Official Waiting for the ASUS K-Series Thread

Erm, I wonder - when reading the specs there is only the WiFi Wlan listed. I know it sounds stupid, but could it be, that it has no LAN adapter? That would be horrible...

 

this is definitely one of the most confusing release build-ups I've seen for a lappy... what a strange spec. let's hope it comes together, I'll be very eager to see the benches.

 

I just looked at the processor benchmark list on notebookcheck.net and I can't believe that the ZM-84 processor is only marginally better than the intel Core 2 Duo T5500 found in my 3 year old laptop!

I knew AMD's mobile were slow, but I didn't realize the huge performance difference compared to intel's current processors.

 

AMD would never create something as powerful at 4860 and *not* put hdmi hookups and all that new standard stuff.

I'd be suprised if the specs for k51 weren't different...

 

I dont think the k51's will have similar specs, it might be a budjet notebook but as you can see with those K series modela and info that just came out, those are the really budget ones. But i still believe the k51'S will comeout june. Or maybe if we get lucky mid may or by end of may. Already may 1st tomorrow. Lets stay tune. should be a quite surprise.

 

...so no worries on that score.

 

that much is to be expected... all we want is hdmi now... and bluetooth... i can even forget about the fingerprint reader thing :O

 

Wow lol. Hmm im pretty sure it will have an hdmi

 

Personally, I could take or leave HDMI. I'm more concerned about the lack of Bluetooth and e-Sata.

As a support tech, I still find modems useful from time to time. It neither surprises nor particularly bothers me that modems are disappearing from many new notebooks. Even so, I'd have been happier to see one in the K50 at least.

 

i understand the need for e-sata, but isn't bluetooth usually on offered in higher priced products or am i mistaken?

 

Considering the cost of BlueTooth modules as an option in customisable notebooks ($26 to add it to Dell's basic Inspiron 1525, for example), I wouldn't say so.

 

so this thing should be coming out within the next few days correct?

 

Ah ok, thanks. I must have overseen that :s

Still the slow processor makes it uncertain if this laptop is worth. Did anyone read the topic about MSI GT735 with the mobility 3850 on the Puma platform? When reading that it seems the CPU was definitely bottlenecking the GPU... now how will that be on the K-Series with the same system...

 

I dunno, I found a review of the GT735 and it stated at the end that CPU overclocking usually didn't bring any improvements in games since the 3850 was the bottleneck (see here). What's more concerning to me is the battery life on the GT735 vs GX720. Although I think we agree that 6 hours is a stretch, does this mean only the Intel K-series notebooks will have the battery life advertised?

 

wow, that's good to know. Ok i want bluetooth too for my mouse ;O

 

ahaha yea sure....

 

Well, that's an option in customizable notebooks, not standard in pre-builds. It's still very common for a pre-configured notebook under $1000 to lack bluetooth. The G50vt-x5 doesn't have it, among many others. It is cheap to add if you have the option, but its still a piece of the pie that many manufacturers are willing to cut to bring the cost of a unit down.

 

well today is... may 2/09. guess we're crap out of luck

 

it is weekend. no big company works on weekends. i guess we must wait until monday

 

i'll take your word for it, i really want a laptop soon :O

 

Me too. Though the lack of information on the AMD-based systems is curious (14" and 15" Intel systems all have their own pages already)

 

Iv got a feeling we are not going to see no HDMI or DVI out on the K series with 4860. Asus has a choice to include or not include this feature.

From AMD website " ATI Radeon™ HD graphics chips have numerous features integrated into the processor itself (e.g., HDCP, HDMI, etc.). Third parties manufacturing products based on, or incorporating ATI Radeon HD graphics chips, may choose to enable some or all of these features. If a particular feature is important to you, please inquire of the manufacturer if a particular product supports this feature."

if there is no HDMI or DVI out, the K series with 4860 laptop will be useless to me, all this hype for this laptop will be for nothing. i wonder what is taking asus long to release more info on K51 AB and K7 series.

im suprised that there is no HDMI with the nvidia K series, even HP have put HDMI on their 12.1inch Pavilion dv2.

im wondering why the other laptop makers are not offering 4860 mobility as an option, they must be crazy not to include a 40nm low power consumption monster.

and for blutooth i think it may be on the laptop there is a hotkey for K IN and IJ on the specifications:

Hot Keys

Function Keys:

Fn+F2 Bluetooth switch

there is still hope with features on this laptop(specifications are not finalised), hopefully Asus dont gimp too many necessary features.

 

i have reason to believe that if it is coming out in may that the specs are final. Given that, change can be made if the production of this notebook was delayed which is a possibility.

It also surprises me that other laptops/designs haven't started housing the 4860 within it. Its low battery consumption and performance is very appealing to say the least. That being said, a laptop with the 4860, a core 2 duo, and a bigger screen res is sure to cost more money.

