Just got my spanking new w2jb last night!

All I have to say is WOW, I mean after looking at the only real review I can find on this site, I was expecting high quality, but def did not expect quality of this caliber. I wanted to get a new laptop to replace my 3 yr old inspiron 8500 so I can use it for occasional games like raven shield, some bf2 when I'm not home, (i have my main gaming/media sff rig at home) but basically something powerful enough but nothing so big that its not portable when I want to lug it around.

After I took it out of the box, I was just blown away by the craftsmanship of this notebook. Mind you, the only one I've ever owned was the dell and I thought THAT was nice, but the brushed aluminum is well.. you get the idea, don't wanna sound like a fanboy here.

I know most people here are disgusted with the screen res. but to me, it just looks beautiful and thats after playing games on a samsung 24in lcd 1920x1200 res. the wxga doesnt bother me one bit, in fact I liked it that I didn't have to squint my eyes to view text like I sometimes do on the big lcd.

I don't have any pics because I was too busy playing with it last night, but will post some when I get home today.

To anyone here thinking about taking the plunge on this, I say if you can afford it, go for it, its the lightest, thinnest 17in I have ever seen. and also, I found the cheapest price on ewiz for 2271, most places go for 2400, and also, there's a $200 mir that you can use to drop it down even more, that'll come in handy as I also got a booq boa xl to carry this puppy around. I'd like to see more discussions about this asus around on this site, so chim in whether you have one or not.

 

Have fun. The W2 is always a beauty

 

Congrats on the new w2jb =), but can you plz do us all a favor and review it, possibly with some benchmarks?

 

I can give it an informal review as I've never done any kind of reviews before, just work logs. I'll work on it this weekend as I have some time.

 

No pressure . it's just the fact this is perhaps one of the nicest looking laptops currently available and it only has 1 review here so far, and plus itll give you a good opportunity to show it off to all us w2jb admirers scattered around. It's an amazingly nice laptop and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

 

Congratulations - great choice! Can you please let us know if the headphones jack is working right. If you try to listen to music through headphones, tell us if it sounds good. The previous model (which I have) has this hardware design where it cuts out the lows and the highs from the headphones jack - I wonder if they corrected it in w2jb.

 

it is very nice, but too bad they don't have a 15.4in version in the u.s. I think the w1 is it, same material, looks the same, but not available here. not that I NEED a 17in, but having a 15.4 is slightly more portable and lighter, but most of all, probably cheaper.

I keep hearing about the dell e1505 and the ridiculous coupons to bring it down to the low $1k price level.. man, if it had the same material or build quality, I'd jump on it faster than you can say yonah!

 

LOL!, yah what a nice laptop, thanks for ur comments, im sure if you write a review, there will be a huge thread of comments and discussions.

Thanks for sharing your experience with it. It is always great to hear about this kinda stuff.

Enjoy it for a while, write a review, and you'll learn some more

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Overview and Introduction:

This is the Asus W2Jb for NA. It is considered a desktop replacement/media notebook. Although it isn't ultra portable, it is one of THE thinnest 17 inch I have seen. Basically this is the PC version of the 17" Macbook. I purchased this notebook from ewiz.com for $2,237 and with the $200 rebate, it'll only be just over $2,000 which although pricey, is a great deal for a notebook of this caliber.

Specs:
* CPU: T2500 Core Duo (2.00 GHz)
* Chipset: Intel 945M Express
* RAM: 1GB DDR2 667MHz
* HD: 100 GB 5400 RPM
* GPU: ATI X1600 256Mb dedicated memory
* Screen: 17 WXGA (1440 x 900) Glossy & 2 Lamp Hi-Brightness
* OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

In addition, this laptop has a bunch of other goodies such as the first of its kind, HDMI, VGA, 3 USB 2.0, IrDA, Firewire, Slotloading DL DVD/RW, 802.11 a/b/g, wireless, Bluetooth 2.0, S/PDIF, E-mail in box, Wireless indicator, TV-out, Card reader, Express card, 5 stereo speakers, Built in Subwoofer.

Li-Ion 8 cell, 4800mAh, 71 Whr battery pack. It also comes with a whole bunch of connectors, wires, adaptors, a remote...almost endless.

Why I bought it:

As I stated previously, I wanted a laptop to carry around when I need to, something powerful enough to do pretty much anything my desktop can do, but not such a heavy and thick one that I won't want to drag around. As many of you know there aren't that many thin 17" around, this and the macbook are the only ones that I found thats only a little over 1" thick, but I wanted windows, so this was my only choice for duo core.

Build




You guys all know about the ASUS build quality as I just recently found out. This baby is big enough as a desktop replacement but still small enough to lug around in a backpack. Oh so shiny! The top is made of brushed aluminum and it really shows under the light. Sorry for the crappy pics, I only have a phone cam.

