Asus N61Jv-x2 vs Asus N61Jq-x1

I've narrowed it down to these two and I need help making a decision. I'm going to be a college student next year so battery life is important, I need something that will last around 3 hours or so. Also i'm not much of a gamer, but I might be doing some light gaming such as Count Strike: Source and older games like that, nothing graphic intensive like Crysis. The N61Jq has a slightly better graphics card and the i7 compared to the i5 in the N61Jv. The Jq is now only around $55 more than the Jv so I was wondering if it was worth it? How does the battery life compare? I won't be doing much gaming, more web browsing, school work, office apps, and multimedia (music, videos, etc.) Which would you recommend for me? Thanks.

 

General Questions

1) What is your budget? Around $1,000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator. USA.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

a. Like: Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo
b. Dislike: HP, Sony (Seem too pricey imo)

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed? No, i'd prefer new.

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook? School work, Basic Microsoft Office Apps, Web-browsing, Multimedia i.e. Listening to music, watching videos etc. Possible DAW work such as Fruity Loops, and possible light gaming. Basic multimedia stuff.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? Both.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games? Possibly, older games such as Counter Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, and possibly like Call of Duty: MW2, nothing too graphics intensive.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need? 3-4 Would be nice. The more the better.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK? I plan on ordering online.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc. Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? 1366X768 is fine.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? It doesn't matter to me, either or.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? Somewhat, but the inside is more important.

15) When are you buying this laptop? Anytime from now until August, the sooner the better.

16) How long do you want this laptop to last? 3-4 years preferably.

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive? 500GB would be nice, but I have a portable external HD. Not familiar with SSD drive, so most likely no.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive? Yes, CDRW/DVD-ROM. Blu-Ray would be nice, but not needed.

 

Damn, no opinions?

 

I wish more people would answer too, as I'm looking at the same two laptops, and I'm watching these threads closely.

Here's my thinking...I'm just going by researching these two laptops and combing the Internet--I have no direct experience with either one yet....

Since you say that you're a "light gamer" and that battery life is important, I think the N61Jv would be your best bet. The JQ's battery life is definitely shorter than the Jv. I've read that the battery in the JQ is only 1.5 to 2 hours, and the JV can go over 4 hours, depending on the mode. Also, although the Jv has a less powerful video card than the JQ, it looks like it can handle most games on at least medium settings (and many pre-2009 games on high). So the Jv could handle Counter Strike and the like with no problem at all. This is a quote from a reviewer on Amazon:

Edit: Here's another one for the JV:

I hope this helps...others, please feel free to chip in!

 

I'm sold on the Jv-x2 due to the battery life. Having that longer batter life is much more important to me than the core i7 (which would probably be overkill) and the GPU which would be more than enough for what I need (heck I might not even have time to play games!) I'm pretty confident that the Jv-x2 is a great all-around package for what I need and will last me through college hopefully. Here is a review of the Jv-x2 which finally sold me.

ASUS N61Jv-X2: Optimus GT325M Meets Arrandale - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

 

I went through the same process you did, and I chose the N61JQ. I don't do heavy gaming, but I'm glad I went with the i7 because of it's eight logical cores. For what you've said, I think the i5 would be fine.

That said, the GT325 is a DirectX 10.1 card, and the ATI in the Q is a DirectX 11 card. For $55, getting the ATI and i7 is an awesome deal, you've better set yourself for a graphics card for the next couple of years. (DirectX 11 is already 10 months old I think?)

The difference in the 3dMark scores between the GT325 and the ATI 5730 are around 10,000 vs. 14,000, which might mean nothing if the former does what you want it to, but it's still significant when you consider that your getting around 10fps extra on several games' benchmarks running at Med-High. The lower you set the graphics, the less benefit you'll get.

If you really need extra battery life, then the processor difference might be a concern. Does the V have switchable graphics? That might give you an extra 30 minutes. But the i7 is supposed to keep unused cores powered down unless you need them. If your concern is battery, then I doubt you'll be trying to play Crysis while on the go anyway, thus the power consumption should be relatively close.

Both the i5 and i7 are nice processors, and very power efficient. I don't think you'll get THAT much extra battery life unless you really task the processor, and in that case, I think it all equals out anyway. But if you really need all the battery you can get, I guess that answers the question.

The bottom line is you can't go wrong with either choice. I went with the i7, but I'm rarely away from a plug for 6 hours at a time. I could always leave mine unplugged for a night and tell you how long it lasts just browsing forums.

 

what about the heat in the i7? would it be a problem ?

 

I ultimately settled for the Jv-x2 with the i5, and yes it does have switchable graphics which will add to the battery life. Due to the fact that I won't be doing any hardcore gaming, possibly none at all if I don't have time, I figure the battery life is much more important to me. Being a soon to be college student I want something that I will be able to take to class for a few hours and not have die on me, rather than something that would have much less battery life and be overkill for anything that I would be doing. All in all I think I made the right choice.