Asus has created an excellent laptop for the serious gamer who loves large screens. Their N61JQ-X1 has a 16″ LCD (1366×768 resolution), weighs 6.5 pounds, and pack hardware that delivers a serious punch! Gaming enthusiasts are delighted with it’s ultra fast quad core CPU (Intel Core i7 720QM at 1.6GHz) and video card (ATI Mobility Radeon 5730). The N61JQ-X easily runs today’s top end games “like butter.”

The N61JQ-X comes with 4 GB (DDR3-1066) of RAM,  a medium sized 320 GB 7200rpm hard drive, and a DVD optical drive (instead of Blue Ray). One of the most interesting things about the N61JQ-X1 is the Turbo Mode. When turned in the machine boosts the clock speed from 1.6 GHz  to 2.8 GHz (using 4 cpu cores). This power boost gives a great edge for intense gaming multitasking, or if you’re just looking for that extra computing zip. Another nice features the ultra high speed USB ports (sporting version 3.0),  an 8 in 1 card reader, and bluetooth. Windows 7 Home Premium is the operation system. Battery life runs 2-4 hours depending on settings and use of Turbo mode. The N61JQ-X1 is on sale at Amazon for about $1,066.

User Summaries
The Asus N61JQ-X1 currently has 63 reviews with a 4.5 star rating at Amazon. It’s now the top user reviewed and rated laptop.

Positives: As mentioned, the N61JQ-X1 has a fast CPU and high end Video Card than can run most of today’s games at high settings. One user said it runs Bioshock 2, Mass Effect and GTA 4 “like butter.” Nice, nice! It can also run more the most demanding ultra high end games (like Battlefield Bad COmpany 2 & Crysis Warhead) at medium settings. Users indicate that the 320GBb runs pretty fast because of it’s 7200rpm speed and 16MB of onboard cache. The machine runs photo and web programs like Photoshop and Dreamweaver with no problems. From a design perspective the N61JQ-X is minimal and stylish; the ASUS build quality is impeccable.

Negatives: Immense gaming power comes at the cost of battery life – the N61JQ-X1 only runs  2 hours on the Turbo (2.8GHz) mode. Bloatware, crapware, junkware, whatever you want to call the pre-installed software…this machine comes with some of that you’ll have to remove to speed things up. As far as I can tell that only other major negative is that the thing can get quite hot (80 degrees Celsius) while doing intense gaming. You can fix that issue by backing down on the detail settings or using a cooling device. The sound quality isn’t awesome but isn’t bad. Some users complain that the sound quality is poor while others are thrilled with it. Go figure. It’s a laptop, use headphones.

Consider this laptop if you’re into gaming power combined with a larger 16″ LCD screen. Users love it. As of April 2010 the N61JQ-X1 is the top laptop on Newegg. See the N61JQ-X1 on their site here.

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