small w7j review

i didn't make that clear. im running linux on it.
i dont believe that this makes a real difference, but keep in mind, that you might see different results under windows.

i got that machine for a week now. its been avaible in germany for about 3 weeks. i wont post any pics, cause there are enough of it already in this forum.

modell number: ASUS W7J-3P020P (90NHQA624522252C70V)
specs:
* CPU: T2400 Core Duo (1.83 GHz)
* RAM: 1GB DDR2 533MHz
* HD: 80 GB 5400 RPM
* GPU: NVIDIA GeForeceGo 7400 128MB max.256MB shared memory
* Screen: 13.3 WXGA (1280 x 800)
* OS: Windows XP Pro (preinstalled unfortunately)
* Battery: 6-cell lithium ion
* Weight: 1.96kg
* Wireless : Integrated Wireless 802.11a/b/g (Mini-PCI), plus integrated Bluetooth
* Ports: 3 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0), 1 IEEE-1394 (Firewire), TV-Out (S-video), 1 Headphone-out jack (SPDIF), 1 Microphone in, 1 RJ-11 (modem), 1 RJ-45 (GB-LAN), 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor, 1 Express Card, 4-in-1 built-in card reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO)

The build quality is pretty well IMHO. I cant really judge the keyboard, never having used one that i would consider real bad. its not too soft. when i press a key really hard, it doesn't affect the keyboard at all, meaning it doesn't bend.
I think the layout sucks. The key with "<" ">" "|" is tot the left of the space bar instead the right of the left shift. This make it harder to reach the space bar. The space bar is kind of numb on the left side. If you hit it on the outmost left lower part, it wont get recognized. Exactly the position i am used to put my thumb at. GRRRRR ...

The touchpad is level with the surface and has the same color as the chassis. it works pretty well. I unable to get the blue light working, but it does light up under windows.

The screen is good. The viewing angle is wide enough for 3 people to watch it simultaneously. the glossy screen is watchable on the lowest brigthness settings altough sunlight reflects and i can use it as a mirror if id like to ;-). Its stable enough, you have to twist it pretty hardly to cause these lcd effects.

Performance-wise im just impressed. Its the fastest machine i ever had. The fan is always running. In a quiet room its noticable. If there are people around, or you are sitting in a lecture, you wont know its on. When i put it on full load the fan speeds up, but its just slightly louder than before. Even after hours it wont get loud.

I havent tested the gpu, it works with googleearth.

Heat seems to be no issue either. Even doe the weather is pretty hot these days, it feels like around 30 degrees on the bottom (havent measured it). If it touches your skin on high load, you will sweat, but it will never burn you.
CPU temperature seems to always be between 48 and slightly over 50. same for GPU.
Wireless works as far as i can use it. writing this on a wlan connection. bluetooth works too. just tired it with the bundled mouse.

Battery Life on the 6 cell 4800mAh is 3h on low stress. Bluetooth and WIFI on. will see whats it going to be under full load when i have a chance.

The camera doesn't work for me, as there are no linux drivers around yet, but i woulnd't know what to use it for anyway.

The weight is probably its biggest advantage. without the battery im always like "wow" when i lift it up. 1.6kg! you can lift it up with 3 fingers and give it to someone. When the 6 cell is inserted it weigths 1.96kg. thats the weight you would expect a notebook of this size to have on the first look. its still light, but already make a huge difference. You have to apply some force to lift it.


Conclusion
Its a really nice laptop. small, light with a lot of power. a better battery life might be what would really bring this thing into the olymp of notebooks, but its kind of unbeatable for the price. if the w7f or w6f had been avaible they might have been a better choice for me, due to integrated graphics, which might affect battery life positively. but they were not, so im happy with my choice.

pro
weigth
performance

con
keyboard layout

if you got some specific questions, just shoot ...

 

pics please

 

Just add a few benchmarks and a few pictures and its just about a full review.

 

ok, pics tonight, when im home. benchmarks, i dunno. i have that windows removed and dont plan to install it again. so it wouldnt be comparable.

 

Hey not fair, if its out in Germany, how come it isn't out in the UK yet!!

One thing, does it have an instant on feature?

