PROS:
On the initial setup, the laptop played a pretty cool Asus video that showed many "on" buttons forming various images. It made the purchase seem even more personal. Nice touch Asus. Here's a link: paste "ASUS Laptop Startup Video (2009 ASUS)(HD)" on Youtube. Watch in HD fullscreen to get the same feel. Yes simple things amaze me x_o.
My first impression of this laptop is its big size. I'm used to running a netbook, in terms of mobile pc. Examining the layout closely, the screen isn't the perpetrator herethe speaker adds roughly 2 inches to the width. Although this is easily forgiven once I heard the sound quality, which is similar to an HDTV's. This may make the laptop slightly bigger than regular 16in notebooks, but for an "entertainment"-advertised laptop, it was necessary.
I'm happy it has an eSATA port because this allowed me to couple my internal hard drives with a hard drive docking station (Thermaltake BlacX). Really helpful for storage and backups. The USB3.0 is a great addition as well. Makes it a bit more future-proof. As for the touchpad, my netbook had the same exact touchpad and I always turned it off because I was not a fan of it. Nothing beats a mouse!
Battery life depends on 4 settings through a power-managing software called Power4Gear. At "High Performance" setting, no power saving option is on and the battery life drains within 2 hours. The more balanced "Entertainment" setting, lasts 3 hours. With the power option set to "Quiet Office", the battery life lasts 4 hours. Lastly, the"Battery Saving" mode increases the battery life even longer. What it does is it disables your wallpaper, gadgets, autohides the taskbar, lowers brightness to 20% and sets every setting to maximum power savings. Of course the realtime battery life will be ultimately affected by what task you are doing.
In terms of performance, this thing packs a wallop! It will not beat a same-priced desktop, but what's important is portability. It's a great purchase for the performance. Although keep reading to learn about the current GPU driver as a caveat emptor. Another warning: I believe this was first advertised as having bluetooth. I can confirm that it does not. While this is not a deal breaker, I feel it should have been included being an entertainment laptop. Some of the pre-installed softwares are helpful, like the Power4Gear battery managing software and the Splendid Utility which enhances the screen's color/contrast/brightness settings with preset modes. The Cyberlink TrueTheater HD software is amazing. I popped in my "LotR: Fellowship of the Ring" DVD and with the smoothest playback settings (60FPS) and sharpest modes, it seemed like a whole new movie. I do not own a bluray player so I'm not used to this type of quality, but yes, it is better than any YouTube 1080p HD trailers or any HD channels I've seen.
Graphic Card Tests (Gaming):
All games were tested on the Geforce GT325m (Optimus driver version 189.07), running at 1366x768 native resolution, full screen, and with FRAPS frame counter benchmark. I wanted to keep it at native resolution to show the highest resolution capability of this GPU. Lowering resolution and some graphical settings will unquestionably increase the frame rates, but playing graphically-lush games is always a delight.
Batman Arkham Asylum: Fight sequence VS 5 inmates at start of game)
Settings: VSync Off, Hardware PhysX Off, Detail level: Very High, 2xAnti-aliasing
Min FPS: 25, Avg FPS: 33 Max FPS : 50
Verdict: Smooth gameplay, lag-free.
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Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 : (Single Player: Heavy gun fight on "Act II: Hornet's Nest" level)
Settings: VSync On, All Graphic Settings On, All Textures set to Extra, 4xAnti-aliasing
Min FPS 30, Avg FPS 35, Max FPS 60 (Remember VSync caps this at screen's refresh rate, which is 60 in this case)
Verdict: Very playable considering it's at max in-game settings. Will experience some tiny lag spikes, which I also experienced on my desktop PC which has better specs than this laptop, so it must be the game.
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Mass Effect 2: (Gun fights on mission to recruit Prof. Mordin)
Settings: VSync On, All graphic settings on except for Film Grain, 4xAnti-aliasing, 8xAnisotropic Filtering
Min FPS 24, Avg FPS 38, Max FPS 49
Verdict : Smooth gameplay. Some random lags but does not ruin the experience.
