Asus and Dell, Asus really that good?

Well, I ordered a Dell XPS m1210 a week ago and actually called to cancel the order today. I did for a few reasons, one that 12" may be too small, but a big reason because lots of people (at least on this site) seem to love Asus notebooks and I've never even heard of the company. Can anyone please give me a little on Asus and why you guys think they may be better than a solid company like Dell? I'm still in dire need of a notebook and may end up repurchasing the m1210, but definitely want to check out all my options. Thanks. -Will

 

ASUS makes more then jsut laptops. They have been making computer components for a long time (such as motherboards).

Also, ASUS makes many laptops for other companies. I believe they have orders from Apple to make the 13" macbooks. I believe they make some Sony notebooks and Dell notebooks as well, or at least have orders to make them in the future.

Check the ASUS FAQ thread. I think their contract details may be mentioned there.

 

Yes take a quick read thru the faq's and also have a look at a few posts/reviews of notebooks...I suggest the W3 and W7 series might be a good place to start, they are the 2 most popular light and portable notebooks at the moment.
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well the reason you haven't heard the brand Asus was that they were not really making their own for some time. They were working under larger corporations manufacuring major components whether it be the motherboards, HD or screens. They recently decided to manufacture their own lineup of laptops which have a very sold build and great performance. Visit their main site or read the faq to learn more.

 

Yes - Asus is THAT good!
Dell is THAT bad!

I'm done with Dell's forever and I'm in love with my Asus' computers.

 

From what I've read, it seems that purchasing and maintaining an Asus may be a bit more complicated as you must go through a reseller for purchase and/or repair. I don't know the percentages of sales to problems, but I read way more posts about Asus users having problems than Dell users. I know problems are inevitable but convenience and speedy downtime are important to me (as I know practically nothing about computers) and from what I've read, Dell is tops at customer service. I'm pretty much sold on an Asus or Dell, (would consider Sony, but don't they seem way more expensive than everyone else?) but also want to make sure I'm making the right decision.

michdude, why is Dell THAT bad? Objective opinions scream much louder than subjective ones.

 

actually its easier. the reseller support is far above dells. You can get real answers any time. and the ensembles series are handled by asus. overall better support than from dell by far.

 

Just pick up any PC related magazine and you'll see "ASUS" mentioned many times.

It's good that you decided to give ASUS a chance. Dell is pretty good value I guess, but ASUS is simply just good stuff. Do yourself a favour and hop down to an ASUS retailer near you to take a look and see if their laptops are to your liking.

 

"I don't know the percentages of sales to problems, but I read way more posts about Asus users having problems than Dell users."

Keep in mind that you will get a skewed view of the problems if you rely on the forums because not many people will say that their ASUS has no problems; people will tend to only post if they have problems. I guess a way you could think about it is compare the number of people that have problems with the number of people who absolutely love their ASUS I, for one, am a extremely satisfied ASUS owner and my old Dell doesn't compare to the build quality of the ASUS. My dad just bought a E1505 and my W3J is built better inch per inch...a completely plastic case found in the Dells just doesn't cut it with my brushed anodized metal and carbon fiber casing on the W3J.

In the end, you'll have to make up your own mind about it. Just because you've never heard of ASUS before doesn't mean that it's not an excellent brand. I too never heard of ASUS before until I did my research on laptops and I decided to take the W3J over the Lenovo T60 and have never looked back since (though you couldn't go too far wrong with the T60 as well ).

 

Thanks for the input, please keep it coming.

How would I find an Asus retailer? (I'm in Colorado)

What do Asus lovers think of Dell's new m1210?

 

if you want to read problems. go to reseller ratings.com and read dells stuff. which has a rating of 3.84
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1867.html

now do a search for proportable.com and geared2play.com they have almost 10s. if you have issues these guys are the best hands down. and remember most people who buy dell arent on the forums. people who buy dells a large majorty dont know much about pcs. asus buyers tend to be people who know about asus from their motherboards and other products.

