Ordered a S96J :)

So after considering my options and all, ordered an S96J from powernotebooks today. Price/value is just unbeatable, the plain appearance is growing on me (I like the idea of having a laptop that LOOKS plain/boring/generic but is actually an awesomly spec'd Asus), resolution good enough for me, weight nice, and all. So yeah. Won't be getting it till next week because I ordered it for the price on the Intel after the price drops, so they're gonna wait until the price drops to built/ship, but I can wait. Calling wasn't as scary as I thought would be and powernotebooks is nice, so yeah. What I'm getting:


15.4" WXGA (1280x800) "Color Shine" LCD w/ATi RADEON X1600 w/256MB
Intel® Core™ Duo T2500 2.0GHz Processor w/2,048k L2 On-die cache 667MHz FSB
2,048MB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2/667 Dual Channel Memory - CORSAIR
80GB SATA/150 Hard Drive at 7,200 RPM - Hitachi or Seagate
Combo 8X DVD/24x10x24 CD-RW w/Softwares
Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g
Windows XP Professional
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Spare Smart Li-ion Battery (6-Cell)

Excited, as this will be more powerful then my desktop, for a very nice price and under 7lbs^^

Thanks everyone who helped me out/answered questions/gave suggestions etc.^^

 

I woulda waited for the core duo price drop in a couple of days; should save you around $100 on the t2500.

 

I ordered it with the price after the price drop, so I did save the money. That's why I won't get it until after the price drop happens

 

And, by ordering before June 1st you also get the 2 year warranty without the June 1st price bump to account for it.

Nitpicking, I'd have traded down to a T2400 and bumped up to a 100GB drive, though.

 

I have been interested in the S96J and I think I will be buying one soon. However, I saw today that the price of the Core Duos will be dropping. How were you able to get your laptop with a price drop??

Thanks

 

The Artic Silver 5 for 50$ is ******** imho. I would buy my own for 8$ a tube and apply it myself. I guess you paid about 1620-1650$ for it. Not a bad deal, but you did lose 150$ for buying XP Pro.

 

Hyper - I have a 100GB on my desktop and I've used like, 40GB of it after over 1.5 years, AND there's a crapload I could delete if I needed space. So 80GB seems more then enough for my needs^^

Chimp - 'Cos Powernotebooks is awesome XD
Actually the way he explained it, since they build it costum, I can order it now, and they wait to build it after the price drop (Sunday, though since Monday is a holiday it'll probably ship around Wednsday), so I get the price drop price. I guess I could have waited till then to order, but this way it's all taken care of and all I have to do is wait^^

 

Great choice, Cassandra022. The S96J is a great choice...
if it had bluetooth, that'd be the icing on the cake!

 

Alright cool. Maybe I will order soon then

 

Mmm, yeah, the bluetooth made me hesitate a bit initially, but when I thought about it...I have no bluetooth devices at all that I can think of, and the only real use would be a bluetooth mouse. I could get a non-bluetooth mouse instead though, and if I REALLY want a bluetooth one, I can always get a USB thing in the future. That and the fact that despite the fact that the great majority of people seem to think the bigger the res the better, I think the WXGA would work for me nicely, is the reason I decided not to wait for the Z96J^^

 

im happy for you. I got to see you think it all out on this forum and I think you made a good choice.

If when I buy my laptop, and Ive decided on the z96j, Im going to try and let powernotebooks beat the best price I find too, I see a lot of similar companys get recomended but Id feel better with that one.

Im thinking the a8jm much more though.

 

thanks^^ and yeah, this forum helped me TONS. When I started looking for a laptop that was right for me I had sketchy knowledge of notebooks, at best. Thanks to this site I really feel I've made an educated decision that works best for me. And plus I SUCK at making decisions and having feedback really helps to stop me from second-guessing myself like woah XD

the A8jm is pretty cool too...I'm just too much of a control freak to go with an ensemble XD

 

The reason to bump up to 100GB isn't necessarily for space, it's for the increased aureal density that boosts performance.

If you just don't need performance or space, then I'd bump down to a 5400 and save the $$ and heat and noise.

Again, FWIW as we all have different needs.

 

I think you'll be happy. The look of the S96J has grown on me. It's not really attractive, but working with it everyday, it's more plain than ugly.

 

Well I ordered it already so I can't really change anything now anyway, but I think what I got works well for me^^

Mmm, yes, plainness has its strong points too. Plus since there's no logo or anything, if I get bored/feel artistic I might either get some nice sticker type thing or paint a design on it myself if I can find paint that would work and make a design that doesn't suck^^

 

Good choice Cassandra! You will love it!

