How is the W2V (and Asus quality in general)?

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and was hoping some of you who have had experience with Asus laptops can help me out.

I am going to be purchasing a 17" DTR laptop and I have recently come across a couple of reviews of the Asus W2V. From the pictures I've seen I think I've fallen in love with the the dark brushed aluminum effect and the layout/design of the laptop seems to be just what I've been looking for (very classy and professional). My problem is I don't know much about Asus and I can't see the laptop in a store where I live.

I was hoping one or more of you could help me get an idea of how the new Asus W2V compares to the following laptops below (or how Asus in general compares to any of the vendors below):

Sony A-790 (WUXGA) - Great screen, text seems too small
HP ZD8000 (WSXGA) - Text looks good and DVD's look great
Fujitsu N6210 (WXGA) - I've heard great things about this one
Toshiba G25 Qosmio (WXGA) - I like the vibrancy of the screen
Apple 17" Powerbook (WXGA) - I like OSX and the powerbook design

My chief concerns are:

1. Screen quality (brightness, color vibrancy and clarity of text). This is probably the most important part of the laptop for me. How does Asus' Crystal Shine and Color Shine compare with HP's Brightview, Fujitsu's Crystalview, Sony's Xbrite or Toshiba's Trubrite? I've seen the Qosmio screen and it seems to blow away the Powerbook and HP screens in terms of brightness, but I like the way DVD's play on the HP. I've heard that the Trubrite, Crystalview and Xbrite screens are the best and that others are a cut below. I know screens are pretty subjective, but if any of you can give me an idea of how the Asus compares, I would really appreciate it.

2. Noise. How noisy are the fans in the W2V? In a quiet room, will I be driven nuts by the fans? I heard this was a problem with the HP and the previous generation of Fujitsu (N6010).

3. Heat. Does the W2V get unreasonably hot, so I wouldn't be able to have it on my lap? Or is there a potential long term danger of components wearing out too early because of overheating?

4. Build Quality (durability and reliability). I use a Thinkpad at work and I like the build quality but I really like the design of the Asus brushed aluminum models, especially what I've seen of the W2V. I've heard Fujitsus are very reliable and my own experience with Apple products is that they are very reliable as well. How is Asus in terms of durability and reliability?

I don't care about weight and I don't care a lot about the graphics card as long as it can drive a Dell 2405fpw for spreadsheeting or web surfing. Ths ATI X700 is plenty for me.

Thanks for whatever any of you can do.

PCMAC

 

1. Haven't seen he W2V personally. I do own the W3V and it has a nice screen. Not as good as sony or fujitsu, but still good quality.

2. Only ASUS's that had fan problems were the older models. Mine is quiet as a mouse except when it is reading a disc that was just inserted. For some reason when you pop in a disc he fans get happy.

3. There should be no danger to components. Don't know personally about the heat, but the W3V is supposed to get hot (mine doesn't) and no one has complained out it harming the components yet so the W2V components should be fine.

4. This is what I can really comment on. ASUS built quality is top notch. You willl not find a better built/more stylish laptop than the ones that ASUS makes. They're durable and reliable (mine is). If you order one you'll see what I mean. When people play who have had Dells, Sonys, or Toshibas play around with my laptop, they are most impressed with how solid it feels. The most consistent compliment I get is on the look and feel.

 

Fishfood,

Thanks for the quick reply! I understand that Fujitsu and Sony have probably the best screens out there (although I think Trubrite comes close). I would want a better screen than my current IBM T42, but I don't need the absolute best. I can live with something like HP's Brightview, which I don't think is up to Fujitsu or Sony but is still a very solid screen. Can you comment on how an Asus screen might compare to HP's brightview?

As for the noise and heat, I appreciate your comments. I'm also grateful for your assurances about Asus' build quality. It's nice to know that it seems the build quality is consistent with the quality of the appearance. That's very encouraging.

I mentioned some pretty high end laptops in my first post and my preference is for a 17" that can drive a dell 2405fpw, but depending on the resolution and the quality of the screen, I could possibly go with a 15" for the portability factor. I have considered the W3V or the V6V, but I have seen the 1680x1050 on a 17" and that seems perfect for me. I'm not sure what the equivalent resolution would be on a 15" widescreen. It seems that if 1680x1050 is perfect on a 17" then the same resolution on a 15" would be like 1900x1200 on a 17" and that makes the fonts look just too tiny for me.

There are just so many options out there, it almost makes me want to go for a powerbook. :decision:

Still, for what I want to use the laptop for, I could go with a PC or a Mac and I have been very smitten with the Asus look. And if their build quality is as solid as you say, then I have to say that I am leaning heavily that way.

Thanks again for your help.

