinking on my part. ;-)

 

I don't get mine until the 3rd but luckily for you I love me some vidja games. I'll probably only load up the Starcraft 2 beta for now but I'll also take some requests for other games. Pick whatever you want to see from my Steam games list and I'll back them up for loading next Wednesday.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/mean2u/games (yes I spent over $1000 on PC games )

 

Hello guys, first time posting here.. I just purchased the N61JQ-X1 recently. Should come any minute now..

anyway, I been look around the 'net and seem like this place have the most active discussion about this model. I read through the posts, but there's over 120 pages, I can't read it all.

I just have a few question.. have anyone format and reinstall the OS? I'm thinking about installing Windows 7 Ultimate on this baby, but I see so many drivers on the Asus website. Which ones did you guys install? I think I can figure out, but just asking in case anyone got a good list, then that's awesome.

Also, anyone bought a cooler for it? If it gets hot, I might buy one, but I don't which ones are good. I heard Zalman coolers are good, but I see them on newegg for like 60-70 bucks, that's a hefty price to pay.

Seems like everyone is very happy with this machine, so I'm really excited to get my hand on mine. Thanks for reading and I'll appreciate your answers!

 

I'm copying my earlier post below. Note the how little difference the cooler makes on CPU temps (Zalman ZM-NC2000):

Edit: For reference, the junction temperature for the i7 720QM is 100 degrees C. At this temperature and above, the CPU will throttle to cool itself down.

 

Thanks stevedogg for the answer!

That's interesting that a notebook color don't do much for the CPU, but I can understand why, its probably used more to cool the chassis. But I was expecting it to help cool down the CPU along the way, it's disappointing if it does not. Maybe I'll just keep my cheap Targus notebook stand to let the air flow.

 

Yeah, my guess is that it only really helps if the bottom of the laptop gets hot without it (that means significant heat is being dissipated from the bottom surface). It helps somewhat by forcing air through the vents, but those are such a small fraction of the area covered by the cooler. That said, I haven't tested GPU temps; I expect they would give similar results.

 

You are welcome.

I personally don't like to use beta drivers. Sometimes they can be stable but other times they can cause problems.

My N71JQ is a work PC so I cannot do beta testing on it.
I have not tried any gaming on it so far, but if I get some time I may try Crysis and COD6 on it.

For gaming I mostly use my desktop PC which has ATI 5850 in it.

 

Hey doodes, can anyone suggest a good/best external sound card? I have a 5.1 logitech system (X-540). I'll be using it once i get a hold of the N61.

 

As far as I know this laptop has a decent sound card in it....

It has a S/PDIF out port for digital optical sound out.

The pages below mention the laptop has 5.1 sound support:

(do ctrl+f "5.1")

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=N61JQ-A1

http://www.btotech.com/_e/16_Asus_laptops/product/asus_n61jq-a1/Asus_N61Jq_A1.htm


But I see the X-540 has no input for optical input... So after-all I have no suggestions...

 

David, My take on it is the one year warranty was negotiated by Amazon and Newegg to lower the price. Now my guess would be that this is another
"misprint". If not then Newegg must have negotiated with ASUS to add the other year. I could see them doing that because they raised the price and now why would you buy an X-1 from them when you could get an A-1 or X-1 cheaper from other resellers.
As you said there is no way to retroactive this since ASUS goes by the serial #.
Myself this doesn't bother me because it is $100 more than I paid. I never buy extended warranties on anything. And I just look at it as a $100 1 year extended warranty. I would have said pass if I was offered that option. Plus Newegg gave Me an RMA after I complained, But when the price went up I just decided not to return it.

 

Whaaaat???? My N61jq-x1 doesn't have SPDIF and it certainly doesn't have 3 audio jacks like the N71.

I'm sure it's unintentional, but these resellers should verify what they post on their websites.

Unless I'm missing something, but I looked all around and I only have 1 audio out and 1 mic in.

Edit: That BTOtech website lists that it has built-in 5.1 surround speakers???? That's false advertising at its best.

 

actually the asus website confirms it's has spdif

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=ZfpnPRZ5UxVOtrHJ


I never said it had 3 audio jacks.

