Asus Ensemble Line Update for remainder of Q4

Bit disappointed concerning the w3v.

They should have put the price up another 100 dollars and upped the processor to 2ghz, put a 5400 instead of the 4200, used 1 stick of 1gb - 2 x 512 and 1 x 1gb are around the same price also should have kept the 2 year warrenty. That could then last for another 4 - 6 months before they release one with the new yonah/calistogo.

edit; not bothered with the mouse and bag, would probably have never used them anyway.

 

in regards to the w3v.. i think they should've kept the configuration, but knock back the price some more with the loss of the accessories, etc.

 

Yeah.. Im glad i saw this thread.

I dont know if this change talked about has happened yet, but if it did i'll probably have to look elsewhere.

One of the reasons i was more to the w3v was the 2 year warranty that came with.

 

It won't happen for a few weeks...

So get hopping!

 

Yes, it actually happened as of now......... The new W3's came in last friday and we have stock of those..... as well as the new V6's..........

However we also have the older models of each which still have the 2 year warranty....... we only have a handful of each left so please drop me a line directly if you want them.... they have been as popular this week as the new models.

 

You don't customize though do you? I remember looking at your site a long time ago.. You do have the best photos of the laptops, though. Hands down.


If I went with the w3v I planned to customize it over at star tech, just checked their site and they have the new ones specs showing now. You can still customize but it is more expensive. I see they now come with 1 gig of memory via 2 sticks. I guess that makes up for them chucking on $100 to the price. Is one 1 gig stick better than 2 512 sticks (Besides the obvious fact that with 1 stick you can upgrade to more memory without wasting a 512 stick)..but is there any difference in the way they run?

Agearnotebooks.com still has the old systems up it looks like. (The 60 gig ram 5400rpm along with the 2 year warranty)

hmmmmm!

 

... we're not going to customize them..... doing that voids the warranty and at this time we're still very much against allowing a customer to void thir warranty and yet allow Asus to get paid for a warranty they will never honor.

.... upgrading your ram or changing out your hard drive are easy and really better if you do those yourself. As long as the notebook goes back to Asus in the original configuration, you won't be voiding your warranty.

... we still have some of the older configuration models and I believe we actually put them back up on the site as a totally seperate item from the new models... more people were requesting those than we expected...

 

Alrighty

well any idea what runs better anyone?

1 stick of 1 gig ram

or 2 sticks of 512mb ram?

 

You probably won't notice a difference. Dual Channel on these platforms provides almost no real-world performance gain... you MIGHT gain some points in a benchmark here or there.. but only by a few points. Nothing noticable.
If given the option, go with 1x1 GB

 

Here's the easier answer.... technically running two sticks of the same size and speed will run in "dual channel mode" which is "better", however the margin is negligable.... if you plan on upgrade to 2gb (which honestly right now almost has no merit), then having 1 stick of 1gb would leave a slot open for future upgrading which may be valuable to you as well. All the Asus units that come with 1gb are coming with 2 x 512mb because they are stressing the dual channel nature of the chipset and not many people are going to be able to make use of much more than that for a long time.

 

Ah I see. Thanks a bunch.

On the "new ones" it looks like all I will have to upgrade now is the warranty and HD.. the price isn't much of a difference to me from before. Only thing I'm loosing is the carrying case and mouse.

 

Oh by the way, I just googled 80 gig 7200 rpm HDD's and they are cheaper than what you pay on the sites to customize the w3v to an 80 gig of the same specs.

I was wondering- could it be the HDDs i looked at are junk and that is why they are cheaper? What brand do you recommend i buy for the w3v? I'm thinking of just purchasing one "as is" and upgrading the HDD myself if it really is going to be cheaper.

I know that "voids the warranty" so I would have to send the lappy back in original form so if i ever had to do that and I take out the HD i put in myself..will all the memory fall out of that? or is it still all intact on that hard drive?

And I have no clue what im doing so what are the chances I could ruin something while trying to swap out the HD?

Please let me know about the HD thing cos it if seems OK then i might purcahse the w3v today so I dont have to tack on 100$ extra dollars for the 2nd year warranty if i wait til all places only have the new ones. Oh yeah.. is it possible this laptop can have 2 internal HD's? If so, what would i have to take out to use 2?

Thanks..!!

 

The optical drive comes out and you can place either an extra hard drive in that bay or a second battery or even a blank drawer to lower weight.

 

Nevermind about the other questions and thanks for your help and anyone else who has helped.


I bought it

Hopefully I dont get any dead pixels. I dont know why they have to use faulty LCD screens cos dead pixels isnt normal.