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Crysis: (From game start all the way to "First Light" gun fights)
Test 1: VSync Off, Everything to Medium, No AA
Min FPS 19, Avg FPS 26, Max FPS 34
Verdict : Smooth gameplay, lag free even if the FPS results seem low. Graphic texture pop-ins on some of the vegetation, especially when using "maximum speed" boost.
Test 2: VSync Off, All graphic settings to medium, except for Texture and Shader at High. 2xAnti-Aliasing .
Min FPS 13, Avg FPS 16, Max FPS 20
Verdict : Clunky gameplay. With these settings, the texture looked sharper and much easier on the eyes, and while there are no dramatic lag spikes that will get you killed easily (it's a steady 15-16 frames on gun fights), the slow gameplay is quite noticeable.
Test 3: VSync Off, Everything to High except Shader to Medium, No AA
Min FPS 14, Avg FPS 22, Max FPS 29
Verdict : Smooth gameplay, but sometimes has that laggy feel to it. No jittering lag. Pretty impressive for the High settingI guess Shader is what really stresses the framerates.
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World of Warcraft: VSync off, Effects at Medium-High, Window Mode + Maximized option to properly scale the resolution
Test 1: Riding mount around Dalaran's North Bank steps with ~30 toons around me.
Min FPS 22, Avg FPS 33, Max FPS 39
Verdict: No lag
Test 2: Outside Dalaran, flying epic flight
Min 50, Avg 85, Max 150
Verdict: No lag
In instances, the gameplay is very smooth. Depending on the instance, some will be over 100FPS whereas the newer ones + raids, will be in the low 50s.
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6008 pts in 3DMark06
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10594 pts in 3DMark05
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CONS:
Note: This part of the review will only be valid until Nvidia releases the proper Forceware drivers for the laptop's GPU. The GT 325m series is relatively new; NVidia has one official release for it on their website: Optimus Driver 189.07. This driver is not bad. As shown by the benchmarks, 3D gaming works well. But here's where things tend to get annoying: the Nvidia GPU, with its current drivers, rely on the Intel integrated graphics to handle screen scaling. Meaning if you connect this to a larger monitor, in my case an Acer 21.5" 1080P native res widescreen LCD, scaling works well when the GPU running is the Intel IGP, but when you switch to games, you are forced to use the 1080p resolution through the in-game settings, which will be taxing on the framerates. I know the native resolution of the laptop does not match the monitor's, but with the "normal" geforce drivers, scaling to fit the screen works well and allows the laptop's native res to stretch the image onto the monitor. My ASUS 1201n netbook does this easily through it's Nvidia Control Panel, with the same native res as this laptop. I hope NVidia releases this capability with the next driver update.
I still do not trust the current Nvidia driver for this GPU just yet. Once it is properly optimized and up to date, the fps will increase. I'll update this entry if the graphic drivers are updated through NVidia or some modding website.
NVidia Optimus: This technology sounds great but I'm having a little problem with it. See, when my laptop is plugged in, the Optimus technology works just fine: the intel switches to the nvidia GPU when loading a 3D game. But when I load a 3D game while this laptop is unplugged (regardless whether battery is full or low charge), the GPU does NOT switch. It stays on the Intel GPU and I get low framerates. This problem occurs even if I use "High Performance" mode on the power settings, even if my preferred GPU is NVidia, even if I assign the game profile to load with Nvidia GPU, even if I right click and "run with graphics processor: High performance Nvidia processor". I do notice that if I suddenly plug the laptop to the outlet, the frames will go up fast again (as if the Nvidia GPU was suddenly turned on). There needs to be a better software-based of forcing the GPU on since the NV Control Panel is faulty at this point. Isn't the whole point of Optimus to provide performance when necessary and lengthen battery life, when available? Here is NVidia's claim: "Watch a HD movie, surf the web or play top 3D games knowing that you'll get the long battery life you need and the performance you expect from NVIDIA." This technology should work even on battery, as stated there. I would like to know if this is just my laptop doing thiscomment if you can help.