Left side: the power plug, USB, a cover that conceals the ethernet port, phone jack s-video and the tv connector and the slot loading dvd/rw, I love slot loading, less moving parts and it just looks slick!



Upclose shot of the DVD/RW



Right side: more USB, mini 1394, card reader, IrDA, HDMI and VGA.



close up shot



The back, I like it that ASUS chose not to put anything in the back, it just looks a lot cleaner, but mainly it has to do with the lid design.



The front: you can't see too well, but it has a S/PDIF, front, center, surround IrDA, and a bunch of indicators like email, battery, bluetooth and wifi.



Inside: Both the cover and panel surrounding the keyboard are made of brushed aluminum and it feels so solid, no flex whatsoever. The rest is made of carbon fiber (not 100% sure, so correct me if I'm wrong). Keyboard feels awesome, I wouldn't mind typing all day long on this thing.





I want to show you guys what I'm talking about when I say this is the thinnest 17" I've ever seen. I love that non-traditional hinge design, reminds me of the macbook.

 

I have an inspiron 8500 with the matte screen, I never realized how much better the glossy screen looks. Since I have never taken my notebook and sit in a park under the bright sunlight, I'm not worried about the reflection of the lights at all. Even in a well lit bedroom, I don't see any reflections. Love it.

 

Here's some more pics of it open.





With my Logitech G7, this mouse is niiiiiiiiice.

 

I had a Targus messenger bag to haul my dell around before, and it was a cheap looking one, but it did the job, so I didn't complain too much. But the Asus would not even fit in it, and plus, I wanted a backpack to put other accessories in it, plus, notebooks... and other misc. things. Soooooo what backpack do you get to go along with a nice laptop like the W2J? Did some googling and found the Booq, Boa series fit the bill. Being this is a 17", I needed to get the XL version and man this thing is big, but quality up the waazoo, and built like a tank. There's nothing in the bag right now and it looks full!



LOVE the orange lining inside. Let me tell you, this bag is niiiiiiiiiice, but I wish it wasn't so expensive, I would never even think of spending a lot of money on a backpack, but I wanted the Asus to be well protected and look SOMEWHAT professional carrying it around in a backpack style.

 

Some pics with it turned on. Can you guys tell I'm a 24 fan? I'm sure someone of you are thinking geek alert, geek alert, at least thats what my fiance said, but whatever...

log on screen


And wallpaper


bad cam shot, its ALOT brighter than this.

 

My overall impression:

To say this laptop has exceeded my expectation is a major understatement. I think one of the reason why I was never into laptops is because there are so many crappy looking ones that flex and squeak or ones so big you want it to be on your desk permanently (no offense to those that have them). But I wanted something that looks really good (running windows) but have enough horsepower to do most of the things I want. I don't plan to play hardware intensive games like GRAW on it, thats what the desktop is for, but still capable of games like BF2.

Even though this has a 5400 rpm hdd, it zips along juuuust fine and thats coming from using the raptor drives. but its also A LOT faster than my old dell (it had better be!)

However, there is no such thing as a perfect product, so I will describe some of the pros and cons from my point of view, although they may differ from yours.

Pros:
1. I know I've said it over and over again, but I gotta stress this, build quality and the level of details. Maybe its because I'm used to looking at a 3 yr old dell.
2. screen is just beautiful despite it being WXGA. This is actually the perfect size in terms of res. for me, I wouldn't want it any higher than what I can see now and I'm not saying it because I have this. If and when they come out with the WSXGA version, I'll still take this anyday. Some of you may disagree, but I love the glossy screen, it just makes everything more crisp, brighter and more vivid.
3. Duo core rocks, I'm not sure if I will upgrade to Merom when it comes out, maybe next year, this is a lot faster than for my needs already, but I might add a gig of ram in there. I know its ddr 667, but what speed is it, PC 5300 or 5400, does anyone know? And does it matter what brand I get?
4. Keyboard is very very nice. No bouncy feeling like you're drifting, every stroke feels very solid.
5. Did I say this thing is thin? Other than a macbook, I've never seen a 17" this thin. The design is almost perfect.
6. It is sooooo quiet that I can only hear it in a quiet room if I actively listen for the noise. Other than running graphics intensive apps and only during full load I can hear the fan and even then, its STILL quiet! The loudest part would be the DVD drive, but thats to be expected.

