Z33A - First Impression

My Z33A Configuration:

CPU: Intel Pentium M 740 1.73GHz 533FSB
Memory: 768MB DDR2-400 (256MB Built-In)
Graphics: Intel GMA 900 Integrated
Hard Drive: Seagate Momentous 8mb Cache 5400RPM
Wireless Card: Intel 2200 b/g
Optical Drive: DVD/CDRW Combo Super Slim Drive

First Impressions (after using the machine for two days):

These are just my first impressions and I know someone is planning to do a full review early next week and I am eagerly waiting for that to come. I just wanted to post my thoughts on the system since there is not an official review yet.

Packaging:
I did not expect too many accessories since this is not an ‘Ensemble’ notebook, but my Z33A came with the following…

-Notebook Bag
-Asus User Manual
-AC Adapter
-Modem Cable
-Notebook Driver CD
-Asus Software Package

Build Quality:
The Bottom of the unit feels relatively strong. The left side of the notebook feels a little less secure and has some flex between the optical drive, PCMCIA, and card reader drives. There is also some flex on the LCD panel, but because the screen is so thin, this is to be expected. The screen itself seems protected and does not discolor when pressure is put on the back of it. The battery mechanism is great; the battery locks in very tight and is held by two locks. There is no chance it’s going to be sliding around.

Overall the build quality is quite good. It may not be as good as some of the ‘Ensemble’ notebooks, or the Apple Powerbook, but it holds its own.

Looks:
The Machine looks stunning when you see it in person. The Z33A is very sleek and well designed. It is also curved nicely and the silver trim adds to its aesthetic superiority. The power button is well lit, but not too bright. The LED indicators are designed nicely so that when you close the lid you can still see them. The color choice is great, although I wish ASUS used the silver as the main color and the darker grey as the secondary.

Screen:
The screen is only 12.1”, but it is very sharp. When turned to ‘High Performance’ mode the screen really shows itself off. There is very little glare because the Z33A has a matte type LCD. The horizontal viewing angle is quite good, but the vertical is less impressive. Color vibrancy looks fantastic during desktop viewing, but I did notice that the colors were not as vibrant when playing a DVD movie. I was able to aid the colors a bit by modifying the video overlay settings and playing with gamma.

If you are interested in games and DVD viewing a glossy screen will suit you much better.

Unfortunately, there is one dead pixel on my screen, but it only shows on black or white colors. I am not bothered much by it right now, but then again I did pay a lot of money for this machine and even one dead pixel should not be acceptable. The reseller I bought it from has a 2-3 pixel policy and Asus defines 1-2 pixels as acceptable.

Performance:
This thing is super fast. Windows XP boots quickly and multitasking is great so far. My Z33A beats out my desktop in everything except for graphics. But that’s why I have a desktop, for better graphics.

Incase you are interested; I tested Half Life 2, Halo, and Far Cry with my Z33A. I used the newer Intel GMA 900 4308 drivers.

Half Life 2 is somewhat playable in 1024x768 on the lowest settings in DirectX 8.1 mode. The FPS varies greatly depending on whether you’re in an open environment or in a more closed one. But generally, except scenes with a lot of character models or a vast open environment, the system would push ~35fps. Lowering the resolution in HL2 did not seem to help speed up the game play much, which is quite odd. I also tried lowering the DirectX level to 7.0, but it just made quality much worse without noticeably improving the speed. It depends how you define playable, but you definitely won’t get anywhere unless you’re on all the lowest settings. Oddly enough, Counter Strike Source struggled with the same settings, and game play is unplayable at all resolutions.

Halo fared okay and I was able to play the game pretty solid with the lowest settings at 1024x768 with only a small bit of slow down. Lowering the resolution helps more in Halo.

Far Cry played slow in even the lowest settings in 1024x768. Playing the game in 800x600 with the lowest settings was more bearable, but not smooth.

SuperPI: Time to Calculate 2M digits of PI = 1m 48sec

Battery/Heat/Fan:
As expected, the battery life of the standard 3-cell battery on the Z33A is dismal. I have not yet fully tested the battery to its drain, but I am not expecting more than 1.5 hours on battery saving mode. I have already undervolted the system using ‘Centrino Hardware Control’ and have yet to test and see if it yields anything above a minor improvement. The Power4Gear Software is great, but that does not overcome the bad battery life of the machine. When the system is in DVD Mode, the estimated battery life on full charge is about an hour and a half, but I would be surprised if I’d get more than an hour.

