ASUS G51JX-A1 vs. ASUS N61JQ-A1

Which do you recommend getting between these 2 and why? I know there are subtle differences between the 2 (screen size, screen resolution, offered ports, weight, etc.).

Which would you get or have gotten and why? Thanks.

 

I'd go for the N61JQ. Just so I have a laptop that I can actually bring into the public eye without me turning red.

 

I'm looking at both as well. Right now I'm leaning towards the G51 just for raw performance and screen res.

I would like to see a detailed comparison of the video cards. According to xoticpc, the G51 scored roughly 25% higher 3dmark, but that's the only real data I've been able to dig up.

I would also like to have DX11, not because it's necessary as of this second, but to future-proof the laptop as much as possible.

 

Multiple thread with same Q :d
Never mind, I ll say if you can better avoid i7 (4 core versions) processors and choose i5. So the alternative would be N61JA

 

They both have a i7 720QM as the base config. Looked for similar posts up to 7 pages back and didn't see anything on this comparo.

 

I think the future DirectX11 games will be more power demanding than what Radeon 5730 can provide now. Unless you can enjoy those DirectX11 tesselation in lower quality.

 

Dude, seriously, we are not getting the JA in the States. Quit telling people to not get the i7!

 

The G51 is 15.6" and weighs 7.26 lbs.

The GTS 360M is slightly faster than the ATI 5730, but the 5730 is DirectX 11.

The G51 has a higher resolution screen (full HD) than the N61.

The N61 is also slimmer and weighs less than the G51.

But the N61 does not have a firewire (IEEE) port. The G51 does have a Firewire port and 1 extra USB port.

Wish I could combine the 2 laptops into 1....

 

I do wish we were getting the i5 though. The i7 with certain powerful GPUs seem to really heat up a laptop and probably lead to greater battery drain.

An i5-520M would come somewhat close to approximating a virtual quad core processing power with its Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost. Maybe not as well as a natural quad core like the i7, but at least it would burn cooler and use less power.

Don't even get me started on the poser i5-430.

 

Xotic got 3dmark of 7971 on N61 and 8461 on G51. That's about 16% better on the G51.

N61 has USB3.0 (1 port)

 

^^ That's really a very small improvement for the 3D Mark score. I'm debating on these two as well, as you can see in my sig. I'll put what I like and dislike most about each laptop below, in order of importance. I'll only put the things that are different between the two, to stay on topic with the thread.

G51
Pros: High resolution screen, better video card, back lit keyboard
Cons: More expensive, Screen may be too high of a resolution for my liking (ideal for me would be something like 1600 x 900)

N61
Pros: Better Portability, less flashy design, USB 3.0
Cons: Worried about the low screen resolution, no back lit keyboard (not a big deal though really)



So there are my thoughts right now on the subject. Another pro for the N61 in my case is that I'd be able to get it from a reseller like Xotic or GenTech. I can't afford the G51Jx-A1 model, so if I were to go that route I'd have to get the G51Jx-X1 from Newegg.

 

Does the G51Jx really have a backlit keyboard? I wasn't aware of that.

They're also saying on another thread that the G51Jx comes standard with 1333 MHz RAM (not 1066). But all the resellers like Xoticpc and GenTech are charging $$$ to upgrade the G51Jx's RAM from the "original standard" 1066 RAM to 1333. What gives??

 

I've been using a laptop for almost 5 years (Dell Inspiron 710m). I hadn't realized that the newer laptops have gone to a 16x9 aspect ratio (vs. my laptop's 4x3 aspect ratio).

Today's 15" laptops are just slightly larger than the old 14" 4x3 aspect ratio laptops! I miss the 4x3 aspect ratio screen laptops!

 

That means they haven't updated their websites yet. However it may be by now, they just changed the N71 RAM specs.

 

Good point Reich. It's amazing that if the OEM's like ASUS aren't keeping the resellers in the loop, what chance do we have?

 

how long can the N61jq-a1 last in terms of gaming and CPU??
can it perform well when playing games like L4d2 and AVP ....etc??

 

Honestly speaking, I'd choose the N61 over the G51 any day. The memory difference is strictly psychological (even the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 is negligible for gaming), and the reduction in weight, larger screen, and overall much classier design is excellent in my opinion.

Also, that 16% increase in 3DMark. What people need to realize is that the performance growth over time is not linear. It's not as though a mid range card of 2005 gets 1000 points, 2006 gets 2000 points, 2007 gets 3000 points, and ... ... 2010 gets 6000 points, and therefore in 2011 it should get 7000 points. It is something like polynomial growth. Essentially, one or two years from now the GTS 360M and HD 5730 are going to look about equally out of date. I still remember back 2.5 years ago people making these comparisons between the GeForce 7600 go and the 7700 go, and saying that one card is clearly superior to the other, etc, etc. Looking at it now, they seem to have pretty much identical performance, don't they?

