New W2JB owner signing on....

Well, after many months of quietly lurking on these forums, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a new laptop computer. My old Toshiba Satellite was 5 years old and really showing it's age. I'll explain briefly what brought me to get the Asus W2JB and then I'll give a few initial impressions of what my "out of box" experience has been like. First though I'd like to thank all the contributors on this forum for your candor and knowledge on all aspects of these machines. A purchase like this is never easy but I feel like I made an informed (and wise) choice with the W2JB. I know enough about computers (and Asus) which caused me to steer the school principal to a V6J about a month ago and he couldn't be more happy with it. That model was not an option for me because 1) I can't be a copycat and 2) I needed a computer with more horsepower even though the V6J is one sweet laptop! The W3J was a serious contender for me because of its power, great reviews and compact nature. I do alot of multimedia work with students and the final decision was based on the W2JB's plethora of features and price. After rebate, the W2JB is about $300 more than the W3J and it just seemed like alot more bang for the buck.

Now, onto my OBE. I will NOT use the tired analogy of "sexy" because, well...it just sounds gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)! I will use words like sleek, streamlined, loaded-to-the gills, fast (really fast), well designed and solidly constructed though. I don't buy new laptops often and I'm sure that this machine will last me for many years. The keys are crisp, the build is impeccable and the screen display is very sharp. I was initially wary of the reduced US version screen resolution but once I fired up the W2JB, my concerns disappeared. It really is a vivid (pardon the pun) display and it can be viewed from extreme side angles. Besides, at my age the ultra resollutions of some LCD's can be a strain on my tired old eyes. Make no bones about it though, this screen is very, very sharp. The sound is very good indeed for a laptop and not like the tinny, low volume speakers found on most portable computers out there. The slot loading CD/DVD is aesthetically cool and swiftly sucks the discs in after one manually slides them in the bay approx. 4/5ths of the way. In fact, this drive is the noisiest part of this computer as is "sets" the disc with a solid latching sound and then spins up with a noticable "whirrrrr". Other than that, the W2JB is virtually silent in all modes of operation. The Intel PROset wireless receives very well and I had no problems setting up my internet and email connections.

There's not much bloatware pre-installed and I quickly removed Norton and the OEM Nero opting for my own version of Nero 6 Ultimate and CA's E-Trust antivirus. There is a heap of icons in he tray but most of them are directly associated with tasks that are operated with the quick acces buttons, i.e. Bluetooth, wireless, Power4Gear, display and other functions. So far I have only removed the modem helper and MS messenger from startup. It came loaded with 6.14 Cat's (God I hate NET framework!) but I may upgrade them if others in the forums report better performance. I loaded Q4 with ver. 1.3 patch that was just released the other day and it runs very smooth with all settings on max. Now let's talk about Windows MCE. This is all new to me but it seems like a pain in the rear so far. Two examples of this are 1) not being able to play a DVD movie properly from it (I use Nero instead) and 2) when I was loading the Q4 game CD's, MCE would start up and promptly tell me that it couldn't play a movie because it wasn't on a DVD (no shiite!). These gltches may be configurable once I get the hang of the OS but they are honest comments of my original impressions. The fact that I can watch/record TV on this thing and interface with everthing from Ipods to XBox 360's is something that will undoubtedly come in handy in the future.

Hmmm, have I left anything out? Probably. There is just so much about this thing that is uber kewl that I could probably write a book. Like the fact that my wife kept asking if there was actually a computer in the box as I spent at least 5 minutes just pulling out the bundled accessories to include cables, headphones, TV antenna, DVI adapter, software, etc. There isn't much said onthe net about the W2JB and I just wanted to give everyone a shout and report some real world impressions of a machine that seems to not get nearly as much press as other fine Asus laptops. Yeah, it's kinda big but it is well balanced and very thin while only weighing about 2 1/2 pounds more than the V6J or W3J. Considering the abundance of features, great sound and huge screen I think it's weight worth carrying.

I already purchased another SODIMM of 1GB Corsair 667 memory and plan to get one of those Booqbag carry cases and a bluetooth mouse (games on a touchpad are a losing proposition)! Finally, a question. Is the second RAM slot underneath or do I have to take the keyboard off this this thing? If so, I'd appreciate some advice on how to do that. Thanks again to everyone here and sorry if I rambled too much.

