Asus rumble - Go Asus!

I just want to rumble a bit on the topic of "who's the best" and Asus.

This popularity-bar, that notebookreview has on the left side, doesn't seem representative to me. Here's my method:
1. Go to the forums
2. See which discussion boards have most visitors
You'll quite fast find out that these have most visitors: Asus, HP, Sony. Always/anytime these three. Sometimes HP has more visitors than Asus, but most of the time Asus leads

I'm a future owner of Asus G1, but I wanted to buy HP at first. Thank God my credit card got rejected and payment didnt went through, so... it's a sign 100%. Asus is the best even if it means paying 500$ extra. It's just worth it. And look at the variety of notebooks they make! It's insane how many models they have; they really know how to build those babies.

Viva La Asus!

Did you know that Asus makes MacBooks? Is that true?

 

maybe they have the most visits is because they have the most problems? seriously all notebooks are equal as long as they do what the user needs them to do and they are satasfied with them looked at that way no notebook is better than any other but that takes the fun out of it don't it
asus is one of the manufactures of the apple products and they have their problems just like any other notebook
jim
jim

 

Yes. ASUS is the odm for macbook and also for sony's VAIO

 

It is weird how it's always HP/Tosh/Sony in the top ten of popular notebooks on this site, I can't remember seeing an Asus machine in the list... BUT the Asus forum is always either the most popular forum or the second most popular forum?

I wonder if an admin would explain this? e.g. how the web sites' review hits (popularity) collates to visited pages in the forum? Is it based on unique visitors?

Or is it a simple answer like more people buy HP therefore the HP reviews attract a high % of one off buyers that don't hang around to join the community maybe? ergo us Asus types are bigger geeks

 

no not all notebooks are equal. I agree that sony and asus are the most popular. Dell and Hp are also popular but each for different reasons, not necessarily because they're the best etc.

 

The only people who even KNOW about Asus notebooks are borderline techies.....i.e. people who are online a lot more than typical people and therefore more likely to be visiting forums.

I'll agree that the quality of Asus notebooks is outstanding, but they have a very real tendency to make confounding design decisions that leave virtually every model with at least one major flaw.

 

As mentioned, ASUS caters a small but knowledgable niche market, which we are in. It's not the best for every user, its a fact, but in some cases it clearly excels in certain areas.


The main site( www.notebookreview.com) is more of a public database, where major brands are well known and popular, it ranks up from number of hits. It's different from the forums, where its a huge database for information, not just reviews like the main site. Here people can learn new things, see new things, etc. whereas the main site is just a quick read. the ASUS A8jm made the ranking list in top 10 a few months back though.

ASUS makes alot of things, the MacBook(The iBook line as well), a few Vaio models(not sure about the recent ones), HP/Compaq notebooks, they have signed a contract with Dell to release 'High End' notebooks about 6 months back, they also manufacture PS3s, just to name a few things.

 

There are many factors to why Asus Laptops are not in the top 10 list that this website procudes every month.

1) Availability, Asus considers North America to be a small market for them, and the only way to get your hands on one, is to first find out that Asus even exists in the notebook industry. All big brands, Dell, Tosh, Acer, are widely available in big box stores, and can see them, feel them, play with them.

2) Marketing and promotion in North America seems to be a lot less. Asus caters to a niche market of highend notebooks, but also has realised that the A8 series in itself is one heck of a laptop that everyone likes a lot, and is selling a lot. But the lack of Name in the market surely hinders Asus's presence in the notebook industry for North America. (Other countries, Asus has a bigger market and does extremely well)

3) Prices, since Asus notebooks cater to a niche market, which is just a reasonable size, it isn't extremely small, but it is growing. The prices are on the highend because of the materials used, design and other factors that set Asus products apart from its contenders. You need Name power to sell, in combination with lower prices to grab a bigger market share.

Then there is a personal subjectivity aspects, of what people want and don't want, which is always hard to guess and figure out, very few laptops hit the mark perfectly. Most laptops have a negative in some way, and the user makes a choice of what they want and what they can deal with.

Overall Asus products are excellent, and they will continue doing a great job.

 

I would pit my Asus V6j against any Dell, HP, Toshiba, anything in terms of quality. I have a feeling it will come out on top more than 90% of the time.

