Short first-impressions of Asus A8js

I just received my brand-new Asus A8js yesterday from GentechPC, which shipped out speedily last Friday. (I live on the East Coast).

I apologize that this review will be in no way professional or include photos as I have no camera, and am not well-versed in computers.

First of all, I really love my Asus A8js, although I have a few nitpicky concerns. I was originally going to buy the Asus W3J for its optional bay, but the higher resolution of the Asus A8js and its availability, along with the better CPU guided me towards the Asus a8js, and I have no regrets on that account. I saved a lot of money, and I think I'm getting a lot better specs. My A8js has default North American settings, 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo processor, WXGA+ resolution, and 2gigs of RAM (added by Gentech). It actually looks much better than I expected it to, overall. I was expecting a much flimsier machine as I know the a8js is on the cheapest end of the Asus Ensembles, despite its spectacular specs. In fact, the machine is pretty beautiful, though I prefer darker colors over the silver, which I have heard will scratch easily. Still, the only laptop i've ever owned before was a Toshiba 14 in. five years ago that seemed much smaller (maybe because it wasn't widescreen) and much more plasticky, by far. (just feel-wise, anyways)

The screen is beautiful, and seems to have pretty good viewing angles. I was on a desktop PC for a long time with a Dell 2005FPW 20inch widescreen LCD, (1680x1050 resolution), so having higher resolution was important to me. For the past couple of months I'd been using a borrowed 12in. MAC powerbook which had poor viewing angles, especially vertically, and this screen is most definitely an upgrade. Actually, I find the WXGA+ resolution to still be less than I would like, and I almost wish I had a 15.4 in with 1680x1050 resolution. This alone makes me really glad I didn't go for the W3J. I had thought about getting the W3J+ without waiting for Merom, but waiting for the WXGA+ definitely paid off, as I like to work with 2 documents side-by-side. [edited to add] The brightness is more than adequate and I actually leave it on at about 50%. Have not tested battery yet.

The biggest issue I have with the A8js is that while it is otherwise whisper-quiet.. no fan noise when I do the things I do (haven't tried gaming or anything intensive, and won't be for a while anyways as I am in grad school) like word-processing, internet browsing, downloading stuff.. it's so quiet when I woke up this morning after having left it on that I wondered if it had turned off (i set it not to turn off anything but the monitor) but no.. it was still on, just super-super quiet. (Any of you used a MAC powerbook? that thing would turn on jet engine fans when i had one window open, to the extent that I used to worry the computer was going to blow up, so I would have to give it a rest every half hour or so). BUT.. other than the quietness in general, the computer lets out a very soft click-click noise which coincides with the light that blinks in the top left corner with a cylinder-shaped icon below it. (I'm guessing this is the Hard drive.. again, my apologies for being an uninformed user, and too lazy to dig out the manual which I packed away with the rest of the boxes). This click-click noise is pretty much constantly going on when I'm doing anything to the computer. It would most likely be inaudible in an area with white noise, but my room is very quiet so I can hear it. Please note that it is very soft, but still definitely audible in a quiet room. I'm not sure if this is normal.. I'm leaning towards just normal, but I do wish it weren't there, and would be very unhappy if it got louder.

Other than that, the machine isn't as fast as I hoped it would be to boot. There is a lot of Asus-ware that's on the computer that I'm not sure is necessary, but I haven't quite figured out what is needed and what is not. Also, the computer has had some trouble with an application I run in IE (an asian program that most ppl here would not know of) that I had no problems running in my 2-year-old desktop. It stalls a bit. But I attribute that mostly to the program and not the laptop.

So all-in-all, I'm satisfied, although I would love some input on the hard drive(?) noise, whether it's normal/expected, or if something is wrong. Thank you!

 

Thanks for your mini-review.
I assume you have the basic 5400 ram HD, since you didn't mention an upgrade for it.
Clicking sound won't be much of an issue if you're playing a game or listening to music.

I'm hopefully getting mine next Friday. Can't wait.

 

The cylinder shaped icon is indeed the hard drive access indicator.

Glad you like your notebook!

 

I need to buy one of those... I cant wait!

 

Thanks for the mini review!!

 

Going to pick it up from Milestone in exactly 30 minutes - can't wait!!!

Very nice first impressions, SJ!

 

Re: loading times.

You may want to reformat your machine and re-set up the partions. There are some good guides in the help-article board here about setting up your drive and tweaking the windows install. I plan on doing some benchmarking then immediately reformat with a clean windows install. You'll get a faster boot and smoother performance.

