For those of you ordering an Asus C90...

What are you configurations?

How well do you expect the C90 to handle Crysis and UT3?

How much are you paying for it?

How long (specifically) do you expect the battery life to be?

 

My guess is under 2 hours of battery life. If you want something with longer batter life I suggest you check out the Compal IFL90.
Tim

 

2 hours I think is a pretty optimistic estimate for the C90.

You must remember, its going to have way less battery life than the G1s (2.5hrs estimated), which is essentially the same thing as this except with a laptop processor. The added power draw of a desktop CPU and that array of turbines/cooling fans on the back will decrease that to like 1.5hrs, or less if you do something processor intensive.

Configurations are whatever you have money for. I recommend going for a E4300 CPU, 2GB memory, and 120GB hard drive. Total comes to something like $1300, without OS.

I don't know about gaming performance, but it should be similar to the G1s, if not slightly better.

 

MY Z84j can't even stand longer than 1 hours... I don't know if my battery is a bad one or not.

 

How do you like the screen/resolution on your Z84J?

 

The C90 is some sort of freakish desktop/laptop hybrid. Not the regular desktop replacement type, but a computer that according to Asus is "Entirely customisable." I don't know what all that rambling accomplished except to say that I don't think it is entirely clear what niche this laptop falls into yet.

 

I think the Maximum battery life was around 1:30 hours.

 

Well, if you look at it, almost every component can be customised. You can put any Conroe desktop CPU, up to 4GB memory, whatever hard drive you want, MXM Type II graphics so the graphics card can be upgraded, and you can put any kind of PCI-E wireless card. The only things you can't change are the motherboard and screen. This is nice, because it means that you can keep futureproofing this computer for at least a couple of generations, meaning that you should be able to get 4-5 years of decent performance out of this, instead of the normal 2-3 that is there on other laptops.

 

Oh yea, I certainly like it, I just don't know how to describe it to someone else yet =P

 

4 to 5 years of decent performance? You can't even get that from a desktop system, which is much more customizable then a notebook. The C90 already cannot take quad core CPUs, which already limits the length of "decent" performance you're going to have. Furthermore, MXM Type II will most-likely be obsolete by the time the next generation of GPUs is released.

You're not going to get anymore use out of the C90 than you would with an FL90. Customizability is nice and all, but you'll never be able to keep up with technology. Quad Core will be the mainstream processor by the time Q4 hits, and the C90 is already behind in that area.

The C90 will be a fun notebook, but many of the people who buy them will be in the market for another notebook this time next year.

 

Doesn't that also apply to G1S owners?

 

I know what a C90 is, I know what makes it "special" I just want people to answer the questions plz!

 

I don't think anyone is ordering one =/ We are doing the best we can.

 

I understand that you guys are answering some of the questions but I know Metzen and Cmart4 have both ordered them I think Follow ATi did too

 

for me, battery time is not so relevant as i'll be plugged in most of the time. i view this more as a portable desktop than a laptop, a hybrid of sorts if you will. my config is in my sig.... i really wanted something that i could upgrade and was somewhat futureproof; at least as much as possible, also something as powerful as i could get for the money w/o spending over $3k. regarding the price, suffice it to say that danny@milestone took really good care of me. for me, this laptop is absolutely what i've been waiting for. as for the gaming side, i would suspect, at least hope, that this beast should be able to handle ut3/crysis reasonably well. i ordered mine 5/9 and would be happy to answer any/all questions once i get it. and yes, i'll post pics too.
chris

 

I think the C90 will handle Crysis fine. It's biggest advantage is being able to upgrade, so if it can't handle it, well then the rest of asus's laptop will struggle as well. And I doubt that will be the case. For configuration, most likely I'll throw my E6600 on it when I move to 45nm on the desktop; so I'll end up just buying the barebone, hard drive and ram. Maybe $1400 all together? I'm also waiting on availability and some user's review first. For the battery life, honestly I'm not expecting much, maybe 1.5 hrs or close to 2 is good enough for my use. I'll have access to power in most case such as school, work, and car. The worse come I'll just buy some extra batteries.

 

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but this is sorta relevant: anyone know if you can upgrade to a better battery for the C90? It comes with a 6-cell battery IIRC. Can you upgrade to say, an 8 or 12-cell? That'd certainly help.

I'm getting one, and it'll have 160gb hard drive, the E6600, and 2gb of Corsair memory for under $1500.