Update 1: there is a fix that works. Make sure your HDMI is in digital mode and not analog. This allows your monitor to do the scaling. Although, if you only have analog mode for HDMI, you can try using a DVI to HDMI cable. Or just wait for Nvidia to update the driver and you won't have to go through all this.
Update 2: March 15, 2010. Well it seems that Nvidia actually listened. I opened a technical ticket on their website and though I can't take credit for them actually solving this, I can tell you that they have put up a solution. New Optimus drivers are out on their website: version 189.42. The highlights of this release is eerily accurate to the issues I was having with my N61JV. It fixes the incompatibilities with the Intel IGP driver and corrects the Optimus Profile system. The sad news is I have already returned my N61JV almost 2 weeks before the release of this driver so I cannot personally test its reliability. I have since gotten a replacement laptop (Gateway NV5925u) or I would have loved to test this out.
Update 3: April 29, 2010. Another GPU driver is released on the Nvidia website: Driver 189.79. Although the main highlight is, "This is an Optimus driver update that fixes an issue with the beta release of StarCraft II."
Hope this review helped those who may be thinking of buying this notebook!
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I've had my laptop for over 3 weeks and not experienced any problems. Guess my mine was manufactured on a good day compared to some others. It started fine, no problems burning the recovery dvds, no problems waking up after the lid is closed --just hit the power button. It wakes up exactly where I left off ---internet, word document, etc. An earlier reviewer mentioned the screen brightness then dimming after a few minutes but you can easily adjust the settings to your preference.
The i5 processor is fast, the laptop runs quiet even when the fan comes on. The laptop does not heat up much. I use it on my lap while sitting on the couch and even after 2-3 hours, my lap is fine (not warm or uncomfortable). Guess I'm a couch potato! The multi-directional touchpad is pretty cool but really sensitive. It takes some getting used to but that's because I'm a die hard mouse person. However, I do like the touchpad and may be converting. Sound is crisp and clear. Battery life depends on what you're doing. I get about 2.5-3 hours when surfing the web. It's around 2 hours if watching a dvd. There's a lot of bloatware on it which I haven't removed since I need to brush up on how to remove it.
Warranty: There is only one warranty card in the box, it's for the Accidental Damage Warranty. The 1-year global warranty is automatic. Amazon was going to let me return it because it was missing info on the global warranty but I called Asus to see if I was supposed to get a separate card in the box. Asus said only the ADW card is in the box because the global warranty is automatic. Asus confirmed by running my serial number. Anyway, you can register your laptop online at Asus and register your ADW online too. But you still have to mail a copy of the invoice and ADW email confirmation to the address they tell you.
Comments on Asus: Asus's website is challenging to navigate but eventually you find what you're looking for. Their customer service was very helpful. I did not have any technical issues so I cannot speak about their tech help.
I hope this review is helpful. I did a lot of research on this site and others before buying this laptop and I'm very happy with my purchase. $899 for a quality 16-inch i5, 500 GB hard drive, NVIDIA graphics, and a warranty that includes free ADW too. The only improvement would be if the laptop could play blu-rays but no biggie.
UPDATE 6/28/10: After having the laptop for 3 months, it just froze at the Asus logon. I tried the hard reset several times per Asus Tech help, but since the computer did nothing, Asus said to send it in for repair. I was not pleased since i had to take it a repair shop for data recovery (which cost me $95) before sending it to Asus. Once I get it back, I'm going to be sure to save all things to an external hard drive on a daily basis. Thank goodness my old Toshiba is still working while I wait for Asus to fix this one.
UPDATE 7/20/10: Asus failed to repair my computer on the First try. They replaced the hard drive and sent it back to me. Once I turned it on, I got a black screen with instructions to insert a boot device. Called Tech Help again, tried to use Bios menu but did not work, told to send it back to Asus for the Second time. This time it went to Asus HQ in Fremont, CA. Turns out there was a screw missing when the first place replaced the hard drive. Got the computer back and it actually works. This time system recovery requires 3 dvds instead of 4. Wondering if I'm missing files but Asus says the files are just compressed. In total, I was without a working computer for 6 weeks during the 4 months I've owned it. Will I buy Asus again? Probably Not.