PCMAC

 

You might be interested to know that Asus is the company that actually makes the Apple Powerbooks, among some other 'name' brand computers. It may be the reason that the w2 looks so similar to one.

The computers are great. I have a v6v, and it looks as beautiful in real life as it did in the pictures.

My only critique would be that the computer runs a bit warm - however, I am in the middle of a sweltering heat wave too, so that is probably not the best time to test. My car overheated a couple days ago too.

I think Fujitsu's are good computers, but if you are looking for the most stylish PC laptop, along with solid build etc. Asus is the way to go.

 

Hi PCMAC,

I own a W2Vc-U005P (1.86/512/80gig) Asus and I can say I'm very happy with it. Anyway to answer your questions:

1. The screen is fantastic. As a previous poster said not quite the match of the Sony but pretty close. The only way it loses out in my opinion is the blacks don't seem quite as intense. Maybe it has slightly less contrast which gives this impression. Overall in my opinion it's significantly better than the Powerbook and HP screens though.

2. I don't find fan noise an issue at all. When the laptop is running on AC power the fan noise is definitely very noticable but I wouldn't say it's intrusive or irritating. When it's running on battery power (or a lower performance setting for that matter) it's really quiet. Maybe not Powerbook quiet but then they've had problems with overheating and warping so I don't think I want mine that quiet I guess when it comes down to it most of the noise from a good quality machine comes from the air moving around and you've got to move air around if you don't want it to overheat. One of the other users in another thread has found a fan control utility if you want to fine tune the noise/heat levels too.

3. I don't find heat to be a problem either. Maybe if I've got the machine running on highest performance while sitting on my lap for a long period (> 1hr) then the heat becomes irritating. Not uncomfortable and certainly no where near burning or anything like that though. One again if it's running on a lower performance setting though I've found it barely gets warm.

4. Build quality is where I feel it really blows the competition away. The whole machine feels very solid. The magnetic catches used on the port cover and the lid give it a much nicer feel than the usual tacky clips and all the aluminium really makes it feel like it's a cut above. The keyboard is very solid and from someone who's not normally a fan of laptop keyboards I'm actually fairly happy typing on it. The optical drive sounds bit noisy and cheap when loading a disc but it's nice having the slot load DL DVD so I'm not complaining ;-)

If ou have any other questions feel free to ask. I guess the ultimate test now I've had mine for around a month is what would I buy if I was doing it all again and for me it's an easy question, another W2V.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Hi sma and Phil,

Wow! Thanks for the feedback.

sma:

I didn't know Asus makes powerbooks. That pretty much seals it for me.

Phil:

If the W2V screen is better than HP's then that's good enough for me. I do have three specific questions:

Is your screen WSXGA (1680x1050)?
Have you tried it at all at a lower resolution (e.g. 1400x900)?
How does text look on it?
How do DVD's look on it?

The level of noise and heat you mentioned seems very reasonable given the power of the W2V. I probably won't be doing any gaming on it, so I would imagine I won't often push it to "maximum performance" levels. If the heat bothers me I can always get a laptop cooler. The noise level, though, has been a concern because I expect that I will be using the laptop alot late at night when there won't be alot of ambient noise. When I'm trying to concentrate on my writing and my spreadsheeting I don't want to have some irritating revving up and down constantly in the background.

Screens and noise levels are so subjective. I know the powerbooks are quiet and sufficient for what I want to do, but I also want to be realistic in my expectations. My screen may not be a Sony and my noise level may not be an Apple, but I can live with less than the best in any single category for the sake of having a great laptop overall. Lance Armstrong has always won the Tour de France byseldom winning an individual legs. He's just always near enough to the top in enough individual stretches to be the overall winner every year. Having an overall excellent laptop would give me more satisfaction than having a laptop that excelled in a particular area while being mediocre in others.

Two last questions, if that's okay:

Have you had a chance to check out its wireless performance?
What do you like the least about the laptop?

I hope you don't mind my asking the last question, but the W2V will not be cheap, and it would just be good to have that kind of feedback from someone who actually owns one.

Thanks again for your help.

PCMAC

 

Hey PCMAC,

No problem, glad I can help out a bit.

My screen is WSXGA. I've tried it at lower resolution a couple of times and it's no where near as bad as some LCD's I've seen running at non-native resolutions but it's still less than perfect. Just the usual halo around text and everything looks a bit less crisp. Perfectly usable but not great looking. At the native resolution text looks great. It's easily the best LCD I've used (compared to a few different desktop LCD's, an Acer and a couple of Powerbooks) but as I mentioned it doesn't look quite as good as the Sony from what I saw in the shops but I'll happily trade a tiny bit of contrast to get a machine I feel is superior in pretty much all other areas. In my opinion anyway it's a really amazing screen it's just the Sony is a little bit "blacker" if you get what I mean?