 

im think of buying a barebone with CPU and warranty only. installment of HD,RAM,OS will not void the warranty and they can be purchased with much cheaper price from newegg.com. (about $200-300 after rebates,suppose u r lucky enought)

With the cheapest CPU, E6320, its about $1300 including shipping at BTO Tech. I didnt get the high-end gpu, because even E6320 will pawn most of the santa rosa CPU's. so its really about $1500-1600 for a great gaming laptop.

Also, since i live in California, i have to pay sales tax. Therefore i have to buy the barebone at a not so great price to avoid taxes. So for those of u live in other states, its even cheaper. GenTech has really competive price out there.

I dont expect much battery life out of it. Since it will be plugged in all the time,as long as it lasts 10 mins, i will buy it. For me, battery's only function is to prevent data lose when power suddenly goes off.

 

I wish I could get one with a 2.66GHz processor , but I have to get one for under $1700 and I need to get a 2-3 year warranty

 

the price will go down. Just wait and upgrade later. But processor wont make that big of a differnce in game. GPU is always the bottleneck. u can get a mid-end cpu under $1700,then overclock it. C90s has a built-in mod for it. But it will shorten battery life to 14 mins. Yes, 14mins. I am stuck with E6320 for now. Maybe my roomate will sell me his E6600 at a really cheap price when he upgrade his rig,which is soon. lol.

 

I’m ordering one from GentechPC, here’s my reasoning/response to some criticisms:

1. Battery life
While I think it would be great to have a PC with 12-18 hours of battery life (such that I could just charge it at night), there’s really not going to be any practical difference for me between 1.5 and 2.5 hours of cordless use as I’m going to have to carry the adapter around with me either way.

2. Weight and size
Weight doesn’t bother me, I’m use to carrying around heavy bags, and I figure it’s good excessive. Bulk is a bit more of an issue, but the difference in volume between a 15" and 14" is going to be significantly less then a casebook (I’m a law student), so it’s unlikely to make a difference in how many books I can fit in my bag. Anyway I’ve been carrying around a 17" for the past three years so anything is going to seem compact by comparison.

3. Gaming
I don’t have any interest in action games, I love strategy games (namely the Civilization series and the like), and some CRPGs. Since these games tend to lag in terms of system requirements (particularly strategy) I imagine I’ll have several years of gamming capacity. Processor speed is also much more of an issue with strategy, graphics may not be intense, but there’s some pretty complex AI calculations so I figure that the (ungradable) desktop CPU will help out there. Maybe quad-core will be standard by Q4, but I need the laptop before that so it’s rather irrelevant to me.

4. Price
By ordering the parts from newegg I’m getting the whole system for ~$1600 (with Vista home premium); I don’t consider that an amazing deal, but it’s not bad for brand new technology. Specs: 2.4GHz; 2GB RAM; 120GB 5400 HD; bluetooth; wireless; + standard.

Conclusion:
I keep hearing people say, “I’m not sure what niche this laptop is suppose to fill,” but I think it fits my needs nicely. The ASUS F3 would be another choice, but I think the C90 will fit my needs better. Buying it before there are reviews is a bit of a risk, but one I’m willing to take in order to get the computer a month earlier then I would if I waited for a review (figuring two weeks for a review to be written here, and another two weeks to get the PC).

 

No, I'm not ordering online. But I may be buying one from China sometime this year. But no, I'm not ordering one online and the battery life will last about 1.5 hours just surfing the web and gaming woujld last max 30 mins.

 

oh ok. The whole 14 minutes doesn't really matter, it's not like I'm gonna game while I'm at school (I'm still in high school) so that doesn't matter. I'd only game if I had the cord with me. But I guess you guys are right as far as processor go but I can get a 2.13GHz for under $1700 so I'll be good I think

 

Yay for high school!! SamsungFTW is right, there isn't too much gaming goin on while I'm in school, except in some my ap's now that the exams are over (roller coaster tycoon is physics right?). I think I'm going to order one as soon as I get a summer job and find someone to buy my AW. Neither the battery nor the size bug me, I just want to wait and make sure the thing doesn't burn up processors like the desktop P-4 lappies did, and also get actual benchies on the 8600 considering all the speculation going on.

 

That was actually on one of my electro-magneto statics exams. No lie.

 

Yeah and yes Roller Coaster Tycoon is physics I just took my Honors Physics final today

 

Here are my specs: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz. Got a better deal for this on NewEgg and already have it.

