upgrading my laptop, stay with asus?

hi all, i currently own a w3a/z63a for 2 years and it has serve me very well from work to gaming (i play wow on low resolution), anyways i think it's time for a replacement, but there is a problem with this model since the right palm rest area is so warm and when i touch the bottom of my laptop it can nearly fry an egg. Is it just this model that is causing all this trouble or other asus model have similar issues too?

i've been looking into w7j and the upcoming f9j, from a 14.1 going down to a 13.3/12.1 inch notebook provides alot of mobility, but will i have this heat problem again? i've also heard that the w7j have a very bad battery life is that true also?

thanks

 

I've had the same problem with mine. I found that if you open up the CPU compartment and clean out the vent and clean all the dust out of the fan, it really increases airflow and the heat will come down DRASTICALLY!
I used to nearly burn my hand on the bottom of the notebook, but after cleaning it, it only gets mildly warm.

 

thanks for the reply is it easy to open it up or should i get bring it to a notebook vendor to do it?


i really regret not buying the model that came with 9700.

 

check out my review of the W7j.

I think you should wait to see what Asus is offering in the summer, seems like there will be another 13.3" model coming out.

Other than the warm right palm rest (due to the HD being located underneath).. i rarely see any issues with the W7j.. its a pretty solid laptop although yes, the slightly smaller backspace did take me some time to get used to as I kept hitting the wrong keys, and here in humid Hawaii, the heat can get noticeable.

battery life is to be expected due to the Nvidia 7400 video card. the Sony SZ (when solely on video card mode) gets similar battery life, so if it really matters..you should get a 9 cell or consider the 13.3" Z35 with integrated graphics.

 

It's really quite easy. Just open up the large panel on the bottom. Then all you have to do is unscrew the fan from the heatsink module and clean all the dust off of it. Also, once you remove the fan, it makes the vent much more available to clean too... you can use a small vaccuum if you like, but I recommend compressed air or just plain old hard BLOWING from your own mouth; just watch out for dust flying everywhere. You can achieve all of this without even removing the CPU, so you don't have to worry about messing anything up.
The most important thing to remember is to plug the fan back in once you're done.

 

thanks for the tip, i opened up that part yesterday but didn't start cleaning the fan (no compress air with me), i'll try doing what u are suggesting, you got any idea to reduce to heat from the hdd? i was playing wow yesterday and looking at my hdd/cpu temp, at idle it's 34/34C but after starting the game it's 55+/70 C.

 

i just saw ur post u made before, i'll try it out and tell u guys what my results are

 

If you haven't undervolted your z63, those are pretty much the lower range of temps you're going to see, and there probably isn't a huge dust problem clogging the system. I use mine in what would generally be considered light use and undervolted w/ NHC, and those temps are right in line with what I get when using it on a hard surface to keep good airflow into the intake vents. I actually moved the HD temp alarm in NHC up to 65, because it routinely hits 55-60 on general use tasks and I got tired of the pop-ups. There isn't a heat problem with this model, just a consequence of teeny intake vents and a small chassis with only fair airflow patterns inside. Your HDD temps are likely going to stay around what you're already seeing.

 

if you're satisfied with the z63 performance right now, i don't think you'll see anything in the Asus lineup at the 14.1" (or 13.3") range that will improve very much on it, aside from graphics power (at a significant cost to battery life, + $$). this goes for every other notebook in the market as well, in my opinion.

the new CPU, chipset and Vista are not quite as energy efficient as centrino+XP are as the battery lives will testify. there isn't really any upgrade in style either (unless you pony up for the VX2 or something extravagant).

if your only beef is hard drive heat, then AuroraS' and ClearSkies' suggestions will cool it down. i feel almost nothing from my Western Digital 5400 rpm drive. when i feel the underside, it just feels nice and warm in a comfortable way. you could also elevate the notebook (cooling pad or anything that allows air to flow under) to allow for more passive cooling. i've considered drilling air holes into the hard drive cover, but i'm not brave/stupid enough. proper typing posture (elevated wrists) will also alleviate the apparent heat. all Asus models that i've seen have the hard drive housed under the palm rest area.

 

The W7j battery life is kind of a sticky issue. If you consider it an ultra portable, then it gets pretty terrible battery life. At workable settings I get a bit over 2 hours. If you consider it a preformance notebook with a small footprint, then 2 hours is a little more normal for the expected battery life. I'm a little disappointed with it myself, but it does cram a lot of power into a tiny shell.

As for the heat, I feel it runs pretty cool. NHC reads the cpu and hdd idle between 42-46C, when gaming, the cpu nears 60C and the hdd nears 50C. I feel those are normal. As mentioned before, the right palm rest does get warm because the hdd is literally directly underneath it, which means that the surface heats up to nearly the same temp as the hdd itself. I've been annoyed by this, but not encumbered.

overall I'm very happy with my W7j and I would recommend it to anyone who is aware of these small issues. I moved from a 15.4 notebook and I am MUCH happier with the smaller chasis. I wish more companies would start producing notebooks with such a nice blend of performance, mobility, heat/noise control, and design quality as ASUS has with the W7j.