 

My plasma has 3 dead pixels -viewsonic
my m5n has dp -asus
my acer lcd has dp - acer
my sony lcd has dp and sp - sony
thats 4 out of 8 with dp or sp
Not preffered yes but accepted. That makes it normal. Gotta learn to live with it. :hardfind:

 

Hey eddie- You don't sell the w3v anymore? I noticed it wasn't on your site and I thought I saw it on there before...

 

Man! I havent been on the forum for a few months and lots of stuff are changing. Well if they are having 2 separate division, I hope that they dont go crazy on the prices for the ensemble to "distinguish themselves." Let's see where this will take them....

 

This sounds interesting, so what is going to happen to the upper mainstream market (Z70, Z33)? Obivously, they can't ignore this market, and solving it by throwing ensemble units at it doesn't cut it either. I hope Asus knows what the heck are they are doing.

 

By the end of the month the changes to the W2 are going to be in effect. These include:

1 year warranty, no carrying case, no notebook mouse, no media center remote...... price is the same. We stocked up on the current boxes, but once those are gone these options will be gone and the price will still be the same.

 

This is a little bit off the subject, but are you guys (Proportable and Geared2Play) considering selling other manufacturers like MSI, Compal, or Uniwill. It just seems as if Asus' relationship with the resellers has become strained over the past year over various issues. And now, it sounds as if the quality of the product they will offer resellers will drop as of next year.

 

What about the W5A?? I am still trying to decide whether to get black or white pearl

 

The W5a is changing as well....... the new model is sweet, but it's only going to come in pearl here in the states......... http://www.proportable.com/detail.aspx?ID=156

If you want one of the black models with the older configuration - you'll get the 2 year warranty, the case, the mouse... and it's a lot cheaper as well...... Or you could get a lot more stuff on the pearl model for $200 more...... but lose the case, mouse and get half the warranty.....

In my opinion, both are worth it...... but there's more of an option right now than there ever has been.... If you want one of the black ones, I'm told we're one of the last to have any around, if not the last in North America.

 

What do you know about the Asus W3V UK Version? I'm planning on buying mine at the beggining of December, should I bear aware of any changes in the model?

I'd rather get the Asus with the old specs than pay $100 to loose a year warranty and get a crappy upgrade that I can do myself and buy the parts.


Wait! Just answer this!: Will there be any changes that we can't do oursevles? (e.g. The X600 getting a upgrade?)
Because at the moment they seem to be making the laptop WORSE for the future, a rubbisher operating system, no accessories and half a warranty?

 

I doubt they will upgrade the x600, they can only upgrade to a x700 which is quite hot and consumes a lot of power. But they will upgrade when the mobility x1600 is out, that should be in about 4 to 6 months. This new w3v will also have the new intel chipset and dual core processor and loads of other extras.

 

Which new W3V? The one that has changed already (as of last week, according to the pro portable site) or the W3V you're talking about in a few months?
How do you have this information? Can you back it up with a link plz?

 

The W3 won't be refreshed into a dual core system until after all the other brand new models come out.... I wouldn't expect this till late March, early April.

 

Bah, its better to get the W3V now then.

Hey Pro can I ask you something? Do you think it's better to get the W3V now and get another laptop later on (Say when Dual core comes out) rather than getting the Sony Vaio S5XP and making it last for years? -- its alot more than the W3V though.

Also, out of the two what do you think is better quality and value?

 

If I wanted out company to sell Sony, we'd be offereing them tomorrow..... we have become authorized dealers for their computer line (mainly for their large desktop displays)...... but I don't feel that have anything on Asus... infact, from the parts and features... I know they don't... even though Asus is making them.

I think regardless of what you're doing, dual core isn't going to change your life and if you get a system now, it doesn't make any sense why you'd want to get another one in 6 months. If you get a w3, you're going to have it for 2-3 years at least until you get bored with it and there are new systems out that are less than a 1/2 inch thick....... the technology on the outside isn't changing that much and the processing power at this point is more than 99% of people need......... You'll get more processing power at lower power consumption..... it's not not drastic, but it's also your choice....... you're not going to go wrong.

 

So you do think so, thank you for that.

Do you have any information on future laptops? Dual core, the thinness of them, etc?

 

The thinnest of the systems aren't going to be going down..... there are a lot of the same systems that are going to be refreshed, with a lot of notebooks that just recently came out in europe that the US didn't want to order because they thought there wasn't enough time to market them before they would be out of date........ those models will be coming over..... the W6 and the M9 are really the "cool" laptops that I see coming over here....... the W6 is more like that Sony S series... with a 13.3" widescreen and the M9 is like a 14" regular ratio version of the V6.....

The only thing is that the dedicated graphics models might not be the focus upon release and with the things like the W3 and V6va getting refreshed later in the spring to dual core..... they may just go with the integrated graphics models of the W6 and M9 only to widen the selection people have. I don't think we're going to see a system like the V6va getting any thinner or more powerful, anytime soon...... that's probably going to be the goal that everyone looks up to next year. With the 4x super multi, super slim drive just coming out --- the speed and functionality is there to make that a more common drive...... it's things like the drive that really dictates how "thin" the system can be........

