New Asus Laptop - Thin and Light

It seems Asus has released a new line of laptops in their Thin and Light Category

A8 Series, there is a A8F, A8Jc, A8Jm.

14" widescreen, with colorshine and crystal shine
intel 945 GM, nvidia 7300 w/ 128 or nvidia 7600 w/ 512 (yes 512)
hi-def sound
bluetooth 2.0 + edr
express card
vga and dvi output

etc etc

really a nice system. I have been looking for a new laptop and I think I just found it. I currently have an Asus M6Ne and so I hope the quality isn't too far off, as this one isn't too bad.

http://usa.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=5&l2=61

 

7600 with 512 sounds great for a 14".

 

Wow, thanks for the link, I was not expecting these! Anyone else have more info about these notebooks?

 

The A8JM says it has a Go 7800. Then inside on specs it says Go 7600.

 

Good catch, I wonder which is the type, I think I would tend to believe the Specs sheet

 

I highly doubt that there is a 7800 in there..

however if there is a 7600go in there WITH 512Mb ram, then ASUS has just introduced my new laptop!

any idea on how much this awesome laptop would cost?? Would it be higher in price than the V series? It is an A series, which is asus' entry level stuff right?

 

If there was a 7800 in there I would expect it to melt into a puddle of Goo after playing a game or two.

 

so tru..i came to the same conclusion since I noticed only one exhaust vent
on the side of the laptop

 

I feel the same way, I was in the market, but not unless I found one that did EVERYTHING, well I think I just found it.

It doesn't say it is built-on-Asus, so I would assume you have to buy the complete system. With that said, I imagine the T2300 w/ 512 DDR2 would run right under 1500 (or that is what I am hoping )

 

I wonder what the battery life difference b/w the 3 are (or really b/w the c and m, don't care about the intel graphics). I can't find anything about it.

 

Does it mean it will be available in USA?

 

i dunno but an a8f would fit my needs if reasonably priced. 1.9kg is very light for a 14" wide screen.

 

Why there is no DVI on A8F? A8Jc and A8Jm have it.
Is there a shipping date?

 

it is on the USA website, so I would assume so

My guess for no dvi on the A8F is the video card, it use the intel graphics, the A8J's use nvidia, a lot more power.

I am not sure if I need the m, but the extra graphical horsepower will be nice when vista and xgl come out/stable (I will be dual booting linux and windows , and maybe one day Mac )

 

xgl is one of the main reasons that im looking for a light laptop with nvidia grpahics..
the other is nvidia is much better in linux...

anyone have any more info on the A8Jc/m (the nvidia models)??

 

interesting. wonder when it'll be available.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of/seen a 7800 in a thin & light. I'm gonna have to second the notion that this will convert your notebook from a gaming machine to a fancy paperweight. The only systems I've seen with a 7800 are certainly not thin & light, and some are downright mammoth. Still, you never know. Its nice to see that new product lines are coming regardless.

 

New Mac Minis use Intel GMA950 for graphics - so there should be enough power to drive 1920x1200 23" Apple Cinema HD Display via DVI
http://www.apple.com/macmini/whatsinside.html

So why there is no DVI on A8Jf ?

 

cost differentiation. If someone really wants a dvi they'll upgrade to the more expensive j series. This isn't a new concept in computers (especially 'ensemble' type business models).

 

Ok. I guess I'm getting A8Jc then.
Can anybody tell me WHEN can i get it?

 

i hope it comes out soon. This laptop has everything im looking for, which are normally found in a 15.4" laptop, in a 14" laptop.

awesome!

 

I a little doubt that A8Jm will have a Geforce 7800 Graphics card, too.... It is hard to see that how can they reduce the weight. If there is any information about ASUS A8 in Taiwan, I'll tell you guys!!

 

awesome thanks israel781028

the A8Jm will most like have the 7600GO with 128Mb or even a 256Mb version. Im basing this all on the size constraints that the 14" laptop will have. Also the 7800go thermal output is way too high to even be used in a 15.4" laptop. Even underclocked the 7800go would put out a lot of heat, and it doesnt make sense to include it since battery life would be abismal

 

Yeah i agree, the 7800 is pretty big for a 14" especially the heat, and battery life involved.

 

someone has got to have some more insider info on this awesome laptop.

-availablity date?
-weight?
-battery size?
-screen resolution? (most likey glossy WXGA+)

 

What's the difference between the A8 series and the W3J?

 

first difference is the the W3J has the x1600 i believe from ATI, while the A8J series has the option of nvidia graphics which include the 7300TC and the 7600

im sure there might be other differences as well. i think the W3J might even be a little bit thinner/lighter..but not to sure

 

What about harddrive? Is it Serial ATA or regular
Just got myself 100gb 7,200 hitachi couple months ago....

