Asus W3J...

Sata = new technology Pata is slower, supposedly...however, I'm not sure the average user will ever know the difference 99 percent of the time from surfing the internet or playing a casual game or two. IMHO.

 

Teflon's correct. Here are a few links that might help you gain a better understanding of the benefits and pitfalls of PATA vs. SATA. Most of the controversy / initial examination of this topic came in around 2003 with the introduction of SATA, so while the material may not necessarily be "cutting edge" it is still valid. (2-3 years is an eternity on the interweb)

Wikipedia (SATA)

Wikipedia (PATA)

Tom's Hardware

PC guide (excellent, in depth review, but it's long)

Anyhow, that should get you started. Welcome to the forums!

 

SATA will be faster, but as of now, 5400rpm is the fastest SATA goes, while 7200rpm is for PATA.

So, until 7200rpm+ comes out for SATA, PATA isn't that much of something to worry about

 

Since the W3J doesnt have the 0 bright dot LCD policy what policy takes effect for the LCD and bright dots?

 

It's the ASUS standard one, which is:

Regular LCD Panel Warranty:

If any of those after claims come after 30 days and meet one of the following categories, then they will be allowed to have LCD panel exchanged but without a ZBD guarantee:

1) Over 3 bright dots or 6 black dots or 8 mixed bright and black dots in total,
2) 2 adjacent bright dots or 2 adjacent black dots,
3) 3 bright and / or black dots within an area of radius 7.5mm.

 

Ahh ok thats cool. I wonder why the W3J dident come with the 0 policy?

 

It's the panels actually, Samsung makes the LCD's and it's actually Samsung's policy

Only select panels have the ZBD policy.

 

I have a question about the W3J and Asus in general. Do Asus ship there Laptops with a lot of bloatware? Also will the W3J be formatted in NTFS? I hope there is no bloatware and I don't have to reformat the drives.

 

I think when I got my W3V it was almost clean, except for the drivers and software for power management and the custom keys. I even had to install the DVD player software off the CD that came with the unit. I do vaguely remember converting the drive to NTFS from Fat, though...

 

Besides Windows and a trial version of Norton, which you can easily uninstall, and the drivers and utility, thats about it.

Nothing else.

 

Yeah i hate Norton it really slows down performance. Can anyone recommend a good security suite for my W3J when it arrives sometime next month? Also has anyone heard of ZoneAlarm, I ask this because there website hasn't been up for quite sometime now. The url is www.zonelabs.com

 

Good news on the bloatware. I hope they are smart and format in NTFS will save me a lot of headache.

 

I use Avast! antivirus for all my computers. It's free and I have not had a problem with it. I've been using it for about 2-3 years now. Here's the linky.

http://www.avast.com

 

I've also been using Avast...it has a simple interface, it's not bloated, and home users don't have to pay for it.

 

Avast! user here too, works well, or I've never had a virus ever haha

 

I haven't used Avast! but I've heard good things about it. I keep a second partition of my programs and docs, and don't run an antivirus program as a general rule. Norton slowed stuff down and gave me too many headaches in the past. Now, whenever I feel like the comp is slowing down or there are issues with unknown processes, I just re-image the OS partition and update the links to my programs on the other partition.

 

This astonished me; but anyone who thinks this is a prevention strategy of worth isn't one of which I would subscribe. BTW, I too separate my OS, installations, documents, visual media, audio, internet cache-page file, and a few other archival partitions distributed over an array of hard drives; it certainly keeps them from getting fragmented and isolates their functional elements. That doesn't preclude the implementation of anti-virus prevention strategies.

I keep my systems behind a protected router, and plug into it behind a reliable software firewall or two or three since XP Pro is a nominal but credible firewall as well as is Zone Alarm, etc.

As to Zone Alarm or Zone Alarm Pro, I've experienced their "free" revisions for several years and their fee-based "Pro" versions. My problem with Zone Alarm is that when something "goes wrong" with ZA...it's nearly impossible to figure out how to un-dis-lodge-it from your operating system without knowing the back alley ways of your OS...even if you think you can brutally rip it from your OS through the registry...guess again...Zone Alarm is tenacious in its grip...most peeps just throw up their hands and re-install a fresh copy of XP/OS-of-choice if they can't back into the strip-out. Even if you know your way around your OS and you have entered into the territory of the "Registry"...Zone Alarm can have a tenacious grip on your OS's systems;

I personally spent a day uninstalling ZA Pro from 4 installations after I got a call from a professor-friend who suddenly couldn't update his Turbo Tax program because Zone Alarm kept asking him to supply a password, even though he never supplied a password into the ZA setup program. I never did supply such password, either, but I figured if it could happen to him,it could be me, too.