 

Huh. I'm rather not liking the changes mentioned in this topic. I'm not quite sure if I'd want to get an ASUS, given what is changing. A slower hard drive is awful, regardless of size. Hard drive speed is pretty much the biggest bottleneck in a laptop, and more RAM won't exactly help anything! And the 1-year warranty doesn't sound attractive.

I suppose, at least for the W3V, I'd either have to get it now, or pretty much write it off. I simply don't like the sound of the new model, and certainly wouldn't fork over a premium for it. $100 USD means even more of an increase in CAD, so that really does not look good.

 

You're right, you can still get the current model so I'm gonna either get mine very soon, or just fork out a little bit more for the Sony S5XP

 

RAM is the bottleneck if you don't have enough RAM to avoid Windows using virtual memory (how much RAM you need depends on what you are running). Accessing virtual memory on the fastest available HDD is still several orders of magnitude slower than keeping all running programs in physical RAM. Once you have enough RAM then the HDD becomes the next bottleneck. You will also find that the latest 4200RPM HDDs are faster than previous models. The higher data densities mean that data comes off the disks much faster.

John

 

I don't use Windows, and I run easily on 256 MB RAM.

For me, I can't think of anything that would really need 1 GB RAM. Sure, I'd probably get it if I could customize, but a hard drive is a much bigger bottleneck for me. I read/write to disk a fair amount, especially when compiling programs. A slow hard drive isn't really good for me.

Besides, it still doesn't get around the issue of the new W3V model being (for my needs) inferior in price/performance and addons ratio. Perhaps the mouse and bag aren't a big deal, but a warranty sure is. It also makes me less confident on the overall quality of the laptop - are the ASUS laptops simply not built to last as long now? It may seem silly, but there is something reassuring about a 2 or 3 year warranty by default.

And considering the W3V is costing more and giving proportionally lless, I really don't know if the new model is a good buy - especially compared to a similarly priced T43.

One one hand, ASUS laptops look great. On the other hand, the next year does not look promising - especially the apparent downgrade in built-on-ASUS lines. Most of the ASUS models I'm interested in are actually the barebones systems, so any downgrade in quality or price/performance of that line pretty much means I'll go to another brand, say IBM/Lenovo.

 

... Next year's models certainly *does* look promising and you would have no idea what those are because this thread is about what's going on in the 4th quarter. These new configurations are basically just to help set rid of all current models and to do that they needed configurations that would appeal to a larger market.

Both the old and new configuration have their pluses and minuses...... but if you work out all of the changes, the "value" doesn't change. To that discovery that I made, I almost wonder why some changes were then infact made...... but to keep the warranty and the accessories would have increased the cost another $200, and placed all models *out* of their respective markets. This is just something they're doing for the next two months.

On a side note - the V6va has a 2 year warranty....... it's the only new model that will continue to have one for the rest of the year, unless you could get your hands on some of the older or what I'll call the "other" configurations before they're sold out.

 

I was thnking the same things.

So, i went to startech's site (Who has the "new" w3vs showing) and a gearnotebook's site (Who still had the "old" configurable, w3vs up)

I was going to customize the laptop anyhow... you could pay about $100 to upgrade the ram yourself and on the new w3vs it is already upgraded to 1 gig. so i wasnt much missing out there.

i was going to change the hard drive anyway..so the slow HD didnt really matter to me..id be paying the same amount of money to swap the HD no matter the speed of the HD in the w3v.

some ppl told me if anything goes wrong with the laptop its usually in the 1st year. but i wanted a warranty to last the amount of years i wanted to use it. star tech charged 99$ i think for an extra year warranty

but for me, there wasnt much of a big price difference with the things i wanted on the laptop. it was only i wouldnt be getting the 2 free things (mouse, case).


i went and bought the older model the next day after i heard about the changes coming. it should be here tuesday or wednsday

but for ppl who want to buy the asus "as is" the change is awful. that hard drive is too slow even though you still get the 1 gig ram with the newer ones. ..it isnt worth it iMO.

but hey, as of now... www.agearnotebooks.com is still offering the older, better, config of the w3v

 

you can call it "better", but that's your opinion.... It may be mine as well, but both models come out to the same value when you consider the ram upgrade and the new super multi dvd burner over just the regular dual layer.

 

Ok, got it. Thanks for clearing that up. I completely missed that part of the discussion - so sorry!

I'm pretty sure you can't give specifics, but what's next year looking like for 14.1" and 12.1" ASUS notebooks? I'd really like one of those sizes and with good battery life - will the new stuff put the W3V and W5A to shame in both performance while at least keeping 3 1/2 hours battery?