2GB DDRII 667MHZ SO-DIMM Memory. Also got a better deal on this from NewEgg and have it in my shop now.

Thats the thing that I like about these unique systems. Yes sure I can goto Dell and do the same thing but I do not have to choose Windows or any OS for that matter. That right there is saving me money. I plan to put a copy of Vista that I already have and even throw in a flavor of Linux to see how this beast handles it. I like the SATA connection on side of the unit too. In theory one would be able to Daisy Chain Multiple external drives. Correct me if I'm wrong? I'm still here waiting for the Barebone to come in.

 

When did they say you should receive it by?

 

This is the message that I had received from Danny of Milestone PC.

The comments for your order are

C90 is not in yet, Asus delayed the shipment to mid to late May.

Well May is close to the end now so I'm expecting Milestone to be sending me a UPS Tracking very soon.

For those of you with keeping costs in mind my processor was $320.00 and memory was $89.99 <- That was for (2) 1GB SODIMM's. NewEgg had a special.

 

Compal HEL80 has long battery life too

 

well. But no one in this thread seems to care about battery life. LOL. It is about performance, performance and performance.

 

Well it's not like power outlets are that hard to come by (with the notable exception of airplanes).

 

i heard about a new C90 that will use the new desktop platform. It is supposed to come out after intel releases the new desktop platform(quad-core?) Can anyone confirm this?

 

No, the C90 will be released with the next month.
The C90 is not Quad-Core capable, it only works with dual-core CPUs.

 

What I mean was a variant of the C90 family. Its a rumor tho. But I bet Asus will release another one like C90S with the next generation platform, if the C90S is successful.

 

Yeah I posted about the new version in another thread. Its called the Asus C90p and in my opinion thats the version people should wait for. It will have the upcoming Intel Bearlake Chipset (P35) which will support the new conroes coming out next month that have 1333 fsb the "50 series such as the e6550". But in my opinion the main reason I'm waiting for the c90p is because the c90s is upgradeable sure but penryn is coming out end of this year most likely and will be a HUGE improvement over the current core 2 duo processors. Without the p35 motherboard you won't be able to use penrynn so there goes the upgradeability of the processor. Bearlake also supports ddr3 ram which will probably become the standard by the end of next year. So I hope they give out more information about the c90p once they announce the c91 officially or something. Anyone from milestone or 1toppc know anothing about the c90p? Oh yeah also I am waiting for the c90p because by then the 8700m or 8800m whichever should be out by the end july which is my latest date to buy a laptop in time for having it for fall semester. Rather buy that right away instead of paying for a 8600m and then having to sell it for a lower price on ebay or something.

 

Don't get 4gb memory though if you want vista 32bit as it is not supported.

 

Any idea what the price point of the C90P will be? It looks like something I want to hold out for, especially if it supports quad-core processors and the 8700 or 8800 DX10 cards.

 

IT isn't at all official, its just rumors so nobody has an idea of price or even if the C90P will come out.

 

I think even if Asus releases C90P, it will be much more expensive than C90s. Since its using the next intel platform. The new cpu and DDR3 ram wont come cheap.

 

C90s not widescreen right? How heavy is C90S?

 

Hi, I am looking for a notebook with 8600GT too and after reading this :
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/hands_on_asus_core_2_duo_powered_c90s_notebook
I now don't see much point in C90... It has a HUGE muffler or something on a back, wich would be acceptable in case it would allow to have monsterous videocards, but infact all that cooling power is needed for CPU only, and on this pic http://www.notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=21612
you can see that it doesn't have any special heatsink on the MXM module, The last argument is in the "hands on article" - they said thet the C90 can only handle 25W for videocard, and as we know, current High-end videocards use 45W, while some monsters used up to 66W, the only exception is, 7900GS wich uses 20W if the data is correct, so there is almost no room for upgrade above 8600GT.
Maybe if we all gonna prey together ASUS will release A8 with 8600GT this summer?

 

Yeah well you can still can use the old ddr2 ram in the bearlake motherboards since ddr3 is expensive. Bearlake is the way to go because of penryn.

