C90S Review

Indeed this is a great forum with great people.

 

Well, I'm still pretty confident about the C90S. I would definitely go with the IFL90 if it wasn't for the simple fact that you can upgrade the card in this laptop you guys are discussing. That brings some sunlight onto a seemingly dismal area. lol

 

Why dismal? The C90 is easily a few hundred cheaper then the IFL90.

 

A few hundred less when the C90S was built to be this powerful machine, and the IFL90 costs less than the C90S is a big deal to me, I think.

 

how does the ifl90 cost less than the c90??

 

Okay, it may not be exactly cheaper, more the same price, but it does provide a nice boost in battery life, as well as do a better job at cooling according to reviewers. At least it doesn't come with the headache that some of you C90S owners are experiencing. I'm just saying that for me, it's a better deal atm since I am a college student, but I'm still awaiting more reviews to make my decision.

EDIT: I did a side-by-side comparative, and the difference was only $30 from the C90S to the IFL90, and for me, that's very minimal. I'd be willing to take a processor that extends the life of the laptop itself as well as a larger battery over something that might overheat and give up much earlier if it means giving up the possibility that you can't upgrade the GPU itself (isn't confirmed yet on the IFL90, however). That means with the IFL90, I can actually put it on my lap if I don't have any desk space, while with the C90S, I'm lucky if I can put it on the desk without risking leaving a burn mark, it sounds like. I still have another 4 weeks to decide.

 

but your not mentioning the fact that the ifl90 in terms of comparison, no where near the cpu power of the c90, which is why alot of people are getting it (including myself )

 

Um, I did bring that up?

lol

I completely understand that the processor is faster, but owning something that has a small battery life when you're in college? This is speaking from personal opinion rather than general consensus here, but it can be a toss-up. It's a hard decision, because it's between the IFL90 and C90S, but also between a C90S and a desktop PC.

 

I'm headed off to college this fall and I got a C90...honestly on my other notebook that has really good battery, I usually rarely charge it cause i'm lazy and i'm always running on 15% anyways.

Here's how I see it though....I never game in public places/out and about where I might not have an outlet. When not gaming, the C90 gets 2 hours. So the question is, in what situation will I want over 2 hours of battery life where I won't have an outlet? I honestly can't think of any.

as for heat, when im gaming it will be on top of a notebook cooler (10 bucks) and on a desk so it doesn't matter. when im just browsing, it won't be hot.

conclusion: more power, cheaper>a once a year situation where i would like longer battery life.

but like you said, its all about personal opinion.

 

well i aways take my laptop to college classes but im getting a 2nd battery for the c90, to make up for it. though ofcourse it would be ncier if i didnt have to do that

 

I don't know what everyone is talking about, the bottom of the C90 is very cool, just keep the HDD area (bottom left) shifted away and try not to block the vent in the back. It isn't terribly acrobatic, I am doing it right now.

 

yeah it doenst get any hotter than every other laptop. do be careful of the vent in the back bottom of the latptop though...

 

dang this thing gets HOTTTT!! lol i love itt

 

I didn't hear 2 hours for battery life. I heard a little over 1, and that's less than a lecture. lol

Just speaking matter-of-factly, of course. I know for classes I might need the hour, but what if I'm on a trip? That's the difference here.

 

car/plane charger???

 

For the sake of arguing, You can easily plug your notebook into the car auxiliary plug directly if you get a car charger cable, or get a $20 house adapter. And if your on the bus or some other mode o' transportation, either buy a solar charger (j/k) or read a book!

 

If long battery life was a concern the c90 should have never entered your thought process.

everybody knew from the start that the battery life is not that great.

Its not so much because the hardware is exceptionally power hungry its mostly due to being stuck with a very small 6 cell battery.

Somebody got an hour the other day in normal mode idle in windows. So you have to figure power save mode should get you about 20-30min more.

This is a gaming notebook, and a possible DTR. Definitly not your take to class for notes kind of notebook. Id much prefer something smaller for that anyways.

 

Like the Libretto!

 

like the 12" dell but the asus EEE or what ever its called might fit the bill really well too for like 250$, you can get yourself a gaming notebook, then get the EEE for your in class stuff.

Problem with the really small ones tho like that is it would be hard to type :/

 

It is. You can fit two libretto keys in one normal key. My notes were coming oiut likwe thjis...

 

Oh, it's most certainly still in my thought process. It's really a consideration of desktop power or mobility factor. I'm just making a friendly debate here that can benefit both sides. To explain why to choose this over, say, the IFL90, because there are obvious trade-offs. It's perhaps one of the bigger duals on notebooks on this site atm, in my opinion. That's all.

 

I think the IFL90s competitor is the G1S actually.

The C90S is in a totally different league.

Im curious tho how people are saying the IFL90 is close to the cost of the c90... I can configure a top end c90 for 1500$ while at the 1500$ mark the IfL90 configs are rather low end...

You can do a low end c90 config for like 1300$ or less if you get used parts.

Mine was like just over 1500$

But I have a E6700 2.66ghz cpu
250gb hdd
and 3gb of ram....

+

all the extras.

Im not exactly sure on the IFL90's options/features but surly it doesnt have even close to what the c90s has.

svideo, hdmi 1.3, really good web cam, a good video card, a really nice screen, bah you know the stats they are listed everywhere. The c90 is fully loaded with just about everything to put it short while the IFL90 cuts a few corners to save money.

So if your paying nearly the same for them, your not getting the same still so its not an equal comparison.

Just like on the G1s vs IFL90 thread. People were saying the IFL90 wins due to being cheaper, but nobody really understood that was at a low end configured state, if you went and configured the IfL90 to match the G1S with the same parts they were the same price. Then you were left with equal computers in hardware but missing the extras like the free mouse/bag and the hdmi ect.

