*Official ASUS W90Vp Owners' Lounge*

What's frustrating is that ASUS won't come clean, which I understand to a degree. I called them directly and asked why there aren't anymore W90s available in Canada and they informed me that it's " because it's so popular it sold out." When I asked if there were more on the way the response was "I don't know" and they pointed me in the direction of someone who should still have some in stock, but didn't.

I almost bought from Newegg last week, but my Spidey senses started tingling so I didn't pull the trigger.

 

don't put it on there. you will get nothing but scammers wanting you to send it to a far away land with ssome excuse and wants to pay extra for it and shipping. if you want to laugh i have some saved emails i can post.

 

Hello guys.. new to the Asus forum.

Been trying to read as much... until i noticed the 886 pages on this thread and decided to read the most recent ones...

I am (or was) almost ready to pull the plug on the W90vp-x2 from newegg... been trying to find reviews or comments on this particular model of the w90, but havent really found much.

However, you guys are saying that these laptops have issues? I live in Puerto Rico and most companies wont pay shipping when you have to send them in for warranty, i.e. alienware, so alienware is not an option for me, i know people that have paid around 800 dollars having to send the pc back and forth.

So anyway, what is your advice guys? Im not a fan of NVIDIA as i had 3 nvidia gpus fry on me in less than a year, making a paperweight out of my laptop.

Thanks for any advice u can give. ^_^

 

Just to put an end to the issue... what is the brand name on the notebook?
XOTICPC? GENTECH?


NO... its ASUS. Thats where the complaint should go. If you were chaged extra for shipping or it was damaged when you received it, or something of that nature... complain to the reseller... Complaints about manufacterer defects should go to... you guessed it... the manufacturer.

XOTICPC and Gentech have been issuing refunds... I dont see ASUS doing that.

 

Agreed. Just makes you question the credibility of the company if they just cant admit their faults.

Many would be understanding about the issues... they jumped the gun on releasing it prior to fully QA the system. Could be excusable as they were trying to get the best gaming notebook out to the public as quick as possible but inadvertently skipped a few steps.

Would also be great to have some status updates noted on the product website.

 

i heard they have international warrenty. but i wouldn't get this model.

 

Again you miss the point totally...XOTICPC and GENTECH have been KNOWINGLY selliing a product that is defective.

My point is hey should NOT KNOWINGLY SELL DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS. They have a choice to sell a product if its defective or not, they CHOSE TO SELL A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT, what dont you understand about this, its pretty simple.

and, the kicker is THEY are STILL takeing orders for this laptop.....check their websites, no wait I will post the url's here for you:

GENTECH:
http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=W90Vp-A1&Category_Code=

XOTICPC:
http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-w90vpa1-order-p-2562.html

Now, go ahead and defend them again, STILL selling something they KNOW is defective.

 

As far as gaming goes on the laptop... if you flash the bios second cards bios and install the Catalyst 9.4 drivers, its an excellent machine. The issue that we speak of are 2D graphics glitches (while browsing the web, typing documents, normal non-3D apps) and some (but not all) LCDs with defects ie: distortion; dimness; bad color quality. All of which is covered under warranty. The problem is the GPUs are the main issue, and waiting for the fix on these is painful... it just doesnt seem that they know entirely what is going on with the GPUs.

As far as shipping for warranty purposes, if im not mistaken, PR is a US outlying territory and might not be charged for the shipping (i think the same goes for jamaica) but dont quote me on that. If you were in fact interested, make a quick call to Asus customer service and ask a representative about it to get a definitive answer.

Hope that helps.

 

Ha... the notebook is not a ford pinto... it doesnt explode.

The new Alienwares have defects... Macbooks have defects... HP touchsmarts have defects. Almost every item put out has defects, yet they are still sold.

I could understand it if the GPUs burnt up completely like the Nvidia chips of the past and Xotic or Gentech would not refund the customers... thats not the case. the thing still works and is covered under warranty... which is why they sell it. Call it immorral if you want. I still say you are going overboard for blaming them for ASUS hardware problems.

I know for a fact that if you owned a business, and this laptop was paying your bills... you would not stop selling it. You would probably do just what Ken is doing and do your best to help with the issue... but you wouldnt stop selling it.

