ASUS UltraPortables/ThinLight

I am planning to purchase a Asus W5A Pentium 740 model.

:asus: :centrino:

I was wondering if there is a way to contact and ask about upcoming notebooks.

This product has been out for a few months. I am not 100% satisfied with its features (low battery life/sticks out, bad graphics, no camera cover) and I am wondering if there would be a new model coming out.

I am looking for a nice small light laptop, and wondering if future Asus models might have improved this model. (i.e. BETTER CAMERA QUAILTY, camera cover, better graphics)

Do u guys know if i can find out if any more small laptops are coming out? Also, do you guys know if its possible to contact Asus about upcoming notebooks?

Thanks

 

I can't speak for asus, but I bet justin from proportable could "leak" some info on upcoming models

also, have you looked at the older, pre-sonoma sony S series? (S360 specifically). They're a thin and light notebook that's quite stylish, has great battery life (6 hours), and has Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics. They can be had for quite cheap now that the S4xx series are out. The one thing they're lacking is an integrated webcam, but I don't know how important that is to you.

 

The w5a is a pretty good unit, its very nice looking, has a great roomy keyboard and great screen.

I don't see any improvement on the graphics, it'll be hard to fit a dedicated gpu in there, let alone 12.1"

I'd call up ASUS to ask, but first, wait til Justin or Eddie comes in and answers.

 

Leaking and lying are too different things....... it's not happening. No new high end ensembles for the rest of the year (after the W2 is released here in a couple weeks).... something like this would certianly only be a high end, ensemble.

Also, Asus was pioneering for this year with the W3v....... 14" /x600 ....... it's not going to happen again. They are very conserative and they saw there was a real market for a great mix of small size and big power. However, the need for dedicated graphics on a 12" widescreen would have such a small market to begin with... and Asus certainly can't grab the entire market..... it's not going to happen.

 

I think an ASUS 12" like W5A with ded. gfx would be a hot seller for the ultraportable market..like what the W3V did with thin/light.

I’d sell my Z33A right now if I could get an ASUS 12" with an X300/6200TC. The W5A has a larger chassis than the Z33A/S5n so it would be better suited for ded. gfx.

The only new ultraportable I’ve seen that has any decent gfx is the MSI270 (ATI Express 200M). Unfortunately, the build quality of that unit is trash in my opinion (or at least its Medion sibling is).

For me the W3V was such a hard choice to give up..but I don’t regret my decision because my Z33A is so freaking small and light..and that was my original buying intentions.

 

I'd say it will still generally come down to integated for those smaller FF units (12" etc). And ATi still need to do some tweaking to get their chipsets working well to get decent onboad graphics into these machines. Intels 900 series graphics is a big impovement, but still way below dedicated performance. Power is the big consideration in mobiles this small. As chipsets come to be manufactured on smaller fab processes the gpu power will increase (but then so will dedicated GPU performance).

Look at Sony's S series (13" wXGA) with dedicated geforce6200 (albeit the turbo cache variety). I think there may be one with a 64MB R9700 too. Other than that you are looking at 14" and 14"w fomats... there are more to choose from with dedicated graphics here (Acer, Samsung & Asus especially, but also IBM & Toshiba).

 

So then....
Should i buy the Asus W5a now...?
Or should I wait for a better model or new technology to come out?
If they will come out, how long will it take?

 

The w5a was released recently, within 3-4 months I think?

It normally takes 6-12 months for a model to 'reresh' to the newest technology.

 

I agree...if you think the W5a fits you, go for it! New technological "refreshes" for each model won't come out for a while... and even when they do, the performance gains are minimal. I think you'd be pretty safe with the W5 right now

 

Sure i found 2 drawbacks

The right hand shift key is too small and I really dislike that

The Batterylife is TERRIBLE...I have 2 three cell and they lasted 1 1/2 hours...so I ordered a 9cell from ProPortable...had it immediately...Thank you Justiin......and now Ihave 7 hours.

The weight is more than I like with the 9 cell but you can't have everything.....

This is the best made laptop I have seen and I love not having a widescreen with all that wasted room on the right.

Elliot