W3J palm rest material- plastic/painted or aluminum?

Some websites list the W3J's palm rest material as aluminum. Is it aluminum or painted plastic ?

 

Plastic. The V6j is the one that is aluminum.

 

Neither, it's carbon fibre

 

its plastic the only the touchpad buttons are aluminum.

 

Ok, lets clear this up......... first, can get get off the plastic or carbon fiber bit, because in Asus' systems, they're often one in the same... Carbon fiber is a fabric and becomes the material we all know when it's combined with some sort of resin....... in the case of laptops, it's an abs plastic. So, yes they're all "plastic", but the different between an all plastic system and a carbon fiber enfused plastic is very evident in the systems.... plastic systems are thicker and heavier......... the use of CF allows for thinner panels - which then add or really subtract from the overall system weight and thickness.

The palmrest is a composite -- the touchpad surround is brushed aluminum....... however if they go with the new left and right click buttons on the W3j model, those most likely have to go away as the left and right click area would just be a bigger touchpad......

The W1/W2/V6 use an anodized brushed aluminum palmrest... at this time, no others do.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

justin have you ever like cracked open a palm rest? honestly i doubt there is any kind of carbon fiber weave in there. and if there isnt can it really be called carbon fiber at all since what gives it the strength is the epoxy carbon fiber weave?

 

Steve - I've got one next me actually....... and yes, I've cut a couple up on a miter box....

It's not a twill weave like you'd use for cosmetic purposes... it's a plain weave... It's almost impossible to prove without actually melting the thing down.... when you cut through a weave - it's not like cutting through angel hair fiberglass filler or anything.... there are minute little hairs that you could see if you look close enough. The biggest difference that you can see and feel is the thinness compared to a palrest on say a Z71....... and the flexibility... the CF piece (being thinner for one), but you can put a lot more force on it without even coming close to snapping it... a Z71 palmrest you could snap in your hands.

Carbon fiber is carbon fiber, is carbon fiber....... we're not looking for super strength here....... epoxy resin is $90 a gallon and yet you're actually not correct in terms of the epoxy giving it the stregth....... the epoxy gives it ridgidity.... the carbon fiber fabric is what gives it strength...... in a CF build up, 80-90% of the resin is actually sucked out witha vaccum..... what the resin is doing in that case is actually just bonding one piece of fabric to another. In the case of the computer........ abs plastic is used instead of an epoxy resin... for the whole cosmetic thing - epoxy resins can be crystsal clear where polyester resins yellow (and aren't watertight), but for the case of these systems..... plastic is ideal (cheap) and the CF is used more like a filler...... there's one, piece of CF in a 1/16th inch palm rest...... if I were actually doing a CF build up for real world strengh.... I'd have 4-5 sheets in there easy..... In this case, ALL they are trying to do is reduce thickness and yet keep the same strength as the plastic.... by reducing thickness - you cut weight and weight the overall thickness of the system.........

... that's it. It's try you could have the systems' chassis completely molded up in carbon fiber --- but forget the cost of the mold....... just in CF, you'd be added another $200 to the system - plus labor.... at the very least.. and to make it completely out of simply CF - would keep about the same thickness they're getting now, but would balloon the cost and the strength would be ridiculous... and totally not needed for the little force ever put on a laptop.

 

I know its clear just for looks. But i also know you can change the weave and epoxy mix to give it as much rigidity or flexablity as you want. I never thought about the actual melted abs as the epoxy substitute to bond the carbon fibers. I was just thinking of actual woven carbon fiber thats extremely durable. but i guess thats kinda pointless in a laptop as you would never need that kind of strength like in a mountainbike frame or car parts. personaly i wish all laptop frames where made out of magnesium with carbon fiber body under it and aluminum for the palm rest and lid. to me that is worth 150-200 more.

 

Wow. That is really detailed in-depth info. I thought you guys knew a lot about Asus laptops but that is ....way more than " a lot". Thanks

 

I think me and justin have just a large general knowledge of Everything. we plan to rule the world one day. Well ill be leader he can be my assistant

 

to be semi gross... you could use anything liquid that gets hard as a bonding agent.... it doesn't mean it's going to work right, but.... it's the truth. I know to you and even me... probably $1,000 extra would be "worth it" to have a system that was purely a carbon fiber build up for weight....... the panels could easily be 1/64" thick -- if that...

I've melded around in carbon fiber and have the means, the tools, and the set up to do it properly.... but I "play" with fiberglass a little more (mainly because the fabric is 1/5th of the cost and the resin is 1/3rd of the cost.... and if you screw up fiberglass... you could always use bondo and paint it. CF is hard to work with in real strength to weight build ups and especially for cosmetic work.... whether also for strength, or purely for the look..... they're no hiding a bad CF job...... You mold it up and hope that everything will press up right, with no air bubbles and you hope 90% of the resin pulls out of the piece during vaccuming......... then you get to bake it!

 

Interesting factiods. Why is it that ASUS says nothing on their web site about these materials being used in the construction? I am thinking about the V6V, V6J units that supposedly use CF for body/frame and magnesium for the LCD lid top. The aluminum is evident so that is a no brainer...
It makes me suspect vendor marketing to make these units more appealing. If these materials are used why doesn't ASUS market it up front? If they do where?
Also, isn't the CF fiber / ABS impregnated composite called Zytel (or is that just a brand name of one manufacturer?)
Now, before anyone gets their pants all pulled up to their belly button I happen to be the happy owner of a V6Va!!!

 

Ok you can be pinky and justin can be the brain. You guys are nerds

 

Well, hidden construction materials really don't play a huge part in selling their systems..... Basically - notebook chassis' have gotten to a point where anything under a certain weight and thickness HAS to be made out of CF..... In terms of aluminum lids and palmrests -- those can be seen in pictures and really aren't there for structure, although it doesn't hurt... but in reality...... aluminum is heavier than plastic and CF.. and could actually dent. On the up side, an anodized finish is one of the strongest in the world and better than paint.......

.... so really... they'd rather just market them as the lightest and thinnest in it's range.. or something like that.

With CF... there have basically been three systems ever made with a real, cosmetic look CF (the Acer Ferrari, the Asus W1v, and an Asus made system, in the Sony -- I forget it's name, but it was hot, but way too small with a totally unuseable keyboard. A lot of people want to think that's what their system is going to be and 99.9% of the time, it can't be (unless you got one of the above)... but I know Eddie even had at least one return of a Z70 because someone wanted to argue that point.

Zytel is a "brand name", but it's close to the same thing...... basically, to market a system like the V6 as the lightest and thinnest in it's class is enough..... it's going to hold up and it's probably a better way for them to market them.....

The M3 was the first model Asus went into composites with... it was a fiberglass shell....... Then moved to Carbon Fiber on the S5/M5/M6 not even six months later......... intially they wanted to push it as a selling point, but it's not one that everyone can understand, or cares about..... So, you're going to get Asus quality..... in a lighter and thinner package.... There's some marketing to do, I know... but it's a hard one one to do.