Pricedrop for W3J when Merom arrives?

Do you think the price will drop for the W3J when the Merom arrives? I havn't bought a new laptop yet, I'm interested in the W3J, do you think I should wait or just go and buy it right away?

It's actually sad, the fastest specs for an Asus 14' IN THE UK with dedicated graphics is the W3J. It comes with the T2400 (1.83Mhz) 1GB RAM and ATI X1600. The followup for that is the A8Ja and A8F with the T2300 (1.66Mhz) processor, also 1 GB RAM but less performance graphics card. It seems we are a bit behind..

 

asus doesnt drop prices ever really. they just upgrade some components and maintain the same price.

 

highly unlikely... the W3V's price didn't drop until the W3J was widely available.. the most you'll see are rebates.

 

So what u're trying to say is that if you were in my shoes, you would buy it now? Oh well.. was hoping for some good news

 

Merom is supposed to be drop-in compatible with Yonah and be a direct line replacement, ie. the 2GHz Merom will be priced the same as the 2GHz Yonah. Personally, I'm hoping for ASUS to just swap a Merom for a Yonah in all their models. Keeps things simple for everyone and should make availability come a lot quicker.

 

Like the old saying goes, buy when you need it.

If you really, really need it get one. If not, no need on getting one because you want one.

 

Justin was saying you'll probably see the merom introduced directly into the W3J (sometime after the W5F and others that were release before the W3J) which will make it the W3J H0??P. I've noticed with my local comp shops, they'll sell the H017P for $100 less than the H026P. I'm going to estimate that it will be similar when the Merom version of W3J enters the market. I'd expect it will probably be a significant price difference though ($200-250) over the duo cores. Also, the W3J is most likely going to be Merom ready about 1-2 month or later after you see Core 2 Duos in off the shelf notebooks.

You have to keep in mind, all the on stock at each individual reseller was purchased at a particular price. When Merom comes out, it can't change the price at which the stock was purchased at. As Lepzepp14 said, Asus will probably issue mail in rebates as a way to help their resellers clear out stock before the next price drop. Even then, I'd imagine they would hold off on discounting for a short period to counter-act people like you and me who are expecting that extra savings that follows a next gen tech upgrade

The other thing that could happen, the duo core version holds the same price and they'll simply charge more for the Merom...

There are too many scenarios that could play out. When it comes to business, it's all about satisfying the customer while taking as much money from them as they smile

 

If I buy the W3J with the Yona T2400 can I upgrade to Merom later on?

Also, does the W3J have a Yonah 32-bit Core Duo processor? I've read somewhere if you do have one, you will be able to upgrade to Merom 64-bit Core 2 in about a year when prices will be lower. What do you think bout this?

 

The main difference between Core Duo(Yonah) and Core 2 Duo(Merom) is the 64bit. There is also a lot of micro-architechture upgrades and generally speaking Merom is nothing like any chip in existance.

Upgrading to Merom is a very strong possibly maybe!!! The only thing that would prevent you would be if Asus decided not to release a BIOS upgrade that supported the new chip. I don't see why they wouldn't release it, but it's not 100%. Other than that, the pin connector and everything else is fully compatible.

 

Well I guess I will just have to buy the W3J and hope for the best then! Thanx Mike.

The spec in the UK comes with the T2400 1.83Ghz. Can I upgrade to T2500 2Ghz? The last dealer I asked answer's was NO. But it seems to me it is possible, I think so? I mean the US version W3J comes out with the T2500?

 

Look around or wait... the T2500 1x1Gig 677Mhz W3J H026P is surely in the UK.

It should be a simple upgrade. Someone actually posted a picture of the CPU showing there was enough room to replace it without voiding the warranty. I'm sure it's an easy swap. Someone will answer your question 2moro though for sure!

 

Im in a similar position to you. I’m waiting to see if the w3j+ comes out in the UK, or there is a price drop.

 

Hi Maff long time no thread. Did you phone the number I gave you? Hey maybe we can buy the W3J together? I am sure if I have a word with him he will give us more discount than normal, I am one of his regular customers. When are you planning to buy?

I want the W3J with the following specs:
T2500 2Ghz
2 GB RAM 667Mhz
Maybe a harddrive upgrade to 7200RPM, but will be happy with 5400RPM.

If you are also after this specs we should think about this.

 

That seems to be the case according to Intel.

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=639535&starttime=0&endtime=0

The aren't going to announce any price cuts on Yonah and will simply ship Merom and Yonah side by side at the same price points until Yonah stock is used up. They expect to make a very quick transition to Merom with people just swapping them in current designs.

The article also mentions that SLI is coming to notebooks in the Napa Refresh. I guess this is the first move to form a tighter relationship between Intel and nVidia and distance themselves from ATI.

 

I'd really like a W3j with Merom. I think its a great notebook, but I'm just waiting to see what Asus has to offer in the next few months. Would have liked to see a DVI port and webcam in something like the W3j in the future though. If it had those, I think it would be like the best notebook ever made.

 

Nice find... This isnt nessasarily good news though. While it would be great to get a Merom version of the W3J for $1799 USD, it still has to pass 2 hands before it gets to yours. Most likely Asus or the resellers, if not both will be putting a price hike on those products while they clear out old stock.

SLI would be nice if you could fit it inside a 14" notebook... too bad for me.

TOTALLY AGREED!! I could live without an integrated webcam (although it would certainly be nice) but why was DVI not included on this machine?

 

Very interesting link ltcommander_data!

Also I totally agree with Jason, it would be excellent if it came out with webcam and dvi port! Those were the things that put me off just a little bit.