Asus W5F Review

http://notebookreview-cnet.com.com/Asus_W5F/4505-3121_7-31788372.html?tag=more

 

Expensive: Yes. For the money, the XPS M1210 is a better buy
Case seems cheap: Yes. Compared to my previous Z63a, the case seems VERY flimsy and thin. You press on it and it flexes. It has no reinforcement. The case flexes almost as bad as the piece of **** Averatec 4155 that I had for a while last year. The screen flexes pretty badly just by twisting it a little and the area where your palms rest while your typing also flexes inward when pressing down on it (you can see this in the CNET video review towards the end of the clip). The optical drive tray looks like it would break if you breathed on it. Not what I was expecting for the $1,600 I paid for this thing.
Poor camera image quality: Yes. The webcam is crap. Images are dark and muddy. You must have VERY good lighting to get any decent images from the thing. My $20 Logitech USB webcam produces images that are MUCH better
Lousy support: Don't know, haven't needed them yet.

As for the comment about the lack of a dedicated scroll. It may not be marked, but my W5F definitely DOES scroll when I touch along the far right had side of the touchpad and move up and down.

I bought my W5F on the premise that Asus has treated me well in the past with my Z70a and Z63a. Boy was I wrong. I figured that for the money I would spend, I would get a great machine. Yes, it's light, yes it's fast...but for the money, I could have done much better. I probably rushed and bought this thing b/c I wanted to have a light machine to carry around with me at Computex. It fit the bill perfectly, but I feel that I should have waited and got the XPS M1210. My boss who also recently bought a W5F had his already break on him. The battery retention clip broke while we were in Taiwan. He isn't too impressed with his purchase either.

Oh well. I guess I'll see how I like it at over the next couple of weeks. I'll probably just end up selling it and going with the XPS M1210. More features, better build, dedicated graphics for about the same money or less.

 

Do not believe that Cnet review. what the hell are they talking about.
Then they say dell uses an carbon fiber alloy mixed with plastic and the asus doesnt. the asus is a carbon fiber mix. They keep calling it an ultra portable which it isnt. Then compare it battery life to a IBM x60 which isnt even the same class of laptop. then they go to say the W2Vs support package is dissapointing. what does the W2V have anything to do with a w5f do they even proof read. Cnet drives me nuts with their strange reviews.

 

ahh~~ might be they are not prof. enough to write a review, that just their point of view, not a overall feedback from current w5f users.

 

The points that the reviewer brings up in the cons section ARE valid IMHO and ones that I'm weighing currently in my decision to keep the laptop or not. I'm finding it hard to pass this up:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11146436&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1

Dell XPS M1210 for $1,299 (haven't bothered to see what the price matchup on Dell's site is yet though).

1.66GHz T2300E (15W vs 35W T2300 in the W5F), 1GB RAM, 80GB, 8x burner, 256MB GeForce Go 7400

 

Mazda the dell is a better deal noone can argue that. Asus charges a premium for their laptops. you say the laptop feels flimsy it is a thin laptop and its made as thin as possible. The dell is larger and thicker with much worse battery life. so everything is a trade off. the carbon fiber mix asus uses not felt the stongest its just a trate of the material. But it does last. Even metal laptops feel flimsy but they arent. they metal they use is so think you think its gonna bend.

Some points i will not argue the camera on it sucks. its expensive etc.

 

errr....the t2300e is not low voltage. it is still 35w. low voltage is labeled as l instead of t, i believe.

 

I guess, what makes me upset is that I don't mind the premium if I think that I'm getting a far superior product. With my previous two Asus laptops, I felt that the price premium was well worth it. The machines were solidly built and I felt that I was getting my moneys worth. I guess I was just expecting too much in thinking that a $1,600 Asus would feel like...well, a $1,600 Asus

That being said, after just running across that XPS M1210 for $1,300 + tax, I don't see how I can say no.

 

Nevermind, it was a typo on Intel's website that Laptop Logic picked up on. My mistake.



http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=949



The corrected page at Intel's site:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/coreduo/specs.htm