Comments on G1 from someone who HATES the A6 and fake Carbon Fiber more than I do...

Ok, well some of you may know my brother Sean, he's been our sales manager for a couple years now and will be vp of sales and marketing once he finishes up his schooling this semester (for those your keeping tabs )

Anyway....... anyone following this forum for years or at least those who know how to use the search function, know how much I hate the A6 series, and as an architect, I hate any material which pretends to be something else...... fake wood, fake carbon fiber, fake aluminum, etc... I'd rather see plastic than a wood/cf/aluminum film with a plastic backing..... Call me crazy, but that goes along with build quality and design in my book and it's basically a sin for me....

Now, my brother dislikes the A6 more than I do because he's brutal on his machines... He also hates any sort of simulated carbon fiber or materials as I mentioned above. Now he's been so busy with customers over the last couple weeks that he hadn't gotten a chance to really sit down and play with a G1p... He just came in to talk with me and he said and I quote "that's pretty GD cool... how much?". I told him it was based on the A6 and the pattern he saw was just a design, not CF... and it's running $1,800. He said, based on the port layout and weight he could tell it was at least very similiar to the A6 and that I must have thought he was a fool to even believe the lid and upper palmrest we in fact carbon fiber. He then went on to say for that price he's even consider swapping out his long term W1 which is of a much better build quality as some of you would know. He also said the pattern didn't strike him as CF until I mentioned it, but he thought it was a "different" finish to start with and basically if designed to look like CF, would be the work fake CF job ever......

So, I just thought I'd let you guys in on this conversation becasue it actually stunned me that he wasn't harder on it than I was, especially knowing he shares many of my same beliefs, especially on design. He looked at it as a perfect laptop for kids younger than he - late teens/early 20's.... I also commented that if Asus did go with CF the price would probably be $400 more at the very least... To that he said, "nah, they did the right thing... the kids buying systems this tweaked for gaming are the ones strapped for cash the most because of all the other things they want for gaming."

Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

 

I dont think the lcd lid pattern is trying to look like carbon fiber. It is the pattern of carbon fiber, but so different it doesnt seem to me to be trying to fool you.


The mouse is fake carbon fiber, trying to fool you. Thats the difference he is pointing out. It is just a color different than black and silver on the notebook

 

So basically your brother said, "yea it's alright..."

 

Well, no it's not in the pattern of carbon fiber... not in the least...... and it's Asus' that originally said "carbon fiber"... that terminology has changed since I pointed it out to them... Now below is a close up of the G1's palmrest (which is similiar to the lid, but also shows some nice brushed aluminum) above a picture of the W1v carbon edition which was actual carbon fiber and in traditional weave most used for the depth it seems to have in decoration like this.... To call the G1's palmrest and lid "carbon fiber" disregards the cost and beauty of the W1's real carbon fiber and would lead many others to wonder if Asus really used carbon fiber chassis (which they do on the W/V/S/R series), if they claim the G1 and G2 were CF..... it just ruins their credibility, especially with the relatively low price and popularity the G1 has and will have into the new year. On top of that, other "news" sites and reviews are misstating the material as well. I just don't want anyone thinking one thing and then being dissappointed when they buy one.

 

Well, he said it was a great system, especially for the money. His two main systems are a W1 and a W2... bar none the best quality systems Asus has ever made, and arguably, I'd certainly say, the best quality notebooks ever made period..... He also has great materials knowledge and working here as long as he has, he knows what's worth what as well.

So I've been sitting back and wondering if I'm too hard on some of these things, like I set my bar too high, or what... because his response was certainly more than "it's alright"... I mean, my response to the G1 is that is a great machine for the money, and certainly a machine that finally goes directly at those xps, voodoo and alienware buyers....... but he really liked it as is and actually thought it would have been a bit more expensive based on the features.

He was a big fan of the direct flash and direct messenger... Those were features I just sort of wrote off. I'm three years older than he is, and the G1/G2 are aimed at more towards the younger crowd - when someone like him being pretty much at the cut off line... so perhaps I'm too old to appreciate who that's really designed for... hard to believe, but that could be the case.

 

I'll have to agree that that trying to misrepresent something is poor form. Usually, unless it's done very well, it comes off bad anyways. Even if that was real carbon fibre, I'm not sure how good it would look considering there is a transition between carbon fibre and brushed aluminum right in the middle of the palm rest. I haven't actually seen it in my hands so it's hard to tell.

Since ASUS applied the "carbon fibre" pattern to the trackpad, is it actually possible to make a real carbon fibre trackpad?

