which asus is best for me?

I've decided that I want to go with Asus for my laptop, but now I must figure out which one I want. I've been looking around seller's websites at prices and configurations and features. In fact, I'm currently talking to PROPortableSales on AIM lol!

I originally started looking at the Z33a based on a recommendation from another forum. Now, I'm also looking at the Z63a, it seems to be a much nicer system.


Here's my list:
I'll be carrying around campus and to work. I'll have it with me most of the time. I won't be able to leave it in the car if I wanted to, it gets up to 120F here in the summer.

processor: sonoma >= 1.6GHz
*how fast do i want? i dont want to wait for it, ill have several apps open at once, but nothing intensive (firefox, word, outlook, trillian, hydraIRC)

ram: >= 512Mb
*is the ram the 63 uses better than the 33?
*how much ram do i need? im not planning on doing anything intensive

harddrive: 40 or 60 Gb, 5400 rpm
*4200 is too slow and 7200 is too draining

optical: cd/dvd
*dont plan to be doing any burning

screen:
*needs to be sharp and clear, indoor use
*what size do i want? 12" or 14"? On my desktop I've got two 17", so I think the drop to 12" for extended periods of time would be annoying

weight: preferably less than 5 lbs

battery: needs to last through a class period, about 3.5 hours
*I'll most likely get a larger as a spare as well

connections:
*integrated 802.11b/g
*RJ-11
*RJ-45
*usb 2.0
*1394
*optional: video out
*optional: bluetooth

As I'm typing this, I think I've talked myself into the Z63a, with the help of PROPortableSales. Thoughts? and if someone would help me design it...

Thanks!

 

The z63a is a very good laptop, it'll fit all your needs.

And it'll be unique when you're at school

 

If you are talking to proportable on AIM, then you should listen to his advice on what to buy. He is an active player in this forum as well.

He will give you a solid recommendation.

 

I would look at the W3v, it has the 14" widescreen. Wil mee all your spec's and is easily portable. It will meet your wieght requirement, and is easily mobile, I take mine everywhere. It will definitely be faster then what you initially asked for, and does come with dual CD and DVD burners. Good Luck!
Like Smilepak said, if you get a recommendation from PROPortable, definitely give that a lot of weight.

 

i'd say the z63 is pretty much perfect for what you need. the w3v seems a bit much based on what u've told us and is pretty expensive. if integrated graphics are fine the z63a is ur best bet.

 

I agree... The Z63a sounds ideal.
If you want some more performance, go for the W3V

 

Unless you do things that heavily utilise the CPU for long periods, investment in more RAM is more likely to give a more noticeable overall speed improvement than a faster CPU. You can easily add more RAM later if you can't afford it now. The graphics on the Z63A shares the system RAM, so 512MB is barely enough.

The Z63A / W3V will give you more than 4 hours running time using the 8 cell battery and if you need more running time there is the option to replace the optical drive by another battery.

I find the wireless performance on my W3A (=Z63A) to be very good. This may well be due to the carbon-fibre screen back not blocking any signal. So far (more than 3 months), this material has not caused me any concerns about its strength.

John

 

heres what im looking at, rip it apart and help me out?

ACIZ63A
PROPortable Z63A Centrino Notebook
1. Intel® Pentium® M w/ 2MB Cache; 533MHz FSB : 760 - 2.0GHz; 533MHz FSB; w/ 2MB Cache -Standard
*its not worth $63 to drop to 1.86, or $153 to go up to 2.13

2. DDR2 533 so-Dimm : 1024 ddr2 533 (1024mb x 1) - Corsair
*512 isnt enough, one dimm rather than two is worth $7

3. Hard Drives 2.5" ATA100 : Seagate Momentus 60GB 5400 RPM w/ 8MB Buffer
*like seagate better, want to do dual boot, dont want 7200 in laptop

4. Optical Drive : 24x Combo Drive (DVD/CD-RW) -Standard
*need an optical drive, dont need to burn dvds on my laptop

5. Internal Wireless Card (Required for Centrino) : Intel PRO/2200 Wireless 802.11b/g MiniPCI
*need integrated wireless, not worth $20 to get 802.11a

6. Operating Systems : Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/ SP2 -Standard
*dont have a legit copy of windows

7. Warranties : 2 years parts & labor w/ 1 way paid shipping
*its included, dunno if its worth $99 for another year

 

Looks good to me. The processor will last a long time, and you've left yourself room to upgrade the RAM in the future, as well. As for the extended warranty, well, that's up to you. Keep in mind Proportable is using retail parts, so in addition to the warranty on the entire system, you'll get three years on the CPU from Intel, five years on the hard drive from seagate, and lifetime on the RAM through Corsair.

By the way, you said in your first post that you'll be carrying it around campus, so I assume you're affiliated with an academic institution. If that's the case, you might want to see about purchasing an academic copy of Windows XP Pro through your school. Most schools will charge academic prices for their students, but some have further discounts with the school year approaching (my university's bookstore was carrying a full version of XP Pro for $70, half of what Proportable's charging). It's not a huge difference, but it could be helpful if you're on a tight budget.

 

bootstrap's right, if u're at school u'll find much better deals on software. through my engineering program i can get xp pro for $12 or $20 if i remember correctly

 

Yes, that is true... some departments have their own deals with Microsoft for the software. I was able to get XP Pro and Visual Studio for free through my department. But even if your specific program doesn't have any great deals, any student at the school should still be able to purchase an academic copy. Or, if your bookstore doesn't carry it, if you have a previous version of Windows, you could buy an academic upgrade version of XP Pro from Newegg for around $85.

 

id forgotten that. i do have something like that. msft has a deal with my school, the msdn academic alliance, like a jr version of the normal msdn. legally, as long as im enrolled, i have access to lots of different programs. i just looked at the cds i burned, xp pro is one of them.

thanks for saving me $150

 

I'm having the same debate between the z33a and the z63a, the one concern or question I have is what is the weight like on the z63a with a 60gb hard drive in it?