Z70Va with x1600 possible?

I've been looking at getting a Z70Va, but with new ATI chips avalable at the end of the month, it's hard to ignore the possibility. I know the point of "if you wait for one thing, then you'll wait for the next, and the next, and the..." But really it's the only consideration. The dual core processing isn't a big deal to me, and from what I've been hearing, if you have a capable system, you can run Vista on a 32-bit system just fine.

But other than that, do any of you have a guess as to what the price jump will be right when it's released? and, in your opinion, is the cooler/less power cunsomption/better card worth it (keeping in mind I'm not an extreme gamer, I dont care THAT much about 4 more FPS if it's going to cost me $400 more)

Thanks for any info/opinions

 

from what i heard the cards are very similar. id adivse just getting your z70va now instead of waiting for what could be

also dual core is 32 bit its just having 2 cpus... more multitasking, intels 64 bit centrino platfrom is due this fall

dual core 68% more powerful with 38% less power consumpion. or those r numbers ive heard.

so yea buy now if u dont need the multitasking

 

If you can find the Z&0va now that is, it's been out of stock until mid January.

The M6(aka Z70v/a) will be refreshed with the DC chipset and perhaps an nVidia card, but as for the date, I'd say 40-70 days away.

 

To Coriolis
Would you recommending waiting until the new edition comes out, or just staying with the current z70a?

 

That's the thing, when the 'refreshes' come out, with a new chipset and all, not only will the price be quite high, you'll be the guinea pig for the new chipset.

As most know, buy it when it is absolutely necessary.

 

when the refresh version comes out for z70va, can u still select P-M or do they only have Intel Core Duo.

 

fuyuki...no one can really be sure of that...but i believe i keep reading justin saying that the M6 chassis will be retired....or that if it's refreshed it wont be til late in the spring of 2006....By then I think that pentium M will not be stadard anymore and will likely not be an option...however i dont really know

 

It's "supposed" to be retired.... at least in North America ... because there are a ton of new designs coming out.. but we'll see.

... The pentium-M is a model line and that'll be around for a looong time.... it's the 533mhz dothan that will eventually be retired in favor of the 677mhz yonah (single and dual core models)....... but the question was... "z70va w/ x1600" .. and that's just impossible because it would suggest someone is looking to upgrade this either now or down the road and that's very unlikely.

 

I agree with everything that has been said. Buy when you need to. If you can wait...sure, wait. Other than that, just buy the Z70Va now if you need to; it'll be tough to find in the future...

 

as of Today, can asus owners install the X1600 into their Z70va????

 

No.. I highly doubt it. The GPU is not swappable in the Z70va.

 

Yah, it can't be done because the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard. And even if you somehow managed to de-solder the current GPU and ram chips and solder in a new card, there wouldn't be a video card BIOS for it.

 

Unfortunately graphic cards are not really upgradeable as of yet.

If you want the next best thing, The S96j or Z96j may be something that you want.

ASUS S96J
14.2" x 10.5" x 1.1"/1.5"
6.3 lbs (2.86kg)
15.4" WXGA (1280x800) Glossy
Yonah (Dual Core)
X1600 256mb

The price is very similar and in many cases cheaper than the Z70va when configured the same way. Thus you'll end up with a better performaning machine and cost less.

Another Solution is the Z96j it has a High resolution screen and is slightly higher in price than the S96j. The Z96j will be released anywhere from 1-3 weeks from now.

 

Z96J? Ooooooh man, can't wait, sounds like a goody.

I kinda regret getting the Z70Va only because of it's size and weight, but I still love it.

I find I don't really play games on my laptop, because I have a gaming rig to do the gaming at home, but it is kinda nice to be able to.

Still thinking about trading my Z70Va for something lighter and smaller.

Our store just got the A8J's in and I'm impressed with the screen, but the overall build quality just isn't there since Asus has gone mainstream.

It feels like one of those 14" toshibas.

Yikes the S96J is pretty heavy, but about the same weight of a Z70Va.

 

If you're willing to spend a bit more, you can get the W3j

 

If I could spend more I would get the LG T1 or T2 coming out soon.

We have them in our store and holy moly those things are just beautiful, well built and spec'ed pretty well.

I got my Z70Va back in October, so I won't be buying a new laptop for a couple years or so.

Heck I wouldn't mind a W3J though of course.