Asus V1JP for school

Hi everyone, I've decided on an Asus V1JP for college and just had a few questions to go along with the purchase.

I'd like to purchase the computer as soon as possible in order to work out any kinks and get used to the laptop before going to college, but I've heard that Santa Rosa is being released May 9th. Should I wait for this or not even bother if it doesn't pertain to the V1JP. In other words, are there any real benefits of waiting for Santa Rosa or I should just make my purchase now?

Next, I think I'm going to purchase the laptop at milestonepc.com as I've heard good reviews of it, and there are a few upgrades that I'm considering as well. First of all, I'm definitely getting the 3rd year global warranty as well as the upgrade to 2 GB or RAM. However, I'm considering upgrading the Hardrive memory as well as the processor, so I was wondering if upgrading to the T7400 or T7600 is well worth the purchase. Also, does the speed of the HD memory (5400 vs. 7200) make that much of a difference in terms of performance? If so, should I go with the 7200 100 GB or 5400 160 GB?

Thanks for all of your help.

 

Unless you plan on doing processor-intensive tasks such as video encoding, go for the T7200 processor, and save the money.

As far as HDs go, a 160GB 5400rpm offers similar performance to a 100GB 7200rpm.

 

Santa Rosa's definitely worth waiting for, since you are looking at spending upwards of 2k. It is going to be a performance upgrade over the current merom/napa combo. As far as the Hard drive spindle speeds are concerned, there's not much difference b/w the 5400 160 Gig, and 7200 100 Gig ones. However, there have been recent releases of 160G, 7200 rpm drives. They are not widely available, though. You could go in for a smaller stock drive, and change it to the better one later, when it's available.

 

One of the thumb rules here is that if you need a laptop now, buy it, if you can wait then wait. Yes Santa Rosa is going to be released in May 9, it will still take some time for ASUS to refresh many of its models with this new chipset.

However, it is always good to wait for the next generation if possible and since Santa Rosa is just around the corner and despite no ETA on the refreshes, you will benefit from the time, since prices will drop for the components you are interested in.

If you want to purchase now, getting 2GB of ram is worth it, going for a larger or faster hard drive is up for debate. I personaly need more space, than speed, so try to look at it from that stand point.

As for the CPU, some people may want to upgrade the CPU, it will void the warranty, so you can't get the 3 Year Asus Global Warranty, instead you will have our warranty. In most people's opinions keeping the T7200 is worth it because it has the best performance for price ratio.

You will be happy with the current V1JP, but if you can wait, by all means wait for the refreshed version with Santa Rosa.

 

The thing to remember about technology, esp. computing is that the longer you wait, the better is the deal that you get. The important thing, as was just mentioned by MilestonePC, is to buy a laptop when you need it. Waiting beyond that is not beneficial.

 

According to ProPortable its going to take about 1 month to update some of their models, and 2 months for others (From now) I was told 7-8 weeks for the santa rosa version of the V1JP

 

Alright, thanks for the responses everyone. In terms of if I HAVE to have the computer now, it's a definite no. The only reason I'd like to get it sooner than later is to make sure that I'm all ready and set to go before leaving for college. However, it seems like the general consensus is to definitely wait for Santa Rosa.

If this is true, then that would mean about 2 months, let's say, after SR is released, I'd be able to get the V1JP with it. So May 9th plus 2 months is approximately July 9th, and I leave for college for August 16th, so it looks like everything works out. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

I own a V1Jp. I bought it from Milestonepc and I'm very happy with them and the Notebook. It is exactly what I wanted after searching for over a year for the perfect Notebook for my needs. I also thought about waiting for Santa Rosa, but after researching the main differences I thought it was not worth the wait. I also bought one of the last models with XP Pro as I tried Vista and prefer XP much more.

I'm also upgrading to 2Gb of ram as I ran out playing Command and Conquer 3. I also have the 3 year warranty. I'm happy with the hard drive speed and size. I love this Notebook and the quality is outstanding. The only complaint is the speakers which suck big time. I use headphones when on battery and external speakers when on AC power at my desk. The screen is outstanding. Some light leakage when in the dark with a black screen, but very, very minor.

Overall I could have not asked for anything more but a better gpu, which is not practical due to form factor. I didn't want over 15", and the Go7700 is only slightly better. If that gpu was in this Notebook it would be the ultimate notebook for myself. That said the X1700 is really great and it runs everything I have played.

Sorry for the long blabbing on but I though I would give my opinion to those who are interested.

Asus rocks, and the V1Jp is a great Notebook! My year of research paid off.

 

Thanks for your opinions RachingNorth.

From what I can mainly see, the main differences between Intel Processors now and the soon-to-come Santa Rosa processors are longer battery life and faster speeds. In all reality though, how much longer battery life do you think the Santa Rosa would permit? All I remember reading about the battery life is that it has some sort of switch involved that switches to low power when not operating many things at once.

Also, let's say I do wait these 7-8 weeks to try and get a Santa Rosa V1JP. How much do you think that would run me in terms of money over a Core2Duo V1JP currently, and do you think there would even be any available right at release?