 

Guys,
I have a w7j on preorder from MilestonePC. I got the standard configuration of 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz. I was wondering if I put a stick of 667 will it run at that or underclock along with the 533. There is only like a 5 dollar difference in the two sticks of ram and I was just wondering which one I should buy.

The 533 or the 667?

 

whats that? acpi suspend states?

 

The 667 ram would underclock to 533 so you'd just be wasting your money. The ram all has to run at the same frequency.

 

Get the same speed that is already in there. If its only $5 then there is no reason not to get the 533....and I can see no benifit from getting the higher speed, a) it wont improve your performance, b) could cause stability issues.

a

 

It's a feature that when the notebook is off, you press this button, it'll load a media player application outside of Windows, so you can listen to CD's or watch movies without going into Windows. It's usually one small button near the power switch.

It's been a problem with lots of notebooks, since it just load windows and loads the default media player. ASUS is trying to cover up by saying it's a documentation error, that it's supposed to do that. But in some notebooks (esp. with integrated graphics), it works, and loads an external media player.

 

no it aint got that. my old asus l3500d had that. i just never used it.

 

Thanks for confirming.

A few more questions. Did you get any freebies with it (i.e. bag and mouse)?

Also is the warranty two years global?

Also would you be able to give details of the retailer where you bought the laptop from?

thanks again.

 

free bag, free cover (that small neoprene slide in thing), bluetooth mouse, 2 batterys for the mouse (AAA 800! mAh)

2 year global pick up

pick one
http://www.geizhals.at/deutschland/a201726.html

 

whats ur definition of low stress.....word, internet...was wifi, bluetooth on?

 

wifi on, bt on. they seem inseparable linked to the same hardware switch.
the machine was idle half the time. brightness on the lowest level, one step before the lights are out. the monitor was off for 15min. the rest off the time i did some websurfing, wrote this review, collected around 600 mails (that used the hd heavily for a few mins). for some other 5 min i had to run a program, so it had full load on the cpu. besides these 5 min when i did let it run on full speed, the cpu frequency had been limited to the minimal 996MHz.

thats my definition of low stress, kind of easy in-classroom use.

 

It only gets 3 hours with the lcd onthe lowest setting. thats not that good.

 

thanks jdkbx....yea battery life was a worry for me...and i guess is a larger issue now....

 

....3 hours on the LOWEST LCD brightness setting?! geez. =/

that's not pleasant at all. Is the screen so bright that at that brightness level, it's still very ledgible? or is that dimmer then most would use?

When you have the chance... put the brightness to where you would normally use it. and run a full load. i'm betting it wont pass 2hrs =/

*dissapointed*

 

i dont know what others would use, but in a room with no direct sunlight entering through the window, this setting is ok, i can see everything. there are 15 steps with 15 the brightest. after the 5. it doesn't make much difference anymore. thing is, an open browser window (black letters on white ground) you can read even on 0. so you get used to 1 pretty fast. on 5 you already have great contrast.

 

Ok, will the extended battery be avaliable soon then? The only reseller I see with an extended battery is Proportable, but isn't that battery made for some other notebook?

Personally, I like the w7j. It's not exactly what I want but it's good. However, the battery life is a real bummer. Three hours on the lowest settings is dissapointing. I'm still undecided on whether to purchase a Sony Vaio SZ or this.

 

try turning off the bluetooth and if possible taking out the memory card/cF reader....and using it regularly aka IE and surfing....

some people removed the memory card reader from their sony sz's and it improved their battery life by 30-45 mins

turning off the bluetooth should boost the battery life....5 out 15 isnt terrible for brightness.....or so i hope lol

 

turning off bluetooth would be turning off wifi, so no go. the card reader is integrated.
with 5 from 15 i meant, that from 5 onwards to 15 the difference is so small that 5 seems to be already around 60 percent of the possible brightness.

 

thats pretty stupid, that means you always have to have wifi on if you have a bluetooth mouse. there has to be a way to turn one off with the other on.

 

you probably could disable each one individually through device manager

 

It'd be nice if certain components had power features, but its not like the W7J specs cater to low voltage / efficiency (there are other options for that).

The dedicated video card alone shares more juice than any other component- add core duo (and upgrade to a 7200rpm hdd), and 3 hours becomes impressive.

 

Urrggg.... I think I'm going to get the W3J at this point... Battery life is a part of portability. Even though the W3J is slightly larger, it becomes more portable with it's larger battery life.

