Not a Benq Joybook S42 Review.

This might be in the format of a laptop review, but it's not ...polished, and rather crappy.

When I wrote this up, I was so bored it's not even funny...

Also, I'll just mention that I had this written up in what I call HTML, but what others would probably call 'formatting'.




(Insert picture of Joybook S42 in this space)

Introduction | Build and Design | Keyboard and Touchpad | Speakers | Ports and Features | Display | Performance | Heat and Noise | Battery Life | Pros and Cons | Conclusions

What I wanted was a small laptop that could handle the occasional game that my Inspiron 700m (with it's Intel Extreme 2 Graphics) can't . Also, I had a budget of, well generally as little as I could spend.

I spent at least a week searching around eBay for a decent computer, and found the Inspiron 1720, powerful in the day, but huge (17" screen), but also it possibly suffers from the G84 GPU failure that many users had been reporting. The other that I found was the Toshiba Satellite P100, but that was huge as well and even older than the Inspiron 1720. Both models were around 18 months old, (which IMO is a long time in computer years) and out of warranty and with possible imminent failure following my purchase of it. I also considered purchasing a new Dell XPS m1330, but prices started from around $1500 and it had a weaker GPU than the eBay ones.

I found the BenQ Joybook S42 on the whirlpool.net.au forums, a short thread on notebookreview and a long thread on the hardwarezone forums (just bits and pieces).




It has the following specifications:
Screen: 14.1” WXGA(1280 x 800) UltraVivid widescreen (LED Backlight) display; Response Time: 8ms
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 at 2.4GHz
Graphics: nVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT and Intel GMA X4500HD
Memory: 2GB DDR2 PC-5300 667
Hard Disc: 320GB 5400 rpm (Fujitsu)
Wireless: Intel® WiFi Link 5300 (A/B/G/N), Bluetooth V2.0/EDR
Optical Drive: 8X DVD Super-Multi (Support Double Layer)
Ports and Slots: 4 USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, line-in, 4-in-1 card reader,
Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100/1000, ExpressCard/54, Microphone-in
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
Features: Built in 2MP Camera/Microphone
Battery: 10.8V 4800mAh 52Wh 6 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Dimensions: 337 x 248 x 26.6 (front) ~ 38.7 (rear) mm
Weight: Not sure.. Officially 2.05Kg without the battery; with the battery I've heard 2.35kg and 2.85kg.. Will personally weigh the computer sometime...
Warranty: 1+1 Year Limited Global Warranty




There were two things I really liked about what I saw. First, was the GeForce 9600m GT. It was slightly more powerful than the two models I saw on eBay and also, the price $1333, which I believe is a decent price for this laptop. However, there was something lingering in my mind. The Joybook S72 that I owned about 4 years ago, and that died after about a year of use (not mentioning that it's demise was entirely my fault, and that it cost $2.8k at the time).

Before my purchase, I also read the following reviews from CNET, SmartHouse, Good Gear Guide, PCWorld, and PC Magazine (the latter 3 being very similar to each other..).




Build and Design
The case appears to be all plastic except for the palmrest which is, not plastic... The case is all a bit flexible, but I think this is a good thing so that the case is less brittle and less prone to developing any cracks. The computer looked a little weird to me at first, but I've grown into it and like it mostly, except for the lid, which is very prone to fingerprints, instead of looking beautiful like they advertised it.




Keyboard and Touchpad
The touchpad which has a textured surface (less friction), protrudes ever so slightly from the palmrest and is slightly to the left of the middle of the palmrests. Because of this, my left palm tends to brush the touchpad when I am typing and I accidentally move the cursor, and lose my place on the page. Quite annoying, but I might get used to avoiding this in the future. The touchpad is a Synaptics touchpad, but doesn't appear to recognise 2 finger input. Thus no two-finger chiralscroll , but I can still initiate virtual scrolling by swiping my finger across the right and bottom edges of the touchpad. The touchpad buttons appear to be a single metal bar below the touchpad. There is however a left and right click underneath , but no middle-click like on my Inspiron 710m which I was so fond of. An annoyance is, sometimes when I want to click, I press the middle-border of the buttons (which does nothing).
The keyboard has the same layout as the one in the Joybook S72 I owned previously. This being the case has still not made it easier to adapt to. The Fn and Ctrl keys are reversed, and sometimes makes shortcuts involving the Ctrl key a little hard to adapt to. Also, the keyboard feels a little spongy and probably has a little flex. Also, keystroke depth is proably double on this keyboard compared to the one on my Inspiron 710m which has make typing for extended periods of time a little difficult for me. Also, there are two Windows keys, the right one of which I tend to hit when I want to use the right-click (context menu) key next to it. Above the keyboard (precisely above F2-F4) there two little shortcut buttons, (as far as I know not reprogrammable), one is for taking screenshots of the desktop (like print-screen, but saves the images to a folder automatically), and one that toggles SRS TruSound.




Speakers
The speakers at the top of the keyboard are small but satisfactory. They sound like laptop speakers, with alright treble and middle frequencies, and no bass at all. Perhaps more treble than mid-range. SRS Trusound blew the sound up a fair bit, but with a little distortion depending on the type of music playing. SRS Trusound with my in-ear phones was not very good, but that's not what you're supposed to use it for anyways.




Ports and Features
This computer features all the ports you might want on a computer, except for eSATA, DVI (can go through HDMI or VGA instead), and S-Video (which I used to use often with my old computer; a feature I failed to check for before purchasing..). Unfortunately, there is no Blu-ray drive configuration that I have seen, (perhaps in a later model?).

Here is a quick overview of all the ports.


Front (L to R): A vent, Headphone port, Microphone, Line-in.



Left: VGA, HDMI, Firewire, Phone-line, Ethernet, 2x USB ports, Wi-fi switch, ExpressCard slot and 4-in-1 card reader beneath it.



Right: 2x USB ports, DVD Burner, DC in.



Back: Battery, heat-exhaust.




Display
The first thing that I noticed when I turned it on, is that the screen is a lot brighter than the one in my Inspiron 710m, a little too bright for word processing, but good for multimedia, like movies and games. Horizontal and vertical viewing angles are slightly worse than on my old computer.




Performance
The specs on this computer blow my old one away by 2-4 times. That said, there isn't much difference in the experience of when you are word processing, but when I have multiple tabs open in Chrome, the difference is definitely there. This computer with it's GeForce 9600m GT can max out games that my Radeon 9600 had to struggle with, but that really isn't saying much as the Radeon 9600 came out sometime in 2003. The newest games I have are from 2005-2006, and I haven't had any problems so far, so that's great.

WPrime 32M comparison results
WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook Time
BenQ Joybook S42 (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz) 32.992s
Dell Studio XPS 16 (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz) 31.827s
HP HDX 18t (Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz) 27.416s
Sony VAIO FW (Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz) 30.373s
Dell Studio 17(2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Windows Vista SP1) 31.574s
Asus M70S (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Windows Vista) 31.132s
Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, Windows Vista) 39.732s
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, Windows Vista) 30.359s
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, Windows Vista) 31.108s
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Windows Vista) 42.085s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7400@ 2.16GHz, Windows XP) 41.40s
HP dv6000z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.00GHz, Windows Vista) 38.913s

3DMark06 comparison results:
3DMark06 represents the overall graphics performance of a computer. Higher numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook 3DMark06 Score
BenQ Joybook S42 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, nVidia GeForce 9600m GT 256MB) 5,615 3DMarks
Dell Studio XPS 16 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 512MB) 4,855 3DMarks
HP HDX 18t (2.8GHz Intel T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT 512MB) 4,127 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470) 2,598 3DMarks
Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 2,974 3DMarks
Asus M70S (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 3,799 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite L355D (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, ATI Radeon X1250) 301 3DMarks
Gateway P-171XL FX (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900, NVIDIA Go 8800M GTS) 8,801 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 3,775 3DMarks
Toshiba Qosmio G45 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA Go 8600M GT) 2,934 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1720 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT) 2,930 3DMarks
All of the 3DMark06 scores for all of the systems listed above were run at 1280 x 800 or 1280 x 768 resolution.




Heat and Noise
One thing I really appreciate about the computer is that the heat exhaust is at the back of the computer. The computer manages heat on the outside very well and there has not been a situation where the computer was uncomfortable on my lap. Generally the computer warms up only on the left-side because the only thing on the right side is the optical drive, which is not always in use (unlike the CPU, chipsets etc.) The CPU temperatures range from around 40-58C. What I am not happy about is the dedicated GPU, while cool from the outside, reports internal temperatures of 67-97C. The computer's main fan sounds like there's a Hoover on next door.. not too bad, but slightly louder than my previous computer.




Battery life
On integrated graphics, the computer reports battery life of around 4 hours. On dedicated, perhaps a little over an hour. Switching from integrated to dedicated and vice-versa can be done without a reboot through a hotkey (Fn+F10); switching from dedicated to intrgrated takes 5 seconds, while integrated to dedicated is a longer at 17 seconds.




Pros:
Does not run very hot under load.
Hybrid Graphics.
1x 2GB memory stick installed with one slot free for upgrades.

Cons:
Ctrl key is not in the bottom left hand corner of the keyboard.
No middle click.
No S-Video out.
Battery life could still be better considering it has hybrid graphics.
Glossy screen with no WXGA+ option.
Inbuilt web-cam does not swivel.

 

Pretty much echos my thoughts. I bought a cheap cooling pad, and the temp sensors run much lower now. I figure I'll hold onto this machine for a while, use it for LAN gaming at friends houses. Getting a new desktop soon for more serious grunt work, but the two months I've been running this as my main computer have been hassle free.

 

namaiki, a few ppl on whirlpool are reading your review with interest. The battery life you give of 4hrs is somewhat lower than that referred to by the manufacturer of 3.5-t hours.

I would be curious what the battery meter would report with:
* undervolting CPU with Rightmark or Notebook Hardware Control (NHC)
* brightness down.. at least 50%
* all additional non-necessary devices off: USB, bluetooth.. etc. no external USB devices connected.
* separate stat for wi-fi on and wi-fi off.

Would you be willing to test with the above parameters?

 

Sure, after I get my computer back from the shop.

I didn't actually do any real battery tests because I don't like the idea of running cycles out of the battery for no real reason.

I wrote 4 hours because the battery time felt lower than that of my Inspiron 700m which I use for most things, a little irresponsible I guess.. .

edit:

THIS is the same reason I sent my computer in.. the fan was making tapping noises. lol I was tilting the computer all the time, it was driving me crazy, so I just sent it in..

 

dude is this based on the PM45 chipset

if not then does the 45, on a integrated gpu only support 667 vs the pm45's 800mhz ddr2 ram

and are you running 256mb of ddr3 for the 9600m or 512..........excellent 3dmark scores none the less

 

This computer has the Mobile Intel® GM45 Chipset.

AFAIK, the computer should support 800MHz DDR2 RAM, but I've heard that the difference between 667 and 800 isn't that much, so I'm not bothered to upgrade it.

The 9600m GT in the Joybook S42 that I have has 256MB of dedicated RAM.

 

Random update: sent my computer in for service under warranty 2 wks ago.. Called them today and they're still waiting for parts..

 

Random update: I am raging a little inside... but I should be getting my computer back within the week..

lol I had the computer for just about 2 weeks and now the shop that's repairing it under warranty has had it for just over a month now. This is ridiculous.

 

I hope you get your system back soon. I have never seen a BenQ notebook before. I had a BenQ DVD drive and well that saw more from my clawhammer than reading DVD's
Good luck with the system. If the fan continues to make noise you can get a graphite powder like lubricant and apply it to the motor bearings. I cant remember what it is called, but you can probably find it at a local hobby shop

K-TRON

 

Hmm I had a 'nightmare' the other night, a pretty lame one where I never get my laptop back because one of my complaints was that the GPU in my specific computer is idling at 70C. Unfortunately, I've read that idling at 65-70C is the norm for this model and that's the reason in my 'nighmare' I never get it back because they keep on trying to fix it and the temp always stays the same.

If I don't get my computer back today (currently 1AM, they open at 9AM and about an hour away), I'll have to wait till next Tuesday (another 5 days) because they don't open on the weekend and because Friday is Good Friday and Monday is Easter Monday. T_T






edit: Apparently, after waiting for 3+ weeks, the supplier has sent the wrong fan, and now the shop is waiting for parts again............................................................................................................................................................................

edit2: why didn't I just get another Dell. I mean, I have bought 3 dells in the past, and no problems whatsoever.

 

What's the news on your S42 namaiki? Was considering one of these cos of the 2 year warranty but if it takes this long, maybe a Dell would be better.

 

The store that is repairing the computer has told me that they are awaiting a replacement fan for the computer. After the first month wait, they received a fan, but it was the wrong model, so they are waiting again.

 

Just went to the store and picked up my laptop. I prime stress tested it in the store for about 10 mins... and not any problems.

I take the computer home, and now.. nothing. When I press the power button, all indicator lights go on, and though the hard drive is spinning, the screen is black, no backlight... fffffffffff

edit: I brought the computer back today and the guy checked everything, the RAM, whatever and then replaced the motherboard. Everything appears to be fine..

 

After I got the computer back from it's motherboard replacement, the CPU and GPU full load temps are 92C and 104C respectively. I don't really care, yet, but if it's possible, I'll probably ask the guys at the BenQ Service Center, see if they can Arctic Silver the CPU and GPU for me, but I think they connect to the heatsink with thermal pads, I'll see about this in a week or two after my next school assignment for whatever is due..

 

I would say battery life (balanced power profile, integrated graphics, wifi on, min brightness[still quite bright] and web browsing) is realistically 3-3.5 hours.

Power saver + the rest would be 3.5-4 hours.. still close to 3.5 hours unless you're going to let the computer sit there and do nothing..

edit: ...still testing. Battery charge is 84%, on (dedicated graphics, balanced, lowest brightness, wifi on and web browsing) battery life appears to be ~1 hour 20 mins.

 

Honestly, get your money back for that thing, eat the restocking fee and get another laptop.
Its not worth it to have a notebook which is problematic like that

K-TRON

 

lol, the computer is on it's 'last chance' right now. Mostly because I just got it back, and I'm too lazy to do anything else on my day off..

 

Any luck with the BenQ?

If it still has problems, you may want to check out the Dell E6400 as a replacement

K-TRON

 

Computer appears to be functioning alright.

Unfortunately, can't afford the E6400; in Australia, the price starts at $2399, while I bought the BenQ for $1333. >.<

 

meh got bored while stress testing.

this thing does 5020 in 3DMark06 at 1280x1024 while downloading off of irc and driving a second monitor for monitoring temps.

with dedicated graphics enabled, the computer gets a 5.3 in WEI.

 

edit: 2554

Just a leetle update.

Processor now idles at ~42C and GPU at ~71C.
Proc load is 58C and GPU load is 97C.

Proc load defined as calculator doing n! up to 99999999999999999999999999999999.

GPU load defined as Furmark running in windowed mode at 640x480.

Load simultaneously is 63C and 100C (same heatsink).


edit: in my original review the computer scored 5615 in 3DMark06.

Now with the Dox driver + 2GB RAM, it scores 5900 that's a whopping improvement of 5% (sarcasm; not bad though).

For 1280x1024: 5020 -> 5281.
edit: ^that's actually pretty awesome

Because no one looks here: @1280x800 3dmark06
190.15 - 5617
186.03 - 5611
186.08 - 5603
non optimised 186.08 - 5583
non-optimized 186.08 + PhysX disable - 5618
default - 5694
T_T

dox 185.85 - 5919

 

where u get v190.15 driver?? nvidia not release yet!!!
dox 185.85 is most stable driver !!!

 

Packaged By: Nautis (Featuring "Dox Optimised" settings).

 

are u using benq s42?
when u use save power mode, the gf9600 are disconnect and close or disable?
me one use in save power mode the 9600 still have but only disable liao.

 

When using the Stamina mode, power use is 10-15 watts, when using the GeForce 9600M GT, power usage is 20 watts and higher. So there is a difference, but I'm not sure if the 9600 is actually being disabled.

 

but i use the benq website default that one in stamina mode the 9600gt will disconnect and in gpu-z also cannot be see the 9600.can use more about 1 hour ++

 

In 'Stamina' mode using Dox' drivers, the 9600M GT can not been seen by GPU-Z.

I think I get about 3 hours in stamina; what do you get?

 

are u install DOX driver in stamina mode??
i install the DOX driver in stamina mode,
1.my laptop is vista 32, than i choose vista 32bit and choose hybrid mode
2.than pop-up GF9600 + INtel 4500 than NEXT to install the driver.
3.than restart.
but in stamina mode check GPUz, the 9600gt also have!!
why?

 

Install in Speed mode.

 

can u show me the step, i scare error again.

 

From here.

First make sure you are switched to SPEED mode(Increased performance). Then go into add/remove programs and uninstall the "Nvidia Drivers" which should remove both hybrid graphics drivers (nvidia & intel.) Now go into device manager and make sure both video devices are removed. Reboot and install the new drivers.

 

tq namaiki,
now i install the 190.15 that one
can support physx and use stamain mode dun have see the 9600 liao

 

Namaiki, now the v190.38 from nautis is stable??can use?

 

Well, the driver definitely isn't unstable. I haven't had any problems with it so far.

 

any stability issues with this yet?

 

I'm using 190.38, no problems so far, just make sure to switch to the Geforce 9600M GT before you install the drivers or it won't update properly.

 

I've just moved my Joybook S42 entirely to Windows 7 64-bit.

Windows 7 detects most of the drivers automatically, except for the card-reader (the driver for the card-reader on the benq recovery dvd is 32 and 64-bit, so no problems there) and the graphics driver, where I used Nautis' test driver.

Honestly, general performance etc is about the same as 32-bit. I don't really use my computer for anything extreme, just typing up stuff and watching dvds, maybe a little light gaming sometimes.

One thing has definitely changed though. MadVR which used to completely freeze up my computer for a couple of minutes after you close the window, now opens and closes like air. Unfortunately, it also now runs like crap, unlike before.. to be accurate, it now runs like a slideshow.. so it's definitely my computer's fault.

 

Please see the below reply on my question if Benq are going to supply video drivers for Win 7 64 bits.

To my big surprise, they are not going to supply them, so that means for my less than 1 year old Joybook, no chance to run win 7 64 bits (unless I use the workaround descripted in this thread).

For me this means never again Benq! Ridiculous that they even suggest me to start the whole installation again on the 32 bits.

Hereby their reply:


Dear Eric Chan,

FYI,our Joybook S42 only could support Windows 7 32 Bits OS platform only.

That is no 64 bits support could be deliver as told by our BenQ HQ.

The current 32 Bits Windows 7 device driver could be download from following URL at,

http://benq.com.sg/products/joybook/?product=1373&page=downloads&dtype=D

Thanks!

Best Regards,

 

Really.. Windows 7 has most of the drivers built in. The exceptions are the card reader for which BenQ supplies a combined 32 and 64-bit package and the video drivers which I use Nautis' packaged 64-bif hybrid graphics driver.

I don't see the problem about 'no chance to run Windows 7 64-bit', as I have been doing for the past couple of months with no issues whatsoever.

 

Until now I have not managed to get Nautis drivers working, I can not get the resolution above 1024x768. I have followed each and every instruction mentioned, but no result.

Besides that, I think that it's really poor support of Benq and I will never buy a Joybook again as even my 3 yr. old Acer laptop has all win7 64 bits driver available. All in all a big let down of Benq.

 

Make sure you are running BIOS R1.20 (available on the BenQ Australia Support site and probably other countries as well) and try this driver in particular.

 

Thanks a lot Namaiki!

That driver works perfect, no need for me to install win7 32 bits now.

Also thanks to Nautis for the good work.

 

Guys, I hav a problem here
I just bought a new S42 last month, and I just installed vista 32 bit, plus I installed all the drivers, including the hybrid graphics.
the problem here when I switch from dedicated to integrated it just got hang up, I have to power it off manually and then started it again (and it back to dedicated again)

any ideas?


thanks

 

Try install using the recovery DVD on boot. It's not like there is any bloat software included.

 

I thought there was a problem with the hybrid graphics driver (because before I installed the driver there is no problem with it, and after I found the problem, I uninstall the driver and it back fine again), so I reinstall a new vista (including reformat all the partition in my harddisk), and I installed the new driver from Benq site instead from the CD.
But my S42 is just stuck up again if I change the VGA form dedicated to integrated

Note: I found 3 VGA driver from benq site (benq singapore):
VGA Intel
VGA nVidia
hybrid_graphics v7.15.11.7584
I already tried to install them (one, two or three of them), and the notebook worked fine if I just install the VGA Intel (other possibilities resulting hang up again).

any ideas??
Anyway, thanks for the help....

 

On Monday, called BenQ Support that I was having some hardware issues with my laptop and wanted to know the procedure in order to RMA my laptop. Very helpful lady on the phone. Told me everything and arranged a courier to pick up the laptop on the next day. I arranged through her to get it picked up on Wednesday, which they did.

Smooth sailing so far. I'm very impressed.

 

Got my laptop back today!
That's 12 days or 8 working days.

 

So, I've had this laptop for 15 months.

Battery is on 30% wear. ~35Wh so, about 3.5 hours on battery at max.

This is still my main PC. I've considered installing an SSD, but there is a warranty sticker over the HDD cover, so I might skip that will my warranty period ceases.

Since I've got this PC, I've installed Windows 7. Everything is quite fast, except the HDD is definitely the limiting factor. Another thing is the 256MB of VRAM. GTA IV doesn't like this. (I don't really play though, just wanted it for the eyecandy - ugh) Also, the CPU is not fast enough to do my video processing in real-time.

Components:
VGA out - not much to comment
HDMI - my TV scales HDMI in a bad way, so I use calibrated VGA instead..
Firewire - never used it..
USB - it is as it is..
Expresscard slot - might get a eSATA card some time
Audio: on the front edge of the laptop there are three ports for audio out, in, in - I only ever use the headphone jack.
Wireless: it is alright.
Webcam: I never use it
Keyboard: I have gotten used to it.
Two hardware buttons above the keyboard: never use them
Touchpad: On my old laptop I used to use my thumb to press between both buttons for middle click, but since that is not possible on this laptop, I've gotten used to using both my thumbs for middle click.
Battery: I broke one of the clips on the battery.. I forgot to unlock it and tried to take it out. The battery still stays in as before. I guess the clip didn't do much.
Internal DVD burner: I use it all the time. I have a faster external DVD drive, but I don't use that much unless I'm going to burn a lot of DVDs during one session.

Places that show wear:
Right palm rest.
Touchpad - it is textured, but has gone smooth in the middle.
Keyboard - the 't' on the left Alt key has come off.

Annoyances:
I still haven't completely figured out how to use the numpad.
The screen is glossy. Not going to be much choice about this for my next laptop, I fear.
Computer can run a bit warm. Annoying if I'm going to use it on my lap - which I rarely do.
Hybrid graphics drivers are hard to come by. I really thought that there would be better manufacturer support (from nVidia and BenQ) considering the publicity it was getting.

Good things:
The computer has been generally reliable. The fan had become noisy before I got it replaced, but it never completely died.
I still like this laptop - it's still my baby.

 

Hi Namaiki, I recently installed win 7 64 bit for my BenQ joybook s42.

However, there is one big problem after the installation, is that it cannot detect my wireless driver card.

Can you share you experience on installing win7? Is there any fix?

Please I'm in need of help as I can't turn it back to the factory default setting anymore due to that I did not have recovery back up disc, and I can't find the option for alt+F10 when I am opening the laptop.

Thx !!! Any help will be great.

 

No issue with the wireless card. I can't recall if Windows already installed the driver by itself, but I think it did. However, try download and install this driver: Software License Agreement