F8SV: Games, photos and benchmark

Wow thats really helpfull thanx
looks like seagage is the way to go then

 

so i guess the benefit of having a faster start up and loading time won't be worth it considering the loss in battery life?
approx. how long we talking?
and i heard it also gets uncomfortably hot?

 

Personally, i don't. And i believe thats the case for most users as well.
The whole point of laptop is to be portable, and battery life is one of the main drawbacks with any component that is high performance.
In case of cpu, its worth it because most of them these days can vary their clock speed. And intels chip these days are pretty power efficient.

However HD has moving parts, thus mechanical. Thus more/faster it moves the more the power, more the heat. Now i dont know how hot the 7200 actually get, but i can imagine in the rounds of 70C~80C.
And I would guess you are getting an over all 20% faster for the heavy duty file transfers, but it will prob drain the batt 2X faster.( i might be wrong on the exact number)

 

A good new 7200RPM drive will not noticeably drain the battery any faster, and will most likely run 1-2C hotter than an equivalent 5400RPM drive. The only current major disadvantage is the relatively small size of 7200RPM notebook drives.

 

how is being small a disadvantage?
and would these two drives be a good new 7200RPM drive?
Seagate Momentus 7200.2 160GB 7200rpm S-ATA 300
Hitachi 7K200 7200 200GB 7200rpm S-ATA 16MB

 

small size 7200rpm drains more battery and runs slower than 160G 5400rpm, because small size 7200rpm has lower density on the disk so even it runs faster it still reads less data per rpm than higher density drives.

Their ETA never accurate, you can ask C90S owners.
I like 7200rpm drive myself, a lot C90S owner like 250GB 5400rpm since it runs very fast but doesn't get too hot.

 

so Ken, your advice would be to just stay with your "160GB 5400rpm 2.5-inch 9.5mm HDD S-ATA" the basic drive the laptop comes with?

 

Yes it's factory installed.

 

No, I mean, is there a point in upgrading the hard drive?

 

yeah 160G 5400 works fine, unless you really want it very fast for video editing.

 

What I meant was that 7200RPM's are only available in capacities up to 200GB or so, which is too small for some people. 5400RPM and 4200RPM drives are available in higher capacities, if space is your main concern.

The Hitatchi is indeed a very good one, and I would highly recommend it over the factory installed 160GB 5400RPM drive if hard drive speed is a concern to you.

 

So I'm guessing no new deals on these since you've dodged ~3 questions on the issue Ken? ^_^

 

Sorry I miss read your post.
currently that's the best we can do now with free shipping and $50 lower than MSRP unless Asus want to do something.

 

hmm, I want it to run smooth and fast, but you said the battery life won't be much different? Would there be a loss or disadvantage if I went with the Hitatchi one?
Other than the fact it costs $189 to upgrade haha

 

I finally pulled the trigger on the B1... the $40 discount and the fast response from Ken got me to jump on this one

I just hope it arrives soon... I saw in ExcaliberPC website that they'll have it in the 1st week of December (i.e. now), so I hope GenTech gets it soon too

 

good choice, i hope that you went with getting extra ram, trust me, i have 3 gigs available and there has been times when ive seen more than 75% of it being utilized

 

What make/model of optical drive is supplied with the F8Sv, and would there be any issues about making it region free?

 

Does anyone know if there is an extended battery for this laptop?

 

The optical drive for F8SV-A1 is Mat****a DVD-RAM UJ-860S, I don't think it's region free.

There is no extended battery for F8SV, only the 6 cell battery.

 

Damn. Does anyone know of a planned release or a 3rd party co. making a bigger batt?

 

The battery slot does not fit bigger battery, it's not like U6 or W7S can put in a bigger battery and stick out to the back.:

 

DVD drives stock region is the one from where you bought it

You can change it 5 times in the control panel, usually, or just use a 3rd party software

 

Ken, any updates on when you'll be getting B1s in?

I can hardly wait for mine.

 

F8SV-B1 will arrive earlier than expected.

Also I've done another battery life test with 200GB 7200rpm HD:

F8SV-A1
T7500
3GB RAM
Hitachi 7K200 200GB 7200rpm
Battery saving mode at 50% maxumum processor state

Battery life: 2 Hours and 20 minutes

 

like today? tomorrow? i really would like to see the g1s vs the f8sv b1. and the f8sv b1 vs a m1550.
also does that mean the b1 will have a different screen since it has a high res? and do you think it will have low vertical viewing plain like the a1?
thanks i really want to get a f8sv-b1

 

Fantastic!

Ordered mine a while back.

Ah, the possibility of getting it this week....very very exciting. I cant wait to push this thing to its limits

 

Awesome! I just ordered mine.
Don't know if I made some unnecessary upgrades, but I'll find out soon.

 

I should really have asked this before I brought the F8 in the States, is the warranty covered in North America or just the States?

 

when when when the B1 will arrive we need a date

 

F8SV-B1 will arrive anytime next week.
I’ll take comparison photo of A1 and B1 screen side by side to see how the viewing angle of the screen.

The warranty also covered in Canada.

Anytime next week.

 

gentech please advice on the date of the b1 arrival

 

What does 50% maximum processor state mean?
Its only running at half the processor speed?

 

Yes. It does that to save power.

 

ASUS's website and ExcaliberPC have updated the spec sheet and the B1 has a 250GB 5400rpm hard disk rather than the 160GB 5400rpm. Good news!

 

Yes, Asus change the B1 spec, it's now 250GB HD.

 

Hmm.... Does that mean my upgrade to Hitachi 7K200 200GB 7200rpm is still worth it?

 

No, it isn't.

Pretty nice update though, since the 250GB drives are pretty expensive.

 

Is that 7200rpm?

 

OMG, do people even read?

 

so the B1 got the following + compared to the A1 for 200 more:
1440X900
T7700
2GB DDR 2 667
250GB 5400rpm SATA
8X DVDRW DL/LightScribe

I'm tired of waiting for Dell (xps M1330 led, 1530 higher res. screen and the DellXT that really disappointed me.)

I think this will be my first notebook. Where can I get one in Canada?

 

NCIX, Infonec, Milestone PC are the ones at the top of my head for Canada.

 

NCIX, Infonec, Milestone PC only have the A1 at the moment.

 

I'm not surprised though, it usually takes longer for Canada to get any ASUS products. I guess we'll have to wait

 

I'm very patient... just badly need it before next year though. (fingers crossed)

 

You could buy from GenTech, its American, but they have great service .
The warrenty is covered in North America, so they say, I didn't go check it out personally though, but I would assume it would be.

 

250gb... sweet

Now I'm pretty sure it was a good deal to get the B1 instead of the A1

 

I don't believe anyone has the B1 yet. Gentech and ExcaliberPC expect them next week. I've ordered from Gentech before and had no problems. They also respond to e-mails quite quickly.

 

Yes, I can vouch for Gentech. I have purchased all my Asus notebooks from them and they provide superb service.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I might email Gentech or ExcaliberPC one of these days if Canadian distro. won't have it by next week. The only thing that's holding me to contact them at this moment is I don't want to be charged by additional fees from getting something from the states.

 

Exactly why I haven't bought it yet. I'm hoping I might be able to find a retailer in Canada.

As for quick e-mail response, I sent one in to Gentech on friday and I still haven't received an answer. Looks like I'll be phoning in.

Edit: Is gentech the only place that allows the upgrade to just 2GB of RAM? I'm definitely not comfortable with cracking open a new Notebook.