W3J - First things first

So, I'm on the verge of buying a W3J and I was wondering about and tips or suggestions about what to do first when I get it. Sorta like a top ten of things to do first. This will be my first notebook and that is why I am asking. I also thought this might be a good guide for new W3J owners. So bring on the best tips and tricks for the W3J!

Thanks in advance,

Herbie

 

... give it a sponge bath, take it out for a romantic dinner..... maybe a movie.

... Is this serious? Turn the thing on and use it. It's a computer and it doesn't take a top ten list to run.... they're not a sequence of events you need to follow or it won't start up...... But to humor you... here you go.

10. inspect shipping box
9. slice open box
8. pull out retail box
7. open retail box
6. pull out notebook
5. pull out accessories
4. open lid
3. plug in ac adapter
2. push power button on right side of hinge

... and the number 1 answer....... pick your jaw up off the floor and stop molesting it.. .it's only a notebook damnit.

 

Hahaha! ... I took mine out for a romantic dinner, but it still wouldn't put out!

 

lol, how long did it take you to make that up Justin?

Pretty much, look and be amazed, then start it up, and use it. It's *gasp* just a tool that we'll use.

 

... he wanted a top ten... it was pretty easy... I've opened my share of Asus notebook, you know?

 

But it's so shiny and smoooooooth as a baby's bottom

 

I don’t know what you have been smoking, but if a user comes to this forum and asks for a little help caring for their big investment why on earth are you ridiculing them?

If you have nothing but sarcasm to post then don’t. He is a newbie and your post was out of line. How would you have liked someone to answer as you did when you were learning the ropes in the computing world? You act as though you were born with your “superior” technical knowledge.

Herbie, here are some tips:

1) You may want to format the hard drive to NTFS as it is more secure than FAT32.
2) Uninstall Norton as it’s a resource hog, there are free antivirus/antispyware/firewall programs that are good such as AVG Free, Zonealarm, Ad Aware, Spybot S&D and Spyware Blaster (I recommend you get all of the ones I listed)
3) There are some tweak programs such as TuneXP and SpeedXP than can help speed things up just a little.
4) CCleaner is good cleanup program that you should run regularly before defragging your HD.
5) Make regular back ups of your work on CD in case something happens to your laptop (lets hope not but better to be safe)

Those are the ones off the top of my head; I’ll add things as I remember.

 

I also like to burn a CD, use a flash drive (or other USB device) on all the USB ports, and check the monitor and audio out ports. Seems like something minor but I have had computers in the past that have one or more of these not working and didn't find out til days later.

 

Technically, as the forum would have you believe, I'm a notebook prophet and newbie or not, this a general question, or a general forum..... certainly not specific to the W3j or any other Asus notebook........ so if you want to paste general things, take it to another forum... That's all I'm saying.

 

I took her older sister out... and she burned me.

Kai

 

There was no mention in your post about moving the topic - come on just stop being so condescending - granted the post should probably be moved but Herbie is obviously excited about his purchase so instead of making humor out of him actually humor him and give him some answers cause thats why most of us are here anyways.


Herbie - one more thing a lot of people like to check for dead pixels on their machine, one program that will help you do that can be found here - http://www.laptopshowcase.co.uk/downloads.php?id=1

 

Justin got turded up again.

Kai

 

Hey all,

Sorry I've been MIA for so long, stuff has been crazy with school, work, etc. Just get the W3J - it rocks Looks beautiful and runs like a beast. It's certainly one of the best laptops I've ever seen or used, and I don't have one ounce of regret at all. I was working on it the other night for four hours and it was extremely comfortable and efficient.

Just go for it

 

Funny stuff. Thanks, _radditz_ for your reply. I'm very new to all this and spending this kinda money is a bit un-nerving. I was just hoping for a few pointers. Thanks for the heads-up on Norton. I would have thought that a big name like that would be good software. I'll check out all the programs that you listed.

PROPortable, I had read good things about you and your group and I was thinking of buying from you, but if this is an example of the customer service I can expect, I'm not so sure. I wasn't being a smartass and I didn't expect this kind of response. I was wondering if there was anything specific to the W3J that I would need to look out for or would help with regards to performance or drivers or anything else. So, posting this in a general part of the forum would not have garnered the answers I was looking for.

