Asus Z96J Pictures & Review :)

Asus Z96J Yonah Napa Notebook Review

Tested model Specs:
Intel T2500 2.0ghz dual core
80GB 7200rpm SATA 8mb Seagate
2gb (1024mbx2) ddr2-667
8x DVD/RW TS-L632C Toshi-Samsung
Intel 3945abg wifi
Win Xp pro

General Appearance:
I have the same take on this machine as I did on the z62f and z62j. All 3 are identical in every way except the ports positions and few minor details. This was a direct replacement for the z70va without the hi-res wsxga+ screen. More pictures can be found here ---> Geared2Play.com/store/products/laptops/asus/z96j/z96j.htm

Ports, buttons and expansion:
Front: Mic, Headphones, SD, MMC, MS card reader
Left: Optical drive, Kensington Lock
Right: Express card slot, Firewire, 2x USB, 7-pin tv-out, 15-pin vga port, Unused DVI-bay (dummy), Modem, Lan
Back: Ac jack, exhaust vent, 2x usb (4 total)
Internal Bluetooth
Internal TPA security module (still working on this one)
Integrated mic into screen with dual sensors

On a side note the empty dvi bay is pretty shady. Not sure who the smart dumb guy that thought of this. Perhaps they don't want the laptop to sell. I must admit most people will not notice the difference between the integrated vga and dvi but it would still be very nice if it was actually equipped. I for example have a 42" plasma which has a dvi port and an occupied vga port. Perhaps they will bring it back with a higher resolution screen and dvi sometime during back to school season.

Video card and assembly:
Well this is where it becomes very interesting. This does not have a dedicated vga cooler like I am used to seeing on their mobile gaming machines. This has a single cooling fan for both the cpu and gpu. The cpu has its own heatpipe so does the gpu however they both meet at the same copper radiator. For the first time i finally see asus does not use those ****ed heat pads to transfer heat from the gpu to the heatsink above it. The gpu actually sits right below a copper block. The ram still uses heatpads but that's totally fine as the ram stays relatively cool. Assembly is a snap. All components including the cpu, gpu, ram, hdd, and wifi are found under the single panel on the bottom. The gpu ATI x1600 256mb is dedicated and integrated into the mainboard. It is non-modular. More facts to follow when i am done

Screen:
Awesome 15.4" wide WXGA screen with a res of 1280x800. This is a glossy type screen. I have absolutely no complaints. Verticals are ok and wide view angles are good. Not the best screen i have seen but i would say its "mainstream". This like the z63, like the z62 and most other glossy screens has a sour spot and and sweet spot. 90 degrees is the sour spot.

Audio and Speakers:
I guess this is where they could have done better. There are 2x tiny speakers on the far right and far left under the panel. With all that space there they could have made speakers that are easily 5x the size. Average sound quality. This speaks mainstream again. They no longer integrate the optical spdif. This will not take a mini tos link. I guess this as not a very popular feature and to save money they left it out. I am still testing the sound quality with dvd playback. The 915 chipset was plagued by a weird soft issue where sound output for dvd playback was very low. I doubt this has the same issue but i will follow up.

Dimensions
Still testing

Battery life:
Still working on it

Heat and Noise:
This is where this unit stands out. It is Silent. At low load you cant hear the single fan. Its as if there is no fan. Finally they got it right. The z70va was not a loud notebook but as plagued by complaints of loud fans. Some people are more sensitive then others. We had quite a few returns of the z70va for this reason. I am confident this will not be the same with z96j. Without undervolting this unit hovers around low 60's at low load. It can get up into high 70's at full load. This of course will change with new bios. I am not going to go into detail how hot or cold it gets. It gets warm like they all do. I hope not to see threads like "My z96j is overheating at 60C". A warning to picky people. This unit has plenty cooling. Please dont make threads on forums asking if your temps are ok. If the cpu and heatsink are installed properly your cpu temps and vga temps will be just fine. Btw the vga hovers between 40C and 70C at full load.

