Anybody have an Asus Z33a laptop? Is it worth getting?

Hi,

I've been looking to get an Asus Z33a laptop and am wondering how tolerable the battery life on it is. The standard 3-cell battery offers a middling 2 hrs of performance, but it's possible to get a 6- or 9-cell battery to extend performance.

I'm especially interested to know if people have upgraded the battery and, if so, how much weight it adds to the laptop (which is an ultraportable--3.5 lbs with the standard 3-cell).

Thanks!
Alex.
[email protected]

 

it might be wise to wait a week or 2 for the Z35f (13.3" wide), newer technology in a slightly larger package. I have no idea about battery life on the new model, I am also waiting for it to become available. Hoping the standard battery will offer better life than the Z33

 

You should wait for the z35 its like the z33 but a 13.3 in wide screen core duo 4.5lbs.

****it i hit post to late. you beat me.

 

Well, actually I'd only say to get the Z35f if you're into widescreen.... The Z33ae has many fine qualities by itself and it's got a great lineage... I've been using an M5 (what the Z33 is based on) for over two years now and it's a great system. You're looking at 3.5 pounds with the 3 cell and that weight is something neither the W5 or Z35 can come close to.... Technically there is only a 9 cell optional battery for the unit, but if you wanted a 6 cell, you could buy one of the 6 cell's for the W5 as they will work and look fine..

I still take my white Z33ae on flights with me to the west coast..... with the 9 cell battery it'll tip in at 4.5 pounds, but you've got a triple capacity battery in place which I get between 6 and 8 hours of life with.... and the 9 cell, although it sticks out the back, it's very VERY secure and still a great traveling system... perfect for ecconomy class.

 

Z33a also is a barebone unit. If a barebone is coming soon for Duo Core, i will wait, at least i can customized what i want. Z33a or Z33ae is good for a optional 9 cells battery, it can last up to 6~7 hrs. but i don't know what model from Asus will come next for 12" and support longer battery life.

 

Asus isn't bringing over a 12" regular ratio or even 12" widescreen barebone... the 13.3" Z35f and the 14" Z62f are the two smallest units and both are widescreen......

 

Today's the beginning of CeBIT and while ASUS may have abandoned that form in the NA market, MSI isn't. MSI has a website that exhibits the S262, I believe, that will be their Core duo 12...I think it's a wide, too. After it's debut, I would think it'll be available here, too. Can't remember the URL but someone had it on the MSI forum...that's where I saw it.

 

Have the m5n which is basically identical to the z33a. Have had a 9 cell on it for a few months. Get steady 6 hours on it for low end use. You can get 2 full lenght movies easy. Z35f will be coming soon. I will be reviewing mine on friday. Got it from overseas

 

Will be waiting for the review. I want to decide if I will wait for the Z35, or just pick one of the Z62/3. Z63 looks nicer, Z62 better under the hood.

By the way does soon mean sometime before April?

 

This is getting very exciting...at least for me, I have to go with that smaller form...so I'm very keen on reading Eddie's review of the Z35...I've been trying to see a picture somewhere...and still none. BTW, at today's IDF, rumor is that they popped out a Core duo and popped in a Merom of the same variety and got an immediate 25% performance increase on the same juice. So, it may be worthwhile to go with the newer platform if you're buying now. Of course, there's still a bigger change coming in '07...but for my uses, an old Z33 with training wheels is just as good. Maybe they'll start giving them away! lol...

 

Don't get too excited about the chassis, it looks like barebones now are gonna be 'bleh'

 

Got one comming in on friday from overseas cia air. Its a keeper but keep in mind its just a review. I am not going to be reading any dates of any roadmaps but the z35f will be here this year. Tahts all i can promise. It has a core solo in it unfortunately and i will not be gutting it. Its just an aesthetics review nothing more. If a mod or "anyone" on this forum wants this as a few weeks sample to review on this forum please contact me directly.

 

Ahah! I've been wondering what the z35f will be like. The w5 doesn't quite match up to what I'd like, so I'm hoping this will turn out to be more promising. But will the battery life really be worse than the old z33?

 

No i t will be better on par with current mainstream models. Its either a 6 or an 8 cell. Once i get it i will spec and check it out. They will not have a 9 cell option for it though. Just spare main. The z33 now has about 1.5 to 2 hour tops on the base 3 cell battery and tripple that on the 9 optional 9 cell. I get 7 hours easy with chc running with a bit of undervolting.

 

Here is my new z33ae (thanks geared2play!):

Spec:
Pentium M 760 2.0Ghz
1GB RAM
80GB 5400RPM HDD
Slim DVD-RW multispeed recorder









It is a nice little machine with lots of power. On Super Pi, it clocked 1m and 35s for calculation to 2M digits of pi.

Hope you like it!