 

Also you don't get to experience the ACE door or the Turbo Engine!

 

Where did you buy it from?

 

If you are quoting Vicous he got it barebones and the parts he got them from newegg and installed them himself.

 

ok i have a question:

whenever i run anything - with cpuz in the background it only shows (in game mode)

1757mhz rather than 2930mhz - at a 6X mutiplier rather than 10x

the only time i have gotten it to change to 2930 and 10x mutiplier is when windows runs the vista assessment. why doesn't it always show at 2.93ghz? its plugged in, in game mode (e6700): in normal mode it shows: 1600mhz.

in both superpi and wprime - cpuz is only showing the reduced speeds, and not full 2.93ghz or 2.66ghz

 

speed step, the computer is smart enough to lower the cpu multi when you dont need the full power of the cpu, this saves battery power and heat.

run something like wprime or superpi and watch the cpu magiclly jump to full speed.

 

well those werent jumping when i did it - but i just realzed it as u typed it

changed it to high performance when plugged in

 

I turned speedstep off and CPU-Z still says I am running at 1.7 GHz

 

Yes, Alex I was playing around with the cpu page of the bios the other night and I forgot the combination to get it to run at 2.66 constant...just disable/enable some stuff and youll figure it out.

 

I think it was disable the top 2 options and vanderpool tech...not sure

 

it has more than one thing that controls it.. you probably havent totally disabled it.

still soon as you put the cpu under load it goes up to full speed so its not a big deal.

 

From wiki:

I dunno if that would effect the clock speed...

 

where can u buy accessories for the C90S??

 

Accessories...as in what? Bags and things? If that is what you mean I recommend Targus (but the higher end stuff) and MobileEdge, both make very good 15.4" cases and bags.

 

I was planning on getting a C90S, in fact, I had it configured and everything (it came out to about $2000). I changed my mind though and got a Compaq C571NR from Best Buy for $450, and built a desktop with the same processor, an 8800GTS, 500 Gig hard drive, and a 20 inch LCD for $1500. This is ideal for me because I have all the gaming performance I will ever need, plus mobility, albeit not in the same package, but that doesn't matter to me.

The reason I am posting this is because I relied heavily on this forum when I was searching for a laptop and I am trying to help anyone who is doing the same thing and might have the same application as me. Hope it wasn't inappropriate to post this in this thread.

 

well, like it has been said to death each user will have different needs and so everyone will pick a different laptop.

$2000 seems stiff I ordered mine fully built for $1500 the only difference is that I can take my gaming with me when I travel (work related).

but those are my needs everybody else will have a different reason for buying this or any other laptop.

 

hahahah, Excellent irony there.

 

All this talk about the "Turbo Engine" has got me all hot and bothered.

Really considering this computer against the G1s since battery life is not important to me.

 

Is the C90 still built with Asus' standard Ricoh firewire controller chipset? I'm hoping that because of the desktoppy nature of the thing, Asus may have sprung for a more reliable chipset, or at least a means of upgrading to something else.

 

I thought about getting a seperate laptop and desktop but then I didn't because I didn't want to. Thanks for the post.

Mike

 

I’ve been reading several forums, and I can't find the answers to the questions that will decide if I buy this amazing laptop or not. Can you guys help me.

1) If you’re in class at college and using MS Word (or some other program non-game related), will the fans on the back eventually go off interrupting class. Basically what really triggers the fans to go into jet mode? (This scenario is with the laptop plugged in)

2) Will a Western Digital Scorpio hard drive work in this laptop? (I think it will)

3) And lastly what is the recommended OS to use, lots of people say Win Vista is horrible and to stick to Win XP, but I feel that I should use Vista because that will eventually be the new standard. What do others think? If Vista which version?

Thanks guys, this will really help me.

 

1.) No only forcing the computer into game mode or doing a really massive cpu/gpu intensive task will kick the fans onto an audible level.

Im on the net, downloading some stuff on azurious, and its totally silent.

2.) Yes I have a 250gb WD in mine.

3.) Id go with vista if I had to choose only one, however i recomend dual boot with both.

 

I have found that Vista Business is a good compromise between the feature set of Ultimate with the price of Home Premium

 

wow, thanks. This really helps me. My biggest fear was going into class
and then having a jet go off, lol. Thanks

 

Possibly a First year? or an upperclassman?
Only time the noise at its loudest is a problem would be if you are in a class of less than 40, which almost all of your classes will be for the first year and a half or so. Even if it were loud, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, usually the AC on the buildings is loud, and the monster projectors (depending on your college) aren't quiet either.

 

On power saving mode you don't here a peep. On standard you don't hear anything until you do something that puts alot of load on the computer such as a game or multiple programs running and even then it doesn't get that loud. After a few secs to a min or two in standard mode it goes back to being quiet usually loading causes the computer to spring up. Only on gaming/overclock mode in gaming is the only time the comp is decently loud and it stays loud. So on standard and power saving your fine.

 

yea, basically the C90 lets itself heat up about 5-10 degrees above average, then the fans kick in and knock it down to below average, then it rises. Basically 1 or 2 minutes on the fan as opposed to about 5-10 off of it, on standard mode. While gaming they stay about mid level throughout, unless something really intense starts happening then it will kick it up.

 

humm... my fans seem to go constantly on standard mode, but turn off on silent. Maybe because I don't have any arctic sliver?

 

Depends on what exactly you are doing, if you are multi-tasking (multiple tabs in firefox, refreshing, word processing, photo editing), then they will go, but if they are still running fast on idle, then you may have a driver problem or a RAM problem. Either that or your definition of quiet is pretty strict.