*Official ASUS W90Vp Owners' Lounge*

Is it easy to access the hard drives on this because I'm thinking about going with the base model dual hd's, and swapping in some ssd's later

 

Ya theres a seperate acess panel and it takes all of five minutes if that to swap them .

 

Very easy.

 

Quadzilla from reading previous posts i'm pretty sure you installed a qx9300 yourself.

Assuming that is right, how was the process? I've built my own desktop but i've never worked on the insides of a laptop. How accessible is the cpu in the w90?

 

The way the W90 is layed out is very simple and very Open so if you have been inside a desktop then you wont have any issues .

 

Thanks I really appreciate the response.

So basically its worth it to just stick to the q9000 and sometime later on slap a stronger quad in it. This is great news.

Does anyone recommend getting a SSD with a HDD together or is it not exactly worth the money at the moment? I quite like the idea of having the OS and my production apps booting off the SSD and storing all my files and possibly games on a 320gb 7200rpm drive.

Those with intel x25-m experience, worth the money or not?

 

i recommend it. using that right now and it works pretty good if you ask me.
intels are top of the line hands down, but it has the slower write speed. read speeds are just plain ridiculously fast!!
i wanted the extra 40 gigs so i went with the vertex. love it so far.

 

Outside of the sheer gaming nirvana that is the W90Vp along with very easy access to the internals, the HDX18T offers many compelling reasons to choose it over the W90Vp, weight, heat, and better battery life in a 18.4" Screen package.

Me, personally, I'd take the W90Vp, but gaming prowess is a high priority. If gaming was a low to no factor for me, I'd go with the HDX18T.

 

If they put a real desktop GTX280 in there along with the i7 in the D900F, that thing would either:

A> Blow up

B> Melt right before your eyes

C> Effectively remove the need for contraceptives ever again.

D> All of thee above

The M98 is going to be the gaming SLI monster. That keyboard grossly shifted to the right might be an issue, though.

 

Lol what ?? The only thing it will be using from the desktop is the name of the card other then that no . Do you have some super secret insider info your holding back on .

 

Both Xotic and Gentech are currently showing preorder.

 

I did say "my two cents". Frankly IMO weight and battery life should not even be on a comparison list as neither are suitable for road warrior duty. Heat is also a non issue since both will live when placed on a hard surface and neither will live if placed on a bed spread. I cant see any of these things you mentioned as being compelling. Are there other factors that would make a person want to buy a more expensive laptop that is less powerful in gaming and productivity apps? Im not seeing them. Understand I am not baiting you, I honestly dont see where you are coming from.

 

Has anybody Installed XP on the W90. I'd like to put Xp on a separate
hd for some order games. is there a downgrade pack or all the drivers available.

Thanks

 

I have same concern, besides I want whether go into Vista and XP can be selected when power on.

 

Hello All:

I'm new here and another consumer leaning heavily on getting the W90VP-A1 but have a few remaining questions.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but base on my understanding, Microsoft is providing all new Vista purchasers from July 1st 09 a free upgrade to Windows 7 once it comes out. Is that a fact or a still a possibility?

If it is a fact, would it apply to the 64-it Vista included with the purchase of the W90?

 

Ya i have heard that rumor a few times and if it turns out to be true that would be fantastic , one less thing to buy .

 

Just a fair bit of warning if you upgrade the processor you risk losing your warrenty. And if you upgrade through these other companies you will be dealing with them for warrenty issues. Also to be fair it should be noted that the processor price may be up to 2x as much as purchasing seperatly and in reality you are paying for 2 different processors the 9000 in the base price and the 9300 in the upgrade cost.

 

Well while I was waiting on newegg to give me money back everyone is out of stock. Plus I won't get money back till next week.... I have week and a half till I leave the country. So I'll have to pay another $2400 now. This is most craziest situation over a laptop I've been in.... Proved one thing, newegg is good only for small purchases, something like a laptop, i should go for company that has good customer service.

 

Anyone dealt with Agearnotebook.com? Seems like the only company that has them in stock...

 

Nice stuff you got there

 

ok so from what I've been reading it seems like it should be easy to swap a qx9300 in there. Is it true that you don't even have to reconfigure the bios when you swap it in. Because I think $1100 is way too overpriced

 

Actually, the weight and battery life can make a difference. The HDX18T can clock 2.5-3hrs of battery life which is nearly 2x the W90Vp. The HDX is not a power sieve on the level of the W90Vp. An HDX18T with a P9xxx or P8xxx processor and the 9600M GT GPU is noticeably lighter with a smaller adapter and much less heat to vent. In turn, placing it on, let's say a pillow or mattress becomes a reality with mildly increased thermals.

