S96J Owners Lounge!!!

i ordered and got mine from gentech in one week one day.

 

good way to test out the quality of the notebook is to throw it in the ocean and see how it games FYI


note:
(Please don't do this, you will be very mad at me)

 

hm... i still struggling between the WSXGA+ and WXGA+..... ugh....

 

as i am...

 

so...has anyone had some success overclocking the X1600 yet?

 

I ordered mine last saturday from gentech, and because of the long weekend it's shipping today, so hopefully I'll have it by monday or tuesday. And I would never, ever take a laptop to the beach. That's just asking to kill your computer.

Edit : So apparently it won't be there by monday, because I ordered ground shipping. I know this because Ken for gentechpc saw this post, and called me to let me know it wouldn't be there by Monday, and asked me if I wanted to upgrade the shipping. I said no, but thats the kind of service you get from Gentech. The guy called me because of a post I made on a forum that wasn't his own. What amazing customer service. Definintly getting a 10 on resellerratings from me.

 

Mmm, just emailed Powernotebooks and I should be getting mine next Tuesday, yay. I can't wait. Want me precious S96J gah. XD

Mmm, was going to go order me a bag for it, but I got my hands on some uber pretty fabric today so I think I shall be making a sleeve for it myself possibly and then I can take my sweet time deciding on a bag.

 

I ordered a S96J from gentech tuesday night with this configuration

CPU: Intel® Yonah Core-Duo T2500 2.00GHz 2M 667 FSB
RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR-2 667 SODIMM (2X1024)
HD: Seagate Momentus 100GB 7200rpm S-ATA
Internal Wireless Card: Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 Tri-mode 802.11a/b/g
Display: 15.4" WXGA 1280 x 800 Color Shine (Glare)
VGA: ATI Mobility X1600 256MB PCI Express
Optical Drive: 8 x DVDRW Dual Layer Slot-Load
Camera: Built-in Camera

I cant wait to get it! This setup is gonna be sweet! I hope it ships soon

 

The exact configuration I am hoping for. Dang I just need to stop reading around here... I'm getting depressed.

 

I recieved my s96j from gentech about 2 weeks ago and couldnt be happier except for a few hicups with my order.

i had a question i had to reinstall my OS and after doing so i downloaded the drivers for the webcam but the camera still doesnt work it shows grey. it worked when i first got it. if anyone has a link to a current driver or any suggestions i would appreciate it.

oh yah other than that i can say this laptop rocks and if you have any questions about it i will try my best to awnser them for you.

 

rickyskater,
so now that you've had some time to try out ur new s96j, how do u like it? up to ur expectations and everything? i really can't wait to order one but my parents want me to look at some others firsthand before i purchase, so...like many others, just waiting...

 

dude twisted, its awesome, today i took in on a road trip for two hours. I was watching jurasic park, but then my power inverter burnt out. sucked but i was careless, the laptops takes up 90w of juice while the inverter was reated at 75w. the screen is incredibly bright. I was picking up networks along the highway but couldnt connect fast enough cause we were going like70 mph. its gets warm but that doesnt bother me. Im playing bf2 at native res on high settings. no flex, i have one dead pixel on the lower left corner. but i cant see it anymore, the only time i saw it was when i was installing the OS. Thats it i havnt seen it since. Shoot with any questions.

 

have you run it on just the battery yet? jw if you're getting decent life out of it and if it performs any faster/slower than you expected and such... also, which screen option did you end up getting? can't think of much else at the moment, but thanks for keeping me up to date...hoping i can convince my parents to order one after i get back from Cancun next week...thanks again and enjoy urs...

 

I have run it on battery alone, as as soon as i disconnect from the power it tells me i have like 2.13 hours. it performs alot better then expected. I can achieve higher settings in bf2 than i can with my pc with an x800 pro with sata harddrives. I got the default wxga cause itll be better for gaming because you can achieve higher settings at a lower resolution. and the wxga is good on my eyes at least. i dont want to sacrifice things just to squint. I just need help getting the webcam to work.

 

well i just ordered a s96j from powernotebooks the other day, i called to ask them a few questions as far as merom voiding the waranty and what hardrives they use, and after my conversation with donald, there was really no way i couldnt order from them, he was incredibly knowledgeable and nice
anyhow specs are t2500, 80gig 7200rpm hitachi, 2 gigs mystery ram(with the ratings they have, i trust its good stuff), intel wireless, AS5, and the dvd drive. i looked around and found that i could maybe get it for pennies less other places by building half there and dropping in new egg parts for the rest of it, but of course that doesnt come with an amazing 3 year warranty. plus for u people hoping to upgrade to merom, turns out it wont void teh powernotebooks warranty. now theres just the problem that by the time my funds came through(aka selling stuff) they ran out of their first shipment, so im waiting for the backorder with many others

 

I had the same problem. Put the driver cd in and go to my computer- right click on the cd drive- explore the cd. You'll see the installation file/drivers for the webcam.

