W2Jb - pictures showing WXGA screen look bad

My wife likes the W2jb laptop, but her main criteria is a nice screen first and good sound second. I showed her one of the very well done reviews here and she said the close-up pictures of the screen look horrible. Everything else meets our criteria, especially the speakers. I've told her about the Sony AR series with the UXGA 17" screen, but it just has two speakers.

Does anyone have good shots of the W2jb screen? Maybe a large shot showing just the screen. I think the close-up of text disappointed her.

I've also seen mention of a WSXGA+ screen possibly being the next shipment to the US around the middle of August. I know there was a lot of speculation about the configuration that will ship, but we are now well into August. Unless this is true, I think she will choose the Sony.

Can anyone help with a good picture of the Asus screen or more info on the higher resolution one to come?

 

What screen does she use now, WXGA is not horrible by any means. Also why does she need good sound, surely she can plug in some speakers??

But if she must have those things, then your best bet is to go and find a shop with laptops on display and have her pick the one she likes.

 

If you want the best screen then dont consider Asus. Sony and Toshiba Qosmio rule the screen battle, Asus screens are good but by no means the best. Their strength is overall build quality

 

She is on a 12" XGA screen that she hates. The size upgrade will be huge, but she wants the fine detail, she looks at photos and reads all day long. So, I'm slightly concerned about the UXGA having small text, but I like the resolution for photos. We are only two laptops in the house and go from room to room with them, so plug in speakers are not desireable. The convenience of the onboard 4.1 speakers of the ASUS is a huge plus.

Any suggestions on seeing a W2jb on display?

 

as for as wxga screen go the w2j should be excellent. it is extremely bright. easily on par with sony screens.

 

I want the screen to be bright, so that is good to hear, but how could a wxga asus screen be on par with a uxga sony screen? I'm not saying it in a bad way, just...how would they compare?

 

Well you can't compare WXGA with WUXGA...... but does sony still use a WUXGA? I know they used to have a UXGA 16", but don't remember anything in 17" widescreen being over WSXGA+.

The next generation W2 will have a WSXGA+ again and I'd suggest waiting for that.

 

The sony AR series 17" laptops have the WUXGA screen available. Very nice looking screen, seemed like it could be a tad brighter though.

Any idea how long I'll be waiting for a W2 with WSXGA+, that sounds like the solution for me. My wife is eager to throw the 12" XGA in the trash.

 

There's a shipment of new W2's arriving towards the end of the month.... still the same 32bit Core Duo, but if they don't have WSXGA+ screens, I think Asus would be extremely stupid... so let's assume they will for the time being.

 

Thanks for the eta. I'm tempted to place an order...just want to make sure it's the higher res screen. Does enough stock come in or could they sell out before I know about it?

 

We're not going to carry it if they continue to bring in the lower res screen.... it's unlikely though because the first round came in that way as a mistake and in the end they put a $200 rebate on them to get rid of what they had because the lower res wasn't selling... so it'd be dumb to bring in more since that was the reason they weren't selling... You could drop our sales guys a line and they'll let you know as soon as we know our eta and what our stock will look like..... but we've got to see if this shipment arriving at the end of the month really does show up or not..... it should, but anything can still happen.

 

OK, I just have to chime in here. I have been reading about peoples frustrations with the WXGA screen for months now. I painstakingly weighed the pros and cons of factors regarding screen resolution, sound, size and build construction among many other factors while I tried to decide on what would be the successor to my 5 year old Toshiba laptop. My friend recently bought a V6J and I was very impressed with that but I wanted more sound, screen size and power. Considering the rebate offered at the time and the fact that the W2JB was just so jam-packed with features, I took the plunge and boy am I glad I did.

The OP talked of his wife reading on her new laptop all day. That fact alone would be reason enough to steer away from an ultra-res screen. My screen is a very respectable 1440x900 resolution and everything looks marvelous on it. Unless someone has eagle-eyes (I don't), text, icons and such are a real strain when I look at my friends V6J.

I honestly don't think the difference is all that huge. I'm not saying that just because I have a W2JB either. It's a calculated, objective observation after doing many months of viewing and research. One should also consider the added overhead when playing new games (which I do quite frequently). The x1600 is a great video card but it's by no means "top-of-the-line" and I get great framerates playing games like Q4 and F.E.A.R. with most options maxed out. I have read that the W2JC sells for considerably more money than it's US counterpart so I consider myself lucky to have purchased such a great computer at what I consider to be a very reasonable price. It sounds great, it looks great and it does everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) with ease.

Sorry for the rant but I'll close by just saying that if your only trepidation on the W2JB is the screen resolution...forget about it! The screen is crisp, vivid, bright, infinitely adjustable and can be viewed from extreme angles which is something that most people can't say about their screens, regardless of resolution.

 

The brightness on the WXGA W2jb is excellent and for those who don't need the resolution, it's still a great system and they can get it for a steal... but if you need the res, you can tell the difference and that's the big "difference"....... a lot of people can't tell and those people are the ones who don't need it to make a living..... But the cost was only $100 more of the original price...... now that the W2's are rebated so heavily, that's a $300 difference, but that's only because of a cpu price drop and the fact that they weren't selling........ so you're not going to see a big difference when the higher res screen comes back to the US.