Is V1J good for me?

Hey guys...no I don't need to write an FAQ, because I've already narrowed to the V1J.

I'm going to be using this laptop for moderate gaming (Age of Empires III, Command and Conquer Generals), Photoshop/Dreamweaver work, Microsoft Office, watching DVDs, listening to music, surfing the internet, etc.

I was considering the Asus G1, but its a little too flashy and the lights don't look that nice. Instead, I'm considering the V1J.

Kind of similar to another thread's problem right now, but whatever.

Looks and power are the most important qualities.

Is this laptop good for me?

I don't really mind the price, but just wondering, hopefully Justin or Danny or Eddie or some knowledgable person can tell me, does the V1J ship with the Dock, or do I have to buy it separately?

 

The dock is an optional accessory. I believe it is $299.

EDIT: It is $299. Here's the link to Justin's post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1703753&postcount=1

 

For the things you have listed, it is an excellent notebook. It looks very good. Its an Asus, so build quality will also be exceptional. However, if you are doing some photoshopwork, then try and get a T7200 or better Core 2 Duo. The extra speed should help it out a little.

 

Hmmm...I just read on CNET Australia's review of the V1J (because there's no other professional review of the V1J, I'm in North America by the way) that it has a matte screen.

Is this true?

I read about the non-glossy screen here. Its Core Duo V1J though...

http://www.cnet.com.au/laptops/laptops/0,239035652,339271496-4+,00.htm

 

The x1700 isn't as great as the nvidia 7700, but it's still a very capable card and on a whole the V1 is a better a notebook - especially if you can afford it.

The dock is an optional accessory and is $299.

 

The model can be ordered with about 4 different screens...... so far every supporting document, demo, and anyone at asus that matters has said they ordered in with the color shine screen..... which is a glaretype.

 

Thanks for the help, Justin! And everyone else too

I could swear I heard somewhere that the ATI Radeon X1700 was better than the NVIDIA GeForce 7700, but Justin says no...which one's true?

 

7700go is better. i think you're thinking x1600 vs. 7600go.

 

Oh, so its not? Well, I guess I read it wrong then.

But the X1700 will still run Vista, and the games I listed perfectly well right?

 

You will have no problem with Vista or games with the x1700. It's a perfectly capable GPU.

 

The V1J will be good for all the activities you stated you'll do on the notebook, irfysis.

And yes. The ATI Radeon X1700 will run Vista and your games perfectly fine, way past even the recommended requirements.

By the way, Zero, and irfysis, the V1J comes standard with the T7200 processor at MilestonePC.com and PROPortable, and that will run Photoshop fantastically.

 

I'm sure you can't run AOE3 with all the settings maxed on that computer...That game needs quite a powerful graphics card to run smoothly with all settings maxed. But it will still be very pretty game even if you have to take some settings down V1J has very big resolution for X1700 to handle.

 

Personally, I'm a bigger ATI guy than nVidia.... I'm not sure if that stems from nVida sleeping with Autodesk all these years and architects thinking they NEED an nVida card to run their programs, or what...... but I've always found ATI to produce nice chips and since Asus finally teamed up with them a couple years back, I think they've put a lot more time and effort into their ATI cards (deskop and notebook) and for truly "mobile" machines, I feel they give a better performance vs battery life/heat than does nVidia... Better suited for a "professional" system which can also game......... which is a different animal than a portable gaming notebook.

 

Hi, just saw a V1J and a W3J here in Singapore. The price difference is around US$500. I really like the V1J with its integrated webcam and 15.4" Screen. The W3J is not bad also. Is it wise to go with V1J considering its almost US$500 more with the same Video Card. Please see specs below.

