A8JP Available in New EGG

While I don't currently have my A8JP (my replacement is sitting in a fedex warehouse as Asus requested that I sign for the item personally when delivered, signiture on file was not acceptable (what a PITA) )... I can tell you the bag is HUGE when compared to the laptop. The A8JP floats around in the bag. As a bonus though you can pack a couple extra dress shirts in there with the laptop for those extended business trips

My Dell M70 from work floats around in the bag too. Not sure what laptop they intended to put in there.. a G2 maybe?

 

Same here. I ordered Tuesday morning and paid for rush processing. The laptop and the 2GBs of Ram shipped almost immediately; the laptop from CA and the RAM from NJ. I will be getting the RAM Wednesday and the laptop either Wednesday or Thursday. I can't wait!!!!!

 

For those that have not ordered....here is the deal I did and perhaps will help you.

At Newegg, my total with tax and shipping came around $1400. I then totalled the A8js from BtoTech and the price came to $1470. I bought the A8Js due to XP Pro and 1Gig Ramx1 module(no bluetooth).

There is no tax for me through BtoTech since I am in CA and that is why this deal made sense to me.

I should be getting my laptop in a few days. Just a FYI.

 

the bag is large I agree.

the a8j is actually a little larger than most 14 inch notebooks.

I didnt like the bag at all when it was new but ive used it for months now. I do just throw a lot of junk in the 2nd pocket.
It definitely can fit 2 of the notebook easily in it. Id like something small and leather someday as well.
But its a free bag you should give it a try

 

Im thinking about buying this notebook. Can anyone recommend a good bag for it?

Thanks

 

Try out the free bag that comes with it. Nice design, roomy, lightweight.

For rain, I use this one (they used to have it in black, but not any more):

http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/retail/catalog.htm?categoryId=85&skusetId=157

The inside of the top flap is rubberized (so is the bottom) to protect from the rain. The shoulder strap on the Timbuk2 is very comfortable, so I switch it between the two bags.

 

I use Brenthaven if you are looking for a shoulder bag. I used the 15.4 duo with my Asus Z70VA, and without a doubt the best shoulder bag i've used in terms of protecting the notebook.

if your looking for a 14" for your A8JP then check this link out to see what i mean.


http://www.brenthaven.com/PDF/Slim14SpecsPDF.pdf Slim

http://www.brenthaven.com/PDF/Duo15SpecsPDF.pdf Duo

 

Ok, I went to newegg and saw the free shipping and couldn't resist. Plus they had the G.SKill 1GB RAM modules on sale for $92 shipped, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

Soon, I should be receiving a brand new A8JP and 2 GB of RAM for a grand total of $1480 - NOT BAD AT ALL!!

This will be replacing my beloved Acer 8204WLMi, which I will sell on ebay for pretty much the same price (hopefully).

 

Thanks for the help, and links.

Cheers

 

all gone Man they went thru well over a hundred of these notebook in a week WOW.

Hard to beat the spec's on this notebook for the price really is regardless of Manufacturer.

 

Wow, I think I got the last one. Can't wait.

 

ARGH !!!! It was in stock when I first clicked on the link when I got up this morning, went to take a shower, came back and it's out of stock!!! Imagine my agony ........

 

picked one up first thing last monday and had it 2nd dayd to me on wed. this was becaues my old sager broke friday, and i needed a new laptop for school.

greeeaaat price for a laptop of this caliber, hopefully this will put asus' name out on the market.

"asus? yea i got one, an inspire model"
"uh, thats ACER"

 

Got mine on Thursday and I have a few notes:

1. Mine came with the CMO screen: Monior = CMO1416, Manufacturer = N141C1-L02, Manufacture Date = Week 49 / 2005

2. Installed 2gb of Patriot PC2-5300 So-Dimm RAM from Newegg. It works great.

3. I used the included mouse on the right hand-rest for one evening. The hand rest is now visibly scuffed. It's not too bad but I just wanted to warn others. I'm going to try to polish the plastic and bring it back closer to the original. Also, I ordered this off of ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=200031048382&rd=1&rd=1

If it is good, I'll let you guys know.


BTW... can someone change the name of this thread to "A8JP Owner's Lounge"? After all, that's what it's turning into.

 

Yours came with a CMO screen? Thats awesome, I ordered on Friday so hopefully I will be just as lucky! Anybody else get the CMO screen on their A8JP from Newegg?