Uninstalling ZA is not that easy...anyone reading this...try doing your usual uninstall routine...do you get the message that that ".dll" is missing...etc., and therefore cannot be....and you cannot uninstall the beast?

OK...so you decide to "rip it out" with the almighty delete key...but there's just a file or two..."vsxxxx.xxx" that can't be deleted because it's "used by another program or some such..."...

...and then have you found that your internet access is ((((gone))))....((((poof)))) you can't get there from here?

Zone Alarm has been the bane of so many successful OS installations and while it seems to work well when it is behaving itself, try to uninstall it or find that it knocks out your internet connection links.

Clean installs of OSs are ONLY for desparation because the consequence of them are hours of tedious re-installations/reboot/monotony, particularly if you've backed up your installation drivers and programs...if you're clever and have "imaged" your OS...you still have that ubiquitous trouble maker Zone Alarm with it's fingers XML'd into your OS's structure.


I now use the Sygate (that's been withdrawn after its purchase this past year) but can be still accessed through Tucows...it's v5.6. It has an amazing array of controls and provides an indepth expose of what is connecting to your system...if you want it...it also is great out-of-the-box and will prompt you to say "yes" or OK...(dont' remember what it prompts) but if you have just launched something and you get a pop-up Q...just allow it...it's learning what's you and what isn't you...if you get my drift.

And, yes...these are strategies implemented with mobile systems and desktops.

edit: sorry, forgot to include this as a resource for the resulant firewall choice: http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=173402915

just working on the record for the longest post

 

hi ppl, am new to the forum... just wanted ot give you guys some good news... W3J now available in the UK

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=NBA-W3JH002P&af=50

http://www.savabase.com/90nexa217329521kca-p-7982.html?ref=9f567r2


dunno if this is true or not...just froogled it and found this ...good stuff

cheers

 

I too, use Avast!... however, it does use more memory than other AV programs out there. But, in my opinion, the extram memory it uses is worth it... it is probably the best free antivirus program available!

 

I noticed on the Eclipse Computers website it says the w3j has
"Instant On Music
Unique Audio DJ feature enables instant music broadcast. Now there is no need to wait for the notebook to boot nor do you have to enter the OS for music enjoyment."
Maybe its only for the UK.. but does that mean we can listen to music on the radio? I hope we will be able to listen to music on the laptop without having to boot or enter the OS..

 

@ Whitney-- I've been so fed up with problems like you are describing with Zone Alarm in regards to various antivirus and antispyware programs causing problems with my systems (in some respects they are worse than the malware they are trying to prevent) that I'm currently in Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' "acceptance" stage in the grief cycle. Therefore, the easiest thing for me to do is to run Ad-aware, Spybot, and other programs occasionally and keep a disc image available to quickly restore the system to near-new when those programs don't run. I may try Avast! when I get my W3J, but I can't stand Norton and Zone Alarm anymore. It's easier for me this way, as it allows a minimum of effort to return the system to a state that's acceptable in my eyes. It's not a strategy for everyone, granted, but it works for me. I don't visit risky (russkie?) sites with a computer that I care about, and if I have to I use a live Linux distro to browse so that it will all go "poof" when I reboot the system.

 

I've found that after I started using Mozilla as my browser, I haven't had any issues with spyware or adware. I don't know if it's that same for others, but it's been really great for me.

 

I use AVG Antivirus. It's quite good too and free. Anyone use that?

 

I use NOD32. I've tested lots and this comes out best.

 

I use Opera, occasionally FireFerret., and have abou the same results.

If there were an easy way to delete/disable Internet Explorer when I get my new W3J, then I would.

 

The Instant Music feature was always on the W3, pretty much, you switch on a button, which turns on specific parts, open the OD, put CD in, and play via the hotkeys. They might of added something new, in the 'radio', but I'm not sure - however, it sounds awesome!

 

Coriolis, does the Instant Music feature play mp3 cd's too, or just audio cd's?

