* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Hi all! I've been lurking here for a little bit, watching the great info and feedback on the laptop. Thanks all so much for posting photos, details, etc. I've had many computers over years, most of which I've built and modded myself, so I'm lucky enough to be able to follow the details of most posts.

I've just received my lovely N61JQ from Newegg. The only upgrade I plan to make is to the main drive, replacing the HDD with a 128GB SSD (due later today). That's probably a good thing - besides all the obvious benefits, the preinstalled bloatware on this machine is simply astounding. I read the bloatware thread and could likely remove the unwanted stuff, but it seems like I'll be better off adding to a clean Win7 x64 Ultimate install.

I'm hoping someone can point me to info on what I need to install after a clean Win7 installation on the new SSD. I'm sure I can go to the Asus support site and suck down the missing drivers until all the yellow bangs in Device Manager go away. But I was hoping there might be a more specific list or guide or something...? I looked for FAQs here but didn't see any stickies on this topic. If I missed it, feel free to point me there (with the appropriate remarks!).

Thanks for any pointers.

-mike

 

okay i have a problem that i cant quite seem to fix.

I connected an external monitor to my laptop and it works fine except for a flickering on the external monitor, flickering horizontal lines is the best way i can describe it. However this problem goes away if i am running on battery power and it looks flawless. I suspect some kind of electrical interference but i am no expert. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this it would be extremely appreciated

Edit: It is a problem with 3 pronged power adapters apparently, i connected it with a 2 prong and no problems. The adapter that comes with the laptop cant filter 60hz or something along those lines, pretty silly

Edit 2: cheap easy solution: i wrapped the ground of my monitors power cord in scotch tape and no more flicker.

 

Hi to everyone,

I have been following this thread in silent mode since the start when I had decided to buy the N61JQ and I came to the conclusion that this is the best thread regarding our notebook. It is very well structured on the first page (great work Ally oops Greg ) and the contributions to it are all very good (apart from the occasional trolls ) with special thanks to Greg, Adamal, David LordDavon, Risco, the resellers and anyone else who would like a mention .

Here in Italy it is very difficult to find the N61JQ version (there are though two big store versions: Pro64 and X64JQ without the one year ADW and other minor changes) but in the end I found one N61JQ that was on display in a cabinet in a large electronics shop (therefore in theory it was not messed about a lot, but who knows and cares now). I had it turned on, the screen was fine, no scratches were evident anywhere, everything seemed OK and they offered me a € 50 discount so I pulled the trigger (is that the right slang?). This occurred in March and since then I can say that I am very glad of my choice.

I created the backup disks, it did not have the D partition so I created it and also decided to try the restore function from the hidden partition just to make sure that everything worked seeing that it was not a “virgin” .

Now for a brief review:

Estetics: I love it, it is definitely good-looking, obviously the finger prints are a pain but the dark brown colour is attractive (yes I know that it is a notebook and not a lady but I get rather personal with things I had to sweat to buy !)

Usage: The keyboard feels fine, I do not use a lot of pressure when I type so I do not notice any flex and when I play I am too concentrated on the game that who cares what the keyboard is doing. Obviously the zero on the numerical keypad is a pain being so small. I love to finally be able to use my external hard disk through e-Sata, USB 2.0 was too slow for my backups. Tbrocato hope u get to use yours soon

Screen: It’s OK, I am not used to the resolution, I would have preferred to have slightly more vertical real estate but at least with this resolution the life span is increased. OK Risco I understand that with your colour profile it would be a lot better but honestly I cannot complain (it must be the old age )

Gaming: I am playing only very old games (4/5 years back) that my desktop could not manage anymore, without any problems thanks also to the low resolution.

Heating: Definitely very good considering the power, even when I use it in bed on the quit, just have to be careful not to block the vent. I have noticed a difference using the GPU Gadget and HWMonitor of around 2/3°C lower recorded through HWMonitor though .

Software: removed Microsoft Office, Trend Micro, Power4Gear, Asus AP Bank and junk games. I have a problem with Cyberlink in that when I record in DVD+RW book type my DVD player does not read it, whereas on my desktop with Nero it works fine. I was thinking of installing Nero to see what happens.

Other: the wi-fi on 2.4Ghz works very good, but I may change the card in the future seeing that my router also has 5.0Ghz (thanks to Turbogear, ps how did it go with customs duty?)

