Is the ASUS N61JQ-X1 a good notebook?

Is directX 10.1 or 11 worth it? I really don't know. I've been out of the computer game scene for a few years. I've stuck mostly to my PS3 and 360 but I miss the 64 player games I used to get into on Battlefield 2 on my old pc. So I figured this time around I would get a good pc. But I don't want to find out in a year or so that I should have gotten the N61 because all games require DX11 or something like that.

If its something as small as a 10-15 fps difference, such as 30 fps in crysis vs. 45fps. Then I really don't care and will go with the N61. But if its coming down to significant difference then I'll go with the gx72 so I can play my games smoothly.

 

I'm not really sure what the difference in performance would be in Crysis. I did read some posts that someone was getting 37fps average in Crysis by overclocking the 5730. I think it was with the N71JQ which has basically the same components as the 61 model. That was also on a higher resolution monitor as well.

 

I guess thats my big question then. How big of a difference is there between the two? Is it really anything noticable?

Also is DirectX 10.1 and 11 worth it? For instance I might get battlefield bad company 2. If I did, will it only run will if I have a card thats compatible with 10.1 or 11?

All of this gets so confusing after a while.

 

For the difference between the 5730 and GTX260m, I checked notebookchecks benchmark list. For Crysis the 5650 (a 5730 is a higher-clocked 5650) managed 58fps on medium, while the GTX did 68. If you jump to high settings, the 5650 gets 28 while the GTX gets 37. So really its similar, although in other games the 5650 is the same or faster. So I think for you, they would both be good, you have to decide if DX11 and i7 is better than DX10 slightly faster with a slower proc.

 

What about a game like FSX? Does the advanctage then swing to the N61 with the i7, given that FSX is supposed to need a stronger CPU??

 

I ended up going with a Toshiba x505-Q860. Its not a very good laptop for travel. It weighs almost 10lbs and has an 18.4 inch screen. But it seems to play games well. It has an i5 processor 4gb ddr3 memory and the new geforce gts 360m video card. So far I'm happy with my choice.

I really wanted the new processor line and the 260m card but I didn't want to spend a fortune. For only $200 over budget. I got the 360m which is supposed to be faster.

 

I would love to know how it runs too with FSX! Can anyone test it out?