Just got the W3J and very disappointed.

i'm actually very disappointed to the performance of the W3J. this notebook has so many downsides but i will start to the two of the most annoying.

first is the lcd of W3J is one of the worst ive seen because it is not as sharp compared to other laptops. ive compared the lcd of this notebook to the sony vaio vgn-t16 and dell e1505 (wsxga) and it came out to be the worst. im sure that is set the resolution to native res but it is somewhat blurry and not as sharp compared to those mentioned earlier. the lcd is almost like the lcd of the latitude series of dell that has a grainy texture. that should describe it best.

ive also compared the audio of this notebook to the sony vgn-t16 and dell e1505 but it came out to be the worst also. of course i know that the dell e1505 obviously has the best audio compared to the two but compared to that sony vgn-t16, the W3J was beaten down to death. also,put into consideration that the sony t16 is a portable notebook and has low audio quality.

i don't know if i got a defective notebook in terms of audio quality. i think can stand and live with sharplessness of the screen but i'm really not contented to the audio quality of the W3J. i almost don't hear anything in this notebook. to put it in simple terms, the audio quality of this notebook is like listening to the audio of an earphone that is not worn.

please if there is anything i can do to improve the audio quality of this notebook, your help will be very much appreciated.

thank you in advance.

 

IMHO: The screen is great and the speakers suck. The audio in general is really good. But you really need a pair of headphones or speakers connected to the notebook, in order to hear good sound. Id give the beast 9,5/10.

 

where did you buy the unit I just bought mine from MILESTONE PC should arrive today. I wonder why they are the only ones who had it in stock hope they didnt ship me some demo...................

 

oscamaya:

yeah, the they have the worst audio ive heard to all the laptops ive owned. i don't know why they even bother to make these speakers that does not even perform. i barely hear anything.

eazy:

i purchased mine from powernotebooks.com. hope you got a better unit than mine..

 

man, use headphones, why would you ever use the built in speakers on a laptop? i don't know if those notebook subwoofers have fixed any problems, but in general laptop speakers are tinny and have a lot of buzzing when you put them loud. w3j speakers are particularly small, but really, if you care about getting excellent audio quality at all i don't think you could really use built in speakers on any laptop.

 

I remember I preferred to take the text aliazing setting off with my Sony; made everything look crystal clear text wise. I guess unclear images is a different ball game if you have that problem.

 

lord roddington:

right, i should not use the built in speakers if i want excellent audio quality.. but the problem is, i barely hear anything even in a very quiet place when watching a movie. the portable sony vgn-t16 even outperforms the W3J in this category. also, compared to other laptops ive seen and owned, they are the worst. but i also put into consideration the beastly specs of the this machine in a compact design in which it is the best 14 inch notebook, i think.

 

I don't think that poor speakers on a laptop is anything to complain about. I have also experienced low volume especially when watching movies, for some reason it seems like the volume for movies is a lot lower than for music, but really, just keep a nice pair of headphones and some external speakers (with its own power source) and you'll be fine. The audio quality on the w3j is also very good and although you cant hear it with the built in speakers if you connect the w3j to external speakers and turn the volume up you won't hear any distortion. On the other hands, some Dells have significant distortion and buzzing when you connect them to external speakers (I know this first hand). While you may be disapointed with the w3j right now I think you will get over the little issues and realize that such a powerful 14'' laptop is hard to come by.

I'm not sure about the screen though. I guess its a pretty subjective area and if you think its worse then other laptops that you've seen then I dunno...I personally don't notice any graininess and I've always described the screen as being just the opposite but thats jusy my opinion. Maybe you're staring too hard? (lol, just kidding)

Its a shame to hear that you're disapointed, maybe you'll grow to like your w3j better in the future or maybe you'll return it and wait for something better.

 

yea i have the screen and audio problem too, if thats even a problem. it sucks, but i can live with it.

 

NOOOOO demo, brand new shiny one for you.

