*Official ASUS W90Vp Owners' Lounge*

Ya that stuff is a waste of money to me . With blank DVDs costing around 20 cents each and those disks costing closer to a buck each ill take the cheaper ones . If im going to be spending a buck on a disc itll be for dual layer verbatims .

 

Alright so ive been having issues reading a dual layer disc on this drive, i just force flashed with a new samsung firmware in hopes that it will be able to read this disc properly. Has anyone else been able to read a dual layer dvd with this drive? It may just be a scratch on the DVD but being the only copy of an image i have i figured id flash with a new firmware and give it a shot (was also hoping the FW update would quiet the drive down but that doesn't seem the case thus far)

If it fixes the problem ill post up a solution to force flash (force flashing because the OEM codes dont match but its the identical drive) with the samsung update for those interested.

Edit: Drives much smoother now but its reading speed has slowed a little bit, which may be a good thing in the end. Still waiting to see if it will make it through the full disc or just get hungup again.

 

You can get them cheap if you shop around, about 2x the cost of a normal dvd. Its not worth it for normal data disks but for games & movies its so worth it for me. Especially considering I cant read my hand writing

 

Lol i have pretty good handwriting but i can understand as some of my friends hand off discs to me and it looks more like chicken scratchings then writing .

 

Das me! LOL

 

No lightscribe. Just assumed it was there seeing the software. Good thing I paged back to see what I missed. Mighta been years before I figured that out.

 

When I burn a lightscribe disk I dont just toss text on there tho, i photoshop my own full picture label so its like original disk art.

When your flipping though a book of over 100 movies, pictures stand out more than text making it easier to find something.

I may one day move up to the printable disks and get a printer so I can have full color, but for me so far lightscribe has been fine.

 

The printable disks are pretty slick . I used to have a CD stomper back in the day and printed all my labels full color etc . Problem was that alot of them ended up skipping because the labels would throw off the balance of the disk. Ended up to be a huge waste of time+cash.

 

Yeah the printable disks now are not like that, they are normal disks just with a printable finish, labels end up like that often though.

 

at least you had a cd stomper, i had to macgyver my cd labels with scotch tape and paper.

 

Lol macgyver discs, Well you get an A+ for effort atleast.


Have you guys ever seen this machine , this thing is like the super hardcore dream machine . I saw pics of it awhile ago but never actually saw a video of it . Oh and make sure your volume is down because i almost blew my eardrums out when the video fired up with headphones on.

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Lenovo-ThinkPad-W700ds-Mobile-Workstation/

 

now that thing is a macgyver pc.. it has practically everything. but i wonder, what is the point mouse trackball pointer thing in the middle of the keyboard? i haven't seen those things forever on laptops...

 

Those are good for when your some place that has no room for a mouse , like an airplane tray table etc. The built in tablet and the slide out screen is off the chain , 400 nit screen is crazy as well.

 

but it has the laptop mouse, and the drawing pad? i don't know... it just seems like they included it "just" so it could have everything.

the slide out screen is crazy.. i'm pretty sure it would confuse a lot of people in public, too. haha.

but damn, that thing is super expensive, and only 4gb of ram for the 3k base version?

 

Ya it says it can go up to 8k lol . Like i said dream machine.

 

Yep yours is another dream machine for sure .

 

I used to have a logitech trackball mouse just for use in the air. You could set that sucker on your leg with the laptop on the tray. Once 17" ers came out I was on the bandwagon right away and soon figured out they were a little much on the plane.

 

Yep i remember when you showed up on the whitebook forums one night talking about the nagamaki and how excited you were about getting one + the ridiculous amount of money you were going to spend .


On a personal note i already miss having one and its only been a day . Ah well, better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all.

 

Ya thats a bummer for them, but to me when OCZ jumped ship was when i figured theres no way there ever going to get them . If you go into the Alienware forums where that machine is the most popular now(because the OCZ board is dead) people still talk about the 4870s everyday even after all these months and believe there still coming . I hope they do, but i think it will be in the next machine and not the current one . Its the same old line in that there working on getting both cards cooled , i dont know if i could buy into that line of BS month after month as its not rocket science here to get them working . I feel bad though for everyone who bought into the machine based on the idea that the 4870s were coming . When it comes to laptops thats the worst idea ever.