DVD's look great. It's actually quite deceptive how big it is compared to some TV's. I know a lot of people have huge TV's these days but I only had a 34cm (14") at home so this screen is brilliant by comparison. It's wide screen aspect ratio is obviously nice for DVD's too. The only criticism I have is in a totally dark room if there's a scene with mostly black you can see the back lights shining through. It's not uneven like some users have complained about on here in the past but the whole screen is glowing a bit while a black image is displayed which can give it the appearance of a really dark grey almost. Again it's a tiny issue but I guess I feel I should mention everything that has occurred to me. I personally feel overall it's better than 95% of TV's I've seen.

I've used the wireless networking a bit but I haven't really done any tests to actually measure data transfer or anything like that. At the moment I'm waiting to move into my own place and we've only got dialup here at my sisters but I've used it at a friends place a couple of times and it picked up the wireless router no problem. Not a big deal I know but it's the only experience I've got at this stage.

As for what I like least it's probably a series of minor issues rather than a glaring fault.
- The optical drive is kind of noisy and cheap sounding when it's scanning a disc.
- I guess it would have been nice to have the Sony screen but it's really hard to complain when this screen is as nice as it is.
- The edges of the palm rest area are kind of sharp and cut into my wrists over time....
- The palm rest area is pretty deep so I have to take my wrist watch off when typing to avoid scratching it ;-) I'm getting a bit desperate here....

Seriously though in my opinion it's a really amazing machine. Given the processor, gpu etc the heat and fan noise are CONSIDERABLY less than what I expected or would have been happy to put up with. The size of the machine is fantastic for a 17". The quality is amazing, particularly around the hinges. I've seen so many laptops with the hinges broken and this is an issue you really can't fix so it's good to see a much beefier design on the W2V. The extra features are fantastic too, GB LAN, Bluetooth etc.

Bottom line? I'm biased obviously but I'd say buy one

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

I was really skeptical about Asus quality when I was searching for a laptop as well. My friends from Taiwan all have Asus laptops from 2-3 years ago and they're all experiencing problems. I don't know how well they're built now, but my friends' look and feel like crap. A lot of people in these forums have only had these laptops for 6 months to 2 years max.

With that said, Asus is an up-and-coming company and their quality of laptops seem to be very good. However, it's quite dangerous to say Asus is a company of reliability. IBM and Fujitsu have gotten their good reputations through years of consistency and Asus is too young as a company to determine this.

 

well ASUS has been the #1 motherboard manufacturer for years now.

And they have been building ODM laptops for many of these "established" companies for years.

 

They've been in business for something like 14-15 years now and as quoted above, they design and build their systems along with many other companies who just market them.

I've got a system that just came up on 5 years old at the begining of this month and it's still kicking and looking good. The w1 and W2 are arguably two of the best looking laptops ever made and since we're talking about the W2, the only notebook that could hold water to it would be the 17" powerbook and surprise, surprise.... they come from the same lineage. When it comes to state of the art...... the W2 blows the powerbook away and is so jam packed that anyone who buys it and claims they "need" everything in it is a complete liar! 17" is a bit big for me, but the W2 makes that size sexy....

 

Yes, Asus has been the #1 motherboard maker in the world for years. Does that mean the #1 engine manufacturer in Japan, Mitsubishi, makes good, reliable cars? Not necessarily.

Again, they are a young company. Many people are happy with their retailer's service (ie Proportable, ISTNC), but I can't comment on Asus' service/support. There's simply not enough hard evidence. This is their company website:

http://usa.asus.com/about/milestone.htm

Do you see any awards for "Excellent Service/Support in USA?" Obviously not, because a company would have to prove their dedication in this market in the long-term.

Asus has been manufacturing barebones (mainly) and notebooks for about a decade, but they only have become "global" in these 4-5 years. Components and hardware are not the ony factor that determines reliability. Management of the assembly/manufacturing line must be questioned too. They have expanded their business in an overwhelming rate. Will they be able to continue their rapid pace of achievements? Only time will tell.

 

Guys,

I really appreciate all this good feedback. Probably the one laptop I have most seriously considered buying other than the W2V is the Fujitsu N6210. If I went with the Fujitsu it would be for the screen and the long established track record mentioned by ttttttada.

As for the W2V, I certainly prefer the style over the powerbook. The powerbook looks so bland and the W2V looks so classy and sharp! If I got the powerbook it would only be for the OS, not the hardware. Everything about the W2V hardware and design looks like it beats the powerbook hands down. Now, if they could put OSX in the W2V, that would be fantastic! I am not a fan of Windows XP anything, but its good enough for what I want to do.