V1J
T7200 Core 2 Duo (2.0)
1GB DDR2
120GB HDD
15.4" WXGA CS
1.3MP Webcam
DVD Writer
ATI X1600 512MB HM
XP Pro
Free: Bay Battery + Case + Optical Mouse + Docking Station
Price: SG$3298 = US$2120

W3J
Core 2 Duo 1.83
1GB DDR2
100GB HDD
14.1" WXGA
DVD Writer
ATI X1600 512MB HM
XP Pro
Free: 80GB HDD Bay + Case + Bluetooth Mouse
Price: SG$2498 = US$1600

 

Depend what u need. 14'1 or 15'4? Both spec r almost the same, I opt for a W3J before but they went obsolete in my area

 

well docking station is a 300 dollar value.


also a bay battery? Id go for the v1j

 

Yup .. it comes with a free docking station and secondary battery that fits in the swappable Bay. Does this mean that the V1J would be worth it because of the freebies?

I'm trying to get as much opinion as I can because i'm planning to buy either W3J or V1J as xmas gift to myself this weekend.

 

Hi engr19698,

May I ask where you got the price quotation + the freebie info from? Fellow Singaporean here I am also interested in purchasing either of them. Thanks

 

that is a very good deal.

I think its a better deal than the w3j

 

I saw those laptops here in Singapore at the Funan Center. That's a whole building where all the electronics, laptops and gadgets are sold. There are a lot of Asus authorized dealers also. The V1J and A8Jp is sold exclusively at South Asia Computer Pte Ltd Shop. The W3J is sold exclusively at Microware Systems Pte Ltd Shop.

 

V1J
T7200 Core 2 Duo (2.0)
1GB DDR2
120GB HDD
15.4" WXGA CS
1.3MP Webcam
DVD Writer
ATI X1600 512MB HM
XP Pro SP2

Free: ASUS CarShade
Asus Carry Bag
ASUS Optical Mouse
2GB Pen Drive
Travel USB Kit
Microphone & Headset
Notebook CoolerPad
Multi-card Reader
10 pcs Blank DVD-R
20 pcs Blank CDRs
2nd Li-Ion Travel battery

Price: US$****

One bad thing, 1GB RAM being 512MB soldered in the board, another 512MB can be remove & an empty slot for further 1GB to upgrade on your own. What happen if the 512MB soldered faulty after warranty? That will be bad news right?

 

I've been building desktops and servers since 1997, was in tech support for Creative Labs for a year, was a system admin for 6 years. I have never seen RAM go bad all of the sudden after two years. All of the bad RAM I've personally seen were detected during initial system tests.

If you don't take care of a system, sure it may over heat but then anything could fail. There is absolutely no reason to make a decision just because a system has soldered RAM. There are plenty of other chips soldered on the motherboard that can fail.

Where did you read that the V1J had soldered RAM any how?

 

Saw the V1J at the reseller, they opened it up for me to see. Don't mean to critized the RAM might go faulty, just worry abt what "IF" it happen? I'm just asking "what if"

 

Yeah, you're incorrect about 512mb of system ram being soldered on the board.....

 

Ask if I can add the 1GB RAM by myself, they said yes & won't void the warranty on the notebook itself. Only 1 slot free for 1GB another one being occupied by 512MB.

 

Really? Well that would be interesting.... I don't mean to call you out, but I have to... unless the reseller physically took the motherboard out, you're not going to see soldered system memory... this is because when system memory is soldered it's to save space and is only used when where a dimm would be inaccessible...

... this is done because soldered ram DOESN'T go bad - or I should say, has just as much chance of going bad as any other chipset component, but that is much lower than the chance of a seperate dimm running into issues with static or humidity...

Basically, what you saw, if you saw anything was the soldered vram for the video card.. and that's normal.

 

Ok then.. is there a language barrier here? Now you're saying that there is one open dimm and another which has a 512mb stick in it..... If we're not on the same level, I just want to even things up... I'm guessing there's some sort of issue communication wise because you're contridicting yourself and I already know the insides of the system... sooooo... what is it?

 

Ok, will go down again to double check with them after work which is another 30 minutes away. Will double confirm with you on what i saw & report in by tonight or tomorrow morning. But I definitely saw a empty slot for RAM & another one occupied by 512MB, strange right?
Am anxious to find out also

 

That what i said, one free, one occupied by 512MB. Where is the other 512MB then? It definitely is a 1GB RAM in the V1J. I check again ask them to open up for me to see.