 

asus resellers

geared2play.com
proportable.com
c9tech.com
http://powernotebooks.com/
all great resellers. pick one.

 

Asus is the educated decision! Dell is the lathargic decision!

I have a friend who has had a 12" Dell for almost 4 years with no problems. I have never heard him complain and it does everything he needs it to. If you got a dell, I'm sure you'd be happy with it...

On the other hand... Asus is at the leading edge of performance and quality. The computer I'm leaning towards, the W3J, is pound for pound, $ for $ the best 14" laptop being sold to consumers. It's an all around solid machine with very few flaws.

BTW the M1210 has a 256MB Turbocached GPU. Of that 256MG, only 64 is on board. 80% of people who buy a Dell won't pick up on that and assume they have a stellar graphics card. That's because most of their clients don't take the time to educate themselves before they decide. It's a good thing they don't, otherwise they would be Asus customers instead

 

Does Asus really make notebooks with a better build quality than the XPS/latitude/precisions ? I read a review of Z96J, it seemed better than the insprirons, but precisons - NO WAY !!!!!!!

 

I can't write my entire saga now but suffice it to say that their geniuses in India were walking me through a simple repair which was only needed because my MB failed for the fourth time and upon repair couldn't work right. In the process they deleted my entire HD [six years worth of important data] - They promised to settle with me and said they'd do something "serious" to replace my loss in addition to a number of other things. Suffice it to say that they didn't do squat - I never got through to them again - they never returned a call again and after a year when I got through on my thirtieth try they explained that they account was closed because it was "inactive"

This was far from the first time their components had failed. Their service stinks and their quality is worse.

I swear that if they gave me a free computer I wouldn't take it!

 

I almost ordered the m1210 instead. It's too small of a screen for my taste, and yet the notebook itself is actually a bit too large (thick) for it's class. The GeForce 7400 graphics are also too weak, IMO (of course that's optional, you could use Intel GMA instead, but I do like to game a bit so I needed something better than Intel or 7400)

m1210 probably does better batt life than my A8Jm, but 3 hours (or close to 4 with wifi off) is more than sufficient considering I am not a road warrior. Dell advertises almost 8 hours batt life on the m1210 with their larger 9-cell battery, but I'm betting that's with Intel GMA and you probably won't get nearly that much if you use the 7400 graphics.

 

And then there are people like me. I had problem with the screen - minor light bleeding. They sent a repairman next day with a new screen.
I'm saying, their inspirons might not be that great, but thier business line seems well built, with excellent customer service.

 

You might be surprised, I have used plenty of notebooks in my day, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Gateway, IBM, Compaq, and more, but none have come close the the quality of the Asus V6j I have. Lets put it this way, without even opening the computer to turn it on, or check for quality, I can tell the Asus is better, because even brand new laptops from the others creek when you pick them up. Asus builds their computers right. Its worth the money - 100%.

 

Doesnt Asus make laptops for HP ??
Soooooo if HP laptops creak, that means .............

And no way Asus is better than the thinkpads. Even the asus resellers on this forum have indicated that IBM is better built.
I too have had Dell(inspirons, M90), IBM(T30,T42), Sony vaio, and I gotta say, the Dell precision laptop is one solid machine - the 17" machine has less flex/creak than the 14.1" inch T42 and T30. Their customer service so far has been stellar.

 

I have so far only used Dell laptops (Inspiron 3800 which lasted me 5 years and Inspiron 6000, which I have had for about a year). Overall cannot really complain, esp in terms of value for money, you get a good bargain with them. They have both been excellent machines in terms of reliability.

When there have been problems Dell have been very good in fixing the problems, I have to say their support is better than people make it out to be (in my own experience).

Build quality wise the Dells have been OK. They are normally heavier than other similar models by other companies and the laptops don't feel as "solid". However as said above, you can get some great deals.

Saying that I'm waiting for my new Asus (A8F), so will be interesting to compare my Inspiron 6000 to my new Asus.

 

Since you are talking about resellers, I was wondering if there was one in Alabama? thx

 

From the Asus FAQ on the main page (where the reseller list is) :

Asus Resellers by US State:
(a * in front of the company's name means that it's not on Asus' official list)

Alabama:
The O/S Company www.theoscompany.com

 

Does anyone know if Asus makes a 13" notebook?

If I go with an Asus, I'd like to get either a 12" or 13" for as cheap as possible. I don't game and will only be using the notebook for mainly word processing, internet, and only one expensive software program, so I don't think I need to go high end as of now. I'm sure in a couple years I'll be ready to get all the new technologies, Vista, Core 2 duo, etc...

 

Z35f, W7j.

 

Reason not to buy a Dell....

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Dude-Dell-freaking-blew-ftopict192887.html

 

Neither one of those are listed on asus site, does that mean they are old news?

 

re: 13" Asus

they're not listed because they are too new. asus website management is spotty at best.

w7 is listed on the global site under business notebooks.
z35 is north america only and they're starting to be sold.

if you're overseas (from NA), the w6 is also a 13" option.

re: Dell vs. Asus
if i remember correctly, Asus is the ODM for one of Dell's 12" models. without any empirical evidence, i can subjectively say that i've witnessed the fewest complaints about Dell's 12" machines.

 

OK, here are the links you need for the W7 and Z35:

W7 @ Proportable:
http://www.proportable.com/detail.aspx?ID=173

Z35 @ Geared2Play:
http://www.geared2play.com/store/products/laptops/asus/z35f/z35f.htm

Video of W7 and Z35:
http://geared2play.com/phpbb/nfphpbb/viewtopic.php?t=757

 

Thanks for the links.

Does anyone if I could get an Asus under $1000 that has at most, a 14" widescreen, under 5.5 lbs, and thin? I find it hard to see what Asus computers are available using their site as well as google.com. A nice chart comparing the Asus models would be great.

 

if you want more information about Asus, check out this awesome article on "Why buy Asus" by a guy from milestonepc.com. i dont' know if someone posted it already or not but here's the link http://www.notebookforum.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=273&sid=0d9901e4096b42288d5270210e2c6ae4

 

FYI; Asus takes forever to update its website and most of the latest info comes from these forums and the vendors who are on this site too.

 

in fact, i don't think they even have the w7j on the asus website(n. america).

 

The Z62F is around 5.5lbs... I would strongly recommend the Z35F if you can go with a 13.3" [same resolution].
There's also the W3 based Z63A single core 14" notebook, at less than 5lbs [w/ travelers drawer].

 

This topic is exactly what I have in my right now. Iam going to buy a laptop and might consider an e1505 from Dell. But I continue my research and find out that ASUS offer's more performance with reasonable price too. But the problem is I never heard about ASUS notebooks, that's my only concernnow on buying an ASUS notebook.

 

Asus makes very good quality notebooks. The reason you (along with most of the rest of the US) haven't heard of the brand is because they don't spend a lot of time marketing this product and their market segment is pretty small. Plus, Asus builds a lot of notebooks for other companies that simply rebrand and sell them as their own (Apple, Sony, etc). I had never heard of Asus notebooks before last summer either, when I started to research a new purchase .

By and large, you will find that the majority of folks here will swear by Asus as superior in quality to what you will find at Dell, HP, etc and the testimonials about the customer service provided by the major resellers who frequent the forum here (Proportable, Powernotebooks, Geared2Play, C9Tech, MilestonePC) are second to none and greatly exceed what you can ever hope to get from someplace like Dell or Sony .

 

You know, from what I am reading, not all dell notebook are bad. Recently I have been looking into Dell's latitude line and they don't seem to bad. Some say they are on par with Asus.

The latitude line also use carbon fiber or magnesium casing. Though, personally I cannot comment on its overall built quality for I have not seen it in person. But, there are some review/post about the latitude line on NBR. Just trying to keep the doors somewhat open. The latitude line is much better built compared to the inspirion line.

 

for asus you can buy the parts directly from their site

 

As you are probably aware Latitude is more geared towards the business user. I also was debating whether to get a Latitude (namely the D620) over an Asus. The benefits of Latitidude is you get a 3 year next business day worldwide warranty as standard and the laptops are customisable. However as they are primarily business laptops you won't get stuff like memory card readers. However, as always with Dell there will be loads of offers floating around (but not as many as compared to the Inspirons).

 

I know. I am just saying there is always the latitude line that some people might find appealing. You have to opt for a higher screen size to get the extra goodies which can be found on the smaller asus. All I wanted to say, its out there, you don't need to limit yourself to the inspirion line.

 

A lot of you haven't heard of Asus is because it is located in Taiwan. I'm currently in Taiwan right now and I can see Asus advertisements all over the place.

 

Iam planning to buy an S96j soon, hope I did the right thing by choosing this brand.

 

Guess I'll chime in here too. I've been building and working on desktop PC's for about 15 years now. Asus has always been synonomous with quality and performance in motherboards, graphics cards, etc. They really make good stuff, period. I was never really into laptops until recently and when I found out that Asus was making their own line of machines, I immediately and without hesitation have steered everyone I know towards Asus machines. Nobody has been dissatisfied and everyone is blown away by the design and construction of Asus laptops.

Most people go with Dell's because on paper, they give you alot for your money and it seems like everyone has a Dell. Why do you think Michael Dell is a billionaire? He's a savvy business man and has garnered many government and educational contracts. It's hard not to buy a Dell when you're forced to work with purchase orders and "approved" vendors and Dell is on just about everybody's list.

How many people have wanted to shoot their telephone because the Dell service rep in Bangalore India could barely speak english? How many Dell owners have been plagued with nickel and dime frustrating problems that appear when the machine is out of (or still in) warranty? I know a bunch personally.

One last note from my experience. It may not be super technical but I read once about two acid tests that people can do to determine the build integrity of their laptops. 1) Press the screen from behind the display (or hold both sides of the screen and gently torque back and forth) while the computer is on, if you see distortions...that's not good and 2) press the palmrest down firmly, if you have alot of flex...that's not good either. Now these aren't very scientific tests but every Asus laptop I've ever seen has passed these tests with flying colors. Dells usually fail.

My $.02

 

I was a system admin from 1998-2003. We had several of the Dell latitude models come through ending with the D600 model. The D600 was a step down in quality compared to the Latitudes before, the older Latitudes with black bodies. I say this mostly because the new chassis had much more flex, heat was much more apparent, and we had to change out two screens due to defects. I'll cut Dell some slack since we got some of the very first D600s made. I don't know about the D620 since I haven't handled one. The old inspirons were fine, nothing special. The best piece we ordered was an IBM T40p, but that's off topic I suppose.

I have used Asus products since about 1997. I assembled two S1N laptops for friends around 2001 (can't remember exactly). One was dropped down a flight of carpeted stairs and is still working today. These were some of the best made laptops I had seen. At the time the price to performance ratio was just amazing. I think some of the old G3 based Powerbooks we had were also Asus. Again, excellent quality and they're still functioning today.

I haven't handled the very latest series of Asus notebooks so I can't vouch for them specifically. But from experience with various Asus products over the years they're a safe bet.

2 more cents

 

As much as I agree with everyone here, ASUS has their high ends, and their low end notebooks.

I am fortunate enough to live a few minutes away from MileStonePC, so I've pretty much 'felt up'(ooohh, I feel like a perv now ) almost all the laptops, and the ones I didn't, I saw em and played around( ) at Office Depot and the Source - And summing it up, their mid to high end machines are incredible, for the price, build and specifications.

Their lower end models however, don't really match up to the market. The build quality(for example, the older A6v had a good price point of $999 CDN, Celeron, 15" XGA+, not bad, but the keyboard was soft and had slight flex on the wristrest parts.) is mediocre, but thats whats expected of a low end machine. For less, one could get a slightly better configured machine with pretty much the same build quality(plastic), from better known brands such as Toshiba/Dell/Acer/etc.

Just my opinion on ASUS laptops, I really enjoy their machines, perhaps getting rid of the lower end machines(Because I honestly don't see them outselling Acer/Toshiba/Dell/Compaq/HP in the lower end laptop market), and focus more on the mid to high end machines, since ethusiasts such as us know about them, and trust them.

Again, just random thoughts, I may remove somethings, my mind isn't working well at the momment

 

Oooh, I wish I was living close to MilestonePC so I could go and touch all these laptops....hahaha , j/k it would be cool to see all these laptops in person though.

 

I find what everyone has to say about Asus vs Dell interesting.

I was going to buy an Asus Z96J but ultimately bought a Dell Latitude D820 instead.

Why?

Because of a website and poor service.

I tired to order the Asus from a company in Ontario, Canada that has been mentioned here.

I was in contact with the owner with several emails over 3-4 weeks asking various questions to which he gave timely responses.

The problem was going to the website to order the computer. Nowhere could I find a way to add the 2 extra years of warranty service.

So, I emailed the guy with the order and received no response.

In the end it came down to this:

The Asus and Dell appeared to be both reasonable in terms of price/performance/build quality (i.e. compromises on the Asus washed out with compromises on the Dell).

Therefore, all other things being equal (ish), it came down to the fact that I could go to Dell.ca and easily order the Dell with the warranty I wanted etc....

As my wife said (and she will be the one using the computer), if the guy won't reply to an email to sort out an order then what will he be like for warranty service?

I had to agree (although the poor website/ordering design was enough to send me to Dell).

So while Asus may be better in general there are enough glaring weaknesses with Asus (and making it difficult to buy one is a HUGE weakness) to ensure that some of us will stay with Dell even when we would have preferred to try out something new.

C'est la vie.

Of course, there are many worse things in life than being stuck with a Dell d820.

 

With all the statement said here. Remember, in the end its all up to you, as the buyer. Regardless of pros/cons, its still up to the buyer.

Jasonqb, sorry to hear about your incident with an asus reseller. But, you should be happy with your purchase. As long as the buyer is happy, its all good, regardless of what company made it.

I don't know why people keep asking these type of threads, when I joined I used the search function heavily trying to dig up old threads about the same issues/topic I had in mind.

Personally, for myself, and including other members, Asus makes great stuff. I used Asus parts in my comp and they were great. Knew people who had Asus and were happy with it. But, that doesn't mean I don't like dell per se. The latitude line should not be taken lightly. They seem pretty good. Even roam through the Dell forum, people are happy with the built quality of the e1505 they think its well built. I even used dell laptops at my university, they aren't too bad, as long as they are well cared for they should be alright.

 

To those of you who think Dell *Inspiron* build sucks, have you handled an E1505 or E1705 ?

I have an E1505 and an M90, and both of them are very solid machines.
I also have handled an Ibm T30, T42.
Build wise, I would rate them as M90>T30>T42=E1505.
The T42 flexes more on the palmrest and screen lid than the E1505.
The M90 seems to be built like a tank - I cannot make the lid flex using just one hand (with lid open). And the E1705 seems to have the same metal chassis.

I have heard that older inspiron build used to suck, I have an older Inspiron 5000, and that indeed is not as well built (and heavy too), but the newer one seem quite fine. The E1505 does not creak anywhere.
That leaves warranty support, and if u're after that, just purchase an upgraded warranty, or buy from their business section or EPP.
I had a teeny problem with the M90 screen, slite light leakage, called them up (US CSR), and he sent dell techincian to replace the screen next business day.

I WAS about to purchase an Asus (z96j) when the M90 deal came ($1686, 3 year warranty, 2Gz Duo WUXGA); but now after handing the M90 and the inspiron, my next purchase will be an inspiron.