Any Other ASUS NX90JQ Owners?

I recently purchased an ASUS NX90JQ and would like to talk to other owners.

Are there other ASUS forums that I should check out?

Thanks

 

I have had my Asus NX90 for two weeks now. It seems we both bought it from the same place based on what your other thread said. For a grand I am happy with the NX90. If I had paid full retail for it, or anything close to full retail, I don't think I would feel as good about the purchase. I also have a little extra $ put into the NX90 as I upgraded to a SSD and put 8 gigs of good RAM into it...so, for around $1,300 total I have a pretty damn fine machine to use.

My chief complaints so far after two weeks are:
1. I am still getting used to the track pad locations, but I think overall I like having one on each side and I find I use my left hand more than when the location is in the front. I find the pads are not as responsive as pads on other laptops I have owned in the past.

2. The display is good, not great, image quality. This would have been more of an issue if I had paid full price for the laptop. But at least it's 1080.

3. The CPU and GPU did run on the hot side. The CPU had two cores hit 80c under a decent load. And because of the layout and the way the heat pipes are used the GPU will heat up due to the CPU, even when GPU is not really being used. So, I bit the bullet and opened her up and put some good thermal grease on the CPU & GPU last weekend. I dropped CPU temps about 8-10c under load and 3-5c at idle. GPU dropped about 3-5c.

4. Kinda same as the display...the speakers are good not great. At least I don't have to use headphones to hear sound like with most laptops I have owned in the past.

Like I said for the money I have into this machine and what I an getting in return...I am very happy. It's on par with a Mac Book Pro that would have cost me around $3,000 and the NX90 even has a few more bells and whistles. Let me know what your impressions of the NX90 are.

Oh one more thing...I was missing the TV antena, driver & recovery discs, and all Asus booklets (owners manual, warrenty, etc.) I am pretty sure these items were supposed to be in the box. Did you get any of those items? I made calls to MS and Asus and have gotten no help.

 

I would love to talk with you more off site.

You can contact me at AOL with same ID.

Thanks

 

Pretty much standard for any notebook - once you start shopping for comparable computers, you get a great deal if you go non cupertino-foxconn instead of cupertino-foxconn.

My question ... how does the finish feel? Does it *feel* like a $2k notebook (that's the MSRP, iirc). I'm curious, because I definitely don't feel like the g-series laptops have a nice "finish" - sure, I paid just as much and the internals are better but the feel is ... cheap.

Though I almost got a nx90 instead of my g73. At the time, they were both about the same price. I kinda wish I'd gone the nx90 route, since I was hoping that the g73 refresh would give me an upgrade path for my GPU, and it didn't.

 

I also got mine from the MS store. My antenna and manuals were also missing. One question, there is a small circle next to the webcam opening. The manual describes it as a webcam use indicator and shows a picture of a light bulb. When calling ASUS they said there is no webcam use indicator which contradicts the manual. Do any of your webcams have a use indicator that lights up?

 

Why off site? That's what forums are all about...discussion, whether it be positive or negative.

The feel and finish of the NX90 are definitely high end. It is a very well built sturdy machine...from how everything is accessable when you slide the bottom cover off (unlike some laptops where you have to remove the keyboard to get to certain items or no access at all to components) to even how the plastic Asus used feels better than other laptops I have owned. IMO the only comparable machine for feel, finish, and design would be an Apple product. And there is no way I would ever pay the premium that Apple charges for their products. I would also say I was not going to pay the premium Asus is charging for the NX90 either. If I had not come across the MS store sale for the NX90 I was going to buy a G73 or G74 series machine.

Hmm, I watched about 4 or 5 unboxing videos on the web and they all had those items we seem to be missing. Even the owners man makes mention of the antenna. But Asus does not list what should have come in the box anywhere so I guess we are SOL. Not a deal breaker I just wanted everything that I paid for and that was supposed to be there. Yes when my webcam is on the indicator lights up a very faint green.

 

IF one does not exist you people need an Owner's Lounge. You could always model it after the now legendary
Official Asus G73JH Owners Lounge

 

Of course you are right that this is what forums are for, but I was hoping to actually talk on the phone to discuss rather than trying to go into everything and wait for an answer, which might include follow-up questions, and more waiting for the other one to log on and answer. BTW, I never heard from him; so, I don't think that he has been back on since then.

It seemed much easier to try to talk on the phone. Also, at the time, he was the only one who had answered, and I didn't know if anyone else had an interest.

I know a little about computers, but probably less than most people here, which meant that I had more than a few questions to ask about, and that would have meant a lot of typing and trying to explain what I meant.

Here are some observations from a Noobie after a week.