Like I said, my daughter uses her GX720 (T9500 and 9600M GT) all the time on her bed and on a pillow on the couch and it works fine. The T9500 (35W) is known for being a portable heater, yet her laptop runs just fine. She even left it encoding a video the other day on a pillow in the living room while we ate, and it ran just fine.

If a user's priority is 18.4" screen with the ability to play Blu-Ray/DVD movies as a priority while relaxing comfortably on their bed and the laptop sitting on the bed, pillow or another air flow restrictive material, the HDX18T is much more viable than the W90Vp.

If a user's priority is an 18.4" screen with mobility being a factor, 8.7lbs is much lighter (in the realm of laptops), than the 11.5lbs of the W90Vp.
That is the difference between a 5lb laptop and a 8lb laptop basically, and, "road warrior," duty is subjective to the strength level of the owner. I had no problems lugging around a 15lb M-ALX, but some balk at anything over 7lbs or 10lbs. Some even cry over anything past 4-5lbs. Why do you think Netbooks are taking off? One major selling point is the extremely light weight. There is no universal acceptance of what constitutes, "road warrior" worthiness.

If a user's priority is gaming in any way, shape or form, then the HDX18T is very, very poor as a choice as I harped on in a previous post. I had to crank WoW down to get decent frame rates, and the 9600M GT on a 1980x1080 screen is not a good gaming combo.

As for price, I can get an HDX18T with a P8700 (25W, 2.53ghz) CPU, 4GB and Blu Ray for $1320 brand new from HP.COM, and that isn't even exploring any potential coupons out there to drop it even more. Compared to the $2249 for the Newegg W90Vp, that is a difference of $929 a ~41% savings. If you don't think something close to a grand is major.......

Now, for his needs, the QX9300 makes zero sense IMHO and is a waste of money, generates much more un-needed heat and will hinder the unit running on a blanket. I had an HDX18T, and the QX9300's run very toasty in the HDX18T. We had a discussion in the HP forums because the temps were all over the place. I also had a Dell M6400 with a QX9300 and it ran it so nice and cold it was like night and day.

 

Going to try a hard-drive in my eSATA hot swap dock as a scratch disc for CS4 applications. There's a noticeable pause at times using my second 7200rpm internal drive as a scratch disc. (the dock is compatible with 2.5" and 3.5" drives and has a 3.0Gb/s transfer rate)
Should I pop a raptor in there or an SSD? Is there a good reliable SSD in a size comparable to the raptors yet?

Looking at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322


*EDIT* ...looking again, that would also look pretty nice sitting out exposed in my dock too.

 

any of the OCZ vertex's i reccomend them from personal experence

 

Thems sure are S33XY

 

So i got screwed after all. Everyone is out of stock, even newegg on X2. Plus I won;t get my money back for some time. Awesome outcome I say.... I'm going to leave without one....

 

I'm just hoping that is what my problem is. When I copy 3D items from Illustrator into Photoshop, PS will get a 'program not responding' message for a second before I can paste in.

 

has anyone tried to over clock the gpu's yet? Just curious, as i am an avid gamer

 

Some good points here. My last few laptops have been in the 9lb range and I fly to work so I am aware of weight being a subjective issue for traveling. I just need to get from point A to B however, not use it on the road. What actually hurts more for usability on the road is size and battery power. Its difficult to open up and work with a 17" and up on a plane unless your in business or above. Harder to work with when just sitting around in waiting areas and the like as well. I do know people that carry the big hardware and are true road warriors but they are very few in number. Most carry something easier to work with. Battery power is another issue. IMO neither of these laptops as the poster described (fully buffed out with the QX and the like) will give long service in real world road warrior duty. Just sticking a disc in the drive and seeing how long a lappie will play a movie has little to do with being in a brightly lit airport where you have to keep turning the brightness up so you can see the screen, being connected to wireless, charging your phone, burning your work off to disc, the list is endless and the batteries never hold up as well as the tests claim they will. We are talking about what is applicable here however and the user didnt indicate road warrior duty was an issue so I still see the unit on shore power and as such a non issue in regards to battery.

As to cost both are very expensive fully buffed as he described and the last time I priced an HDX it was actually more expensive when loaded.

I agree that the QX is a waste for the usage described. If he were in the market to buy a more bare bones lappie such as the configuration you described what you are saying makes sense as far as looking at the Hp over this unit. Since he plans to throw down the big ching I still believe he may as well get the more potent unit.

 

Congrats . Its an amazing machine err oh thats right youve owned a few already .

 

Hello again.

I have a couple questions regarding my w90. First of all, after playing games it starts to get choppy and lose fps to a great extent after about 30 minutes. How can i monitor this and what can I do to fix the problem?

 

How long before it was in stock for you?

 

In the end, it boils down to:

#1. All my points of comparison were spot on. You failed to address my direct comparisons, so thanks for that. But I'll assume you can see the difference between both. Whilst both are not ultra portables, they definitely are in two different weight classes.

