Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
Well I got my w3v a few days ago and after playing with it a few days I thought I'd give my thoughts on it.
The exterior is very attractive with a really strong back to the lcd display. You push on it hard and you won't see any kind of distortion on the lcd. It's solid.
The screen is beautiful in my opinion. Compared to the Sony S360 screen I notice very little difference in quality. It's bright, evenly lit and I like the glossy finish on it. Personally, 14" is the money size for me, because you're still getting something portable but you don't have to strain your eyes. I tried out the movie Lady Killers on it mainly because it's a real vivid movie color-wise and it looks absolutely stunning.
Since the w3v is a widescreen the keyboard is fairly large and your fingers don't feel cramped. I like the action the keys give and it doesn't feel mushy or too stiff to me. Of course this is a personal preference. It's not perfect and could be springier after you push down but all in all I'm pretty happy with the keyboard.
On a side note, I really dig the buttons on either side of the keyboard. There are 5 on each side of the keyboard. The ones on the right control things such as which speed setting your notebook is in, bluetooth, WLAN, etc. On the left side you'll find the controls for playing cds in your notebook. (apparently you can play them without turning on your notebook but I've never tried. Not exactly something I want to go running with =P)
The touchpad compared to the ones I've used in the past is excellent. I've used dells and sonys so not a huge breadth of experience. This touchpad is better than both of those. It's very responsive. I've always hated touchpads but this one I can actually work with.
Construction on the inside like the outside of the notebook is also very solid and the blue led lights look hot.
One more thing I like about the w3v is the software bundle - it's fairly limited. I hate it when computer companies load up a comp with a bunch of garbage you don't need/want. Asus keeps it minimalistic and I thank them for that. The mouse it comes with is crap but whatever. It also comes with a decent case but I'm thinking of ditching it. It's already scratched the the front part of the outside of my case - the little plastic part you can see in the pictures where the lights shine through.
There are a few things about the W3V that may bother some people. First of all, it does get fairly hot. Don't be surprised to have it run at high 50's to low/mid 60's celcius. The right palm rest will get hot and the fan on the right side blows out some fairly hot air. After realizing this problem I undervolted my processor and it's running a lot cooler now. At the moment of writing this it's running at 55c and the palm rest is only a little hot. It's not very noticeable or annoying now that I've undervolted. Either way, don't be concnered about the fan speed. I would consider this a fairly quiet notebook with a fairly lethargic fan that apparently still gets the job done. I haven't done much gaming yet, but I still haven't seen it go above 1500rpm.
The speakers on this mama are a little weak power-wise but they have good clarity. If you want to watch any movies or listen to music I suggest head phones or a speaker set up.
One other thing is this notebook is kind of in the middle of something like the sony s360/fujitsu s7000 and something like an acer travelmate 8100. It's not really really light at 5.5lbs but all in all 1lb doesn't make a huge difference to me. The lifebook doesn't have any dedicated graphics and isn't widescreen and the sony doesn't have the build quality of this notebook. If you're looking for a really portable machine and you're not a beefcake like me you may want to look elsewhere. That's not to scare people off tho it's just a warning because of a lot of spec sheets advertising sub 5lb weights which is not the case at all. It's a full 5.5lbs with the battery and optical drive as people have mentioned on this forum before.
All in all, I'm really happy with my purchase. I think it's the best notebook on the market for my needs (taking to class, doing some work, watching dvds, light gaming). I think it's a beautiful notebook aesthetically with great build quality. I'm kind of annoyed at that plastic part on the top that the lights shine through since it's already getting scratched tho =. The only things that could make this notebook any sweeter would be a pound shaved off it and if it ran a bit cooler. These sonomas run hot tho so what you gonna do.
P.S. If anyone has any suggestions on a sleeve that fits the W3V please post it!
Thoughts on my new W3V
Discussion in 'Asus' started by corrid, May 7, 2005.