EDIT: Or is the ASUS site wrong too???

EDIT 2: your audio out is also a spdif out... one port dual purpose, like on all some newer macbooks. Kinda like the usb/esata combo ports.

 

No, the websites you linked to specify that it has 3 audio jacks.

I don't know if the asus site is wrong or not, what I do know is that in MY laptop, I only see one headphone and one mic jack. Where is the SPDIF? I really can't find it. Maybe the X1 doesn't have it and the A1 does???

EDIT: The BTOtech site says it has 3 audio jacks (and built in 5.1 surround sound speakers). The other one mentions a 3-pole jack which to be honest I don't know what it is.

 

I edited my post again lol sorry.

Like I said in EDIT 2...


Its says it's a dual purpose port, audio out and spdif out on the same port.

Just get a standard optical cord, with a special end connector cap...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009V6QZ?vi=tech-data

 

I think that just means it has 3 connectors, unlike some 3.5mm jacks (like the iphone) has 4 connectors/poles ... TBQH I don't know 100% also.

 

I dont think it has... Check out the youtube vid review. So yah, suggestions for external sound cards? Im not familiar with them since i only used 2.1 before i got the x-540.

 

Actually, I was excited to see this mostly for you. If it were retroactive, then you wouldn't have any concerns. If they really are selling them with a 2YR warranty now, then you can just do an even exchange for the newer unit with the 2YR warranty. Not sure if they would allow it.

I had mentioned before that I intend to sell this after a year and get an upgraded notebook (most likely ASUS after having this bit of awesomeness). It would help the resale value though if it were retroactive. So, there was a bit of concern for myself also.

Either way, it was a fun idea to play with and gave me something to do at work besides trying to figure out that stupid API I am stuck coding for.

 

This macbook help article points out that one port has both connectors in it.

It says the one port is optical and standard sound out. I assume the ASUS port works the same

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1562

 

Thanks for the link, I see what you mean now. I really wish btotech would correct their specs though...it's really misleading.

 

Don't be so quick to dismiss WoW because of the age. It isn't the best coded game and is fairly CPU dependent. I set the settings to Ultra and also set 8X multi-sample in the display resolution and it got a little sluggish. I don't think it is coded to really utilize newer video technology properly. ATI most likely doesn't have the drivers optimized for the newer cards yet (I am still on the original drivers). I also doubt WoW uses multiple threads properly.

I am sure this will all improve quickly as WoW is coming out with a new expansion soon and ATI is improving their mobile drivers and releasing for more hardware, more frequently.

 

Hi, I just recently purchased the Asus N61JQ-X1 and it is a gaming beast! However, I do have a problem with my model and I'm not sure if anyone else is having the same problem?

The microphone on my machine does not pick up sound very well. When I use it to chat with friends on AIM, all they can hear is static and my voice sounds like I'm trying to speak while gargling and getting cut off on and off. Any idea as to what may be wrong with my machine or what I can do to fix it? Thanks everybody!

 

The only good one I see is this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102020

http://www.soundblaster.com/product...1&subcategory=208&product=17751&listby=brand#


Its USB connection, so It can be used on future laptops you may have.


There are no expresscard/34 sound cards that have 5.1/7.1 out... as far as google can find...

 

Thanks. I actually had that in my radar... i don't i see any other good ones as far as im concern. Might do a little more research.

 

The ASUS N61JQ-A1 has two audio ports, one of which is S/PDIF. Your headphone jack is also a S/PDIF port.

 

Built in Mics are renowned for being poor. However if you use a good headset you will find great clarity.

 

Yep built in mics are terrible...

you can try mic boost (or also turning it down):
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...a/thread/864f0cc9-9c53-41e9-bd45-0fabe4731e70

Your sound driver should have some kind of echo cancellation tool also.

You might want to go digging around looking for this "realtek Acoustic Echo Cancellation" if the asus laptop uses the Realtek HD drivers...

 

Has anyone upgraded to the blu-ray player?
If so...was it worth it?

Has anyone upgraded to the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 Wireless Card?
If so, was it worth it and were there any benefits?

Anyone