 

You misunderstand, I said From now, Meaning 7-8 weeks from today :3

 

Well Santa Rosa has a few powersaving features, The main three that will actually have a impact are, Inbuilt Nand Flash which reduces the number of times the OS will cause the HD to seek. The new 802.11A/G/N Chipset which uses 90% less power. And The new CPU design, apparently its able to underclock itself when idle to a greater extent than current CPU's and can even turn off one core completely, If it chooses it can then overclock the remaining core above its normal level to better process single threaded applications while still drawing less power than if both cores were still active.

Im hoping Asus will release a better battery, 5200mwh isnt all that impressive when compared to sony's 7400's or gigiabytes soon to be released 10, 000mwh batteries.

 

Oh, heh.. looking at it now I completely misread that.

Other than that, though, are those the main differences I listed or are there any other main ones really that would definitely benefit me from waiting as opposed to getting the laptop now?

 

I've decided on the V1JP too, for the same reasons as the original poster (also for school).

I've also decided to wait for SR. My question is...my school is very specific about the wireless card they'll let you use - 3945 only.

Although I don't anticipate any problems with the new SR card, if necessary, would I be able to get a V1JP model with the new SR chipset, but still retaining the 3945 wireless card?

 

3945 only? How in the world do they enforce that?

 

They won't offer tech support for any card not on their list (e.g. the 4965) for the most part. I figure if i use a 4965 card and there are no problems, then it's not an issue. But it's always nice to have a backup plan just in case. (I guess if necessary, I could just open up the notebook and stick in a 3945 card myself and then go get tech support if I need it or something, except I'm not really too good with hardware).

 

Well, they refuse tech support to any laptops not in the range of their specifications. While I don't anticipate any problems, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. I doubt there will be any issues with the 4965? card in SR, but it's nice to have a backup plan just in case.

I suppose, if I absolutely do need it, I can always open up the notebook myself, stick in a 3945 card, and get tech support for whatever issues I have (assuming it's a wireless problem), but I'm not too great with hardware and a little wary about sticking my fingers into the back of my laptop.

 

The WIFI card on the V1J/p is not easily reachable. Any how, lack of tech support isn't a big deal at all. You can figure it out.

 

You could always replace it yourself, Im a bit torn between the F3 and the V1, The only difference seems to be the modular Bay and a fingerprint reader.

 

Sorry but if he worries about tech support for WIFI I wouldn't recommend that he go and take the V1 apart. The V1's WIFI card isn't just under a panel, it's buried.

 

And the looks.. and the chassis. I'm on a F3Jp right now, and I've used a V1Jp, for a bit, so I can assure you that apart from performance, they are in a different league altogether. The V1's so damn good to look at that I wouldn't dare to leave it anywhere out of sight...

 

Im a Uni student and my current sony has taken a serious beating, Also Id rather it not look to good, I dont want it being a target for theives.

 

Any laptop is a target for thieves. Just don't be a bonehead when using your laptop. If you are in a public space and want to go get something, either have a friend (if you have one with you) watch your stuff or carry your laptop with you. If you leave your laptop in your room, keep it locked to your desk and keep your door locked when you aren't there.

 

Whenever I take mine to work, it's always in a locked cabinet if I'm not using it. Not that I don't trust my coworkers, just that my cubicle is right near the door leading to outside...

A school environment is bound to be 10x worse, since there's just so many more people walking about.

As far as Santa Rosa, it seems like something worthwhile to wait for, but I wouldn't count on their timeline. The launch date is in May, but the actual rollout date for different manufacturers will be much longer than that. And there might be bugs and other issues at the beginning. Plus, this is a chipset change, not just a basic refresh, so you can almost count on there being delays and more problems if they decide to rush it out the door.

It's kind of annoying that V1J came out last year in March but only here in NA since January/February. It's good since we get T7200 and X1700s instead of T2400s and X1600s. The bugs were *mostly* worked out, but technology is always changing.

 

I was working off Retailers dates, not launch dates Their releasing their more popular models in mid may, and their pricier models in mid June.

 

But retail dates are not written in stone, either. They get pushed back, some more so than others. It has happened at the store where we would put an order to the supplier(s), then two months later we still didn't get the damned thing since it was a paper launch (ie: it's "launched" but nobody has any stock. Why? Because the product isn't actually out yet and consequently ... logical?). In any case, maybe it might be that this product doesn't get delayed. But then you might run into availability issues. Or it ight be released first only in one area of the world (ex: Taiwan).

Also, another consideration is that you're in Australia. It's not too far to order from Singapore or Taiwan and get it right as it comes out. But chances are, most people would rather not order direct international like that from North America because a) unless it's a global warranty, the local center doesn't necessarily have to respect it and redirect you (even if it was, it might take a while to get parts), b) DOA returns would be very costly, and c) they usually use the rest of the world to debug their stuff before it hits the NA market anyway.

 

Actually NA gets just about everything faster and cheaper than Aus, As sony said in that article "America is Cheap" Meaning you have very few and very low Import taxes whereas Australia to protect us from cheap crappy imports has very extreme import tariffs that unfortunatly screw over everything else. Anyway I was going off the dates given by Proportable, And theyve been very reliable in the past for release dates.