Buy ASUS N61JV-X2 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown) Now
First off, the Nvidia Optimus technology is GENIOUS. Asus is the only brand I know currently utilizing it, but I am sure others will quickly change to it. I changed the default video card to the nvidia 325, and I noticed with only using the nvidia 325 video card, and playing games, battery life is around 2 hours. This is of course with the core i5 doing it's thing and turbo-booosting to 2.53ghz. I know you're probably wondering about game performance. Alright, so after installing the update for the nvidia drivers, I ran tf2 COMPLETELY maxed out on highest resolution, and it ran at about 100fps. And remember that TF2 doesn't utilize multi-core processors as well as some of the even higher end games that have come out after it. I am anxious to see how this machine will handle BF:Bad Company 2. Anyways, the great thing is that I don't have to change anything with the cards. Optimus defaults to the integrated and then switches to nvidia 325 when needed. This, partnered with the smart i5 that adapts based on system needs, allows for a respectable battery life of about 3 hours with only a 6-cell lithium battery! Not too shabby. Next is the mousepad. Oh wow. I love it! It's quite intuitive, and once you get the hang of it, you will be DISAPPOINTED when you go to your friends' laptops without the multi-touch pad. It has almost 10 actions that are possible through the multi-touch pad! I know I caught myself trying to 3-finger swipe to go back a webpage. Needless to say it didn't work on theirs. Ha. Finally, for now, the Asus Software and Windows 7. Asus REALLY set the bar INCREDIBLY high with the production of this laptop. The Asus software that comes with it has some really cool features such as facial recognition. If you want, you can set the laptop to lock out whenever your face is not in front of the webcam for however long you want. Kinda a cool trick to play on your friends when they are facebook. Just give them time to login and them BAM, locked out. Ha. Funny stuff. Windows 7 really just tops the cake with the laptop though. I have loved everything about windows 7, and I learn new things almost daily as to what it can do. oh yea. the ONLY complaint I have with this laptop is that the 500gb hard drive came partitioned. The (C:Drive), or OS drive, comes at 100gb, and the (D:Drive), or Data drive, comes at 330gb. This can be useful for some, but I didn't care for it. However, with Windows 7, I am EASILY able to just stretch the size of the (C:Drive) as long as nothing is on the (D:Drive), without losing ANY data from the (C:Drive). Love it! And lastly, this thing comes with USB3.0! So this laptop is the PERFECT compromise of performance/battery life and all for less than $1k. Stop reading and buy already!
Read Best Reviews of ASUS N61JV-X2 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown) Here
Update: The computer began having problems rebooting. If I shut it down, then tried to start up right away, the caps lock and num lock lights would come on and stay on. The high speed fan sometimes came on. And it would not boot even to the ASUS logo. Wait a few minutes, and it would boot fine again.
Sent back to ASUS and they replaced the motherboard. Fine now, but the turnaround on the repair was a bit long--about 2 weeks.
I'm still happy with the computer in general. Very nice machine. Hope they've got better quality control on the newer models.
-----original review ----
I've had the Asus N61jv for about 2 months now, and it's time to set down some of my trials and tribulations and successes. Overall, I like the computer a lot, but it has a few quirks that I'd have designed differently, and there were some serious problems that seem to be mostly overcome by now.
Design: the computer is not flat on the bottom. It's got feet at the back that are raised plastic with rubber pads. This is great for using on a desk and are absolutely non-skid. I don't know why they had to be so prominent, though--about 1/4". My problem with this is that when using the computer on the lap, they can be very uncomfortable, so I've had to learn to shift the computer off center a bit, or keep my knees close together. Not a big problem, but the ones on my previous Dell Inspiron 9300 didn't do that. Of course that computer was lots heavier, and wider too, so the rubber feet were further apart. All in all, I'd have preferred a flat bottom (the fan vents out the side) with just tiny little rubber pads.
