Bad news about the future of the W1 in the US.....

OK, call me a liar, a jerk.... whatever you will.. but in the case of pre-delivery news, I'm not the messenger and you know what they say about them....

OK, well as I said and the guys at startech backed up for me... was that a new sonoma based W1 w/ tv tuner and 128mb x700 graphics was on it's way to the states if even no where else in the world.

As of today, we learn that Tiawan still hasn't shipped the W2's due to bugs in the north american tv tuner........ and the prospects of the new W1 are now slim.... After a review of W1 sales both last year and within the last few months, it looks like regardless of all of the awards and great reviews it's gotten, it hasn't sold as well as the S5 and other models. Asus thinks this is a price thing and also a weight issue..... The W1 is a 7 pound system... all the aluminum and the subwoofer and such....... But what Asus thinks they might do is keep importing the current model and selling it for the lower price that it is now... as that seems to be selling well.

So, I don't know what to say... I was wrong? , I'm sorry? , I don't know... It still might come in, but Asus think the W2 is going to suck up the larger system market... as it's only marginally heavier and marginally more expensive..... so as of right now, it looks like it's dead on the table... W2 sales are going to decide what happens with a new W1....... They might just end up bringing it over in a barebone format and that would be that....

... discuss amoung yourselves.... [ ]

Thanks,
Justin
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Isn’t the w2v supposed to cost 500 bucks more than the w1(according to startec)? I don’t call that being close in price.

 

The current model, yes..... but the new model with the glaretype screen, tv tuner and 128mb x700 was going to be situated about $300 or so more than what the current model is selling for.... so it would have been only between $200 less..... The systems would basically have been the same, but obviously a smaller screen..... and I think a smaller hard drive (100gb vs 80gb 5400)..... so the difference is really really tight.

But that's the thing, the current W1 is starting to sell really well where it is and they are seriously considering ordering more of the current spec because as this price they are selling better than they ever have....... bring in new tech and upgrades like were planned and it might put it out of peoples price range....

Thanks,
Justin
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Wow, that's a real shame. I was planning on buyin the new W1 as a reliable multimedia machine...and I didnt want a 17 inch notebook. If they don't release the sonoma w1, is there a possibility of improving the 64mb radeon 9700 to a 128mb?

Thanks for keeping us informed, that's a real shame though...please try to convince asus to build it.

 

You're not going to upgrade the video in the current model..... some of the deciding factor maybe weigh even more on the fact that they do want to bring this in as a barebone before the end of the summer...... if they don't bring in the new ensemble, it really opens the door for the barebone as the barebone models are usually set up not to compete with the ensembles.....

So, we'll see what happens but I got a call today and it basically said... Tiawan was dissappointed with the sales of the W1 in the last year, but for some reason (mostly price) the current W1 is starting to sell better than ever.... so they are still figuring out what to do.

Thanks,
Justin
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800-474-2296
www.proportable.com
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That certainly is bad news... I think a lot of people would actually buy the W1 over the W2 due to dimensions rather than weight.

Something tells me our french... "friend"...will be making an appearance and taunting Justin. Hopefully the admin can put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 715 (Dothan 1.5), 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

Yeah, well Asus wanted to bring it in more than anything.... but it looks like the problem is they couldn't get it ordered and shipped before they did their assessment of the last years sales..... It stinks... but the fact is, there IS a new W1 and the W2 isn't the replacement for it. The W1 did better here than anywhere else, so it might be a reason we were still in the running and other countries might have had to pull out.... But we'll see it in a barebone if nothing else... that'd be even better for us.

Thanks,
Justin
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not taking sides by any means, but i do remember someone here saying that there is no w1 refresh not to long ago.
anyways, i really wish the w2 would come out already.

 

thanks for the update jason. so, it sounds like the w2 is late as well? is there any estimate on that rig?

also, what do you mean by the barebones is still coming?

man, i want an asus, but the z71 is too clunky, and the current ensemble notebooks just dont have a good GPU. plus the waiting, and changing schedule... the acer ferrari keeps looking better and better...

i know this isn't you jason. but they've gotta know that messing with a schedule and people's expectations isn't good for biz.

 

wouldn't a W1 barebone be in direct competition with the Z70v? if it comes out.. it'd be a tough decision to choose between the two.. [B)]

 

First..... the US has their W2 order in and all they are trying to do is get the bugs out of the digital tv tuner...... this was the issue last year with the W1...... prolonged bugs for the US tuner caused the deletion of the tuner from the US model..... I hope that doesn't happen this time... all of these bugs were supposed to be worked out but Asus certainly isn't going to send us a unit that doesn't work. I guess it's the difference between PAL and NTSC.....

The W1 couldn't directly compete with the Z70v..... if the Z70v gets a 128mb x700, then maybe they're a little closer.... but the W1 barebone would be a home theater type system... a pound heavier and a few more features and certainly a different look...... but we'll see.

Thanks,
Justin
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800-474-2296
www.proportable.com
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what exactly do you mean by
"there IS a new W1 and the W2 isn't the replacement for it"
?

 

They developed it and I've seen the demo... it's an orderable product, but as far as I knew, the US was the ONLY office that was going to bring them in....... So, like I said.. it'll still be offered becasue they designed a new motherboard and graphics card for it, but maybe just as a barebone......

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

 

justin-lies,

For god sake... how old are you? That is the ugliest post I've seen here. "I told you so......" Downright rediculous. No wonder you've been banned.

 

You were banned because of your faul mouth, personal attacks and lack of any respect for others ingeneral. If justin was wrong then so be it, no one is hurt, its not like people are gonna now die because the W1 may not make it to the states....or anywere else for that matter.
I was actually counting the days till you posted now you have hopefully that will be the last of it, and topic is now closed
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