 

Just ordered an S96J wednesday night (31st May) from GentechPC ...and these guys ROCK!!!!
Here r the specs i got:

Windows XP Professional CD
CPU: Intel® Yonah Core-Duo T2400 1.83GHz 2M 667 FSB
RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR-2 667 SODIMM (2X1024)
HD: Seagate Momentus 100GB 7200rpm S-ATA
Internal Wireless Card: Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 Tri-mode 802.11a/b/g
Optical Drive: 8 x DVD-RW Dual Layer Super Multi
Warranty: 3rd Year GenTech Limited Warranty

Had a 3 hour email coversation with Ken (ALOT of questions) and everytime i got a fast informative reply, he was real helpful & friendly AND i got a GR8 deal!!!
Ken & GentechPC really live up to their reputation.... no second thoughts about doing buisness with them again!!!
A little note.....thnx to EVERYONE on this forum for all the info and help.....u guys r the best!!! and to think i was gonna get a dell!!! thnx again everyone!!
(ill update once the lappy is received...this one is for my sis but mine is coming soon!! can't wait!!!!!)

update: I had to cancel the order for personal reasons (cancellation went very smooth & as usual Ken was very proffesional)...still a great company, and one of the highly recommended ones.

 

Pretty much ordering the same thing in a week except aiming for a T2500. I got a question: is Seagate or Hitachi better for a 7200 rpm 100gb hard drive upgrade?

Seagate is a tiny bit more expensive, but I thought I saw a review that had Hitachi at top spot for mobile hard drives. Also, does anyone have any benchmarks on the cpus (T2400, T2500 etc)?

Thanks. Enjoy your Asus

 

i'm also going for similiar config except probably I'll go for the 1.6ghz proc because I will want to upgrade to merom in the near future.

 

Seagate vs Hitachi in 7200rpm, if my memory serves me right, hitatchi performs better, makes more noise, runs a lil hotter, cost less.

Seagate, performs a bit lower, usualy quiet, less heat, cost more.

I'm not sure which one has more or less warranty.

Honestly, people are happy with both, so go with either one.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Hitachi = 3 year warranty

Seagate = 5 year warranty

 

I'd go with seagate due to their unbeatable reputation along desktop drives, just like ASUS with motherboards. They are known for their quality and have probabily the least ammount of RMA's, hence they are able to offer 5yrs warranty, during all other hard drive companies (fujitsu, hitachi, samsung, toshiba) offer only 3.

 

+1 to the S96J owners list. I have just made the purchase from powernotebooks. Ron was very helpful.

My config as follows:

AS5
T2400
2GB 6700 Ram
100GB 7200 rpm
X1600 256mb dedicated
Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDR
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g

Thanks to everyone in this forum for all the help and looking forward to being a fellow Asuser

 

did you guys choose the WXGA or WSXGA+ screen? And why?

 

I was deciding between both screens (so basically deciding between S96J and Z96J). I went with the WXGA because:

1. for gaming, smaller native resoluation is the best thing
2. I already have a 20 inch widescreen dell LCD that has native res of 1680x1050
3. gaming at 1680x1050 even at current video cards is pretty bad with the newest games
4. I really only use the full native res when doing work and surfing

So my logic was: get the WXGA, hook up to Dell LCD whenever I want the extra screen, unhook or do in window when I want to game.

Currently I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop for 3 years now. It was probably one of the best laptops in 2003 (P4 2.6ghz, 512 mb ram, GF4 64 mb, 40 gig hd). I use it with my Dell LCD and this thing chugs whenever I do anything more than surfing.

I hope getting the new S96J will rock with this LCD due to dual core, bigger faster ram, better hard drive, and much better video card.

 

WSXGA+ is too much for me, words become too small and i have bad eyesight as it is. My current laptop is using 1400x1050 and this is about the max i will go.

 

I just played Half-Life 2 Episode One on my S96j at native res, all high settings, and HDR (full) and it runs very good. I love this notebook

 

I'm about to order one of these. WSXGA+ or WXGA is not even a question in my mind. I've been wringing my hands trying to find a notebook with that resolution and an X1600- the only option I knew of until tonight was HP's NC8430, which ends up costing over $2000.

I had a Dell E1505 with the 1680x1050 screen and it was incredible. I returned it because it of some inexplicable locking and bluescreening.. unacceptable for a brand new system.
Good thing because now I can order a Z96J from Powernotebooks. The text size isn't a problem because you sit closer to a laptop than you do a desktop! Even on the Dell's X1400, Counterstrike Source ran great at that resolution. If worse comes to worse, you can always run at a lower res and let it scale. Sure it won't look as good as if it were at native 1280x800, but for me that's worth having the sharp sharp sharp text and images. I think most well coded games will run well at 1680x1050 with some settings turned down anyway. Who needs HDR and all that crap?

And that text is not necessarily small, because you can change text sizes fairly well with WinXP, and font scaling will apparently be much smoother in Vista because it will use vector based fonts.

By the way, if I had known about Powernotebooks I would have ordered two weeks ago.

