ASUS N61Jq A1 user reviews (16" - Core i7 720QM - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB HDD)

Pros Core i-7 -720m processor w/ ATI 5730 discrete graphics & 1GB DDR3 ram provide a powerful laptop for the price, having USB 3.0 output/ Express Card 34/ eSata/ adds to versatility for business, or gaming. Weight feels less than expected Boot w/

Cons Asus FALSELY advertises a premium amplified (21cc) with cone speakers, ASUS and Amazon had advertised on website; IT'S NOT THERE- playing audio sample words like tinny, horrible, poor come to mind. Screen washed out unless angle perfect- then Fair

Summary By the advertised specifications the laptop should be GREAT. NOT having features advertised by both Asus & Amazon brings consumer satisfaction to POOR at best. When both Asus and Amazon advertise a TV spec separate amplifier, with special cone speakers and ported sound, and Asus has a really great Video on their website touting how wonderful the sound is for this laptop- playing this unit is a monster let-down (own B&O audio equip & when purchased was their best Penta speakers, have owned premium sound equipment & speakers for over 40 years)- worse playing the demo sound tracks in this laptop, unit sounds tinny, weak, no depth or quality to the sound and actually is worse than most laptops (Personally and Business have owned a couple dozen over the years- not cheap either)

There is a discrepancy between Asus website and Amazon on other features, including duration of warranty, included optical mouse to name a couple. Would not put any credence in Asus website in any fashion. Asus has the best track record at the moment according to Square Deal- best hope you get a good one & buy from dealer you can count on. Have had two Asus units in past six months- first was an Asus N10Jh-A1, a $700 10" netbook like laptop with discrete graphics and many features. The N10Jh also had more problems than any computer ever owned. Blue screened at boot, taking 3-4 times before getting some use. Using HDMI, you had to delete the built in speakers to get HDMI to work at all, cannot have plugged in. When after repeated boots, you manage to get to the desktop, then you could plug the HDMI cable into the laptop. Asus Tech completely at loss to fix or explain issues, unit returned to Amazon (normally good on returns). N10Jh is mentioned as a lead for the N61Jq-X1 (A1 is exactly the same except it's really 2-yr warranty as advertised, X1 is one year?)
The N61Jq unit BLUE SCREENED DURING INITIAL SETUP. Never had a computer do that before. Turned laptop on, put in name, date/time, password, reached point where you create four System Restore Backup discs, 30minutes into disc #1- Blue Screen of Death. Black Screen, back to starting over for Backup discs. Second try for Disc #1- BSD, error box, lock up, back to starting over on Disc #1 (3rd one) This STARTED at 26%, and FOUR hours later all four Recovery Backup Discs are done. Doubt it should have taken that long. Provided detailed tech info from laptop on the malfunction to Asus TECH AFTER trying to find on Asus Help and Forum. Asus Tech ignores what was sent, apologizes for having problems to Altec speakers and for us to reinstall the driver????????? Now have Four Tech Issue numbers, meaningless unless Asus reads what you send. Since the initial setup, in a month the laptop has Blue Screened TWICE while playing a movie on internet. NO new programs were installed, Have done all updates since the start-up problem and obviously something is wrong. Trying to get Amazon to replace the unit with a Sony instead of Asus, paying the cost difference in price. After taking over 45 days instead of 3 days before last return was credited, have requested Amazon send the replacement at same time as the defective unit is returned. NOT their policy and we are being ignored by Amazon. Disappointing, waiting to see if resolved.

Amazon is now aware (after our emails pointing out the Falsely advertised features, has changed the ad on this unit and reportedly will be doing the same to others we pointed out). May be stuck with Asus. If not, will be buying a Sony. Reference Asus, Toshiba and Sony are within 1% of each other for having the lowest three year failure rate according to statistics by Square Deal Warranty Co. (great company, reasonably priced, and where you should get your extended warranty- their only exclusion is the Dead on Arrival issues for first 60 days, which is why it's important to buy from a good dealer,,problems, get it replaced ASAP.

Windows 7 on this laptop is great,, nothing at all like Vista which is replaced. Would say it compares favorably to XP which is on Toshiba laptop we own. Should have enough information to make an informed decision. Don't take something from one source, compare to others, compare to sites, and read all of customer reviews. Rule of thumb, If the total of four and five stars is three times what the total of 1 to 3 stars.. ie thirty four and five stars (total of both) is three times, the ten totaling all the 1,2 &3 stars... on average, might be good product IMHO. Hope this helps. davzway (general contractor/construction consultant for this company since 1982, personally since late 60's.

Pros * Speed is exactly what you would expect from the early edition i7 quad-core
* Machine never gets hot on the bottom - this is a huge positive, in my book.
* I think the graphics are just fine for what I do with it. No hesitating
* USB 3.0!

Cons * As with most owners of this model - battery life.
* On that same subject - the design does not allow an extended battery (after market) to work. Bummer.
* Be CAREFUL flashing the BIOS! Only do is if you HAVE to

Summary All in all I am still as pleased with this machine as when I purchased it. The one major issue I had with it is when I flashed the BIOS and it killed the board. Asus warranty was seamless and quick - I contacted a local authorized svc center in Atlanta and everything went flawlessly. I didn't expect spectacular graphics as this is not a gamer system so the graphics it has is perfectly fine for what I do with it. The dedicated RAM is a huge plus - I've never had 'jumpy' problems with any video I've ran on it. I did boost my RAM to the 8G and have a 750G drive in it but other than that I've not had to do any other enhancements. I love the USB 3.0 having now purchased a 3Tb external with USB 3.0 for backups - data really does FLY across that connection.

As a hardware tech I am always being asked what I recommend for various situations and I now recommend Asus laptops...and would still recommend this model for someone not needing the power of the latest technology on the market.

Pros Fast, good gaming machine, decent battery life, very portable, looks sweet, several nice power options, HDMI plug allows for external monitor

Cons Fan can be a little loud, lots of bloatware installed, low screen resolution

Summary I've loved this laptop so far. It's very portable, and easy to lug around. The battery life isn't the best that I've had, but the many different power-modes allow for good tweaking between performance / battery life depending on the situation. As I leave it plugged in most of the time, I don't find this to be a problem.

The I7 CPU is a beast and the video card runs any games that I've thrown at it. I can't turn all of the setting to max on my 1920x1080 24" monitor without a noticeable degradation in frame rate, but I can certainly get it to a point that is better than acceptable. It has been my main machine for gaming, netflix, etc.

The fan runs a little loud and the temperatures run a little high when under heavy load sometimes, but I haven't noticed any performance issues due to this. It's been running solid for the ~2 years that I've had it, I haven't had to reinstall or anything.

Would definitely recommend.

Pros fast processor and graphics and USB 3.0

Cons hot CPU and low resolution screen for 16"

Summary i like this product. it has a hot cpu, but nowdays all laptops with i7 and i5 have such problems! mostly sony VAIO!!!
i've chosen this for its nice processor and graphics and usb 3 port. and something else u should know, you can really use it on your lap! hot air comes out of left side only.
good choice! i'm sure it's better than dell, hp and vaio (i've used hp,vaio and dell before and dont trust them).