Here are some useful threads:

XP-Installation Guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81828

How to Optomize a Notebook Computer:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=5787

 

Clicking harddrives are usually of imminent harddrive death... I'd be concerned about that if I were you.

 

Oh no hard drives click normally. I mean theres click and theres click

when the head isnt reading it does a bang type of click that is different from just the noise the hd makes when operating.

Hitachi hds make noise definitely.

I feel the same about the resolution. I havent gotten mine yet but Im definitely used to eh wsxga resolution of 1280 x 1024

The width is great but its still too short vertically. Anyhow though if I wanted a 1000 res verticle notebook I had to get the z96j or hel 80 so all things considered I wouldnt trade.

 

Oh man can't wait till mine gets here!!

 

Using Notebook Hardware Control and setting the acoustic management setting to 'quiet' made my Hitachi HD a lot quieter.

 

mine i thought made the slight clicking sound as well, but it seems now that it is extremely quiet, although my A8 has a seagate in it, would that make a difference?

 

i have a a8jm that is about a month old and it makes the same clicking sound. in the beginning it did not really bother me, but now its getting really annoying because it keeps clicking even when there are no windows open. any1 know how to fix this or make it quieter?

 

Hitachi's are known for a little more noise - not it's never been anything that was related to a problem. I've got a keen ear for it and never heard much of anything out of the Seagates though, so perhaps in that situation it's different.

To asusfan - I think I told you that it would be a good idea for you to take care of that by calling Asus and telling them what's going on.... I only continue to offer my opinion to those that take me up on them. If you're not going to call Asus and be proactive about it, no one else should give you any more advice. Take that as it's meant and go get help. If you're really worried about and Asus says they'd like to swap your hard drive or they want to see your notebook, I think you should do it at least for peace of mind..... If you recall, we asked that if we were to be on the same level, we'd probably need to hear a recording to help you pin point if this is an issue or not, but we as a forum can't really do anything else if you can't provide more information.

 

Seajewel,
I also have an a8js and I didn't even notice the clicking noise until you pointed it out. I would have to say thats the harddrive reading. I'm pretty sure there is nothing wrong with your drive. If you're really concerned with it then give asus a call like ProPortable said.

George

 

Thanks everyone. I might give Asus a call- I wouldn't say the clicking noise is something anyone would not notice until it was pointed out as in gkcomp22's, at least not on my a8js. at the same time, it would be hard parting with the laptop so soon if there were some sort of problem. It may just be the Hitachi drive, I guess. i'll see if any more people who get new a8js's can weigh in on the issue.

i'm sort of testing out (well, draining) the battery right now, but i think one could get around 3 hours with wireless off and the screen brightness set to just above the min (the min was a bit too dark, but otherwise, it's certainly "bearable").. i don't think i'll have any good straight battery tests, and i apologize for that... i have to keep going away from keyboard, and therefore have lost track of exactly how much time it's been.

i've kept the screen protector on so far, although i repositioned the tape, which i may replace with clear tape soon. and i ordered a keyboard protector from kbprotector.com. very determined to take good care of this gorgeous laptop

 

Seajewel....... are you seriously one of those that thinks keeping the original shipping protection and retail sales stickers on something keeps it looking new?

If you keep the plastic sheet on your notebook and worse yet, replace the yellow tape with clear... not only are you blocking the true potential of the screen, but it's going to detract from the look and be tacky.... Not to mention when you show other people your system, if they think that's part of the computer, they're not going to buy one.

.. I know people are obessed with keeping things looking new... but I've said this before - you're new so you wouldn't have seen it - but they're nothing worse than doing the above and then taking those things off a year later. under the tape and stickers will be discolored because the uv rays would be blocked more by those coverings.... Now, if someone were to leave them on for good.. eventually they wear down and the glue underneath the will ooze out...

I'm not saying you're leaving the stickers on, but if you leave that sheet across the front, you're half way to that sorta person Keep in mind that anything that would protect certainly isn't going to hurt the screen..... they'll be things that can physically clean off.

 

Maybe I am paranoid and blocking the "true potential" of the screen, but I'm originally from an Asian country where you put on a screen protector for everything, not least of all your laptop (and keyboard protectors, and all of that.. in fact, my first generation black ipod nano is as good as new without a scratch because i put on a high-end protector, and i'm happy about that with all the initial reports of extreme scratching). The screen protector doesn't bother me at all at this moment, and I would have taken it off if it did, but as of now, I'm okay. and my goal in life isn't to impress people with how awesome my laptop screen is, either.

i've had the laptop for a day and a half. i probably kept the ipod protector film that came with it (and talk about detracting from the screen!) for a while too because of all the horrible reports, until i could get one that was perfectly sized and safe/adhesive/totally undistracting. Okay, so I'm overly careful/paranoid and I love to think that I'm helping. Let's just say that the last laptop I owned looked a hell of a lot better than my younger brother's in a few years. That's all.

