My new White W5F, Questions, Quirks, & Quips

Hey all! After much research and forum reading I decided on the W5F. I wanted something thin and light, yet powerful. The W5F gave me the most bang for the buck!

I have had it for one week now and thought that I would post, especially since so many other posters helped me so much before making this decision!

QUESTIONS
First of all, the questions...
When I first turned it on I had a DOS looking screen asking me about Windows XP and giving me 3 options. I had 45 seconds to decide what I wanted to do before the computer did it's default thing. As a relative notebook newbie I had no idea which option I wanted and no way to figure it out in the remaining 30 seconds. I had no warning before I turned the W5F on that this was going to happen. I am the anal researcher and if I had time I would have found out before doing anything. As it was, I helplessly watched the time expire while frantically paging through the useless ASUS manual for information. My computer did the default option, which I now believe is what gave me the two partitions. I would rather have one partition unless there is an advantage to having two but have no idea how to go about changing that. I will keep reading here and if anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them.

Second, on the desktop there is a shortcut for NTFS Converter. I have read about that over Fat32 so I clicked on it. It said that this volume must be dismounted first and that all open handles would be invalid, then asked me if I would like to force a dismount on this volume. I am in way over my head here so entered N to everything and got the heck out of there.

I would love more documentation for this thing so that I could find out what is going on. I am a computer guru but not a newbie either. I cannot imagine how clueless a true beginner would be here.

QUIRKS
This computer is not set to standby when you shut the lid. I know I can change that in the settings but haven't had time to look for that and figure it out yet. What makes that more annoying is the ASUS default screensaver. It is LOUD with music and makes the camera clicking sound. I guess it is good that it is annoying or I may not have figured out that it was still ON when I shut the lid (and been bugged enough to stop it).

The click buttons on the touch pad are STIFF. They are not soft buttons. It is more like pressing the stop key on an old VCR. As such I have quickly become accustomed to touching the pad with my finger to click (which I know is better b/c it is faster and one handed anyway). But, it is still a quirk. Also, the touch pad acts a little "squirrely" to me. I will be typing away and then end up in the middle of a paragraph. Also, I have to click after dragging for file copy. I am used to dragging and dropping, not clicking. This may be my inexperience with the small size of the "ultraportable".

The camera resolution is pretty shady. I know it is 1.3 megapixels, but in our 7 megapixel world, you really forget what that looks like until you come back to it. I am not too worried about it b/c I really didn't want the camera anyway but thought I would mention it.

My Memory stick gets stuck in it. I have the full sized Memory Stick Pro. However, when you push it in it is flush with the unit. I had to get tweezers to pry the thing out. I use this feature ALOT so this is going to really, really bug me. If anyone else has this computer and has a suggestion PLEASE send it on.

QUIPS
I wanted to end on a high note so I saved my quip for last...
The white W5F really is beautiful! And, THIN and LIGHT! I can easily carry it around with me. It easily fit in the lightweight notebook case for 12" notebooks with room to spare.

I bought the 6 and 9 cell batteries. They do stick out from the back, especially the 9 cell, and annoyed more than I thought it would. It is rather awkward. However, the amazing battery life that I have has compensated me for this. I easily got over 6 hours with the 9cell in there. I have yet to test the 6cell.

The screen is amazing. I am most impressed with how clear it is when I am on DC (battery power). My one year old Satelite looks like it is in a fog on battery power and I can barely read the thing. The W5F is crystal clear and very, very bright. This is essential when using a laptop and it is the one thing that I am the most thrilled with. The brightness and crispness makes the 12" screen seem much bigger.

It came with a bluetooth mouse! The W5F used to, but the W5F wasn't supposed to (I even called around to ask). But, lo and behold when I opened up the box there it was! That was a wonderful perk!

I love that the function items (hibernate,...) on the function keys are BLUE on white keys. The contrast is great so I can quickly SEE and pick what feature I want to activate.

I bought my computer from Eddie at Geared2Play. I bought extra RAM (one stick of 512 so that my two sticks would match - this is to get the maximum performance out of the core duo processor). Eddie actually installed it for me before he even shipped it out. Now THAT is service! I thought I was going to have to read manuals and go in there and all that. Thanks again Eddie!!

Overall I just love my new little computer. Once I work with it more and figure some things out I think it will be perfect. It just takes time when learning a new device. I have used less than half of this computer's gizmos so I have much more to learn as well!

If anyone has any tips for me I would really appreciate it. As I stumble onto more things I will share them as well!

Julie

 

"The camera resolution is pretty shady. I know it is 1.3 megapixels, but in our 7 megapixel world, you really forget what that looks like until you come back to it. I am not too worried about it b/c I really didn't want the camera anyway but thought I would mention it."

I always try to get people to not get intergrated cams.. Their Dig cam can usually do the same thing a webcam can, but with 7 mps. Intergrated webcams is a waste of money IMO.

See if your digital camera has a webcam feature.. Mine does.

You might try making multiple posts next time. No one will be able to answer/talk to all your questions.

 

Yes, I didn't really want the camera. But, the W5F had everything else I was looking for so I got it. I will probably never use that camera. I didn't put in lots of posts b/c I didn't want to plug up the forum. However, it is a good idea and I will probably post tips after I figure out more stuff! Then I can ask for more tips too.

 

you can find the settings under Control Panel > Power Options > Advanced tab.

under Control Panel > Mouse you can muck around with the Device Settings. Synaptics will let you tweak the touchpad to prevent squirreliness (which is accidental contact between your palm and touchpad). you can also enable the tapping function so you don't need to use the super hard buttons.

 

Thanks! I couldn't find it fast b/c the windows "category" view was on instead of windows classic. I didn't know where it was and was going to have to go and look for it (while it was right under my nose the entire time!). Very happily hibernating now!

 

Can you post a picture of how your notebook looks like with the 9 cell?