Peace

 

Congrats, the W2jb is an awesome laptop, I'm glad you love it

 

Bump.....in reference to my question asking if the secondary mem slot is under the keyboard and advice how to change it?
Thanks

 

Lets see if I can lend a helping hand.

To your first question about loading program cds and MCE starting up trying to play it as if its a DVD movie. This happened to me as well. You have to hit START, run, and type in msconfig. then all the way to the right click on startup tab. I'm not sure which is it, but you have to do a trial and error and uncheck a line that you have no clue what it does, reboot. pop in a cd and see what happens. I did this a few times and it worked. Now the ONLY time mce starts automatically is when I pop in a DVD movie disc and thats it.

Your 2nd question about ram installation. I JUST installed a 2nd gig of corsair ram a few days ago and it was about as easy 123, matter of fact there's only 3 steps. on the back of your notebook, there a squarish cover in the center with 2 screws, 1) unscrew and remove cover, 2) pop the ram in at an angle and press it down until it clicks into place, 3) put back cover and screw it down, and voila, start and you'll see you have 2 gigs or ram, just beautiful.

I also took the time to take out the hsf of the cpu so I can apply my own AS5 on it, also easy as 123, and the sticker is still on it so I did not void my warrenty if I need to send it in. Its been beautiful so far, best notebook out there imo.

Lastly, I also purchased a booq bag, its the boa xl backpack. fits like a glove. if you do a search in this forum, you'll see my review on the w2jb if you haven't already. hope this helps.

 

Awesome! Thanks Outrigger. I hadn't removed the RAM cover on the bottom yet but I was afraid the second slot would be under the keyboard like some models were reported to be. It will also be a pleasure to keep MCE from butting in without invitation!

What video drivers are you using? Mine came loaded with 6.14's and I'm seeing some artifacts after playing Q4 for about 15 minutes. The actual number in CCC is 6.14.10.6587. I really do hate .NET framework as it seems to substantially increase the system overhead but I've read that it is a necessary evil with the X1xxx series cards. I'd like to keep the drivers straightforward for now without using Omegas and such.

Thanks again for your help.

 

yeah no problem. when you open the cover on the bottom you'll only see one ram slot available, you will not see the 2nd one as its soldered onto the mobo I believe. as far as drivers go, I just downloaded the lastest driver from the asus website even though the previous one was just working fine with games like raven shield, bf2 and cod2 with no artifacting. dont remember what version though, but you can check it out.

 

Just a quick update on my new computer. The extra 1GB memory install went without a hitch. I upgraded the Catalyst mobility video drivers to 6.7, also without a hitch. Then I reworked the FAT32 cluster size as was recommended somewhere on this forum. I used Nero to make a bootable CD with BootITNG and then used the "slide" option in partition work to reconfigure the files. Then I rebooted, defragged and used the NTFS conversion icon that Asus puts on the desktop. It was a tedious process but that too was completed without any problems. I would highly recommend this procedure to anyone who wants to ensure that they don't lose any performance when changing over to NTFS from FAT32. With all of the above changes, my computer really feels tight now and it runs like a champ.

Thanks again to everyone on this forum for a great resource of info for the laptop world. This is fast becoming a regular stop for me along with other great tech sites like Anandtech, SharkeyExtreme and GeekstoGo.

 

add digg.com and your daily website rounds will be complete

 

To ensure your laptop is running at its peak:

-download and run TweakXP
-disable uneeded services from starting up
-disable uneeded programs from starting up (use msconfig)
-follow the tweak guides at www.tweaktown.com

I always do this with a clean install and always notice a significant speed boost.

 

Thanks for that info Radditz. It's definitely an ongoing process to tweak any new machine. I personally have found that WinPatrol from BillP Studios (free download for the basic version) is even more efficient than msconfig. It allows one to completely delete certain startup entries that will never be used (like auto updaters from Adobe, Nero, etc.)

Are people still using Black Viper's database to disable unneeded system processes or does Tweaktown have something better? I guess I'll just head on over there and find out.

On another fanboy rant regarding my new W2JB; my main home computer is a 3.06GHz P4 overclocked to 3.45GHz with 1GB Corsair Extreme memory, X850XT 256MB video card on a Abit IT7 Max 2 ver. 2 motherboard. It's over 3 years old but it has been thoroughly tweaked and handles most tasks with ease...but, this new T2500 equipped rig really is a firebreather and seems to put the old-timer to shame. Asus commands! Nuff said...