Benchmarks:
3DMark 03 - 6851
3DMark 05 - 3711
3DMark 06 - 1937
--SM2.0 - 672
--HDR/SM3.0 - 747
--CPU - 1612
PCMark 05 - 4320
--CPU - 4648
--Memory - 3172
--Graphics - 3113
--HDD - 4023

Ok this is basically 30-50% more powerful then its replacement z70va with x700 in terms of graphics. Depends on the 3dmark year. Most difference is in 3dmark-05 and 06. The PCmark core for cpu is about 400 points higher than that of the t2400 tested in the z62f. The memory Is about a 100 points higher but most likely the result of the actual ram. Not much gain there. The pcmark graphics score is about 250 points over the z70va x700. Not sure what this means. The pcmark gpu tests are pretty short. The hdd score is rival to that of a desktop with a sata 7200rpm drive. Its pretty much double the score of the z70va. The overall pcmark score for the z70va with equivalent setup was 2888. The total score for the z96j 4320. Do the math. There is an obvious huge improvement.

Pro's:
*Very solid design
*Excellent stock keyboard. No flex and no mods needed
*Extremely easy to assemble
*Standard optical drive which can be easily replaced with any aftermarket drive
*Support for sata and a huge improvement over ide drives
*Extremely low noise output for its power. Excellent stock cooling and easy to maintain fans and radiator.
*Integrated bluetooth and many more empty com ports on the mainboard. May have use in the future with upgrade kits like we had for the z63a and z71v (neither had stock Bluetooth)
*Multiple intake vents and central intake beneath main fan which basically cools the entire mainboard and surroundings
*Standardized main battery. This is the same exact battery found in the z62f, z62j, many future asus models and also many models from rival compal and quanta. Intel is actually working with all the manufacturers to develop this standard and will soon release its own low end line of barebones. Models such as (s62f, s62j, s96f and s96j and a few more). These will be cheaper watered down barebone models warranted by intel. Still under development. These models will have generic components which are interchangeable between various brands. The Program is called VBI Verified by Intel
*Option for 9 cell battery which stick out a bit from the back

Con's:
*Dummy DVI bay. Makes me want to choke someone
*Absence of Hi-res WSXGA screen, however we will offer modification options for this is asus does not
*Existing 90watt power supplies do not work. This uses some new brick with a new plug. Sucks for resllers but does not affect end users

Conclusion:
Working on it
Ok some good and bad news to report. The demo version we got is not identical to the mass production version. mainly the screen and possible dvi will be available. I will post an updated review once its in.

 

THanks for the pics, Eddie.
It looks like an up-sized Z62... it's not bad, but it's no Z70....

I wouldn't mind having one though

 

I agree with AuroraS, it isn't bad, better than most other brands, but I will still take my V6j over that any day (for sure in looks, don't know the specs of the Z96j)...

 

Looks better than the Z62F, IMO, but yeah, nowhere near the Z70
How much does this weigh btw?

 

it should be a lot cheaper than v6j though!

 

Her one slight (I mean slight, maybe not even) bad side. I think it was worth every penny and then some, though!

 

It can't compete with the V series for looks~
Dunno why they didn't design it similar to z70 or sumthing, those looked great
oh well, the price should be attracting though ^^ any ideas about the cost?

and thx for the great pics, looking forward for the review!

 

Thanks Mr ed! it looks like a bigger version of the Z62. I personally like how they move the vents away from the right side. not too fond of the touch pad but oh wells.

 

I didn't notice this earlier...but they got rid of AudioDJ and now include multimedia buttons as Fn combinations.
An interesting change...

 

No offense, but for a moment I thought the keyboard layout reminded me of Acer :|

 

where are the vents??? this must be one cool lappy .

This lappy just looks like any toshiba or acer, but of course will prolly have some better build quality.

can't wait for the review.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

i did notice the absence of a audio dj (which i never felt was worth a dime) but i did miss the presence of new fn buttons. Very nice idea!
The ventilation system is pretty odd here. There is no intake. There is only one fan here from first glance. I guess they finally realized "hey we can install a single quality fan and and heatsink to cool both the vga and the cpu" Instead of having 2 fans to worry about now there is only one low noise fan. The intake is pretty interesting. looks like there are layered mainboards here and air passing though them. Still not sure how this new intake and fan design works but i will have this in bits and pieces as soon as my tech comes back from vacation. I ll repost the full review within a few days.

 

haha
no offense to acer, or no offense to asus?