#2. Same testing criteria, the W90Vp has ~50% the life of HDX18T. Varying battery requirements being equal (assuming you're doing the same things on both), the HDX18T has much better battery life. Is it a 5hr+ champion? No, but it will last well over an hour longer on the go than the W90Vp.

#3. If you "buff" the HDX18T and W90Vp, the W90Vp is still more expensive. The cost of adding a QX is the same to both. I even tossed in an upgrade to 4GB for that price and it comes with a Blu-Ray drive (option on the Newegg model at $2249, included with the $2399 model). Actually, the one thing in the HDX18T's favor is you do not void your warranty adding a QX9300. But for his needs, a Q9000 is a better option at best or stick with a P8700. But the W90Vp is supposed to be more expensive. It is running 4870's (ahem) in Xfire.

#4. Road warrior status, again, is subjective. Using a laptop on a plane is an "on the go," scenario, where an, "A to B," scenario is just as valid. Home, work, library, friends house, client site, etc.... More times than not, if needed, AC power is accessible (I watch everyone even plug in their laptops at Starbucks and Borders). Then again, one of his main criteria was watching movies, on the bed. Either way, the HDX18T is lighter whether, "A to B," or "On the Go," by nearly 3lbs which is huge in the laptop world.

I've been around long enough to remember lugging (hence the term luggable) 20lb Compaq's place to place, site to site and even on vacation (When I am sitting in a hotel now, via WiFi, playing WoW, I think back to playing AOL's NWN on a Compaq Portable III w/ a Gas Plasma display via 28.8k dial-up and go, "dag....."). Again, it is subjective. There is no one classification. To each their own as to what defines weight and portability.


In the end, the HDX is lighter, smaller and has nearly twice the battery life of the W90Vp. It runs cooler, can do what he needs to do (once he gets over the QX factor, which would be the same for both the W90Vp and HDX18T) much cheaper with an 18.4" screen 1080P compatible and is a better buy if gaming is a low to no priority. It can also most likely survive one of his priorities, which is watching movies comfortably on the bed without burning down the house.

This is fun, though. What's funny is he's probably reading our comparison discussion and laughing (and maybe taking away from it some things to ponder before purchasing), heh.

 

Actually I did but its a matter of viewpoint. I dont see these things as being in a different weight category. They are both big ase heavy laptops plain and simple. I doubt there are too many people that would be willing to carry a loptop of the HDX's size and weight around but would then balk at the couple extra pounds of the W90. The fact is as I did state there was no mention of the need for road warrior usage which means size, weight, battery life are not much of an COMPELLING issue. That was the word you used. Compelling. Not minor, not its a small point, not its something to thing about, compelling.

He stated he was going to buy fully buffed out including the QX. That means every option in the book. That will get him to 3k, I just came from their site and priced one out. That is the configuration we are talking about here. Not the one you are siting which I do agree would be a much less expensive and more sensible choice for his usage. He also said he had no problem setting whatever he bought on a tray. Smart move that because both my wife and daughter have fried a lappie on the bed and both units were underpowered low heat units suitable for email and movie watching. IMO setting any laptop on a bedspread is asking for it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone on any laptop.

Given that he is blowing the ching I say get the goods. Too much firepower means you overspent, not enough means you wasted every penny. As you say, its subjective but I wouldnt touch the HDX at the price he is going to pay, IMO its only a compelling choice at a lower price point.

I'll give you the last word as I suspect we will not agree here. Been good crossing swords and glad you kept it civil.

 

This laptop can house 8 gigs?! Oh my i need to get more ram before it gets here :0!

 

Its going to be hard to keep up with howard hughes there above me im on a budget so no SSDs and no 8gigs of ram for moi.

 

I have game'd on this machine for 6 hours straight with no issues in heat, frame rates or fan noise etc. I am not sure what is going on for you but you really need to look at what other services are running, what game you are playing and what settings you are using. It could also just be a poorly coded game or the power cord has come loose. This is certainly an unhead of problem with the other W90 users.

 

I am getting a few hdx18t s with q9000 and 130m. I'll do some testing on them and let you guys know if it sucks that bad or not.

 

It probably will handle 12gigs lol but man that stuff is uber expensive

 

Ya thats actually pretty reasonable pricing . Im just hoping they release an update for the bios to give us more juice on the CPU end cause after going back to Kincs benchmark his CPU had 1.263 V behind it which is exactly what my dual core got.

 

I think this one guy did, you would have to go back and read this thread from the start to find his results.