 

ah i see. man, ive been waiting over six months now to replace my year old fried laptop but its been hell, kinda. it seems most laptops im looking into have terrible issues, and havin gone through the past experience with the nvidia chip, grrr.. i really dont know what to do. whether keep waiting, pulling the plug or what. =p seems its getting a whole lot more complicated and risky to buy a laptop now that theyre getting more and more powerful . im kinda lost. all i know is a want a lappy for my gaming soon as possible , and this really seemed like an awesome choice, but now i just dont know. =p . ill keep a lookout before i pull the plug .

thanks for your reply =)

 

I know for a fact that if I owned a buisness, I would not sell only one product and rely on it alone to pay my bills, that would be just stupid....are you suggesting thats what thery are doing ? relying on just this one laptop ?

Use some common sence.

 

Hi, I have an X-1 from Newegg. I had to RMA 2 times prior to receiving this unit about 2 months ago. First RMA was for video card and the second was a bright pixel. I guess 3 times is a charm because I have had zero issues with this unit. I used VicuosUSMC guide and the 9.4 drivers. I use the unit everyday for both work and gaming. I really couldn't be happier with the W90vp. I am currently playing Call of Juarez bound in blood, AOC, LFD, and Burnout Paradise, all maxed out. I watch and burn movies as well as use it for my music station and watch some TV( i have tv card). As far as benchmarks, I think I have been fairly competitive with the fastest. The unit always runs nice and cool. I have not had any 2d issues. I still would recommend this unit even though I had to RMA twice.

Anyway, thats my take on it is case there are others sitting on the fence.

 

I am using common sense...

Of course this isn't the only laptop they sell. But it would be unwise not to consider that for the money, this is a no-brainer type of deal... to get the hardware of a $4000+ laptop at a price that is little more than an entry level type gaming system. Which is why so many people are interested... Now those that were only looking to spend $1800-$2000 can now spend a lil extra to get a beast of a gaming system and those that had intended on buying the $4000 system to get more than what they intended but for half the cost... which puts the whole reseller sales in perspective. So yeah... resellers may have plenty more items available, but this system is just much more appealing to those looking for an over-the-top gaming system at an "im on a budget" price, which converts to hot ticket item, which converts to money maker, which then converts to "getting the bills paid"

It seems you are attempting to attack my character... which I find flattering... it means my point is getting across, but choose not to accept it, and you now have no choice but to resort to attacking me directly...

 

Good to hear some positive news around here since everybody is being so gloomy.

To date the only units to compete are the M17X and 9850 both still cost about $1000 more for a similar configuration, Id trade 2 RMA's for $1000 any day

 

You got that right! And I am pretty sure that I cannot be the only happy/satisfied owner of one! It has been said a bunch of times that to read the forums, ones opinion can be tainted as people with issues are more likely to post than people just enjoying their machines.

 

Not passing gloom at all... just making valid points.

The only reason I bought a Sager 9262 was because my W90 was gone for a month for RMA and I was itching to play games... Plus I wanted something to campare to the W90. One goes once all is said and done... and I will most likely move on to the next competitor.

I said it before and Ill say it again... I love the W90 aside from my GPU woes, and am still rooting for it to beat out this 9262 when it gets back... Just think its going to be a close race.

 

the 9262? I dont think that will be much of a fight, the 9850 though can probably edge it out in a few things.

 

Hi everyone, here is my $0.05 on this as well. I bought an x2 from newegg. The screen was bad, actually horrible, an excessive amount of light leakage. I also had some 2d issues, a couple freezes and weird horizontal glitchy lines while watching video and surfing net. Anways, I RMA'd the unit on a Monday, and received it on the following Friday. FYI, I live in Canada, about an hour away from the repair depot . Got a new screen and one vga card was replaced. Absolutely no problems since! I use this everyday for business as well as gaming at night. I used Vicious' guide and am running the 9.4 drivers. I play Dead Space FC2, COD4, Fallout3, everything runs very fast with very high details.