1. The emanual was already preloaded on my machine.
2. I was disappointed in the sound UNTIL I saw there is something called Sonic Blaster which allows you to adjust the sound.
3. I have been coordinating with ASUS and Microsoft about getting the TV antenna, TV antenna adaptor, and cable feed adaptor. ASUS has told me to get an RMA, which I am in the process of doing. Hopefully, I will receive these one day.
4. Even though I will probably never use or need it, I also added 8 more gigs of RAM.
5. I have always used a wireless mouse; so I am very happy that the touchpads are on the side instead of the bottom middle, because my palms were always touching and moving my cursor on my old machine.
6. The display is outstanding to me, especially over my Toshiba. There is also a preloaded software called Spendit Utility that lets you adjust your display.
7. Probably most of you don't intend to carry this around, but I will be going overseas for several months, which is another reason that I bought this multimedia computer. Anyway, I have done a lot, and I mean several hours, searching on the internet for something to carry this in. I finally found a company in Canada, http://www.bigbadbags.com/oversized-laptop-bag-black.html, that has them. I haven't ordered yet. If anyone knows of other bags, please let me know.

Two areas that I could use some help in:
1. I went to the ASUS Download page for this computer, and there were like 64 available downloads. Some I can figure out, but when it comes to BIOS and more technical aspects, I am at a loss. Could someone tell me which ones they have and I should download?
2. My cam works, but Yahoo Messenger doesn't recongise it. YM says that I don't have a cam. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Ah ok, I was just curious to know the reason why. I generally don't stray from the forums...ya never know what someone's intentions might be, lol.

Hmm...I will be interested to hear what becomes of the RMA for you. I personally have two case numbers open with MS and one with Asus that were both opened the Friday I recieved the laptop, and I have not received a reply from anybody yet. I have just givin up.

Adding the extra stick of RAM helps no matter the size because now it should be running in dual channel instead of single channel mode. My laptop arrived with most everything up to date. You should be on BIOS ver 207. When I ran windows update it had a few updates for the BT, touchpad, and for the IR receiver. The only thing you would need to update if you want is for the GPU and you can go to Nvidia's website for the latest driver. Asus's site uses a older version for the GPU. I got nothing for the YM webcam problem.

 

Can you tell me how/where to do or get the RMA?

How do I know if I am on BIOS ver 207?

When I bought the computer, I added the Signature Premium to it, because I did, I "seem" to be getting a little better service from MS. I don't know if it will help, but I will keep trying, and let you know.

Everybody who bought from MS and didn't get the extra parts, should complain and keep complaining until we get some results.

Thanks for the help and info.

 

A RMA generally requires you sending everything back to the seller for a replacement or credit. MS is who would issue you the RMA. This laptop was a clearance sale item so what MS told me was all sales are final and there was nothing th
ey could do about missing items and Asus said it's a MS problem as I did not buy it from them. All I know is I will never buy from MS store ever again.

When you turn the laptop on and the Asus splash screen is shown press F2 to enter the BIOS and it will show what version on the front page. Or go to system info in Windows and it list the version there also.

 

Regarding the missing components, I received an email for ASUS telling me to contact ASUS Product Support to get an RMA number for service. I haven’t done that, but will, and keep you informed.

Questions regarding this model:

1. Another member mentioned upgrading to an SSD. What is an SSD and what does it do or improve?

2. I read a reviewer who said they made their own System Recovery DVDs and that it took about 2 ½ hours. I thought I did, but it only took about 3 minutes. Anybody else make any and how long did it take?

3. I haven’t had a computer with partitions in the hard drives like this one. It is almost like having 4 small hard drives. Is this good, bad, or makes no difference?

4. Which of these ASUS Downloads do I need? I really don’t know what they are or do.

A. BIOS Utilities--Windows BIOS Flash Utility and AFLASH2 Utility
B. AI Recovery utility
C. ASUS Configuration Utility
D. Power4Gear Hybrid Utility
E. Mult Utility
F. ASUS IP Switch Utility
G. ASUS Wireless Switch (Wireless Console3) Utility
H. ASUS FancyStart Utility
I. ASUS Data Security Manager Utility
J. SmartLogon Utility
K. System Monitor Utility
L. ITE remote controller application
M. Intel(R)_Management_Engine_Interface
N. Keyboard Device Filter Utility
O. Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver

Thanks

 

Hey Gang:

I also bought the NX90JQ through the MS Store when it came down to under $1K, plus I got a free XBox with Educational coupon.

Say, I believe the machine came with 1 4GB RAM chip. I would like to upgrade to 12 MB. Any recommendations on what brand of RAM I should buy for this ASUS?
Crucial has the 4GB module for $37.

Feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Also, has anyone found a guide on how to upgrade the RAM? Do I just need to remove the cover underneath?

Thanks,

Will

 

Hey Wannagofast:
Did you remove one of the Hard Drives to install the SSD? or is there an additional bay for it? Would be cool to boot OS from an SSD! Do you notice speed?
What did you get for SSD? RAM Brand?

Thanks,

Will

 

I bought 8 gigs of RAM from Crucial. They were about $80. I am not that computer literate; so, I am not sure if they were good or the best.

