Asus W7J - I want to buy it. Now. (Questions!)

Alright, I've been looking at a WIDE range of different 12"-13" notebooks, I'll need something portable enough to bring to all my classes when the new Fall semester starts up.

Looked at the macbook, the vaio SZ, acer's, toshibas, hps, dells, etc etc!

Then today, I stumbled on the Asus W7J. I read the specs. I looked at the pictures. I was sold.

I want to purchase one. Right. Now.

Questions~!

1) I'm from Canada, could you pro's recommend me the best place to order one for a good price? I'm a student, I'm poor, but I'll not rest till I have my own Gargantuan sticker-polluted W7J.

2) I saw pictures of a white/silver looking W7J, although the reviews I've read all had the black version. Is there anyway to get that sexy white/silver version at all?? I'd pay more for it if need be! (but..not too much )

3) Is it hard to do a clean-install of XP once I get the W7J? Are there a lot of drivers or whacky problems which will come up if I do a full format?

4) The white/silver version, I must have it! WHERE CAN I GE-... oops, already covered that one.

Thanks everyone, hope to have one ordered by the end of this weekend!

-YakiSOBA

 

In Canada there are a few Asus resellers

Infonec Computers in GTA www.infonec.com

MilestonePC.com in GTA(But ships throughout North America)..* I recommend MPC even though they are a little more expensive, their pre and post sale support is solid(you can tell by just how many posts they have on this Asus forum)

Canada Computers

NCIX.com

Theres a bunch of otheres not really worth mentioning

http://ca.asus.com/mobile/buy.html

2) The white/silver W7J lookalike you saw was the W5F, Dont think u can change the colour of the W7J that I know of

 

Damnit I really want the white/silver. I saw it here originally:

http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/10068.jpg

 

MilestonePC seems to be the most solid candidate on the list. You can email them and ask if they have any white w7js in stock. Also you might be interested in the asus group buy (click the link on my sig for more info) although you may have to wait a little longer this way since the models that we are ordering will contain the new core 2 duo (merom) processor. It will be cheaper though. =)

 

Not true...the W7 is/does come in both white and black versions, however as far as I know the states is only getting the black. Not sure why, I love the white, but then Im a sissy....lucky for me they ship the white here in france!
a

 

There are white W7J models, you didn't mistake a w5f. However, there are none for sale in North America. If you absolutely must have one, you can look into importing from Europe or Asia, but it may be more trouble than it's worth.

 

Ah, yeah it's a shame. The group buy is a good idea, and I even emailed and posted in the group buy thread... but after some thought I realized I can't wait that long for my notebook, which totally sucks for me

If I had the white ASUS imported, would I still be able to use it with North American electricity/plugs? (I know nothing about the differences in regards to power between NA and EU).

Also, would it be A LOT more expensive? I really want one =(

Thanks for your help so far guys, will definitely be placing an order this weekend or maybe even tonight as soon as I figure out if its realistic for me to get the white version!

Looking forward to more great advice,

-Yaki

 

It IS possible for you to import, but the cost will be much higher, for example in Asia, both black and white available and the same price, but the price is much higher than here.

 

I don't think too many people would pick the white over the black, but it would be nice to see about 100-200 of them shipped out to North America. That way all the "sissies" could get what they want. I myself would much rather have a balck w7 or a brushed aluminum w3

 

I OWN a W7J in metallic white ,,, i could post up some pictures if you want to see more pics

 

Have you looked at the BoA version of the W7J... The z35 comes in white and is 13.3" No dedicated GPU though.

 

I also recommend buying from MilestonePC.com. I ordered a Z35F, the BoA version of the W7J and in white , from them. They're quick to process orders. Ordered on Monday, received on Thursday. Also, they have excellent customer service.

If you dont mind having a GMA 950 instead of the dedicated GPU, I would take a look at the Z35F, which comes in white.

**nm, I just noticed you jumped ship

 

Yeah, I emailed Danny from MilestonePC but he said they are unable to order a single white unit :/

If I could get white I'd def. be getting the W7J, don't ask me why... I just love the white/silver theme ala apple =)

 

You can get a white one from Australia, http://www.computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=6914

Good thing for you is that $AU2695 = $US2041.90!!!

You wont have any problems with the voltage as the powerpack input range is 100 ~ 240v. However if you order this way you WILL need an Australia to US adaptor plug. (Australian ASUS plugs are 3 pronged)

 

I don't see how thats a good thing considering you can pick up the W7J for as low as $1350USD. I don't think that deal is going on anymore, but you're not going to pay much more than $1500USD for it. I could never honestly justify spending $500 plus shipping and duties for a colour!

 

oh well, I wasnt sure how much they were going for in the US, what I was meaning is that youve got an excellent exchange rate from $US to $AU.

 

I had no trouble doing a clean-install of XP. I spent more time figuring out how to create a full-version xp installer (because all I got was a recovery disk) and planning how many partitions to create.

I installed everything in the Drivers/Utilities CD except Adobe Reader (I use FoxItReader instead) and Norton Security (I use Avast!). Eventually I uninstalled Trusted Platform Module. Whatever drivers you choose to install, just remember to proceed from top to bottom of the list.

 

How did you do that?

 

If you're asking how I created an XP installer, please see Post #181 in the W7J Owner's Lounge thread.

If you're asking how I partitioned my notebook, I deleted the existing partitions (except the Recovery Partition, just in case) and then made four partitions (all formatted NTFS) in the following order:

1. 12 GB for XP, Asus drivers, and any programs that don't give you an option which drive to install them
2. 3 GB for temporary internet files, TEMP, TMP and My Documents (I consider My Documents a temporary holding place). This partition was eventually designated drive T:
3. 20 GB for programs. Partition designated drive P:
4. 58 GB for data files (documents, spreadsheets, image files, music files, my website files). Designated drive D:

 

Oh thank-you! I have been looking for that post all day.

One question--did this allow you to format the drive with NTFS prior to installation?

 

Have to dig up my notes ... let's see ... here it is ...

• Reboot computer, press F2, change boot up sequence to boot first from CD drive, insert XP installer CD, press F10 to save and exit, press OK to continue boot.
• Press ENTER to set up Windows XP
• Read EULA, press F8
• Delete existing partitions except Recovery Partition
• Create four partitions
• Highlight the C: volume and press ENTER
• Format partition using NTFS file system (do not choose Quick format)

So ... basically, yes, I had to format the C: volume before I could continue with the installation. The other three volumes I formatted after I finished the install; in fact, I loaded the drivers and created user accounts before I even bothered to start formatting the other partitions.

 

Thanks for the help. I followed the instructions and it seemed to work. Then as the XP install was progressing it asked me to insert an XP Pro disk into floppy drive a. Hmm.

Anyway. I'll try it a agin.