I'm going to need to get a laptop sometime between now and the summer - I can easily wait until the new models are unveiled. I just want to know if it is worth it!

 

no, nothing is THAT promising, but they are just really going to fill in more of the gaps that they have in their lineup and that'll just make it less (or more) difficult to pick out what you really want.

Now and summer is like a couple years when it comes to the computer industry.... this time last year I never thought we'd have a system like the V6v....... let along the V6va by now.

 

Then would you suggest waiting as long as possible?

 

Get what you want, when you want it. You have to factor in everything you can do with it between say now and next summer....... you also have to factor in what you're going to be using it for and if that's going to actually make a difference in what you get today or what you get in six months. You can't go wrong either way, just get it when you need it.

 

My apologies in advance if it's too much detail to ask, but do you see an Ensemble in the future filling a 15" widescreen "gap"? I've been contemplating a Z70va (I like the compromise between the 14" and 17" widescreen form factors from checking out screens at local stores), but I'm not in any particular hurry at the moment.

 

No.... right now there are 12" / 14" / 15.4" / 17" widescreens ..... a 13.3" will be out next year.......

Also, on the regular ratio side there are 12" / 15" models........ and all that is expected on that side is a 14".

Above are all on the Ensemble side... obviously the Z61a is a regular ratio 14" that is available now on the custom side.

 

Sorry, I rounded off. I was wondering if there was going to be a new 15.4" widescreen (16x10). If there already was a current one, I didn't realize it.

 

oh, my mistake... I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. There are no real plans to on the US side to put a high end notebook (like the W1) back in that spot at this time. The W1v really is the current notebook that should be there, but it's too close in price and weight to the W2 to make selling it here profitable. I haven't seen plans for one, or even heard rumors, but the only thing that will fit in that space would be a 6.25 - 6.5 pound system that was more a mix of the V6 and W1...... that would really fit that gap nicely.

Technically right now we do have the A6vc which is coming in in the next day or two. I'm not too fond of the A6 series, but Asus is selling it as a lower end Ensemble model, going for about $1,300. There will also be another A6v in December that has a 64mb ATI x700..... that might interest some people, coming in at $1,500....... both are WXGA 15.4" screen.

 

I've seen the A6V sold here in Canada. The Source by Circuit City. It's exactly what Justin said but I didn't get to check how much memory the x700 has (Are you sure it's only 64 mb Justin?)

there's a built in 1.3 megapixel camera. It looks pretty small for a 15.4" notebook. If anyones interested, The Source sells it for around $1799 Cdn.

 

now what the heck is the point for putting in a GIMPED X700 with only 64mb!!! sigh**

As for the ASUS V6va, even tho you have already mentioned, ASUS purposely put in a 100gb @ 4200 RPM HD, because if you want performance people would just upgrade it and put in a better one.

I agree we would put in a better one, BUT! that voids warranty, and then we can't sell or do much with the 100gb HD, except for keeping it aside in a Enclosurel.

THen again you would have bought 2 hard drives for basicaly 1 notebook, I would rather they put a 80gb 5400rpm, or 60gb 5400rpm/7200rpm.

Or atleast have the option of changing that right from the Ensemble line...

Today the mininum HD speed is really 5400rpm, and in desktops 7200rpm is becoming the NORM.

I know, you prolly can't do anything about it =\ but yah.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

... it's a cheap system...... I guess that's why..... they're not trying to appeal to the same group of people with every notebook (otherwise that tiny little market would dry up).

Now, even though for the last 5 years we've only sold a minimum of 5400rpm hard drives....... go to the stores and see what are really coming in the systems sold at big box companies...... they're going to size over speed. I've seen as big as 160gb/4200rpm drives being used in the media center notebooks at best buy and even noticed the same in both of sony's metreon's in San Fran and NYC..... Just looking at what apparently is working. Anyone who is worried about voiding their warranty with Asus by upgrading the hard drive, probably shouldn't. The drive that comes with the units (which for a 100gb/4200rpm drive would be worth $155) can certainly be replaced and if that's what it takes for someone to get the perfect system, then that's just what it takes. On the plus side you don't lose that, but rather you do get more storage space if desired...... but you then have what would be the perfect laptop. A lot of people are doing it, so it's not that bad.

 

i guess your right pro, but if people are on a performance laptop budget, like many of us, then getting a new HD is expensive, but X-mas is almost here and hopefuly big stores like Futureshop and best buys will be selling big laptop HDs for cheap and have nice 5400 RPMs or more .

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

.... buying something like a V6va putting you about the performance of any apple, sony or thinkpad...... for those on a budget, consider what you're already getting and at what price. I'd love to see how hot something like the V6va would be priced up over 3 grand with one of the names above stamped on it.... it'd be the talk of the town and everyone here knows it.