I just wanted to update this thread of mine by stating that I am well pleased like a peach by my ASUS N61JV-X2 laptop. I did a ton of system tests on the CPU, GPU, hard drive, RAM, and optical drive and everything passed my stress tests with flying colors. Afterwards, I downloaded and installed a ton of software applications from NJIT and Microsoft Dreamspark plus other sources without incident. I plan on purchasing Norton Utilities Premier Version 14.5, Ghost Version 15, and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware along with Slysoft's AnyDVD HD and CloneDVD soon. I have no problems with the Windows registry or software applications including drivers. ASUS makes top quality laptops.
While I would have preferred to purchase a similarly equipped ASUS with an Intel Core i7 CPU and a more powerful GPU, I realize that would have cost me in terms of reduced battery life and longevity. As it stands, my specific laptop is a well balanced computer in terms of performance, features, and battery life and longevity. It has proven itself as being a stable workhorse and I have been able to produce very solid academic performance at NJIT.
Though I wish it were more compatible with the hardware within Linux Mint 9 LTS, I am happy with its near perfect out of the box compatibility even though the NVIDIA Optimus and NEC USB 3.0 are not fully supported at this time.
My plan is to keep this laptop until the December 2012. At that time, I plan on purchasing another ASUS laptop with much more powerful hardware and software specifications and features. I will wipe out the contents of the hard drive and do a system recovery to restore it to its factory default settings. I also plan on giving it to my father as a gift at that time.
The only thing that I have noticed is that I find it somewhat difficult to acquire and remain connected to free Wi-Fi hotspots at my local public library and my home through Verizon FiOS. As it stands now, I am at a Starbucks coffee shop and I have no problems with the free Wi-Fi hotspot for long periods of time.
Based upon some of the coursework at NJIT, I decided it would be prudent for me to upgrade the RAM. I plan on purchasing Crucial 204 pin PC-8500 1066 MHz 2 X 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM with a CAS rating of 7 this upcoming week. I will delete my Windows swap file on the D:\ Data partition to speed up my laptop. I may choose to utilize my Kodak 4 GB SDHC Compact Flash card and enable Ready Boost technology so as to give my system more virtual RAM.
My IS431 Databases course requires me to create more complex databases and I have to use Microsoft Access and Visio Professional 2007. We also have to utilize Orace and Aqua Data Studio to create entity relational databases and flow chart diagrams for our homework assignments. As this course progresses along in the next few months, we will be assigned more homework that requires analyzing and creating much more complex relational database structures. We will learn Structured Query Language and how to process it within Orace and Microsoft Access 2007 Professional.
Since I have no background in Databases, I already find this course to be challenging. The homework assignments are difficult to understand. I opted to receive tutoring on campus for this course starting with this upcoming week so that I know my stuff cold.
I am satisfied with my ASUS N61JV-X2 though I wish that I had spent another $100.00 USD for the ASUS N61JQ.
Oh well.