I did a search on Youtube for NX90 or NX90JQ, and there is a 3 part series starting with unboxing. One of these, tells and shows how to take the bottom cover off and install RAM and other things.

For myself, I was scared of doing something wrong and the RAM chip was a lot harder to push in than I thought it would be.

 

4. Kinda same as the display...the speakers are good not great. At least I don't have to use headphones to hear sound like with most laptops I have owned in the past.??????????????????????????????????????????????????
had you found any laptop before that you would put your term on it good speakers ?

 

Thanks Texas!! I'll look for the youtube unboxing.
I've bought Crucial before, but always looking for opinions.

Will

 

Ok good luck with the RMA.

A SSD = Solid State Drive. A SSD replaces the Hard Drive. The main benefits of a SSD are: big increase in read/write speeds, no moving parts (ie the platter spinning and the head moving over the platter), and less heat. Realistically where you would see the difference is, boot times and shut down time will be cut in half if not more and big files take less time to copy/write to the SSD than a HDD. This is the second SSD I have purchased and I don't think I can ever go back to a HDD.

A full recovery disc is basically a ISO image of the whole hard drive. So if your HDD fails you can put a new HDD in and throw the disc in and have a fuctioning computer again. The back up you did was just for programs, pics, vids, docs, etc...the OS/Windows did not get saved and without that you are SOL, unless you by a new copy of Windows.

Unless MS removed some programs while doing their service your laptop has all those programs installed. Like I said before the only thing you should need to update is the GPU driver and only if you want too. I did not notice any difference between what ver the laptop shipped with and the most current ver.

 

I actually removed both HDD and just have the SSD drive installed. And, yes there are only two HDD slots so one would have to be removed for a SSD to be installed. The drive slot below the fan is sata port one, and that should be the drive with the OS on it (that's how mine was set-up) so remove that one if you want to put a SSD with OS on it, and you can use the second HDD for pics, vids, etc.

I use Intel SSD. They are not the fastest but I think they are much more reliable. I own two, the one for the NX90, and one I have in my other laptop for about 5 months. No problems thus far. If you by Intel SSD make sure you download the Intel SSD toolbox software to use with the drive. I am a big fan of GSkill RAM. I have used it in three desktop builds and two laptops...never had a problem, even overclocking the RAM on the desktops no issues.

Just one note about the RAM slots: when I first put my two sticks of RAM in I put them in slots 1 and 2, turned the computer on and it still had the RAM running in single channel mode. So I put the second stick into slot 3 and now they are running dual channel. It's probably better that way anyway because it leaves some space between the two sticks.

No. I consider most laptop speakers to be worthless. I guess I was expecting a little bit better performace being that it's Bang & Olufsen and they hyped up that fact. So, these are the best speakers I have heard with a laptop...just not $1,800-$2,000 (retail cost of laptop) worthy, IMO.

 

In my first post, I asked if there were other Computer forums that have a section for ASUS owners.

I know that there are more NX90JQ owners than the few who have responded here. I would like to contact other owners to exchange info.

Any other good ASUS forums?

Thanks

 

I downloaded an update for my BIOS 207, but when I tried to open it, I get a message that this is a Type 207 file and cannot be opened.

How can I update my BIOS? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

It sometimes feels like I send these messages out into a vacuum because I usually don't get any replies.

Oh well, this information is just for owners of the ASUS NX 90 computers. I ordered and received today a computer bag from:

BigBadBags - Large Computer Bags Specially Built for Big 18, 19, 20 inch plus Laptops - Oversized - Black | Oversized Laptop Bags | BigBadBags

It is a company in Canada, and I was very concerned that the bag would not be big enough. Thankfully, it is. The computer just fits, but it does fit.

The price was $64.99 plus $20 shipping. It took about a week or so.

It looks like a very nice bag with several pockets.

 

BIOS should not be updated from windows- save the BIOS file on a fat32 formatted USB stick (at the root is the best position), then boot to the BIOS (F2 shortly after power on) and use the flash tool built into the BIOS, avoid winflash - some have bricked their machines using it.
See Step 2 option A. Updating BIOS with EasyFlash
in this thread (but ignore the F4 references)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/174395-bios-update-guide-asus-notebooks.html#sec:easyflash
If you are having an issue that the BIOS update addresses, go for it. If you are not having any issues, no need to flash -.

 

After many weeks and numerous emails, ASUS has now put the TV Antenna and TV Antenna Adapter on their eStore for sale:

ASUS eStore

These are two of the missing components some of us did not receive with our computer. The other one is the Cable Feed Adapter. I think that we are SOL there.

Dan

 

Hi, I bought a refurbished NX90jq-B1 recently. The laptop looks new but I'm having trouble with the left trackpad because it won't scroll up and down the page with two fingers. I was able to scroll up and down briefly when I re-installed the driver but it's not working again. The right trackpad is fine. Any suggestion to fix the problem? Thanks.