Asus W3V - living up to the Hype?

I am expecting to recieve shipment of my new W3V in the next few days.

After reading the many posts regarding W3V problems, i am becoming critical and worried about the overall quality and choice i have made..

Is their any W3V owner's who are actually quite satisfied with their product??

I have noticed there are many -ve posts and a seemingly lack of +ve posts. Is the explanation for this that those without problems simply dont post - leaving the forum full of only those who have problems or is the W3V simply a laptop with widespread problems?

So is there anyone out there satisfied with their choice in buying the W3V?

Thanks

 

There was a similar topic posted a while ago, thought you might want to check it out:
http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16525

Hope this helps!

 

Nobody forced you to buy anything so live by your decision like a MAN[8D]

 

these are some common problems that ppl think of the W3V. here are my opinions on them.


BATTERY:
im typing this on my w3v right now. it has been on using battery for lil over an hour now just browsing around (EMAIL/OFFICE setting on Power4Gear). when the battery was full, it indicated 4 and 1/2 hour of usage. now im down to 3:40.

HEAT:
right hand side has almost no heat blowing out the vent. its almost as cool as the laptop is turned off. i cannot hear the fan noise. ASUS Probe showing CPU temperature at 40C. the underside of the harddrive is warm. definitely not hot.

VIEW ANGLE:
well, i believe watching a DVD or playing games on a 14inch widescreen laptop is pretty much for ur own viewing pleasure. therefore i do not find any viewing angles that bother me too much to be whining about.

 

In general there are two main types of people who visit forums...those with problems and those looking for advice on a particular notebook (ie you in this case).
Thus it is often very difficult to gauge just how happy the general public is with their notebook, perhaps justin would be better source of this info, as he would know how many complaints compared to how many units shipped, which would be a much more accurate indication of satisfaction levels.
I have read 99% of all the w3v posts here and I would say that desite some well, and perhaps overly publicised issues, for the most part the response is still positive.
Also given how popular this notebook is, and how many have already sold, there have actually been very few complaints...at most there have been 3 or 4 users with similar complaints, ie heat, screen, battery fit, but not all have all 3 issues in the one machine. So IMHO the majority of W3V are of high quality and will work very well, there maybe a few with defects, and finally there maybe a very small number of users are extremely picky aint wont be satisfied with anything....put that on a background of this forum where most with a w3v visit due to problems with the notebook, and I think you will get your answer.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

BTW, I saw a post about audio being muffled. I find the volume to be sufficient with no headphones and with headphones (if I go on a plane I will probably use amplified headphones). I run an RCA cable out to my 6.1 surround system thru my receiver and it pumps.
For some reason it will not work with my boston acoustics computer speakers that work with my desktop. Can anyone help me with that? There are 2 speakers that plug into the subwoofer and then a line that runs from the cable to plug into the computer.

On W3V - sweet

 

please let us know what you think of it when it arrives...the more user feedback the better the overall picture of the w3v will be.
thanks
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

I am on a completely stock W3V. I think it s a great system and well worth the money. I am going to add another 512 stick of ram eventually, but it is plenty fast right now.

I have done no undervolting and I have installed Nero, ASUS PowerDVD, AIM, Limewire, Age of Empires II and maybe 1 or 2 other programs. (and I've transfered over 4000 songs and 300 pictures)

Everything runs smoothly.

HEAT: I rest the laptop on my lap and the heat barely makes me sweat if I am downloading songs from limewire. It has never been uncomfortable for me even after 30 minutes or longer (it is warm thru my pants on my thighs). There is literally little to no heat on the palm rest. Most of the heat comes from the rear right corner and this can avoided by using your mouse closer to the front of the laptop.

SCREEN: It is great in the first person and for anyone sitting to your immediate left or right. I actually find the horizontal viewing angles to be suberb. When standing above the laptop with the screen at a 90 degree angle, the screen is hard to view. When directly in front of the screen (or even to the left or right) it is great.