It seems like Asus has made a number of different laptops under its own brand, and perhaps over the years not all of them have been of the same quality. However, it seems that with the W3V, V6V, and especially the W2V, we are talking about higher end laptops. Since the W2V is Asus' flagship pc laptop being sold under its own name, then I would expect the quality of the W2V hardware to be at least equal to the powerbook since Asus makes the powerbook, too.

PC Magazine just came out with its Reader Survey and Apple beat every other PC manufacturer in the survey, including IBM, in terms of the reliability of both their desktops and laptops. Asus wasn't featured in the survey, for whatever reason (not mainline enough?), but my point is that if Asus builds the powerbooks and the powerbooks are that reliable, then that speaks very well for Asus and that is encouraging to me.

Fujitsu, by the way, tied for first (with IBM) among PC manufacturers so tttttada is absolutely right about Fujitsu reliability. I used to live in Japan and I have known about Fujitsu quality for a long time. Hence my interest in the N6210, too. It looks like a great notebook.

I appreciate all of you who have answered my questions on the W2V. I'm excited that its a very viable option now. It sounds like my choice is going to be between the N6210 (great screen and reliability) and the W2V (great design and reliability). At least I've narrowed it down to two quality laptops.

If I can get my hands on two 17" notebooks, one with WXGA (Fujitsu?) and one with WSXGA (Asus W2V?), then the deciding factor may be which resolution I can live with over time. It's easier for me to get my hands on a WXGA screen (e.g., from Toshiba, Sony or HP) than a WSXGA. WXGA seems fine, but I hear alot of people speak highly about the WSXGA resolution. I think I saw a 17" WSXGA ZD8000 one time and it seemed very nice.

Anyway, I would still very much appreciate any more input you guys might have on either laptop.

Thanks again,

PCMAC

 

I completely agree with Phil here on his experience with this awesome laptop.
One thing though: A friend of mine has a Vaio and we compared screens and we agreed that the new Asus screen was actually a bit better than the Sony screen. Ofcourse this is a matter of perception but in fact the viewing angle from the Asus is very big. I also like the colours better.

I have been using my W2 for a few weeks now and I am very, very happy with it........ :asus:

 

I was in the exact same situation with you a month ago. It came down to the W2V and N6210. Just from hard facts and specs (and countless hours of researching) I will try to give out as much info and insight as I can about these two models:

Asus W2V
The Asus W2V is an attractive machine. On paper, everything it offers is a hair above the competition and it has no apparent weaknesses.
Pros:
1) Out-of-this-world design just way too cool and sleek
2) X700
3) Weight/Size
4) Bluetooth
Cons:
1) Wait time (This was back in July)
2) No Expresscard slot (Just nit-picking)
3) HEAT - After reading reviews of Powerbooks, V6Vs, and W3Vs, I thought maybe an aluminum chassis isn't really a good idea.
4) Speculations of Asus reliability
5) Vent on the right side (read: hot air blowing at my hand on mouse)


Fujitsu N6210
Pros:
1) Fujitsu reliability
2) WXGA+ I have bad eyes.
(If I'm not mistaken, the Asus and Sony screens are made by Fujitsu. So it really comes down to the resolution.)
3) Two HDDs
4) Ten-key numeric keypad
5) Location of ports - 3 USB ports in rear, one on the right - just perfect. This was important because I use a mouse and I didn't want any cables running on the right side of the laptop.
Cons:
1) Mediocre graphics card (I don't play games)

BTW the zero dead pixel policy are offered from both Asus and a Fujitsu retailer, Portableone.

Although I have listed more pros for the N6210, the W2V's design itself makes up for it. With the graphics card and weight being a non-issue, it boiled down to "design vs usable featues." In the end, I realized how blinded I was by it. These two laptops are DTRs and they were going to stay on my desk 95% of the time. That means I'll be looking at not the chassis, but the screen 95% of the time.

If money was no object, I may have gotten the Asus W2V. I could eliminate the pros of the N6210 by buying an external hard drive, external USB hub, and an external 10key numpad. However, I wanted the complete package right out of the box.

For my insight on reliability and service, please refer to my previous posts.

I hope this helps. Best of luck with your purchase!!!

 

Just to correct you ------ if you want to get a feel for "heat" on the W2, you should look no further than the W1. This is not an entirely aluminum chassis..... it's actually not an aluminum chassis.... it's a carbon fiber chassis with aluminum on the two parts that normally wear faster..... the palmrest and lid. They're not there for structure. It's not an aluminum chassis because of what happens with the powerbooks as they get hot (they warp). The V6 and W3 don't have "heat" problems, they have fast hard drives in very thin bodies........ Basically you have 1/32" between the hard drive and your palms on those two systems. The aluminum on the palmrest of the W1 and W2 is nearly 1/8" thick and there is also more stuff between the bottom side of the palmrest and the hard drive. This is one reason the W1 never had any of those issues the powerbooks suffer from.

