* Asus N61JQ Owners Lounge *

Yeah there is some slack, but it's not too bad. The bigger problem is that while this beast is light, it's also very large and it won't fit in my backpack anymore. Any suggestions on a good messenger bag?

 

mine fits snugly in my North Face backpack, though it is one of the bigger packs. I just can't cram as much stuff into it as before.

Do any of the Incase bags fit? My sister had one when she had her little Macbook and they were nice.

 

Attention, Attention I have relented and added Driver updates to the bottom of the first post!!!!
Use these driver update links at your own risk! I will just post links that are posted in this Lounge. They will not be verified or tested by me!

 

Thanks bro sorry I did not get to do it. Let me know if you want me to put something on post number 2. I just came inshore been busy at the house.

 

That's ok Tony, thanks for the offer. I still think we might want to use that second post for something. Welcome back bro!

 

Has anyone else had problems installing the Power2Go suite after a reformat? It won't install, it just ends in an error.

 

Well, I finally got tired of the HP collecting dust and posted it: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200463734194

Anyway, Greg... why did you not just wait for Tony. I think the official/unofficial pages were a great layout idea.

 

I don't have a problem with that David. I was off today and getting bored with doing yard work. So I was looking for something to tinker with. If you still want to go with that and Tony is still game then it works for me. As you can tell I am not very Tech savy. Working on the first page has been a fun learning experience for me. My goal in starting this thread was to hopefully make it interesting and succesfull enough to entice people like you to come and communicate here so I could learn more about this Laptop. Whatever you or the regular Tech crew(Wishmaster excluded) here wants to do with the forum is fine by me. If Tony will put up drive updates on the second post I will take them down. And if you think I should just take them down now that's ok to. We were just getting to many requests to ignore it even if you and I think it's a lame idea to post driver updates. :confused2:

 

Anybody knows about bios log change from 2.02 to 2.08 n61jq ?

 

It was posted earlier.

The major changes are that pressing FN + ESC no longer freezes the system and the CMC (some controller on the BIOS) has been updated and as such components are likely to be more stable in their operations (essentially less to no BSOD's as some people were getting in earlier BIOSes)

One of these programmers may come on later and explain this a little better for you

 

Well, I vote for posting a link to the official drivers page on Page1 and putting all of the unofficial drivers on Page2. If we only have links to the unofficial drivers, then that is the only information we are giving people. There isn't a choice. I agree that the official drivers on ASUS site leave something to be desired but, it is still the drivers that ASUS recommends we use.

I am the type of person that prefers more information and choice.

Hey, nice eBay message. HA!

 

Question, has anyone been able to make the side lights of the system either turn off or glow slowly on and off when the computer is put to sleep? This Christmas Tree styled blinking on and off is very annoying.

 

As I see it, people who want the official ASUS drivers can find them on the ASUS website without too much trouble. I suggested that driver links be posted on the main page mainly as a quick resource for anyone who has done a clean install of windows for whatever reason. The ASUS support site is missing many drivers necessary for a fully functioning N61, one of which was particularly difficult to track down. It's useful and pertinent information and I don't think users coming here for help should have to dig through nearly 400 pages of posts to find it.

Another alternative would be to create a separate N61JQ driver thread and move the updates and discussion about drivers there. I doubt anyone would be opposed to placing a link to the thread in the first post.

I'd also have to disagree with the opinion that sticking to 'official' driver releases does anything for overall machine stability. It's true that some updates are bad apples, the Intel SSD firmware that killed drives and the Nvidia drivers that killed cards. A bit of prudence especially with updates adding new features is common sense. It doesn't hurt to wait a few weeks or so after a release to make sure all the bugs have been ironed out. But on the whole, driver updates by their very nature fix more problems than they cause.

 

Mine blinks slowly when sleeping. Not a Christmas Tree blinking on/off style. I didn't have to do anything.

 

Hey if you drop the price down about $649.99 I'll buy it

 

If you change it to "Free stuff" I'll take it!

 

Sounds good to me. I will leave them up until we here from Tony in case he wants to just copy and paste what I have up there now.
Tony, Our thoughts are with you. You must have a heavy heart today with what happened on that Rig in the Gulf.