 

Well when it comes to things like that happening you can either be pissed or just sell the thing and move on. Never ever buy a laptop in hope of future upgrades because 9/10 your going to be let down . Most companys would rather sell you a whole new machine then a new set of video cards. It was nice to see clevo said the 260/280s would fit in the last models but i think that was based more on the fact they were just rebranded cards but still a nice gesture nonetheless.

 

hey hey hey hey now they are there you forget thet whitebook resellers have stated that they are being produced and are GOING to happen and will work but the problem is the heat ..... they are there with out a doubt im just giving them time to get them to work properly and not be a over clocked 4850

 

ASI is the new whitebook retailer according to a reseller

 

Ya except they have been having those so called heat problems since as long as i can remember and i was in the whitebook forum since its inception which was along time ago . How long do you think it takes to create something for it so it doesnt over heat ? . as for the low blow of the overclocked 4850s id rather have 2 of those then 2 3870s . Oh and for the record i do hope you get the 4870s but i wouldnt hold my breath forever waiting .

 

ohhhhhhh i agree 2 4850's are nice i was just pokeing

the heat is a issue but it can be solved

and heat is the limiting factor in all laptops so ill just be patient and really im perfectly happy with these 2 3870's they can still play any game now and to come so even IF the 4870's never come ill still be playign games

 

i will say that the 3870's are still scoreing into the 17k range of 3dmark 06 but the w90 is the better laptop out of the 2 .... as far as gaming we get whooped .... i just love my whitebook

you did see that ASI is the new distributor right ?

 

Lol what ? the 4850 remark im assuming ? because in fact they are 4870s as there are NO other 4870s on the planet earth so whether they are very similar to the 4850s MSI has they are still infact 4870s lol. Oh and Moo you only need to flash the slave card one time and then you can install any drivers from then on without ever having to flash the card again . figured id fill you in on that little tidbit since i saw the remark on the M17 forum .

The M17 is a very nice looking machine btw and that backlit keyboard is awesome . I almost bought a OCZ before the W90 just like Striker .

 

Never heard of ASI ? who are they ?.

 

i almost sold mine to get the w90 lol ask E me n him talked it over

i did not know you only had to flash it once i thought you had to mod the bios and the drivers ..... thanks for the info

you do have a semi point on the 4870/4850 but its like the 8800m gtx and the 9800m gt

 

i have no clue who they are either but i trust who said it Z did

ASI computer google search awhile back said they are a big distributor for North America

 

Ya when it comes to the mobile cards its all a little grey and thats why alot of people came in and slammed on the W90 and the 4870s . They can be almost identical but have a small difference and then adopt a new name just like nvidia does .

 

A backlit keyboard would be very nice.

 

yes it would i will never go back .....

i agree quad its a sad sad scene in the mobile GPU world

 

i wont do anything with bios for the time being because its dangerous. cpu overclock is enough for now. thanks!

 

Not dangerous and if you plan on playing any of the newer games then its something your going to want to do . To much has changed in the drivers since 8.12 to 9.4 .. Its your machine though so do as you please im just offering you my take on things.

 

I recall when I was the only one I knew that had a laptop, nowadays they are seemingly everywhere. I had believed that by the time we got here we would would have a set of standards by size that would allow upgrading. Yeah, laughter at my expense would be appropriate about now.

 

i dont understand why this is needed to update the drivers. ati doesnt update its drivers the normal way?

 

Both ati and nvidia fail to release mobile gpu drivers in step with their desktop gpu drivers. You are 'supposed' to get the drivers off the laptop mfg's site and either way they are hardly if ever updated. It sucks but thats the way it is. I don't understand why or how they've been getting away with it so long. I'm guessing thats why you have to update and bios on the cards and motherboard and do some kind of workaround. Its usually a good idea to update the bios anyway, especially if it provides performance enhancements and bug fixes. The warranty from asus and RMA'ing seems very solid from what everyone has posted here so I'm not going to be afraid to flash my bioses.

 

Well some good news that i sucessfully flashed my friends W90 without problems. The only problem is i cant install the drivers since it says that there is a problem. The other problem is that I WANT MY A1 to come in the damm mail. If i dont get it by the 17th of this month i will file a claim with the USPS and xotic pc has given me the advice i need to do it with them.

 

Im really really debating modding my own, ive used my g15 for years and the backlight is something i can't live without now. I wouldn't be able to light up the keys but i may be able to get that cool glow effect around them at least Only part that has me worried is doing it in a way that wont void my warranty.

