First Official pictures of North American W3v

The P.O. was closed, but the building is open for access to P.O. boxes.

Come on, I'm in South Carolina, a state that's 30 years behind the rest of the country -- the Post Offices here didn't even stay open past 5 p.m. on April 15.

But I'll soon be moving to Athens. Georgia is only 10 years behind the rest of the country, so it'll be a bold step into the future for me. [ ]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by eightone

 

Oh yeah one more thing Justin.

About the stickers on the laptop, is it OK to remove them without voiding warranty? I don't want to get screwed for something so obnoxiously ruining my beautiful machine.

I asked last time, but didn't get a straight answer. I'll be paranoid until I get one.

[l]ikwid.[f]uzion

 

i personally don't understand why anyone would want more than 1 partition of the same file system! There is absolutly no increase in reliability with having more partitions -- i have no idea where anyone would get that idea. If a virus wanted to take out your data, it doesn't sit and delete all your files... that would take too long, it just erases your MBR (master boot record) which takes out all partitions. Furthermore, if your drive did fail, you'd lose everything, not just partitions. infact, since you have that much more overload with parition records, you actually increase your odds of a bad sector being on the partition record.

The only reason to have partitions is 1) multiple user environments, but with NTFS, and it's new security/privacy features, you don't need partitions for this reason anymore
and 2) dual booting with OS's that require a different file system... e.g. NTFS for windows xp and perhaps FAT32 for linux.

If you want real redundancy, get a $50 external 3.5" enclosure (i got a nice aluminum one that takes both firewire and usb 2.0, and can take a cdrom drive) and put a hard drive in it. I see 200gb 7200rpm 8mb hard drives are now down to $115 CAN! Or you could get an all in one solution if you didn't wanna build your own enclosure. it's cheap, it's fast, and it's TRUE redundancy!

Anyway, taht's my 2 cents... time for bed.

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flaxx

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flaxx

 

OK, so people have their North American W3V units in hand now so where are the user reviews and user photos???

C'mon people! [ ]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
PS. all this probability mumbo jumbo stems from me having an engineering stats midterm in a couple hours...[xx(]
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

haha, yeah, i'm 4th year computer science and have done stats too, so that's where my reasoning comes from.

ya know, i've asked this question twice and nobody has answered... has anyone underclocked their GPU (for powerful GPU's like the W3N/W3V) to see if it improved battery power? Perhaps Justin can comment on this? I'll repost this question in the thread regarding lowering the P-M voltage (i've got my at 0.7v@600MHz and 0.956v@top speed -- which is over 40% lower voltage at high performance!! It equates to over 1hour 15 minutes with my laptop (and when the battery was new, i'm sure it would have equated to almost 2 hours!!))

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mar2k

 

whats the word on the screen? sparkly?

how bout the heat/temperature issues?

 

No sparklies on the screen. I just went to Best Buy today, and was looking at all the screens there -- the W3 is way better than the sony s-series, imho.

The unit definitely gets warm -- there's some pretty hot air blowing out the vent on the right side, and the bottom gets hot enough on AC that you probably don't want it directly on your lap (but who ever actually puts a laptop on their lap, anyway?); on battery power, it's not so bad -- enough to make your legs sweat, probably, but not uncomfortably hot. The palm rest gets warm enough to notice it, but not enough to be annoying. The power brick is blazing hot, though -- let it cool down before shoving it into your bag with the computer!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flaxx

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by eightone

 

Just a heads up to meijern and justin. AFAIK CPU-Z doesnt support Sonoma platforms (915 pm) which is why it can report funky things with sonoma memory / fsb.

There was a thread about this on NBF a while back.

 

Well there you go.... that might be the reason.... Although it did pick up that it was ddr2 533....

