A8Js~~~ I've GOT it!!!

Since I am currently in China, the asian version is out and I am having a chance to perchase it first. IMP asian version is basically identical in terms of hardware specs. The only difference is the software languages.

The price is 13500 Chinese Yuan, about 1950 Canadian dollars, or 1800 USD. No retail taxes are added. It has 2 years international warranty, so it should be no problems when I go back to NA.

My mother is very sick so I don't have much time to test it out now. When I got some free time, I think I will do a clean English installation after formating the hard drive, and test it out fully.

The first impressions are:

pros:
T7200 CPU + 7700 GPU performance should be super
wonderful 14'' screen results
fairly good build quality
2 years international warranty

Cons:
the shell is not so solid (ABS materials)
no bluetooth
RAM seems to be 533, not 677 as expected
keyboard is not one of the best
touchpad is not satisfied

 

STILL no bluetooth? man, whats wrong with asus and not sticking in a $15 dollar piece of metal.

 

533?! jeeze, that's cutting corners. what are your complaints on the keyboard and touchpad? does it have a fingerprint reader? is the webcam vga?

 

im not sure with the RAM. The Z-cpu shows it's 533, or maybe I looked at the wrong place.
It doesn't have fingerprint, as it was build on the general A8 model.
keyboard just doesn't feel so good, or I haven't gotten used to it.
The touchpad is not sensitive enough, and if I set the touchpad more sensitive, the positioning won't be so acurate. The scorlling function on the touchpad is totally useless, at least in my case. I guess that's why Asus always give a seperated mouse as a gift.

 

for the touchpad, you probably havent found the scroll area yet. Its quite useful.

 

hmm.. I thought they put in BT for Asian versions of the A8J.. I guess not the case... and yeah.. touchpad scroll area is slightly to the left of the actual marking. Once you find it, it's pretty easy to use..

But dang... you got the A8Js for cheaper than when we got our A8Jm's here in Canada ( I guess the taxes play a huge part of that )

 

Yay. An actual user. I'm dying to get some 3DMark05 scores to see how much an improvement Merom and the Go 7700 is over the A8Jm and W3J. Some battery life numbers would also be nice since it's suppose to be shorter than the A8Jm. Could you also find out your CPU core and memory speeds?

http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=3&lang=en

There are probably other ways but you could get Everest above. Going to Display>GPU will get you the current clock speeds. Motherboard>SPD will also determine your memory type.

 

Sorry to hear about your mother. Hope she gets better soon.

Congrats on the laptop. Great buy - can't wait until it gets to Canada!

 

i have the mine too and i also get BT and 2gb of ram by factory default, i'm fro m Spain it cost me 1591€ inc taxes (about 1800USD) and it's amazing i recomend it

 

I will be really mad if Asus doesn't provide Bluetooth for the US version.

 

Omg same here, Ive been waiting for either the W3J- or the A8Js, and if the latter doesnt have bluetooth....ill be shelling out more for the W3J I suppose...

 

can you complete a review

come back with scores.

can you look at display properties and tell us the number ( it will be auosomethingsomething)

You can make it picture free and come back later on that part in the interest of speed...

 

I doubt they'll put in BT considering the previous A8Jm didn't have it either.... but you can always hope

 

Well, I remember how Justin kept going on and on about how they would never even consider putting an X1600 in the W3J, and lo and behold...! I've come to expect surprises from Asus (often positive ones!), and BT on the A8Js would be a beautiful surprise!

 

Any idea on release date of A8Js in the UK? Seems to be lagging in getting here...

 

any idea on the release date in the US???

 

Hi, I've got it in Taiwan, T5600, with BT and even with IR...
Cost me less then 1500USD...
CPU is upgradeable...so its ok with me for now,...

 

Just found some more pics of this beast,

looks like it is MXM graphics card?

http://taiwan.cnet.com/computer/mobile/reviews/0,2000068543,20109755,00.htm

Click the arrow under the last pic to goto 2nd page with MXM photos

 

What is MXM graphic card?

 

Its a group of NVIDIA graphics cards that are set for the future. The platform will be upgradeable, so in theory, if you say, have an mxm 7600, if a while down the road an mxm 7700 is available, you can swap out your 7600 and replace it with a 7700.

 

The A8js here in Taiwan DOES come with bluetooth. And it is 533mhz RAM, however, I'm sure the NA model will have 667mhz RAM as it does in the A8jm and W3j etc.