 

Hello Everyone,

I am sorry i have not posted recently. I have not had much new information until the last 3 to 5 days provided to me from our overseas dept. Additionally we have been going through so restructuring in the dept and throughout the company that has affected my ability to have time for this at home. Besides when i can i have to squeeze in some gaming on my pc. The information below i have confirmed in reference to the w90. ( Additionally please be aware bios build development is very different for notebooks due to them have fixed hardware it is rare to have more than 2 to 3 bios build updates due to extensive validation there is generally no need to release additional updates. Unlike desktop systems notebooks use fixed components which is the main reason updates bios builds are released for motherboards. Generally a bios build will only be released if we have confirmed an issue that needs to be addressed through the bios or if it enhances functionality.

1. Are quad core cpus currently supported on the w90vp-x1?

Yes i have confirmed the motherboard design will actively support quadcores without issues. Currently the only validated cpu in the quad range is the q9000. I am currently waiting on confirmation on the q9100 support and should have this information within 2 to 4 days.

2. What was updated in the bios from version 400 to 500?

The only adjustment was a a reduction in the supplied voltage for the memory modules ( from 1.9 to the jdec spec of 1.8 volts )

3. Does the turbo gear currently support overclocking for quad core cpus.

Currently no version of the turbogear software supports overclocking outside of the core 2 duo cpus. Our overseas dept is aware of this and is currently working on ensuring the software and other factors allow for this functionality. ( once all factors have been researched and tested ) current eta is unknown

4. Current status on a updated at driver build?

We have posted a new updated driver for ati graphics today. I have not had the chance to test it but after a quick verification it did not look as if there was support for the 4870 gpu in the inf information. Please feel free to try the driver and let me know if it installs.

I have additionally linked some recommended updated files below.

ATI Graphics driver
Version V8.540.0.0
http://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Drivers/VGA/VGA_VT32_64_090331.zip


DirectX End-User Runtimes (March 2009)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=0cf368e5-5ce1-4032-a207-c693d210f616


Realtek High Definition Audio for Vista 2.21
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Realtek_High_Definition_Audio_for_Vista_d5513.html


Hopefully the information i have provided helps in some regards and if anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me or post your inquiry or questions. I will attempt to go through the thread recently and see if there are any questions i have missed.

 

Thanks for the response we have made alot of headway thus far except for the lack of proper voltage going to the Quadcores. Im sure alot of this stuff is out of your control but atleast youll know .

 

Guys I need some help here please, It sound like I'm not going to be able to get me one of these, except from Agearnotebooks called website. Have you heard anything about them? I'm going to have to pay $2800 to get it from them, due to overnight shipping and taxes.
Another thing, is there anything that matches to this performance for the money at the moment?

 

Why do they keep saying "no quadcore is supported in turbogear" yet the q9000 has up to 15% and even the qx9300 has like 4%

It is obviously is supported.

 

has any one heard of the ati xgp external gpu??

 

Always. If we all saw the world the same way, well, heck, where's the fun in that.

I find that strange and close to extreme bad luck to have two laptops "fry" from being on the bed for use. My daughter used her Gateway for 2yrs on pillows/covers no problem. The same will hold true for her GX720. I actually ran HWmonitor with it propped up on the pillow that is her "go to" laptop prop and logged her using it over the course of 2-3hrs. The temps, while I noted being ~10 degrees higher, were well within norm. That is with the 9600M GT.

As for our potential victim, er, buyer....

Assuming he makes the cardinal mistake (hey it's his ducets. If he wants to make paper airplanes out of them and toss them into the fire, that's his call), a W90Vp is STILL more expensive with a QX9300. Add $1100 for the CPU and you're sitting at $3400-3500 for the blu-ray model. That's why I said the QX9300 was a factor for both. I went back in and priced it, and unless you are selecting every option available under the sun for the sake of argument, with a QX9300, 4gb DDR2, 9600M GT, 250GB HD, Blu-Ray I am coming up with $2299. Even with 2x 320GB HDs 7200rpm (To match the HD config of the BR model) = $2499. So, again, you're looking at $2499 vs. $3566 (xoticpc.com) for a QX9300 equipped W90Vp. So, yet again, $1000 difference. You're wrong on the pricing. The W90Vp is more expensive by basically ~$1k with equal configurations. If you want to nit pick over 6GB DDR2 vs 4GB DDR2, be my guest as it won't make much of a difference in Vista and we both know it, heh.

 

I think QX9300 holds the similar position with X7800(the first mobile quad/duo extreme processor) , so it is unwise to swap to QX9300 now. Sooner or later more powerful quad extreme processors will be available. Actually currently Q9000 is enough.
Any one agree with me?

 

Id say it really depends on your needs and how much you paid for the Qx . for $1147 ya thats a hard pill to swallow but for 600 and change its a great upgrade . Also remember if they fix the bios issue with the Quad ill be sitting at more then likely 3.4-3.6ghz +12 megs of cache is a nice boost . Best bang for the buck though hands down is the Q9000 period because of Setfsb though.

 

ya u r right. Everyone's needs are different. I just choose to wait for stronger processor