Regarding my Asus Z9000 build

Hi all. This is my first post here, so please bear with me. [ ]

I am planning to get an Asus Z9000 for university this coming fall. I have heard some pretty good things about it from this forum, and considering the price I am getting it at I think it is a good bang for buck. Here are the specs and prices:

Asus Z9000 (Barebone)...........................CDN$960
Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz (Banias/1MB L2)..........CDN$289
OEM 512MB PC2700 DDR SO-DIMM 200-pin (1 stick)..CDN$135
Seagate 20GB 5400rpm HDD........................CDN$110
TOTAL: CDN$1494

I planned to assemble everything myself. Is it difficult and taunting to do? I have never built a notebook before. I've read the article at LegitReviews about building the M6N. Is it the same procedures with the Z9000?

One thing that bugs me is the lack of updates (driver-wise) on Asus' website. The download page for the Z9000 is absolutely empty![V] I heard that the L4R is the same as the Z9000, so are the driver and BIOS updates interchangeable?

Thanks. [|)]

 

The z9000 is only called that in the US/Can everywhere else it seems to be marketed as the L4000...don't know why, but that does mean that the L4000 drivers etc should be fine for the Z9000!
As for building it yourself, its your first time so I would get as much advice/manuals as possible first, your playing with $1500 worth of stuff. Also I would check that the 2 year warranty is still vaild if you do it yourself. Miss out on that, and I would suggest buying it prebuilt....just in case
a

 

Yeah this is my first time working with components for a notebook, so I would like to seek for some advices here first (since this is a forum specifically for notebooks there must be someone who has built a notebook before.)

I downloaded Asus' hardware manual for the L4R, but it doesn't mention anything about the hardware installation procedures. Any help? [ ]

 

Try this manual,
It will show you how to instal most of the parts.
a

http://ec.synnex.com/sb/docs/Z9%20-%20L4R%20Training.pdf

ps also take a look at the ASUS upgrade manuals sticky it has links to most of the manuals for all of the ASUS notebooks

 

Thank you, the manual is very helpful. Now some questions pop up in my mind.

First of all, the manual states that 256MB of RAM comes standard with the unit. I am positive the barebone I am buying doesn't come with any RAM whatsoever. Is it possible to run the notebook with one stick of 512MB RAM in the secondary expansion socket (accessible from the bottom of the unit), or do I have to crack open the unit (remove the keyboard) to reach the primary RAM socket? I know some notebooks are pretty stringent about this. Can anybody with a Z9000 confirm this for me?

One more thing. Can I use my own thermal paste for the processor? I am not too fond with thermal pads like the one shown in the manual.

Thanks.

 

try going to the other global sites of asus (US, AUS etc) for the downloads. sometimes in other parts of the world there aren't.