 

I really like the specs for the w3j that's up on proportable. Hopefully those are the final specs. The specs are almost like that of the Acer TM 8204. I'm so glad i waited out and didn't purchase the Acer. For $500 less i'm getting the w3j, and the only difference is 1gb ram and .17ghz from the processor. Also the w3j is much more portable than the acer. I guess patience really is a virtue.

 

I too use AVG Antivirus. It works very well with laptops as it maintains a low memory/CPU overhead.

 

Not to split hairs, but the biggest difference between the two is the screen size...along with the price. It's not often that the less expensive model is actually built better as well.

 

The W3J looks like its going to get a boost in configuration. With a small boost in price.

 

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it to impress my MAC buddies. I'm always hearing how poorly builit PC's are and how well the MAC handles tasks, blah blah blah. I hope it's up to the task Yeah Johnny, thx for the siggy

 

Here in the Netherlands there are a few sites that offer this crazy machine, but all online shops have 0 in stock. The frustrating thing is that the Dutch Asus site doesnt even have it in their catalog.

I've read through the entire topic (!) and I've noticed a couple of things different in the version that apparently will be available here:
-The UK version has the T2400(1,8Ghz) the NL version the T2300(=1,6Ghz)
-As with the US it has an DVD SuperMulti (Double Layer) drive
-It only has an 80GB (P)ATA133 drive
-It only has 512mb DDR2 533Mhz SDRAM

Especially the latter is kinda dissapointing because adding another 512 would add 150 Euro to the price (atleast that's what a shop said with the possibility to upgrade the mem).

For the rest it seems the same. Prices are around 1700 Euro's which would be the same in USD.

And it pisses me off that there is no release date.

Would anyone if the UK version (where they expect it in 2 weeks) will have a different keyboard layout? I just want the basic US kind. I currently own a laptop with a german layout, and that sux.

 

The US version is going to change as Per Justin (Proportable.com)talking to Asus directly. We are going to get the 1.83 Ghz (99% sure) and they might change more than that also. Basically the US config isn't set but we should know soon. The price is most likely going to be changed also.

 

My only big concern before I order mine is this... Will it have the same heat problems that everyone seems to talk about in forums and reviews? I mean, the processor should run cooler than the previous model, but with a 4x graphics upgrade, the heat could skyrocket. Just wondering if anybody had any info on that so far. Also, I went and looked at the Sony SZ today and I didnt really like it too much, but I did like the switch so that you could go from speed to stamina...pretty sweet addition.

 

hi,everone,I'm new here fom taiwan
just one thing to let you know
W3J is available in taiwan's shopping website-Pchome
http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/asusu/detail.php?pid=ASU00160
and it has T2300 ,1G ram,and100GB(5400rpm),
it's about usd1630(52800NTD),
and yes i'm going to buy it next week or later
oh and i guess there'll be some different version in taiwan
like:W3HT23DD(T2300),W3HT24DD(T2400)...etc

 

Honestly there is no way to answer your question for sure until the unit comes out and you can read some reviews. You're right, the processor should run cooler and the vc hotter. Most on here don't seem to think the heat will sky rocket at all but to say that heat output wouldn't be noticeable or maybe even an issue is BS. Like the other threads concerning heat say, heat won't be an issue insofar as the unit itself can handle it, but it may be an issue in what you're comfortable with. Personally, I don't forsee it as being a problem for me.

The alternate gpu settings on the SZ is nice. However, ati cards, from all accounts I've read, do a great job of underclocking/hybernating when they aren't needed. It is a neat feature of the SZ but I'm not sure battery life will be a far cry from the SZ.

 

Umm.. on the site, there is a picture of a new fan design that pulls air in from the side and pushes it out the back. Such a design would be fantasic! Hopefully it is real and not only a drawing.

--Thanks for the reply on my last post. Problem probably wont deter me in the end from getting it, only slow me down.

 

Yeah, Justin or Eddie, can you comment on that fan setup/diagram...is there any word of them changing the airflow so It's channeled out the back of the notebook and not out the side like it seems to show???

 

Ooh ya I see that if thats true that would be Sweet!

Next to that Pic is says ADTD II I found this on Asus website.

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=5&l2=25&l3=130&model=22&modelmenu=1

Cool Down your Laptop ADTD II (ASUS Dynamic Thermal Dissipation Technology II)
The ADTDII technology together with the unique fan design of A2000D Series resolve the thermal problems associated with many of today's notebook, ensuring greater reliability and productivity. Thermal sensors intelligently adjust fan speed and monitor system temperature to control overheating to prevent system damage or user injury when necessary, and also maintain quiet operation by minimizing air resistance.

