ASUS F8Sn-C1 vs. hp dv2700t :: Build Quality?

I'm thinking of returning my hp dv2700t (I'm still within the 20 days grace period) and picking up an F8Sn-C1. What I love about the dv2700t is the excellent build quality -- it's very sturdy with little-to-no flex. What I don't like about it is the underpowered GPU and lackluster customer support (if I ever need it).

Can anyone who has used both of these systems comment on the F8Sn-C1's build quality? How does it compare to the dv2700t? Does the F8Sn-C1 feel cheap in any way, or does it stack up favorably against the dv2700t? The places I'm most concerned with are keyboard flex, screen flex, and palm rest flex. (Can you tell I'm obsessed with flex?!)

Thanks for any input. I really like the F8Sn-C1 (I'm not a huge fan of the gaudy looking webcam, but I can live with it), and it seems you can't beat that system for what it offers for the value.

 

I would say that the ASus F8 series will be slightly better in build quality. It will have minimal flex on the chassis and on the keyboard. I have personally used the dv2000 series and I find that certain locations of the unit (especially on the keyboard bezel where the volume control is has quite a bit of flex. The palm area should be quite solid on the F8 series and the keyboard should have only a bit of flex like most notebooks.

I do not own an F8, but I have reason to believe it would be similar to the M51 which I have personally experienced in person. It was really no different in build quality than my W3V (without the brush aluminum) and slightly better than my c90s. Overall I would say that the overall build quality is slightly better than HP, but the design is not quite as flashy/shiney/cool as the HP in comparison.

Flex on the keyboard is by no means of judging build quality as this is a personal preference, and the purpose of keyboard flex is to dampen the force exerted to and from your fingers.

 

the hp is significantly smaller

and better built

the asus is in fact trying to copy the appearance of the hp using cheaper plastic.

screen flex is presenet but not the base flex which is very rigid.

 

Hmmm.....

I owned both, first the HP dv 2700T (sold it after a week) then the F8 (which i have now).

First and foremost, both notebooks have flaws i think i will list them down (even not related to build quality but can be classified as general comments) instead so you can choose w/c of these you can live with.

HP DV2700T:

FLAWS:

1. Gets HOT in the left palm area after using for quite sometime.
2. Main weakness are the touchpad buttons, i've seen quite a
number of HPs that have mis-aligned touchpad buttons.
They tend to mis align after a few months of usage.
3. If you move the LCD during use you will notice the flex and ripples.
4. Only 2 usb ports (if you have discreet graphics).

PROS (compared to F8SN-C1):

1. Better screen (for me) and viewing angles than F8.
2. Better camera than F8.
3. Speakers DEFINITELY way better than F8.
4. More stylish.
5. Is lighter.

ASUS F8SN-C1:

FLAWS:

1. I think / feel the plastics used are thin in some areas.
2. Some Keyboard flex. =(
3. Placement of componets. (i prefer optical drive to be on the right side and exhaust on the left or rear part instead of the right).
4. Has the weigth of a 15" notebook.

PROS (compared to the HP above):

1. Does not feel hot at all (except near the exhaust area).
2. GPU of course.
3. 4 USB ports.
4. Fingerprint reader is more responsive than HP's ( i use it quite a lot).
5. VERY GOOD driver installation CD.

Overall both are good laptops its just you need to really think about the features that you need and the flaws that you can live with. =)

 

Thanks everyone for the information. This is a tought decision.

Jabongga, since you've used both systems, would you return the hp again to buy the Asus? Also, how is the keyboard on the Asus vs. the hp? The hp's keyboard is very firm, and there's no flex I can detect. Is the flex in the Asus really noticeable to you?

Thanks again for the great info.

 

I returned my HP DV2700t as I had issues with the DVD drive and wasnt getting my money's worth. Just bought an Asus M50SV which is more powerful in terms of CPU and GPU and less money.

 

Given both choices, i'd still stick it out with the Asus, its so fast that i forget that i'm using a notebook PC.

For the same amount of money you get more.

Yes the keyboard flex on the Asus is noticeable but its tolerable. What i dislike in the HP is the heat in the left palmrest area.

 

i'd stick with the asus, i own the f8sv and i love it . i have a friend who owns an hp, it get's very hot specially in the palm rest area, comparing to my notebook, which is similar to the f8sn, it runs way cooler than the hp, plus the asus has a better price erformance ratio.

