ASUS W5 - few questions

I am looking to buy the ASUS w5 740 model and I have a few queries.

It uses the new Intel graphics thing, but what can i actually do with this?

Would video files quaility be affected? How about other games? Can anyone give me examples of games and how well they would run?

Any other comments on the W5? is it worth it?

 

Video files and desktop use won't be affected at all. The intel driver does lack some of the more sophisticated driver features compared to ATI or nVidia when it comes to multimonitor setups, virtual desktop tools and such.

Most games (but for the latest and gratest high end ones) will be perfectly playable at lower settings on the GMA900/i915GM (as long at you're running dual channel). Go back up to a year to the likes of WoW or Far Cry they'll work OK. If you have been 'spoiled' by much better desktop graphics you may find the simpler settings (and maybe occational glitch) distracting to the point of hurting gameplay, though. Go back another year to UT 2003, GTA Vice City, or Jedi Academy, for example, and there probably won't be any problems at all.

 

copy that. well said.

 

so for example, to run Steam CounterStrike, how would that be like?

 

Umm, I'm not sure if it can play 3d games that well. You're better off with a notebook with a 3d delicated Gpu, like the asus W3V or go for an Asus m6, or a z71v. They are all good for gaming. w5a is only good for 2d emulators, Neo geo, nes, playstation and such... and gba games of course.

 

CS:Source? This is among the games that I'd consider not to be playable. The fast paced nature of the game, along with the fact that the GMA900 doesn't seem to like the HL2/Source engine makes for an unplayable experience. Wouldn't expect to play Doom 3 or Battlefield 2 either.

Notebookgeek, however, are being too hard on the GMA900. There are many more games out there that will work OK than there are games that won’t. It’s not a graphics solution ‘for gamers’, I agree, but that does not preclude using it to play and enjoy the occasional 3D game as long as one are aware of the limits of the chipsets capabilities.

 

If you are to play some heavy 3D graphic involved games, W5A is not for you. Not only W5A but also with any thing that has Intel graphic processor.

You should look other things with dedicated VRAM like notebookgeek said.

As for W5A, it's portable and easy to use on your lap while in a car. Easy to carry on a plane, easy on your sholder and some movies when you are bored.

And W5A does it quite well.

 

Ok..right now i hav a desktop:

AMD Athlon 1800+
512DDR ram
64MB nVidia Geforce 440MX (old)

And if i get the ASUS w5a..
1.73 sonoma
512DDR2 ram
and the intel 9000 chipset..

what would be the difference?
Which one is better and by how much?

 

Another question for the Asus W5a..

if i buy a sleeve for this unit...and put it in my school bag after school and walk home, wil it damage the laptop? or should i get a bag? i want a sleeve and put it in my bag for ease.

also, anyone know some good brands for laptop sleeves/bags? i've checked STM but dunno any other ones.

also with the white W5a...friends say it wil get dirty easily? do u guys think? or do i hav to clean it?

thanks

 

I'm pretty sure the w5a will run better, as the Intergrated 915 chipset's video isn't that shabby, it runs great, although not as great as any dedicated, sans 32mb cards maybe, It should do most games created before or around, lets say 2003~2004 fine.

 

1. so with the 128MB intergrated intel 915, would i be able to play NBA LIVE 2005? (how about if i put on the lowest settings)

2. also, regarding the 3 battery sizes, 3/6/9 cells, how long would each one last for approximately? also, how heavy are they?

3. are there any notebook sleeves which would perfectly fit this? because most 12" sleeves dont' fit widescreen?

4. does windows xp come set up already? i.e. the computer name/registered to ______. that stuff? because i want to set that up to my own stuff.

 

It claims up to 4 hours on a 6 cell from the ASUS site...

So, theorectically, 6 cell = 4 hours, so 3 cell = 2 hours, 9 cell = 6 hours..

And regarding the weight, is should be relevant to the amount of cells, but its nothing backbreaking..

w5a is a Ensemble unit so they give you XP Pro, already installed but the disc should be give to you if you wanted to reinstall. ASUS doesn't install any software before handing it to you so you don't have to reformat.

 

It says that its max ram is 768MB.

however i've seen others upgrade to 1GB or more?

so what's the correct one?

 

1.25gb is actually what the W5 will accept and use properly.

 

1. regarding the graphics card, is it 128MB or 64MB? i see different results...

2. also does this support SATA hard drives? i'm not sure what i'm talkign about, but i read a thread about SATA harddrives. And i've got one, wondering if it can connect or something?

3. WOW LUCKY I FOUND THIS OUT:

ok for the Asus w5, it has:
DVD-Dual
DVD-R/RW: 8X/4X or 4X/2X, DVD+R/RW: 8X/4X or 4X/2.4X, CD-R/RW:24X/10X or 16X/10X, DVD-ROM:8X, CD-ROM: 24X

for the Asus w2, it has:
DVD-Dual Double Layer
DVD-R/RW: 4X/2X, DVD+R/RW: 4X/2.4X, CD-R/RW: 16X/10x, DVD: 8X, CD:24X

is there a difference between DVD Dual and DVD Dual Double Layer?

Also to burn the double layer (double 4.7GB), do u need certain disks? or can u do with normal dvd discs? i thought u could, but got told otherwise.

Thanks

 

oh got it..dual just means CD and DVD...damn...thought it was double layer..

 

sorry...any answers to these?

 

1: Depends on the game/application and the amount of RAM installed. The GMA900 will allocate and use as much as it needs (and have available) dynamically over the PCIe bus. In a real-world situation, though, you'd most of the time use lower texture settings in a game (typically those ment for 64MB cards) for performace reasons, even if you could make it run with higher settings.

2: No.

Oh, and 'dual' means that they it can write both DVD+R(W) and DVD-R(W). The group behind the DVD+R(W) standard was originally planning to call their two-layer discs 'dual layer', but the drive manufacturers had already started calling the drives that could use both the + and - format dics, dual (format) drives, so it was changed to 'double layer'. This still cause confusion. Personally I don't think the loss of 'double layer' shoud be much of an issue. The discs are just too expensive to be worth, and many (most) writers give sub-par quality compared to single layer writing.

 

I'm planning to update the memory with another 512MB. that's possible yes?

I was wondering what type of ram i need to get. i've seen DDR and DDR2 and then PC4200 and blah blah. Which one should i be looking for?

 

on the asus site, the Asus W5 HAS:

Main Memory DDR2 400 SDRAM, 256MB on board
1 x u SODIMM socket for expansion up to 768MB