 

I don't like screen protectors because unless you've got a child around (a 2 year old or a college roomate - same thing), you're pretty safe, but you'll block that true potential....... That's one thing... but leaving the shipping protection on, that's out of your league... Perhaps you meant to say you're leaving that on till you get a better one?

Also... who cares what it looks like in 3 years.. especially if you have to leave stuff on that makes it look bad? You can replace all chassis parts if you wanted.. in three years, come back to me and for a no more than a few hundred bucks, I will make your entire computer look like it just came out of t he box.

 

I've an A8Jm and i believe it shares the chasis with the A8Js (not sure) and yes my hdd reading "clicking" noise is louder than my fan, but i dont really mind. I 've used desktops whose "clicking" noises are much much louder.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I've returned a Sony TX before that had loud hard disk clicks, I hope you can live with it. I certainly couldn't.

 

If your drive is noisy try

http://www.rt-sw.de/freeware/silentdrive.zip


It works on my W7J, it really does quieten my drive down.

If your drive keeps clicking there is another silent drive kind of program somewhere around the net which I can't find right now but I've used it on my Dell because of the clicking problem. The HDD heads park and unpark over and over for some stupid reason(this makes the clicking noise). That utility accesses the HDD constantly which doesnt allow the HDD to park any more. My W7J did this a little bit at the beginning and I was afraid it would be like my Dell, but once I put the acoustics management on quiet it was fine...

 

thanks everyone for the ideas, i just wanted to report back that I installed NHC and set the acoustics management to "quiet" instead of "loud" and that pretty much makes the sound non-existent. I also defragmented the HDD as that was also recommended elsewhere, and that may have contributed (although it is a new PC so perhaps it wouldn't matter? the analyzer still recommended defragmentation).

 

windows would be extremely fragmented if just installed from a disk

 

ah, okay, thank you. So it was a good idea. Also- should I get rid of Power4gear if I have NHC installed?

 

Some additional notes:

1. I'm having a lot of trouble getting used to the touchpad, though I've been fiddling around with the settings. I was fine with the Powerbook's trackpad for two months without a mouse, but I would go insane with this one, I think.

2. The volume is MUCH TOO LOW to watch DVDs. Maybe by myself- maybe, if it were quiet. Still, I couldn't invite a friend over to watch it in the living room with the windows open. It just wouldn't do. Need external speakers- I knew that anyways, but still it would have been nice to be able to just carry it out without hooking it up to watch the occasional clip/movie.

so far, those are my newly-surfaced complaints. but i really do love my notebook, and as a DTR/movie-watching machine (which is what I bought it for, mostly, and some portability) it works fine. I'm sure if I ever had time to try to play games, etc. it would work wonderfully. Although lately I'm thinking the next laptop I buy will be smaller (13.3 or 12in, unless technology makes laptops sig. lighter without downgrading) and maybe with an external large LCD. I like screen space, but I can see the advantages of having a machine you can easily slip into your backpack.

 

Seajewel:

I also had the screen protector on mine until about 2 months or so, then took it off and was amazed at the difference it made... just threw out the protector after that ... I'm also using the keyboard protector from kbprotector like you ordered.. keeps the keyboard looking nice and clean.

The touchpad does take awhile to get used to.. maybe a couple of weeks of using it. It sure took me awhile to get used to the feeling on the A8Jm touchpad too...

In any case.. congrats on the purchase... great machine...

 

As for the touchpad, on some of the laptops I've used in the past I was able to turn up the sample rate and improve the feel a bit. Each driver had this setting in a different place if it had it at all. Most of the time this was under the actual driver properties.

Hard drive clicking, by default XP defrags in the background after it thinks you are idle. However it only attempts this once every several weeks. There is a registry key to turn this off but I don't recommend messing with the registry If you're not comfortable with it. There are a few tweaking utilities that lets you turn this off with just a checkbox.

 

Well it does come with a free mouse.

I personally gave up on touchpads years ago. I dont know what a good one is like but I think they are all worthless.

the best was back in the 80s when they came with trackballs.

