Need help to prevent buyer's remorse!

Hello forumites,

I've been smitten by the ASUS laptop bug. The quality, and features, and looks, oh my! Planning a purchase as soon as possible - preferably by mid-February - I covet your insights to avoid buyer's remorse.

I expect to be doing Pagemaker layouts on whatever ASUS model I get, as well as website programming. This makes me partial to a larger screen - at least 15.4" , possibly 17". Do you think I NEED a 17" screen for those uses?

I am also a mite concerned about high resolution 1680x1050 screens and possible problems reading text. Is this a valid concern? Do models with that higher standard resolution - like the Z70Va - have the option of bumping it down to 1440x900 if desired, or increasing the font size?

I am also wondering about battery life. I am partial to the longer life of the Z70Va vs. the Z83V, but like the included web cam of the latter. Decisions, decisions! Should I wait until a dual core model of the Z83V comes out to get battery life beyond 2 hours? If so, when are they expected out? I really should get a laptop in February, but if I knew duals were coming in early March and have a big jump in battery life, I might be able to postpone that long.

Thanks for your insights, they are quite valuable to me.

RickInPA

 

quite honestly.. with a schedule for mid-february and Dual cores coming a month or two after that.. I think there's a good possibility you'll have some buyers remorse after the new wave of models come out. However if you really have to pick something by then.. then go for the Z70va.. why? From what Justin and some others have said.. Asus is intending to make the Ensemble and Built-On line seperate and distinct. The special materials used on the M6 (global name for Z70) such as the carbon fiber chassis, high resolutions creen, sleek likes, etc.. make it closer to the Ensemble in quality than Built On. It is also very likely to be the LAST of the M6 line.. where as the Z83v already has an "upgraded" successor in the A7 line.. that way when purchasing the Z70va, you can keep in mind that you bought perhaps the best Asus Built-on model whose replacement hasn't showed up yet in Asus' line up.

 

Like Goren said, you might want to take a look at the A7 line (A7J) I know here in Canada we're going to get it, which means that the US is going to get it first >_<

http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1007&l1=5&l2=74&l3=0

Asus Core Duo (1.67 Ghz)
17" screen
x1600 256mb

But for portability, I'd get the z70va. (Or it's Dual Core replacement --if there is one)

 

I'd get the W2 way before the Z83..... I believe that 95% of people are never going to see what the dual core cpus can really do..... so it's a matter of when you need it by....

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I paid the AMD tax on a dual core CPU for my new desktop in July last year...

Under heavy multitasking it has been useful in a few cases (Photoshop + 5xFirefox + MATLAB + etc), but other then that, I know for a fact that my normal daily usage of my PC doesn't take advantage of it. I could have spent $300 less on my CPU and would have enjoyed the system just as much, IMHO. On the other hand, I don't expect to have to upgrade for a while...

That experience combined with the differentiation between the Ensemble and Built-On lines in terms of styling, and the potential bugginess of a first-generation platform compared to Sonoma, made me decide to buy a single-core laptop now rather dual-core then later.

Windows XP doesn't even handle dual-core load balancing properly. If there is only one cpu-intensive task running, the two cores will 'fight' for the task, and it will switch back and forth between the two cores. You can see it in the task manager - both cores will be loaded to some equal percentage. This induces overhead as the task switches from core to core - some games even have instability as a result and have to have their affinity set to a single core.

 

Guys - Thanks, this is good information. Could someone address this question - can the 1680x1050 resolution of the Z70Va be lowered via Windows' Display Settings to 1440x900 if desired, or can the font size be increased the font size? I would like to have some confidence that the heavy text work I anticipate doing will not result in eyestrain from small text on a 15.4" screen.

BTW, one Canadian company already lists the A7J on its website. See:
http://www.comtec.ca/product_info.p...25698&osCsid=616d3a90bbdc73b6861717e0c589ee4e
I did not see any US listings returned for the A7J from Google. No mention in the specs that TV is included with the A7J, I thought that was part of the package.

Thanks again,

RickInPA

 

That's because the A7j isn't out in North America yet....... which means they aren't going to have it to buy in Canada.... and it will be considered the Z83j when it comes here....

 

Justin, all of the a-series line of laptops have a built in optical drive right? Is there a possibility of the a-series line to have a modular bay in future releases?

 

There are two at least ways without changing the resolution:

Control Panel -> Display -> Appearance Tab -> Font Size (just for fonts that have their size controlled by Windows, which should be most, never messed it it myself)

Control Panel -> Display -> Settings Tab -> Advanced -> DPI Setting. (for everything on the screen including fonts).

Try them out on the PC you're on now if you want

 

Jumper,

Hey, that DPI setting control is great! I never knew about this in all my computin' years. That sets my mind at ease about the resolution issue on the Z70Va.

The A7J remains tempting, the date it gets introduced to North America will determine which way I go. I take it that this will be a customizable "Built on ASUS" model, right? One big reason I am not seriously considering the W2V is because it only comes with a one year ASUS warranty and it would have to be shipped all the way to California (as I understand it) in the event of a problem. A reseller gives better warranties and better service.

RickInPA

 

A7J is a lower end ensemble line.

As such they come with the new 1 year global warranty.

 

Proportable,

If you leave aesthetics totally out of the picture, why do you say that "I'd get the W2 way before the Z83....."? Are there any differences in basic build quality, durability, display quality (brightness, contrast, "wow factor"), battery life, etc?

 

Well that's easy...... the build of the W2 is better than the A7 (Z83) ........ the Z7 is the best build out of all of the A series, but it lacks compared to the M, V and W series.

But the screen, although similiar - is a low lower res on the Z83...... WXGA on a 17" widescreen isn't good..... esepecially for a system with a 128mb x700 graphics...... I think WXGA belongs on the 14" models...... WSXGA+ is nice on the W2, and sort of high on the Z70va... but still very nice for a lot of people.

Battery life is similiar, but with an identical configuration obviously......

 

What specifically is different about the build quality on the A series vs the W, V, & M series? You can configure a Z83 close to a W2v, so what is different? Materials used in the chassis? Quality of keyboard, hinges, latches, etc etc? I've never been able to actually look at/handle any Asus machine, so I don't have first hand info on how they look/feel/etc.

Also, does the Z83 have a DVI port and Express PCI capability?

Thanks for your help. I know you've probably answered these same questions a bizillion times, so I hope you don't lose your patience with a newbie.

 

A series tend to be all ABS plastic instead of using aluminum and/or carbon fiber/magnesium/etc like the W,V, S and M series. the A series tend to be thicker too.. and purposely less sleeker than their other Asus counter parts.