 

I should get mine this friday, ordered it over a week ago and didn't know about the duo core drop..it's already shipped. I also find the 'minimalist' look to be a big plus; especially when dells are garden variety everywhere on campus. Any advice for us soon to be owners on the first steps to cleaning, and preping a new notebook? -I've seen forums for 'best free software' and 'removing bloatware', anything more? (p.s. I ordered mine from gentechpc and am happy thusfar with their service) Thanks!

 

How bright (nits) is the screen on the S96J? Isn't the WXGA too granular?

 

Mine came with an AU Optronics panel with a rating of 180nits. Its brighter than any Dell I've seen though....E1705, i2200, i1100. It's above a satisfactory level for me.

Here's a picture of mine beside my VX924.

 

Thank you!

I am trying to figure out whether it is worth paying ~$500 more for a Core Duo S96J than for a Pentium M Lenovo Z96m (after rebate). And the S96J is losing. And I really feel sorry about not buying the ASUS (because I like the brand), but I am not a gamer.

The screen might have been a pro, but the Z60m's is 200 nits.

 

Well, my point was that Dells are rated at 200nits and they aren't as bright as the Asus 180nits.

Still, if you're not a gamer, then ignore anything with an X1600 as you'll be paying a hefty premium for it. Or get a P-M Asus now that they're dropping prices since Core Duo.

 

What a good idea!

Asus versus Lenovo ThinkPad... Difficult decision. Still, I don't think an ASUS can come close to ~$850 after rebate.

 

Hopefully you guys are at least building some of the s96j (memory, HD, etc). You can save massive money that way. Otherwise, the Z96 is a better choice for you.

 

The only catch, AFAIK, is that the optical drive needs some special rails (or so), which one cannot buy. So it's best buying the barebone S96J with the optical drive preinstalled. I think it is worth paying $49 to mwave.com for test and assembly, since its prices are close to newegg.com (except maybe for the fact that they don't have 7200 rpm HDDs and the memories could be better), and the barebone is cheap there.

If it only existed a S96J with a worse GPU...

Btw, the S96J is so cheap that most (built on) ASUS Pentium M systems are not worth the difference.

 

Why? The z96j and s96j are identical except for the resolution and bluetooth. On the underside of a s96j, and in the bios, it even says "z96j"

 

Eh, I'd rather pay a bit more and have it pre-built, honestly. Not into the making-it-myself thing at all. Plus something would probably go wrong, with the world hating me as it does and all XD

 

Congrats on deciding on the s96j. Choosing a laptop is hard, with so many choices and brands, but anyone with a brain can see the s96j is a killer deal. Good choice going with powernotebooks. They're TRULY awesome. Calling them up and talking to them wasn't so bad huh? Don't be scurred..

 

You can actually take your own art to Kinkos and Intel has a deal set up with them that for $15 they will make the LCD panel with your art. Just stick it on and there you go!

Your S96J will come with the PowerPro label on it, but you can easily remove it if you want to.

 

there is a 950 inegrated s96 supposedly on the market this month. s96f? probably is its name. gotta take about 200 off the cost of the s96 id estimate

 

It is the S96F and will be released very shortly. ASUS has not released pricing, but $200 off of the S96J seems a little high since the S96J is so inexpensive already...we'll have to wait and see.

 

speaking of VBI models, do you know if any of the other ODMs will release VBI notebooks? or is only Asus going for it? I remember the Intel site listed Quanta is also doing VBI

 

You will see the 14" Quanta SW1 (Intel GMA950) released in a few days, and it will be less expensive than the ASUS Z62F with virtually identical specs. The one plus for the Quanta will be the Bluetooth option.

Compal will also be releasing the HEL80 (15.4" WXGA w/nVIDIA 7600 w/256MB) and HEL81 (15.4" Intel GMA950) by mid June. The HEL80 will have a fingerprint scanner and 9 cell battery standard, and Bluetooth and TV Tuner optional.

Compal will also be releasing their 14" models shortly after that in both discrete and integrated versions.

 

Mmm, I heard about that, but not sure how much I'd want it -- the idea of an entire panel seems a bit...tacky. I was thinking something smaller, sort of the idea of negative space...but dunno, might look into this eventually.

And thanks Symetrikal^^ You're review/journal thing definitly helped me make my decision^^ And lol phone conversations with strangers are always scary...at best a bit awkward, at worst anxiety issues like woah. But yeah, not so bad^^