When will ASUS offer customisable notebooks ??

Is ASUS N.America reading this forum ??

It is high time you offered customisable notebooks on your website.

And stop playing footsie with your GLOBAL warranty .

Assuming ASUS is interested in becoming a major player in USA [ ]





Cheers

 

You're talking about Asus like they don't hear people's needs.

This is EXACTLY why the "built on Asus" whitebook program started.

CUSTOMIZATION.

For the years before this started a couple years back, we imported what... 3 notebook models a year... 1 configuration of both. That didn't work and Asus wanted out of the US becasue the US wanted too much customization that they AREN'T doing worldwide.

So, they start the custom program.

Then last year they figured.. ok, thats going well... now lets try 1 then 2.. then 3-4-5 models of our own... just make them the highest quality and offer one configuration. IF you want it, you get it, if you don't, there is a barebone model that should suit your needs.

Like I said before, they want to keep both businesses seperate and they don't want one territory crowding another. Customizing the Emsemble's would do just that.

So, sorry, but they are a step ahead of what most of you think, you just aren't looking at it the same way.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Oh, and don't take that the wrong way, because I know what you're saying.....

The W3v is awesome, and the barebone that is coming into the states is going to be a far cry from just a bare W3...... I certainly know thats probably what you're thinking..

But the barebone W1 and so forth are supposed to help offer customization people wanted, but but by changing little things (like the aluminum) to help make it even more affordable and not cut into their ensemble sales.

Thats what this is all about. If they offered 1 configuration W1 emsemble, and then a barebone which was the exact same unit......... how many people would buy the single configuration? Maybe only those who thought that was the perfect unit for them and someone who needed it ASAP.......

If you look at it in that way, you'll see why keeping this different is important to keep distance between them and their system builders/dealers.... and yet give them a common bond.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

The bone of contention is the GLOBAL WARRANTY [ ]

I will put in a different way.

Why does ASUS refuse to honour GLOBAL warranty if a reseller upgrades a ram or hdd?

Why does it not trust its associates to do the job correctly?

By its very nature,laptops are meant to be taken on your travels.So a global warranty is a must for travellers.So these travellers can only buy a pre-configured ASUS to get a global warranty ?

Thats not a fair trade practce IMO [ ]


Cheers

 

Lapboy
ASUS does trust system builders to make modification. They have proved this with their whitebox program. It is just that allowing system builders to modify the Asus Branded notebooks causes the Asus service staff issues during the repair of the unit under their global warranty. They just can't deal efficently with the varius issues that may revolve around other component that are put into their notebooks by others. The expense of having such a service department dictates that they run efficently but yet throughly. They have ways of determining the problem very quickly but there may be issues with the components that were exchanged. They can't afford to resolve problems that may not be theirs and the time that is lost.
If a customer want his reseller to make changes it is now the reseller who excepts the responsibility in servicing the customer just like the whitebox resellers. If the reseller finds that the Asus component is indeed bad, Asus will reinburse the dealer for the defective asus component. You still have a warranty, you just have to get it back to where you bought it. Unless your travels take you out of the US this should not be a problem. You just return it to the dealer instead of Asus. The only issue in this scenero is making sure that your reseller is able to do the upgrads as well as the warranty repairs. When looking for a dealer look for one that is also selling the whitebox product, mostly M series and Z series Asus notebooks. These dealers should be able to handle your needs. This is not to say they are all the same. Just like anything else their are good ones and bad ones.
Hope this helps

 

I guess it's because ASUS themselves didn't perform the customization... so if something DOES go wrong, the reseller was the last person who "tampered" with the inside components, and thus they should be held responsible for its warranty rather than ASUS.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 1.5 Dothan, 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

Thanks very much, nobs.

But I still feel Asus should honour GLOBAL WARRANTY for upgraded 'Ensemble' systems sold by the dealers.

Even 'Built on Asus' should have been covered by Asus Global Warranty to establish faith in the dealers/resellers.

If a 'Built on Asus ' or an upraded 'Ensembled'Laptop needs repairs under warranty while travelling in Europe,one has to send it back to the reseller in the USA !!

Business reasons apart, the customer service should have been the priority with ASUS..



Cheers

 

Lapboy,

don't take this the wrong way, but the idea that Asus would cover the built on asus systems worldwide is ludicris. Asus makes the motherboard basically....... Should they cover Alienware's desktops?