Now back to silent mode

PS for wishmaster.dj C.F.C. rule OK!

 

Welcome to the forum, congratulations on your purchase and a big "thank you" for your review.

We are more then happy to assist everyone, which is why we are all here. Hopefully, it is one of the reasons this thread has been so successful. I would like to suggest adding Tony to the mix because, well, he is very helpful and can also kick most of our butts. HA!

Again, welcome to the thread and I hope that you aren't too silent since we welcome any help we can get.

Also, it was the correct slang.

 

I know this may be slightly off topic...but for my Command Center Desk ...I am constructing...I am trying to find a good double arm monitor mount. How do I know if the arm will match up with what monitor? Does anyone have any advice on this ?

 

I've had amazing luck with Ergotron double mounts. Never had any monitor not fit, and they're built like a tank.

 

As far as 'rule' is concerned, there is only one, the mess(i)merizer!
No English football club could even come close to him.

ps - congratulations on your purchase!

 

Please view the attached image. Is what I have circled in red normal? It's as if it's running at a lower color depth. this happens in all games and even browsing the web.

 

Have you tried moving your screen. I know it sounds like a dumb question but there is a small sweet spot on the viewing angle and you have to mess with the screen until you find it. And welcome to the Lounge!

 

And when will we be able to congratulate you on your purchase wishmaster?
Or are you destined to be the master of wishing you had a new N61?

 

For everyone re-installing windows, I had problems installing from a USB hard drive, got errors about a missing driver but Windows wouldn't tell me what device. I solved it by installing straight from the stock windows installation. Won't be much help if you don't have 2 hard drives in the laptop though.

The missing driver for the "PCI Communications Device" in the device manager took a while for me to figure out. The driver for it is here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...LOS_6.0.40.1215_PV.exe&DwnldId=18532&lang=eng

 

Opps Double post!

 

Adjusting the screen isn't the issue. It's something else. What does one do about it?

 

Mike, I'm Don't have a lot off expertise in this area so I can't be of much help with this. But you are not the first person to ask for this. So if you or anyone else comes up with something that addresses this please let me know so I can post it on the first page.
I know I am in the extreme minority but I am an advocate for leaving most of the Asus bloatware alone. Some of this stuff can give you some problems if you uninstall it. Of course if you are skilled at this type of thing it is not a problem. But I have seen some reports here of some having to do some work to sort it all out. And for me why go thru all that when you can just leave all the stuff on there. I followed the advice of Donald @ PowerNotebooks and just got rid of Trend Micro and left the rest.
If you can find or create a list like the one you are talking about please let me know so we can post it to help others.

P.S- It's good to have another representative of the (206)!

Greg

 

Welcome all, Post us a review when you get chance.
Deathwinger, Glad you finally got yours back. Hopefully things will go better this time. If not I'm sure Tony would offer to drop a dumbell on it.

 

To be honest I can't see what you are talking about in the picture you posted. But we have a few screen experts in here like Risco who will probobaly chime in on this when they see your post. Who did you purchase this from?

 

I think I see what minenfeld sees and I'm pretty sure it's part of the game. It's a gradient and you can see the lines where it goes lighter to darker. It's supposed to represent in-game viewing distance.

 

For reference, here's what my friend sees in his game: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6359/images/caesarthe.jpg

Notice the shadows and what not.

 

^ link not working for me.

Honestly, I look at it again and I still think it's part of the game. Are there any settings for viewing distance? Perhaps change your driver settings from performance to quality?

 

It's not just that game. It's all games and even some websites.

 

Some more temp info after playing BC2 for a couple hours at 1600x1050. I also have the laptop screen running. No cooler under the laptop, though I keep it propped up on my desk, so the airflow is good.

I'm a little concerned with the GPU getting up to 94C. The game has crashed to desktop a couple times. Donald, what's your opinion here, not to worry until I hit 105?

 

If it's occurring using the default laptop display, make sure you have the ASUS or ATI 10.3 drivers installed. Next right click on the desktop > screen resolution > Advanced Settings > Monitor tab. Make sure under Colors you see "True Color (32 bit)" selected. If not select it and apply.

My guess is that your settings are for a lower bit depth than the default. There are also some settings in the ATI Catalyst Control Center. I think the color stuff is under Desktop properties.