 

Seajewel

I just got my A8Js (review forthcoming). My intial reaction was quite the opposite of you're claim of a beautiful screen. I find that the viewing angles are horrid and there is a LOT of light leakage from the bottom. I got this model for digital editing work, and black is not black where the light leakage is.

Can you check your screen model? I have an AUO 1247. Download everest free to check your screen type.

 

... Dun dun dun!!

 

I concur with peekaboom in regards to the light leakage and viewing angles.

Is this normal with these glossy screens? I guess ("special") screen protectors wouldn't be of any use.

 

Its up to the person. As far as I know the 14 inchers have been prone to the viewing angles. I can't comment on the leakage because I haven't gotten mine yet.

 

well significant leakage would be a manufacturing defect .
please show us pictures so we can all see if we are going to experience the same thing. nobody talked about it on their a8jm and although this is a different screen its about as similar as it gets its the same manf almost the same stats but more resolution.

as far as viewing angle

http://www.auo.com/auoDEV/products.php?sec=notebook&func=info&product_id=14&items_id=2

here are its stats im not an expert but i do believe 90/65 would be a short viewing angle.

edit are you sure your model number doesnt say B141PW01 ???

 

Stamar, yes it is likley that model you mention, its the only 14.1"+ screen they have.

I may be ultra screen sensitive considereing this is my first laptop and I've used CRT monitors (a good one too) my entire computing life, so I'm probably quite spoiled.

 

hmm- i installed Everest and monitor ID is the same as peekaboom's, and manufacturer is B141PW01 V2. I'll say that the brightness of the monitor at max is not as good as I initially said- It's fine by me, but I could see how it could be brighter. as for light leakage, on a blank screen screensaver there is a bit on the bottom and less on the top, but it is by no means bad to me- i used to use a Dell 2005FPW and i believe that had very bad reports of light leakage, and it was more unevenly distributed across the screen.

here, i don't really notice it, but i don't use my computer for graphics work. i watch movies, and the light leakage is very minimal on the black strip on the bottom when i watch dvds. i probably would not have noticed without it being pointed out, other than on blank screensaver, and honestly, i figured most LCDs suffer some amount of light leakage, and this is on the better side of the only other thing i have to compare to (my dell LCD, which I loved nonetheless).

As for viewing angles, I realy do feel that the viewing angles are great. I noticed another review said just looking straight on at the screen it had uneven patches at the side- i don't get that at all, and the screen looks great looking from either side. Maybe there is a screen defect in some machines? the high res 14.1 screen isn't used in many machines.. so im not sure what its default quality should be, but i'm pretty confident in saying mine is fine, viewing-angle wise and light leakage-wise.

all with a disclaimer that i don't have much experience with laptops, and the mac powerbook i borrowed from my friend had MUCH worse viewing angles (it was an old machine, though, probably around 2 years old.) without a doubt.

 

I'm getting used to it already. I don't think the leakage is a result of a defect. I think I'm just more particular about the monitor than many people.

Overall through I'm really liking this unit! I'm going to write a review for NBR hopefully this weekend, so for those of you wondering what it's all about be patient.

 

When I started researching for a new laptop a few months ago I considered the Dell XPS M1210 (a 12.1" wide screen with a 7400Go video card). There was a lot of discussion on the Dell forum about the LCDs that Dell used in the M1210 and a lot of people were ordering that laptop with a built in video camera because Dell would install an AOU panel in it, but if you didn't get the camera you might get a Samsung or worse a Toshiba panel. Everyone raved about how much better the AOU display is. So, to make a long story short, if Asus is using AOU panels then you've got the best possible display...

 

Oh no in general a samsung would be the best. Each model of lcd is different maybe the one in the dell is an older one.

Samsungs do seem to have high defect rates maybe thats what they are talking about. Samsung would be the worlds leading lcd manufacturer....

A fujitsu screen would be very bright but way behind in the resolution. Theres an asus model that uses a fujitsu screen its the w2j. Sharp would be even better like the v6va

Id like to see pictures of what both of you call light leakage. what you do is take a picture of the windows start up screen in a dark room and well see it clearly.

I want to see what kind of defects come up.

as far as bright... well Im going to go out on a limb and say that 220 nits is the brightest 14 inch notebook available anywhere.

Its not to the 250-260 of a desktop lcd but its very bright. I havent even seen it but I think 200 is bright enough.

 

samsung is the worlds largest lcd maker and auo is the second.... cmo the 3rd.

most all notebooks use those 3 only exotic ones may use like lg and sharp and fujitsu. sony and toshiba are smaller scale now as well... rare outside of their own products.