Let there be Core Duo's... V6j's/W5f's and Z62f's all shipping from our PA location.

All advanced orders started going just before lunch, advanced orders will be done by tomorrow afternoon, so orders from today will probably even start shipping tomorrow - from what we have left of this shipment.

As a note, I know some of you have questioned.. but the new units do have the 54mm universal express card slot - the new slot doesn't take the legacy PCMCIA 32bit card bus.... just incase you were wondering. I know everyone wanted these slots last year... now they're finally on the systems and there are a few of you, including myself who need the old slots at least until our cell modems get updated.... well.. we're out of luck for the time being.

 

Oh, by the way... the new W5f's are coming with a silver Bluetooth Logitech Mouse

 

That's great....an added bonus. I do look forward to receiving the unit.

Thanks in advance.

 

Joyce - I know your order was one of the 2nd day advanced orders... and I did notice yours going through today because yours was on that I needed to confirm the member discount... so you should have a by Wednesday and since I know Fedex already picked them up - a tracking number should be in your email some time soon as well.

 

Justin, Thanks again. Great service from PROPortable.

I think I can still hold my eagerness with my patience.

 

Wow... silver bluetooth mouse? that's sweet... does it look like the RF mouse that came with the W3 series, except all silver?

 

Pretty sure thats it, they used the Logitech v200 RF mouse before, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the v270 BT mouse

 

Yeah... it's just like the v270 but I don't think it has a model number on it.... It's a slightly darker silver than the silver trim on the W5... but it works... better than black or white and would go with either model

 

Is this what you are looking for??

USB Adapter for PCMCIA


http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/usb/u111.php
http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/usb/u111530.php
http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/usb/u132.php

 

Yeah that works..... for some people.

 

this is a mouse just like the one with W3 except it is in matching grayish black dsame as W5F colour scheme (no white in UK yet) There is no dongle to plug into the W5F as it runs wirelessly (BT) without need for additional dongle,,,

 

If you're asking a question, you asked it wrong...... if you're making a statement, I've already said this... and the whole point of having bluetooth is that there isn't a dongle.... so that sort of goes without saying.

 

it might work - but not for months - it isn't available until May

and it is $200 - when you spend nearly $2000 for the thinnest notebook in its class you should not have to buy a $200 "box on a wire" that defeats the whole purpose of portability

I unfortunately had to cancel my long awaited V6j which justin was going to ship today - the lack of a PC Card makes it realistically impossible to use my Verizon Broadband which I absolutely rely on

with Asus (and other manufacturers to be fair including Dell and MacBook) decision to support a new standard - the ExpressCard slot - which has virtually no products available that use it, and it appears will not have any products to speak of that work in it until late this year - and ignoring the existing userbase with no choice - they have chosen to pretty much ignore the real world - their customers needs

Sony and a few others get it right - include both a PC Card and an ExpressCard slot - so the existing uses/users are supported while still offering the new technology

I hate that after all the research and waiting that I had to cancel the order - but many of us HAVE to have WIreless WAN broadband - and none of these new products - Asus or others - will be able to use it for months - I hatre it more that I am going to be forced to buy a much poorer choice in the SZ series Sony because Asus chose a standard that effectively does not exist today

It would have been a far better choice at present IMO for them to leave the PC Card and no ExpressCard if they could only do one - better yet would have been to do the right thing and include both - if Sony can do it in the less tahn an inch thick and 3.7lb SZ series Asus surely could have figured it out on the much larger V6 - their flagship .....

Sorry - I'm sure the V6j will be great for those who do not need the ability for a usuable PC Card - but it IMO it was a silly and fatal flaw for many

 

sorry - this is what I was referring to that might work - but won't be available for months

and will cost $200

this is what I'd do first - a really cool product that lets you set up a Wireless 802.11 access point anywhere - even your car:

http://store.kyocera-wireless.com/product.aspx?product_no=KR1Router&discount_name=KWCWEB



color me frustrated - and disappointed ....

