Asus G1: New price... new specs?

Having just spoken with Nexus13 here in the UK, they advised me that they're out of G1's until 01st Feb. More interestingly though, they also mentioned that new G1 stock will have a higher price and possibly a higher spec to reflect this, intimating that this might come in the form of a new graphics card. Could this be pure speculation, or are there upgrades afoot? Surely Asus can't be making any serious changes to this model already, so soon after its much anticipated release. Do any of you Asus resellers out there know anything about this?

 

Changes are coming- I doubt as soon as the first of the month though. The G1 will be updated when Santa Rosa comes out, but we're looking at another 2 months before the chipset is even available. The "next big thing" for all models is having Vista pre-installed (and that's good and bad), that's why some models are low and out of stock right now.

There isn't much that can be done with the G1 in terms of spec, but there is room for a larger graphics card, but Asus hasn't released a word on a change, public or internal...... although I wouldn't be able to comment on any technically still internal without getting sued, I can certainly say there haven't been any rumors on this side of the pond... As I mentioned about the G2, the reason both units are spec'd where they are is because of their price.. and right now Asus wants them at the price they're at..... so I don't see a bigger graphics card in the G1's future unless it could be done for the same price... and the G1 is currently already a great value, so Asus couldn't do it without raising the price, that's for sure...

 

Thanks for the reply Justin. They did say that the next batch coming in would have Vista already installed, but confirmed it was unlikely this was the cause of the anticipated price rise. As you say though, the G1 is already a fantastic price and great value, so it's unlikely Asus could put a more potent graphics card in and still keep the price as keen as it is. Then again, maybe this IS the reason prices could be on the up Either way, it seems the G1 is a very popular laptop, and with very good reason. Good luck and good gaming to all those members who own one

 

Oh, well they're basing their conclusion on the fact that Asus is telling them the price is going to rise.... considering it already has a 160gb hdd, a T7200, and 2gb of ram, a WSXGA+ lcd, that would make one assume the graphics card is all that could be upgraded... and that gpu is awefully nice as is.

With that said... didn't the UK get a watered down version compared to the US model anyway? If so, that would certainly explain their change?!

 

I got all those specs plus a lightscribe DVD burner and XP Pro - nothing is watered down as far as I can tell on my UK model - I've deen some other europeans complaining about it being MCE and the screen res being lower though.

 

I just got my G1 today... it's got XP Pro and Lightscribe.

Woo-hoo!!! And the dealer I purchased from said they were to have more in stock soon.

Try a few others in the UK eg. Asuslaptop.co.uk. They have them in stock becoz I was looking at those websites before I called Laptopsdirect to order one over the phone.

In fact, the price price a couple of tens of Euros for me when I last saw it.

 

The UK version of the G1 is definitely not a watered down one, quite the opposite if anything, taking into account the XP Pro, Lightscribe and WSXGA+ (1680x1050) which feature as standard here. I'm not sure if these are all standard elsewhere in Europe or in the US. So it seems it's anyones guess what the possible spec improvements might be, as we've already ruled out it being down to the G1 shipping with Vista already installed.

 

Ok, well the US model has WSXGA+, and Media Center Edition really can't or shouldn't be considered less than XP Pro as they're the same price and most people using a G1 aren't going to be connecting to a domain controller....... so having the media center side is a bonus for most users..

But, regardless... I really don't care what they've had or have... or will get, because it's completely seperate from the North American market and what we get and when.. I've just found a lot European's - perhaps outside of the UK - that are only finding WXGA+ screens, with less ram and a smaller hard drive, for more money...... That's what I was basing my persumption on.

We'll see what they get, but as of yet there hasn't been any change to the US model specs, and Asus has physically been sold out for the last two weeks, and most dealers are running very short on them, if they're not already sold out....... Typically as soon as Asus runs out, that's when they tell everyone about the next model.....

 

they could always put a 2.33ghz c2d in it...lol, when i get the money im gonna upgrade to that

A "7700GT" would be pretty kick ass...ASUS could do that, it wouldnt be too hard, wuld it?

 

Sorry, I don't follow what you're trying to say here Justin.

 

Perhaps a hd dvd drive.

 

What I'm saying is that someone stating that a UK dealer is "assuming" something is changing because they were told the incoming price of their next shipment is higher - is simply not enough to have gathered two pages of posts in this thread. Typically if we hear anything it's of the changes first and the price increase or decrease later. This is because the main office orders a model (so then the spec and configuration is known at that point), then they take about a month to be built, shipped, and delivered... and the price change comes after they're built, before they ship, based on the current costs. So basically, they should have known what was changing before they got a notice the prices were changing..... and if they were told the prices were changing, their Asus office certainly could have told them what was changing to justify the price change.. Even if simply RAM costs went up, Asus knows and can explain it.

