good bye ASUS!

as you can see in my sig, I just ordered a t60p. who would ever thought I'd go with a thinkpad! def. not me. but the more I look at the t60 series the more I love it, and I guess its also because I'm getting a bit tired of lugging around my w2j, even though its thin for its size, its still a bit heavy after a while and in all honesty, its just too big for my needs.

so after careful considerations, I've decided to plunk down on the t60p spec'ed out in my sig. after all said and done, it came out to $2288 including 2nd day shipping which I consider to be very good. would've been better if it had merom, but I'm not expecting IBM to have it til Oct or later and I plan to skip merom and go straight to kentsfield maybe in a couple of years time until most of the vista bugs have been worked out or more apps written for multi cores which ever comes first.

the w2j has been VERY good to me, it has never given me any problems, quality is as always top notch. will be a bit hard to go back to plastic after using a notebook in brushed aluminum. So before I ebay her, I'm gonna give you guys a crack at it first, anyone interested can PM me. She's in MINT condition, not a scratch, not a blemish, just like when I got it the first day. comes with all original accessories which is A LOT thats never been opened and never been used as well as the box, manual...etc. I will post a mini review of the t60p in the IBM section next week when I get it. Hopefully, its worth the trade. Got so much information from the guys here on the asus forum in helping me decide on the w2j, so thanks for assisting me in making an informed decision.

 

im curious, did asus not offer a viable solution other than the t60? or did you jsut want to try a differnt brand?

 

Isn't brushed aluminum just a paint coating? Then wouldn't it be plastic underneath? I felt thinkpads before and they don't resemble plastic to me, but who knows.

 

it's true......i love asus, but i'd have got a T60p 14" if i could have afforded it

 

no, brushed aluminum is brushed paint on real aluminum, no plastic involved. the actual material is real aluminum not just a coating on plastic. the t60/p is made from a combination of carbon fiber/plastic I believe.

 

always been curious about a thinkpad, used one in person. just loves the way it looks/feels and its durability. not too easy to find a standard ratio screen these days. and the IPS screen is a major reason as well.

 

Wow, sorry to see you leave the Asus camp Outrigger. You helped me with some settings when I first got my W2JB. That t60 does look like a very nice machine though. Good luck with it. What's that 256MB ATI FireGL V5200 all about and how does it compare to other mainstream ATI laptop cards?

FYI, Outrigger isn't lying when he talks about the build quality of the Asus W2JB. It is superbly built and has a ton of features. Everything is brushed aluminum and for a 17" lappy, it's thin and well balanced. I don't lug mine around alot but the 7.9 pound weight is definitely not for the everyday traveler. But boy oh boy is it packed with features. Stock 3DMark 2005 score on mine was 4147 in case anyone is interested in this model. Oh, and the screen is really beautiful even though some weren't happy with the resolution being offered on the NA model.

 

well, I'm always gonna hang around here ninjazed. glad to hear you're not having issues with yours, it is an awesome machine. the ati firegl card is a work station vid card designed for cad and other rendering programs. its not optimised for gaming due to the drivers. I've heard some say that you can just install the radeon drivers and it'll work and some say it won't, we'll see. its the equivalent of the x1600, and I believe with stock drivers it'll get around 3700 to 3800 on 3dmark05, it might get the same scores if its eqiupped with the radeon drivers assuming its doable.

I don't lug it around all that much, at least once a week, but being that I take public transportation, I'm beginning to feel the weight more and more. I was always interested in the w1 which is the same as the w2 except its a 15.4 chassis. But I def. like the ruggeness of the thinkpad T series esp. with a 9 cell, it can go between 5 to 6 hrs.

 

I sort of skimmed through this one, so I apoligize if I took this the wrong way... but when referring to "brushed aluminum" and with a response of "no, brushed aluminum is brushed paint on real aluminum, no plastic involved".... are you speaking of the W2?

I only want to point this out because if you are, you're half right and that's still 50% from the truth which is wrong enough...

Again, this is only if you're speaking of the W2 lid and palmrest... which are aluminum... but they're not painted and the brushing is not fake or paint either. The aluminum parts on the W2 (and W1/W3/V6 for that matter) are sheets of brushed aluminum - brushed with metal brissels for that matter as brushed aluminum is - and then the aluminum is anodized - not painted. The reason I want to point that out is because what you see is natural aluminum sheets and the finish is real and the color is not applied and won't come off. Mil-spec andozing (not what the notebooks use), but is the hardest substanse on earth next to a diamond...... the anodizing on the notebooks is still very tough, certainly a lot more so than paint. This is important because the color won't come off.... I actually dare someone to try to be so rough on those parts outside of sandblasting them, it won't come off.

