ASUS N61Jv-X2: Optimus GT325M Meets Arrandale
by Jarred Walton on March 13, 2010 10:00 PM ESTASUS N61Jv-X2 Battery Life
Like the Dell Inspiron 1564, the N61Jv comes with a 6-cell, 48Wh battery. ASUS doesn't specify a battery life for the N61Jv (that we could find), but users are reporting up to four hours of battery life in light loads and around two hours for movies. We calibrated the display for ~100nits (a setting of 41% results in 94nits brightness) and ran our standard battery life tests.
The battery life of the ASUS N61Jv is very similar to the Inspiron 1564, but it lasts 5-15% longer depending on the task. Video playback results favor the N61Jv more than the idle/internet tests, which is interesting since all of these tests use the Intel HD Graphics in the i5 CPU. Of course, the N61Jv battery life pales in comparison to CULV offerings, which can last more than twice as long. If you want a long-life mobile solution, the N61Jv isn't a great choice, but by the same token you can't come anywhere near the performance of the N61Jv with a netbook or CULV platform.
Looking at the relative battery life does provide a bright spot in an otherwise ho-hum set of charts: the N61Jv with i5-430M provides 12% better battery life than a previous generation Core 2 Duo + 4500MHD combination. In fact, the only laptops that provide better relative battery life are CULV designs (and Atom, though we didn't include Atom results in this review as netbooks are in a completely different classification). If ASUS had included a 65Wh battery, the N61J would be pushing into 5+ hour territory.
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Shadowmaster625 - Monday, March 15, 2010 - link
Obviously not that far if it only gets 3.5 hrs of facebook time.What intel should do is integrate an atom into their i3/i5/i7M series CPUs. That way the main cpu can power down during most web surfing, movie playing, and music playing, and then power up the big guns when more power is needed. What would adding an atom core cost, $20?
JarredWalton - Monday, March 15, 2010 - link
The Internet test involves four browser tabs with stored copies of AnandTech, MSN, Yahoo, and Facebook. AnandTech is active, and so there are several Flash ads running. MSN and Yahoo also have at least one Flash ad each. This is quite a bit more demanding than a simple Facebook browser test, and if you're not surfing anything more than text and images you should get closer to the idle battery life.Given the difference in size and other components, 3.5 hours is relatively low on the power requirements. That means the entire laptop is using around 13.7W for that task, whereas a 15.6" CULV laptop (UL50Vf) consumes around 9.5W in a similar test. At idle, the UL50Vf looks to consume around 8W while the N61Jv consumes 11.8W. 3.8W more power used at idle for i5-430M vs. SU7300 seems pretty reasonable.
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, March 15, 2010 - link
When I say facebook time, I mean about 90% of the time on facebook is spent playing games like Cafe World and farmville (or whatever its called). That's how it seems anyway. I dont play those games but i sure do see them a lot. From what I've witnessed, 90% seems about right. These games are pretty taxing on the cpu.tigercat44 - Saturday, April 24, 2010 - link
Is it possible to upgrade N61J-X2 to an illuminated keyboard? Suggestions, thanks,Harry