The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
The W1n sales were pathetic given it's style, build, size and marketing Asus put into it at the time. It would have come back, but spec for spec - the W1v would have been the same price as the W2v.... the W2 is 17" and only 1/4 pound heavier..... To make that work Asus would have had to lower the spec of the W1 with a smaller hard drive, less RAM, slower CPU just to get the price down... but basically Asus thought they would split sales if not make more people get the W2 when they see the price is the same and you get more screen and the only downside is it's a 1/4 pound heavier.
So.... Asus needs another 15.4" in the Ensemble lineup and they've planned to bring it back in if other new options fall behind schedule... Basically if the announcement is made in June that the W1j is coming, it means that another new 15.4" will have gotten pushed back to December or January of next year.... if it doesn't come in, it'll mean that a new 15.4" from another series will be ready by the end of August.... I can't really go on beyong that, but I basically wrote it out.... no one has to mention it because at this stage it doesn't exist and yet I've been talking to Asus about it since April of last year...
I realize we're beating a (almost) dead horse here....but if the W1J is not brought back for mass-market, what is the possibility of any of you resellers importing a W1J or W1 Carbon just as a special single order? I'm sure there would be a price premium, but that might be worth it....
It's not happening..... mainly because I'd done this before and all those people who say "i'll pay a premium to bring it in, blah blah" .... like 1/4 of them actually would pay it... so given the amount needed to import, I'm not taking the risk because for ourselves... if the W1 then costs more than the W2.... you have this option........ says $200 more for the W1 or 1/4 pound more for the W2... that'll turn away most of those who say they'll pay the premium in the end.
.... so, no.. it's not worth it. It may be to you because you may want it... but you've got to see the whole picture. Also, if it doesn't come over, it means something better is only a month or so further away..... and that'll certainly kill the W1 sales... promised.
Based on the comment about the sales of the W1 in relation to ASUS's marketing, i'm curious about the marketing component of a computer business such as yours, Justin. Certainly fewer people are buying ASUS versus Dell, Compaq, etc., but I suspect part of this is due to marketing (or lack thereof). While it doesn't seem fair to make the reseller bear the burden of cost for marketing, I assume you do have to advertise your business and the laptops you carry. So with the W1, or really with any ASUS notebook, I wonder (1) do you have to advertise, other than via your website, (2) does ASUS help with the cost of that advertising, and (3) have you found any benefit to advertising, such as increases in units moved or price? Most of the folks in this forum are here because we are enthusiasts or really want to reasearch a purchase, so for us the products sell themselves to a degree. I imagine that Joe Blow Luddite on the street would be more apt to consider an ASUS if they were exposed to the name some. (As in "Dude! You're gettin' an ASUS!")
im curious as to what 'w1j' means
here in europe it represents the dothan single core model, but as all the badging for core duo w2 and w3 is also 'j' i was kinda wishing that there is a core duo version of the w1 coming soon-ish ie before college/university time?
better explained - is the us w1j dual core? does anyone know if theres a dual core w1 likely to be coming?
As for importing the carbon W1 model, count me in. I've been waiting for this laptop to hit the states since last year, and looking to June just won't work since my current laptop is about to go at any minute.
You know what Justin? I'll prepay the laptop so you don't have to worry about being stuck with it cause I changed my mind. Find a price and see if you can make it happen.
Maybe some others who are waiting for this laptop could all group together, pay upfront and then you get the deal done?
You keep saying the W2 is only 1/4 pound heavier, but from my standpoint that screen is simply way too big. And that carbon top of about the sexiest thing I've ever seen.
You see.... I can count you in, I can take your money... and yet a final price on a final configuration would be completely BS at this point because it just simply doesn't exist. To make shipping worth while, about 350-400 of these need to be brought in.... paid for up front, and need to sit around with a configruation that will just age and age and still cost the same after a cpu price drop.
At this point, I've already learned from past mistakes and only plan on something like this if we can get a large company order to absorb much of the incoming inventory... Regardless of if we're the only one's with it or not.... It's extremely dumb. But, just like everyone else... if you want to wait on the possibility of something like this... email sales and have them put you on the future product contact list under the W1j.... We use that list to guage poularity and figure out if something like this would be worth it.
Like powerline, I think the W2 is too large, particularly for a "mobile" laptop. The W1s integrated bluetooth, firewire, WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050, and ATI X700 128 MB suggests it would be a true power users laptop and not likely to become obsolete any time soon. The sumptuous carbon fiber is just icing on the cake.