However, the G1's have sold so well (for the little that have come in so far), that I can see if they could increase the graphics card on any model, it would be the G1 which almost has room for my home theater under the hood..... and a price increase or $100-200 may be more what the model needs to directly compete with the alienware's and xps' out there. The only problem is that the simple $100-200 increase is amazingly out of a lot of people's reach... especially for some reason those that are looking at the G1. I like the V1 a lot more than the G1, and unless you're a hardcore gamer using this for gaming 80% of the time or more, if you can afford the V1, it's a better overall system........ A lot of people looking at the G1 don't need ALL the graphics power, but still want something powerful and built well... and the extra $200 for the V1 is out of their price range. So to increase the cost of the G1 with any sort of immediate upgrade doesn't exactly make sense. It'll obviously be upgraded to the latest generation of gpu's that come out in the spring with the next chipsets, but we're looking at March for any of those to come out, and probably no earlier than mid April for an upgrade to the G1...... maybe as late as May due to it's initial release in December.

Basically though, with Santa Rosa around the corner, I was surprised Asus put out any totally new models after Thanksgiving...... so to do it now would be really pushing it. Also though, if they do make some sort of physical upgrade now, it'll just push its Santa Rosa replacement back into the mid Summer.

 

My initial post didn't say they were "assuming" the spec was changing due to a forthcoming price rise, although I did say they had intimated it may come in the form of a new graphics card. They advised me, in writing, that their new stock would be pitched at a higher price with a higher spec, and the nature of these "two pages of posts" is to discuss, as is the purpose of these forums. I actually find your comment

rather condescending and dismissive (to myself and the other posters) given that a sizeable proportion of all discussion on this and other forums revolves around hints, speculation, and interpretation of such. It's an international forum Justin, reflecting and discussing international news, views, reviews (and speculation) of Asus products past, present and future, and not solely those in the North American market. My post was not intended to mislead, but merely to inform and encourage debate

 

First of all, the forum may have international members, but it's by far a North American group.... There is nothing wrong with this, and I'm not going to take any flack from someone who feels wronged... I've followed, read, and replied to this thread and as someone with more experience with Asus, their products, and this forum - than you, or anyone else on this forum, my opinion is based on that experience.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad by telling you this thread is meaningless.... In fact, I didn't say that. All I elluded to is that as an Asus partner, I know what's changing in the specification before I know the price is changing. I know there will be a different graphics card coming with the chipset refresh, but I have not heard or seen anything to the point of Asus changing out the graphics card in the near future - on the current chipset.

I think you need to reread my posts before you get all up in arms. Half of the posts in this thread are replies from myself, so I'm including yours truly in what I consider an uneventful thread. We have two pages of simply back and forths - with the only real information stemming from this third part information provided...... Threads that keep on going usually have more evidence to back them up, one way or another. Now if they told you specifics, I could probably verify them, but Asus is tight lipped even to me if I said "I heard through another source that the G1's gpu will be updated next week", sort of thing. If the UK spec'd G1 changes tomorrow, there certainly aren't any plans from the US office to that effect, which there should be. Since the majority of this forum is looking for US products and news, I only ask that things like this be detailed as to where the information is concerning (which you did). Basically, it only leads to calls and emails to places like ours about the rumor.

I hope the gpu does get upgraded, it's only good for the model....... Like I said, Asus is sold out, I found out we sold this afternoon, there simply aren't that many to be had..... As long as they didn't bring something an updated gpu in BEFORE vista, it may help it through the period of bad sales that will certainly come after new models start coming in with the santa rosa chipset - before the G1 gets update (because people try to wait out the change).

We'll see.... but more importantly, more information needs to come from this.

 

Your reply to my initial post had answered my question Justin. I thought I'd wrapped this up in my second post...

With the greatest of respect Justin, it was you who replied with a question about the UK market, thereby keeping the thread and discussion alive. And to be fair, the lion's share of the content here is yours as you've already said.

That you have more experience than anyone else on this forum and with Asus is not in doubt, but we all have a voice and mine was being heard. Thank you for clarifying the situation for us though, wherever we might be reading this.

 

Well...

If it were a gpu upgrade, lets play make believe....

It would have to be to the 8400 go .... or to a 7900 gs

Thats the first nvidia dx 10 card so if it were the dx 10 card it wouldnt be being upgraded really. And it also shouldnt cost any more.... so the 2nd option seems better for wild speculation

 

Could it even support something like the 7900GS? That would be quite an upgrade though, but I doubt Asus would do this...