Thanks,

Herbie

 

Justin's in the bowl, and the handle is jingling.

 

Herbie:

I'm just a newbie, but you might want to look into the optical battery issue. It appears that when the optical drive battery runs out, the computer goes to sleep, regardless of the capacity of the main battery.

 

If you really wanna tweak your system.. disable the processes you won't be needing. To check out all the processes and to set them to Auto, Manual, or Disabled.. go to Start>Run>type in "services.msc"

Here's a site with Black Viper's list... it gives you a guide to all those processes running, so you can determine yourself if you'll be needing them:
http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP Services.htm

As for anti-virus.. I recommend Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

You could also check out this site where they compare different AVs:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/

And for your graphics driver, I recommend Omegas:
http://www.omegadrivers.net/

After you're done setting up your W3J... that's when you take it out for a romantic dinner and a movie night. Maybe you'll get lucky after.

 

Im sure there are notebook (or at least asus) specific things he can do to this new W3J.....You couldeve talked about the underclocked video card and how to raise it back up, or how to undervolt your CPU to get more battery life, or removing the programs that asus puts on there he doesnt need....etc etc etc.

 

They're not specific things to the W3 and I'm certainly not going to point out these things can be done to someone who just asked a general question... Personally, I wouldn't screw with those things to begin with, especially as the "top ten" things to do...... The question was specific to the W3 and there really isn't anything specific that should be done... period.

Asus doesn't really load any junk that needs to be removed, so that's another option that doesn't need to talked about..... if you can turn it on and it's good for you, that's it..... if there's a more specific question, then it can be asked, but there is absolutely no need to do ANYTHING besides unpack it and turn it on for 95% of the people who buy them...... so, if you want to generalize things or the original poster wants to post in a W3 dedicated thread..... that's another thing.

... new thread, super general for a specific model.... end of story.

 

You are absolutely right. I don't know what I was thinking asking a general question about a specific product that I was considering buying. Guess I should just buy blindly and then ask questions after I've already spent my money?

Didn't realize this was such a technical site and I didn't mean to offend you or anyone else. I thought the idea behind this site was to inform people interested in notebooks with an emphasis on those in the market for new products.

Being new here, I'm not sure where all this animosity is coming from. If you didn't like my post you could have just skipped past it. Instead, you chose to alienate me and make me feel like a fool for asking a simple question. Thanks.

For everyone who has had ideas of things I need to consider when I first get this notebook, Thank you very much.

Herbie

 

ledzepp14 - Why would I want to install these drivers over the latest ATI mobility drivers?

Thanks for the help!

 

Personally.. I've been using Omegas since my last notebook. If you're an avid gamer.. you'd appreciate the increase in FPS you get by using Omegas. With the stock drivers Asus provides, I got a 3DMark05 score of ~3950. With Omegas, I got a score of ~4250. The x1600's actual clock speeds are 470 I believe, but the x1600 in the W3J is slightly underclocked by Asus for better cooling, because of it's small form factor. Omegas are tweaked drivers, so they overclock your GPU slightly, thus bringing it back up to the actual speed.

 

There's no such thing as a stupid question... and everyone know how that goes. So you haven't even bought the computer yet? If so, then the question is even dumber - with all due respect. I didn't intend to alienate you, but you'll certainly do that yourself by wasting forum space asking what you did........ even more so if you haven't even bought the computer yet. There are dozens or more important questions you could be asking than "what are the top ten things I should do first with a W3j?"

 

If you're so naive as to believe what you just said, don't even bother considering PROPortable. This if a forum that you just joined.... and in this forum it's rather laid back and personal...... Our reputation doesn't have a thing to do with my interaction on this forum and I'm here to help people with real questions... Our customer service record speaks for itself..

Welcome to the forum Herbie.

 

Sorry my question wasn't "real" enough for you.

 

How much does overclocking the GPU effect battery life? If you don't mind?

 

You just lost 2 customers.

 

There's a six-turd pile up on Justin's upper lip right now...

Its a shame the board Nazi's have my posts blocked from view.

Kai

 

definitely 3 now, and not just because of this post.. it seems that you are always complaining about something ProPortable in nearly everyother thread! although you are of great help sometimes, posts like this kill it

 

I'm so glad I was here to see this.