Also, you put WXGA+ which is lower than the W2's WSXGA+. You say you have poor eyesight, but most people buying this notebook are buying it for graphics reasons and a higher res screen is a LOT more expensive and a lot better........

Also so no one thinks this is anything special to one place....... that "ZBD" no dead pixel policy on the screen is offered by Asus directly and actually fujitsu directly and not one retailer. It's actually a warranty from the screen maker, and as I've said before Asus and Fujitsu co-developed these screens.... asus designed them, fujitsu had them built..... but I'm now fairly certain after having my W3 apart, that samsung is actually the physical builder of these screens as this "ZBD" warranty is something straight out of the whitepapers of samsung.

 

Wow! Thanks BarnOwl.

If the W2V screen is better than the Vaio (or even equal to it), then it really does have a great screen! I was toying with a couple of Sony laptops at Circuit City a couple of days ago and they do have very nice screens. Xbrite is definitely a cut above a Brightview. If Asus is really in the Vaio league, then that's really a huge plus.

Do you know what the external resolution is on the W2V? Do you think it can drive a Dell 2405fpw at 1900x1200? I think the N6210 is limited to a maximum external resolution of 1600x1200, which is fine if I want to go with a 20" desktop LCD. However, if I'm going to go with a 17" laptop, then I would probably want the 24" Dell as my desktop. Otherwise it probably isn't worth it. Also, one thing I haven't noticed about the W2V is whether it has a DVI output. If it doesn't, is that something I can add on with an adapter? (I am very ignorant here!).

PCMAC

 

I have both a Vaio A297XP (that is I believe A590 or A690) and a W2V, so I can compare these directly for you.

I believe the colors of the W2V are better than those of the Vaio, however the colors of the W2V are slightly worse at the edges of the screen (i.e. the colors at the edge of the screen differ from those at the center). Also the Vaio can be set much brighter, but I don't like working at that brightness as it is very hard on your eyes. That means you have to set the screen darker which in return means you'll have to take a (small) hit on the richness of the colors.

I prefer the Asus screen over the Sony, but only due to the resolution which is slightly larger (meaning the text is more easily readable at default DPI).

I think the W2V is noisy, others don't. The problem with evaluating noise is that it's quite subjective. Regardless, when compared to the Vaio, it is a lot noisier. I did find a way to control the fan speed of this laptop and make it less noisy though. You can find the topic in this forum.

It doesn't get warm at all. The Vaio has a hotspot near the 'W' key (as many laptops have). The W2V doesn't have any hotspot at all and stays very cool (around 40C-43C on idle and it tops at around 70C on full load).

The vent is indeed on the right side of the notebook, but it doesn't get blown at your hands. It is all the way at the back of the notebook and as it is quite large it just misses your mouse hand (at least for me it does). I just tested and I'd have to go up for about 2-3 inches with my mouse before I even start noticing it.

The W2V owns the Vaio here. The Vaio is plastic. The nice grey matte finish on it fades away over time and becomes quite ugly when viewing it from the side. The Vaio also doesn't open and close quite as nice as the W2V. The W2V also appears to be sturdier. I believe the W2V is a definite winner here.

I think the Vaio is better on this area. With the W2V I somehow just have more problems (loosing connectivity, etc). However, there are millions of reasons this can happen, so I can't say for sure it's due to the laptop or Windows or whatever reason one might imagine.

Well obviously the fan noise , but apart from that, the keyboard isn't the best out there. For instance, when I press the right arrow it makes a noise (hard to describe). All in all, the keyboard seems to be a bit bad at the extreme right side of the keyboard. Fortunately I almost never use those keys anyway.

Also, a last remark about the noise from the optical drive. It depends a lot on the model you get. I have a tray loaded optical drive (from Samsung) and it isn't noisy at all.

I never tried, but when I click the secondary screen in the display properties I can set the external monitor up to 2048 x 1536.

No, it doesn't have DVI out and I don't think you can get it from an adapter or port replicator either (yet).

 

My previous post was just my insight/opinion and why I decided to buy the N6210 at the time of purchase I tried to make this pretty clear. It's good to hear that the Asus W2V experiences no heat issues. But, I said " I thought maybe an aluminum chassis isn't a good idea." The W3V, V6V and Powerbooks are quite infamous for their heat. These notebooks are Asus-built laptops that follow the "brushed aluminum" design scheme. Wouldn't this be an educated guess back in July?

About the resolution. PCMAC has already mentioned he prefers the WSXGA and I'm sure alot of other people do too. Again, these are my pros/cons. I stated that I have bad eyes. So why do you have to correct me on this?