BATTERY: I have not done a full test but I am averaging over 3 hours with a full charge. I have done no undervolting or customizing of power options because I find the battery life to be sufficient as it is and I dont want to screw anything up.

To sum it all up: GREAT build quality. GREAT performance (I doubt there is any 14" WS laptops that will outperform this one). GREAT looks. GREAT screen (except vert. angle). SUPERB overall notebook. If you have any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

disclaimer - this is my first notebook, but I did extensive research and looked at many in store models.

On W3V - sweet

 

its good to see these problems dont seem to be totally widespread, and are seemingly subjective.

That brings me peace of mind...

Thanks

 

Yes I will,

I fact i have actually ordered 2 W3V's, so i should be able to tell you if there are discrepencies between the two units.

Thanks.

 

My thoughts (for a W3A):

WEIGHT: Heavier than advertised, but I am used to it now.

BATTERY LIFE: Better than I expected (with the 8 cell battery, so this partly compensated for the weight).

DISPLAY: Very good although colours wash out at maximum brightness, but the Sony S series wins in a side-by-side comparison (but I wanted a bigger display than the Sony's 13.3"). The limited vertical viewing angle is only noticeable when displaying colour images / DVDs.

HEAT & FAN: A very quiet fan, even at full speed, which rarely happens. The CPU stays cool. The HDD gets hotter than I would like, but the keyboard and palm rest stay cool.

BUILD QUALITY: Everything fits together well. No cause for concern after nearly 6 weeks heavy use including some travelling.

OPTICAL DRIVE: My W3A came with a TS-L532A writer (8X) which doesn't like some media. However, it is not as fussy as the UJ-822 in my previous Sony S, which wouldn't write readable Sony branded CDs!

Overall, the W3 meets my expectations and it should be on the short list of anyone looking at this size / form factor.

John

 

I agree. If everyone would post their opinions, we can help new users.

Peace!
Sygyzy

 

There is always drama going on on forums. I thought the w3v was spectacular. I also thought the palm rest heat thing was a bit funny. Asus has this image of being perfect. They almost are except the fact that there is alwasy a negative on EVERY laptop. There is not a single laptop on this planet that has no negative atributes except for my new modified silent m5np.

Eddie B.
www.Geared2Play.com
4422 Ave. N
Brooklyn, NY, 11234

 

I don't own a W3V yet but like Underpantman, I've read 99.9% of the posts in this forum, and even after all I've read/heard, and all the other research I've done, I'm still going to be ordering the W3V. (That is after it passes it's final test, an in person inspection at the Asus showcase, which I have no doubt it will easily pass and exceed) I think a lot of what we're hearing is accurate, but not as widespread as It may seem, and I also feel a lot of the negatives are more subjective than anything else.

Raging_Bull, with two on the way I can see why you might be a little concerned. Just curious, why two? You'll be quite the asset to everyone when they arrive, keep us all posted! For what It's worth, I think you made a great choice.

To all those who own a W3V and have posted your positive experiences, Thank you...and to others out there, please keep it going...It's definitely appreciated and gives a more balanced/accurate representation of the W3V.

Fishfood, How does AOE2 play on the W3V? Your thoughts and opinions would be very much appreciated...I've very interested in anything you can tell me, thanks [8D]

 

GAMES:
2 games i play on a regular basis on the stock W3V, Warcraft and Counter-Strike. no lag whatsoever on either game. it stays pretty warm but never hot. only small problem i find is the dark areas in CS. it becomes reflective therefore i can hardly see ppl hiding in the dark spots. but i believe thats just the nature of glossy screen. sound is superb either hooked up on desktop speakers or headphones. volume is never low enough for someoone trying to knife me from behind when im sniping. im trying Wolrd of Warcraft next week and i'll let u guys know how it runs.

WEIGHT:
i think the battery itself is 1/3 of the total weight. when im at home im plugged into AC power without the battery. im surprised at how light the laptop is itself. i do carry my laptop around with all its accessories. i find that side strap carrying bag is too tiresome after some time. so i got an Oakley Icon 2.0. the computer department fits like a glove and i can carry my laptop around all day without feeling tired.