Basically, as others have said recently, it was worth the inconvenience for me as now I have an amazing laptop that works great for far cheaper than AW or a Sager. I would do it again if I had the choice. I was actually quite pleased with how quick and effective the warranty claim went, pretty much no questions asked, and no difficulties from them, they just fixed the problems that I had.

 

I think you severely underestimate this system.
Cant knock you for it though... I did the same exact thing before i bought it.
Aside from the CPU, the GPUs are highly overclockable, even though its not really necessary since stock clocks perform just a few hairs behind the 4870... sad part is im not even an Nvidia fan (which is another reason I was rooting for the W90)

Im not big on benchmarking, but if you want, I can do a few for comparison purposes when I get home from work.

 

It would be appropriate for Asus to use Vicious's guide when people RMA'd their W90's and take the full responsibility if they fry the system in the process . I feel THAT is what Asus should do, and step up to the plate for those that need the drivers updated. There are still average folk with minimal tech experience out there that have bought the W90. Not everyone will risk damaging a $2400 notebook and void the warranty just to update drivers , and point being is they shouldn't have to. Plain and simple.

The W90 does not work for my needs, and I am glad I could give it to a family member,,,, however,,, She would have preferred a Macbook Pro for the same money.. Asus lost me as a customer due to the W90 ordeal, along with the way the handled the recent RMA of my G1s.

None of this is the resellers fault. Don't blame Ken Lee. He's the most honest business person out there, imo. He can't know what each person is going to do with the product they buy from him. The W90 is awesome is many, many ways,,, But a disaster for certain types of users. Just my thoughts on it all

 

Indeed.

Those of us that have the know-how/b@lls to do the said tweaks dont mind doing it... we actually intended on doing it to get the most performance out of it anyway.

But for those that were looking for hard performance straight out of the box, I can understand their frustration when they saw subpar results in they use.

 

i was scanning vicious's guide and it seems simple enough... would it necessarily void the warranty to update the drivers though?

 

Technically yes, the bios flashing part is probably a warranty voiding issue.

However its not something they seem to enforce, and you can flash the bios back and they would never know. Unless something went so wrong you cant flash back, but they wont really know what happened ether

 

I agree, it would more than likely pass through the process unnoticed. My RMA's were almost painless. Call, described issue, receive shipping information, send, wait on returned unit. Never did I get asked any questions, it was more of a "we will take care of that right away" attitude. More was the dissapointment that I had to RMA, but at least they were mostly efficient on their end. I did get salty when I had to wait an extra week due to not being in stock....but that in the end was my impatient nature.

 

I agree with Trich911, that's what my RMA was like, describe the problem and a 'we'll take care of that right away' attitude. They didn't argue with me or anything, I just shipped it in and they replaced the 'defective' parts. I think it's probably most cost effective for them to basically just put in new parts then to spend a bunch of time troubleshooting what a problem could be.

 

No I wasn't attacking your character, I was simply stating your arguement lacked common sence. Unlike your attacks on me in earlier posts. I am just pointing out your flawed arguement. which I see, still remains flawed. And yes, I understand your poiint, and I still say it is wrong.

Useing your arguement, it would be quite OK do complete a job half way, and yet get pad for full. or to knowingly sell you 3/4 something when you expect full, I mean according to you, everything is flawed, and its ok.

And, going further, XOTIC and GENTECH are bordering on false advertising, as they are still selling a product that will not perform up to what their advertising cllaims, but again, useing your logic, that is ok because everything is flawed

 

I bought some eggs from the store the other day and wouldn't you be surprised to find out, one of them was broken.

I read on the Egg forums that many people had experienced "broken eggs".

I ran right back to the store and demanded that they not only replace my broken egg but immediately stop selling eggs because "they might break". I even showed them 10 pages of printed out Egg forum posts of people complaining about broken eggs as proof. I just couldn’t believe a store would knowingly sell eggs that could break.

Seriously you need to relax; it’s naive to believe that every W90Vp-X1/X2/A1 had problems and associated unhappy owners. Especially if you realize that NBR represents only a tiny minority of laptop owners’ worldwide (ASUS total market).

