Soon to be Asus owner

Ive been reading these and other forums on notebooks for a few weeks now, and finaly decided to post rather than just read. I am going to be buying a notebook within the next few weeks and am unable to decide what to get. At first i was going to get a dell (lllllllong time ago when i was very ignorant) and then i found some sites that customize asus laptops and fell in love with the stats, price, and quality.

Eitherway here is what i am looking for.
-Core 2 Duo T7200.....must be core 2, can be higher or possibly lower clock speed, i would prefer its not lower than the 2.0.
-2gb 667 ram, standard on many asus things but not on other laptops.... 667 is a must.
-15.4" 1680x1050.... also a must.... 1280 resolution bothers me, and from what ive looked at 14" laptops are a bit small.
-Graphics card..... would prefer an x1700 or go7700, but those are rare and limited, might wait for it.... if not worst case x1600 or go7600.... i really dont need any of that 7900gt or dual 7900 or whatelse nonsense.
-some random hard drive, ill figure that out when i make the decision not that big a deal


Those are the stats i am looking for.... here is a list of models i have found that have the screen size and are interesting

First thought was Z96J... but then i found some thread that ranked build quality of a bunch of laptops and that was like 2.4/5 while there were a lot of other asus laptops at like 4.0/5.... if any1 has the link to that thread i would love u.... i cant seem to find it again anywhere. The graininess issue is not a problem for me, its actually a bonus that ppl were able to get asus to work on a fix.
V1J.... F3JA are other models i am looking at. I considered the A8Js for a while since it had the x1700, but the 14.1" seems a bit small..... still a possibility i dont dismiss anythign quickly.

Input in any way from any1 is welcomed. If you know addition models that would have what i am looking for let me know, even if not asus brand. I havent had the patience to look at other brands but i will consider them, even though i love asus.

 

I believe your best bet would be to fill out the FAQ and we could see exactly what it is you need compared to what you want, and such.

 

1) At the moment 1700-1800, if the wait changes this can increase to about 2k or maybe more..... but above 2k a lot of other options open up also
2)15.4", 14.1" is a possibility but ehhh would not prefer
3) OpenGL programming, other programming, gaming, graphics work, school work
4) Would like to take it to class and plug it in there
5) Oblivion, BF2, HL2.... stuff like that
6) uhmm i love asus, dont like gateway/hp... indiferent to dell..... im open to anything really
7) 2 hours will be plenty, there are outlets everywhere
8) dont mind, if i can check it out at a store or some1 that would be a bonus but dosnt matter
9) US
10) wide
11) for a 15.4" must be WSXGA+, for a 14.1" must be WXGA+
12) dont really care,
13) sort of, i dont like very very thick laptops, the brushed/anondized look of some asus laptops i am a big fan of, not that big a deal
14) soon within 1 month, might wait a bit longer if something nice is due out,1-2 years, prolly 2 years
15) that can be customized/ changed, either a 120gb@5400, or a 100gb at 7200, not that big a deal
16) again can be customized/changed, dvd burner preferably, but not that big a deal.

 

the s96j/z and f3ja/m are essentially the exact same machines.

So if you do not like the chassis quality on one you do not like the chassis quality on the other.

It is high end compared to most that you could buy at best buy its about like a high end sony.

but it is about the cheapest in an asus.

Definitely pretty sure you want the a8js. If there is a machine called the f3js upcoming with the 7700 go, it will cost almost the exact same. It will have the same specs but a dimmer lcd screen and a lower quality chassis. just like f3jm compared to a8jm.
If youre sure you want the 15 inch though I anticipate there will be a model exactly like that for $1500 within a month or two.