 

The way around the dark spots is to manually adjust gamma and brightness. I do that anyways on every screen whether its glossy or not. Try it you may be surprised how much better it looks.

Eddie B.
www.Geared2Play.com
4422 Ave. N
Brooklyn, NY, 11234

 

My W3V (aka FireStarter)

WEIGHT: Not as light as I'd hoped, but fine.

BATTERY LIFE: 3:40 undervolted and screen at 80% brightness

DISPLAY: I like the display. The limited vertical viewing angle is noticeable, but just takes some getting used to. Can be more of a problem as I get tired I've noticed.

HEAT & FAN: (Plugged in values, Outlook open and using web browser) Reasonably quiet fan. The keyboard is warm at idle and the aluminum trackpad is quite a bit warmer. HDD hot. Machine idles at 54C/129F(undervolted). At default voltage machine idles at 66C/150F.

Default voltages at max CPU load leads to 80C temps and max fan.

BUILD QUALITY: Good overall build quality, though my battery does not fit flush on right hand side. Battery developing scratches from opening/ closing because of it. LCD shows no light leaks and is evenly lit from left to right and top to bottom. There does appear to be a piece of debris in the screen itself about the size of a "," on the right side. It's not a stuck or dead pixel as far as I can tell.

OPTICAL DRIVE: I haven't used yet to burn but seems to read a variety of burned DVD media I have laying around.

The only alternative I see to this notebook is the Sony 360P and it's not as powerful with a smaller screen, and questionable build quality.
If BBQ could get his W3V replaced under warranty I imagine mine might qualify as well, but I'm not sure I want to risk it based on his experience.

OVERALL: I love the machine, but would wish it ran cooler.

 

WEIGHT: It could definitely stand to lose a pound. If the W3V weighed what it was originally advertised as weighing in at (4.6 compared to 5.6 in reality - even 5lbs would have been fine), the W3V would be the hands down winner of its segment. As it stands now, the W3V is too chubby. The advertised weight was way off ahd shame on marketeers for that.

BATTERY LIFE: The 8-cell battery gives good battery life.

DISPLAY: The display is very clear and sharp when you're in a lit room or with non-black backgrounds. In dark rooms on black backgrounds it's hard to find a good angle and the light leeks from the top and bottom of the screen. The reflective coating can sometimes be annoying but overall I prefer having it. I've found that sometimes my eyes hurt from reading text on it, which I think is probably due to the coating. It's really a great size for a screen, and I wish more manufacturers would make 14" widescreen thin-and-lights.

HEAT & FAN: The fan is exceptionally quiet and hard to notice when it is on. The CPU can easily go into the realm of 70c+ after intense work. After undervolting, the cpu will peak in the 60's. The hard drive can get annoyingly warm. If using it on your lap, the W3V will make your right leg warm. The right palm rest also heats your right wrist. I don't notice the palm rest heat very much anymore, and it's not as bad as it was made out to be. Overall, heat is not too much of an issue. The hard drive definitely would have benefited from more cooling however.

BUILD QUALITY: A very solid machine overall. The screen lid is reinforced well. My battery sits flush with the W3V so no problem there. The hinges are strong, and I prefer the magnets/strong hinges over a latch. Nothing feels cheap about the notebook except for the panel that covers the hard drive. The keyboard and touchpad are really damn good in my opinion. The speakers are in a bad spot right below your arms.

AESTHETICS: In the looks department, the W3V looks fairly good but not spectacular. It's more of a volvo than a bmw. A Sony S-series next to an Asus W3V makes the W3V look too big and boxy.

OVERALL: All in all, I'm fairly happy with the W3V, but if I had it to do all over again I would have gotten the Sony S360. The Asus has a few flaws that make me unfortunately have to say this. The Sony weighs 4.2lbs and is nearly equivalent in every way. So for an extra pound and a half and several hundred more dollars you get a smaller but faster hard drive, a dvd-burner, and a .7" bigger screen.