I had 4 RMA units all replaced by ASUS and not once did I think it was rational to hold NewEgg responsible. You seem to disagree with this which is your right, but why don’t you do so in defiant silence. I would guess the rest of the NBR community wouldn't like to jeopardize their valuable resources like Ken or Jason just to appease one person's misguided frustration.

 

The W90VP is a fine laptop in every way. People that have had issues with theirs is due to product quality not reseller quality. I've encountered very minimal problems with mine. A couple lockups web browsing, couple times where it wouldn't come out of sleep (I think this is a generic Vista issue), accidentally pressing the mouse button will wake it from sleep despite setting it not to (again, Vista) and only recently the video drivers were corrupted in memory and was fixed after a reboot.

All of this on stock driver, stock OC, everything stock. I haven't done any tweaking only because as it is right now, it fills my needs and can be patient for a real driver.

I've actually seen too much performance from this thing. The other day, I fired up WoW without vertical sync, I was getting ~260 FPS in Azeroth. While this is an incredibly high number, it was beyond the screen's ability to render it cleanly. It looked somewhat smeary and sluggish. After turning on vertical sync, I'm 60FPS everywhere in Azeroth (recently reroll'd) on ultra, shadows off, full glow off.

If you have a bone to pick on the W90, call Asus. They made it and support it, end of story.

 

See now you are not making any sense... and you are saying my argument is flawed. You are trying to put words in my mouth... but you can interpret what I said however you want... you're still wrong. just accept it.

How funny is it that Gentech and Xotic are advertising the info that that Asus put out... ASUS. They did not put out the 15000 3dmark score info, or the most powerful laptop in the world info. Asus did. And for the record, its not fals advertisement... obviously the system did it, just with undocumented modifications... which is to be expected.

No use arguing with you if you make no sense. The W90 is a good system with good potential, but bad hardware problem resolution from Asus ATM... Case closed.

I guess Im not the only one with a "flawed" argument.

 

Hi Folks,

Its been a while... but since I got my second RMA, flashed my secondary video card and installed the 9.4 drivers everything has been great. So far all the games I have tried run smooth and no crashes . I noticed a couple of people who are not satisfied with their benchmarks or overall 3d performance. I was fiddling around with SF4 benchmark demo and noticed the following.... if one opens the ATI CCC they will notice an instant degrade in performance. My SF4 frames drop to about half the frames. Only way to fix this is to reboot after I touched the ATI CCC. After noticing this I also tried running 3dmark 2006 to see if the same happens.... yup performance drops dramatically. For those who are having performance issues.. have you tried to open ATI CCC? For those who have no performance issues... can you please try opening your ATI CCC to see if you experience a performance hit?

 

Well I was still going to buy the W90 as of last Friday, but I was concerned about future supportability as I don't think it will be there. Such a shame.

I've ordered the M980NU with the same specs as the W90, but without the Bluray player and the CPU is the 2.8 GHz T9600 Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile; FSB1066; 6MB L2; 45nm; 35W.

Total cost is $2931.00 US which includes taxes and delivery.

 

Hello, it has been a long time since I posted on here. I been reading this thread for awhile and all of the pages. It is sad and depressing to see some many arguments. I have my pre-order sitting since 5/21 from Ken. I have debated alot on getting something else but that can tear a person apart if they want a certain item. I have decided even through with the bugs and everything I've read, I will sit and wait with hope that another shipment can come in. wwoods, you in particular I don't see anything in your bashing on the reseller's that is truth. Example is a company is selling a 360 which alot of people know is bugged with flaws like rrod, you are implying they should immediately stop selling it because some units are not what is exactly described. We live in a inperfect world, until you find that perfect world let me know but stop complaining and shop for something else. None is telling you to buy this product or get it from a certain company, find something you like and go with that.

 

Just a quick one... Will any W90 take a QX9300? Any if anyones opened one are the CPU's soldered?

 

Yes, Quadzilla put one in his machine 100s of pages ago. The only issue he experienced is the lack of headroom in the OC department. I think he could only get slightly over 3ghz due to voltages (you can look back) although with the QX9300 and E-wrecked GPU drivers he was into the 17k 3dmark06 realm. I dont think he ever had the oppurtunity to change the GPUs over to master master and run 9.4. I would think it would have even increased his scores even more.