Second design complaint: It's got these large white LED deals on either side toward the back, referred to as "Eagle Eyes." When the computer is on, they're always on, and when it's in sleep mode, they flash! Or breathe or something. Like I really want bright white lights pulsating in an otherwise dark room when the computer's asleep! I communicated with Asus, and they cannot be turned off. They are still visible when the lid is closed, as they're sort of built into dips in the case. What is wrong with electronics mfgrs these days, that they think users want disco lights going even when the machine is off? It's similar to those annoying SanDisk Cruzer usb drives that pulsate orange light when plugged in, even when nothing's happening. My solution to this was to put a bit of black vinyl electrical tape over each one. It stretches to conform to the depressions, and it sort of blends in color wise. They also put a big while LED around the power button, which also pulsates during sleep--aagh! At least that one is hidden when the case is closed. BTW, apparently the Eagle Eyes change to blue when the NVidia GeForce system is on turbo, which I haven't used yet, and don't really care about the blue. I guess heavy gamers might feel it's a positive feature.
The computer runs very cool even if left on all day. I'm not doing heavy duty gaming, but even when playing a movie, or burning DVDs etc, there's very little heat. And the thing flies--that's why I bought it--the i5 processor and the Nvidia Optimus tech (even though I don't use that as yet).
The chicklet keyboard seems very good, and there are some nice features, like Fn-Enter opens the calculator etc. There are dedicated speaker control buttons above the keyboard, which is a useful feature.
As I said, I really like the computer, but some of this awe might come from using Windows 7, which is really great. This computer easily runs the fancy Switcher (Windows-Tab) that shows all your open windows in a rotating 3D display. It's quite cool! However, a freeware program, Vista Switcher, is even better, if not quite as dramatic looking. And the super bar truly is super. Plus lots of other things, like the search box on the start menu finding all kinds of stuff really fast.
I upgraded from the installed W7 32 bit, to W7 Professional 64 bit, mainly for the XP compatibility mode (altho could have stayed with 32 bit I suppose).
An early issue almost had me send the computer back. There's a lot on the web about it--that it's not easy to "record what you hear." I do a short radio show that I put together with Audacity, and it is essential that I be able to record from eg WMP, YouTube, DVDs, etc. It wouldn't do that to begin with, and the web talk was stuff about digital copy protection etc. Seems a lot of folks have seen the same issue, with different hardware too.
I purchased the 3rd party program, Virtual Audio Cable, which is great. It allows routing the output of a device through virtual software cables to another device. This solved the problem, altho recording was not quite as loud a level as it should have been. Still, this worked fine for awhile. Then I found time to fool around with the W7 and audacity settings, and finally found the right ones, and now it works perfectly without VAC. Windows 7 handles low level audio in a new way apparently, and it's not always easy to set it up. Why the default settings aren't better I don'k know.
Here's what I found to work:
In Audacity preferences, set host to Windows Direct Sound, recording device to Primary Sound Capture Device, and playback to Primary Sound Driver.
In Windows, right click the speaker icon; choose Recording. Set Stereo Mix as the default recording device, and set Speakers as the default Playback device. I don't remember what the defaults were, but they weren't exactly these.
Another selling point for the n61jv is it has both esata and usb 3.0 ports. I've had mixed results with these. I ordered several esata enclosures (after the first one didn't work at all) and a usb 3 enclosure, plus a couple of Hitachi 500gb 7200 rpm drives. None of the esata enclosures worked well (except with usb 2 they were fine). I began to suspect it might be a hardware issue. In the meantime, my wireless connectivity suddenly went out. It looked like a hardware issue too, since the wifi switch near the front showed the same icon for on and off, and it's a hardware switch. I began thinking I'd have to send the unit back. However, I called Asus, and the tech gave me a few drivers to install from the site. (I'd already installed what I could find by searching the site, but it's hard to tell what's relevant and what isn't). That did the trick! It must have been a firmware problem, since I'd already swapped another drive in with a much older W7 image, and it still didn't work. Once I loaded the driver, the problem was solved with either W7 image, though it was installed via only one of them.
A similar thing worked with the esata. It was unreliable for big files, eg 10GB or more. It would lose the connection. Just today, I got an email back from Asus on the problem, and they gave me two more drivers to install. Again, I didn't find these on a site search, or at least they didn't stand out from the crowd as relevant to my problem. But they appear to have done the trick. My INEO enclosure was recognized right away (before it would first say the drive needed formatting, and then maybe recognize it, maybe not). And I copied a 50gb image to the drive with no problem at all. So I'm thinking that's another firmware driver that needed an update.
The usb 3.0 may be similar. I've had a few problems, although I've been able to make a 50gb Acronis drive image that I verified by putting it on a drive and booting. Still, that'll be my next query to the Asus team to see if there are driver updates needed.
Touchpad: this is a mixed bag too. It's got a lot of features, but not too much in adjustments for sensitivity. In fact the only one seems to be for palm sensitivity. I do tend to get erroneous movements because part of my right palm sometimes brushes the pad. Partly this is because it's a big pad, which is nice for cursor movements. But I find that adjusting the palm sensitivity down makes it so other features don't work well either.
So I leave the palm sensitivity up, and am learning to (touch) type with a slightly different hand position. This works--just takes some self-training. The various features are nice--good enough that I'm not using a mouse much at all (I used to use a mouse all the time with my previous Dell). Two fingers can scroll up or down, and a two-finger tap sets up an autoscroll icon in most programs. This lets you roll through pages at varying speeds, depending on how close the cursor is to the icon. Very nice when you get used to it.
Three fingers tap simulates a right click, which I use a lot. There are more features, like sideways scrolling and a magnifiers, but I've turned most of them off, since they tend to happen accidentally, and I don't use them anyway. There are other taps too which do things like opening task manager or flipping through windows, but I prefer to do those with the windows key plus other keys. I've found that the two finger tap does some other really useful things: On a superbar icon, it opens a new instance (like mouse right click, then choose a new instance). In Firefox, it opens a link in a new tab, so these shortcuts really save some time when using just the pad.
The touch pad is left of center, but centered on the main part of the keyboard. I wish they'd put it a little more to the left though, since it's the left part of the right palm that causes trouble.
There's a dedicated numeric pad, which is nice.
I have a Kensington radio mouse that I use for cursor-intensive things like Audacity projects. It's great. It's got a nano-usb transmitter, that only sticks out about 1/4", so I leave it in all the time. The mouse has an on/off switch on the bottom, which is very good, since mouse movement will wake up the computer. The mouse is low profile, flat and black, so it looks very cool with the computer.
There are 3 usb ports on the computer (one of which is 3.0 but works fine for 2.0 and below too). I kind of miss the 6 built-in usb ports of my Dell, but I can always add a couple via an express card. The placement of the ports is a bit strange. There's one on the front left, one on the right rear, and one on the right front. This would make it hard to use those usb Y cords that some enclosures come with, but so far it seems the ports supply enough power. The front right has a usb port right next to the esata port. Since the esata cable is heavy and not too flexible, it sometimes gets in the way of ejecting a CD. I would have liked that somewhere else. Still, I could get an express card esata port that would put it on the left side, so that's solvable if need be.
I'm surprised asus didn't put any ports on the back. In some ways that would be more convenient, and would keep cables out of the way. But the trade off is that this way, you don't have to struggle the computer into odd angles to get things plugged in. Overall, I think it's better this way, but it took some getting used to. At least the power cord had a right angle connector, and that's the one I keep plugged in the most. Keeps it out of the way.
