Assistance Required

Howdy ppl!

Just a quick question... u have a laptop, u wanna know whether the HD is 5400rpm, 4200 etc? how can u find that out? (with or without installing a software- without a software preferred)... similarly for RAM, 667 or 533 etc...

Im asking this since apparently some of the W3J in the Uk are coming in with 4200rpm hd , 533 ram.. so i wanna be sure before i buy the laptop...

cheers!

 

You can't really, unless you use some sort of software.

However, I'm not sure of the W3j but on the wristrest, usually, the stickers there tell some info, usually vague.

If there is nothing there, then the laptop box, on the side, there should be a larger white sticker with a few lines of information about the laptop.

 

My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager will show the HDD make and model number. You can then look up the specifications on the internet.

John

 

I would take a looks at the specs that your retailers is showing...that's what they're saying it comes with.

 

THat's what I usually do I'm not sure

 

John said the right way to find out the model # and search on the web. Manufacturer's website almost give us accurate information.

 

If we need to find out the access time, to run the software is only one way!!!

 

well here's a little clue i found about the w3j...

there's apparently two different ensemble models , one that i guess is widely available in dutch the w3j-H001P, the uk model is w3j-H002P, which, has the 4200 rpm harddrive i believe.

so probably the one thing to watch out is the model #... in particular the model #:W3J-H002P.

oh and btw, i've been looking through a lot of sites lately about the w3j ensemble models and apparently they all came with bluetooth mice and carry bag... but the Uk models were like 100+ dollars more than the price offered here on the US... so maybe they took it out in the US model(W3J-H009P)...

 

How about the clock speed for RAM?

I have a V6J from Taiwan (I'm currently in Canada), how do I find out whether the 1G RAM is 533 or 667 without unscrewing the back of the laptop? Do I need the identical RAM pair (same manufacturer, same speed, etc.) to get the best of the dual channel technology?

Thanks...

 

Some BIOSes will let you see the RAM speed; not sure if that'll work on the W3j, but it's worth a try.

 

In Denmark the first retailer list it as W3J-H008P.

It comes with a 100GB 5400RPM drive but unfortunately doesn't say much about the ram, other than it is configured as 2x512MB.

UPDATE: Apparently the ram is 533Mhz.

 

Hmm... the Uk only has the H002P model, so that means all of them have 4200rpm Hds? this is definitely worrying... and not to mention stupid/annoying.. why would u put a 4200rpm hd in a latest spec machine?? I think the best thing would be to contact asus uk and ask them...

 

The SPD page of CPU-Z http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php will give you all your RAM details.

John

 

Awwwwww, John you beat me to it by 9 minutes.

CPU-Z is the way to go. I used to use W-CPU, but CPU-Z I like better now.

It tells you a whole bunch of information about your ram, bios, cpu, chipset.

Cheers,
Mike

 

The W3J comes with 677 MHz ram for sure, and I am quite sure it also has the 5200rpm dirve.

I was supposed to fly out to the US on Tues, but it might be delayed till next week, if so I can go and check the at the resellers in London for you.

let me know if there is anything else you want to know.

 

Cheers mate... these two are my only concerns...but i doubt the resellers at Tottenham court road will know any of the specifics...but worth a try...i could always get the ram replaced but the hd will be a prob... hope its 5400rpm...Keep us posted..

 

The european version of the W3J will indeed have a bluetooth mouse with it, the US version will not. I'm gonna eBay one though

 

my trip is next week, so I can do that for you, I should be able to find out, the reseller I found deals mainly in ASUS and has a good range, so I think it wont be a problem.

I will find out the exact amount you get back with the VAT refund also

Will let you know

 

Sounds like part I is answered, onto part II. The answer is yes. Dual channel more or less requires matched pairs b/c timings, bandwidth, clock speed, etc. must all match. In fact, the architecture of the sticks must also match, I believe, though that might be just to make sure the timings match, I'm not sure.

 

I am not 100% sure what the requirements for dual channel are.

My Samsung X60 (Core Duo T2300) came with 2 x 512MB 533RAM. SiSoftware Sandra gave a memory benchmark result of about 3600MB/s. I then changed one of the 512MB modules to a 1GB 533MHz unit. The benchmark result dropped to about 3100MB/s. However, CPU-Z tells me that I still have dual channel memory.

Until I invest in another 1GB module, I am sacrificing some memory performance in order to reduce the use of the paging file. For me, this is worthwhile because I like to have lots of applications open at the same time.

John

 

Well, I went down and took a look, good news bad news.

I am actually glad I am buying from the US now, this is the way it is......

Asus W3J-H0002P in the UK.

You get 2 x 512mb Ram (he even opened it up and checked it in front of me) I even got a photo of the internals if you would like to see.

and the HDD is only 4200rpm, he tried to tell me with dual core you don't need a fast drive..... I said whatever!!!! anyway the HDD is easy to get to so you could upgrade yorself, buy the HDD kit for the optical bay and run it as a second HDD (and then if you ever need to get it serviced just swap the HDDs around.

