Asus F3KA-X1 *updated with first impressions*

[SilthDraeth]

Asus F3KA-X1 on the Egg

I posted earlier about wanting a notebook with the newest AMD 690 chip set. Well I was originally trying to stay under $800. But I broke down and decided $1200 would be my budget, once I found this notebook.

I have good expectations for it, I will post a short amateur performance review, once it arrives. I plan to load Oblivion on it, and see how it runs.

This is pretty much a desktop replacement for me, since I am selling my desktop system.

 

[SilthDraeth]

Well, I got my notebook yesterday. I am thoroughly impressed.
It has almost no flex.
Screen is vivid.
DVD drive is quiet.
It weighs the stated 6.6 lbs.
Video card is ATI radeon mobility hd2600 with 512mb gddr3.
Only negative I have, and it might pass, is one of the fans (processor fan I think) keeps cycling speed, going fast, and slow, and when its fast it makes a bit of a whine. If this doesn't pass in a week or so, I will contact Asus about sending me a replacement fan.

The first thing I did before turning it on even, was install a 2nd 1gigabyte Crucial SODIMM. Turned it on, ran the memory check, and it passed.

Asus does include quite a bit of bloatware, as well as lightscribe software, when there is no lightscribe burner.

Notebook comes with Vista Home Premium. Disks include Asus recovery disk, which has Vista on it and can be installed without all the additional ASUS software.

This is my first Vista pc. I will be loading some games on it soon.

The only downsides to the purchase, is the free included case is worthless, if you expect it to protect the notebook from any bumps etc.

Few questions:
Any free benchmarking software I can download to run on the notebook to give a better idea of what it can handle?

 

[Brainonska511]

Why the need to get an AMD chip, especially at that price-point when an Intel powered machine would have been faster?

I'm glad to hear you enjoy your purchase. I'd say there isn't too much bloat on Asus machines. On my machine, the things I removed were Norton, Asus LiveUpdate (useless), Splendid Video and the Asus World Clock app.

You could try 3dMark06 if it is compatible with Vista to give you an idea of how it will play games.

 

[SilthDraeth]

I am loyal to my AMD. I recommend Intel to other people as well, but for me, I am sticking with AMD.

Well, its a directX 10 card, and running Vista, I looked at 3dmark06 and I believe it only tests directx9 performance. I think I will try the free version though.

 

[Slappy00]

looks like a good deal ... I like to spend in the 1200 range also. I was considering a 15" with an 8600GT and an Intel chip but that pushes $2k and I already have a desktop for games so this is a great compromise for playing WoW and lighter games and still getting crap done for work etc.

 

[SilthDraeth]

I couldn't get the 3dmark06 basic to run on my system. It would install, I would run as admin, even tried running it in xp compatibility mode. But it freezes on launch. The part that says "gathering system information...this may take a few minutes" well a few minutes turned into hour and a half, so I ditched the program.

 

[marhes]

Hello, SilthDraeth!
I want to buy F3KA-X1, also from newegg.

Was it easy to install an extra 1gb mem?? (I intend to have 2gb!!!)

Do you know anything about the compatibility with Linux? (especially about vga)
Is radeon hd 2600 really 512mb gdd3? great!

 

[Slappy00]

i think the hd 2600 is Gddr 2 not 3

 

[SilthDraeth]

Originally posted by: Slappy00
i think the hd 2600 is Gddr 2 not 3

It may be, but I swore when I was researching the hardware id, I saw gddr3 I guess a call to ATI or something is in order.

 

[Slappy00]

I just ordered one from Egg with 1gb of ram form crucial and o/n shipping for only just over a grand... wow

I'll add my impressions when I get it (hopefully) tomarrow

 

[Slappy00]

Ok I'll make it quick:

Pluses:

-Looks good
-Reletively light
-Powerful GPU (as far as GDDR2 cards go)
-Fast CPU (yes yes I know Duo is faster)
-Lots of cool free stuff (screen wipe, cord manager, a mouse, a carrying case)
-runs quiet

Minuses:

-Kinda plasticky case
-runs warm (but not too hot)
-small battery (make sure to adjust your power management for battery use)
-1GB of ram
-Bloatware
-lame stickers
-keyboard feels a bit cramped.


Overall I would buy it again, especially at the price I got it at and the ram combo. This is really a great deal for mostly a work/media laptop with some light gaming (wow/civ4)

 

[out there]

i also purchased this item, and i'm really happy with it. i did some looking around to find drivers for xp (i will not use vista until something that i need requires it), and that upgrade drastically improved the performance. further, i installed 2gb of ddr2-800 that runs at the proper speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834220237

is where you'll find the drivers for xp; you'll have to manually add the vga drivers

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Wierd, Newegg shows that laptop as a deactivated item now. Guess you guys got in at the right time.

Nonetheless it looks like another nice midrange laptop from Asus. Good to hear content reviews :thumbsup:

 

[Brainonska511]

You can still get the F3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...tion=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=