 

hey, can one of you post links to where you are reading all thes V1 info like specs on it and the docking station etc. thanks

 

As promised I'll make a review during the Christmas holidays (which will start next week).

To briefly sum up what I (dis)like:
The fan - haven't been playing games, but after a few hours it will get too hot which is when the fan will start cooling it down, the sound is really annoying. Have installed Notebook Hardware Control, but as long as so few people own the V1J no script will be written for the ACPI application.
-Screen, I really had to get used to 1680x screen resolution, which is in my opinion a bit too small for a 15.4'' screen, however, by increasing the DPI a little it is easy to get used to it.

What do I like? Well... everything except what I stated above. In particular its design, it's so beautiful.

Problems I experienced are:
-DVD bay: didn't close very well but it has been replaced
-Wifi connection, did not get this Intel crap working. Entered my WPA router password but it rejected the password time after time. Eventually, I resolved the problem by resetting the router.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Specs:
T7200
80GB 7200 (will upgrade with external harddisk)
1GB (will upgrade with 1GB additional memory)
1680x matte

 

Empulse,

How much did you pay/where did you order it from and did you get the docking station? if so could you perhaps post some pics

 

The V1 specs differ per country, but if ur in US or Canada, Proportable site has lots of pictures and the full specs including pricing .. here is the link ..

http://www.proportable.com/detail.aspx?ID=202

For the Docking station info, Justin of Proportable has thread about this .. click on this link ...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=92674

Hope this helps

 

Engr19698,

Thank you very much, very helpful

 

I don't mind telling you the price, but as already suggested the price differs from place to place. I paid about 1600 EUR x 1.30 USD. However, this price does also include 19% VAT, which makes a price comparison impossible.

Moreover, I did not buy the docking station as I don't have a need for it.

Pictures will come with the interview. Patience my friend

 

PRO,
Here what i get. The 512MB is accessable from us without voiding the warranty. The other 512MB is in the interior which is ONLY accessable by authorised dealer, doing it ourself can void the ASUS 2 years Global Warranty.
And yes, I'm wrong. The interior RAM can be taken out, not soldered. Which leave one slot empty for future 1GB RAM from us. Sorry in my mistake

 

Empulse, you stated the screen was Matte? I just wanna ask that question again, is it Matte or Glossy? How are the viewing angles, brightness, any light leakage?

What colour is the V1J on the lid? Is it black or grey?

What is the battery life on the Main battery? (what were your settings)

In terms of heat and noise, you stated it does get hot after hours of use.
I am wondering are you talking about the V1J being plugged in and doing gaming? - THen it gets hot and noisy?

Or are you talking about Plugged in and doing light work and it gets hot after hours of use?

I would greatly appreciate it

Thanks in advance,

MysticGolem

 

I can answer a few of those.

The lid is dark gray, not black.

The heat doesn't progressively rise in normal/light use. However, in gaming the fan kicks to the next (and clearly audible) level after some time, and the air pushing out the right side vent gets very hot. Since some heat gets through the chassis, the middle and right side of the palm rest also get pretty warm.

During three months of use, I've encountered the following negative things:
- screen flicker on max brightness (persistent)
- heavy use gets the palm rest quite warm, as mentioned above
- fan kicks in at 44 degrees celsius, which means that it's practically always on after the laptop has been on for 5 mins. It's only really audible in a quiet room, though
- NHC says my battery wear level is 35% already, and it seems to be rising about 3-4% per week... Calling ASUS about that later
- stain-like marks on the palm rest where, um, palms have rested quite a bit (hardly visible), plus the 'shiny key syndrome' the keyboard catches
- as with any laptop, some light leakage of the screen

Nothing else comes to mind, and it's definitely been a pleasure to use this thing as an all-round buddy. I think I'll contact ASUS one of these days, since especially the battery wearing down that fast is quite worrisome, but with any luck you won't encounter these frustrating qualities.

To answer your question: if you've narrowed it down to V1J and can afford a premium class laptop, by all means go for it. It's worth it.

 

Herewith I confirm that my screen is matte

I'd rate the viewing angles as normal, not impressed about that though.... In contrast to Ruoste I cannot say it has much light leakage...

Haven't been able to try that out as for the moment.