 

dells are 'popular' because they're cheap. their build quality and customer service is definitely very very bad. VERY VERY seldom did i hear anyone saying that my m1210 'looks nice', and it's already supposed to be one of the s3x135t one out of all the dells. don't even get me started with my experience when the dvd drive went dead on me and i needed to get it fixed...

my asus g1, on the other hand... boy it gets a LOT of praises, and that's not just the looks. the build quality, the screen, attention to detail is up there with sony (to ME sony's another high-end manufacturer... well obviously not ALL sony notebooks but u know wot i mean), and the 2 experiences that i've had with their customer service (one regarding dead pixel, which got my screen swapped within the day, the other regarding the vista upgrade) were excellent

asus is actually quite popular here in hong kong, and i've seen quite a lot of adverts for the w7j and u5, so maybe that's why (i do believe in marketing). i'd be lying to say that it's the most popular brand here, but it's definitely getting its name established.

 

I think cori's explanation is the best.

If you look at NBR's "Who's On" list at the bottom of the Forum Index page, you normally see less than 200 members online, but over 600 guests. It just shows that those that participate in the forums aren't really those that go to NotebookReview.com

Lots of people go to NoteBookReview.com without looking at the forum...that's why the mainstream notebooks in the market, the HPs, Toshibas, Dells, etc. are usually on the top.

By the way, there was an Asus in the top ten I think a few months ago. I'm not sure, but I think its the A8J.

 

if price is disregarded, i think all it comes down to is b/w ASUS and Lenovo.
For most users, ASUS is very good.

Starboss, the G1's build quality is somewhere between the A8Js and the W3J. although the plastics on the G1 feel rock solid, they cannot beat the aluminum on the W3J. Personally, I give the build quality a 4.5/5, since 1) the glossy coating scratches easily (but u won't have paint wearing at least and the patterns will hid the scratches), and 2) it's all plastic except for a piece of aluminum.

 

I think the only market that ASUS is doing well is in the USA. I am in Asia and ASUS does not come across as the big player (Yes, they may through in an ad here and there, but it is niche). Customer support is hard and probably non-existent in certain Asian countries. In this area again, ASUS has the best support in the USA.

That leaves us with Europe and Australia and I do not think that ASUS plays any significant role in either of the two.

 

ASUS is kinda liked in australia...Not a big fan base as USA, but it does have service centers in australian major cities

 

The asus brand is biggest in asia and europe.

The reason the asus forum is so popular here on nbr compared to dell is:

Dell hosts a better forum. Asus forum uses bad software. So more owners are going to a seperate forum to talk about their machines

2 Asus has so many many different models coming out all the time shoppers for asus computers have to have a constant news source while they are thinking about it. Dell e1705 came out jan of 06, in that time asus released probably 6 17 inch models. Theres not much Dell or toshiba model news

 

Asus is the most popular brand in Taiwan. They are also one of the top if not the top selling brands in Russia, Italy, Portugal.

Europe accounts for a lager share of the market than the Americas with Germany, France and the UK being the top three in Europe in units sold.
The company I work for in the UK on a rough calculation is accountable for 50% of all Asus notebooks sold in the UK in Q4 last year. Which is equal to 0.2% of the total notebook share in the UK (based on a couple of independent sources on units sold Gartner, IDC)

Overall notebook sales in the UK last Q grew by 80%, Asus sales grew 100% which shows a significant growth in the brand. (Dell as a brand by notebook sales by the way were down 20% knocking them off the top spot last Q)

Asus still have a long way to go in the worldwide market, but I for one am proud and passionate about the brand and while you and I may be "in the know" there are the other 5.95billion people still to inform about Asustek

 

If Asus is ODM for current lineup of Sony Vaios I'm really wondering why they (Asus) don't have a model that is similar to Vaio SZ Premium series (13.3", 1.6kg, aluminium and carbon fiber, LED backlight, perhaps hybrid graphic).
Yes, I know that there is W7J series but it is heavier and much less attractive than SZ Premium.

I believe the price would be much better than Sony because, as we all know, Sony tends to push prices sky-high.

 

sony probably has a clause in the contract that limits the compeition with asus. or why would asus want to compete directly with a good business partner?

 

As mentioned, its competition. Introducing the W7 pretty much pushed its limits between the relationship.


