Portable One MX is out, modified W3V

P1 has released their MX update, this time it's based on the W3V and seems to be basically an upgradeable W3V, although at 1899, it comes with a 7200rpm HD as standard rather than the 5400. Also you will most likely be under P1's warranty rather than Asus. Not sure about the screen, it uses some kind of "UVA wide viewing angle screen", although it looks like the same w3v screen to me.

www.portableone.com

 

Yea it's a customizable W3V with a 1 year P1 warranty. Once they upgrade it for you the Asus warranty becomes void. It would be similar to agearnotebooks.com W3V-S. The agear is customizable in the same ways, but it lacks the 7200rpm HD and gives you a 2 year Agear warranty.. that is if you customize it. The W3V-S also comes with 1 GB of RAM as part of the base package, and as a result it is more expensive. The point is they are both W3Vs upgraded by the dealer.

These two dealers would be your best choice for a customized W3V. I bought one from Agear before Portable1 issued this new model. If you want to risk losing the Asus warranty in exchange for a dealer warranty then I like the upgraded W3V for the money. Agear has been very helpful in my experience so I have no problem in taking their warranty over Asus.

 

hmmmmm..... is this Xactly the same notebook as the w3v besides the UVA screen?

 

The portable one model number for it is the MXW3V... I'm almost positive they took the W3V and upgraded certain parts. I can't really tell if the screen would be different from the pictures of it.

 

does it wear asus or portable one badging?

 

Considering we know the expense and quantities you'd have to get made up to replace the Asus logo on the unit..... it doesn't really help anyone break even.... so I'm going to assume the Asus badge stays. With regard to everything else, it's the W3v, no matter how they want to change the name of the screen or anything else, it's a W3v that they swapped a hard drive in. I believe the reason they won't be selling them till the end of the month is for two reasons.......

1. 7200 rpm 60gb drives should come down in price a TON by the end of the month with the release of the new 80/100gb pata and sata models..... that could have a lot to do with the delay in them starting to sell them.

2. Since the end of the month brings the a dropping in the CPU market, there is a very good chance that Asus told them they could have whatever stock was left after this rebate and perhaps they will be ordering in a 2.0 ghz model sooner than we though.

Either way, I had my 7200rpm drive in my W3 because I consider my W3 a truly portable powerhouse...... but I can tell you that if you want to cry about the heat issues some have and perhaps poor battery life (due to the already potent gpu and cpu).... then it's not a great option to have....... The 7200rpm drive does get quite toasty as it's spinning 1800 more times a minute as the standard 5400 in Asus' model. Performance is great but don't ***** about heat and battery life because I've used it and I think it's only for those seeking ultimate performance *all* the time and understands the downfalls it has. Also, to keep in mind, Asus' global warranty is a value of about a $150 a year.... 3 year Asus vs 1 year. Not any different than any of the other dealers who are voiding Asus warranty and changing out parts. It's just all rebates and offers that Asus might have do not apply in a situation like this.

 

From what I understand there will be Asus branding on this machine, they wanted to make sure to get the credit for the design of the machine chasis. And yes, it's a modified W3V.