The s5a

Hey guys,
I've been reading this forum recently in hopes to find some experiences on the Asus notebooks and well, you've pretty much removed any doubts that I had about buying an Asus

I've pretty much narrowed down all the possibilities and plan on getting the s5a to use for making notes in class etc...
Now everywhere i've looked, it says that the maximum amount of ram that can be installed on the s5a is 768mb and I'm just wondering why is this? On another forum someone suggested that the specs are old, back from when they only had memories as large as 512mb and due to the onboard 256mb ram, that would account for 768 in total. So does anyone know if I can actually install a 1gb memory in to the memoryslot of an s5a?

I'd also appreciate any usercomments on the s5a, haven't really found too many

 

One of our fellow members on Notebookforums has a review, and others owners posted on the same thread.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=110126

As far the RAM goes, yes you can install 1GB of ram in this model.
You just have to find the 1GB uSoDimm stick.

I will see if our PM can source any.

 

Well Asus discontinued the S5a back in October and if you can still find someone with it you may be able to get a good deal on one..... but it's just not around.

The Z33ae which is really the brother to the S5a.... now has 512mb on board which would let you upgrade to 1gb instead of 768mb.

It's only 6 oz heavier and it has an internal combo drive........ I would suggest that to you.

 

Hmm,
I'm situated in Finland, and it seems like the s5a is still available through various dealers
Haven't ran into the z33ae here, strange.

Thanks for the quick replies

 

I looked on www.asus.fi (the finnish page for Asus) and the search there didn't produce any hits for anything starting with z33... So could it be that the z33 has a different name in Europe? I instanlty thought of the m5a when you mentioned the internal drive and the slight weightincrease...
I'll give you the links:
The s5a
The m5a

 

We still have a few S5A's left, you can check it out if you want.

 

If you're in Finland, for a comparison, you'd want to look at the M5ae then... the "e" part designates 512mb onboard instead of 256 as well as intel's 2915 wifi instead of 2200.

 

Hmm, I'm beginning to think that the s5a's here in Europe are the "upgraded" version or something... I'm looking at the specs on the dealer's homepage from whom I'm going to order my Asus, and it says the following:
512mb internal ram and 256mb in the u-SODIMM slot...
It has the Pentium M 740 and an Intel 915gm chipset onboard.
Did the discontinued s5a's come with the 915?

Just a thought

 

The S5A's we have left are the same as the last batch to arrive to the US Market.

It had the 915GM chipset and DDR2-400 25MB onboard.

 

Well every country could have their own configurations, but as far as that internal onboard upgrade..... that was a change in motherboard and inturn would get a change in name.... so it would be an S5ae - which they never brought here because of the popularity of the W5....

 

Well, I think that ordering from the U.S. would be quite a hassle... I would have to change the keyboard, poweradapter and also pay 22% taxes when it arrives here
But hmm, I think I'm going to contact a few stores here and see what they say about the models they have in stock. Thank you for the quick responses

 

Ok, so it could just be that the retailers are listing the S5ae's as s5a... I sure hope that this is the case
It's 1:15am here atm, so I won't be calling any retailers untill tomorrow, I'll post back with whatever they tell me.

 

Ya, easiest way to tell is if the memory is 512MB onboard.
Then you have a S5Ae.

 

True...... but if they don't have the sense to update the model id, they deserve to have it's options questioned.

 

Ya, good point.
Wow, I'm usually never naive like that.

 

The M5Ae (which is available in Finland) has 512mb. Just toss in another stick and you'll be fine. Don't think there's an S5A with 512mb there. Either one should do just fine, he did say that this was just for note taking, right?

 

Isorokko, I was going through the same thoughts just few days ago. If they sold S5N (which is older model) with 1G stick, why wouldn't S5A work with it? Anyways, I will see it some day soon since I should get my S5A in few hours...

 

It's all about the availability of 1gb ddr2 400 microdimms...... 1gb ddr333 microdimms were available in small quantities... but the ddr2 versions are pretty much impossible to find.

 

Ok, so I ordered my s5a today.
I should have it by tuesday
I also got a deadpixel-warranty from the local store included in the price so I'm pleased. I guess that it is the older version with the 256mb integrated, but i couldn't find the s5ae or the m5ae available anywhere in Finland, so i just went ahead and ordered the s5a... Besides, I won't use a 12" laptop for gaming, editing videos or large pictures, so I really don't need 2gigs of ram etc.. I'll post a review of some sort or something after I've gotten to known the laptop.:asus:

 

Yeah, I've been playing with my new toy since yesterday. Some quick notes so far: The keyboard is really good, but I still get confused with the ctrl and Fn buttons which have changed places. Display is very good also, very sharp and 'clear'. It has been quite silent though I haven't done anything 'serious'... I will test the power 4 gear tomorrow and install Ubuntu (if it works well, which I doubt, I guess windows has to go...).

EDIT: Oh... :asus:

 

Hmm, lucky you..
I still have to wait a few days
Please post back if you get ubuntu working on yours, I also have the installation-cd's for ubuntu and was thinking about maybe installing it on the laptop... Linux would be pretty good on it since i won't be gaming on a 12" ultraportable anyways

 

Ok, Ubuntu breezy up and running sweet, everything works fine sofar. I had a minor issue when starting first time, I had to wait quite some time when 'Setting up the hotplug'... Now it boots normally everytime. I have yet to make some tests about batterylife with winXP and Ubuntu (with Fluxbox). ACPI seems to work allright... My classes start tomorrow morning but I try to make them since I'm interested myself. if everything goes well I can get rid of that dualboot