"Just to correct you," the ZBD is not offered by Fujitsu,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=11976&highlight=dead+pixel+policy
Fujitsu will only accept returns for 3 dead pixels or more. I have talked to two Fujitsu reps and they both confirmed on this.
The Fujitsu screens are built by either Fujitsu or Sharp (the #1 LCD maker in Japan.) In terms of quality, Sharp and Samsung shouldn't even be mentioned in the same line. Just compare the first-batch PSPs (Sharp LCD) and the second-batch PSPs. (Samsung LCD) Samsung makes good plasmas, but their LCDs are average at best.

 

i have owned two asus laptops (m3np and z71v) both have served me very well without any problems. my sister actually used my z71v outside on a table and the wind pushed the table over (there was an umbrella through the table) and launched my laptop flying and it fell half on the screen on the concrete and asside from a couple scratches on the chassis, there have been no problems. I'd say that's pretty good built quality

 

Thanks again for all of the replies.

Lucky, I really appreciate the comparison with the Vaio. That's something that I can get a handle on because I've seen the A Series Vaio in some stores, and while I really like the screen, the text at WUXGA (1900x1200) is just too uncomfortable for me to use for any length of time. Even WSXGA (1680x1050) may be too small for extended use on a high glare screen, too. I know Justin thinks I prefer WSXGA, but my point was that while I saw it once and it seemed nice, it would be great to see WXGA and WSXGA side by side to do a real comparison. Since so many people ask about the difference in WXGA, WSXGA and WUXGA, I'm surprised there hasn't been some kind of definitive posting (with high rez photos) somewhere on the Net to help all of us who can't see the comparison in person. Even if I go to Circuit City or Best Buy, all of the WXGA laptops are lined up next to each other, but the Vaio laptops are always separate from the rest and none of the stores in my area (including Best Buy, Circuit City and CompUSA) has a 17" WSXGA laptop to check out. The Qosmio and HP 17" laptops are all WXGA at the stores. While I can certainly live with a WXGA, I don't know enough about the WSXGA to know if I want to pay a premium for that resolution.

I appreciate the information about the keyboard and the noise, too. I agree that noise is very subjective. Perhaps even more subjective than screen quality. Fan noise does concern me, but I am also concerned about possible fan noise with most of the models I have been looking at. I know the powerbooks are quiet, but most 17" PC laptops seems to generate fan noise. In the end, if it's not very obtrusive, I think I can adjust to it if the rest of the notebook is excellent.

The keyboard seems to be an interesting situation. I've heard good things about the Powerbook keyboards and even the Fujitsu keyboards. It's hard to picture an arrow key that makes a noise when you type it.

Once again, it's great to hear about the build quality.

By the way, you referenced a tray loading optical drive. Is that an option with the W2V? I thought it only came with a slot loading option.

Thanks.

PCMAC

 

As for the screen:
I've always been working on the Vaio at WUXGA with the default DPI. I can get adjusted to it. I programmed on it a lot so I had to read a lot of text and I could certainly live with it. Most people up the DPI to 120, but that makes most icons ugly, because almost no software ships with icons of that size. I'm just not comfortable with that.
In WSXGA the text is significantly larger. It also seems to be less sharp than the Vaio. This makes sense of course. It is however a lot less eye straining and you don't have to up your DPI to be able to comfortably read text. As an added advantage, you can still play most games at WSXGA with the X700 at the maximum resolution, while you probably couldn't at WUXGA.
I tried making comparison photo's of the two screens once, but you can't really make anything out from them. The only thing you could see was the viewing angles, which are more or less the same for both screens.
As for WSXGA vs WXGA, I wouldn't want anything less than WSXGA. I would even prefer WUXGA over WXGA. WXGA is just too small. I like the space I have on my screen and I wouldn't want to trade that away.
Also, a good test to view the differences between WXGA, WSXGA and WUXGA would be to print a picture of a desktop with the different resolutions.

As for the tray loaded DVD player:
In Europe there are roughly speaking two models available: the W2Vb and the W2Vc. The differences between the models are that the W2Vb comes with an analog TV tuner and the W2Vc comes with a hybrid analog/digital tuner. Thus far, the W2Vb seems to ship only with a tray loaded DVD player, while the W2Vc ships with a slot loaded DVD player. I think BarnOwl (if I remember correctly) is the exception to this rule, as he owns a W2Vb with a slot loaded DVD player. However, his laptop had a faulty tuner and got swapped by Asus, so that might be the reason for it.

As for the keyboard:
To me it seems like the springs for the keys on the right side are a bit too hard (i.e. you have to push them relatively hard). When you press the right arrow it seems like you can actually hear the springs.