Is it safe to assume the 9cell being 50% more cells will add 50% more hours? 4.5 in total?

Anyone know the weight spec on the comp with a 9 cell?

Its a real shame their is no option for a spare battery in the optical bay.

 

You are looking at 30min per cell. and the weight with the 9cell should be over 4.5lbs

 

Just disable bluetooth in device manager.

 

I'm thinking the weight with the extended battery to be closer to the Macbook, albeit a much more powerful one. Maybe a bit lighter, a little more expensive, but within weight and class of the Macbook. Hopefully minus the heat . Although what I'm saying is pure speculation so take it with a grain of salt.

 

lets do the math:
w7j without battery: 1.6 kg
with 6 cell: 1.96kg
6 cell: 1.96kg - 1.6kg = 0.36kg
9 cell should be: 1.5 * 0.36kg = 0.54kg
w7j with 9 cell: 1.6kg + 0.54kg = 2.14kg

google says: 2.14 kilograms = 4.71789241 pounds

when the 6 cell gets 3h the 9 cell might get 4.5h.

 

Hmmm, thats not too bad... if we use a 9-cell.

the 6-cell sticks out of the unit a tiny bit, i wonder how much the 9-cell sticks out. I remember somewhere reading that it was 3/4ths an inch? each battery upgrade? (or something like that? cant recall now...)

Meh, I'm willing to bet the sony SZ with the 6 cell can still top the W7J with the 9 cell =/ but it's more expensive, so cant decide yet >_<.

jdkbx, let us know if you run the battery down on a hard load. Like playing a game, or burning a CD or installing programs. I'd like to know what we can expect on a hard day's work on the W7J.

 

like others said i believe you should be able to turn bluetooth off through the device manager....i dont think asus is that dumb to link bluetooth and wifi together....

yea id be interested in how much the 9 cell sticks out...

 

Based on the thread below, it sounds like the 9-cell will stick out about 3/4":

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60932&page=2

 

Yes, the design of the W7 incorporates the battery further into the chassis, allowing for less of a bulge in the rear..... a 9 cell looks better on the W7 than it does on any of the other notebooks that use the same batteries (S5/M5/W5).

Asus' wireless manager is where you sepereate wifi and bluetooth....... the wireless button on the systems turns everything on or off..... but in the wireless manager in the task bar, you can select to keep bluetooth off or vice versa....... this is common to every other Asus notebook with wifi and bluetooth....

 

maybe i should make this clear, before someone else tries to tell me, how the disable bluetooth.
i'm not running windows.
right now there doesn't exist any software that would do this for me. so i'm bound to what the hardware switch does. if i had the hardware specs or the windows sources for this wireless manager, i might have other options.

anyway. when i checked acpi today with wifi and bt off, i had the impression it would last for about 4h. the output at ca 56% battery was something like 2:20. so wifi and bt are definitly a major factor here. i'm not able to test anything anymore.

i hate to say it. i could cry. after just one week. it started this morning. something is wrong with it. when i move it it freezes up and i have to use acpi hard-off (hold the button longer than 4 seks). sometimes it wont even boot after freezing. only the status leds blink and the fan goes to full speed (it was never that loud when running, even under full load). if i move it around it will boot again, but freeze up eventually when i make a false move ( ;-)). standing on a table it runs stable, so i guess it must be some kind of loose connection. i would love to open it up and search the fault, but i dont wanna void my warranty.
well,i guess i'll be writing a review about asus service in germany in a bit ...

PS: i made a crappy video of this condition, cuz i'm sure when i send it in, it will just run perfectly, and i get it back still broken. if anyone wants to see it, give me 1.6MB upload space.

 

No offense, but if you're not running windows that would be one thing to make very clear because no other OS is going to be supported and Asus doesn't make drivers for anything but. Simply for that factor, I think a lot of people have been turned off to this awesome system simply from reading your impromptu review. I know this because two of our sales guys have been reporting identical questions based on a w7 review on nbr.....

Can't fault Asus for making a windows laptop that runs perfectly that is going to have issues with any other OS. Just because you're the loan consumer to have even commented on the w7 on this forum has really started a backlash on what is an excellent system. It's really ashame that some folks are going with W3j's simply because of how your comments. This happened once before with a consumer using linux on a W3v I believe and it turned unknowing consumers away from the model for nearly a month or so....... however every very of the model turned out to be great and it was the best selling model of last year.