SDX the point of the c90 and the rest of the line that will come out during the year are to be desktop replacement notebooks. By using conroe processors the consumer saves alot of money instead of buying a mobile processor. Try configuring the c90 the way you want it and write down the price and compare it to a similar notebook with similar specs and the price difference will be obvious. Also the conroe processors are able to overclock alot more than its mobile counterparts. You can't overclock too much in mobile because of thermal restrictions but in the c90 you will be able to greatly overclock without having to worry about heat issues because of the fans. I dont see the big deal about the fans. They look fine and the c90 has a quiet mode where the fans barely operate. Regarding the graphics card issue show me a similar laptop the can handle monster graphics cards? Asus has already confirmed 5 upgradeable cards will come out for the c90 by january 2008. I'm assuming the 8800m gs/gtx will comprise 2 of them, maybe the rumored 8700 and probably some Ati graphics cards. The 8600 isnt a great card and nvidia has confirmed on their website that the "enthusiast" level of graphics card will come out this summer. So for the 15.4 there is no better laptop on the horizon unless you are looking for battery life then by all means you should look for a different laptop though its battery life is already confirmed 1.5 hours -2 hours range which is decent.

 

Interesting, I have not heard of the rumor on C90p. Damn it now you're making my decision twice as hard. But honestly I'm not too excited on ddr3, for one thing they will be overpriced and performance is negligible when compared to ddr2. Heck we can't even utilize ddr2 to its max on mobile so there isn't much of an advantage to ddr3 yet. I agreed with you on the support for penryn or whatever is the mobile equivalent version is a huge advantage in terms of battery life and performance wise. But the question is how long will take to hit the shelf? My guess is that is going to be at least Q1 or Q2 2008. It might be just too long for some of us.

 

Syne the article from maximum pc says this summer which makes sense since the new conroes are coming out around june 22. They had a meeting with asus and if you look at the link under the third picture they mention the c90p. The c90s is still a great comp just thought if you have time like me (though the waiting is kiliing me ) thats the version you should wait for.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/han..._c90s_notebook

As for ddr3 yeah it is expensive now but in year or a bit more it will become the standard. Most ddr2 is sufficient now because most processors fsb isnt fast enough to take full advantage of it but once penryn comes out ddr3 will have a signifigant effect. I also meant buy the new conroes for it and then you have the option to upgrade to penryn since in the c90s you wont be able to upgrade to penryn when it comes out on the c90p. NO way am i waiting for penryn to come out I just meant you can upgrade to penryn when needed.

 

Do you think an Asus F3SV-B1 would be good for me? my budget is <$1700 and I need it to take notes at school, work on essays like word and stuff,make chemistry labs, and I like to do a little gaming but I don't need max settings preferably medium settings. I want to be able to play Crysis with close to all medium settings and some of the other stuff like AA (if not, it's not necessary), Warcraft III (which I'm not worried about) and UT3 ( I REALLY want to be able to play UT3).

 

As long as there is power outlet, C90s will be fine. F3SV-BI is only $200 cheaper than C90S, but offers significantly less performance and is not future-proof. Personally, I would go for C90S just for the masculine looks.

C90s is good investment regardless the possible C90P. CPU is not all that important to gaming, graphic card is always the bottleneck. I have a P4 with 7900GS and it runs everything i threw at it fine. As long as u can upgrade the graphic card, it doesnt matter that much. Besides it take TIME for the quad-core to get adopted. Most game doesnt even take the advantage of duo-core cpu.

Another thing,in my opinion, C90p is unlikely to have quad-core cpu; it is probably an upgraded Core 2 Duo. If thats the case,it not worth waiting the C90p since the performance increse will be that much (about 5-15% .

 

well I need to be able to take it to class and take notes, I'm not quite sure what he availability of AC outlets is though. On the first day of school I'm going to go write down the number of AC outlets in each room just so I have an idea of whether or not to bring the brick. But the C90S seems VERY promising, I just want to see how hot it gets and if anyone can find a good carrying case for it. I really want an 8600M GT but with a budget of <$1700 I don't know what all is open to me other than the C90S and IFL90 (or whatever it's called).

 

right now, all we could do is wait. More deals will be out by mid-june. Regardless whats come next, the C90s is still no.1 on my list. Im looking at the lowest configuration for about $1500. But it still pawns all of the santa rosa notebooks out there.(possiblely the G1s,we will see )

 

atm there are 3 questions i have:

1. has the 8600M GT GDDR3 on board like the G1S?
2. shops list it with releasedate by the end of may, but we arleady have the end of may an no books in sight. so any info when they might ship?
3. will these cuties ship over to europe as well?