 

First of all, it's really not off, two things prevent it from being that weight.

1. 4 cell battery
2. dvd drive.

with the 8 cell and dvd drive, it's 5.5 pounds..... w/ 8 cell and travelers drawer it's about 5 pounds..... with the 4 cell and travelers drawer it's just about 4.6 pounds... which was the intended weight from taiwan w/ the travelers drawer. The problem was the US office didn't want the little 4 cell battery becasue a half pound wasn't worth half the battery life (lesson learned with the S5n)..... The key ingrediend here is the travelers drawer...... that has to be in place to drop some weight and that was always part of the lower weight.... just not too many americans willing to part with their drive for the lower weight. Eventually I think we'll be able to get some 4 cell batteries in here to satisfy a little lower weight, but right now, we're not able to get them.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Have had my W3V for a few weeks now and am still diggin it.
Some minor issues:

It is a bit toasty, tho the palm rest is just fine on mine. Most heat is vented out the back-right side which can warm your mousing hand from time to time. But only if you have the mouse placed too deep. It will warm up the legs a bit. Positive: Fan is quiet, kicks up to slightly audible speeds occasionally.

Vertical viewing angle is super limited, but horizontal is generous. This is a really gorgeous screen once you get the gamma/brightness/contrast dialed in right. The vertical issue does make it tricky to get a good gamma setting since small variations in angle will throw off the calibration process. I'm using Adobe Gamma.

I got a feeling that I'm not seeing the battery hour numbers everyone else is, but I haven't timed it so I can't be sure. I'm guessing 2:30-2:45.

Power management is doing some weird things to my external firewire audio interface (Presonus FIREPOD). I like Power4Gear, but if I don't do a hibernate then wake up after booting or changing power settings I get pops clicks and dropouts in the audio. Very strange but easy enough to work around.

Onboard audio is a bit weak, but hey it's a 1 inch laptop.

Yeah, the glossy screen is reflective in bright environments, but it does make those colors pop.

Things I like:

I don't find this to be a heavy, chunky laptop considering what's under the hood. The swappable bay is worth it. The 14" WS format is perfect for me

Fit, finish, durability, styling are all top notch in my book. Maybe it is bit more Volvo than BMW, but its certainly unique and people comment on it. I think it got more cool factor than Sony and methinks its more solid. Besides, the new Volvos are looking pretty good these days.

Screen size, resolution, brightness, perfect. No leakage, no dead pixels.

NOT BLOATED WITH BULL$#*T SOFTWARE! The included package of software, both installed and uninstalled CDs is just right. Norton is the only thing I think I kicked to the curb. They don't give you a real disc copy of Windows, which sucks, but who does these days?

Some of the little proprietary ASUS features are pretty cool. Like being able to play a CD without firing up the computer. All the little switches for Power4Gear and wireless etc. I actually use em. Tho sometimes on accident.

It's not a 6pin firewire but the card IS playing nice with external pro audio interfaces which is a big plus for me.

Little sucker is fast, and plays HL2 well

Haven't had to use it but I feel confident that service and support will be as good but most likely better than than any of the "big" manufacturers.

Of all the gripes, I think the vertical vewing angle is the biggest negative for me, since I do some work in Photoshop, Illustrator etc. Heat's no biggie, I know the cooling system is doing its job and in a way I think I kinda like a machine that lets you know there's some power runnin under there. All in all. I'm very happy with the W3V.

Still hoping I can put a big SATA in this thing down the road. Any word on that?