 

there may be something wrong with the speakers..but after the bios update mine were alot louder..still i use my headphones most of the time and it sounds great..as far as the screen goes its much better than most 14" in its class..you can't really compare it to the wsxga screen and be disappointed..in that case maybe you should have bought a 15.4" laptop if you need more real estate and want better vertical viewing angles as 15.4" wsxga+ screens inherently have better angles..if powernotebooks has a return policy you might want to try it out if you're truly disappointed..i've been satisfied with mine for a long time now

 

ray50000:

man, this W3J is the best looking, most powerful and sturdiest 14" machine in my opinion. all i need is in this notebook except the built in speakers. the screen is good for me but not the best. i guess i will try to live with speakers. i just thought i am the only who is experiencing this problem. im just very disappointed with the built in speakers. i assume that everybody who owns W3J thinks that the built in speakers suck. right??

but overall, this machine looks very very beautiful.

note: how i wish someone posted this issue on the "Downsides of the W3J" thread (am i correct about the thread?). the thread that put fire on the palmrest issue.

 

wow a disappointed w3j owner? never seen of those before. >_<. im sure that you can always hook it up to some external speakers for better sound quality or as others mentioned using headphones. the graininess on the screen is new to me too. havent heard anyone complaining about it yet though.

 

newbieNOTEbook:

you are the one who made the "downsides of W3J" thread right? i hope someone talked about this issue before me on the thread so that im prepared. or did i missed the issue? lol.. anyway, it does not matter anymore.

 

Ha ha i was waiting for one of these to pop up. There will always be one or two who dont know a great notebook from a complete lemon. You were comparing to what a dell? I rest my case. Good luck

 

Ditto...... I've been saying for more than a year that you can't expect much from speakers that come from a 14" notebook which packs as much as the W3 does in such a small package....... Notebook speakers are meant for personal use, within typing range of the system....... anything more than that and you're asking far too much. The speakers in the W3 are about half the size of your pinky finger and as good as you're going to get in that form factor. If that's not good enough for you, that'll be a flaw, but if you're coming from a 15" or 17" notebook, there is no comparison if that were the case, and any claiming there is a 14" with better audio, I know it's hard to do, but I'd like to see or hear a comparison.

Of all the W3's sold in the last 18 months or so, there have been maybe a handful of complaints one way or anything.... some of justified by just having recieved one that wasn't right, but for those who recieved a normal unit, the words have been the same and completely boggle the mind of anyone with a W3 who believes they have the best system they've ever used........ everyone has a right to their opinion, this is just one not seen often.

 

Its not just the w3. The same can be said for all asus models ever released. Someopne will always hate it. i think its called other brand notebook envy when you spend to much of your own money thinking you could have done better elsewhere. Granted its not a cheap notebook but it is perfect in ever sense of the word if your expectation are reasonable.

 

Come on in to the "Graininess" thread and join the masses complaining about the screen.

Good news is, it may be fixable. Bad news is, no reseller I know of sees a problem so nobody is putting pressure on Asus/Intel.

If that was fixed, I'm sure you would have an easier time looking past the low audio problem.

 

Its not that we dont see it its that we dont feel it is a deterent or makes the primary use of the screen any worse then if it were not there for 99% of the public. Consider it a native trait of the screen kind of like glossyness and light leekage neither of which are a detriment to normal usage.

 

did you read any reviews before you buy?

No one said the audio was going to be good. I actually find them to be quite adaquate, loud enough but surely little base.


The screen is very sharp.... I don't understand what you mean? It's the best LCD screen I've seen to date... much better then my desktop counterpart.

 

Coming from someone who will have to rma a second time? Those are surprising but true statements. You have redeemed your self but seriously you already made 5 threads about your overheating gpu. You think 5 is 4 too many?

 

all you people are scaring me, i am very excited for my w3j to arrive

 

I would be scared too if i wasnt a reseller and didnt know that most of the people on the forum are complete nut jobs. Just so happens i would trade both my laptops and my xbox 360 for one w3j. Had i been an end user reading this forum i would turn to something else where the same crap happens. Someone is always unhappy with something. Some people will find alot of somethings. Some people will convice them selves their notebook is broken despite the obvious. I think its notebook envy

 

I couldn't ask for a better computer snakes on a plane. I have seen many laptops now, from dells to acers to sony's, and I would not want any of those after owning a W3J. It really is an amazing machine

 

i am not comparing the W3J to the E1505 because the 15.4" obviously has a better audio quality. i am comparing it to the sony vaio vgn-t16, a 10.6" screen, which is a portable notebook but has a better sound quality.

 

5 threads? I think more like 4....and I didn't ask for anyone's help on the "ASUS support fourm" I just posted about their customer service.

3 of them died and they were related to the first RMA. I made the new one since the one with the 27 posts were not getting any replies...and not many people willing to wade through 4 pages.

And the screen has nothing to do with the GPU problems.... so.....