 

I did. Good screen. Viewing angles are a little blah, and the white isn't quite as "white" as my desktop LCD, but overall a nice bright screen. No dead pixels, no bright spots.

Overall, I've been impressed.

 

I have never done that with a mouse.. do other people use the notebook as a mousing surface? Is this common practice?

 

I've never used a part of the NB as a mousepad. Esp. right next to the touchpad. Why not just use the touchpad if you're going to try and mouse on such a tiny surface?

 

He is actually refering to the right palm rest, lol. I have tried this, and it works, but I don't recommend this because I fear it may scratch the palm rests.

Also the palm rest are not as clean, it picks up dirt from your hands, you dont' want that dirt into the "eye" of the mouse.

 

To me anyway, that's still a tiny area. But then I see the entire surface of the desk, sofa, table, person sitting next to me, the velvet Elvis on the wall, or even the entire floor as my mousepad!

 

Well, I guess it was silly. Usually I keep the laptop on my left leg with my left hand on the keyboard, while the right hand moves between the keyboard and the mouse, which is on my right leg. This works great while I'm sitting in my nice comfortable chair. I don't know what possessed me to use the mouse on my right hand rest that night. It wasn't for very long, and the hand rest didn't get scratched up or anything like that; it just got scuffed and lost it's finish. It was very visible though, and incredibly annoying. So I took the softest tissue I could find, a little metal polish (I know it's plastic), and water and buffed the hand rest until my fingers got tired. I got it to where it's almost impossible to see the scuffs anymore. Both hand rests look like new again. I'm going to be very careful until I get the plastic body protector that I ordered off of ebay.

 

BTW... how do I check what bios version my computer has?

 

Nevermind.... Everest said I had bios 205. I winflashed to 208 and restarted. When I restarted, I got a bad checksum error that scared the crap out of me, but windows started anyway. I restarted again and there don't seem to be any errors. Everest now reports version 208 so I guess all is good.

 

I'm now patiently waiting for this to come back in stock. Can anyone out there answer a DVI output question for me? Does the ATI x1700 have any options to compensate for the overscan in HDTVs? I want to be able to hook the laptop up to my 720p HDTV, but it has an overscan of about 3-4% on each side.

 

I was gonna order it right now and just found out it's out of stock again...

 

This is very tempting. Anyone knows how long is the battery life?

 

the battery life using powergear4 is around 2hr and 30mins. This is under the quite/office mode.

 

After scouring the AVS forums a bit, I found a guide that you should be able to tweak for your situation. Just read the first post and you should be set.

You're basically going to need two pieces of software (excluding your basic ATI drivers). Which are:

• Catalyst Control Center
• Powerstrip

 

ProntoR2, thanks for the links. I'm a regular at the AVS forums, but I haven't followed the whole PC to TV threads.

 

Not sure as my A8Jp is in the shop, but the latest catalyst drivers had an overscan feature built in when I was using them on a 9700np for my HTPC.

I would expect if you go DVI out to your TV you will have the same options. Bascially I don't think powerstrip is really required anymore to get what you want.

 

Wastin_Time, that's even better news.

For the owners out there, how "glossy" is the finish on the screen compared to other notebooks that you've seen? I went to the store today and a few of the HP notebooks that I saw were just horrible in a brightly lit environment. The reflections were quite bad. The pictures on the review on this site did not seem bad at all.

Does watching in a dimmer lit room reduce the reflections?

 

Even i Missed the deal. I am afraid there could be an increase in the price after 26th Jan which in the websites shows as ETA date. since the deals expires on 25th Jan.

 

The site was finally updated this morning. Unfortunately, the only thing updated was the ETA date from 1/26/07... to none. Does anyone know if this means that this is permanently "Out Of Stock". I haven't dealt with NewEgg before.

If so, looks like the A8JS is the best alternative...

 

Asus ships small quantities of their computers to begin with. Plus, it's not clear if Asus is supplying NewEgg directly or if they have another source. The A8JP hasn't been available in the United States until New Egg started selling them a few months back. AFAIK.

This is the second time NewEgg's stock has run out. So, I'd recommend bookmarking the page and checking back every day or so. Or call New Egg (they have a toll free number) and ask.

 

I just talked with a rep, he said that they recieved 410 units in today, and that they all sold out (wtf?) very quickly. I don't know if I believe him or not, because I never recieved my auto-notify. Did that tech not have a CLUE what he was talking about?