 

I think J-9Ball alluded to the article and it seems to clearly show the directional airflow as into the R lateral and exhausting out the rear panel. My Chinese is a bit rusty, but from the kangi I'm familiar, the air intake is lateral R, and the exhaust is out the rear; an "human factors" solution to a problem plagued within previous designs!

 

guys, try it :

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

 

Unless the battery on the w3 can change locations you will not see any exaust comming out the rear except your own. I doubt asus will take your sweaty hand syndrome into account and redesign their already designed laptop. You will just have to learn to move your freaking hand out the way of the exaust if it bothers you while your using a mouse on the side

 

Thast awesome it converts japanese into giberish!

 

This page has been automatically translated from Chinese (Simplified). BETA

: p

 

if try to translate it from japanese you'll get almost the same ..

 

Should have placed this into a W7j thread...it's the 13 wide that was exhibited at CeBIT 2006 and is viewed on one-ub-dem-Google discoveries...that said...it's got a .5 GB on board + 1 GB slot...and it's 533...

I think it's using the 945 chipset so they're shipping it with lower speed memory (probably what's available on the docks) rather than optimum...hang around for a few and we're into the world of 800 RAM speed.

I don't care; I want a notebook that is a Z33-like or plus size with the zoom...and with an integrated graphics equivalent/similar to ATI 9800 pro...or close...that's more than enough for VISTA and for me.

Sorry...got a little long winded after UCLA won and is on the plane to the Final 4 and Kimmie Meissner skated to the World Figure Skating Championships title...hahaha

 

Hi All,

You better go get a coffee and sit back, I have a lot to say….I have meticulously read through this thread….. Massive keep it coming! maybe this will stimulate some more posts.

Some interesting points coming up, I have been in the market for a laptop for 18 months reading a tone of laptop mags and reviews and have resided to the fact that my new laptop will be an ASUS, looks & performance they are, in my opinion the best.

One reason for taking so long, is I have a work PC that has dual Xeon 3.0Ghz, twin HDDs etc to do any serious Photoshop and 3D stuff and I also have a Compaq Armada notebook for downloading and email web stuff.

I use Photoshop, Indesign, AutoCAD, 3D Vis, Macromedia, and I have also used my laptop to record edit and encode music, and would like to get into some video work as well, so am looking for as powerful system as possible. And I also travel a bit so portability is also high on the list.

I was going to go for the V6J but with only taking 1GB ram and with a downgraded audio chip, was swayed towards the W3V and now J,

I understand that the masses don’t use the full power so providing slower processors, and you have a competitive market in the US that’s probably why they are selling with the slower processor to keep them competitive with other laptops on offer, I find must notebooks I see in UK and US generally at least 20-30% cheaper in the US & Can, although that’s the same for any electronic goods.

On the ASUS UK web site it lists the W3V being available with processors range Pentium® M 730-770
That’s up to 2.13 Ghz however you cant find one faster than Pentium M 750 @ 1.86 Ghz, I find this extremely frustrating as I would willingly pay extra for the faster processor!

Is there any way we could let ASUS know this? Justin, you seem to have a great insight to ASUS, I would have purchased a laptop Months ago if I could get one with a fast processor.

Let’s just say from months of researching and running around 3 countries now, for the power user ASUS makes it very hard to purchase a high spec laptop, which is ironic as a lot of their marketing is geared toward selling performance, or maybe its just me being too anal about getting a quick laptop?

I am sure there are more people out there that just want the fastest they can get, I would pay more, take a drop in battery and take some extra heat for more performance. (why do they list it on their web site if they can’t deliver?), this really annoys me, I was in Thailand in February this year and in Phantip Plaza in Bangkok they had W3V’s with 2.0Ghz processors, go figure?? the only reason I didn’t buy is by then is that the Dual Core processors were just coming out.

Im heading to the US for six months soon, was hoping to get an W3J there as they are much cheaper than here in the UK, but if they are only going to ship with the 1.66 Ghz Duo, and from reading the posts here using someone like agear to up-spec the processor is also not a good idea, so it looks like I will get one here before I go.