 

Hi guys,

I can confirm that there will be no difference in specification between the current G1's and the new Vista shipped G1's in the UK, I also believe that the price increase will not happen and the pricing will stay the same. Once the stock becomes available. There "was" going to be a price hike but this was so their was a cost difference (and incentive to buy the XP Pro boxes) over vista.

 

Fantastic review of your G1 peted76. I've only just noticed it. Wow, Mark of Chaos looks nice on that screen I bet Medieval Total War II would be great too as it's a superb game with great graphics and gameplay.

Just out of interest, did Laptopsdirect give you the info for your last post? I ask this as Nexus mailed me saying "new stock with new price and spec (might be a better graphics card)"... hence this thread.

 

What you have to remember is that the A6 chassis has housed some giant graphics cards in the past.... I'm mean, something like the old 128mb 6200 took up more space itself and with it's heatpipe than the current 512mb 7700 does........ so, there is more room in the chassis... I think it's more an issue of cost and battery life than anything it is "will it fit".

 

Just as a note....... Asus Taiwan released the vista options that the regional offices can order with various models today..... Some are going to be able to be ordered with Home Basic..... or Home Premium..... Others with Business, or even Ultimate.......

One thing that was unique to the G1/G2 was that the option for these two are between Home Premium and Ulitmate.... Which is a difference of $240 vs $400 retail for the Full OS..... which translates to about an oem cost difference of $80 or so. Considering the current cost of MCE is the same as Vista Home Premium..... I can see there being easily being a $100 premium for a G1 w/ Vista Ultimate alone.

 

Total War II is what I've been engrossed with for the past few days, TBH I've turned the shadows off as I was getting lower framerates in some points, I'm actually loving the strategy part of the game more than the RTS part

If you check with Nexus you will find prices have been confirmed that they will stay the same. As there aren't any G1's in the UK at the mo... and as prices can fluctuate until the product actually has a production & exchange rate cost associated with it, you will often find some disparison, between resellers.

 

Sorry to ask but i'm dutch, my english isn't bad but also not perfect..

Iff i understand right, youre saying that a possible price raise could be caused by the fact that the upcoming serries of G1s are perhaps dellivered with Vista, Depending on what the regional offices decide to order @ the head office, Vista or MCE. And that price raises could be easily $100.. but that would be depending on what version of vista would be used.

Thanks

 

Oh, well the next shipment around the world will certainly have Vista pre-installed....... I'm just saying that there is an option for the regional markets to check Home Premium or Ultimate when ordering at this point... Someone was talking about places in the UK perhaps having their prices go up and that may have been for different reasons....... I was just pointing that if that was infact true, then perhaps the UK orderer them with Vista Ultimate.

Pete said everything is staying the same...... so if that's true, the UK will be getting Home Premium - which is what the US is getting... and what probably most markets that get the G1 will get as well. So prices should not change a wink with simply the upgrade to Vista Home Premium since it costs the same as XP MCE.

 

Sounds logical.. thanks for explaining

Conclusion, we all just have to wait and see what happens, and then live with that...


P.S Is all software/games build for XP able to run on Vista without any problem?

 

Right now, all ASUS Ensemble notebooks that come with MCE or XP Pro are eligible for a free upgrade to Vista.

MCE -> Home Premium
XP Pro -> Vista Business

 

Company of Heroes is another RTS treat you might want to look at if you haven't already, as does next month's Supreme Commander.

Nexus have three or four G1's, or at least they did as of this afternoon. And yes, I did check with them re pricing Pete, and they confirm increase as of 1st Feb, which is when they expect next batch in. You already have your nice new machine, so you can settle down and enjoy your heightened mobile gaming experience

 

I'm still waiting for the first pricing of the G1 in my country, still has to be released here. Contacted Asustek Netherlands and they told me it would come in 2-3 weeks.. so arround 1st of Feb.. that will be the new batch i guess..

 

Right... and a couple of the models with XP Home -> Vista Home Basic.... but you can also pay a small upcharge and swap certain versions as well.

 

i second the question. programs like avg, adaware, hl2/cs:s, or even hardwares (like external hard drives with win 98/2000/ME/xp labels on them), will they all work with vista?

 

supposdly...you notice that on the games it says something like "Windows 98 or higher" that includes Vista, even thought its a totally different os, they are supposed to be backwards compatable...so if microsoft does what their supposed to do all the old programs should work

 

Let's hope they do what they got to do then

Just was thinking about the g1 beïng upgraded to Vista... Vista is heavyer os to run then XP.. heard people saying.. "you need atleast 1 gig of ram" and things like that, if that's true.. does this negatively effect te G1's gaming preformance??