A8Js or p

Hi Guys,

Just new to this site and am in awe of your depth of knowledge.

I am looking to buy my family a laptop and am pretty keen on Asus having put together several desktops over the years with Asus MB's.

I would really like to get the A8Js but here in Hong Kong they only come with Vista installed. As I've read so much about issues with drivers and as I'm buying for my family who are not so computer savvy as me, would I be better off getting the A8Jp with XP as the OS? I am going home to Scotland in a few weeks just for 10 days but if they have a problem after I get back to HK, they'd be stuffed. In terms of performance the A8Jp would probably be adequate, but I'm thinking about long term usefuleness (circa 3 - 4 years).

Any views would be most helpful.

Thanks,

Adam

 

There are very few differences between the two. You can get the p.

 

IIRC the A8Js is one of the laptops that are doing better in regards to the whole Vista drivers dilema, so its not a bad way to go. If I were you, I would NOT play it safe and just go with the Vista installation

 

I just got an Asus A8Js 4S024C, which comes with Vista Home Premium, and everything's been working perfectly so far. All of the drivers for the video card, wireless, and all of the various the ASUS tools worked like a charm right out of the box- the only real tweaking I had to do was disable UAC . I was pleasantly surprised in that respect, since I've heard some horror stories about trying to upgrade to Vista from XP.

That said, the only difference with the A8Jp is the X1700 graphics card and 2x512 MB sticks of RAM instead of 1x1GB. The X1700 is a good card, and if price is a concern, the p is very similar in performance to the s, albeit more costly to upgrade RAM-wise. Plus, chances are that you'll be moving to Vista sooner than later, and it's strongly recommended that you use 2GB of RAM with Vista if at all possible.

 

Thank you for you views. If there is not a significant difference in performance I'll err on the cautious side and go with the P, since its for my family and the missus would probably get confused with Vista.

But what's it with the very low res webcam? We communicate a lot over video links, any recommendations for upgrading the webcam, and is it easy to disable the built in cam?

Reckon I'll upgrade my desktop to run Vista instead.

 

The webcam probably doesn't need to be disabled. If you buy a usb one just use that instead, it should have no conflict between the two.

lol i thought vista was "supposed to be easier to use."

 

As dr4gon said, if you don't need to use the webcam, just don't! You don't need to disable it or do anything, just leave it as is.

And as dr4gon said also, you can buy an external webcam. Here's a high quality webcam, a mini-one that's good to "travel" with, the Microsoft Lifecam NX-6000. Amazingly, it has 2.0 Megapixel video, which is pretty high-definition for a webcam.

 

Well chaps, I seem to have got it all wrong! The A8Jp is not avaialbel here in Honkers, so I am left with choosing between A8Js or A8Jr for the 14" model I want. Both have Vista Home Premium preinstalled. OK, but the R has the ATI X2300 graphics card and I recall seeing someone saying it is not that good. Would I be better going for the S instead with its NVidea card? Prices are similar, ~HK$12600 (US$1550) but at least I can buy with GBP's

 

S is a great machine, P is a great machine. If any games are going to be played I'd go with S, if not then the P. I'm not as familiar with the R, but S is definitely the better. If video/game performance isn't critical then save the money, or if saving a few hundred isn't an issue just get the best, S!

 

Hi guys,
I am almost there. Had a wander thro' a computer mall here in Hong Kong tonight and found the machine which fits the bill - A8Js-4S019C. The screen looked OK but is there any way I can check if its a CMO or UAO screen from the model no? Tried googling it but just came up with all these Australian reseller sites. Have read lots of forum posts saying the CMO screen is superior.Cheers
Adam (A "sweaty sock" in Hong Kong)

 

the only sure way i know is to use the free program everest. either download it on the demo or put it on a cd or usb key.

You can try to use the display properties in device manager. Sometimes it shows you but often it comes up msn0000

 

I reckon the chances of me getting the Chinese boys to install a program on their demo computers are similar to snowball's chance in hell, but I'll give it a go anyway. Thanks for your help ne way.

 

OK, one last thing, I have now established from a reseller that all A8Js models coming into Hong Kong will have the AUO screen. Compared to the CMO screen is it bad enough not to warrant buying this laptop? Its such a cracking computer, spec is brilliant, would anyone who has the AUO LCD have not bought it if they knew about the AUO/CMO issue? Thanks.

 

auo screen is great

It has a very narrow viewing angle.

 

Take a look at this thread comparing the two.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=104892

BTW, the HD Clicking issue on the A8jS is getting REALLY annoying to the point where I am considering selling it to get another A8JP.