Although I saw a thread stating the US will get the 1.83 Ghz Duo, Justin can you confirm? If it is true I will wait till I go to the US, seems the release date here keeps on creeping out, still not due here till

Siriusde if you are going to Dubai to buy a laptop don’t hold youre breath!! I was there in June last year with work and was told they were cheep, after trawling Malls and Computer Plaza in Dubai I found that the reason they are cheep is that they actually sell old machines, with poor specs, most are older models with slower processors and running XP home! So if you actually compare the detailed configuration, the difference in price is clear.

I went to many shops in Dubai asking for a W3V with a processor over 2.0ghz and XP Pro, no one had any, all the W3Vs ran XP home, and slow small HDDs, that was until one shop, all of a sudden said they could provide me a W3V with 2.26Ghz XP Pro bla bla bla. BUT I had to pay half the money up front! And they couldn’t guarantee that if it was not what I wanted, I could get my money back.

I did not trust them at all! I told him if he could get it, I would buy it, but they wanted money up front and considering everyone else in Dubai couldn’t get me anything near what I wanted, I was slightly suspicious of them trying to pull a fast one, I told them flat out I would buy if they could get one in, but without money up front, no deal was done, it was all very dodgy, the sales guys were very sleazy, and some of the stuff I heard the sales guys telling me and other people buying was pure comedy, if you buy in Dubai, make sure you know your stuff!

Twin Batteries, I have use this setup in a work Dell Latitude, it lasts much longer if you run two batteries at the same time, rather than letting the main battery die, then inserting the multi bay battery, I must have gotten 8 hrs a definite bonus!

Twin Hard drives, I am definitely going to run a second drive in the multi bay, when using Photoshop you can set it as the primary scratch disk (this improves performance).

Hard drive speed. I have just seen a review comparing the Seagate Momentus 5400 against a Hitachi 7200 rpm, basic result was the Seagate had such great seek times that with random access data its performance was comparable to the Hitachi 7200! And with the Hitachi only just beating the Seagate on sustained data tests, basically the extra money and extra power consumption from having a 7200 rmp drive is not worth it for now(well that’s what I am doing anyway, I have two 100 Gb Seagate’s waiting here that I brought while in Thailand)

Just to throw another spanner in the works, I read in an article about the release of the new Duo processors, that are still 32 bit, with Intel releasing a 64 bit Duo Processor later this year (which I find interesting as macs run these Duo’s on a 64bit OS?)

If Asus puts off the W3J for longer, Isn’t it worth waiting for a couple of more months and get one that has a 64 bit Duo processor, so when Visa comes out you can take advantage of Vista running 64 bit?

Mind you even after Vista comes out it will be a while before software developers update software to fully utilize 64bit.

As an example I also read that with Macs now running Intel processors, software companies are re-writing their software to run through the Intel architecture and even though Apples main applications are done, Adobe are not going to have their suites updated for another 12 months, which means the processing runs through Rosetta (Rosetta is the name of Apple's technology that seamlessly converts PowerPC code to Intel code on the fly) the initial tests I have seen means processor intensive Photoshop tasks take twice as long running through this interface.

Anti Virus I use nod32, check it out, free trial, good reviews, I have scanned other mates drives and this picked up more than NAV and they are building rootkit protection into their suite.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,978452,00.asp

And despite the posts here stating they are out in the UK, they are not, hopefully next week, last I heard from asusnotebooks.co.uk is 28 March, that’s this Tuesday! Fingers crossed!! But don’t believe it till you see it.

Sorry if this is a bit long and muddled up, but I am already getting slack from not paying the girlfriend any attention.

Hope some info in here is useful, I live in hope, one day it will come.

 

What a great post

The 1.83ghz looks like its going to be confirmed for N.American release, which is awesome.

 

NZ

It looks like the U.S. will be getting a 1.83 instead of the 1.6 but nothing can be confirmed until next week if I remember right.

Regarding Merom, this is something I have been torn about as well but ultimately I decided I was not buying the laptop so much for the processor but because of the graphics card. I would be willing to wait 6 months for Merom if the graphics card was updated in the process. But other than an upgrade in video ram, there is probably no possibility of that happening. So I would be looking at another year before I purchased my laptop and not another 6-7 months. In addition to the wait, I really couldn't care less about running vista and outside of that I don't think there is a huge need to get something 64 bit compatible at this point. I figure if I really need it, I can upgrade to a Merom in the future because it is *supposed* to be compatible with a Yonah chipset.

Good luck