some questions about the w3j

i'm not sure if i should buy the hp dv2000 or the asus w3j, i like both of them (style and hardware) even if the hp is not as powerful (gpu wise) as the w3j
if i buy the dv2000 i thought i would get better battery life and less heat, but i've seen the battery life of the w3j and it compares to the dv2000 because it has an 8 cell (+optical drive bay one if needed) vs the hp 6 cell
i just want to know if i am doing simple tasks... is the fan on the right side as annoying as everyone says? how quiet is the notebook when doing light work?
is the screen big enough to use it for programming (visual studio .net) for several hours?

choosing a new laptop it's really difficult, i 've never owned one and i want to make the right choice since it's not cheap and it will be something i will use several hours each day...
i've already completed the faq, and after several days researching i ended up with these two models
what i want is something quiet and with good battery life when doing light tasks, but that can take hard work or perhaps a game if i need to

sorry for the long post, any advice is welcomed!
help a notebook n00b

 

Did he say HP??

Sorry, thought i was in the wrong forum for a second. One thing you said caught my eye (besides the hp thing)... "several days researching". It's probably a good idea to research at least as long as it takes you to earn enough cash for your purchase. eg:$2=2seconds $2000=1month.

I would have bought a dell had I only researched it for a couple days. I've banked about 4G's since I started looking. I feel confident both financially and mentally to make my purchase. If only the W7J didnt throw a twist in my plans, I'd own a W3J by now!

 

The W7j caught my eye too, but after I saw that it's only upgradeable to 1.5 gigs of RAM, I completely threw the idea out.

Seriously, what was Asus thinking with that decision? The little Dell XPS M1210, which I will now probably get, can take 4gb or RAM...

 

Can someone explain why it's so important to have 2gigs or ram. Buddy on G4Tech showed stats that after 1Gig you see a dramatic drop in overall system improvements. It's more important at that point to upgrade the CPU which will be bottlenecking the usage of memory.

Correct me if I'm wrong... I saw that show ages ago

 

Gotta love dell... did you read the fine print?

"The total of local and shared system memory used by this graphics card is up to 256MB. Local on-board memory is 64MB. Up to 192MB of system memory is allocated to support graphics."

Pound for pound $ for $ the Asus holds far more value. That computer has a high price for mediocre performance and an even higher price for good performance. IMO

 

Bypass
ASUS W3J
13.1" x 9.8" x 1.2"/1.3"
4.8lbs (2.2kg) <- Real Weight ~5.5lbs
14" WXGA (1280x768) Glossy

HP Dv2000
13.25" x 9.4" x 1.5"
5.4lbs (2.43kg)
14" WXGA (1280 x 800 or 768)

You should look at build qaulity, and check out the reviews of the W3J and Dv2000.

Mike
GO with the W3J if you want good gaming and extra batterylife from the modular bay. The W3J is also portable enough, like many have said.

But if you want even more portability go for the W7J, its cheaper, still good looking and build quality. Half the graphics power, but your games will run at max resolution and low/med settings.

PjStock42
Currently 2gb sticks are too expensive to afford. Both M1210 and W7J are in direct competition. Once 2gb sticks are affordable, yes the M1210 can be maxed to 4gb, and the W7J may need a bios upgrade to support 2.5gbs or ram beacuse of the 512 that's integrated.

I'm not sure what your planning on doing with the notebook? Programming, graphics designing, video/audio editing, gaming? Whatever the caseim sure you'll make the right decision when it comes to a laptop.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Right now Battle Field 2 greatly benefits from 2gb of ram compared to 1gb.

The more ram, the more you can do at once, or bigger memory hogging things like graphic designing. Video editing will also benefit from more ram.

And quite possibly the future of gaming may require 2gb + of ram to play games really well.

Also Vista would most likely benefit from 4gb of ram, with all eye candy running and w/e else you wanna do.

Hoep this clears some stuff.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Yes, I knew that the M1210 only has 64MB discrete memory, which is why it would make it more useful to have 2gb of RAM.

I just want to make sure that my laptop will be a good investment, as I probably won't be getting another one for 3-4 years. 3 years from now, 2gb could be what 512 is now, I just want to be prepared for the future.

 

How about considering the W3J or Z62j.

You may also want to consider the A8jm for future proofing because of the DVI port and 5 USB ports.

Both all three model are 14" Widescreens, and are portable, and have dedicated graphics.

 

the research i've mentioned it was about the two models i think would be good for me (it only takes a couple of hours to read all posts really ), but i've been wanting to get a laptop for over a year now... so i saved up the money to get it, but i want to be sure that i am going to buy something that will be good (quality) and performs great for the tasks i need to do
i have the oportunity in august since my sister is getting married and i'm going to the states and i thought this would be my chance to get a good portable laptop at a decent price
during these days i've read all the posts about w3j (including the 38 pages long w3j lounge) and dv2000 (i haven't found any reviews yet), and i still can't decide...
i'll check out he a8jm too, seems like a good deal too

 

The W3J does look awesome to me, but I'm not sure if I could get one to the specs I want for my budget ($2000US).

Because with the M1210 through the guy on the boards here I can get one with everything that I deem a necessity, that being:

2.0ghz core duo
2gb of 667 RAM
7200 RPM HD at least 60gb
DVD burner

It seems that if I customized a W3J to those specs that it would run me much more...

 

Whoa, the M1210 comes with a 7400 now (optional)? That's pretty sweet. Honestly the two laptops you're comparing aren't all that similar, sure they are some of the more "portable" ones out there but the w3 has quite an edge in the graphics compartment (and some others like build quality, and aesthetics maybe) but the Dell will probably be cheaper and is only 12.1 inches. What are your priorities? It looks like by those specs you're hoping to game with it or something semi intensive and if thats the case the 7400 might not be enough for what you're looking to do (by that same token the x1600 may not either). And if you aren't doing something very intensive then one has to question why you need 2 gigs and a 7200 rpm HD anyway.

As far as "much more." Not really, the w3 is 1800 and with shipping, tax, the ram, and the HD you're probably looking somewhere between $2050-2100 (assuming you get the new model w3j with the one stick of RAM).

I understand wanting to "future proof" your investment but that can honestly be done cheaper "in the future" when the price of this stuff drops. As it stands 1 gig of ram and a 5400 rpm hd are more than adequate.

And Bypass, if you thought the w3j owner's lounge was long you should have seen the old w3j thread. It was going on 100 pages, I think we were in the 70's somewhere. Thank god it finally released.

 

Well put!

Also, it may not always be possible, but I don't know a single person who doesnt expect to have a larger income in 1-2 years. Be optimistic