 

I really like my F8Sa - but that said - the battery life is only so-so at best, and you do not have the option to upgrade from a 6-cell to a 12-cell. And, although this may not be a big deal to you, the F8 series is fairly easy to upgrade to XP and have a dual-boot setup - only one device (IR) has no XP driver available (versus all of the ACPI issues with the dv2700 series).

 

Thanks for all the great information. I did run into the issue of installing XP on my dv2700t. I didn't realize you couldn't do this easily when I bought the system (doh!). Battery life isn't a major concern for me -- it will stay plugged in most of the time, and if I do take it cross country on business trips, I'll probably end up buying a second (or third!) battery.

One more question before I pull the trigger. How does the screen brightness compare to the hp? My last notebook was a MacBook, and it had a really good (bright) screen. How does the Asus stack up against the hp and MacBook? I've heard that certain LCDs used in the F8 series suffer from "graininess". Is there anyone to be assured I'll get one of the good LCDs? (Any vendors out there that check for this before selling?)

EDIT: One quick follow up. How's the webcam on the F8 series? Is it at all comparable to the dv2700t? What's the resolution -- 1.3 MP?

Thanks agian.

 

On LCD, the display is quite good on the F8SN. Not grainy for my F8 mine's got CMO LCD installed. Only half a notch lower than HP's though it compensates with the higher res (for C1). HP got better viewing angles, on the flipside HP glares / reflects light too much.

Try ExcaliberPC, he's uber helpful when i purchased my notebook from him. I even asked them to do a dead pixel test before shipping me the item.

On the webcam as i mentioned the HP's is way better than that of the asus.

 

if you can go up to a 15.4 league, get the Dell XPS M1530 or acer 5920G.

they are better models than these HP pavillions, and as good as the ASUs in terms of raw power , with much better build quality than that of the F8SN.

I really wanted to love the F8 SN after I returned my DV2761TX , but I hated its horrible keyboard and dim and excessively glossy LCD of the ASUS.

So I returned it too and got a Dell XPS m1330 and Inspiron 1420 with T8100 and NV8400GS.

I wanted to buy the M1530 but was not available in Thaialdn so I tried to get it from US or JApan but my family and friends could not send it to me any how because of stupid International trade regulations.

So I had to compromise either GPU, screen resolution or Size to get the one least compromising model to my taste , and I kept the Inspiron and HP business 8510p.

Trust me , no matter what ASUS says, the build quality of F8 is crappy at best , and is even not comprable to your HP.

The HP design and LCD resolution are something to be desiread but at least the HP is well built and stable , while the ASUS is very erratic at best.........

If you care about RAW power in a small package more than stability and LCD quality,the ASUS might be a good choice for you, but I personally hated its keyboard (too soft and flexible) and LCD, and this computer gets very hot.

So now , I am totally against the idea playing hard-core or 3d games on a lpatop, people tend to judge all laptops by its gaming power or 3d mark scores but it's wrong , it is more important to be well balanced than overly powerful in gaming area.

If you love hard-core gaming , get a DESKTOP , you will save lots of money.

Personally , I think the most powerful GPU you can put into a 14.1 without generating unwanted heat and cracking case issues .etc , is the ATI HD2400XT or 3470, anything power powerful than these creats lots of heat and horrible noise.

So you should get a 15.4 or bigger or forget about serious gaming on a lpatop and get a desktop.

well, summerized , all companies trying to copy the HP look, and ASUS is one of these.

if you customize Dell or HP , you can get more and ASUS even does not let you CTO.

you may want to consider a Vostro1510 and a HP business 8510p as well.

 

the dell xps is nice, but expensive. the acer..... well is much improved from old acers but the 8600gt in it is slowwwwwwwwwwwww, its about 8600gs speed, it still has typical acer heat problems (much worse than any asus ive ever known of, and certainly this one). the build quality seems close, as far as durability i would still put my trust in the f8.

The f8 has alot of heat, but it does an excellent job handling it, wiht only a small amount of fan sound. there have been very few examples of asus notebooks cracking and it has never been from heat, the f3s had a cracking issue on the palmrest, and an older ensemble had cracking hinges, thats all ive heard of.
the screen, asus screens are generally quite good, there have been recent issues with auo screens, but this notebook generally has a cmo screen, which is said to be beautiful, ontop of it this screen is higher res than the acer screen.
in fact i trust asus screens more than hp, dell, etc. because they are consistent
in very few situations do you get a model with good and bad screens, if you buy the model youw ill get the proper screen. from dell or hp you get models where two computers of the same model will have drastically different screens.