.... If this was about the W2, and someone gets the idea that the aluminum parts are painted it could very well turn them off - I know it would turn me off because paint doesn't really go with the minimalist goals of the laptop..

 

I was searching for the word anodize when I typed paint instead, big differences. yes you're right, its not painted where it could rubbed off, anodized, very strong and high quality.

 

Ok, at least I was on the right page... and at least I put the right word in your mouth!

I don't think people realize how powerful their words in type can be. We just had a meeting this morning and we get this a lot, but just this week a TON of callers and emailers have been quoting forum members in regards to merom, build quality, heat, grainy screens... etc.... Now, I've read through a lot of stuff that is based on inexperience or just lack of general knowledge, which people ready and believe in passing.. I'll tell you right now, I bet in the next two weeks I hear about a dozen people who asked why the W2 is painted because they read what you said and are too lazy to read down further.

I'm not trying to point you out or anything, because I know you know what I'm talking about, but I think people, including myself don't understand how many people actually read these words we type.....

 

For those that aren't too tech savvy:

anodized = electroplated. The metal is attached to electrodes, and dunked in a metal-liquid solution, where electric current is applied. This causes the metal plating in the solution to bond to the surface of the metal.

Brushed aluminum is just that...brushed. It's usually just pure aluminum that has been 'brushed' with an abrasive surface to give it texture and resist discoloration.

Not sure which one (or maybe both?) the Asus laptop(s) use. Maybe someone knows? When my lappy arrives later today (YAY! ) I might post an update to let you know.

 

It's funny to see the above post after Justin's two, that's for sure.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but all aluminum in notebooks should be anodized because otherwise aluminum is a very soft metal (metalloid?) that would be ridiculously susceptible to scratching. It wouldn't make sense for your fingernail to scratch the surface of your (presumably expensive as it's aluminum) notebook!

 

aluminum is a soft metal, in comparison to certain other metals, it is still fairly hard. also the aluminum used for products is almost never pure aluminum, it is an aluminum alloy that is much stronger and harder then pure aluminum. anodizing does tend to protect an aluminum surface, but it does more to prevent oxidation then scratches

 

Right. Pure aluminum, and aluminum alloys, discolor with exposure to air, moisture, and heat...three things that your laptop may experience (lets hope not TOO much moisture ). Anodizing basically puts a very thin 'shell' of another metal around the outside of the main metal plate. The outer plating is usually a less-reactive metal, but for weight or strength concerns, they wouldn't make the casing completely out of it.

There may indeed be an alloy of it, it just depends on what they want to use it for. The idea is that they need to use a fairly strong, lightweight metal, and barring titanium (because it's high cost), they usually go with aluminum and magnesium alloys.

Now when they make Titanium laptop cases.... :drool:

 

But titanium weight 60% more than aluminum (but is more than twice as strong). So it's not such good idea for laptops.

 

I'd say a t60 is also a great choice. i have a a8jm now, but i'll definitely get a thinkpad or an apple as my next lappie in the future unless they fall behind horribly.

 

So therefore you can use less of it and save weight

 

I like when intelligent conversation breaks out on this forum....... it's fun!

Carbon fiber is really the best choice, but aluminum has a great place for other reasons..... an aluminum palmrest that's anodized will not get wear marks from your palms...... even after years of use, where as anything painted - plastic, carbon fiber or even magnesium or aluminum will wear over a year or so. So, aluminum is used on some of Asus's models not as a structural component so much as a decoration and as a wear protector... the palmrest on the W1/W2/V6 are brushed aluminum and that helps the palm wear...... and the lids on the W1/W2/W3 are brushed aluminum to hold back that wear commonly seen over time from pulling a notebook in and out of it's carrying case (usually the plastic or metal zipper will slightly scratch the surface of a system over time).....

Yes, aluminum is soft and along not a good structural element..... and as seen in the old powerbooks - not a good thermal element either, as those would warp under high temps ---- that's why Asus sticks with carbon fiber for most of it's bottom chassis..... and that's better than titanium in weight/strength ratio.... now if you were implanting the computer inside your body, I'd deffinately want a titanium chassis..... don't get me wrong.. it's got it's place.. but don't forget that the titanium isn't being used for structure so much as you may think... the strength of these systems comes from the bottom chassis' and those are carbon fiber on all W and V series.