I see what you're trying to say, but technically these notebooks are the brands of the dealers, Asus is just the ODM.... We can't expect them to do this unless they were to add the cost of that into their profit.. and even then, why should Asus Milan be required to fix a computer in which the components were not installed by Asus..... basically if you had a motherboard problem.. ok, I see that. At the same time, this isn't their notebook to warranty. Asus doesn't fix a system we build. Would we trust them? Probably.. but in the end WE are legally responsible for it. So, why would the ones responsible for the unit want someone else screwing with it?

With that said.... understand that is Asus' concern with the ensemble line and anyone but themselves getting inside the system and changing components out.

J

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

my apologies lapboy thought you were calling people nobs, thus I edited the post, but alas it was someones user name...lol
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

Justin,
I fully understand your point.
But some sort of reciprocal arrangement between Asus and the Reseller
would be appreciated,afterall how many people are going to take their laptops overseas and might need the warranty?
For the small fraction who may need the service abroad, it should not be denied.It will only add goodwill to the brand and benefit both Asus and the resellers.

Cheers

 

It's a nice idea, lapboy, but completely unrealistic. I think the issue isn't really the global warranty, it's lack of choice. I think if ASUS was releasing two versions of the W3 at the same time - one with 512MB RAM and one with 1.0GB RAM, very few people would be as upset as they are now. I would imagine this sort of thing will happen in the future - that they will have two or three different configurations offered for each Ensemble model. If they are smart, they will anyway, as I think that in the N. American market they are going to have to offer a bit more choice on the Ensembles to remain competitive.

But as soon as the resller alters an Ensemble, it basically becomes a Built on ASUS system rather than an Ensemble, and we get into what Justin was talking about. Global Warranties are awesome in theory, but I really think they are hard to maintain, and the only way to maintain them is to do exactly what ASUS is doing now. We have to live with it or choose another brand.

_{I am one escroww}

 

sencha --

I ordered a z71v with TWO gigs ram and 60/7200 rpm hdd so that I don't have to upgrade for the near future.
Still I only get the local warranty and not the global one.that is my gripe.
Will any manufacturer ever offer 2 gigs ram/unlikely.,so you have to upgrade and lose warranty.

VERY UNFAIR [V]


Cheers

 

I understand lapboy, but I think Justin explained very clearly earlier in the thread why it's completely crazy to expect ASUS to cover configured systems. Every reseller is going to use different upgrade parts and different configurations. To expect ASUS to offer a global warranty on these systems is really expecting too much. It is perfecly sensible that the warranty would be assumed by the reseller who actually BUILDS the system rather than the company which provides only SOME of the parts.

I really don't think you have anything to be upset about.

_{I am one escroww}

 

You are quite within your rights to add extra memory to the user excessable slot on the base of the machine, and for most users (ie 99.9%) this is more than enough for upgrading. Thus you must realise lapboy that you are a very very small section of the laptop market, and thus you are going to have to pay for it. Like most of the replys I also agree that it is unrealistic for any company to offer what you want, let alone ASUS who do provide a generous 2 year global warranty where most only offer a one year country specific deal.
Yes it would be nice to have your cake and eat it but, life ain't like that.
a



ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 1Gb RAM

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Underpantman

 

Anything that's in an externally accessible compartment should be fair game. The hard drive in my M6 is easily replacable, and they design the compartment and carrier specifically for that purpose. The optical drive is easily replacable, again, it was designed specifically for that purpose.

For their desktop motherboards Asus always publishes a "Qualified Vendor List" on their web site showing brands and models of DIMMs that have been tested and certified for use with a particular motherboard. They should do the same for the notebooks, and should allow installing memory from Qualified Vendors without voiding the warranty.


old: Sony PCG-GR300P 1.13GHz PIII-M, 512MB
new: Asus M6Ne 2.00GHz P-M, 2GB

 

Good for you highlandsun-

There are hundred excuses to avoid the warranty,

But it needs only a single point commitment to customer service to gain goodwill [ ]

Cheers

 

Right... you're all right in one way or another.

Technically swapping a hard drive isn't going to do damage to the system. However if you somehow broke the drive that was in the unit while doing so, no one would cover that. If you broke pins off or broke the connector somehow.... you can't just put it back in the system and send it back and claim it just stopped working. Because the only way for something like that to happen would be if you did it. So in that case, you void your warranty. The whole point is (coming from someone who has to warrant the work done in our systems).... we warrant what we do. If you screw with the system yourself and ruin something, we're under our rights not to cover it. Just like if you have some other computer company try to fix something. If they screw it up, it's their problem, right?

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

If the resellers sells an 'ensemble' Asus with upgraded HDD or RAM, where is the question of damage to the board[ ]

Cheers