 

I just want to add a negative remark about the W2. In my opinion the notebooks needs a port replicator/docking station.
All the cables are in the front and on the sides with the W2. This leaves an astonishly goodlooking laptop in a mess of cables on the desk. I understand the position of the connection not sitting on the back, because this is where Asus put the battery.

This means that usb, tv, lan are all going sideways over the desk. Not to mention the audio jacks on the front, if you use these as well the darned thing looks like a giant black spider sitting on your desk waiting for it's prey.

A port replicator would solve this, but there is none.

 

Yes, that's definatelly annoying. I attached a camera to the laptop the other day and the firewire connection is directly left of your mouse. This means that it's very annoying to control the mouse as the cable hinders your movement. The same thing goes for the power cable. It is on the left side of the laptop and obstructs your DVD player (for me at least as my power source is usually behind me).

 

Hi, some questions ...
Has anyone got some experience with the W2VC version?
Are the 5 speakers working?
And for the mini remote, do you need an extra IR eye, or does it work with the laptop internal IR port?
Is it possible to play a cd without booting te machine, and is a led display available on the laptop?

Thanks for your time!
Eddy

 

Hi Eddy,

I have a W2Vc-U005P. The included compact PCMCIA remote and the larger remote both work with the built in IR ports. Nothing extra required.

As far as I can tell the front speakers on my machine aren't working yet. Still waiting for a driver to solve the problem. The sub woofer seems to work but it isn't isolated/controlled seperately the way it should be.

Hope this helps,

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Oops, missed those last two questions. It doesn't have a led display and you can't play a CD without booting. Bit of a pain but I doubt anyone would carry a W2 around as a personal CD player anyway ;-)

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Thanks Philip!
Looks like a great machine. Did you try the DVB tuner? And how is the Asus multimedia software?
Eddy

 

Hi Eddy,

I've used the DVB-T tuner and it seems to work fine. The only reservation I have with it is I'm not sure if it's as good at handling weak signals as some other digital tuners out there. Could be just the crappy signal where I'm living would give any tuner problems but I only get about 1/2 of the channels.

The Asus theatre software is OK. Perfectly functional but seems very slow and unresponsive at times which can be really irritating. Other than that I've got no complaints though.

As for Jeroen's comments about all the cables I know what you mean. I'm really trying to limit the number of cables I'm attaching to mine by getting a Bluetooth mouse, wireless printer etc. It's a shame they didn't find a way to put the ports at the back though.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Yes, I also reduced the cables by 2: The power that goes to the back (it has an angled plug, so that's ok) and one usb plug that goes to a hub. I have a combined LAN-WLAN network here so I use the W2 on WLAN all the time now.

As far as the wifi goes: Reception is very good. I can go outside with the W2 and it still has a good reception in area's where my old Compaq X1000 was already off the map (But those where infamous cause of there bad reception).

The only strange thing is, that unexpectedly now and then the W2 suffers from random disconnections.........

 

I have that too. I already wondered if that was to blame due to Windows or the laptop. It does have a very good range though. I could easily use the laptop on 54Mb/s with 3 walls in between the laptop and the access point, while my Vaio would be down to 1Mb/s.

 

Hello everyone!
I am interest to buy a notebook 17' and i am between Sony Vaio 497XP and Asus W2Vc UU00P. The posts above are VERY helpful and i really THANK all of you for the details (You REALLY help me).

Well, i have two questions:

1. I've seen at www.asus.com that the W2Vc comes with HDD ATA 100. Isn't too slow for games? All the new models have SATA. Why Asus turns back to ATA 100?

2. The same question for the optical drive. Asus says "DVD-Dual Double Layer
DVD-R/RW: 4X/2X, DVD+R/RW: 4X/2.4X, CD-R/RW: 16X/10x, DVD: 8X, CD:24X". Isn't too slow?

And a question to _LuCkY_... if you have to choose between W2Vc and Sony 497 (same as the Sony 297 that you have, but with the specifications of W2Vc), which you would choose?

Thanks!

 

... this is easy......

1. not all new models have gone sata and no.. it's certainly not too slow for games

2. it's an 8x dual layer dvd burner...... there's nothing faster in a laptop.... I don't quite get it....... it does dual layer at 2.4x (which is the norm) ...... it'll do a cd-r at 24x (normal again) .....


By the way, technically the units that the US has are W2vb ....... about 30 "vc" units shipped out though....... the "c" was for the units with mobile theater and so on....... Asus converted the software pack..... the versions which came in with the correct software pack are just the "b" models...... not much of a difference, just really one is set up for Windows Media Center Edition 2005 and the other for Windows XP Pro w/ Asus' Mobile Theater........ . one's not better than the other, but all future models will read "b".

