A8jm owner's Lounge

I don't completely regret it, it's been solid, but if I were to do it again I'd probably research it some more. The Thinkpad has a docking station but lacks firewire and a media reader (!), the Compal might have been an interesting alternative.

Battery life lately has been atrocious for me, under 3 hours when using wireless and doing regular net surfing. I think running BitTorrent may have been a part of it though =)

Zydus: Which Toshiba has similar specs for less money?

 

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodd...=20354&PCName=laptop_toshiba&logon=&langid=EN

Core2Duo
15.4"
160GB SATA 5400 RPM
2GB DDR2
Nvidia 7600 128MB

$1599 yes now the A8J is definitely the better buy but when i bought it i spent $400 more but not regretting it a 7600 in a 14" with only 1 Fan thats genius of a design

Edit: Oh and btw the 3945ABG card i think thats what its called is amazing. Performs much better than the other ppl's in my uni.

 

Hey folks,

I just purchased my A8Jm on saturday. I bought it over the A8Js because they are pretty much the same (minus the CPU, GPU, and bluetooth) and I dont have the extra money right now to get an A8Js (a8Jm has warranty and cash rebates going on right now). For future considerations, heres to Asus updating a BIOS with merom support!

I have one issue so far: The push button used to open and close the screen seems to be broken. Its stuck all the way in and when i lever it out, it doenst snap back. So I think a spring mustve snapped or slipped. Any one have any ideas for fixing this? Should I take it back to the store (milestonePC) and have them fix it? Other than this, I think this laptop is just awesome. It runs so cool and makes so little noise its unreal!

Also i was planning on doing a review. Since its been out for a while now (almost 1/2 year i think), do you think its a good idea or just a waste of time? Darricks review is pretty good but another opinion wouldnt hurt now would it

 

persuasion: I think you should try take it back and have them fix it.

and I think another review would be great too , although you'd probably have to compete with the A8Js nowadays ..

 

Thanks Darrick.

Do you guys think the webcam stays on at all times?......Big Brother people!

 

Does anyone think that Their Fan is now more noisy???

I reckn' mine is noisier now than when brand new!! Even when in "Quiet Office" I can hear that fan humming away. I've not updated the bios since new and was never this noisy at first.

Im wondering if the fan may have gotten some dust inthe bearings or something!!

 

Hey folks,

I am filling out that ASUS cash mail in rebate form, and it asks for "the original serial number and UPC number cut from the packaging". I searched through the packaging and i couldnt find those numbers. I know the serial is located on the bottom of my lappy, but UPC? Where is the UPC number located?

 

I've seen dust accumulate on the outside of the grille (air intake), so it could very well be that the fan is getting clogged up.

 

Its on teh box on the side of it...i can see it on mine

 

Ive just got mine back from repairs. Got the camera fixed by a replacement part, and get this:

The wear on my palmrest? It WAS unreasonable, and they replaced that too, under warranty. So if you guys think yours is unreasonably worn (mine was about 3x as bad as my friend's 2-year compaq) then just head on in and tell them.

 

i covered mine with stickers hmm maybe i shouldn't have

 

when using power4gear, when in battery saving, does anyone notice that the fan doesnt blow as hard and the temperature goes up buy about ~5?

 

Sorry to brag, but I just got this beautiful Viewsonic monitor from Costco.

Here's my setup:



DVI connection to laptop, Xbox 360 on VGA looks amazing too. 1680x1050 = huge work...erm, playplace.

 

haha nice setup u got there. How much did that set u back?

 

Hows gaming/graphic-intense stuff on the external, in terms of computer heat?

 

Hey, nice! That's the Viewsonic VX2235WM isn't it? Not many reviews around for it yet, so I'd love to hear your opinions. I'm looking around for an external LCD and am leaning towards the Viewsonic VX2025WM, although this 22" model from Asus has also caught my eye.

 

I know when I'm at cold lectures/lounge, the temperature doesn't usually pass 40-42 degrees, so my fan never gets triggered in the first place.

 

I'm envious. I'll probably invest in a 19" 1440x900 LCD at Christmas break. Although I best get it before my grades come in, the way things are looking now

 

Played a few minutes of CS:Source and graphics were very sharp, although my shooting wasn't so much . Probably had something to do with going from a 14" to a 22".

299 at Costco, but the $50 dollar coupon is gone now.

Yep, it is. Haven't had a chance to test it much, but so far it looks amazing. Far less light leakage than the Asus LCD, and I love the quick response time (5ms). The Asus panel looks good -- specs are a bit better than the Viewsonic, as does build quality/materials. Looks like it costs a ton more though.

Only thing I can wish for on this are component inputs, but at this price, I can't really complain.

 

What is anyones opinion on using the a8js bios on the a8jm?

 

Why would you want to screw up a perfectly good A8Jm by loading the wrong BIOS on it?...

 

to get merom compatibility

 

The motherboard in the A8Jm is not the same as the motherboard in the A8Js. The only way that the A8Jm owners are going to get Merom compatibility is if Asus releases a new BIOS for the A8Jm...

 

Yeah.. the motherboard on the A8Js is a bit different I presume (A8Js has SATA, so it must have at least some difference), so it's probably a risky thing to try out their BIOS on an A8Jm... But if someone's willing to risk it, hey, I'd also be interested in knowing the results

 

Well its not the same however youve got to believe it is almost the same.

