Asus W3N Questions

Im seriously considering this laptop over the w3v only because its cheaper. Basically for those who already own this laptop, whats it like ie. heat, fan noise and performance? and what sort of performance difference will there be between this laptop and the w3v.

Thanks

 

The W3N is the original W3 with the previous Intel chipset and the Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics. The W3A or Z63A (depending on the location) is the equivalent of the W3V without the separate GPU. Other key differences are no integrated Bluetooth and a carbon-fibre back to the display.

I have had the W3A since April and find it very good. I don't play the games that need the GPU. In other respects the performance must be very close to the W3V. Sufficient RAM and a fast HDD will contribute significantly to performance.

The fan is not noisy compared with some notebooks (more of a whoosh than a while). With undervolting (ie dropping the CPU voltage without sacrificing performance) the CPU temperature and fan speed also stay lower. I have to run my W3A for 5 to 10 minutes at full CPU load to get the temperature high enough to trigger the fan to switch to its faster speed.

Under normal use the hottest part of the computer is the HDD, which is under the right hand palm rest. How hot this gets depends on the ambient temperature. I reckon, under normal usage, 20 to 24C above ambient (for the Seagate Momentus 5400 HDD). This gives slight warming of the palm rest and greater warming of the underside of the computer under the HDD.

Overall, I find the W3A to be a good compromise. Better active cooling would require bigger and/or faster (= noisier) fans. Originally, I was concerned about the strength of the carbon-fibre display back, but in 5 months this has given no cause for concern.

John

 

I suppose my greatest concern is the 1.6ghz processor and the older dothan platform, however that said in theory the w3n should have a slightly better battery life because of this as well as run cooler. Its good to know that you have no major heat or fan problems. The only thing that stops me from getting the w3a is the integrated graphics - as I like to game a bit. Anyway thanks for your help.

 

Undervolting makes a significant (~1/3rd?) reduction in CPU power consumed and heat produced. My CPU is set for a maximum voltage of 1.084 instead of the default 1.308. Some lucky people have got SPUs running at full speed at less than 1V. Undervolting works with all the Pentium Ms, but my guess would be that the newer CPUs offer better potential.

A useful review of the Sonoma chipset is at http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20050119/index.html . This should help you consider the likely difference between the W3N and the W3V. What is clear is that Sonoma did not bring in significant power savings.

John

 

There was a thread here somewhere or was it at http://www.notebookforums.com/ where there was a chinese website comparing the 2 laptops, from looking at the benchmarks the W3V had less than 10% improvement over the W3N.

 

Thanks for the help guys - especially that link to toms hardaware. Couldnt find the link to that chinese website however I did find some other helpful stuff. Im pretty sure this is the laptop ill go with, so once again thanks for all your help!!

 

The older Dothan platform still offers great performance... and with the release of the newer platform, the prices for the older platform are dropping; a good time to pick up an older Dothan platform for a good price!
I managed to get my Dothan 1.5GHz to undervolt to .940 V ... FULL SPEED! That's pretty awesome, since it's lower than the default voltage at 600 MHz (.988 V)

I'm sure you'll be fine with the W3N..it's certainly a great machine, too.