 

Actually that wouldn't have been a problem... especially since you can see a close up of the palmrest above.. the transition would be the same, so it's not a problem... I think it would have looked better, but also it would have given the structure the added stiffness it could always use and perhaps have lightened up the load a bit too...... two practical reasons if no other.. but of course, it would have have added to the price a lot, so that's really the only reason it didn't happen. I think a brushed aluminum lid like they're putting on the G2 and perhaps just continuing the brushed aluminum all the way up the palmrest would have been better... I don't know. Personally, I think it would have been to much and perhaps looked too much like the W1/W2, which they really don't want to confuse.

A thin sheet of carbon fiber actually could work over the touchpad if simply applied to a recessed touchpad, but it would be hard to give the slight tecure they're putting on them these days. The pattern on the touchpad is exactly what they put on the palmrest and lid.... let's not call that a CF pattern at all... it really isn't and really only helps confuse people.

... It's a nice pattern.. and different... and as a simply pattern, it looks better than just all black. However, if it's supposed to look like carbon fiber, it just turns it from a nice high end pattern in paint on plastic... to a low end simulated carbon fiber..... I know some people will not grasp that, but for those that do, I'm sure they'll comment.

 

I, for one, rather have that pattern than a solid toned piece of plastic. Call me stupid but I just like my looks. I'm not getting a laptop to impress anybody, so I couldn't care less.

Anybody buying a laptop in order to impress strangers need to look in another department...like Rolex.

 

Humm... well, impressing yourself should honestly be what you want to do.. otherwise, what gives you that extra smile every time you turn it on. I for one enjoy those little things.

On the other hand "simulated carbon fiber" or anything simulated is meant to be a cheap way to "impress" people further away.... Standing just a few feet away from the G1 and even a trained eye would be fooled..... So, really this works in the opposite way you're trying to defend. I understand your comment about plastic, but I don't think we're talking about the same thing..... plastic with a high gloss finish like... on the ipods... that has it's place, but isn't trying to look like anything else. Know what I mean?

 

Is this apply to V1J as well?

 

Let's keep this on topic..... I have no idea what you mean by "is this apply to v1j as well?" because I can only assume what you mean.... The V1 doesn't fake any materials and it's build quality is great and it's also a good weight for it's size. Other than that, I'm not sure what comment I or anyone made on the G1 that you could possibly asking about...... but drop me a pm or an email if you want to continue asking about the V1.

 

Look out! He's gonna call us all whippersnappers next...

Still, I know what you mean, Justin. While I'll admit the G1 makes a viable alternative to the Dell XPS and Alienware gaming notebooks, it certainly isn't my cup of tea.

 

Exactly... I'm not sure where that cut off line is, but it's before me.....lol. It would be my formal design background that pushed me a long a bit, but everything in my life needs to be clean, understated, purposeful.... I can see where the G1 numbers wise is a great system and since there's a market for those gaming specific systems.... Asus just widen their market. The G1/G2 does not compete with the V or W series..... it does not compete with the F or A series...... it's in it's own world and compared to the dell and alienware, I'd obviously go with Asus any day of the week. I guess it's just how I'd think about it... It's sort of like high school... you had your cliques and hated everyone else..... but on game day, you ALL hated the other school.

 

Well put. I'm 22 and I think the G1 looks amazing. In fact, I've got one on order from you guys right now. I can't wait to get it in my hands!

I am a graphic artist and website designer and programmer. I use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and a text editor all day long so I need as much desktop real estate that I can get my hands on.

I have been interested in purchasing an ASUS for a while now since I began reading about them. Unfortunately all ASUS laptops up until this one have not had the right ratio of screen resolution to power for my needs. I also am a PC gamer on the side, so having the 512MB 7700 graphics card is going to be perfect! I have been using a 9lb Dell Inspiron 8200 with a 1.6Ghz pentium 4m processor and 64mb geforce 4 440go for the past 4 years so I'm positive that this laptop will be a refreshing upgrade.

As for the pattern on the laptop, I didn't even think of carbon fiber when I first saw it. The only thing that made me think of carbon fiber was that it was in the description. It's more like black circles on a gray background to me with some interesting shine and I like it. I will be using the laptop at work, home and school so I do hope the build quality is up to par! I'm positive it's going to be much better than my 8200.

 

I'm 21 and the G1 would just be... Too flashy for me.

I like my Z33 and the similarly styled (in some respects) models like the W3, W7, etc more. The V1 is well styled but it's too big, however the V2 looks mighty interesting

 

.. well anything would be better than your 8200 .. let's face it.

OK... well I never said it was going to be everyone's cup of tea, and I've gotten some late 20's early 30's guys checking out the G1's too... so we can't really limit this to an age group like 15-22 or something... but in general that's who they're pushing towards.

 

Im a bit half/half with the G1 design, at first i liked it and thought it was something different compared to some other notebooks i have seen. But then i guess my mood changed, overall i would probably prefer a model such as the V1j as it seems a bit more conservative in comparison to the G1 with its green colours and lights (I still dont get the round logo thing under the touchpad?? aesthetics i guess??).

