A8Js or W3J

I dont care lol.

That will be the only machine I know of with the t5500 and x1600.

It will be below the scores of the previous version.

You are asking what difference in 3dmark the cpu changes? But the truth is you want to go backwards, you want to ignore any difference the cpu makes! You want to see what difference the GPU makes. Because in reality the cpu makes almost no difference in the games. Do you understand yet?

 

4408 is my 3dmark 05 score
2212 is my 3dmark 06 score

those are not cpu scores but graphics card scores.

 

Stamar, the CPU does make a difference in games and so forth. On my desktop, I overclocked my AMD x2 3800 by .59 ghz and I gained over 10 fps on demanding games/screensavers. I gained around 15 to 20 fps on other games/screensavers. Stock core was 2.00 ghz and overclocked was 2.59 ghz. Nothing else was changed. I also had about ~400 or more point increase in 3d mark o6. Thus, a hire clocked CPU should increase performance.... BUT, yes, a GPU will have the greatest effect.

 

ok well...

I realize I wasnt clear.

Some games it might. Some games it might not.

However who cares? We are using a NON GPU test to try and figure out the difference between gpus. Thats what we are talking about right? x1600 and nvidia 7700? Thats what Im talking about.

3dmark scores test the cpu gpu, the ram and the hd. So to try and get ANYTHING worthwhile were trying to ignore the difference the others make and see a difference the GPU would make in an almost identical machine.

So chiaveris machine, it has a faster hd more ram faster gpu etc, what sort of comparison would his scores give you comparing it to a stock a8js?

I mean try and think clearly. this thread is a8js vs w3j. The only difference in the hardware is the gpu.
In theory you could put a 8 ghz core 4 duo in a dell e1505 and it will have a higher 3dmark score than a voodoo envy ok, but that doesnt tell you which gpu is faster and by how much.
The goal is not to see how high you can make 3dmark scores go, unless that does entertain you in itself.

 

I'm not saying anything conclusive...just giving the data I have collected. I am not saying one is better than the other.

I hope it helps some people make a decision, if others want to get more specific with their tests feel free, I just dont have the time to get that deep into it.

 

anybody planning on getting the new w3j and doing a review w/benchmarks?

 

It depends on how much free time I have once it arrives and whether or not I keep it in the stock config. Either way, I'll be posting at least some quantitative aspects of the notebook once I get it.

~ Brett

 

I am yet another who is debating between the two, and I need to decide sometime this month.

It seems to me that one of the touted 'advantages' of the W3J is the available extra internal battery. But how is this really any different functionally from purchasing an extra main battery for the A8J, and switching them when one is empty? The W3J's batteries will degrade over time just like those of the A8J's anyways. Plus, if you take the extra internal battery along, you won't have a DVD player. Is this pretty much the case, or am I missing something here?

 

Youre correct.

So I suppose the thought of using 2 batteries to watch a movie doesnt work.

i personally would love that though I RARELY use the optical drive so having it be seperate and putting in another HD or battery, or anything I dont care what would be a plus.

not the hugest plus in the world but Id pay extra for that. A humble sum though. I mean I obviously already decided but i will miss that.

 

Hmmm.... I have not yet purchased the A8Js from Btotech and prehaps thats a good thing! I read somewhere on the forum that the CPU's are basically welded into the motherboard on the W3J. Is this true with the new Memrom versions?

 

The W3J processor is not welded on. There's somebody on this forum with a W3J with a T7200.

~ Brett

 

stamar, why would you pay extra? need more hd space? get an external. need more battery life? get another battery. the extra bay really doesn't serve a purpose.

 

um....

but more hd and more battery serves way more purpose than a optical drive that is just waiting for that one day a month i do back ups.

I mean it is what it is. Its good though. If I owned one I would use it. If youre sure you wouldnt use it its worthless.
an external hd is good but one more hassle to connect in a quick email check?

 

I am now starting lean more heavily with the W3J... The point with the extra battery back in the optical bay is that they are swappable. If you are going on a long trip, take out the optical and put in the extra battery. Poof! You now have ~7 hrs of battery life. Don't need that much battery life at the time, or you need to watch a movie, put in the optical drive again. I think those are great percs, but that is not the reason I am leaning towards the W3J. The case is much more superior in quality. I don't want my laptop falling apart. As for the lower resolution, that is not much of a problem as I usually use 1028 x 768 on my desktop. I also have poor eye sight, so having too small a font is not good for me. And, know that Btotech offers the memrons on the W3J's, the only major difference that still is holding me from buying the W3J is the Nvidea 7700 in the A8Js. Do you think the x1700 will appear in the W3J anytime soon? BTW, I setup the two laptops w/ same specs at btotech and there was only a $200 price difference.

 

Woah.. 7 hours? I think I've seen ppl post results around 5 hours max with both batteries.. but never more... are you sure about that?

 

btotech states that with the extra battery, life goes up to max of 7 hrs. I can't verify though.

 

One other advantage to the W3J which is really good for me is that you configure the optical bay with a 2nd hard-drive. I do a lot of Pro Audio recording and production work and want to use this for road compositions/productions. In that environment you usually use a system drive for programs and plugins and a different drive for the audio recording/streaming. It would be more convenient for me most of the time to configure a 2nd disk right in the lappy than drag a firewire or USB drive with me...not to mention I get the added speed of direct connection to the SATA bus. I bounce my tracks to MP3 most of the time so having to burn to a CD or DVD is inconsequential.

 

thats the mfg number...from this forum ppl have run from 5-6hrs..depending on use and brightness level, etc.

 

Ok, thank you for the real life scenario numbers jterp7. Either way, it is a very nice increase. Also, as stamar said, some people rarely use their optical drives. So, why not get an external drive? Just plug it in whenever you need it. Newegg has some nice DVD R/RW external drives ranging from $80 to $200.

EDIT: I didn't realize that an external CD drive required it's own powersource... Maybe not so good an idea if mobility is a key need. Does anyone here use the optical battery on their W3J?? How easy is it to swap the drive and the battery?

 

the 2nd hard drive is ide not sata.

You can reasonably easily add a 2nd hard drive to the optical bay of almost any notebook using over the counter parts.

 

does the system need to be rebooted if you were to switch between the OD and the extra battery. cus if it does that would kind of be pointless