Is the ASUS G1S-A1 right for me?

Hey guys,

I am very close to buying the Asus G1s-A1 laptop and I just wanted to get your take on it before I pull the final trigger. I am not a huge gamer, I play ocasional games. I watch lots of movies, and I am very into having a multimedia laptop. I also enjoy a great screen. I like the santa rosa, and the ability to upgrade to 4 gigs of ram down the road. I also am satisfied with 3 hours of battery life. This will be my college laptop for the next 4 years. Does the Asus G1S-A1 sound like a good fit for me?? If it does not, what other Asus model would you suggest. Thanks

 

The Asus G1S is great, but if you're only an occasional gamer, it might be overkill. Still, never hurts to have more power down the road, since you intend to use it for 4 years.

One question would be, do you intend to just use this in your dorm room, or are you also planning on taking it to class, the library, etc? If so, you might want to consider a smaller machine (Asus has some upcoming Santa Rosa notebooks that should have similar specs but lighter weight). The G1S is 6.8 pounds and fairly large, so taking it around to class, using it on a desk, etc. might not be as easy as with a lighter-weight Asus.

 

What Asus with Santa Rosa that is out would you suggest. Weight is not an issue, and the dimensions on the G1S-A1 do not seem to be overkilled at all, only 1.5 inches thick. I think this could easily be put into my back pack and carried around personally, then again I have never seen a G1S and may not know. Any advice is appreciated, I need to place an order in the next few days with someone for an Asus laptop

 

If you're comfortable carrying around a 6.8 pound laptop (plus power adaptor) in your backback, then the Asus G1S should be just fine.

The only other one I can think of right now would be:

http://www.milestonepc.com/states/product_info.php?cPath=87_82&products_id=1506

There's supposed to be an update to the A8j coming out with Santa Rosa and I think an HD2600 GPU that would be worth looking at too, but it wouldn't meet your needs if you need it in the next couple of days.

-Zadillo

 

I always wanted the F3SV but some reviews turned me off about this laptop. I believe from the specs that it is very good but i might be wrong. I have heard the screen is not the best but, you can tell me better.. Im assuming the F3SV is not as heavy?

 

I see the F3SV - A1 is out for sale from btotech, this is a santa rosa laptop, do you think this would be a better computer for college then the G1S? Does anyone know how the F3SV - A1 is>>?

 

Sorry, don't know the specs of the F3SV.

I would say the screen on the Asus G1 I've seen at least was beautiful and bright.

The only reason I was recommending against the G1S was weight; if it doesn't bother you though, I don't see any particular reason not to get it. Just personally at least, I'd personally prefer not to carry heavy textbooks plus 7+ pounds of laptop with me.

 

Is the F3SV a bad laptop?

 

i think your choice of the G1S is fine. And theres no such thing as overkill for a laptop.
It doesnt matter if you dont game or not. My theory is if you can afford it (which looks like you can) then buy as close to high end as possible without breaking the bank. Afterall, you said you need this to last 4yrs.
And even thou you dont game it doesnt matter, and so what that the G1S is tagged a gamers laptop(because of its power). Now just think how everything else will run!
If you were to buy a low end lap, then you will find the speed and pwer needs of a cheap lap will out grow before you know it.
And you hit the nail on the head with your comment "do not seem to be overkilled at all, only 1.5 inches thick"
So what the G1 is 1/4" thicker or 3/4" longer or if another laptop is 1/16th" taller or if one is 5.5lbs and the other is 6.8lbs.
Ive never seen anyone say..whew...im sure glad my lap is 1inch think so i could fit 4more books in my napsack. Splitting hairs like this is silly. (Unless youre talking 3lbs vs 10lbs)

 

Yah I agree, I got a nice northface back pack for my Laptop, Im sure I am not going to be like, "O man I wish my laptop was 2 pounds lighter" As far as Im concerned the G1S is quite small 1.5 inches thick for everything it has?

 

Not being a college student, you'd have to figure out how the G1S' weight would mesh with all your books and other stuff. However, I just ordered this instead of the G2S because of the weight alone. I was checking out a Sony Vaio AR for a comparison, which I believe weighs in at around 7.5 pounds, and I could practically juggle that thing. This one shouldn't really be much of an issue. And although it's coined as a gaming laptop, it will perform all that much better in other tasks. But, of course, most of that power will be wasted unless you're gaming. Maybe something will come out that you'll like and will put the G1S to the test. Anyway, look on the bright side, this laptop will draw an assload of attention to you, if you're into that sort of thing. Just jack up the DirectX on it. Heh.

 

It seems like the G1S is a very dense laptop. Its heavy, but its dimensions are not crazy. 1.5 inches is average for thickness and the rest is like any other 15.4 inch.

 

Does anyone here see a reason why the G1S would be a bad college laptop, it seems the same size as a Lenovo T61 15.4 inch widescreen just .3 inches thicker?? The weight on the laptop is deceiving, because when you think 7 lbs of laptop you think a huge chunky system, but the G1S is just very dense. Does anyone else agree with that. Please Advise me. Thanks

 

you should go to your local bestbuy and check it out. to me, it's a lot bigger than a normal 15.4 inch (to be fair, my HP is quite old) because there's like at least 1.5 inches on top of the screen. when you look at it, there just looks like a lot of empty space. although it's a personal preference, I think it looks bigger, but may not feel bigger.

 

Yeah, that was my impression as well. At my local Best Buy they actually had the G1 next to a 7.1 pound 17" Toshiba P105-S9339, and I was surprised that the G1 didn't seem that much smaller despite being only a 15.4" laptop.

Compared to something like the ThinkPad, it does seem like a bigger and heavier laptop all around.

Just depends on the needs of the user though.

 

Ok you guys have talked me into something smaller. I need the laptop soon so the options are.

A8

F3SV

MSB

or

V1J or V2

Which one do you guys suggest, I need to order soon. The F8 would be nice but someone would literally have to be able to ship it next week and I do not think that is possible.

 

Go with the A8Js (or W3J) if you want something a little smaller. Go with the F3SV if you want a little bigger screen + the new santa rosa tech.

I don't know enough about the V1J or the V2 to know to recommend them or not.

Another option you might consider is the W3J. Though I believe the line is being discontinued, it is still a nice laptop (looks really nice, alum chasis) and you can still buy it at portable one and a few other places.

http://laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ASUSW3

 

I'll chime in because this sounds identical to my situation a week ago. I finally plunked down on the G1S last Saturday (getting here monday!)

I started off in the 13-14" market but was really irritated by the fact that the Santa Rosa refresh and Nvidia 8 series is completely skimping the sub 15.4" market. I finally rationalized that honestly, as a taller than average guy (6'2" 175lbs or so) a 15.4" 7lb laptop is probably going to be nearly identical in terms of carrying difficulty compared with a 14" 5.5lb laptop.

Sitting it on a classroom desk would be slightly more difficult because of the larger base footprint, but I personally greatly prefer to take notes oldschool style (pen + notepad!), as typing notes into a notebook doesn't strike me as an efficient use of the product... maybe I'm nuts. Most of the at-school work will be done in labratories where the tabletops are much larger, and in the library, which is the same case.

All of those reasons in my mind minimalize the disadvantage of a 15.4" versus a 14". Don't get me wrong, in a perfect world I would have jumped at a 14", but the fact of the matter is that nothing currently out takes full advantage of the 8 series and SR refreshes in a 14" form factor.

Also: I too only game occasionally, but to me that doesn't mean when I play a game I want cruddy performance and low resolution.

My 16 cents.