 

Pfff, that's a tough question, especially considering that there are two (in my opinion) major differences in specifications as well. The W2V comes with WSXGA and an X700 while the Vaio comes with WUXGA and an X600. With the W2V you can play most games at the native resolution, while you can nowhere get near with the Vaio. Add to that that the W2V is quite a bit smaller and lighter, I would definatelly go for the W2V.

If however, games are not very important to you I might opt for the Vaio instead. It is very stylish as well and it doesn't look that big once it is opened. But when carrying it around you'll definatelly notice it's bulkiness.

 

Lucky, the W1N has exactly same keyboard issue. It can be fixed with a fine layer of foam or even some thick scotch tape between the keyboard and the metal plate that's underneath. The problem is that in the right lower corner, the keyboard doesn't touch the metal plate underneath very tightly, like it does everywhere else. It could be just a half millimeter distance, but it makes that much of a difference in sound when you hit the arrow keys - the sound of the keyboard suface slapping the metal plate surface beneath it. Thank goodness on W1N it was very easy to take out the keyboard - a couple of screws at the bottom released the plastic part that ran along the top edge of the keyboard, and then you remove the plastic part and pull on the top of edge of the keyboard, and it slides out. A small layer of scotch tape in the righ lower corner beneath the keyboard removed the obnoxious sound. I don't have the W2V yet, but I guess I'll be looking into the W2V specifically very shortly

 

First of all thank you for your answers!

PROPortable you are right that if it is 8x its very fast! But as i said before Asus says that it is a DVR+R 4X and CD-R 16X (Look again at my previous post)! So... who is right? You or Asus? Maybe Asus didn't correct the specifications for the new models. Anyway... i hope it's 8x.

Well...
1. I've seen Sony's WUXGA and i think that is too much for me. I usually work at 1280x1024 so I think WSXGA it would be fine (i think... am not sure)!

2. I would like to play the latest games with my notebook. So X700 really attracts me!

3. I would like a stylish notebook and when i saw at close Sony 497Xp i fell in love with it!!! But then W2Vc came and now i am really confused. I can't see W2Vc at close so i dont really know how beautiful and stylish is. But it looks so impressive that made me not to buy Sony 497.

4. Something really important for me is the performance of notebook at "heavy" applications (such as Matlab). Sony has SATA while W2Vc has ATA 100. I am not sure how important is this difference. As PROPortable said it isn't really important. What is your experience about the performance of W2Vc?

Now that you approximately know what i want, which you would propose to me???

Thanks again!

 

I know I'm right..... you've got to understand the difference..... Look below at the 8x drives... the W2 isn't up there yet because this is a couple months old...... but you have to understand how each type is different.......... Basically the W2's drive is the same as the drive on line two except it has the cool factor of the slot load and the only spec that is different is the CD-RW. The drives below write at 10x and the W2's slot drive will do that at 16x.......... Now I don't know too many people who even both with rewritable cds anymore given the price of cd-rs and heck.. the price of dvd-r and rw's for that matter....... but the W2's drive is technically superior.



I never said SATA isn't better, but by how much is minimal and for your use you'd probably never see it. If you like that sony, you'll love this, without a doubt.

 

I think the W2V will outperform the Vaio spec-wise:
- The HD's are both 5400RPM and the interface won't matter much at all. You can always opt for a faster HD (though that'll probably make more noise, while now you don't hear the HD at all).
- The X700 is said to be about 2 times as fast as the X600.
- The Vaio ships with PC3200 RAM, while the W2V ships with PC4200 RAM.
- The W2V has all the connectivity (and probably even more) than the Vaio.

As far as style concerns, I would favour the Vaio where it not that the Vaio is a lot bulkier. Also the finish from the Vaio fades after extended usage and that gets ugly when viewing it from certain angles. This is of course impossible with aluminium.

So both spec-wise and style-wise I think you should go with the W2V.

 

Anyone with a W2v w/ Media Center - we're going to start a new thread with the pros and cons of the system...... make sure you set up media center first and get a good night of watching and recording tv on it before you comment about that side of it.....

 

_LuCkY_, you've been VERY helpful! I'm grateful for your HELP!

I finally decide to order w2v and i think, as Proportable said, i will LOVE it!!!

THANKS!

 

So does the W2v slot load drive write dual layer CD's? I saw in the "Latest from PROPortables" thread that they had to give up dual layer for dual format but that table says otherwise. Also, the drive is able to write DVD + also right? The slot load drive on the Qosmio G25 does it all, I think its a Panasonic.

 

Keep up with the "lastest" .... that was like months ago. It's a Panasonic UK-845c.... does everything.

 

Thats good to hear, I guess the only feature that would make this perfect is the option of playing DVD's and TV without booting into the OS......unless it does do that. Either way Im just waiting to order now.

 

no it doesn't