 

please consider the my old sony vaio vgn-t16. note that i am not comparing it to the 15"-17" class of notebooks but to a mere 10.6" notebook. it is just hard to accept that the built in speakers of my 10.6" has a better sound quality than W3J.

 

yeah, it is an amazing machine. but every amazing machines always have flaws.
i really really love this machine except the speakers.. i think this is the only way to conclude it.

 

yep, ive read the reviews. i know that the audio is not good but it just failed to meet my expectations. my expectations always come from the laptops ive owned.

about the lcd if you have a dell e1505 (wsxga) or the sony vaio vgn-t16,
do yourself a favor and compare them and you will see what i mean. i don't just criticize any of my things based from nothing. i just don't say it is the best lcd screen without a basis. neither i would say it is most beautiful out of nothing.

 

It's not anyone's fault if they expect a perfect machine in the w3j, for $1800 its fair for them to expect that. It's just Asus is somewhat overglorified here, they are definitely better than the competition and deserve some complement, but there is no such thing as a laptop or brand that is perfect in every single way.

Maybe threads like these cause ppl to overreact and choose not to buy the w3j for not-so-important reasons; its a shame that those people can't see through irrelevant issues and see what really matters in a laptop. But at the same time this thread may also serve as a good warning to people who expect to get everything in the world and more on their laptop and maybe they won't be as disapointed when they realize that that's impossible.

The best way to put it...

 

to everyone,

i just want you to know that i do not regret buying this laptop.

 

i just wrote the "best way to conclude it" so that it will not be a very big issue anymore. it just means that it is already settled..

 

I think the screen is fine. It's pretty clear for me, but in no ways better than the Dells. However, I have to say it's MUCH better than my Sager 5720 that I had before this. As far as sound is concerned, it's not too bad imo. Better than my Sager 5720, but that's not saying much. The Sager 5720 sound system was just so teeny and annoying. This one is bearable.

But usually if I have to listen to the sound, I would just use headphones.

 

You know, I can see everyone's side of the story, but the fact is, you get what you pay for. Now, the W3 is a fantastic machine, but for $1800 if you think that's the most you can spend on a laptop, you're nuts..... It's a great value no matter how you put it...... simply for the specs of the system, $1800 is a bargin, so end the price battle right there.... If the notebook was $2,800 for the same thing, it BETTER be perfect because the flaw there would be the price........ but when it's priced at $1,800, has everything you could expect stuffed into it, sexy design, high quality materials and top end build.... good battery life for the weight and expected power..... We could go on and on here because the W3 hasn't recieved anything lower than a very good review by any professional and pretty much by anyone else who took the time to really review the system........ speakers are obvious and that's just a fact of life.... why don't you go down to 13, 12 or even 11" and see what you get.....

I think second guessing yourself honestly plays a part, because for the money there is no better laptop... period... I don't care what anyone says about me, the fact that Asus is a good chunk of my life now and that we have sold their laptops for going on six years....and the fact that we'll sell nothing by Asus..... but whatever it is they want to say about bias there, they can, because I can overwrite by using those same things as experience and judge the W3 against everything I've seen in that time and the W3 is the best overall system I've ever used and popularity and reviews seem to make me thing I'm in the majority there.

No... you can get into screen and speakers and everything else.... without being able to sit down with you and see what you're comparing it to, not only is it subjective, but it's even harder to judge something that's subjetive without being able to see what you're seeing....... Perhaps you have gotten a bad system...... they have to come along every now and again because even though Asus' failure rate is super low, it doesn't mean anyone is perfect and someone has to get a bad system or have something fail within the first month or so....... Not that it's good it happened to you, but it would have to happen to someone...... if it happened to you, then everyone knows you're the one out of 1,000 that will end up with a problem.....

 

Regarding the orginal poster, all laptops have bad speakers. The W7J that I bought had tiny speakers but did that deter me from buying it? No. I just hooked it up to my stereo system when at home and have it on mute when traveling. Weak stereos are inherient in laptops.

As for the sharpness of the W3J? I really can't comment on that but I guess that is due to personal preference. A lot of other people on the forums seem to like the W3J screen. If you really want, hook your laptop to an external monitor. I have my W7J hooked up to a 23 inch widescreen and it looks amazing--and that's with the VGA cord!

 

If you want good quality sound, go get yourself a desktop replacement laptop with some Harmon Kardon's or something like that. With the size of the W3J the sound quality should be expected, especially for the price you pay. Tiny good quality speaks come at a very large price and it's not worth it when you can plug in your headphones or computer speakers.