Price, he gave me the Asus Brochure, it has a list price of:
£1,499
he sells it for
£1,399
and would do a cash deal for
£1,299 (although a week ago he told me £1,275, so I am sure you could bargin him a bit),

VAT refund, they take a £10 admin charge and you would expect to get back £183 with the VAT refund.

So you could walk away with a final cash price being (including the VAT refund):
£1,116 which I think is quite good.

When I ummed and ared over eth RAM and HDD he also said that they could negotiate an upgrade. but to be honest sometime they will charge £100 pounds to upgrade the drive, where for £20 more you could buy your own drive, and then you would have two, just make sure you know how much it would cost you to do it, so they dont rip you off, it is sometimes a good way for them to fool people who dont know, into spending much more.

What I would do is buy the system, as is: then I would buy the 2GB RAM from crucial and another HDD and replace it yourself, keeping the old HDD and I would sell the RAM on ebay.

Hope that helps, I better get back to work now before I get sacked

 

Thanks alot mate... that makes it all crystal clear...

now a few more questions..

1) Was the Ram 667 or 533

2) can anyone tell me what HD i should buy to replace the one already in the Asus.. make, model, links etc?

3) Crucial is nodoubt the best ram in the market but 1 GB costs £125.... i could buy 2Gb corsair for the same price..is it worth it?

Once i know the exact prices ill go down to the shops and start bargaining

Thanks again for the info..

 

Ram was 667Mhz (I see now the US one also comes with 2 X 512)

HDD I would get a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm (I actually brought 3 when I was in Thailand a few months ago) they have had very good reviews and have a very fast seek time, one review performance wise placed it just behind a Hitachi 7200rpm drive.

Also Seagate are making new prependicular drives, which increase performance while keeping powerconsumption down. have a look at some reviews on the net, that should help.

RAM most reviews I have seen say that there is not a lot of noticable difference between at the end of the day, so if money matters I would just get the cheeper RAM.

Also when you are ready to do the deal, get out some cash in advance so you can strike while the irons hot! it can be a hassle getting money out from UK banks, just easier to do it before hand, some will go lower but expect payment immediately.

Good Luck

the shop details are
Platinum Solutions (must be renamed as the outside is labelled HARP but you cant miss it, it is plastered with ASUS promo advertising)
237 Totenham Court RD
London
W1T 7QW
T:+44 (0) 20 7636 6500

Maybe worth ringing first, he said he has plenty of stock, but you dont want to waste a trip.

 

cheers mate... will definitely go down on Thurs to take a look... hope they have one on display... the £183 refund seems a bit optimistic... im pretty sure its only 11%, will definitely double check with the bloke...

oh and are SATA drives compatible (since i found some, seagate 5400) or does it HAVE to be PATA?

 

yeah you are probably right about the VAT

HDD I am quite positive the W3J does not support SATA, the brouchure states the W3J seriessupports
2.5" 9.5mm IDE HDD /w Ultra DMA 100 / S.M.A.R.T. supported
40/60/80/100/ GB supported

Although asuslaptops says that it suports up to 120/160 GB?? god this is really confusing.

 

Yeah, you're pretty safe with hard drive capacities on the latest laptops, It's the connections you have to worry about. They list those capacities at the time of conception and print because maybe that's all that is available at the time, even though by the time the laptop actually gets built and hits the market, the HD manufacturers are already putting out practically double the size drives. Sata and Pata compatibility have to do with the mobo connections, so as long as you stick with that recommneded aspect of the drive, the capacity really doesn't matter, It should easily support 160GB and plus in the future.

Has anyone heard of a Manufacturer/Brand of RAM called OCZ...or had any experience with it??? One of my local retailers stocks it amoung everything else, and It seems to sell for a premium price compared to the other major brands. Just curious if It stacks up or what their public reputation is?

 

OCZ is a very well-known and respected enthusiast memory maker; their top-end stuff compares favorably with just about anything else out there.

 

i heard that OCZ have many problem in desktop computer, they cannot compartible with some motherboard. So far, no idea about the OCZ 's SODIMM memory for laptop.

 

I wasn't even aware of OCZ having a SODIMM line. I do know that they have been spotty for desktop use. It seems a lot of their lines are inconsistent. A lot of people are absolutely in love with their memory because in whatever setup they have it works fine. I know of a lot of others who have had nothing but bad luck and they're sending it back for exchange every couple weeks because the memory is bad or doesn't like their motherboard.
If you pay the premium and buy the expensive stuff, then OCZ is a decent line for the enthusiast, but it is meant for the guy who'll sit there and tweak memory timings and stuff until it runs memtest for 100 full loops with no errors. The average joe doesn't need the extra bit of performance that the premium gets them.