 

Any updates on whether or not the A8Js will have bluetooth in the N.A version? And I was wondering if ti will have 1 Gb (2 x 512 mb) or 1 Gb stick.

 

The gpu module in the a8js is mxm TYPE, but not mxm.

It is asus only, its mirror image of mxm.

To upgrade the gpu, you would need to get one specifically from asus.

Just want to clear that up.

The most reliable rumor Ive heard is that its 2 512 mb dimms.

The european version has bluetooth as well. I dont know I dont care about blue tooth.

Those are excellent pictures. They are some of the first that give it justice to reality, because its a very sparkly almost garish automotive color.

 

i don't think it is actually mxm (could be quite wrong though)....though it has been discussed before that the gpu is removable.

 

I know you mean well Starmar, but I would prefer if you stop speculating, I was asking for facts and release notes I may have missed, not rumors, or the fact that you dont like bluetooth.

 

Until the A8Js is released locally (NA and AU for me), all we can do is speculate. Not even Asus North America can be 100% sure until they've landed... look at the scandal with the W2J a few months back. Everyone was expecting a WSXGA+ screen, right up until they landed in the country.

Based on Asus' other models for the NA market, there is a good chance they'll drop bluetooth to shave a few dollars off the price. Disappointing I know... I'd rather they went with the (technically) slower RAM rather than drop the bluetooth module.

 

Thats what I was asking. I wanted specific release information, and since you stated its not available, you answered my question.

 

Why would they not include bluetooth? Isn't that basically standard these days? Why would I buy a computer w/out bluetooth - and the ability to wirelessly sync up w/ a mouse, etc., over one with it?

 

Because they are idiots. Anyway, who is it that solders in a bluetooth module for a fee? I heard one of the resellers does it.

 

I didn't say they wouldn't include bluetooth, just that based on the release of the predecessor (the A8Jm) they may not include it.

I'll point out again that anything anybody says at this stage is little more than speculation... We won't know anything for sure until the A8Js gets here.

:EDIT: Goku, I believe that Milestone had the option of installing BT into the A8Jm.

 

Sweet, if it doesnt come with it Im not screwed, since they're doing the group buy. Thanx Tej!

 

Ted: I don't think Milestone gives the option of installing BT, since many ppl who owned the A8Jm have asked them, and Danny has never said yes to any of us.

The one reseller who I know will install BT for a fee is Eddie from BTOTech

 

Woops, my mistake... I knew is was one of the resellers that posts here.

 

O..o well you tried Tedj.

 

It says on their own site that it'll have optional bluetooth ...
http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=4251

 

Yeah.."optional"..just another way of saying they have no commitment to actually put it in.

 

Gentech lists the A8JS on their site. Gives specs etc, basically everything people have said. Some nice pictuers though, the laptop looks amazing.

http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=A8JS

 

Hmm it lists 533 mhz RAM, is that compatable with 667 mhz?

 

I dont know regarding machines in the USA, but the one i bought in Taiwan has a BT 2.0+EDR

 

i dont think one stick of 533 would go in ddr with one stick of 667.

If thats what youre asking goku. I think i read you saying u already have a stick of ram

so a stick of 667 would go to 2 gb ram total it would work but i dont think it would go in ddr2.

someone can correct me if im wrong its quite possible i am and it would go in ddr2, it would just run at 533 both of them.

 

Yeah starmar, I already have a stick of 667 mhz ddr2 ram, but the a8js listed as 533, which is wierd...why take a step backwards asus?

 

my a8js is ddr2 667...

 

I just spoke with Danny from MilestonePC. He confirmed the NA A8Js does not have a built-in bluetooth adapter. I'm not sure who/what his sources are, but you can ask him yourself @ notebookforum.ca

Cheers.

 

Portable One will install the internal bluetooth module for a fee (50.00). They also mod the cooling by installing a better heat sink and use Arctic Silver 5 for both CPU & GPU. It's basically what they did with the A8Jm, only now they've updated their MX Model (what they call the A8Jm/s), to the A8Js.

(I just ordered one..)

Oh.. they also have fantastic pre and post customer support..

 

thats true.

If I were in the market for paying full retail and also paying cali sales tax for my a8js I would have chosen them.

geared2play also offers bluetooth on a8jm but on their forum eddie said he wouldnt be offering it on the a8js.