Though I ended up ordering the G1 anyway (from Proportable woot) as it was just outside my price range, the extra 100 dollars makes a difference since im in Australia + there was the shipping on top of that as well.

Id consider myself more in between the stages i guess (I'm 18) one side of me wants the cool looking laptop with the lights and colours, while the other side of me wants a nice conservative and yet stylish notebook.... and for some reason i had this urge to try out an nvidia based GPU for a change, its been a while.

If my job was bringing in a little bit more cash i most likely would have made a different decision. But I think i will hopefully be pleased with the G1 still anyway

I guess its all on personal preference, i see how younger people might be the more common purchaser of the G1 (and its style) but i've seen many people outside the age group of say 15-21ish that have had PCs decked out with neons, crazy designed towers etc.....and they are grown people with families, maybe some people still like to have a change sometimes?

 

I think I can bring a close to at least my personal look at it....... We've been doing this coming up on 6 years now and what I liked from the begining was the professional outlook (mobility, simplicity of design and build quality) over super high-end performance or super cheap systems everyone could afford. The V1 is a continuation of the original M1a that introduced the modular bay and made a lightweight system with no compromises for a mobile professional at the time..... that costs money... The thinkpads really never took a nose dive and tried to get into either the cheaper market dell commands or the gaming market alienware commands.......

I think Asus did a good job, but we have to remember that although some may say they're spreading themselves thin, Asus knows what's going on and what they're doing... I personally just have to seperate the budget from the professional from the gaming.... they each have something great to bring to the table against everything else in the world.... but it was the professional systems that kicked it off for me... For me, the G1 would then simply be too heavy, not built like a tank, and is not minimalistic in the approach to the design.......... There is nothing wrong with that as a well priced full on gaming system... it wouldn't fly for a $2200+ profesisonal system... but that's where we need to draw the line... The V1 and G1 can't be compared to each other, even though everyone wants to try to justify one over the other.. they're just different, and each in their own good way.

 

Yeah, let's not compare black and white by justifying grey/gray. Let's put it this way, the G1 is one of the best in its league and the V1 is one of the best in its league.
Anyway, I am 19, and I find the G1 very attractive.

 

Right... That's pretty much how it should be stated.

 

I would get the g1 because its statistics are not available anywhere else at any price right now

That is the main consumer of the system.

It is a computer purchase first and asthetics 2nd. It has a great screen, max ram 7700 go for 1800 there is nothing worth comparing it to. You can compare it to the alienware 5500 just because they both have nintendo plastic colors but I dont think the plastic colors are what sells the g1 customer.
there is not a demand for the g1 because of its gaming plastic. If there was there would be a demand for the g2 as well.

They are looking for the leading edge of technology for this size computer....

 

I agree with Stamar. I am a geezer (or maybe pre-geezer) and don't give a rat's rear what it looks like, I am buying it for the 7200 CPU, 7700 GPU, and the rest of the components that make it an excellent deal. I can turn the green lights off and since I use a mouse I can turn the touchpad off so the eye thing isn’t lit up too. If the plastic looks crappy I'll drag out my spray gun and change it.

 

I turned off the lights easily from Direct Messenger so that wasn't a problem.

I actually dig the carbon fiber look, but I hate how my finger prints are all over the laptop now.

Is there any spray or something that I can put on the finish to make it a little fingerprint proof?

 

What on Earth is a W1J?

 

There's a thread on it.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=90877

Asus Global Site
http://www.asus.com/products3.aspx?l1=5&l2=22&l3=123&slname=W1 Series

 

It was a 15.4" version of the W2, one of my favorite models, and probably the one which lead me to first look at ASUS, as my uncle's friend had one and I was using it during an XMas party.

It's jam packed with features like the W2, just alot smaller but about the same weight hah.

 

Well.. if you want to be specific, the W2 was more of a 17" version of the W1..

The reason we stopped selling it here in the US, and the only reason was because the W2 just happened to be only 3/4lbs more, but would cost the same with the same current configurations..... Even though the footprint of a 17" is going to be larger, the market couldn't support both of them as most would goes towards the larger 17" since it was around the same price and only marginally heavier.

 

Hmmm...I find the design of the G1 to be a bit garish and flashy, but overall pretty good. I'm 15, so I could be considered part of the demographic for the G1. I honestly do prefer all other Asus Ensemble models (save for the F3 and A6) to the G1, but its still much better than say, the XPS M1710, and also better than the S/Z96J, which is much too bland.

Of course, the main thing about the G1 is performance, but I would rather have an A8Js, which is smaller and better as a road warrior (I carry my laptop to univ every day) without giving up performance, and also cheaper by $200. Granted, it has less memory and hard disk, but an upgrade to 2GB RAM is $100 and the 160GB hard disk is beyond overkill, 100GB is more than sufficient.