Thats why I was asking about how its different earlier.

It has a sata interface, and thats it. Does anyone know of any reason why the same motherboard with a different hd interface would not be compatible with a bios?

I mean Im asking this because there is no answer and I think an a8jm owner might have to look into it.

 

stam: Don't think anybody wants to risk trying it ... I might try asking ASUS support if it's doable.. but I recall seeing a post about someone emailing ASUS and them saying it's not supported yet...

 

...and almost having a working laptop isn't the same as one that still boots...

 

do we have a solid answer that Asus is willing to even consider giving a8jm a bios upgrade for merom compatibility?
I guess it makes sense business-wise not to release the bios upgrade so ppl would buy the a8js...
what do you think the probabilities are of them releasing a bios upgrade that has merom supported before a8jm is no longer supported? I just wish for a upgrade in the next year or so.

 

danielsjang: Well, they released one for the W3J even though there seems to be a refresh on the way, as well as the V6J... so I don't see why they wouldn't do the same for the A8Jm. It'd be a real pain if they didn't though.... I'd assume most ppl would like to upgrade to Merom once their warranty is up

 

Can I ask something?
My A8jm startup time is a little long, about 1m30s
Shutting down time is ok but startup time is long.
Can you tell me what startup time for your A8jm, i have 48 app running alltime
Some of them I dont even know what they doing like the Motorola modem or something...
Thanks

 

...48 applications?! or do u mean processes? I have 64 processes...

Well my boot time is about 30-40 secs. Maybe u have too much programs on the system tray.

 

or mabye you need to defragment your OS partition. I boot within 30 seconds.

 

I have had the laptop for over 3 months now and it has developed a 3 cm crack on the lid on either side of the hinge. Anyone else experience this? I think i'll have to put the warranty into use but does anyone have any experience dealing with ASUS support?

 

i would like to see a picture

 

Why my boot time is too long, I keep the startup the same as when I bought it
I just uninstall Norton, Install AVG and Ad-aware
I have to look at this again, there something wrong with my Laptop
Thanks for reply

 

How full is your hard drive?
The amount of free space on your primary partition can also slow you down. 30% free is a bare minimum, and kills performance.

In my case, I moved the "My Documents" and all music, movie and download folders to the D: partition. You can also try moving the Virtual Memory/Paging file set to the D: partition as well. Virtual Memory alone takes 1-3GB of space.

Or, if you don't care for the partitions and don't mind reinstalling, there is an option to delete all partitions

 

I've got the same on mine, on each side about 1-1.5cm

I've attached two pics to this if it works.. crappy cause my camera phone doesn't have a macro function or anything.. i noticed the cracks before i fixed the hinges, i think it was because of the loose hinges or something

also my left hinge is 'sticky'.. i'm hoping to get near a service centre soon and get it fixed up can't really send it away because i use it every day for work.. the 1-2 week turn around time i imagine they have on repairs wouldn't really be acceptable

 

dang. that's... pretty conspicuous.

 

i say send it in if you havent done anything, like drop it.

 

describe how you open and close your notebook please

 

Prolly a dumb question, but wanna make sure...

My mom wants to fax a document, does the A8jm support fax?

EDIT: Yes, it does. My bad.

 

LOL well my smart ass answer is with my hands of course

I don't think i open it in any special way, usually from the middle right after popping the latch. If I do open it from a side it's probably more on the right side as I'm right handed.

I noticed the cracks a couple months ago, I've had the laptop since the day it was released in canada, may 20th or so I think.

it's not that big an issue really they've been cracked for awhile and it hasn't spread or anything since i tightend up the hinges, I was really hoping for more sturdy hinges, I wish I had stuck with my original decision for the w3j, But I was charmed by the DVI and extra USB ports

the loose hinge issue is not unique to the a8x series by any stretch, every laptop I've ever owned has had this problem. ( 3 dells, 1 sharp, 1 fujitsu )

 

oh ya the hinges broke in my sony

after about 3 years though mind you.

when one broke i just used it with one hinge lol until the screen eventually cracked from the tension.

Lol anyhow Im going to be on it on this laptop.

 

This is EXACTLY how mine looks like. I too have had it since the laptop first came out. I may have been one of the first few ppl to first purchase it. I also noticed this for over 1 month now. My hinge is really loose. In open position, the screen can wobble back and forth about 1.5 inches. I am going to try and get ASUS to fix this. Anyone have any experience with ASUS warranty?

and BTW, how did you tighten the hinge?

 

i took mine to Asus service center in markham, ontario and the tech did it on the spot in about 10min. I asked him if he could show me so I could do it myself, he said its better I take it into them. Didnt ask about rma, warranty info nothing, altho the A8J is a new model so warranty cant possibly be expired, but still.

Not very surprisingly, hinges have become loose again so another 2 months or so and i'll be paying them another visit.

 

heres the a8js bios

ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/A8Js


not that any of you would want to try it to see if you can upgrade to merom processors or anything....

 

That seems a little repetitive. I havent had my hinges tightened since having the laptop.

 

i've heard the A8Js uses a different Mobo to the A8Jm, so a BIOS update wouldn't work

 

What are you going to say if someone crashes their A8Jm because they followed your stupid advise? Irresponsible stamar, very irresponcible...

 

well dont do it if you dont know what youre doing

if the bios is not compatible, you should just be able to go back to your old bios.

this is a pretty standard practice and some of the forumers here know how to do it