 

..... nifty, but I already a wireless ap in my car..... but I'm a cool dude... I can sure my EDGE and UMTS connection throughout my car.. so we can have a few connections at once.... Plus, I can use that connection to connect from my pocket pc anywhere within 200 yards of my car.... very dorky.

 

Just reading this forum qualifies all of us as "very dorky".

 

.....

 

Can anyone comment on the build quality of the W5F?

I'm looking for a solid 12" notebook w/ BT and DVD-R. The W5F seems to fit the bill. Not sure if you guys remember, but a few weeks ago I was asking about San Jose Asus Retailers... I went to one and was only able to see two models, a Z62F and another 15"? white? asus model.

The Z62F was built pretty poorly IMHO. It didn't look impressive at all. Everything was very plasticy, and kind of cheap. The keyboard had quite a bit of flex. It just didn't feel solid like the T43 I looked at. I realize that ThinkPads are probably built like tanks compared to most other notebooks, but the Z62F was really built like a poor dell or sony laptop.

As far as the other notebook... I'm not sure what model it was, because when I tried to look for a model number, I lifted the notebook up and tilted it to look under it for a model number, but the optical drive fell out and hit the floor! oops! I quietly put the machine down, picked up the drive, put it back in the machine and walked away... I'll give asus the benefit of the doubt on this one. I think the machine was a well worn demo...

Thanks!

 

How about the Z35f. Still a long wait? When will the full specs and pricing be made public?

 

I'm making a statement as the BT mouse that came with my previous W3V had a dongle and would not work without using the BT dongle which was about size of a flah stick drive. Just an observation .......The W5F is nice with or without the BT mouse !

 

Please take this thread back on topic or I'll have to close it.... but in the mean time here are answers to your questions. If you have more on them, start a new thread please.

1. The Z62f is not my favorite system..... infact there is a great thread of my comparision of the Z62f and Z63a and how I personally feel about them.... some people tried to tell me a computer is just a tool and looks and build didn't matter..... find that thread and you'll see a lot to agree with....

2. The W5's build is very much it's own.... built very much like the W3, but taking a lot more from the S5/M5 series in my opinion...... there isn't a better built 12" widescreen system on the market.

3. Z35f - all that can be released is in my news thread. Specs aren't entirely important.... you can guess they are similiar to the Z62f in terms of the new features of the chipset..... and yet built very VERY much like the Z33a. It's very much like the difference between the S5 and W5... if that is something you can understand.

 

Yeah.. that's just it.. your W3v came with an RF mouse.. not a Bluetooth one. The old W5a's came with an RF mouse as well, but included built in RF on the system as well.... so it's well noted that the W5a never had a dongle.... on the W5ae model they silently got rid of the built in RF, but also got rid of the included mouse. This model just includes a bluetooth mouse.... and bluetooth was always part of the W5 series.

 

Justin in your opinion how competant is the V6J's 128mb Nvidia 7400 for gameing on a laptop in compairison to something like the X700 and X1600?

 

Sorry to jump in, but mobile X1600 will blow away the others mentioned.

 

Ok how good is the X700 alone without comparison?

 

The x700 can play all games right now, medium to high settings. Next gen games will run on it okay, at best.

 

Ditto....... the x700 as others have mentioned is slightly better than the 7400... and yet both are probably more than most people need....... but the x1600 is like WOW... no one "needs" it... but if you think you can handle it, it's an option...

 

Ya, it's good to see ASUS finally step it up for the gamers in the US.

 

i was always wondering. do you use a Desktop at home or office. or are you one of those guys who has a big laptop at home and a small one to go

 

Was never about "stepping it up" - but about a heat and battery life. The oppurtunity just finally presented itself where they really don't have to sacrifice that much to get amazing results.... Consider popping a 2nd battery in the W3j and all the battery life you'll have to play whatever game it is you choose..... This time last year it was AMAZING to fit a 64mb x600 into something like the V6 or W3.....

