Stylish? Solid? Hardly. A8Js Thoughts

I am thoroughly ticked off. After reading reviews and such of the most meticulous detail, I cannot believe what must be a lack of real meat and guts to some of the reviews on here.

I just purchased an A8Js and I cannot believe no one has mentioned how unintelligent the plastic grill ventilation patterns on the bottom are. There is a SEVERE amount of flex to these vents and it definitely merits a measured amount of concern - Certainly a worthy mention in a review when build quality is such an important area of any notebook purchasing decision.

This is very disconcerting for me because it came as an absolutely complete surprise. It doesn't take much for the plastics to weaken from wear on a grill, let alone on a face that has continuous contact or near contact with surfaces.

I applaud Asus for having a well designed air flow through the laptop. I roll my eyes at the poor execution.

I can't think of a more annoying slight crevice around the borders of the touchpad/buttons to be had. Honestly? What a stupid design. Either indent the touchpad (ie. most laptops) or make the entire bloody thing flush with the panel even if it's a seperate component. The very minute indented line separating the touchpad from the buttons is so benign it merits only an aesthetic value as opposed to any real kinaesthetic feedback as to the positioning of your thumb when sliding down for a strike.

The button on the curved optical drive is a pain in the butt to depress and leaves no tactile response given how long it takes for the drive to pop out. The noise from the optical drive is extraordinarily loud. My Toshiba M71-FE5 makes a thrum sound, but the A8Js' sounds like a rainfall outside.

The wireless card receives adequate connection, but by no means beats my laptop's card from TWO YEARS ago.

I am...just so disappointed. I thought this laptop would have everything I needed and now it's back to looking at a T61, with its off-centred display, no DVI, and 140M video card.

 

What flex in the vent? I have none. And the plastic hasn't worn away on mine.

The touch pad was annoying because of the finnish, but mine's almost entirely flush. And the crevice isn't annoying on mine. I have only one other experience with wifi-cards and that's an external PCMCIA belkin card, and the intel card in the A8Js is better. However, Intel is known for not having the best wifi-card.

I completely agree with the dvd-drive though. While I liked the button, it broke easily. AND IT'S WAAAAY TOO LOUD!

 

On the bottom of the laptop there are grill patterns I'm not going to pull it out right now but if you flip your's over you'll be able to see into the laptop. Press a single finger on those bottom grills and they flex far too easily. It makes me wince thinking about it. Having a few outlets is fine - Hell my Toshiba that is built like a brick has a few on the bottom, but given the size of those grill patterns Asus should have used firmer support behind those plastic grills than cheap, chicken wire like bolstering.

As for the crevice, it's just bothersome if grit or dust happens to get near there. I'd rather have a concave touchpad where i can clean anything that might get into the corners rather than some little valley line surrounding the touchpad/buttons.

As for the drive, glad to hear someone else noticed the insane noise. It's almost twice as loud as the thrumming on my Toshiba. It looks like a normal optical drive with a proprietary front panel for the awkward dipped assembly - The button in that panel is ridiculous. The noise though...hoooly shiiizz...I wonder if it has to do with the extra airflow ventilation allowing more noise to pass into external air easily...?

 

I did. Minimum flex. I had to actually try to make it flex. IMO, the crevice is more a matter of opinion (lol). But yeah, the drive is annoyinly loud.

 

Your touchpad's finish has worn away completely? what color is it now, black? ouch. I saw some A8 models on display in China (although not the A8JS model) and the touchpads and buttons also had large black patches from wear. Kind of insults the plaque underneath the display that says Asus - ROCK SOLID and Heart Touching. Can't complain about the build quality of my G1 though. Absolutely marvelous.

 

I have a Gigantoid black patch, yes, in the middle. No worries, i've turned it for service, and that's part of what they'll fix.