I for one would definitely be willing to pay for a 1500$ laptop with the 4860 and core 2 duo though ;D

 

Well that is if the 4860 lives up to expectations.
I'm sure we will see it popping up on other systems, with such a potentionally powerful GPU that's smaller, runs cooler and has GDDR 5 memory other companies will take notice and start using it on some models.

 

The desktop version RV770 reviews are in and have shown that the design (40nm and GDDR5 memory) is indeed successful and places this card in the performance arena at an extremely cheap price point and in a very power efficient package. In my opinion, the design of this GPU is one of the largest steps forward in the mobile GPU market we have seen in a long time.

Although we haven't seen the mobile 4860 tested, I fully expect it to perform at the high levels we expect it to.

 

LOL, nice.

 

No hdmi? That's a really stupid move. Name a 2006+ laptop that has neither hdmi nor DVI (except those stupid Tecra S10 the school said they were uber nice)

 

Well, my Dell Precision doesn't have hdmi nor dvi, but it has a displayport. I'd still prefer hdmi over anything else though.

 

Dell Inspiron 1505 bought January 2007.

 

O no, the sky is falling.

 

Unfortunately, there are too many recent notebooks that still don't have HDMI (though they usually have DP or at the very least VGA, but still HDMI is preferable). Including pretty much all of Lenovo's Thinkpads (at least the SL, R, T, and W series), Dell's Latitude and Precisions, HP's Elitebooks, Apple MBP, and so on and so forth.

 

True but they pretty much always have SOMETHING that will suffice in its place. As I already said, many netbooks are even including HDMI now.

 

Well every notebook since 2000 or before has VGA - that's something in HDMI's place. It doesn't mean it will suffice though (ie. Lenovo T400 or HP 6930p - come on!)

 

My GF bought a Sony a couple months ago, no hdmi or dvi.. or esata.. bad. I still give her crap for purchasing a laptop without consulting me.

Where on earth are all of the wonderful new notebooks?!

 

still no news of the k series being anywhere on the market... hm.

 

me want 4860!
Why do they torture us like this

 

hmm, looks like the screen resolution hasn't been finalized yet

 

screen resolution has been finalised, it looks like K51 series AB(Amd/ATI) and IO(Intel/Nvidia) and the K70 AB/IO has not been finalised

hopefully they will add more features such as HDMI, bluetooth etc

 

Yeah poo poo on the 'lower' models. We want to see the full specs of the K51/K70

Even google full language search gives nothing

EDIT:

SPECULATION:

Both HP's new LED Backlit Pro Book 17.3" and Asus's own F70 17.3" LED Backlit screens have a listed resolution of 1600x900.

This would appear to be the AOU panel.

Occam's Razor would advise us that it is more likely that ASUS would put the same panel in it's 17.3" than for an unknown panel to appear in the place of the known.

I can certainly live with 1600x900 vs 1366x768.. Of course I'd prefer 1080..

Who makes the Studio XPS 16 1080p panel and why oh why can't we see it in more laptops!!

WHY?

WHY???!?

 

when is this thing going to start selling?

 

The translation of a Russian website says most likely the first half of May. I would love to see that, because that is imminent, however Q2 extends through June.

http://www.epsi.lk/html/news/news12.htm
This article posted in April states availability within 2-3 weeks....

I hope this isn't just a fake out!!

 

some hints as to the Price and Release of the K-Series can be found here:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=13490&cid=9

It's from Singapore.
Release of the K40In says Mid May 09. The price, in Singapore dollars for the poorly specced 14" model is S$1,398, this comes out to $950 US Dollars. Based off that projection, it seems that the 15" 4860 model would be around $1250-$1300, not that great really...

 

However, from my experience, prices in Singapore are often USD $200-300 more expensive than the market price in the US.

So there's still hope for all you lucky people there!!

 

For those wondering if this will release in Canada.

It looks like you can pre order through NCIX

ASUS K40IN-A1 - $1139.99 CAD

 

Nice find pureh2o. Now the question is when will they have them in stock

 

the US$950 is consistent with the previous website from Singapore. Was really expecting something in the low $700s for this model, with the 4860 in the low $1,000s...

 

Any news on the K51AB? I'd be interested if it's less than $1200 CAD.

 

Hmm... I know that the puma platform tends to be cheaper than centrino2 (I read about $200 USD from a Puma vs. Centrino 2 review) BUT discrete graphics do add to the cost, especially a high-end like a 4800 series

 

I'm interested in the 4670 actually. The MSI E625 can be had for $1050 in Canada right now and it's a centrino one with the P7350.

 

The 4860 shouldn't be that expensive due to 40nm process (vs. 55nm) and being a mainstream level card. Just like how GTX 280M is cheaper than 9800M GTS since it's on 55nm process (vs. 65nm).