Justin(from PP) mentioned this alot, which was the fact ASUS is a fairly conservative company, they don't often take large risks.

 

I didnt really bother about reading what most of you said because i'm lazy and its late. But i really wanted to say this, that i think ASUS is one of the best companies out there. Not just in terms of notebook.. but motherboards... and innovative inventions such as the XG Station and also.. other parts of their company are growing.. like their wireless routers.. phones...


Last year i had to look for the best laptop for gaming. and since im in asia.. i cant get alienware. so i looked at portable gaming.. i read reviews after reviews of notebook from Dell.. HP... Acer.. but nothing satisfied me. Until i found the W3J.. it was everything i needed. in fact... ASUS is the only company here that gives 2 year GLOBAL warranty.

And havin lived in Taiwan before.. ASUS is a really reputable brand.. my first motherboard came from them.. And look at them.. they had one of the first 975x motherboards out that could overclock like mad.

I hope they keep on building quality products.

 

Interesting thread.

Why did I find and buy ASUS? Only one reason, a combination of components that I could not find in any other small format notebook (G7700, 14 - 15 in, T7200, you get the picture).

Everyone talks about superior build quality on ASUS. On my A8Js I find it on par with Dell, IBM, HP, or only marginally better. Hardware support, to me, is better with Dell by my experience - I didn't have to send my notebook back in for service, they would send me the part.

ASUS should/could make a few better decisions including:

1) the speakers are not just bad, they are an embarrassment (I use headphones anyway).
2) A dedicated button for some software that I will never even load. ??? This is just plain weird.
3) My AUO screen has bad light leakage. I feel that in general, the production of these screens was defective. I will surely send my A8Js back in for service when I can find the time. In my opinion ASUS has confirmed this BIG issue by switching to CMO screens on newer models of the A8J.

I agree with some that the reason that ASUS is more popular on this site is because more technical people are here daily. It is the best place to get your information. Dell and HP offer many other forums if those buyers are interested in forums at all (Dell, Hp).

Joe Martin

 

As mentioned by Joe, the build quality is not equal for all models, as ASUS easily set up different notebook series for different customer classes. Such as lines from vehicles, there will be the series that cater to certain crowds at a certain price points.


Models like the W3, W2, V6, S6 can not be compared in ANY way to the A-series, whereas the former are built with the highest quality materials(with barely any expenses forgotten), while the latter is all about whats inside. There is, of course, a few hundred dollar difference, but that's obvious

 

Oh ya well this is something I read about here from pro portable. Asus had to incorporate the asus brand seperate from the manufacturing in order to deal with sonys non competition contract.
The machine that came out on the same day was the w7j. Even though they are competitive models they are not exactly the same thing. But this z37 looks like exactly the same thing as a sony sz

Since that time asus makes far fewer vaios. I dont know that they make any one other than the sony FE

they might though i cant follow all of it. Maybe also this C series.

 

If these are Z37 specs then Z37 is far from SZ Premium.

No dedicated gfx, only 1GB RAM and 1.9 kg weight, I'll stick with SZ for now.

 

Thats an interesting link

The one at the computer show was the same although it was 8400 go

 

What a remarkable discussion we have here! Lots of interesting stuff.

Now I recall that Asus IS quite popular in Russia, but I just wasn’t planning to buying laptop until I moved to US for studies. However Asus support is non-existent in most of the Russia except Moscow and St.Pete; so if you live in “ordinary Russia” you better be sure that you’re buying high quality laptop.

I also remember a degree of surprise when I saw that every computer in US is a Dell computer (it seemed that way, Dell seemed to be everywhere: universities, homes, businesses) plus I never heard about Dell back in “ordinary Russia”. It gave impression of a very alienated market (e.g. America = you have Dell). I’m not promoting Asus or saying that dell is bad. Just rumbling

I heard that it’s possible to use plastic-protection-spray for cars on laptop as a scratch protector; and I also heard that it works. Anybody knows if it’s a good idea to apply it on my future G1? And what’s the name of the stuff?

Thanks for informative posts!

 

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the excellent punctuation in Starboss' post above?

Starboss, I do hope English is your first language as you would put most Englishmen to shame if it weren't.

 

i doubt it, but in other countries, people actually learn foreign languages

 

I was just trying to make it understandable And yes, I'm a 100% russian.