 

No way. Their last shipment was pretty big, a little over 100 units and those lasted about a week.

 

thats what I thought, sounded like bull. He gave me 5 dollars off my order though for the inconvenience. I guess I can't complain. I was pissed because a tech earlier told me today that they had those same number of units in stock now, but the web page hadn't been updated. He said to check back later today.

I called later on and they said that they did not recieve them yet, but they had 410 ordered and it had not reached them yet. I called one more time, and thats what they told me. jeez, they really don't know whats going on any more than we do, and they like to guess rather than saying they don't know obviously!

 

Well its really not their fault, I mean the delivery was supposed to be made at 3:00PM today but for some reason the order was delayed. So now they are scrambling to figure out what is going on. The tech probably though the notebooks had come in, just had not been updated yet. Just be patient and after all 5 buck is a lunch (well ok a Macdonald's lunch )

 

Just a note for you all on Newegg and the A8Jp. Newegg is the only retailer in NA to get these. They are dealing directly with ASUS Taiwan accoding to the ASUS RMA center. There are no replacement units at the RMA center and it appears that ASUS USA is not set up to handle repairs to the A8JP all that well (they sent back mine repaired with a 1200X800 screen vs the 1440X900).

At this point I'm just trying to get a refund and will buy something else, probably wait for Vista at this point ... Just a note, the ASUS RMA group has been good in trying to work the issue (I wish they repaired it right the first time, but hey I understand better now as mine may have been the first A8Jp is they saw)

Thought I would share

 

Just thought I'd chime in with some useless info. I received my A8JP from NewEgg on Thursday. When filling out the Vista Upgrade form, I noticed that my serial number began with a 7. If I'm not mistaken, that means this laptop was manufactured in 2007, so newegg got a pretty fresh stock, right from a factory.

 

Hey I know a lot of people have been waiting for the A8JP to come in stock, but for some reason the dates projected by newegg just seem to get extended... So for the meat of my story. I was looking around and I found the A8Js at ewiz.com for $1421.40, so if you plan on upgrading to 2GB of ram then with this deal the A8js is almost the same price as the A8jp not to mention that you get the Go7700.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=DM-AS-A8JS

 

Just keep in mind that you will not get bluetooth unless you purchase the 024p version of the a8js. Unfortunately, the 024p version is closer to $1600.

 

That is true, so I suppose this is better for people who do not want to spend that much and do not really care about bluetuth.(though you can get a dongle for like $20) Incidentally do very many people use bluetuth? I don't know, maybe I am in a minority but I have never found it that useful. But then I do not really work in a office environment so that may be it.

 

this newest version with the bluetooth seems to also come with a cmo screen sometimes

 

My A8Jp (CMO screen) from NewEgg did come with bluetooth pre-installed.

I find BT helpful for Skype calls using a headset (the A8Jp's built in mic is useable, but not great), using my Treo as a modem, or synching the Treo.

I have not tried pairing my BT keyboard or mouse and using them that way. Just plugging in the dongle is a lot easier for those types of things.

 

It's back...

 

Finally! I just ordered the A8JP and am hoping for the best. I hope the Asus lives up to the hype on this forum. I finally decided on the A8JP because of the all the LCD screen inconsistencies on the A8JS threads. I hope that CMO screen is definitely the one in the A8JP.

The price didn't hurt either even with 2x1GB Kingston RAM. I'm hoping to recoup at least $50 or so on eBay for the 2x512MB RAM.

 

to all A8jp owners,

I am about to buy A8jp from newegg. few questions.

1. I saw in the pictures that A8jp has only one vent, so does it heat up much.

2. I don't know much about XP media center, can I install databases, run servers like weblogic and java applications. I know XP professional is good for those applications, but i don't know XP media center.

Please help ASAP. Thanks in advance..

 

Yeah, I've been (im)patiently waiting for them to come back into stock at Newegg. Don't forget to buy the (cheap after rebate) printer with it! This is a killer deal, I can't find anything better value than this anywhere else. Only problem is, I can't find any information on buying an extra AC adapter. Does anyone have any info on that?

 

You could try the Asus Estore or email Asus Support.

I ran into questions about extra batteries and decided on a PowerPack from Batterygeeks. Check out the battery section of My Post, about 1/3 of the way down.

Haven't done a review of the Powerpack, but I've used it. About an extra 4 hours of power (without the battery in) with normal use (web surfing, email, a music CD, a couple of YouTube videos - no movies or games).