I think there are many people like me that want a top of the line notebook in their preferred screen size. Though I am sure the ASUS marketing gurus are much smarter than I am, I will speculate that ASUS has lost a lot of business to Sony and Acer in the premium spec 15.4-inch market in North America by limiting distribution of their top of the line to the 17-inch (W2).
It seems odd that there is concern about the W1 cannibalizing the W2 and visa versa in North America, but not in other markets.
Unlike powerline, I am not in the immediate market for a new laptop; but if ASUS does not come through with a premium spec 15.4 inch widescreen in the June-ish timeframe, I will likely look to another vender.
i'm in almost exactly the same position/opinion as RRn.......I don't need the laptop right this second, but I will need one by may-june, and if ASUS doesn't come with something comparable, I will have to look to other brands, despite the fact ASUS is the best.....ASUS just doesn't get it: the bigger screen of the W2 just doesn't make up for the sexier design and reduced size of the W1....in fact, it is precisely the size of the W2 that turns me off (and the fact that it doesn't come with XP Pro...that's a huge problem for alot of people who's companies/schools require XP Pro for their networks).
I know all the resellers on this site (particularly ProPortable) are getting very tired of this subject, but ASUS' decisions here in N.A. just don't make sense...
... I'm not sick of anything related to this, but I have been growing more fed up with the who "what asus does, doesn't make sense" thing.... mainly because I've explained it.. and explained it.. and explained it again. I'm not by any means on Asus' side in a situation like this, but I understand why and I don't think I'm crazy... However the one thing that I have grown to push to the side is my view as a consumer... as I've grown up and grown to understand this industry.... and Asus as a whole... I've realized that "what I want" isn't always "what will sell" and "what others will want".
.... Basically, let me get right to the point.... I've personally bribbed the guy at Asus who is physically making the orders to get me certain things that won't come here for retail sales.... Basically, that doesn't go into his pocket, but goes to pay the exorbitant cost of importing very small quantities of a product. For me, I'll personally pay maybe 20% over retail (I'm not talking cost, but actual retail) for something that's not coming here, but I want..... That will get me anything I want on a small scale and it can't be sold retail because Asus won't warranty it to the end-user.... mainly because if it's a product they won't import, they'd need to special order parts if anything ever happened to it.
.... so, on the business side, after many years of working with them..... I know excatly what things are done. Some of the most anticipated models were the worst sellers... and that overhead increases prices of other incoming models and just hurts everyone else. But the whole idea behind the custom and the ensemble models is that people have a choice..... they're not the same models, but if you want to go with an ensemble model.. you get what's offered and live with it... you get what's offered and change it... or you don't get it.
I understand a lot of people's issues, but you're in the minority, otherwise it would change.... and I'm on your side... but I also understand what's going on and it's hard for me to press an issue that's crystal clear to me because I know I'm not going to get anywhere. But for the record, the W1 would come over with a tv tuner as well.. and therefore they'd opt for MCE also.
... final point..... Estimated costs to bring over.. lets just say.. barebone W1's or anything else.... put it out of most people's leagues. Yes, you could custom configure it, but lets just say right now that you were looking at a W2v.... with it's pre-configured set up it's $2549..... because a ton of them were brought over like that. To custom configure it to the identical spec would cost close to 20% more, at the very least. If you wanted a higher spec, you'd be looking at it costing a lot more than you might think......... a lot of thought goes into all this and often my head hurts just thinking about ways to change what we do and how Asus can change to help us.... I'm dead serious. If you want change, you call Asus directly and you tell them. The more people that hear it, the better chance something will happen.... but Asus is and has always been a rather conservative company on the side that sells products they brand. They're making their real money in motherboards and ODM work..... they don't need to be bleeding edge to make money. Their goal is to make a product a majority till want to own, but it's also their job to make it competitive price wise. If it's not, they're not going to sell a whole lot.... and the end result for all of us would be Asus having to cut back on the models they import and raise prices. Think of the whole.
But lets put it this way.... I've told people in the past and I'll tell you now... heck with emailing sales and just asking to be put on a future product list.. If you want a W1j and you want it now... email me directly. I can't promise anything, but if enough of you honestly want say a barebone of some sort.... write to me and tell me exactly what you're looking for. I'll see what I can do.... but I need more than a few people to email me to give this any chance.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
