First week with W3J

Been using my W3J for almost a week now and have a few quick comments. I use it everyday for roughly 10-12 hours, for lecture plus study time. It runs MS PowerPoint like a champ. Yes, I know this isn’t exactly the benchmark that most users on the Asus forum use, but right know that’s the most important thing to me other than the wireless function, which works great too. Bought the W3J because of the processor/dedicated graphics, but haven’t had the time to install COD2 as studying has taken priority. Ah, yes, medical school. Construction is great, beats DELL by a long way, Asus power gear4 and Splendid software rocks and makes things MUCH easier to adjust QUICKLY. I get a solid 3 hours of battery life with wireless on, so 3 lectures and then I have to plug in.

Now for the bad, it came from ASUS with an OS install that was buggy as HELL. I’ve never had a pre-installed system be so squirrelly. I was getting random blue screen errors, random shutdowns (those really suck), and process freezes. Converted from Fat32, didn’t help much. Went in and uninstalled bloatware (Norton), didn’t help. Got so pissed off about random reboots, that I restored from provided disks. No problems since restore.

Why does ASUS do this? Build a great notebook, then F the OS install? Well at least its user fixable. I’d buy one again, but I’d restore first thing out of the box rather than waiting 3 days.

 

Guess the first installation of the OS was corrupt and when it was finalized by QC, they didn't do a good job at it!

Glad to see that a quick restoration with the provided CD's did the trick!

 

This may not have been your new laptop at all.

Sometimes, malicious software can cause all kinds or wierd problems. Glad you were able to resolve with a quick restore (I am interested in this process, as I am a few weeks away from purchasing my own W3J).

To get the most out of your computer, and keep it clean and BSOD free while in your lectures, check out my post here.

You might already know this stuff, but there may be some more that you didnt, and can maybe help you enjoy that BEAUTIFUL machine for a very long time to come.

 

I wish computer companies would include OS install disks so users could do a clean install with just the basic OS and not all the bloatware. Technically, you are paying for a license of the OS but the way most laptops are setup, you don't really have the option of re-installing or installing the OS on a new laptop if you upgrade even if you do own it...

 

There wasn't any malicious software, at least according to LavaSoft,SpyBot, and CA antivirus, which I installed before connecting to the internet for the first time, not to mention I don't surf high risk websites, i.E. porn or bittorent.

Restore went pretty flawlessly. Takes nearly two hours though...

It's not an issue for an amatuer computer nerd, but for "normal" perople who expect their equipment to run perfectly out of the box, it ain't happening here.

 

i had to restore too

out of box is real buggy, kept getting "Bad Pool Caller", "PFN List Corrupt" and "IRQL Not Less or Equal"

couldnt even install my av software (ca ezarmor)

 

I don't have much experience in all this, but the first thing I plan to do is re-install everything. It only makes sense to start with nothing and build it from there. I plan on installing only a single program at a time as well, that way I know whats causing problems when things get buggy.

 

did you do a fresh copy install or keep files install? was your ethernet still connected when doing this? you have to remember that you computer is defenseless the moment the new OS is in place and all the drivers are wiped.

 

Offtopic, but since you are a brand new owner - how are the viewing angles on the screen. Particularly I'm interested in viewing from below the laptop. Say if you put your laptop on a table above you, would the screen darken and lose contrast and color as you got closer to the floor.