 

I hear crashing is occurring because of BC2 and the ATI drivers. Upgrading to 10.3 might fix it. I was reading that this is a common occurrence with this game in the Gaming forum. Makes me glad I got it for the PS3

 

Ah here we go, for reference, my friend's in-game is attached.

Adamal, I've already checked and everything is running at 32 bit.

 

I did a fresh install of Win 7 Pro on my A1 and couldn't be happier. I currently have none of the ASUS utilities installed, except Wireless Console 3 (it greatly improves the functionality of the F2 function key for enabling/disabling wifi and bluetooth). I also installed Express Gate, which is totally separate from Windows (it is the bootable Linux environment).

I have put together all of the drivers I am using into a ZIP if you would like to try them. Most are taken from the ASUS support site, though not from the N61JQ section, which is not updated. The ATI video driver is the generic Catalyst 10.3 driver from ATI. The touchpad driver is the one Risco posted, which I believe came from the Gateway support site. Express Gate is not included as it is a large file and can be downloaded from the ASUS support site.

http://www.filedropper.com/currentdrivers04-12-2010

I recommend you install all of the drivers, but disable two of them through the startup section of msconfig (Start -> Run -> msconfig). Disable ATK Media (launches Media Center when the media keys are pressed) and ATKOSD2 (provides 3D-looking effects for many hotkeys). You can also disable BTTRAY.EXE from startup, which shows notifications when caps lock, num lock, etc. are pressed.

Good luck with your install!

 

Ideally, your friend should get a ss from the same area.

What computer/settings is your friend using?

 

He's using a desktop. All new hardware. We're both running "ultra" settings. Also, the 10.3 driver won't install for me. I downloaded the package from the ATI website but it claims the driver is up to date. It's not. It's version 8.680.0.0000.

 

Perhaps you should post this in the Gaming section and see what people there say (if you haven't already).

I say it's something to do with the game, drivers, image quality, and hardware. Different cards render in different ways, even if the game's quality settings are set the same.

 

Have you tried Risco's solution for the killing blue color on the screen? He has a profile that solves that issue... and maybe would work for you. Just look at the 1st page of this lounge.

 

Thanks to all for welcoming me!*!

Yes I quite agree Messi is at the moment the N.1 along with his club Barcelona

I see how, go Ljungberg "Klein" , don't worry though I'm also a Juventus fan which in the past few years have been really dreadful

 

That's strange on my NB HW Monitor doesn't see the GPU I just presumed that ACPI THRM was refering to the GPU, I guess therefore it's monitoring the CPU?!

 

I'm all set up and ready to go. Here are my first impressions:

This was a pretty massive upgrade for me. My last computer is over five years old so pretty much anything deemed acceptable by today's computer standards would probably blow me away. This was no exception. Going from a 5 minute boot down to less then 30 seconds made me quickly question why I held on to my old one for so long.

The keyboard feels a little cramped around the arrow key/number pad area but that is to be expected, given the size. The keys do sound a little too "clicky" at first but it quickly becomes an non-issue as you get used to it. I'm not quite sure what people are referring to about the flex of the keyboard. I can't feel it... Maybe it is because I'm a fairly light typer.

The feel of the hand rest area is excellent. I am a little worried how it will hold up over time though. Hopefully it will be able to maintain the look and feel as it is used.

I understand the semi-negative feedback on the glossiness of the screen. Using any application with a brighter background is alright but once you load up a darker game or screen, it is easy to pick out your reflection. Nonetheless, the picture is great and the "lower" resolution isn't really a huge deal if you're not picky over such things. I played Just Cause 2 for 10-15 minutes last night and it looked great!

Overall the quality of the build is really great!

Now for the good part! I can't comment on specific hardware capabilities as I'm inexperienced in that area but does this thing ever run fast! Converting a 2GB AVI file into a DVD took my old laptop almost two hours (minus the burn), this one took 20-25 minutes, including the burn! Furthermore, Just Cause 2 loaded up very quickly, looks great and was a blast to play (even though I only got to play it briefly). It really makes me want to pick up a XBox 360 controller for it though. I need to download a program to display the temps, but after the short session of JC2, the laptop felt no different. There was some heat coming from the vent (as expected) but the rest of the laptop felt fine.

After day 1 I'm finding that I am very happy with my purchase. Hopefully things will stay the same as I continue to use it over the next few years.