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
When you format the partition, you lose ALL the data on it. Sorry, but that is NOT my style. For years and years of using computers, I've NEVER gotten a virus/worm. In fact, I don't use [and HATE] virus scanners. They only slow down the computer for the paranoid [and slow minded] people.
[l]ikwid.[f]uzion
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Haha, i used to be like you, until i got hit REAL BAD several times by viruses and let me tell ya, it only takes one time and you loose everything! Then you get a virus scanner, and u find out everything you burned is infected.

I now have my security cranked insanly high on browsers, and use specific browers for specific tasks. So adware never picks up any adware. But i've had some java stuff (until i started disabling it and manually renabling it) with classes infected with viruses/backdoors/etc. It's not worth it with the new internet age.

Even so though, if performance is an issue, 2 clicks and you can disable Norton Antivirus for 15 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, until system restart, or permanantly (until you turn it back on).

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

Like I said, virus scanners/software firewalls are for paranoid/novice users. The only person that uses my computers is me. So I know what goes on every time it's on. I don't even use email much so viruses can't infect me there. I'm also aware of the sites that I go to as well as programs I install [which I don't install any new ones anyways].

With no virus scanners and above specs, I have zero programs at startup.

The only services I leave on automatic are:

Event Log
Plug and Play
Protected Storage
Remote Procedure Call
Windows Audio

Everything else is disabled and few are left on manual. I turn back on certain services when it is needed for certain things [e.g. Windows Update, defrag, install/uninstall programs using Windows Installer, etc.] When Windows XP finish starting up, I use less than 80 MB PF Usage under Task Manager.

Conclusion: I'm not your average computer user. My style of extreme config is not for every body. Only those that knows their own system front and back should be doing this.

Note: these are for my main PC. I have several more essential services on auto for my W3V for convenience, like DHCP, wireless zero config, etc. but it's a derived extreme configuration as well.

[l]ikwid.[f]uzion

 

As long as you know what you're doing, you're not going to run into any problems.... and it sounds like much more aware of what's around you than joe schmo

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Well that's cool man. I am too dynamic of a user and the stuff I do is too high risk and I've lost my data too many times to risk it. And although my laptop is mostly used by me, i let people use it sometimes (and my desktops are used by family almost excusivly (i only use it through remote desktop occationally). As for booting up, hibernation is same speed with or without services, and as for memory efficiency, that's why I have 1024mb of ram [ ]

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

P.S. Congrads Justin on becoming moderator. When did that happen? Now I guess you can boot those obnoxious people or person when they blatantly start criticizing your company without any just cause.

 

Thank you.... Actually I prefered the role of notebook deity --- note that I got them to change the spelling..... it just so happens that I spend more time in there than the moderator, so I can still help take care of problems, I just won't have the stigma of being a "moderator" since neither myself or my company has any sort of ties with NotebookReview aside from me spending more time on here than with my family... So if anyone has a problem, needs to make a sticky, or anything else... I'm more than willing to help you.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>...deity --- note that I got them to change the spelling<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Haha! I noticed the other day that it was misspelled! I just thought it would be silly to post it, haha. Good job man.

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'> For years and years of using computers, I've NEVER gotten a virus/worm. In fact, I don't use [and HATE] virus scanners. They only slow down the computer for the paranoid [and slow minded] people.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

I'm not being funny but if you don't use a virus scanner, how would you *know* you don't have a virus? I don't think it's possible to *know* that.

Essentially, *any* file that makes it to the hard drive or core memory is a potential problem. That happens when you install software, receieve e-mail, or browse the web.

It sounds like you're actually relying on using trusted sources having scanned their software/files for viruses, before they get to your computer. This is good practice, of course. However, it simply won't catch everything - somtimes problems are discovered only after files make it out of the door onto other people's computers.

I don't understand why you *HATE* virus scanners. They do not, in general, slow modern computers down significantly. The only time virus scanners use significant system resources is when they perform full scans (scanning every file on a hard drive): and, for that, it's usual to schedule such scans for times when you're not using the computer.

Finally, I can't even begin to understand your assertion that virus scanners are only for paranoid and/or slow-minded people. Obviously that's not correct, perhaps you were joking...?

