Worth it getting an Asus before major hardware upgrades?

The more I've heard about Asus the more I want to buy one of their laptops. I'm still having trouble choosing between the W3J & the V6J (portability Vs. prettier design) However, I'll likely choose the W3 since I'm starting University this September and the sleaker design will help.

My only issue though, is the imminent release of the Merom, the Santa Rosa Chipset and especially DirectX 10 compatable GPU's. Windows Vista interests me too, but I can easily upgrade that myself once all the bugs are work out in it.

Thus my only question is if anyone has a general idea when Asus will start putting these on their laptops. Just knowing if it's Q4 2006 or Q1 2007 would help a lot. Also I've heard many people say that it's best to get a laptop when we need it and not wait for every better thing. But will the combination of all these major upgrades be worth the wait, especially if I keep my laptop for 3-4 years? Also as I'm an actuarial mathematics/finance student, so my first two terms only have math classes (I obviously take those notes on paper) and one economics class. So I can wait if it's really worth it.

Thanks for any help I can get!

 

Asus seems to have been 3-6 months behind major component release before they hit their production notebooks, so (as noted in many other threads here) q4 '06 or q1 '07 are the best guesses you're going to get since the only people with the Asus roadmaps are under NDA and can't discuss them.

Yes, you should buy when you need. Waiting for the next thing always means that when the time comes there will be something else around the corner.... Most people are currently unable to come close to maxing out the performance of their CoreDuo processors, so the upgrades are only going to really change efficiency of work a little and look better in benchmarks [ducks quickly from all the Merom people waiting to throw things over such a statement ].

In 3 years, every one of today's machines is going to be way behind the curve from a technology point of view (look back at what we thought was great in '02-'03), but the fact is that either CDuo or Merom will be fully *functional* then, just not on cutting edge anymore. Put another way - in 2010 people aren't going to care about whether something was CDuo or Merom, because we're likely going to be beyond quad-core.....

 

If it weren't, no one would buy computers becasue something comes a long every 6-10 months regardless.

Here's one way to look at it...... first and foremost, by a computer when you need it. If you dont' need it for 3-4 months, ok, but buy it when you need it and you'll good. 64bit is going to be a jump, but it's not going to be lifechanging, at least in terms of computing over the next 2-3 years. You've got vista coming out in January that will come out in 32 and 64bit versions, but other than that...... if you're not using 64bit software, you're not going to see any gains. If you were a hardcore power user and already had 64bit versions of software waiting for you, that would be a different story. I know that autodesk is getting a 64bit version of 3Ds Max ready, but it's major software titles like that where you'll be able to unlock the capabilities of the cpu.

You can figure that Microsoft will ready a 64bit version of Office soon after Vista, if not at the same time, but even that... there are limited possibilities for 64bit in terms of what you're going to see doing spreadsheets and word documents.... And other than that, it's going to be probably a good two years before anything of value starts appearing in 64bit.... the OS really needs to get bugs worked out and companies refuse to develop until people have an OS that can support them. So, when you figure, even on the nicest system, there's probably a 3 year turn around between when you buy it and when you want to get something else..... I think for a lot of people who bought systems within the last year, they'll be buying a new computer in 2-3 years and still probably be early in the game in terms of 64bit applications.

At the same time, you can upgrade down the road as well....... The current systems can accept the merom cpu and although I wouldn't suggest getting a system today and upgrading in a couple months...... by time you even remotely require 64bit apps, you could upgrade your cpu for cheap in a couple years and still be in the same place.

So, I think you're thought process is good, but in reality, it's not really going to matter. I'd say anyone looking to upgrade, I wouldn't go 64bit until service pack 1 of Vista comes out (probably going to need to be out by Q1-Q2 of 2008...... But either way, it's not going to change your life.... it's not that big of a deal.

 

To complicate matters, the new motherboard chipset (Santa Rosa) isn't being launched by Intel until Q1 2007, so don't expect to see it in product until Q2. Merom first iteration will utilise the current mobo chipset (Napa), but probably won't be available in an Asus until October at the earliest.

To date, neither major GPU manufacturer has announced a DX10 compliant card, so the chances of seeing anything in that regard before Q2 2007 is slim.

If you need/want all those new (vapourware) technologies, you'll be waiting for around a year.

 

The hardware of the W3J is still quite new at this point and I see no point in waiting for the new end upgrades. Theres still months for the new hardware to be set and put to production in laptops and then itll be completely new, prices high as can be and there could be some undiscovered tech issues.

 

I would just like to add about your decision between comptuers (assuming you buy now). The V6j is pretty portable. It weights 400 grams more than a W3j, which isn't that big of a deal. I am at a college campus now, with my V6j, and I have to say that carrying my laptop around comfortably is the least of my concerns. The V6j was one of the best decisions I ever made. If you don't game a ton, you get a bigger screen, light weight computer, nice styling. The one thing I would prefer about the W3j is the modular bay. Good Luck with your decision.

 

Thanks for all the help. I guess I'll be ordering my W3J from MilestonePC sometime in August.