Cons:
1. It may be too big for some of you thats used to lugging their laptops around on a daily basis. If you get this, you'd have to get a bag big enough for a 17" and they're usually more expensive.
2. the right side of the palm rest gets warm after a while, I'm assuming thats where it houses the cpu.
3. I kinda wish there are vents in the back, but because of the hinge design, thats not possible. But on the right side are the vents and it gets quite hot. So if you use a mouse and you're a righty, the vent blows hot air directly onto your hand and mouse and it gets a little annoying so I'd have to move my hand further to the right. The air is very hot though, almost like a little portable heater! So if you don't like that, I'd suggest you get something else with lower end hardware so it outputs less heat.
4. On the web site, it says there are 4 usb ports, but i only see 3. 1 on the left side and 2 on the right, unless I'm blind and missed it. Even though its not likely that I'll be using all 4 usbs, its a nice even number to have just in case.
5. Keyboard. I know this is in the Pros section, but its different. The keyboard is nice, but with the real estate of a 17" I really really wish they had a numeric keypad like on a full size keyboard. It is SOOOO annoying to type numbers using the keys on top. I wish Asus would follow other companes in this regard, its not like they don't have the space for it, they could've moved some of the status buttons around, they don't take up a lot of room.

I think thats it for now. I try to be objective, but I just love this thing. If you have the same needs as me, I would highly recommand this laptop and bag to go along with. You WILL NOT be disappointed. Forget about all the talk about crappy resolution. Unless you do a lot of graphic intensive work (if you do, I don't understand why it would be on a laptop) or just WANT a very high res. screen, it doesnt make a difference, you will love the screen.

Please post comments or share your experience if you have or had one. I will run some 3dmark and post some numbers and idle and load temps, although I only care about real world performance, I'm sure some of you are interested in numbers.

 

Ok, got my 3DMark05 score of 4126 running everything default, pretty much the same as huskyfan23, not too shabby for a laptop thats not considered a gaming laptop. I'm assuming running 06 would give me a little more than half that score.

 

Very nice overview. Great job. It's too big for me, but I'm drooling over the looks and build quality!

 

i think i'm getting close to getting one too. I'm just waiting for the rebate to come out on the canadian asus site. can't wait. its a thing of beauty

 

screen is big, but when carrying it, its really not, I think mainly because of its thin profile, but then again, this isn't a laptop you'd wanna carry to class everyday.

 

Hi,

I've got the previous model, the W2Vb, exterior is the same (atlhough I do have a WSXGA screen, wouldn't go with anything else now), but some interior changes. The one thing I wonder is whether the W2J still has the bad sound from the analog output jack? As someone else also proposed: could you listen to some music through the headphones connected to the front audio output? You don't have to be an audiophile to come to the conclusion that the sound quality sucks big time on a W2V...

 

Great review outrigger. Keep up the good work

 

I was playing raven shield last night on it using the steel sound head phone, and I was NOT impressed with the sound at all. Even though I have no experience with the w2v, I think they use the same sound chip or speakers. Remember, the W2jb is only an upgrade, not a completely different laptop. Doesn't make a difference to me though, but if you're primary reason is for gaming, I would probably go with a dell or a sager model instead. ati x1600 isn't exactly for the hardcore gamers.

 

Very nice. Still loving mine. You got a great price. I bought mine right at release so I paid full price. Still worth every penny though.

The 4 USB ports they're talking about are probably the 3 and the HDMI. Kind of looks like a USB port

 

grt review... btw hows the battery life on this beauty?

 

Depends on what power setting it's on. I believe the max performance setting gives 2.25 hours. Something cool about this beast is at the push of a button next to the keyboard you can switch the setting.

 

did you feel adding another gig of ram made things faster or its so slight its not worth it? and also, what speed did you get, pc 5300 or 5400? It doesn't specify in the website, just ddr 667.

 

I put in the RAM before even booting up. I had it from another notebook, but it was PC-4200. BF2 pretty much requires 2 gigs so that's why I threw it in. I'll replace it with some 5300 eventually.

 

No I didn't buy my W2V for gaming, It's just that I was quite disappointed with the sound quality through the analog stereo output for such an expensive portable media centre. The sound quality through the headphones is barely enough for watching 24 in the train (since it's mostly talking anyway), but for music it's just liking listening through a reversed microphone... Output through the speakers is one of the best I heard so far though (for a laptop). It's purely a problem with the soundchip (or some filter), and as I understood it, Asus would fix the problem in the next revision (the W2J that is), guess not...

 

Anyone got info on W1JC? I m kinda teared apart by the w2jc and the w1jc. If anyone has a w1jc, could u pls pls pls review it?

 

Congrats. It looks beautiful. It sounds like you had the same reaction I did when I got my w3j.

 

and THEN SOME!

 

I don't think its out yet, if it is, my understanding is that it won't be out for the north america. I was actually looking for a 15.4 that looks exactly like the w2j. I def. wouldnt mind going with a smaller screen. but this style is the only one I like, so no choice but to go with a 17". the w1j looks HOOOOOOT!