 

Cheers georgem. I was wondering that myself.

 

pc cillin (which is what asus used for the last 5 years up until the w5/v6/w3) was actually really nice becasue it used almost a 1/5th of the resources that norton did....... so it could run in the background without the need to turn it off..... I like it and it's run great for me......... but I can see why people are turned off by norton and macafee...

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

i don't understand why people are so concerned with memory resources. come on, you can always get more ram, it's cheap. besides, unless you run many program concurently, with a gb of ram, you will rarely run out of memory. It's easier to close browsers and such then disable virus scanning and services.

having said that, virus scanners do introduce much more IO because I know, atleast for norton, it's an excellent excellent scanner because before anything executes or is read, it's passed to norton first to scan for viruses. now although we do have the convenience of cache that speeds up the procesess, each file is accessed at least twice. I certainly notice a lag in programs starting up with norton vs. without "auto-protect" disabled.

besides, i also agree that it's silly to say that virus protection is for "paranoid" or "slow people". Using a computer on the net without virus protection is like driving your car without insurance. Time and data is precious; so for me, I feel like i'm driving a ferrari -- it would be pretty stupid to try and save a few bucks by driving your ferrari uninsured [ ]. Sure, you may not have accidents, but once is all it takes[B)]

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

That's like saying vaccinations are for the paranoid and slow-minded. Bullet-proof vests are for the feeble and phobic. Health/car/home insurance are for afraid and ignorant masses.

 

exactly... but when you're running like 256mb of ram on win xp.... running norton is going to kill you.... even 512mb if you're doing much more than just internet and email, you're going to take a hit. I think last time I checked norton was using like 50mb where as pc cillin was allocating something like 5mb, and their virus tables are updated more often than norton's seem to be....

But you're right.. ram is cheap...... the problem is all of those programs people have running in the background that they never use.... plus all the spyware and adware that probably allocates atleast 1/2 to 3/4 of all available resources people have......

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Remember how I said that some people just use the forums to find out what to buy... and not so much hang out on them? Well I think this might be the case... although I know that at least 15 of those pre-orders were from regular posters on here........ so maybe they just haven't had time.... no news is always good news though.. it means they're out there enjoying their new toy.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

well likwid definitely seems like he's got a system that works for him, although unorthodox but to each his own. i think many of us agree that micromanaging an OS, especially Windows XP is just downright nasty and might even be inefficient/time-consuming.

I've tweaked XP, stripped away some services here and there but not to the point where I'm running a barebones version of XP but some people do have the notion that crippling XP is the only way to have a secure XP.

Now as far as being stingy on resources and being paranoid over memory hogs, we helped create that two-headed beast. It's there to use so use it. I don't think it's a waste. I mean, who buys a pair of brand new shoes to stick in the closet and wear it only around the house?

BTW: Proportable sold out all its stock of w3v's and I'm sure all of them have been shipped out and I think 50-60% were preorders. So where the hell are the reviews! I know you're out there!

 

OK, so I havn't been checking the forum for a few days...only because I've been speding ALL of my time playing and showing off my new W3V!! This thing is unbelievable! It's beautiful. It's fast. It's more than I truely expected!! I am truely amazed! All of my family, friends and coworkers are jealous! I had to get them to back off because of the drool!! First impression of speed is awesome. Just as fast as my P4 2.8 HT. I don't have any benchmarks yet, so take this for what it's worth...coming from a system admin who configures, optimizes, updates and maintains over 6500 pc's and notebooks in a corporate environment...THIS THING KICKS ASS!!!

 

Eightone--

See my post in this thread, 4/21/05 10:51 p.m. (page 4)

It's not a complete review, more just first impressions, but I do ramble on.....

 

there should be a thread dedicated to new W3 owners....