I understand your problems, but they're neither Asus' or the W7's problems..... I feel for you and hope you can resolve them, but I hope you don't try to take down Asus' support in the mean time for coming back to you with zero help.

Good luck.

 

none taken. the only problem im having is the one described above. and thats a hardware failure. on any other point i love this machine. i didnt mean to turn anyone away from it.
im sorry if i should have made an impact like you described. never meant to make asus look bad.

 

By the way, your video didn't work.

... but yeah, I've had some emails and pm's about this myself and have heard of at least a dozen reports of a similar questions based on your review in the last couple days. Honestly, it's not really your fault, it's more a fault of those reading it and not understanding it - but also taking your word as if this was some professional review in a top pc magazine..... But never the less, I thought I'd mention it.

... let me know when that video gets working.

 

i pre-ordered the w7j. i'm so excited for it to arrive!

don't care what other people say about it
it's got what i need.

 

i removed the link after i read your post, didnt wanna make matters any worse.
its up here:
http://link.removed/problem.avi
let me know i you can play it on a windows machine ;-), made it with some old digicam.

 

I appraciate the review, it just made me more excited to get my machine.

-thanks-

 

Hi JBKBX, could you tell me the size of the AC adapter. The specs say this w7j is a 19v system with a 90 watt ac adapter. What does the adapter weigh? I am wondering if it is like the Sony SZ 90w adapter which is a big black brick. So you buy a 2kg notebook with a 0.5kg ac adapter? Thanks
hope your hardware issues get resolved soon.

 

13cm long
5,5cm width
3 cm high

19V, 4,7A, 90W

i guess around 250g (power cord excluded). it seems lighter to me, than the battery which i estimate at 350g.
it looks exactly like to 3 year old from its predecessor, but its lighter.

thx, i'm pretty confident that it's just a cable not sitting right, or something similar easy to fix.

btw people, dont bookmark the link to the video, it will be gone sooner or later.

 

Hello,
I'm prety intrested with this W7J, but the fans never turning off would be a problem for me, is there any way to shut it off, decreasing the processor'd frequency and voltages for exemple ?

in comparaison with a SZ2 would it be more or less noisy ?

 

The fan never turning off is not and should not be a "problem". Then fan is turning at varying rates due to the heat that's produced... which is a factor of the performance of the system.. which is a factor of the speed and power being shoe-horned into such a small unit.

The moral of the story is... if you need a very portable workhorse.... get the W7 or W3, but in either case, unless you're prepared to learn how to conserve energy when you're not using the system full out, then you shouldn't get a system like either of them. If 99% of your day is email, internet, word...... get an ultralow voltage system with integrated graphics and a 4200rpm hard drive.

.... the fan always moving does not mean the fan is always running at full blast and therefore - it's not like listening to a 747 on a runway all day.

 

yeah exactly. i should mention thats its hot right now, never under 25 degrees C in my room. it might be worth a try in a cold environment.
the cpu was runnig at its lowest speed. as far as i know trying to undervolting core duo doesn't really work.
anyway, make 10 push ups and you breath louder than the fan.

 

I know it's very difficult to get a silent 13", I've been a Vaio S5M owner, and I'm seling it besause of the ventilation (except this problem I was very pleased with it, it's sad).

I know of sure sources that M1210 fan's doesn't spin with small usage (in an even smaller package), so I would know if the W7J could do the same, as I prefer a 13"3 over a 12".

In fact I don't care the fan spinning when I'm working (Dreamweaver, databases, coding, etc...), but I NEED a computer which makes absolutely no noise when I let it running in my room when I'm sleeping (downloading some files for exemple, with very litle CPU usage).
I know the M1210 is able to reach this, so I'm asking if the Asus is able too ?

And I need all the power possible, an ultra-low voltage doesn't fit me.

 

jdkbx, could you confirm the screen resolution as 1280x800, or is it 1280x768? Just wondering...

 

1280x800 .

 

How does the keyboard feel? any flex?

Does the screen distort when you move the LCD screen?

Is it shiny (glossy)? or not-shiny (matte)? ..refering to the case/lid.