 

sir, are you mad at me? i just said that I do not regret that i bought this machine and i love it. it is just the speakers sir and there are lot of alternatives to remedy this issue. and like what i've said in the beginning, i am open for any help i would need. i am also not mentioning the price to performance ratio of the W3J. it is just the performance, not the price. also, my lcd is working fine. maybe it is too much to conclude that the lcd is annoying but my lcd is still good though not the best.

if there is anything ive said that is wrong, i would be very willing to accept my mistake and im really really sorry. again, this is a beautiful machine and i have already recommended it to someone even though i have these disappointments.

 

I received my W3J a few days ago and want to reassure any potential buyers by saying that this is by far the best laptop I've ever used. I don't see any graniness whatsover, unless I tilt the laptop to an unusable angle. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the screen is exceptionally bright and sharp- far better than my desktop LCD, any Dell (both latitude and inspiron) that I've seen, better than Thinkpad X60, and on par with, if not better than, the 13.3 Sony I've been using for the past 2 years. Are the speakers bad? Well, in comparison to standalone speakers, absolutely. In comparison to other laptop speakers, I'd say they are average or slightly below average. However, considering that they will work in a pinch if I don't have the laptop plugged into my real speakers or have a pair of headphones on hand, they don't really bother me.

 

I've had my W3J for a couple weeks now and the audio is actually decent. When I'm watching downloaded Anime, it is pretty loud that my boyfriend asks me to turn it down.

but when I'm talking on Skype it's really soft, I had to add external speakers to hear the other end.

Sort of strange.

I listen to Pandora.com everyday and the dynamic range isn't what I'd like, but the audio loud is enough for me to hear in a small quiet bedroom from one end to the other. Launch Pandora and see if that's any better, compare to your mp3, compare to a DVD, compare to some other stuff.

After trying a small myriad of different media and if they all suck, then something's wrong with your W3J. You can give the bios update a try.

As for screen, I still have my plastic cover on! Tee hee. So I dunno. It's nice enough for me, but then again I'm the kind of girl that's happy with a $150 pair of Athena speakers (enough quality and dynamic range for the rest of my life maybe) and a mediocre Dell monitor.

 

No, I'm not mad at you...... not in the least..... Rather, I'm more ticked that say someone in your position, given that you've read reviews and this and that, I think you could perhaps take another path to figuring out what's going on. For instance, Asus buyers are typically higher end users to begin who have higher expectations....... take that and combine it with the number of instances like this and an average person can assume that either you've got a dud.... or something else is wrong because the W3 is better than the systems you're comparing it with.

Now, Eddie suggested brand envy... someone who wants to second guess their purchase because of something they see in a brand name system and they can't bring themselves to understand they actually own a far superior system...... bring dell and hp into the converstaion and that has to be the case because no one in their right mind could ever see one of those being better than an asus in the same category....

But really I was taking into consideration the entire thread and even how others responded because just saying this is better or this or that..... all these things are subjective so it's best to point out a group of subjective data and then make an objective opinion based on those subjective thoughts.... In other words, one person telling you they don't know what you're smokin' because it's the best screen they've ever used, really isn't goign to get anyone anywhere...

Again, you're using a 14" widescreen at WXGA and a system with front facing stereo speakers..... I don't care if you love the system or not, or if you feel they're the best things on earth either....... it's the fact that for that size and resolution screen and for the size of the system and it's speakers..... they're very good..

I know this is a long shot, but have you checked the resolution you're using? I just want to make sure you're using the max, because it just doesn't sound right........

 

yup, im sure it is the native.

 

oh, there is one last thing before i sleep. i feel that i'm like a threat to W3J that is being neutralize. haha!! just a thought.

ok.. thank you everyone for all your comments.

 

Dude, believe it or not, there was one jackass last year that seriously had nothing better to do, so he splattered the forum with a bunch of BS which hurt W3v sales for a good month all over...... The member was banned from the forum after it was obviously revealed that he was screwing with everyone and the sad fact is that some random idiot could sway smart people away from what they wanted to buy. You're far from a threat.... Honestly, others should be able to read through what you said and take that into consideration against everything else in the world that has been said. I can't do anything about you and what you think and although all opinions are welcomed, certain comments that are off the deep end tend to get some exposure and hence the tons of responses you've gotten. If the 1,000's of W3 owners who have passed through this forum were remotely unhappy, they'd still be around this forum as well....... if 1-5% of happy customers stick around a forum like this to spread the good word, we'd be lucky........ likewise, we all know t hat 100% of poeple who are remotely unhappy find every outlet to let other know how upset they are...... so, even though the numbers are obviously skewed towards people loving the system, that's only a tiny percentage of overall happy customers because most of them got what they expected and don't frequent forums like this after their purchase.