 

In fact, this kind of answer says very much of the person who wrote it.

In my particular case i'd never put anything of my business in proportable's hands, after reading this "punishment".

I hear real stupidities every day, and i behave with respect. No one knows everything, even within a niche.

The question, to me is very respectful, because maybe with certain machines the customer must to be care with some aspects.

I think that an apology is missing here...

 

Are you serious? Here's a basic business tip if you didn't know.. YOU are a representative.. actually the President/CEO/Founder of the company.. EVERYTHING you do is a reflection on how your company is and how they conduct their business.. I would suggest you think aobut that, especially since you are the "President" of the company

 

You guys are all WAY too sensitive.

...and the moral to the story is that there's a search feature that could have been used...and a TON of threads on this very topic (I bet you the titles are even close). I don't fault anyone for creating a thread like this, but when someone (in this case Justin) replies in jest, everyone else should try not to get all worked up and bothered.

 

And you didnt think you were going to get bashed for that. I was tempted to say the same in reply to the o.p. but the fear of nerd-bomers and people with weak knees got the best of me. Lighten up people. We dont show up to work with a suit and tie. I actually show up in my boxers somedays.

 

No he is a person and a business man. If he were an uptite pencil pushing, laptop selling, aluminum brushing, spell checking, laptop loving, no sarcasm having, no fun loving straight nerd would you call Justin a titea$$? You prolly would. It dont hurt to have a bit of flavor in ur spicerack. If that dont make sense to you then you are too sensetive. I cant speak for justin but i hope your laptop overheats and melts.

 

You can blame Justin for being a fathead but you cant blame him for his comment. It was just a sarcastic reply nothing more. No disrespect to the elders here. yes we are young and stupid but buck up! Ur all acting like he just belittled the op. Justin can do that but i happen to think that was not the intention nor does it seem like that. You guys are a bunch of girls. Scrape the sand of your nads and act like men!!

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand you or Justin's intentions. When you are speaking on behalf of your company (especially if you are the CEO), the general public expect professionalism. If you want to make sarcastic comments or jokes, create another member ID anonymously and post, otherwise you are hurting your reputation which leads to decrease in sales.

Mentioning sales and feedback from customers in your rebuttal is a lame excuse because they could've been much better without your attitude.

 

Ed, thanks for what ever it is you just did for me....... but seriously though, you're putting down females by making this comparison. Everyone else has decided to focus on me instead of trying to get to the root of the question, which is....... either the original poster redefines his question into something worth starting a thread over, or take my comment as a lesson of the type of answer you'll get if you don't know how to phrase it.

... It's like the excercise everyone's done in highschool/college...... make a set of directions for how to make a PB&J sandwich for a two year old. NO ONE realizes how bad they are at explaining themselves until they see how it turns out. This is my way of making light of it, along with giving my honest opinion. The question asked is exactly what I answered. If the answer wasn't good enough, the question wasn't good enough... period.

And by the way... that's an honest answer and exactly what I would I do. If that wasn't good enough...... the poster could have rephrased.... Personally, I don't think it was appropriate for those who had other answers to assume that's what the poster meant because as we all know, you shouldn't assume anything.

 

If everyone uses the search feature then the ASUS forum wouldn't be active as it is right now. Most people come here for free personalized advice and suggestions. There might also be new members that can give an insight or a possible final solution of a problem that was unresolved 5 or so months ago.

So yes, there is a benefit for not using the search feature, believe it or not....

 

The first post wasn't that big a deal, just unexpected from a retailer that I was considering buying from. It was mostly the replies that Justin made that really caught me off guard. I did a bit of searching before posting this and didn't really find what I wanted to know. I didn't really think that asking a question about how to first set up a notebook that I might plunk down $2large on such a bad thing, and in all the threads I had read so far, the answers were informative and thoughtful. I expected no less for this thread.

Either way, this thread has veered way off course and is not being productive at all. I didn't realize that I had to follow the PB&J method. I thought people could extrapolate in their own direction with what I had asked. Now that it's down to just insulting people (girls comments) this thread just needs to be locked or deleted or what ever the method is of dealing with this situation on this board. From now on I'll be sure to be as specific as possible when phrasing my questions and thoughts in the Asus section.

Thanks,

Herbie