RAM for the Asus W3V

Link:
http://www.morecomputers.co.uk/textra.asp?pn=KVR533D2S4/1G

£69 for 1GB - A bargain, I'd say, but is it better to buy an Asus with default 512mb RAM and add this in myself (Easy? Hard?) or to buy it customised with a full 1GB RAM installed for £60 extra on the price of the laptop?

Also, is it very easy to fit it? No special tools?
Is 1.5GB a stable amount of RAM to have?


And finally, overall do you think it's better to buy an Asus W3V and upgrade the RAM or to buy a Sony VAIO S5XP?
It just seems everyone thinks, despite the Sony's immediate better specification, that the Asus is much better quality, will last longer and can be easily upgraded, well I've been drawn in! The only thing that's stopping me from getting the Asus W3V is the weight, I just hope to god it's only 2.2kg with the 8 cell battery fitted.

 

Also, I'm going to be using it for College, so it needs to be lightweight, yet powerful for gaming on the train home!!

 

1. More RAM is better. 1.5GB will give no problems. In theory, 2 RAM modules the same size may work as dual channel, but this seems to give no obvious performance improvement with the Sonoma chipset.

2. One RAM slot is under the keyboard and the other is under a cover on the base. The former is slightly less accessible and is where the fitted module should be. No special tools are needed.

3. The W3's weight with 8 cell battery and optical drive is about 2.5kg. The headline weight of 2kg is with a 4 cell battery (very hard to find) and weight saver instead of optical drive. When I originally got my W3A (replacing a Sony S2XP) I was annoyed by the weight being more than advertised, but I don't think this would have affected my purchasing decision.

The advertised weight of many notebooks is in the lightest possible configuration. The real weight is the computer as you need it, power supply, cables and carrying bag. Once I had a Dell bag that weighed 2kg, empty! I find that the W3 is a sturdy enough machine that it can be safely carried in a lightweight bag.

John

 

So you're saying the change between the Sony and the Asus didn't affect much on the weight aspect? I hope you're saying you didn't notice it at all!

Do you think the Asus is better quality and is overall better than the Sony S series?
Apparently the Sony has a massive power supply, so maybe that would make up for the Asus's weight when carrying around a laptop and a power supply at the same time.

Also, is it better to buy the Asus raw (80gb hdd, 512mb ram)and then upgrade it?

One last question, if you get up to 2GB ram installed then can the X600 HyperMemory take advantage of it and use say 1GB of it?

 

I got used to the extra weight. If you put the W3 and the Sony S together then you will notice the difference in size and weight, with the W3 being bigger and heavier (around 0.5kg). But if you compare the W3 with many of the other notebooks / laptops (14" and above) then the W3 will come out as quite small and light. 0.5kg is not so much in a bag that may weigh 5 to 10kg overall (depending on what else you have in it). The W3 also has its own "wow" factor because it is a good looker and relatively rare.

Regarding upgrades, my general policy has been DIY. You can defer expenditure until you are sure that you need the upgrade, you probably pay less or get something better than if you get the upgrade now, and you have the pleasure of having the improved computer. It seems that there is some over-supply in the DDR2 RAM market so prices should continue their downward trend, which the 2.5" HDD market is getting more crowded by the day.

John

 

Forget Sony, I despise Sony as I have gone through 2 headphones already, and one amplifier for my father's bar. JEEEEEEZ Sony stinks, well North American Sony products, if you can get your hands on Sony Japan products go for it as they are one of the best.

Anyway back to notebooks

Go with the W3V~!!! The heat isn't as bad as I had first thought, after undervolting that is. My friend has one and it's awesome.

Upgrading the ram yourself shouldnt' be a problem, but I forget whether it voids your warranty or not? I'm sure it doesn't, do a search on these forums as this has been discussed many times over.

Forget about the hypermemory as it won't help unless you're playing a very memory demanding game, which if you are you wouldn't even benefit from the hypermemory as your x600 wouldn't be enough to play it anyways

W3V is a cute little thing, but yes it's not as light as I thought. Oh well, you're a guy, deal with it~!!!

As stated above 1.5gig ram is just fine and dual channel mode doesn't give a huge performance boost so don't worry about it, unless you're a bigtime stiffler for benchmarks or if you program want your programs to compile that few seconds faster, not a big deal.

Goodluck with your purchase and hope you go W3V~!!!
Mike

 

Well you've pointed out no positive points for the W3V, so from that post it looks like I'm heading over to Vaio town.

 

You're a really indecive one... it really does seem like you want the Vaio and you're trying to get us to convince you otherwise. Why?
Just go for the Sony...