[edit: ps. cant wait eddie]

 

nice pictures, i cant wait for the review

[no where as sexy as the w3j tho]

 

It may not be as great looking as the v6 and w3 but its about 400-500$ cheaper then the v6j given the same config and its customizeable which means you can leave out windows, you can get a smaller 80gb or 60gb drive you can get larger too. 500$ is alot of cash. My first car 10 years ago was worth less then that difference.

 

It looks more like a z71 than a z70. Too bad. I like the mic position better. The headphone position is somewhat okay for headphones, but it's awful for a external speakers! I can't say I approve of that! I hope they come out with a better line of customizable laptops; otherwise I'm skipping the whole Napa series and waiting for Santa Rosa.

 

flaxx you still have the V1J, that's what im waiting for, so far from the pics i saw, it only looks like the 5 in 1 media card reader is at the front while all other ports are on the sides and back.

but expect the V1J to be expensive, from 2100-2400 depending on which Yonah they put in there. Im hoping for a 1.86 or a 1.66, i don't want a 2.0 in there cos costs goes up by like $200.. =\

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

5 in 1 and the mic/headphone jacks are on the front... but yeah, i'll keep my eye open for the v1j if it is customizable. i hate ensemble! the #1 thing that attracted me to asus was the fact that I could get high quality barebone laptops from them.

 

flaxx you sure that the V1J has the headphones and mic at the front?? can you show me a pic of it?

the V1J will be an Ensemble... so your outta luck there...you may wanna look to MSI for barebones...

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

I briefly owned a Dell 15.4" e1505 (may own it again if Z96j doesn't live up to expectations ) but I had it long enough to know that I really like the 15.4" widescreen - the form factor is just about perfect, not too big, definitely not too small.

Thanks for the pictures, and really looking forward to the review!

What I'm really interested in, actually, is price but also it looks like the speakers on the Z96j may be rather nice, so I'm curious about that. Also the addition of the x1600 and its ramifications in terms of heat and battery life could potentially steer me towards the z62f, especially if there's a significant price gap (although I've seen in other places that a 14" actually costs more than a 15.4", no idea if that's the case here - probably the reverse, and even if not, I suppose the x1600 would balance it out). Ah, if only we didn't ever have to compromise in life unless you want to get me a good deal on a W3J!

 

The keyboard doensn't look like acer! It doesn't have the smiley face sorta layout. I don't know about the design, it doesn't seem to have any life in it . Were the engineers depress or something when they made that?

 

The price of the z62j will be about 100$ more then the z62f. That includes a dedicated vga card a higher res screen and bluetooth. The price of the z96j is about 100$ more then the z62j. That puts it right around the 800$ mark. So far i pretty much concluded my review except the benchmarks. To be quite honest the only negative in this system which is a pain in the arse for resellers is the fact that it will not work with their standard ac adapters. Which means it has a totally new adapter. This is actually a very big deal. may not be for you but it is for me. I ll have it done and posted "shortly". OOh ye did i mention that the keyboard as it turns out is better then any previous z model and that the notebook is very very "silent"? Also the gpu comes in direct contact with a copper base as opposed to a thermal pad? Well i guess that will all go into the review as well as an extremely efficient cooling system.

 

that's great news. I hope the Z62j will have just a good a battery life as the Z62f.. I guess i'll have to make do with the Go 7300 as the x1600 seems to use quite a bit of battery life, and that's more important for me than gaming (so i guess there goes w3j and A8ja)

 

How is the review going Eddie? The antcipation is killing me

Thanks!

 

the top strip with the power buttons so looks like its off the acer aspire 3000/5000 series notebooks! Even the buttons look the same. very very scary!

other wise its a plesent looking notebook, and a easy to see "built on asus" badge.


insane

 

The review is almost done it will be up on our forums first. I cant link there but i will repost here soon as well. I am taking today off so maybee i ll get some of this review done.

 

I was thinking the same thing -LOL.

I like the look of it - specifically from the keyboard up (and how the keyboard looks like its framed). It's interesting how they seem to be keeping a similar look to the Built-on models (at least from the z62f and z96j in these pics)...

The only thing that's a little weird to me is the monitor hinging, but that's such a small quirk.

 

The z62j looks exactly the same as the z62f. I do mean the same. The benefit of that is that i dont have to take pictures. Even the assembly are the same,....