 

Humm... you may be very surprised, but unfortunately it's a lot more complicated than that. I spend a lot of hours at one time on the road and in that situation I have three current options...... a white Z33a.... a V6va and an Asus p505 ppc phone... Even though most of you only know us for our laptops, we build some kickass workstations and home theater stuff. At work, when I'm there... I've got a sweet custom watercooled workstation with a 23" widescreen.... At home, I'm either inbetween a tablet or one of the two main media center systems I've got.

.... some may say "wow"... but being "connected" is cool for like the first couple weeks... or anytime it impresses someone else... but it can be a huge burden... heck, I post just to this forum at all hours... some times I'm working, a LOT of times I'm driving or traveling.... others I'm outside in nature... many times while in bed... it's a sickness..

 

You are not alone. I'm a sicko too

 

I'd bet I'm worse than you...... only because the two things I do for a living allow me to... both design a lot of prototypes of many things, including some systems... but I demo a lot stuff as well.... and then there are a lot of things we make that we send out for reviews that need a home when they come back.... so here we are... but honestly, it's not a bet I want to win...

 

Hey Justin, I know this is off topic, but how much are your shipping rates usually? I think the calculator for the shipping is not working on proportable. I tried it a few different times today and it won't work for me. Just thought I would let you know!

Thanks!

-Carrie

 

While the technical aspect may be true to what you're saying about the graphics inside of a V6 or W3... ASUS never bothered to bring in something beefier for gamers in the past.
This time it is easier to incorporate the high end GPU... and the gamers will benefit from it greatly.

P.S. Justin... you are sick.

 

Thanks for clearing that up - I did wonder about it once I got the W5F

 

You add products to your cart if the java cacluator doesn't work.

 

No, that's actually quite ridiculous... Asus has had just as close to a gamers machine for at least the last 3 years....... The L5's were p4 workstations and designed as "gaming machines".... they were all the rave of the computer shows back then.... I can argue that the M6's were as well... at the time you couldn't stuff any more into a centrino system....

... Asus has always been focused on the professional with their laptops and lightweight was way more important than stuffing a huge graphics card in a huge P4....... I mean, the L5 was really the heaviest system they ever made and even that was light for its' size in its day. A lot of people thought because they're so into gamers as they build great overclockable mobo's and graphics cards.... but Asus, although into that, has always been about sleek, thin systems... It's just that now they can have both.

 

I had similar problem before....later found that the calculator didn't work in Firefox but it did in IE. No big deal though.

 

Yeah we're pulling that off the new site design because adding it to your cart isn't all that difficult and shipping rates change as you add more stuff to your cart. So, although shipping for the laptop may be one price, when you add another 5 pounds of accessories, even if they're shipping in the same box, it changes the cost....

 

Well you just said they've been more focused on the professional.
Nothing wrong with that, it's just cool to see a really sleek notebook that can game hard too.
ASUS N.A. has held back many times on bringing larger graphics cards in, it's true.
We know the reasons... it's ok.

 

Hello,

WHen you mentioned that the machine came with an express card slot rather than a PCMCIA slot, were you referring to the Z62F or some other model? I would like to confirm for certain that the Z62F does come with a PCMCIA slot.

Thanks!

kendall

 

Z62 series comes with the ExpressCard slot.

 

Alright, now I am confused. This post seems to be indicating that it is PCMCIA:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1294298#post1294298

Yet this one seems to be saying it's an express card.

Which one is it?

kendall

 

I'll tell you right now the V6 / W5 surely have 54mm universal express card slots....... same size as PCMCIA - but it certainly won't take the cards... I'll state my reputation on that..... so bank on it.

 

How about the Z62F? Maybe that's why I am so confused.

Thanks for the follow up.

kendall

 

Negative! incorrect! it comes with the pcmcia card bus. Copying info from asus again?

 

Didn't read the model right, thanks for the correction!

 

Yeah, that's correct - 1/2 of the built-on's will have express cards.. the other half won't.. the Z62 certainly does not have an express card...

I'm closing this thread because it's a lot out dated and now off topic...