 

Eh, I like the WXGA. Up until a few days ago I'd still been playing Sims 2 in 800x600 because I didnt realize I could change it and it'd look nicer (I'm very slow. Yes) and it was fine, and I cant see myself playing in larger then this anyway. And yeah.

Then again with the exception of you Z people this thread is a like a nest of people who don't mind smaller resolutions.

 

Okay, I was about to order the s96j when:

I herad that Asus had bad tech support if you had a big problem. So my question is if anyone has had a big problem with their Asus (Preferably one from powernotebooks.com), and the service they got. The person who told me this said that they would probably direct me to Asus with a big problem, and that Asus' service is bad. However, he is the owner of a local notebook maker, and wants me to buy his built-on Acer notebook. To his credit, he has been in the buisness 26 years, and knows what he is talking about. I just want to check. Thanks guys!

 

The S96J is intel VBI. Your warranty is 2years, and it comes straight from Intel, not Asus.

And by the way, the guy telling you to buy an Acer, well he's rippping you off trying to make a profit. I've heard countless horror stories including this one which i still remmember:
-- Someone that posted here a few weeks ago bought an Acer for which he paid 2500$ ( i think 8204 or something).. When he tried to take off the protective layer from the screen, they apparently used glue that was too strong and it actually ripped out a part of the LCD screen. He called Acer support telling them their screen broke and it's their fault. Their response: "we don't cover aesthetic damages, parts only"

There's thousands of horror stories such as that one. Just look on the Acer forum. Whatever you do, don't buy the Acer.

 

Okay, that still dose not answer my question, but thank you. Would the fact that it is a built on one, like the asus, change anything?

 

Built-on Asus models you don't have a warranty from Asus, you have a warranty from whoever you bought the laptop from. So even if what you heard about Asus support was true (which I haven't ever heard before) your warranty wouldn't be from Asus -- it would be from whatever reseller you got it from. Some resellers could indeed be horrible, but there are good ones too, definitly.

 

I've had a couple friends with Acer laptops, and both have died on them much sooner than one would expect. Needless to say, they have switched to different brands but the bottom line is i would not buy an Acer.

I trust powernotebooks because of the way they present themselves, the feedback i have gotten so far, and their ratings with resellers.com and their history with the BBB. I still payed using my credit card as an extra precaution but i don't think there is any reason to doubt them. A 2 year Intel warranty is very good, their 3 year warranty and lifetime phone support is a welcome bonus.

 

If you buy a PowerPro A 2:24 (Built on the ASUS 96J series) you would only look to us for your 3 year warranty.

Every brand out there has some horror stories. Whoever represents that ASUS service is really bad has an axe to grind, whether it is one of those people with the few and far betwen horror stories, or it is a merchant with something else to sell.

Most people that know this business would agree that you could not properly compare an entry level (polite talk for "low end") laptop like Acer with the top of the line quality of an ASUS...

 

O.k., then I will order it. Again, thanks for all of your help, I want to make the best investment possible.

 

Agreed on the can not properly compare.

 

Question to those who already have thiers: what drivers should I/do I need to install?

 

So you have it... I want a review from your opinion once you have time to give it a few test runs.

 

i don't have an s96j yet but all my research pretty much leads me back to this one. It seems like on the "which laptop should i buy" forum people are always suggesting the s96j, how come it's not on the top 10 most popular notebooks!

 

most laptops are bought in retail stores and at dell.

 

i guess that explains it....

Has anyone gotten more than 3 hours on the battery life of the s96? What's the most and what settings did u do? im on my bros gateway and any brightness under 80% and it hurts my eyes/cant see a thing.

 

^ Are you talking about the 9-cell? Could you take some pics of what it looks like with it.

 

Yes the 9 cell. It sticks out only 3/4" Here are some pictures:

 

Thanks. It doesn't look all that bad, and depending on your final results it might be worth buying.

 

Looking to buy a Z96j. Anyone have experience buying shells and components and building it yourself? What about barebones? Easy to add components and upgrade parts? Someone in this thread mentioned upgrading the proc to Merom. I guess the motherboard supports it? Is it fairly straightforward to swap them out? What's the experience with the Artic Silver and single fan for cpu/gpu? Anyone notice overheating? How much memory can the z96 support? the 2GB that resellers offer or more?

Thanks,
gilmar

 

The S96J i've read is very good with heat. It has a very good cooling system and doesn't run all that hot, especially when the fan is running. I've been assured that Merom transition is fairly straightforward.

 

Hey! I was just looking at powernotebooks.com and i saw the hel80 up on their site, and so i thought lets look at interchangeable parts and i saw that the batteries and power packs on both the hel80 and 96j are the same ( http://www.intel.com/reseller/mobile/vbi/matrix.htm ) does that mean we will be able to purchase the hel80's 9cell battery for the 96j
Thanks

 

No. The Crown P 15:2 is not the VBI version of the Compal EL80, so the batteries are not interchangeable.

The VBI version is not scheduled to start shipping until mid to late July.

We will also be introducing the Compal EL80 in our PowerPro line later tonight with the standard 3 Year Warranty with Next Day Air paid both ways.