Now i dont know where the bad asus notebook touched you when you were little, but you seem to have an rather irrational dislike of them.

side note: the vostro is repeatedly thrown in everytime someone comments on asus's build quality going downhill. I have checked out the new "higher build quality" inspiron/vostros, and they are much better than the hideous e series, but they are still rather flimsy/flexy.
They arent bad notebooks, but they arent "far better built" than asus consumer models, probably better than the flawed F3s, but even compared to my rather dissapointing s96j they are very flimsy.

 

Where are you living?

Dell XPS is much cheaper than both HP DV2700T and ASUS f8SN , I bought all so I know it clearly.

You should CTO it and use the coupon, it should be cheaper, and the Acer is not at all slow.

It is the prejudice that makes Acer looks cheap or weak(cause many reviewers are against it and I think because they are scared of acer's rapid success), but in fact , Acer is the only one fair company, pricing all models the same in all parts of the world........ all others charging much more from Europeans and South (not North)Asians than from Americans,Canadians and Japanese.

I realized this while I was travelling almost all countries in the world. Now, I am in SE Asia ,I see most of laptops sold here are insanely expensive for their respective specs , but Acer and HP are pricing it just right , they do not over charge like others from South East Asians or Europeans , it is good attitude.

And As for these Dell build quality issues , I disagree , these are better built laptops than almost all others, in my opinion, Dell Latitudes the best built laptops , with HP business line models close second.

ASUS maybe used to be a great maker like Porche , but now it is trying very hard to produce cheap consumer laptops at the expense of style and build quality........it is kinda sad but it needs to stay in business.

But at least these ASUS F8 and F6 are selling well as with the A8 series so ASUS will be fine again very soon hopefully.

 

dell latitudes are well built as are xps, but they are not as well built as the hp business line or thinkpads. however we were not discussing latitudes, we were discussing the much worse construction of the vostro/inspiron line.

as far as acers, ive dealt with acers personally, very lightweight but very poorly made, of the two acers of last generation ive dealt with both have had screen issues, and build quality issues, they are very flimsily made.

price wise.... yes the xps can become price competitive in the u.s with the use of coupons, nowhere else. for reference you can get a loaded f8sn with 2.5ghz cpu, 3gigs of ram, 320gb harddrive, and 2 year warranty, 1 year accidental damage for 1350. even with coupons the xps doesnt hit that, unless your skimping on the graphics. also dont forget to upgrade the screen so its comparable with the wxga+ of the f8sn.
all reviews of the F8sn have said it cools itself effectively, heat will not be an issue, theres just a bit more fan noise than say the m50.
reviews have observed some slight creaking in certain areas of the notebook when excess creature is applied, but any non business notebook will have a few areas of flex. the true test is the reliability of the notebook, and if things break in the long run, even asus's cheap notebooks have a record for reliabilty, and the f8sv to my knowledge has been reliable.(using sv because its been on the market longer)

and yes, look at benchmarks the acers graphics is very slow, much slower than comparablie 8600gts, and about the speed of an 8600gs, and the thing still runs hot

 

During last decade I had

Inspiron 2800 from Dell
Compaq before HP bought it(do not remember model - it was dead in 3 months)
ASUS M3N
Acer (do not remember model, with mobile Athlon)

Most handsomely built was Compaq (and dead in 3 months)
Best value for money and my BEST BUY was ASUS M3N

I vote for ASUS

 

Without pre-lenovo IBM thinkpad legacy and legend , see these thinkpads now produced by Lenovo , they are just average,a Dell Latitude is much better.

At least Dell never pretend to be soemthing else than it actually is.

The name Thinkpad makes you think as it were well built but in reality it is just a basic boring pc, see it without IBM legacy, you'll see it clearly.

Any way, build quality is very subjective , maybe I just like Dells better than all others but any of Thinkpad model is not really special any more , it is just a over priced average computer with some special name.

The name mekes it as though it were really well built and high quality product , but it is not , if Lenovo really making it like IBM was, why is it so cheap now? If they really wanted to keep the quality level of IBM thinkpad not Lenovo, it'd go bankrupt cause it wouldn't be able to compete in low pricing contest of current trend started by Dell and Acer.