I'll report on some specifics once I get over the initial shock of such a huge upgrade! I also have a HDMI cable due in this week so I will have the chance to hook this up to my HDTV. Is there anything I can post about Just Cause 2 for you all?

 

What game is this? Maybe I can grab a demo and test it on mine. I am not much of a gamer so I don't know it.

David

 

Try uninstalling your existing driver first.

 

Any time I try to change the colour calibration profile myself (essentially bringing down the gamma and putting the blue to about 60% instead of 100%) I get the error Display Colour Calibration cannot save the new calibration. Close other programs that are open and then try again.

What could be preventing this colour calibration from taking place?

P.S. Loving the chiclet keyboard.

 

Has anybody here tried the belkin cooler? I want a zalman but unfortunately I can't find one here.

 

I'm having the same problem.

 

I believe you need to install the Catalyst 10.3 drivers for the GPU temps to show up in HWMonitor.

 

Thanks for the review Driden. I posted it in the review section of the first page.

 

I recommend uninstalling everything that says asus or cyberlink in front of it unless its somehthing obvious you use like the asus power4gear. I haven't gotten a single blue screen since i've done this a couple weeks after I purchased the notebook. I got 2 prior. I don't know if they are related though.

 

I recently did a clean install of Windows 7 because I was having some trouble getting the physical wireless on/off switch to work as well as some other bugs. However, the problem persists in the new install. I can make the wireless work again by uninstalling it in device manager but there's gotta be a better fix than this.

 

You could try the drivers in my post a few pages back. Have you installed the Azurewave WLAN driver and Wireless Console 3 application?

 

I'll give them a shot now. Thanks!

 

Hello everyone, I am an Italian user 's N61 I found a new bios version 207 is not present on site asus

I found it of sending the BSOD error to microsoft but i don't try it

I hope to be helpful and sorry for my english

megaupload.com/?d=J0L631BQ

 

Is there a link for the source (like a forum post)? I ask because many different ASUS laptops use similar version numbering in BIOS.

C'è un link per il sorgente (come un post sul forum)? Lo chiedo perché molti computer portatili ASUS utilizza la versione diversa numerazione simile nel BIOS. (Google Translate)

 

LordDavon: I believe the game minenfeld is referring to is WoW.

 

Hey guys, I'm in the market right now for a gaming laptop around the 1200 CAD price range. I was seriously considering the N61JQ but then the MSI GX640 reared its head out. But now I'm considering the N61JQ again, but first I thought I might ask some questions here (mainly looking for possible reasons to buy the N61JQ over the GX640). Right now the N61JQ-A1 is ~1149 CAD and the MSI GX640 is ~1139 CAD.

First, in terms of gaming, how much more powerful is the N61JQ's i7-720QM than the GX640's i5-430m and will the better CPU close the gap between the N61's 5730 and GX640's 5850? From what I remember games rely more on GPU than CPU, but I'm still curious as to whether or not it will make a difference.

Also, I'm going to be doing a lot of programming on the laptop as well and won't always have access to an external monitor. So my next question is about the screen resolution. I usually have multiple windows open so I can compare code, chat while coding, etc.. With my current laptop at 1200x800, I find it to be extremely cramped and most IDE's don't allow font resizing to compensate. Am I going to have similar experiences with a 1366x768 resolution?

Also, there's a shop a couple blocks away from my house that carries the N61 so I've been able to check it the laptop in person and I seems really good. As for the GX640, I can only go by the impressions in the MSI forum.

Thanks guys.

 

If that is WoW, it is a heavily modified interface for it. I will definitely need more specifics because that interface would be a huge hack. I play WoW and have never seen anything like that.

 

In my opinion, the MSI is better for what you want (gaming). The 5850 is almost 30% faster than the 5730 ( http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html), and the i5 beats the i7 in dual-core usage (2.53 GHz vs 2.40 GHz turbo boosted). I think most current games don't benefit from more than 2 cores, so you will see roughly the same performance between the two chips, with a slight edge to the i5. The 1366x768 is definitely not the best for coding; you will want a higher resolution.

Edit: I made a mistake. Since the i5 is a dual core, the 2.53 GHz is for single-core usage. For dual core usage, the clock speeds are 2.26 and 2.40 GHz for the i5 and i7, respectively. The i7 will be slightly better, but not nearly as much of an improvement as the graphics card on the MSI.