 

Availablity , Weight , Hard Drive Specs are unknown, or atleast I didn't find them anywhere on the usa site.

The Screen (as mentioned in the first btw ) is the ColorShine and CrystalShine (high brightness and gloss screen).

The resolution though is just wxga, it would of been nice to see wsxga , but I will live.

The battery specs are 6 cell, 3200mAh/4800mAh, 35/53Whrs



Now I have to decide, one of A8Jc/m or a Sony SZ 160/180 ...

 

To be honest, the A8 looks a lot like the Z62...

 

With a Nvidia 7800, the battery life would be terrible, and like someone mentioned, the thermal cooling requirement would be a lot.

 

Looks better then my M6Ne (especially with the chipped corner where I dropped it, it was off but I dropped it about 4 ft off the ground on the corner where the HDD is , no problem except for a broken peice of plastic)

 

i would definitely take this laptop over the new sony SZ series.

however the price is what im waiting to see...
hopefully asus remembers that the A series is their entry level series

 

I'm sure the price will be very reasonable... depending on the configuration, I'm going to guess within the $1500-1800 USD range.

 

im hoping even tho its unlikely to be in the 1200-1500 range

 

I am hoping to put the 2 ghz duo with 2gb of ram and 100gb HDD for under 2K

 

Well, like I said... it depends on the configuration. If it's configured similarly to the W3J...I'm sure it'll be around 1500-1600.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

 

Yeah, but having the two graphics cards is a nice feature, I just wonder how big a difference it really makes in battery. The fact it is 2 lbs lighter isn't that big of an issue, the one I have now probably is pushing 7. The only other thing I wonder about is the quality difference. I have an Asus now, so I know how there's is, and how it supports linux (like s**t , in case you were wondering). It will come down to the pricing.

If the Asus is significantly cheaper I will go that route, if it isn't, I will probably go with the Sony.

 

More often than not, Asus IS cheaper than similar Sony notebooks... but Sony might change its marketing this year... we'll see.

 

Since the W3J and A8J are so similar, are they going to be placed in different market segments? If so which one belongs to the higher priced segment and which to the lower?

 

quicknote - i just found a A8Ja with an ati card on their global site

Differences b/w the W3J and the A8Jm

ati x1600 vs Go 7600
w3j has ASUS Splendid Video Intelligent Technology
w3j has multi-memory card reader
w3j auto dj feature
w3j has swapable drive support
w3j has more battery options over A8J 1x6cell battery

A8Jm has 5 usb ports, W3J has 3
A8Jm has dvi-d port
A8Jm is listed on the USA page, W3J isn't


There are the difference, after reading, I am guesing the W3J is going after a higher end market, and therfore might be priced higher

 

Ahh I was just wondering about the differences thanks for putting em out like that =P

 

ah ...looks like there is hope for the A8Jm to be in a lower end segment than the W3J.

 

Yeah, I am actually really excited about that , I never used the audiodj in my machine now, their card readers are supported in linux, I've never carried both the external battery and the cd-rom drive to hot swap.

The only part that sucks is it doesn't list the choice for a bigger battery, nor one for the cdrom drive bay for extended battery life.

 

Im actually also very interested in this laptop if it is infact thin and light, i saw a posting of 1.9kg on a swiss site, i am wondering if this is accurate or if anyone has any actual weight info.

 

1.9kg = 4.19lbs

w00t...however i hope its not that light since then the price owuld be higher.

 

On the USA website it is listed under the Thin and Light category, which carries the description of 5 - 6 pounds.

 

The W3J (which seem to be the exact same specs, + some extra hardware) is listed at 2 Kg (4-cell, weight-saver) ; 2.2Kg (8-cell, weight-saver).

The A8Jm has a 6 cell battery, so split the difference you get 2.1 Kg which is 4.6 lbs. I wouldn't doubt it would be lighter then the w3j since it doesn't have has much functionality (or uneedy cruft ) I wouldn't doubt it weighing 1.9 Kg.

Put those two numbers together I would guess the laptop weighs b/w 4.2 and 4.6 pounds Though that might not be the case, they could use difference casing material, sloppier compenents inside etc. But I think that is a pretty goot Guesstimate

 

Any resellers on here know when the A8Jm is coming out?

 

hmm..just noticed something.

the A8Jm and the A6Jm are very similar.
However here are the differences that i found

1) A8Jm can have up to 2Gb DDR2-533 whereas the A6Jm can have only 1Gb DDR2-533

2) A6Jm is a 15" Laptop and can have XGA+/SXGA+/WXGA+ resolutions. The A8Jm has only WXGA+

have yet to see them online...