 

Deathwinger, I have not seen a solution for that. But as a temporary solution you might consider using Hibernate. I just tried it and it takes about 25 seconds to return to your last session versus 5 seconds from sleep. Personally I just always turn mine off since this thing loads so quick. But I know that is not the perfered option for most. I do like the feature of being able to make programs delay and load after the system is up.

 

If you change it to $5.00 and ship it free of charge to Middle East, I will take it!

I will keep it next to my dust collecting Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi.

 

for me, right now, my n61jq-a1 seem to be more fast... (win7ows professional)...

 

well said about sleep vs. hibernate. It doesn't make much difference since it boots up quick. I tend to put it on hibernate.

Approaching 1 week of almost constant usage D) and I've only experienced 1 lock-up/freeze when I tried playing the intro movie thing that was preloaded. rebooted, tried again, and it ran fine (hmph).

I don't know if my battery meter was optimistic but on battery saving mode, it said I had 3+ hours of battery life with wifi off.

 

Has anyone noticed that the webcam is quite laggy? I just received my jq today and love it except I use skype, msn, and yahoo frequently and I find the cam lags quite badly. I have put the computer on the high performance setting and it makes no difference.

Any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem?

Cheers

 

Mine's arriving tomorrow. I'll put that on my "to check" list as I get the system's drivers and such updated, software loaded, etc.

I'm really hoping this laptop works out because I couldn't find a better option in this price range when taking into account CPU/GPU/build quality/warranty given the restraints of under 17"/7lbs, no Nvidia GPU (I know too much, let's leave it at that), and CPU performance > GPU performance because I do CPU intensive tasks like RAW processing more than I do gaming.

 

Thanks. But I would like a non-annoying sleep option as well. Hibernate doesn't go well with me at a meeting when I close down my system to talk to the client. Otherwise I use it.

Who do we need to speak to in order to get my opinions across about it and hopefully make it happen in the next bios update?

 

I received my asus n61jq-a1 yesterday, bought from xoticpc(sorry paladin i discovered you after i ordered ) )
I was amazed how low the temps are.I used to see they reache more than 80 degrees.
First impresions:

____________________
I customized the laptop with IC Diamond .I'm not using a cooler.
Video card: The higher temp was 68 degrees while i was playing dirt 2.
http://tinypic.com/r/20ac93k/5Temps in idle after 4-5 hours of installing drivers(catalyst 10.04??sorry if i'm wrong),upgrading bios(v 208) surfing web,skype and stuff like that.

And gpu(also in idle)
http://tinypic.com/r/260wdc6/5

I did intel burn test.The results are here:
http://tinypic.com/r/11iobnm/5

I played tom clancy's hawx at 60 fps(all settings set to high) for about 30 mins.
The temps in game:

http://tinypic.com/r/rljonc/5

I also played Dirt 2 for more than an hour at 30-40 fps(i'm sorry i couldn't record the temps )

_______________________________
I love the multitouch touchpad(very useful for me). The keyboard has a little flex
It seems pretty solid but the case is a fingerprint magnet.
Anyway this laptop has a very elegant design.
The angle of view is not as good as asus says but you will get used. I like the resolution(you should know i had a 1024*78 CRT till now ) )
The sound is great.

____________________________________
I've not experienced bsods until now, the initial setup ran fine, the only issue was with the electrical plug adapter(i live in Romania and i had to find another cable--In europe are different).
I'm content with the stock wireless card(this is the speedtest result -i use a G router)
http://tinypic.com/r/16t7jd/5

In conclusion this notebook is a monster.I don't know if there's any application or game that you can't run on it.
I'll continue my review tomorow because i don't have time right now.

P.S:I have to let the thermal compound to do it's cycles to be 100% operating.
Sorry for my bad english!

 

I got my first stuck/dead pixel today. It is a black dot in the lower right corner of the screen that you can see well with a white background. A black background and you see nothing. running imaging associates pixel excersiser right now. I tried rubbing it with my finger and it got a little better but is still there. anyone else have any tips ?

 

there's an online "pixel fixer" that basically causes the pixels in you laptop to energize and hopefully fix itself. However, it is pretty much seizure inducing .

Does anyone know that hidden "rotate" function of the touchpad? I get it every once in a while but I don't know how to purposely do it. I just get it on accident once in a while lol.

 

Got my laptop before I thought I would. They changed out the motherboard but did nothing about the Trash still behind the screen. !@#$% ASUS. how you take apart the screen. I am going to do this myself.