 

Hey MysticGolem, sorry dude, I mis-understood you. I thought you were talking about the Z96J. I haven't seen pictures of the V1J, so i wouldn't know where the audio jacks are on it. My interests in Asus only go as far as their barebones. I don't care about their Ensemble since I'd never buy one.

 

How about the resolution?? i hope it has a 1440x900, not a 1280x800.

 

YA.. that would be a deal breaker for me~ Since I'm so used to 1600x1280 res from my 21in monitor .
Hope its WSXGA or sumthing

 

That is an interesting heat sink design. Out of curiosity, who makes the heat sinks for Asus?

 

Eddie's mostly done review is up on his forums. He has a lot of nice things to say about notebook. He says that it is silent and has very effective cooling. The unit he got was only WXGA (1280x800). 3dmark05 was only 3,711 (with a 2.0 Duo and 2gb ram). He says it has 256 mb X1600. That 3dmark score seems low (Acer 8204 scores 4,200 - 4,400) so I asked him clock on memory and core and to confirm the X1600 was in fact 256mb. 3Dmark06 score was very good at 1,937.

 

he'll probably update this thread soon then

 

hehe np flaxx , just curious why would you never buy an ASUS ensemble?
Just curious to know the reason

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Review posted on top. i am about 80% done with it. I will expand on the vga and overclocking it. we will offer modifications for the screen if asus does not. Ofcourse it will cost about 100-200$ extra for a wsxga. I am still working on the review and i will have the remainder filled in soon, Still working on the cons. Not much there to complain about to be quite honest.

 

thanks for the interesting update

Can you explain a little more on how you plan to deal with the low res glossy screen?

Also, the power brick, how's the size of it, does it get hot? Is it better than previous power bricks or just the same or something.

Thanks for the info,

MysticGolem

PS: "I was gaming on the Z96j for 10 hours straight and it overheated!?" LOL

 

I'll answer on his behalf since I'm somewhat familiar with him...(flaxx, I hope you don't mind )

flaxx is a very "do-it-yourself" kind of person - he's the kind of guy that wants to know how everything ticks and why. Since barebones give him the opportunity to know EXACTLY what's goin' on inside... that's the ideal situation for him
Plus, Ensembles are generally more expensive...

 

Yes, I would like to hear more about the X1600. Hopeful it is not like Apple's version of the card (low 3dMark 05).

Anyway, thanks for the review.

 

I have a few questions. I know the FAQ says this thing is due out in early May. Is that still good information or is it outdated?

I would also like to know more about how resellers will be able to change the screens and give it more resolution because I'm interested in buying a hi-res laptop with decent portability for college.

BTW how much does it weigh?

 

i don't think we know the weight or the dimensions at this time, if you look at the first post, it says he's gathering that data.

As for the ETA, im curious to know too

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

since it's a built-on asus, resellers can, to a certain extent, refit a different panel inside. they can order a higher res panel to replace the one originally provided with package. since it's a built-on, warranty will come from them (read: the resellers themselves) anyway, and if they think it's feasible and good, you'll only have to pay them extra for the panel.

i don't know about eta's though

somesay the z96j built a lot like the a6j, and if the a6j has dvi, i don't understand why they missed out on putting dvi on this one. product differentiation? a wee bit out of the way imo.

 

dys, the Z96j does have DVI, Geadred2play just got a Dummie Slot on his demo unit.

When the actual laptop is produced all ports will be there and working. Also, it may be possible that the screen could get a change, but don't bet on that. =\

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Ok some good and bad news to report. The demo version we got is not identical to the mass production version. mainly the screen and possible dvi will be available. I will post an updated review once its in.

 

big OOPSie.
thanks MG n eddie!
big news on the w3j ram huh?

 

Canada sys said that it will have a glossy WXGA+ screen, and a DVI.

 

It already has a glossy wxga+ screen. As far as i know danny would get the same demo seed unit as we did so i am not sure why he thinks it will have dvi. dvi can neither be confirmed nor unconfirmed the only thing we do know is that the mass production model will be different except appearance and mainboard/vga

 

what about the screen can be different? they cant change the size... maybe matte? maybe higher resolution?

 

If asus does not provide a higher res screen we will at an additional cost. Same way we did for the z70va. Just like bluetooth modules for the z63a and z71v. Nobody else did but we did. Hopefully we will not have to.

 

that sounds nice and all sadly you are not in canada