... I wouldn't worry about how you look, I'd worry about your system. If it's not everything you expected and have reasonable examples how what isn't good for you in some sort of comparison test..... that's another story. Either you need to get your W3 looked at, or you're the only person in the world who would find a dell better than a W3....... obviously the majority would say there's probably something wrong.

 

I think what berryjuice said for the most part fell in line with what *I* expected of the laptop. Based on the specs alone, I wasn't expecting some killer LCD like Sony or harmon kardons on them. What I was expecting was a very clean cut LCD with minimal grainyness and an optional speaker to play sounds.

I knew that full well after reading the 15175819571896 user reviews out there before I purchased it. So in that essence, what you're telling everyone is kinda what everyone SHOULD know if they had done their research

For $1700, it's not exactly the cheapest you can buy out there. I'm sure there are other laptops out there that function the same for cheaper price and offer better performance But when you consider the quality that comes with buying an Asus product, it's unsurpassable. You really get what you pay for. And you kinda said it yourself... it's a really beautiful well constructed product

 

Again.... find a better 14" WXGA display.... perio, the "grainyness" you speak of is not an issue which means there's something wrong because it's not normal.

 

not sure if that was a response to mine, but when i meant minimal grainyness i meant next to none. Personally, i think the LCD on the asus is even cleaner than my Dell 2001FP.

i owned a Sager 5720, and the Asus LCD is far superior to whatever that thing uses. i haven't really looked at other 14" laptops, but the one thing i appreciate is i can stare at it for long periods and not get a headache like i did on my sager 5720

 

The grainyness the op is refering to can be seen on comcast.net background. Its a typical with all or most ati x1600 equiped laptops. People make a big deal out of it tho in my pesonal oppinion its a non issue. I dont care how a certain background color looks as long as normal use is awesome and i must say the monitor met all my expectations. I belive justin was saying the same. The grainyness people speak of has nothing to do with the monitor as i found out by swapping for another monitor and it is not a detriment to normal use. Thats all he wasy saying. if you are xtremely anal and picky you may feel otherwise. Kind of like a tiny ding on your brand new cars bumber. Some people will want to get a new paintjob. 99% wont even notice

 

The response was to you, but wasn't sure what you were saying based on what was typed. Obviously I misunderstood, but I was taking it to be a complaint to that issue rather than what you meant and I apoligize to that. I wasn't really speaking in specifics, but if you were complaining about that, that would just be another random complaint that only one in a thousand could make about the system..... So, trying not to backpedal, I understand what you said now, but regardless my comment stands as a general response to what I understood the comment to be in the first place. Even though you're saying the screen is better, which is what I'd say..... but if someone were to make a comment either way as you did... it's hard to prove those types of comparisons... If there were only a way to get everyone on the same page we would haven't threads like these which just go back and forth until everyone just gets fed up with them and nothing gets accomplished...

 

haha well my comment was worded in a way to avoid saying that my Asus is perfectly flawless so i said "next to none" which i guess in reality is basically perfect!

 

Berryjuice, no offense meant but it sounds to me not like shortcomings of the W3J but that you baught the wrong laptop for what u want. In that regard, sorry mate =/ but

As far as the W3J goes. its a lightweight, portable, gaming/graphics intensive apps machine. Its not made to deliver SUPER sound quality out of its speakers nor have a large amazing screen, to add those to the package would have compromised what ASUS was setting out to do with the W3J in the first place. it IS meant to be a powerhouse in a small package that can go places (seen in its X1600 graphics, use of high end Core Duo CPU's, and 2gb of RAM capabilitys)

So, I happen to be a huge fan of the W3J, still absolutely thrilled with the one i received from Danny at MilestonePC, but I think u got the wrong machine for what u want mate =/ Look at laptops u compared it to as well, they arent really in the same leagues for comparison so i dont see how that arguement really stands up to reality. anyways, I really am not flaming etc just stating i think its more a issue of getting a machine that fits your needs and not the W3J as a product.