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

There should be a whole *site* dedicated to those of us smart and cool enough to own a W3. [ ]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by flaxx

 

harsh man, i would have installed everything on the w3 during one of the classes, so i can at least program in style, haha. programming is definitly time consuming, especially as you get higher up the ladder. a group of 3 of us made an opengl game for a class... we got on the hall of fame, but lets just say at one point we were going for 60 hours without sleep -- your efficiency definitly goes down at that point, not recommended, haha.

anyway, good luck man. i'm off to my biochem exam (yes, biochem and computer science, what a lovely combination huh? haha)

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
40gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by PROPortable

 

Here are pictures that I took of my unit yesterday morning:

http://home.comcast.net/~likwidfuzion/w3v/

For those wondering [without W3Vs], the pictures taken with the lid open is at the optimum vertical viewing angle when I'm sitting the couch and the W3V on the coffee table as shown. I'm 5'7" to give you reference.

As you can also see from my minimalistic tyranny earlier, my desktop/taskbar is VERY clean. The icons you see at the bottom are the 2 icons for the wireless/ethernet, the sound control, and the battery status.

To compare how very minimalistic I am, view these screenshots of my main PC: http://home.comcast.net/~likwidfuzion/computer/mydesktop.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~likwidfuzion/computer/startmenu.jpg

That's exactly what you see what you turn it on [pic 1]. Nothing in the taskbar [besides the Quick Launch shortcuts], not even the clock. As you can see as well, my start menu is also very organized. If I found a way to hide the My Computer icon [without hindering convenience], I would do that too. ;P

One quick improvement that I could see on ANY laptop is external volume control [as seen on many standard PC keyboards these days]. It would've made it so much easier than to click that little icon down there.

[l]ikwid.[f]uzion

 

Looks nice.

The keyboard should have 'external keys' to control your volume. Try pressing Fn + F10 to F12.

 

hi Likwid, what's your opinion of the heat on that thing?

 

Have you or anyone else noticed any dead pixels yet?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by LiKWiD FuZioN

 

I wonder if the limited vertical viewing angle would make this a difficult laptop to use on a plane. Any thoughts? It seems like it would be difficult to find the right angle since it will be so limited by the seat in front, etc..

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by jeanlo

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Goren

 

nice pictures! I'm really wanting that laptop. I love my m3, but after seeing the w3... i dunno. I also like the widescreen and GPU. The only thing i don't like about it is its battery life. Although it's exceptional for the stuff in it, those GPU's are not efficient! With RightMark, i get 6-8 hours of battery life -- the w3v's 3-5 hours just can't compete. We need the "pentium-m" of GPU's...

oh, and if you're a "minimalist" with respect to your desktop and start menu then i guess i'm a "maximalist"... i do have a nicely organized start menu (but i have a lot more things in it than u), but my desktop is just loaded with icons. I clean it up when it starts overlapping my active desktop calander. I guess it takes all kinds.

Thanks again for the pics.

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
1GB PC2700 DDR
100gb 5400rpm 8mb Cache Seagate Hard Drive /w 5 Year Warranty
Intel 2200BG 802.11g Wireless

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by iikimchee

 

In reference to the plane question and subsequent comment...

I believe he was concerned about being able to open the monitor and fold it back that far with the limited room from the seat in front. However I think that because the W3V is about the same height as a 12 inch notebook, there should be plenty of room to do this.

correct me if i'm wrong.

 

You've got room. I haven't taken my W3 on a plane yet, but I've taken my S5 and M5 many times before. Both are the same physical height, and you'll be fine. Most airline trays pull out as well, so even if they recline you can pull it towards you and push the screen back further. I can't see this being a problem.

Just take it from me, don't let the guy next to you leave his drink anywhere near you.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Hey justin, I think I know about as much about ASUS machines as you do now [ ]

I'm also recommending you all over these forums and I haven't even done business with you yet. My bro has though, and he's happy.
hook me up with some commission, [ ]

(for the record, I don't know as much as justin and I don't expect commission, but i'll take it)

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by fishfood