 

I'd guess it is quite capable of playing vidja games. Gentech has a video on Youtube of the N61JQ playing Crysis on high settings (except med shadows/shaders/no AA). It isn't as smooth toward the end but I'm pretty sure it would handle L4D2 just fine. I should give AVP a try myself, hope it's good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1w45_VuGZk

 

5730 will play L4D2 fine...

GTS 360M vs. 5730 will be an interesting debate. 3dMark is a nice comparison but rarely does 16% in 3dMark translate directly to real world performance...

My bet is that real world benchmarks put the cards a lot closer

 

i agree with this

 

Can you give a link please? The OP asked about the G51Jx, I haven't seen XoticPC posted anything about it to this point. On my G51Jx I've been getting 9600+ points stock and the G51J was doing even better. If the 8461 is for the non-G51J then that's at least 3 generations ago... just FYI.

Peter

Update: Actually I think he mistyped and meant to put 9461 - which would make more sense when he said it was 16% diff. Still be cool to see the G51Jx benches if there are any, I'd like to compare with my own.

Oh and I have to say, the Full HD screen looks awesome at 15.6" imho - so much lower resolution at 16" would drive me nuts - if not I'd probably have gone for the N61JQ-A1 myself. I agree that the G51Jx-A1 is flashy on the top: on both sides of the panel .

 

Hi.
I've been trying to decide on these 2 as well over the last couple days with all of your inputs.

Why is there a $400 difference at NCIX for these 2 again? The 2gb of RAM?
And what else?

Either of these seem to be what I need, not sure why the price difference when it's the cheaper one that's DX11, other than the RAM....

edit: oh man, I hadn't seen the pics of the g51... was just comparing at a site with no pic for it! The $ is for the fancy cover?

 

No, the $ is for a much better video card. GTS360M is a lot better than the 5730. With more power comes a need for more cooling.

Though it seems the difference is for some reason being debated. On another thread in the gaming forum we have people arguing that the GT 335M is roughly equal to the 5730. Now we have people arguing that the GTS360Mis roughly equal to it. Hopefully we don't get any 335M = 360M arguments.

In any case, if video card is not enough, you also get screen with a better resolution.

 

In terms of game play, would you also have to consider the screen resolutions?
Meaning, given the lower resolution of the N61, even though it has a slightly weaker GPU, would it perhaps still run higher frame rates at it's native resolution, than the G51 would at it's much higher native resolution (even with it's more powerful GPU)??

 

Yeah, if you plan on only playing games using the native resolution of the laptops, the N61 and G51 probably would give about the same performance. It's very possible that the N61 may even show better frame rates than the G51 at its native res, as it takes a lot of extra GPU power to make up for the much greater number of pixels that the G51 screen has over the N61. It's really hard to tell without looking at specific games run on each of the laptops using equal settings other than resolution.

 

I'm a newb, so sorry if this is a dumb question, but aren't you supposed to play games at the native resolution?? Or do most go to a lower res. when gaming??

 

I have a 1080p 23" monitor hooked up to an ASUS G1Sn with a 9500M GS. There is no way anything recent (non archaic) that will run at that resolution. I just make it run at 720p instead, but sure, I'd prefer native resolution. I think most people aren't picky to the point that they figure the game is unplayable unless at native res, but it's a good thing to have if possible.

 

Does anyone know if one of these computers is superior when it comes to reading online news articles? Does the resolution on either of these make text difficult to read?

Does anyone know which computer has the best sound system? The N61 looks like it has more speaker real estate, but the G51 has more sound software installed, including the Creative Audigy Gaming Sound. Has anyone had the opportunity to hear the sound on both?

I use my computer about 12 hours per day doing office type work, switching between graphs that are computed, and doing reading. Does either of these computers tend to get too hot if it is run for long periods of time, most of it non-gaming?

I am very close to making a decision, and these two computers are the finalists. I had a Dell XPS 16 that I had to return because it couldn't take the heat, but I have heard good things about the cooling design that is built into the ASUS.

Thanks to anyone who is familiar with some of these issues.

Richard

 

I'm user zero of the G51Jx.

About reading news articles, it depends what is comfortable for you - I find it quite nice. You can adjust the font in most cases depending on how close you will be sitting, and you can also adjust the resolution down if you have extra - but you can't change a lower res screen into a higher one.

One thing I can say, after reviewing the user reviews on the N61JQ-A1/X1 - the common complaint is "Con: not much. minor stuff like resolution could of been higher," "The only thing I am not too ecstatic about is the extra "features" preinstalled, and maybe it not having 1920x1080 resolution." Note that the lids are radically different between the two.

I have not heard both unfortunately, the speakers aren't perfect but they're pretty good. I'm neutral here, don't have any info to be anything different.

You can set the mode of the computer to Quiet Office and set the CPU at a low max speed when you want it to be quieter, run longer on battery and not get as hot.

Hope that helps,
Peter