 

I would say that the issues with hybernation and your sound card are more likely XP's fault, not power4gear... XP is known for not reloading everything correctly post hybernation, it probably better just to shut down-restart.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Well, i have a notebook pouch to protect my notebook when im in school, and few days ago after class... after using my w3v, i somehow did't off and i just zip it up in my notebook pouch... after about 15 mins later when i reached home, my pouch was warm, and after taking my w3v out, it was REAL hot, the CF alloy at the back of the lcd was also REAL HOT... basically the whole notebook was HOT!. i switched on my w3v and the fan was at max rpm, the fan noise was very noticable.. everything went fine... i kept my w3v on as i had to upload my work to my school's server asap. the temp of the cpu was about 75 degrees c, hdd temp was about 70 degrees c too.. the fan speed came down after about 20 mins of usage.. fan noise was not noticable at all... till today my w3v is still running smooth..

its lucky that asus had a built in overheating protection which off when temp goes way high.

overall for widescreen+x600 grahpics play world of warcraft, its very good..
the design is very sweet too!
not to forget its on a 512mb 533mhz ram... its preety much one of the top line ram performance.

The down side is its audio, i have to use earphones to listen good audios.

.. on stock Asus W3V

 

jing you-

you are lucky your w3v did not fry up.

All laptops usually shut down when overheated

my compaq v2000 hybernates automaticaly as soon as the lid is shut[8D]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by lapboy

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Underpantman

 

I tried doing hibernation, but after my w3v goes into hibernation, about seconds later i on it again via the main power button, it requested for my passwd as usual, and started to resume windows, but the thing is it stucked there for a very long time, i had to press on the power button for more than 10secs in order to forcefully off and on it again, next there is a option under dos mode if i should continue resume windows or delete/remove windows saved files or something like that... the restoration data. so i remove the saved data and windows load fine.. what should i do to rectify this problem? Please advice.. cant resume windows after hibernatin!

.. on stock Asus W3V

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by JingYou

 

I've heard if you've switched out the standard drive with a seagate..... and don't remove the jumper... you may have issues with it coming out of standby or hibernation.

Just something to keep in mind in case this issue ever comes up.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Actually, all seagate drives have them installed right out from the factory... I doubt the US' shipment is any different than the rest of the world. I've never seen another hard drive besides those from seagate have the jumped installed.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by PROPortable

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by PROPortable

 

I don't know. All I know is that every seagate drive we've ever gotten has the jumper in place. We've been using their drives for a couple years now.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

All 2.5" drives have the 4 pins empty that includes hitachi, fuji, seagate, wd, and toshi. Microsoft addressed the standby and hibernation issues long time ago in sp1. Probably stupid to mention it as i am sure everyone here installed sp2 already but if you are using the "devils copy" and you did not hack it to get updates then that is why you are having problems with standby.

Eddie
www.Geared2Play.com
Tech Spot
4422 Ave. N
Brooklyn, NY, 11234

 

I beg to differ with you because Seagate's drives will and have come with the jumper on cable select. That will cause a problem on some systems. I'm not sure if it's "all" of them, but ever batch of at least the 40gb/5400rpm seagates have had that jumper even since we've been using them. In fact, anyone who ordered a seagate with a 40gb/5400rpm drive it in from us, can check to see if it's on there becasue it probably is.

I'm fairly certainly it's on the 60 and 80's as well...... I've got to check the 100's, but two I have in front of me now didn't have them.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I dont use the 40's and 60's or 80's but i have seen a few of seagates 100 lately. Cant recall really but i ve seen seagates a few times here and there. Mostly I sell hitachi and fuji. Never noticed pins on the seagtes not that i looked. WHy does seagte do that and nobody else does? Probably for the same reason they still dont have a 4 prong power adaptor for their desktop sata drives. WHat is the jumper on the seagate for? Are these jumpers on the 8mb cache drives as well as the 2mb?

Eddie
www.Geared2Play.com
Tech Spot
4422 Ave. N
Brooklyn, NY, 11234

 

Wow, you were bluffing... you don't even use segate drives but you made a blanket statement saying not 2.5" notebook drive comes with jumpers... not the best move..

Yeah, I looked at some more and every segate drive we have has them. I don't know why, but I know that with the jumper on cable select, it can screw up some things on systems with 1 IDE channel..... but at the same time it might not screw up another..

I've only ever used the 8mb cache models.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
800-474-2296
www.proportable.com
[email protected]