Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
To start off, let me say that I had very, very high expectations for this notebook. When I got it all set up, it exceeded my expectations. I will be using it for MBA school this fall, so mostly Office will be used, and of course, watching DVDs, so the graphics card was not necessary.
I feel that the reviews of the W3V and W3A apply to this as well so, I will just fill you in on some things that were a surprise to me.
Case: The case is better looking than in the pictures. I was not too excited about the white section on the top lid in the pictures, but in person it fits in perfectly. Surprisingly, on that white section on the left side, it is printed (in gray) W3 14 Widescreen. I understand this will only be on the first batch. It almost seems that they just imported the W3A case (minus the Asus case imprint). Also, the Built on Asus tag is on the right side of that white section. It is all very aesthetically balanced.
Heating vents: I know there have been complaints of the W3V with regards to cooling. I hoped that the Z63A would avoid this by not having a dedicated GPU. When reading the manual, the illustrations showed slots on the HD cover and CPU cover for ventilation. Mine did not have this. However, there were small slots on the front angled section of the undercarriage inline with the HD compartment. I dont know if the W3V has this. Hot air was coming out of the side vents, so the cool air was obviously getting in. I felt no unexpected warmth (and it never exceeded warm while doing any of my set-up and installations) on the palm rests. However, the bottom cover of the HD was hot, but no hotter that the multiple demo units I felt at BestBuy. I believe the stream of cool air is being directed over the HD, thus, hotter on the bottom than the top. This might actually be an improvement over the illustrated HD and CPU slots. So, to make a long story short, I don't see heating problems with this whatsoever.
Screen: Pretty much the same as described in the W3 reviews, but I just needed to add that I love it. My wife and I watched a DVD in bed last night and she kept saying wow, the picture is really good! She is used to her IBM from work.
Extras: It came with the expected case, and unexpected Logitech wireless optical mouse. I already purchased an MS mouse, so I guess Ill have 2. The case is better than any free case Ive received. It is fabric, with Asus logod clasps. It fits the Z63A perfectly, not any bigger or smaller than it should be.
As for any bads, I havent seen any yet. Like I said earlier, this was better than expected. I know that no notebook is perfect, and I was aware of most issues from the beginning, so I never considered any of those things as good or bad. There were no surprises, except for good surprises, so I am a happy camper.
If any of you have any specific Qs about the Z63A, just ask and Ill do my best to answer.
BTW: it was $1444 from ISTNC, they were great!
<CENTER>Asus Z63A<CENTER>
<CENTER>Intel Pentium-M 750 - 1 GB PC4200 - Seagate 5400.2 60 GB - DVD/CDRW - Intel Pro/Wireless 2200<CENTER>
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Congrats on your beautiful new machine. As we can all tell, you're already very satisfied with it [
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ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 715 (Dothan 1.5), 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700 -
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Pro: thanks for the reply
So DVD playback isn't that great on the integrated card?
It seems that I'll try to save up for the w3 then. The cheapest one I found here in Canada will set me back around $2700 (including tax). But maybe by the time I've saved up for it, the price would've gone down. (prays)
I figure that with the w3 with its dedicated graphics card, it can last me a long time. -
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My Z63A has arrived!!! It is beautiful!!!
Discussion in 'Asus' started by GregM, Jun 6, 2005.
