Asus F50Sf-A1 16-Inch Laptop, owners?

I've been looking for a new general purpose laptop that I could also use for some casual gaming. (I have another gaming rig but it's not very portable.) I have been looking at Sony Vaio's, various Asus machines, Toshiba, etc. but wanted to keep the cost down to the $800 range if possible.

I ran across a one-time (apparently) limited time offer on this laptop for $779.99 and had to make a quick decision. I did some quick research on-line, but not a lot of info that I could find. But what little I found sounded promising, so I went for it. Should arrive in about 7 days or so.

Later I ran across a $100 rebate offer from Asus that appears to include this model if purchased in November, so I may get yet another $100 off (fingers crossed) which would mean a final price of $679.99 -- which seems incredible. The specs are:

Asus F50Sf-A1 16-Inch Laptop
* Intel Core Two Duo P8700 Processor 2.53GHz
* 4GB DDR2 800 RAM, 2 slots, 4GB Max
* 320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM), DVD SuperMulti Drive
* Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) Operating System
* 16 Inch HD LCD Display, NVidia GT 220M 1GB DDR2 Video RAM, Carry Bag and Optical Mouse Included

The only question mark for me was the 220M card -- lot of conflicting info out there, but most I could find by actual *owners* as opposed to speculators, seemed positive. Wish it had DDR3 or GDDR3, but c'est la vie.

So, any owners here of this model? (I think the Asus K61IC-A1 also uses the GT 220M card.) Even without the card I think it would be a decent laptop at the price I paid, but it would be nice if I could squeeze in some gaming, too.

My thinking, from what I've read, is that at the 1366x768 native resolution and lower, the 220M should do OK for most games. Especially since I play mostly older games anyway. I wouldn't expect Crysis to run except at medium or lower settings -- I did find some video of Crysis and GTA4 running on 220M so I know they work, but sure the settings have been backed off a bit and I'm perfectly OK with that.

I actually still play a lot of really old stuff and I think it will zoom through that (e.g. Painkiller, Oper Flashpoint, RB6 series, Oblivion, Witcher and Gothic series, etc.) but I'm hoping it will handle most current games as well, even if I have to reduce some settings. (I still have my other rig w/an 8800M GTS, too, of course.)

Anyway, just thought I'd see if anyone here actually owns this model and can share their experiences and suggestions. (It does not seem it was a hugely popular model.)

Cheers!

 

hey, I was thinking about buying the same laptop off ebay for $900. Looks to me like you got an awesome deal

Where did you see that $100 november special? I been searching around for it. link please?

 

You can get it cheaper from Newegg or other retailers. The rebate form is on the Newegg site here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220560&Tpk=Asus%20F50Sf-A1

I don't think it applies to eBay sellers, only authorized resellers. You should double check with Asus if you have any doubt. But I'm sure the Newegg offer is legit and good, I have purchased a lot from them over the years and never had any problems.

Mine is shipping from California via UPS and is gonna take forever to get here. But I'm really looking forward to trying it out. It seems like a nicely spec'd system. I would have been as happy with a smaller screen (for portability), but this one, even w/a 16" screen, seems fairly portable according to what I've read.

The GT 220M seems very similar to the 8700M GT card (performance wise) which I have in a Toshiba and it's a very good card, so if it's anywhere close, I'll be pleased. (It's just for casual gaming, and mid-level performance is fine for my purposes.)

I always seem to end up with systems no one else owns <g>, but that's OK, too. I like getting a P8700 in the mix and I like the overall design and appearance. Just hope the display is good. That's a big unknown, but most owners seem OK with it. Some gave it high marks. I just hope it has decent contrast and color saturation, viewing angles, and so forth.

Good luck!

 

Got mine yesterday and just got around to unboxing and setup today. I will be posting an owners review later this weekend. My initial assessment is thumbs up! I'm very pleased - it actually exceeds my expectations so far (but have not done much testing yet).

I was worried about the screen, but it's nice. I'm very happy with it.

Overall, I think this is a very nice notebook for the price.