As Ruoste already said the right palm rest does get pretty hot after a while but not in a disturbing way. I might add that the fan seems to be under control... I haven't edited anything, but it's pretty silent for more than eight hours now!

Haven't had time to play any games yet, but will do so this weekend and let you know.

 

Thanks for the replies! Greatly Appreciate it.

Sux that you have those battery problems, i hope it is an isolated case, Empulse can you verify you wear % is also drastically increasing?

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

May be that why some reseller offer 2nd Travel Li-Ion battery in the package?

 

No, that isn't a reseller thing... in your country, Asus is packaging the system that way..... I asked Asus about that and I already knew that this goes on in various countries and basically you're still paying for what you're getting..... They said it costs more to ship and import the systems into the US than it would someplace like Singapore.... so it makes it easier for them to make what seems like a bit better package, but in reality, you're still paying for it........ if they didn't include that stuff, you'd just be paying less for the system.

 

I don't know.... never been to Singapore, and I honestly can't trust that exchange rate........ You're closer to Taiwan, you save on a lot. I also don't know what the economy can handle there either. However, I do know it's not only unfair, but unpractical to try to take that price on the street of Singapore and give it a USD numerical value..... Doing do would then make us try to compare that to what it'll sell for here and yet to really do that comparison, we'd need to calculate in the duties and shipping costs from Singapore and then now it doesn't work at all. You need to compare it against the price of some other similiar notebook in your area to "justify" it.

 

I'm not base in Singapore. I know US have to handle the tax & shipping fees. Where I come from, no tax in my country & petrol is cheaper than mineral water.
$0.35/litre Petrol
$$0.50/litre Mineral Water

Although some goods r expensive in US, I still prefer to shop on-line & buy stuff in US. They handle better customer service than in my own country which is a bad news for us.

 

Right... I wouldn't want to get into where is better to live based on the price of a V1j... but lol... that list is probably just as many good as it is bad... I realize that

 

Im currently working on my notebook (office/browsing) and no settings have been changed (apart from the settings automatically changed by Notebook Hardware Control).

Started 1 hour ago, still 1.30 hrs remaining... Not sure how credible this number is as it probably is only an indication, but for me that's more than enough.

 

How big/heavy is the V1J in relative to the Macbook Pro? Just doing a little research here. Thanks.

 

Macbook Pro
357 x 243 x 25.9mm
5.6 pounds (2.54 kg) with battery and optical drive installed
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

V1J
363 x 263 x 25-35.7 mm
5.9 lbs / 2.7 kg (with battery and travel drawer)
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=24&l3=330&model=1300&modelmenu=2

The V1J is bigger and heavier but it does come with stuff like modular bay, docking port, 54mm ExpressCard slot instead of the 34mm, modem... All of those add weight.

 

I've held both a MBP and a V1 and going back to the G4 PB against the W1 - the W1 was heavier on paper, but the exact same weight on the scales.... Makes me wonder how Apple weighs their systems.

Now, with the V1, I have material that shows it's 5.6 w/ the dvd drive... it honestly should be about the same weight as the MBP for a lot of reasons..... However, when we went to list the V1 on the site we didn't have the demo around to weigh it again and certain documents, including the link you give to their site (which is usually wrong anyway), lists 5.9 w/o the optical drive..... that's a big difference since the optical drive si close to .5lbs, which would make it close to 6.5 w/ the drive.

From experience, I can tell you that based on what I compared the V1 to when it was here, I compared the feel of it to the W1 and M6 as well as the V6 and W3..... The V6 and W3 come in at 5.5lbs...... the W1 and M6 comes in at about 6.5 and 6.25 respectively. With the drive the V1 is not as light as the V6 or W3, as no one should expect, but it's also not as heavy as either the M6 or the W1 (which is effectively what we're replacing the V1 with in the US).

I think we're looking at close to 6lbs flat with the optical drive, but I also think the MBP is close to 6lbs flat as well because I can key in on even .25lbs, especially when one is in one arm and another on the other side..... and the MBP is certainly not .5lbs lighter than the V1 - even though the V1 has more packed into it.