W7j is ridiculously underpiced!

So I just got back from the Asus store here in Taiwan. A w7j here, configured with a 1.66 core duo, 512mb of ram, and 80 gb HD costs ~$1750 US!!! When I showed the sales guy that the US version comes with 1gig of ram, 100gig hard drive, and 1.83 core duo and only costs $1500 the guy was bewildered. When you think about it $1500 for a 13.3'' laptop with dedicated graphics is an amazing deal since the next best thing would be sony's s series which can cost upwards of $1000 more and comes with many hardware problems and a bunch of bloatware thats difficult to remove. I was very surprised since I thought that since Asus headquarters is in Taiwan, that Asus laptops are made in Taiwan, and that they sell pretty much factory direct that the W7j would be cheaper here but it is not!

 

It's a surprise to me actually. Usually I see very good Asus laptops in the Taiwan stores. I think it's perhaps they gain a better market overseas compared to the local market in there (since most people in Taiwan perfer to build their own desktops).

 

yeah, I was pretty surprised it was going to be only $1499.. I really thought it was going to be $1699 at least

 

that doesn't surprise me actually. my cousin and i were comparing dell notebooks and there was a HUGE difference between canadian price and chinese price (8000RMB difference!). canadian price is cheaper. i also asked him how much the a8jm (standard config) would go for, and he said at least $3000 CAD. strange that it's cheaper in North America eh?

 

$1499? I have seen it for $1349 at ewiz. It's really quite a good deal I must say! I was honistly expecting it to cost around $1800 or more. In Taiwan, it is way overpriced. However, most other Asus notebooks, like the W3j for $1350 are much cheaper!

 

Well its priced quite high here in france....about 1800euro = about USD$2200
While in Australia its about $2800 = 2100 USD.

So the states has an amazing price, maybe its less tax, maybe its a special deal or something, maybe I will be taking a trip to the states to buy a one....the money it costs for the flight will be about the difference in price.
a

 

Thats funny. You could maybe get a round trip ticked for $800 on an off-season, and you could go pick up the W7j

 

i don't know why you guys think the W7J is underpriced when new electronics come out every three or so months. I have always think these are over price regardless of what but I still purchased the W7J at ewiz

 

hm that's odd, i study in the states and i'm currently spending my summer in taiwan (taipei) right now and i find the notebooks (especially asus) a lot cheaper here (planning to get one)...i guess it depends on where you go...should never follow the catalog prices because from experience, those catalog prices are set purposely higher for you to "kill" so unlike the states, you can bargain...so some places sell for more than others

 

Yeah you can definitely bargain in Taiwan but they also have a "bare-mininum" price that they tend to offer right off the bat at some places like at the Asus store I visited. Some places might go lower than what theyre suppose to stop at but then they dont offer receipts which is kinda shady.

The advertised price on the w7j (printed in an Asus brochure) is 57,800 NT for the lower end version which converts to $1800 US. They also have a higher end version (which btw is white) with a 1.83ghz core duo, 1 gig ram, 100gig hd but its advertised for 60,800 NT ~$1900 US. Oh, and they both come with XP home too.

 

Which dealer did you go to? a quick serch on YAHOO showed one can pick up the w7J Taiwan WITH T2400 and 100gb harddrive for NT$ 51200, which is about 1570 USD
I am sure if you asked around you can get it cheaper than that
http://sh2.yahoo.edyna.com/nb-shop/item.asp?item_id=1120713

 

*ridiculous*
This is quite possibly the most aggravating of all the typos I see...though someone will come along and prove me wrong I'm sure.

 

And what about their/they're, your/you're (#1 on my kill-list), and the endless varities of definitely/definately and even "defiantly"??

.

 

that is why it's relatively popular.... because the market price is cheap...

Also keep in mind that the XPS M1210 and the macbook are competitors to the W7. They are all priced competitively.

 

I told you..... When I said that I'd pay more than $1499 for my W7, I wasn't kidding..... That's an excellent placement for Asus and to this day I'm wondering if they're going to realize someday that Taiwan actually charged them more than that and freak out that they lost money and ran on bad information.

 

I think the US is the cheapest place to buy consumer electronics especially if you take into account all those promos and rebates.

I used to buy my laptops in Hongkong since its close to my country and its a tax free haven. While prices for electronics there are one of the most competitive in Asia, laptops still cost around 15-20% more than a comparable system in the US.

I just bought a Thinkpad T60 from the US and funny cuz when I checked the UPS tracker, it was actually shipped from HK to the US.

 

My only complaints about this unit - lack of DDR2 667MHz support and only one DIMM slot (512MB DDR2 533MHz onboard). Otherwise, it's an excellent machine.

 

I'd say the difference between 667 and 533 is marginal. DDR2 is of course faster, but has much higher latency on average. Unless you're a power user and/or into OC'ing, you won't notice. The lack of expandibility, however, is part of what's keeping me away from this model. I *need* 2Gb, and Asus' choice in this sense is frustrating.

C.

[edit: grammar only]

 

Right. Especially with Vista right around the corner, many users will want to have 2GB of RAM installed. It's really a shame, since this notebook is a great alternative to the Sony SZ unit.