I am thinking about running it over with my car right now.

 

I suggest you call to complain. Also, if you are in contact with your reseller, you should get assistance from them and have them make a call to their contacts at asus so that this crap won't happen to you again.

I sent in my laptop RMA and I got it back in perfect condition. You should have the same privileges.

Also, did you specifically complain in writing (a letter sent back with the laptop) about the trash in the screen? I have a rule where I assume people are idiots and therefore need to told everything....seems to work out fine so far.

 

My 1st impression is WOW! Shiny and beautiful all around, this is the 1st time I have ever gone out and bought a new laptop. Anything I have owned has always been second hand bought or given for fixing other systems. To me Asus did a great job on exterior design and paint job, even though anything this shiny is going to attract prints the 1st thing I did was put my entire palm to see how it looked and it was not as visible, I am sure if you look from a different angle you will see but not as much as expected. On first boot it took 10 minutes to fully start (probably normal) I have not burned the recovery disks but will once I get home. After changing some settings I uninstalled the Office 2007 Trial and it took around 5mintes which was more than what I expected. I haven’t played with any performance options but overall the i7 performance is much much better than anything I have owned, I opened ten apps to get an idea and all ran with no lag.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase; everything met and exceeded my expectations. No BSODs or low pitched whining noises, actually extremely quite. The screen resolution to me looks phenomenal even using outside in the daylight, I normally use higher resolutions but 1366 x 768 feels perfect. Anyone that complains about this should probably be using an external monitor anyway. The sound is also impressive comparing to older laptops. Gentech was a great experience with price, communication and delivery time.

Once I finish all my personal tweaking and installing I’ll add more opinion.

Question.. You think is OK to msconfig-uncheck all in startup items? I rather try this alternative if possible before uninstalling all the bloatware mentioned.

Again thanks to all on the forum for all the great advice.

Shipped BIOS Ver is 206.

PS - If you guys need any info off the laptop or for me to do any specific testing please let me know.

 

Yes, I usually also do it in this way.
I always send a letter with the notebook describing the problem again.

I also assume the technicians are too lazy to go and look into the exact details of the RMA at their computer.

So far I had never had a problem with my RMAs.

 

Hey! You get out of that car and put the dumbbell down! No smashing until you get some use out of it.

 

I already have 3 RMAs bro

 

it had on their suppose fix log. "Customer complains about trash behind screen"

 

I think you're supposed to keep one finger stationary (most likely your thumb) and then sort of move your pointer finger in an arc (like using a compass) and that will make the rotate symbol appear.

 

Did they solve the peeling palm rest prob for you?

 

oh yeah palm rest is great...touchpad does not work..now also.

 

They changed the peeling palm rest with the new one? Why your touch pad is not working?

 

Maybe try to complain to ASUS Customer Care here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=275694

 

Three things are about to happen.

1. I call asus and I receive a refund.
OR
2. A new laptop will be issued.
OR
If 1 or 2 do not happen
3. I will utilize my 1 year accident damage protection and I will make sure this one is beyond repair.

 

At least film it so we can all enjoy!

 

a friend of mine ran over his laptop with a car so he could use the accidental damage warranty.

 

I think Tony needs to make sure his is all set before trying to use it. Give them a call first.

 

just make sure you totally destroy it, you dont want them fixing a piece and sending back the same laptop.

 

my luck...been on hold the notebook RMA guy was about to tell me what they can do for me and bam phone disconnected. They are doing maintenance on their phone system....he told me that at beginning of phone call. This is ridiculous.

 

Hello,

What software would you guys recommend for monitoring GPU and CPU temperatures? Thanks!

 

Ever since I tried fixing up my LCD display with the ati color controls I'm getting miserable battery life. Does this mean I have to choose between a semi-decent LCD and battery life?

 

Tell them that you are going to sic LordDavon after them. I think I've scared them. My emails have been passed around so much, no one wants to take them anymore.

 

i fixed my dead pixel so you cant see it unless you tilt the screen and look real close. pressed it real hard with my finger while powering my screen on and off. Warning: try at your own risk.

 

LOL.

1. set on fire with lighter fluid
2. dropped in bath tub
3. 10 .22 caliber rounds shot into it
4. rolled over with girlfriend Toyota corolla

the above should do the trick for a new laptop to be issued.

I will let everyone know when I get it in.