I get 4 hours plus on the batteries without doing any fancy configuring. But I'm not playng DVDs etc. YMMV. Still, the power seems very good compared to my old Dell and to some of the laptops of my friends. The screen is plenty bright--I usually keep it on about 15%, and the colors are really good even at that level. There's a utility to adjust screen qualities six ways from Sunday, which I haven't really used.
So those are the main issues. There have been problems, but so far have been solved by tech support. Asus support is great, either by phone of email (via their trouble report form on the website). That's a big plus, but then Dell support was good too.
Am I happy with my purchase? Yes, despite the trials. Would I buy it again? Probably, because the price is good and the specs are great. The build quality seems very good--that's the big "if" for me, buying without seeing. Is the look and feel going to meet my expectations--and they have. And that's basically why I bought the computer. The price and specs were good, and early reviews were mostly positive.
A lot of my friends are Mac people. Believe me, I was tempted to go Mac this time around. I've used Macs and they're very nice. But I'm a pedestrian at heart, and Macs seem a bit hoity-toity. A PC friend of mine was asked why he didn't like Macs, and he said "They're too simple." I feel a bit that way too. I like solving some problems as long as the frustration level doesn't get too high. Plus I have a few programs that run in XP compatibility mode but wouldn't run on a Mac without some kind of fancy emulation.
Plus I've never liked the Apple exclusivity thing. They're getting away from that a bit, but those things are still very pricey for the power you get. If I was rich enough to not worry about money, would I buy a Mac? Sure, I'd get both.
I'm giving this sucker a 4 because it's put me through some hoops. But it's a great machine, and if I didn't have to install new drivers, I'd probably have given it a 5 even despite the Eagle (evil) eyes!
Want ASUS N61JV-X2 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown) Discount?
There are more powerful laptops out there on the net that can do and handle a whole lot more than this laptop can but for the money this is hands down the best Power User/mid-range Gamer Laptop that i could find on the net, and believe me, i did my research, for under $1000 you can't get any better, at least not right now.
For the money you can't beat the features with its 16" glossy screen and Intel core i5 processor and ddr3 memory with usb 3.0 controller and DVDRW drive this is an awesome laptop. As soon as i got it i reformatted the 7200 RPM hard drive and put Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on it and the thing just runs like a champ.
When it first arrived it was packaged very well and protected well, when i turned it on for the first time it went thru a setup process that took about 5-10 min, after that everything was good to go. However, in the first 2 weeks I got 1 blue screen and 1 odd screen with vertical lines across the screen within a couple days of each other, but after i reformatted and installed Win 7 Ult 64bit i can't say i have had any other issues.
I would recommend to anyone that gets this laptop to immediately update everything until there are no more updates to download, especially the nVidia drivers, Intel drivers, and Windows updates, not necessarily in that order, and you might consider uninstalling all the bloatware installed, there are some cool apps that come pre-installed but you may not need all of them, if you get my drift. Also, i will add that i do not like Trend Micro antivirus, which came pre-loaded on the laptop, because i have experienced a lot of system issues with that program so i immediately removed it, this may not be the case with other people. Instead I use freeware programs like Avast Home Edition or Microsoft Security Essentials along with Windows Defender and Windows Firewall, as well as a good spi/nat router firewall.
I have to say the nVidia GTS 325M is impressive for a lower to mid-range graphic card but i do wish i could get better frame rates on games like Crysis/Warhead/Wars but the card handles DX9 and DX10 games surprisingly well. And the Optimus functionality seems to work flawlessly changing from regular desktop graphics to game graphics seemlessly. The Intel HD graphics are not bad either for general use (to get best picture for intel hd graphics i had to update to latest drivers then move the saturation slider up to about 10-15 because everything looked washed out), but everything all in all is quite sufficient, especially for the money.
If you're serious about quality and performance versus cost, get this laptop, you will not be sorry. Oh yeah, the laptop actually comes with a 2 year Asus warranty, you have to first register your laptop at Asus website then fill out a warranty card that comes with it and send it in within 60 days of purchase.
I am very, very pleased with my purchase of the Asus N61JV-X2.
These are the things that sold me on this particular VAIO:
