Asus notebooks, is it reliable and durable?

Hey guys,
Just to let you know, this is going to be my first Notebook purchase ever so help me out here... For months now I've been trying to find a right notebook for myself... at first i was looking at IBM, HP and sony... Well, IBM is nice, and durable.. but no matter how much i tried I still can't accept the design...it's just hideous...so i skipped pass it... HP, for me it's a lil bulky...especially the Pavilion dv4000 series, because that's the only model that I like for HP..And Sony, well what can I say.. the design is great, it's quite reliable but it is just too pricy, especially the T series.... So now I come across to Asus and the only knowledge that I have about this company is that they make excellent motherboards and other componets for desktop pcs... And my question to you is, how good is their Notebooks????
Also, what do you think the W5A series???
I'm not a serious gamer or anything, I think i will use it to store photos and some videos, watching dvd's, listening to MP3's, spreadsheets, word prcessor, power point and of course surfing the internet... and also it has to be light, since i will be traveling a lot...

 

How good are they? So good that all of us here consciously passed on the previously mentioned brands and went with Asus. Right now, they are relatively unknown, so only those that really seek out the perfect notebook (I’m not saying Asus is perfect) even stumble across these babies.

If you're not a gamer and concerned with price, definitely check out the "Built On" series. You can get an integrated graphics solution for relatively cheap without sacrificing build quality.


<CENTER>Asus Z63A<CENTER>
<CENTER>Intel Pentium-M 750 - 1 GB PC4200 - Seagate 5400.2 60 GB - DVD/CDRW - Intel Pro/Wireless 2200<CENTER>

 

I can't truthfully answer from experience on the build quality but about my opinion on the W5a...

As far as 12.1" widescreens go, you have the Dell 700m, Dell X1, Winbook X series, Asus W5a, Acer Travelmate 3000 series... those are the big contenders in my head.

If you need an integrated optical drive... you're down to the 700m, Winbook, and Asus.

Asus wins in design, feature set, price point, apparent build quality, warranty... I mean someone try and point out a nicer 12.1 or 13.3 system for the money.

The one request I have for PROPortable is if he could post some pics taken by the W5a camera. Always wondered, I saw some pretty bad pictures on one review site... nothing 1.3 megapixel-like.

See I got this nice bag for work and now I have to buy a laptop to match. Dang.

 

I don't think you're going to find another 12" widescreen laptop with the features of the W5... It's feature packed and even has somethings that I wish the W3 had like RF maybe and even a camera.

The camera isn't going to impress and photo buffs out there... I'm one of them and the only way it's impressive is if you think of it as a webcam (which is it).... It takes pretty normal 1.3mp pictures.... and has a mad digital zoom.. it's not optical so when you zoom it's basically like taking a picture into photoshop and then cropping it and blowing it up......

What I like about it is it takes better pictures than the MyPal a730w, which is Asus' pocket pc w/ 1.3mp camera..... the camera on the W5 is actually meant for broadband video conferencing. Think about it that way and it's awesome.... The last camera I had for video conferencing was probably 640k, so this is much sharper and can bring up a great onscreen shot.... over broadband it's cool......i'd say most people would use it over msn or aim but it can be used over all of the broadband phone services.

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

 

Thanks guys.... After reading ur comments I finally decided to get the Asus W5A... off to the IT mall then!!!! [8D]

 

Good luck with that.

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

 

Remember to tell us about your experience with it.