The system is warm when in super or high performance mode and the fan runs at its highest speed. The fan is not loud by any means, but you can hear it if your in a silent room. As far as how ‘warm’ it really is, everyone’s tolerance is different, I watched an entire DVD in super performance mode (plugged in) and it did not bother me that it was warm. If the laptop was placed bare on your skin for awhile, then I think it could be uncomfortable. But, who puts their laptop on their lap without clothes on? I don’t that’s for sure.

Under Battery Saving mode I have ‘Centrino Hardware Control’ performing ‘dynamic switching’ on the CPU and undervolting each multiplier’s voltage. In Batter Saving mode it is obvious to tell that the system is running at a lower speed. The exhaust air will become cool, the fan spins at a lower rpm, and the bottom of the unit will be significantly less warm. I have yet to hear the fan turn off or almost silent once the system has been powered on over a few minutes, but that may be because I have been switching between high performance mode and battery saving mode and the notebook can’t quite cool itself down enough to turn the fan to a faint spin. I will need to test this a bit more so I can see what is really going on.

I specifically got the Seagate Momentous Hard Drive because I heard it was quiet. I am thoroughly impressed how quiet the hard drive is. Granted, it might be the fan that is drowning out some of the sound, but honestly this thing is pretty darn quiet.

On the other hand, the DVD/CDRW drive can be very loud since it is a super slim drive. When watching a DVD the combo drive is not quiet, so unless you want to attract attention to yourself, you may not want to use the drive if you’re in a silent setting with a lot of people.

Keyboard:
Layout is a bit small, but I am getting used to it by typing this first impression on it. The only problem I have with it is that the spacebar is a bit clicky. Maybe I can put some foam under it to quiet it down. Overall the keyboard is relatively quiet.

Wireless:
My Z33A came with the Intel 2200 b/g. I had no problem connecting to my home Wireless G network and I even could connect to other networks that my Powerbook couldn’t tap into.

Sound:
The speakers are not very impressive, but I did not expect much from them anyways. Depending on how high you turn up the speakers, DVDs and music is decent.

The headphone jack puts out more than enough power for headphones, but if your planning on hooking them up to external speakers, use an amp/receiver. The quality of the sound out of the headphone jack is pretty good in movies/music. The AC 97HD chip is more than decent for listening.

I have tried three different headphones and all three experienced noise from the internals of the Z33A. This is bothering me the most right now and I am not quite sure what is causing it. The sound can even be fully muted and I will still get noise out of the headphone jack. When I open, minimize, or maximize windows I can hear a little buzz from the headphones. I first thought it had something to do with the volume control so I muted everything except for wave, but it made no difference. I wonder if LCD screens produce any interference. Maybe the headphone jack is not shielded enough? I am really not sure at this point. Anyone an AV guy?


Overall First Impressions:

-Positives so far-

-Fast performance, Sonoma chipset, fast bootup
-Small and Light (3.4lbs w/ 3-cell)
-Good build quality
-AC Adapter is small
-Looks sleek and thin
-Good Battery Mechanism

-Shortcomings so far-

-Horrible battery life using 3-cell
-Integrated Graphics (decent for a casual gamer who doesn’t play the latest games)
-DVD/CDRW combo drive is loud
-Their internal feedback coming out of the headphones even when the sound is muted!?!
-Mine has one dead pixel
-No Bluetooth

I got this laptop because I wanted an ultraportable. To me, I wanted to be able to carry this thing around and not have it be a nuisance. I can slip my Z33A into my backpack or hold it in my hand and barely feel any weight. As an ultraportable, the Z33A excels greatly. The performance it offers, excluding the graphics, is excellent and this machine performs a lot better than my Athlon XP 3200+ desktop. I was actually impressed that I could play Half Life 2 at any setting so I am pleased with the performance of the GMA900 as of right now.

Again, I hope im not stepping on someones feet here. There is not any Z33A user reviews yet and I did not plan on doing a full review, just a impression of the system once it got into my hands.

 

Good review so far, the Z33 has around for a while, for good reason. GJ ASUS. I'll look forward to the full review.

 

Good review. I like your pics... thank you