Even with its issues its still a blazing machine. I did find it funny that the M17 crowd totally ignores the scores that Q was getting in a machine that cost much less (even with his Q). I don't think (although I have not read the thread in a few day) that those guys have hit the 17k mark on machines that are $4k+ in comparision. M17x is still an amazing machine but not a W90 killer. The M17x also experiences the same OC headroom issue with the QX9300 iirc, at least they did early on.

 

Dude, orion, you are still waiting for your lappy? Wow.. I haven't set mine in due to school work.. I am thinking about not sending it in for at all, or trying to get an extension on my RMA (due to schoolwork.)

After rolling back the vBIOs, I had a few issuues at first, but non since then.. IN fact, the only time I ever encountered the problem, was ON this webpage. Also, I wasn't using the 64bit IE...

When is your ETA!?

And the w90 is awesome... pure awesome. My only issues with the laptop is the sound pannel (i still hit the damn thing in-game), and the LCD brightness.

 

oh yeah... how far are people able to push their video cards in over drive? i haven't got to fiddle around with it much...

 

To add to the W90 props, since going through ViciousXUSMC's guide (which by the way is stupid simple to follow) I have had absolutely no issues relating to the video cards. The only issues that I have encountered are related to the Vista 64 bit OS, and those have been minor.

I absolutely love this machine.

 

Overdrive does not work, you have to use the AMD GPU tool in the limit breaker package. I can get 615/950 fully stable and about 630/970 max.

Its a pretty big boost almost 1000 points in 3dmark Vantage.

 

That is weird.. I hit the unlock button and it let's me adjust the slider? I have two options in the CCC overdrive menu... HD 4870 x2 [defaultlcd] and HD 4870x2.. When I choose HD 4870x2, it shows a temp drop of 10 degree C?

 

well.. im probably going to custom a w90vp-a1 from xoticpc. i think the value is pretty good and am willing to take the risk, as i really will not jump on any computer that has nvidia graphics (one fried mb too many for my taste)but they have it on pre-order right now. Justin at xotic told me theyd expect their shipment at any moment so, ill wait till then.

 

Yeah the slave card is not sharing a heat pipe with the north bridge 10c difference is normal.

Yes the sliders work and if you check your clocks with gpu-z they will even show the increased numbers, but your performance will not go up at all for some reason. If you use the AMD GPU tool for one its easier/faster than the ATI CCC but it DOES boost performance.

 

Yup... Apparently they havent received the replacement GPUs and the ETA for the arrival of the cards changes every time I call.

Im about to start calling everyhour of every day until they get my laptop back to me.

 

UPDATE: Spoke with ASUS; They put the new revision of the cards in the notebook and I will receive it Tomorrow.

Testing and Comparison to the 9262 to come shortly.

 

Get this irony, last night I was typing a reply here basically saying "hey it's been 5 days no problem" and before I could submit, my screen went to vertical lines and went grey. So my lines of death are back.

I'm going to call today for an RMA.

I have an order in for a Sager NP9850, once the W90 is finally in sellable condition, it's outta here. Damn shame.

 

i can't wait. i'm going to read everything. i hope it's long.

if you need help in comparing anything let me know.(pm most likely) and i'll give you some things to compare.

thanks so much.

 

Can you verify that they indeed gave you new revision for your video card, perhaps a bios update?

What browser do you use? I've had the grey screen once with IE8. I can reproduce it all the time with the 2d test.

 

the asus w90 isn't the best any more. you can get the m17 with two 4850's with 1gb and no issues like the w90

about the same price as well
http://www.alienware.com/customize/M17-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-M17&Subcode=SKU-DEFAULT

 

I primarily use Opera but I can get it to occur with any browser in addition to the 2d test. I'm also very interested in Orion's new VGA card results.

 

I normally use Firefox. So far for me the gray screen is very rare, besides the 2D test. I'm wondering if it might be a bios issue.

 

Of course.

So am I, gotta wait til I get home from work to test

How do you know there are no issues? And I wonder if we could make em fit in the W90... :GEEK: