Brainonska511
Lifer
Well, I finally was allowed to open up my new laptop - an Asus W3J.
The specs:
Core Duo T2400 (1.86GHz)
14" WXGA Display (Glossy)
DVD+-RW Drive
MR X1600
Intel A/B/G Wireless + Bluetooth
100GB Fujitsu 5400RPM, 8MB Cache Hdd
1024MB of DDR2 - 2x512MB
Windows XP Pro
The outside:
The case is just stunningly beautiful. The brushed metal finish on the top and the whole laptop in general just seems very unique compared to the stuff that one usually sees being carried about.
The Keyboard:
Takes time moving from a standard PC keyboard to a notebook, but the Fn key on the bottom left is kind of annoying. I wished they put the Ctrl key on the bottom left (so it would be like Ctrl-Fn-Windows... instead of Fn-Ctrl-Windows), otherwise no complaints. The keyboard has no give to it and it types quite nicely, plus it is pretty quiet. The side hotkey buttons are also really nice. There is a (what looks to be) power settings, bluetooth, i don't know yet, wireless on/off, and touchpad on/off on the right side. The left side has the media control buttons.
The Screen:
Personally, I feel the 1280x768 is perfect for this size screen (I'm used to using 1280x1024 on 17" LCDs) and if the res. was any higher, I would probably feel that the stuff is a little too small. No Dead Pixels 🙂 and the colors are very vibrant. Glossy coating too, for those that like that. No reflection back from the screen when using it, but if the computer is off, you can see yourself. Also, no light leakage.
Software:
A lot of software preinstalled. I used StartUp to disable most of the stuff that I didn't want (Google: Startup, first or second entry). I could get the Windows Wireless controller to connect to my Wifi, so I just used the Intel one, which works without a hitch. The antivirus is preinstalled, Norton IS 2005, which I promptly uninstalled so I could just use ZoneAlarm and AntiVir. Bluetooth also has a lot of processes that can run if you don't disable the bluetooth manager (which I did). Right now, I have 35 processes running with Firefox, antivirus, firewall, intel proset....
Fan:
Fan is extremely quiet, I barely noticed when it turned off just now. The one downside- when it is plugged in and the GPU is set to full speed, the air blowing out is kind of warm, uncomfortably so. I wouldn't use a mouse right next to the vent if you get this notebook, but I doubt you'd want to have the mouse that close anyway.
Hard Drive:
Came partitioned as 2 50GB FAT32 partitions. Asus was kind enough to include a batch file on the desktop to convert them both to NTFS.
Battery:
After typing this for the past 15-20 minutes, the battery icon in the taskbar says that there is 3:03 remaining (87%). I do have the graphics card clocked back with the ATI CCC to be battery saving along with Windows controlling the stepping of the Core Duo. Also, the brightness is only about 4 clicks above the lowest, which is certainly bright enough in my dark kitchen.
That's about all I have to say right now. When I get my files onto this machine, I'll run 3dMark06 and give a little more insight into my views and experiences with this awesome machine.
Edit: Ran 3DMark06:
3dMark06: 2052
SM2.0: 728
HDR/SM3.0: 794
CPU: 1483
Just to compare that to two other systems that I've run 3dMark06 on:
P4 550 (3.4GHz), 2GB DDR2, Nvidia 6800GTO:
3dMark06: 2109
SM2.0: 854
HDR/SM3.0: 784
CPU: 1016
Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8GHz), XPress 200 Graphics, 1GB DDR400
3dMark06: 162
SM2.0: 74
HDR/SM3.0: N/A
CPU: 702
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz), PNY Nvidia 7600GT, 1GB DDR400
3dMark06: 3166
SM2.0: 1293
HDR/SM3.0: 1168
CPU: 1515
I'll add some pictures later and once I get FEAR installed (along with a mouse), I'll let you all know how things are.
Edit (7-6-06):
I know it's been a while, but I now have pictures and updates on how FEAR played. First off, FEAR played nicely on the Automatic Settings that it sets for the computer at a resolution of 1024x768 (I played with the black bars on the sides). Also, the computer has been problem free since I got it. I also installed WMP11 Beta which has worked flawlessly with the hotkeys on the left side and has been problem free (it has a nice interface too).
Pictures:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
The specs:
Core Duo T2400 (1.86GHz)
14" WXGA Display (Glossy)
DVD+-RW Drive
MR X1600
Intel A/B/G Wireless + Bluetooth
100GB Fujitsu 5400RPM, 8MB Cache Hdd
1024MB of DDR2 - 2x512MB
Windows XP Pro
The outside:
The case is just stunningly beautiful. The brushed metal finish on the top and the whole laptop in general just seems very unique compared to the stuff that one usually sees being carried about.
The Keyboard:
Takes time moving from a standard PC keyboard to a notebook, but the Fn key on the bottom left is kind of annoying. I wished they put the Ctrl key on the bottom left (so it would be like Ctrl-Fn-Windows... instead of Fn-Ctrl-Windows), otherwise no complaints. The keyboard has no give to it and it types quite nicely, plus it is pretty quiet. The side hotkey buttons are also really nice. There is a (what looks to be) power settings, bluetooth, i don't know yet, wireless on/off, and touchpad on/off on the right side. The left side has the media control buttons.
The Screen:
Personally, I feel the 1280x768 is perfect for this size screen (I'm used to using 1280x1024 on 17" LCDs) and if the res. was any higher, I would probably feel that the stuff is a little too small. No Dead Pixels 🙂 and the colors are very vibrant. Glossy coating too, for those that like that. No reflection back from the screen when using it, but if the computer is off, you can see yourself. Also, no light leakage.
Software:
A lot of software preinstalled. I used StartUp to disable most of the stuff that I didn't want (Google: Startup, first or second entry). I could get the Windows Wireless controller to connect to my Wifi, so I just used the Intel one, which works without a hitch. The antivirus is preinstalled, Norton IS 2005, which I promptly uninstalled so I could just use ZoneAlarm and AntiVir. Bluetooth also has a lot of processes that can run if you don't disable the bluetooth manager (which I did). Right now, I have 35 processes running with Firefox, antivirus, firewall, intel proset....
Fan:
Fan is extremely quiet, I barely noticed when it turned off just now. The one downside- when it is plugged in and the GPU is set to full speed, the air blowing out is kind of warm, uncomfortably so. I wouldn't use a mouse right next to the vent if you get this notebook, but I doubt you'd want to have the mouse that close anyway.
Hard Drive:
Came partitioned as 2 50GB FAT32 partitions. Asus was kind enough to include a batch file on the desktop to convert them both to NTFS.
Battery:
After typing this for the past 15-20 minutes, the battery icon in the taskbar says that there is 3:03 remaining (87%). I do have the graphics card clocked back with the ATI CCC to be battery saving along with Windows controlling the stepping of the Core Duo. Also, the brightness is only about 4 clicks above the lowest, which is certainly bright enough in my dark kitchen.
That's about all I have to say right now. When I get my files onto this machine, I'll run 3dMark06 and give a little more insight into my views and experiences with this awesome machine.
Edit: Ran 3DMark06:
3dMark06: 2052
SM2.0: 728
HDR/SM3.0: 794
CPU: 1483
Just to compare that to two other systems that I've run 3dMark06 on:
P4 550 (3.4GHz), 2GB DDR2, Nvidia 6800GTO:
3dMark06: 2109
SM2.0: 854
HDR/SM3.0: 784
CPU: 1016
Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8GHz), XPress 200 Graphics, 1GB DDR400
3dMark06: 162
SM2.0: 74
HDR/SM3.0: N/A
CPU: 702
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz), PNY Nvidia 7600GT, 1GB DDR400
3dMark06: 3166
SM2.0: 1293
HDR/SM3.0: 1168
CPU: 1515
I'll add some pictures later and once I get FEAR installed (along with a mouse), I'll let you all know how things are.
Edit (7-6-06):
I know it's been a while, but I now have pictures and updates on how FEAR played. First off, FEAR played nicely on the Automatic Settings that it sets for the computer at a resolution of 1024x768 (I played with the black bars on the sides). Also, the computer has been problem free since I got it. I also installed WMP11 Beta which has worked flawlessly with the hotkeys on the left side and has been problem free (it has a nice interface too).
Pictures:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