Oh and for anyone that was wondering how the firmware update did on the dvd drive, it seems to have slowed the drive down a bit (read wise at least) but its more accurate and there seems to be less jumping. Still wasn't able to get my backup off that disc though. Unless your having issues id say the firmware update was pretty pointless. lol.

 

The matte lid on the new alienwares just killed the "coolness" in my opinion but i have to agree that the backlight keyboard is awesome (while i don't really like the tone of blue , BUT polycarbonate is polycarbonate and aluminum is aluminum and i prefer build quality over stylish or anything .

BTW talking about build quality... I had an Asus LS201 (LCD monitor) and his glass is sapphire glass so i was wondering if the edgeless glass in the W90 is sapphire glass or any other type of scratch-resistant glass, anyone knows anything about this? .

 

Honestly i have no clue as to what type of glass is on the screen as im not a glass expert . One member Hadis who i think left for russia so we may not hear from him for awhile said he scratched his screen, which left me wondering what he even used to clean it . What ever you do dont use windex or sandpaper to clean your screens .

 

I dont recommend windex due to the ammonia, but even so in most cases it wont hurt anything, since I think its just normal glass on the W90 screen it should definitely be safe.

I just use a microfiber cloth, if there is ever some buildup thats not coming off with a dry wipe, they lcd cleaning wipes or some rubbing alcohol.

 

Windex could be safe but again it may have a long term effect so i wouldnt but thats just me . I dab of water and a microfiber should be all ya need . Some people spit all over there screens so they can get nasty(had a friend who used to do this all the time) So some people may need to clean there screens abit more then others .

 

Well on my toshiba i used lcd cleaner that we got from the PX in Camp Bastion before we went to our present location which dosnt have one. I used my skivvy shirt to clean it and there aint no scratches

 

When cleaning the screens always go left to right , up and down and never in circles , Thats the best way to avoid scratches.

 

Guess what i was given a few seconds ago?? a Leupold 100 anniversary cleaning cloth!!!!! It cleans my screen great!!

 

I have always used the same soft dealie used for cleaning glasses for most cleaning. Every once in a while when the screen has buildup that isn't getting removed I use a dab of windex on a paper towel and a gentle non circular cleaning motion. I have never had any issues over the life of a lot of laptops doing it in that fashion. I still have an old toshi that I have clone cd installed on for backup purposes (will prevent some games from installing) that must be near 10 years old and the screen is fine. Like a lot of things a little common sense helps. Hosing the screen down copiously with windex or any cleaner followed by a vigorous scrubbing with a scratchy pad is probably asking for it.

 

I don't get the backlit keyboard thing. If you are pro you shouldn't even need labels on your keys, and if you are playing against other people online you should definitely be avoiding looking down at your keys. I guess if its just bling factor I might understand it a little but I wouldn't want to void my warranty for something like that.

I prefer ergo split keyboards on my desktop. I can macro any functions and key combos for a game in a cluster around my N-S-E-W + sidestep keys. I have everthing I need on the left side + first column of the right side. A mouse with a lot more buttons, macro support and array toggle like a razor lachesis help too. Even on a laptop I keep the same left side cluster keymapping. Its a tight group and works great. Once memorized I never have to look down.

About cleaning the screen.. I agree with the special cleaning cloth comments and no cleansers. This reminded me of something that happened on my former hp laptop which makes me ask this question: How does the keyboard mesh with the screen when this laptop is closed? I ask because on my hp the keyboard was not prevented from pressing against the screen when the laptop was closed. The lid+screen on the hp was most likely compressed against the keyboard in transit while in my samsonite notebook backpack at one time or another. Does the W90vp "sandwich" against the keyboard with no flex limit? This could leave grease prints (from fingers/oil) in the shape of the key outlines on the screen in places on my hp, and applying pressure against the front face of the screen probably wasn't good for it either.

 

At least for me the backlit is just about stylish (if i has a competitive gamer need to look to the keys i will be in serious troubles ) , backlit is sexy (specially the macbook backlit) but i have to agree that it don't worth your warranty .

About the pressure in the screen... I can't talk about the rest but how the glass in mounted in the screen it almost impossible to make any pressure in the screen .

 

Well in tactical situations a lighted keyboard would be good instead of using a SUREFIRE to see the keyboard