You can see this clearly in Lenovo's business strategy in Asia , it still using IBM name , the company still advertizing it as IBM thinkpad(never says Lenovo Thinkpad in Thailand) , why? cause they wont be able to over price it without the name.

And why Ideapad can not sell well, cause its name does not relate to IBM.

I used to love Thinkpads but I realized that they are just average nothing special, see all sites rate them very good all sponsored by Lenovo, PC mag, Cnet, Laptopmag.etc and I know it is politics nothing more or less.

 

Well, high end ASUS laptops such as G1, G2 , W7, U6 .etc are all really great in terms of build quality , but they are very expensive , I can not justify paying that much for a lptop that I know I 'll replace in a year or less.

And I thought about we are talking about the particular ASUS , F8SN.

If it were about the U6s, I would have to apologize and admit that it is much better built than the HP DV2700T or Dell XPS.

But I am not sure if an ASUS U6s or W7 would be lasting longer than a Latitude D630,which also is a very well built ,handsome and reliable laptop.

I admit that I love Dell and I prefer it over all others but I kinda like ASUS too ,I like it more than HP, I use a HP because it was free , other wise ,I wouldn't have bought it.

 

current thinkpads are still incredibly well built, for instance the t61's are still some of the best notebooks available. they still use the thinkpad design which is incredibly strong, and the high end ones are quite expensive. lenovo did not change the quality of the thinkpads, because by my understanding they had been making them for ibm for some time. what lenovo did do was add more lines of thinkpads, and some these were of a lower quality than the old thinkpad, because they were a lower end model, they are still solid, just not as bullet proof. The ideapads are simply poorly marketed, average consumers dont even look at lenovo, they just go "duuddeeee im getting a dell, now pass the joint please".

Asus build quality is similar to the lenovo situation, they have created lower end models that werent there in the past, they still have the high end models, although the v1 is a dissapointment compared to its predecessors. However even these lower end models that use simple plastic construction like the f8sn have proven to be very reliable, and solid enough. with a few rare situations like the f3 aside, build quality on asus notebooks should not be something to worry about.

so yes if we look at the lower end models it seems build quality has declined, because they couldnt afford to use carbon fiber and magnesium on an 1100 dollar notebook. However, they are still rather durable (my s96j has been carried around in a backpack to every college class i have for the last 2 years, and is still in good shape. Since Michael Dell took the company back over their quality has improved quite a bit, the new dell build quality is much better, and seems to be a case that will hold up over time. Although it seems durable though, it is still rather flexy, and certainly doesnt seem better built than the asus consumer line, although they are at least in the same league, in comparison to the old E series inspirons.

 

Whatever built quality you have, in 3-4 years you will have to buy new laptop.
Reliability is most important.
About DELL: couple years ago I had several new Inspirons to be fixed due to key caps went off the keyboard. May be DELL does it better now?

 

whats the difference between Asus F8SV and F8SN series..anybody knows..has anything improved?

 

I suspect the main differences have to do with configuration/components (chipset+CPU, GPU, HDD).
http://www.asus.com.tw/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=23&l3=521&l4=31&model=1592&modelmenu=2
vs
http://www.asus.com.tw/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=23&l3=521&l4=31&model=2032&modelmenu=2

Always use ASUS.com first

The build is the same, I think.

 

SV had a bit better WXGA+ screen (maybe only the model I rented for a few days), the SN has Penryn option and SV is cheaper.

Oh , I almost forgot to mention this, the SN has the NV9500GS and SV has the NV8600GT.

I think if you like a Penryn with the NV95gs , then Sn is for you.

 

I mean people are brainwashed. Sorry to say but I do not need thinkpad well built BS any more , I had it myself for a long time before got my better built HP and Dell.

 

Personally, I 've had 6 Dell Laptops and 4 desktops but never had any problem , they all still working in my mom's house in SanDiego if she did not sell them all.

So it's hard to imagine having problem like yours with a Dell but I might be just lucky with Dells.

My HP and Lenovo had lots of problems, and my personal experience with them made me dislike them.

I just hope the F8 build quality will be improved since the spec is what I need other than the hinges and creaking case.

I hope all get what they want for their specific needs.

 

Please, merge your posts together, it's not nice to have half a page of posts from a single user. I did it once for you on an earlier page, but I'm not going to do it again.

Thanks.