S96J Owners Lounge!!!

Usapatriot,

was the price you got for the S96j before tax or after tax?

I say this because when purchasing the S96j (just now!) my sales tax was 100.00! **** CA tax

 

What are the defualt clocks on the x1600 in the S96J?

 

Bhatman, I'm sure his price was without tax because that's the cheapest i've seen it at.

Aweiss, the defaults are 450/400.

 

Did you buy from a California dealer?

If you purchase from an out of state Internet dealer they do not have to collect sales tax.

 

Same as our price (before our call in Special Promotions)...but I guess when you don't have any price really doesn't matter does it?

 

not sure if this has been asked but can you get an internal bluetooth option on the S96j?

 

Paladin i see you have a z96j on your configuration screen, are these in stock? basically this is what i think people are waiting for.... sorry if im being stupid its 1 AM

https://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/a2-24.php

 

The Z96J hasn't been released yet, but we are selling the Compal HEL80 (Our PowerPro L 8:15 and Crown P 15:2). Check the specs and you will see that they are actually more feature rich (Biometric fingerprint scanner, Instant On Media Player standard, and TV Tuner option to mention a few).

The PowerPro L 8:15 is currently sold out for another week or two, but we do have stock of the Crown P 15:2 (for now anyway). Same computer but with different warranties available.

To see some discussion from people that already have them, check out the Compal Manufacturer section in this forum.

 

Oops...double post

 

God, the resolution on a z96j would kill my eyes. I don't think my brain could take it.

 

I purchased the laptop from Gentech PC( CA based so 8.75 sales tax arrgh...)
Me and my dad werent pissed, since we agreed to buy and many people had refered GenTech as a good retailer. Now im in the boat with all the other upcoming S96j's and waiting.

answering Pntball's question, no, the S96j does not have bluetooth. Only the Z96 version does.

 

I can only imagine how buggy that Instant On Media Player must be. LOL. Dell's been doing it for years and even there's isn't right yet. Ditto the fingerprint scanner....let's see how well that thing works with some biscotti in there and it's one more annoying thing running in the background and taking ownership of files and folders...blech. I'm curious, though, if the optional built-in tv tuner performs hardware encoding. If not, then it's really of marginal value compared to other options.

Aside from that, the intake vent is further back and not placed on the inclined portion like the S96J, the 7600 is underclocked thereby automatically requiring every owner to OC it to even get close to the X1600 at stock with Omegas, the heatsink doesn't look as substantial as the S96J. By all appearances you're trading refinement of design for some questionable bonus features.

What that Compal does have is a PCMCIA slot which is nice. But, again, even Dell only offers Expresscard now so adoption should be speedy from this point out. Unless you have an immediate need for a PCMCIA card.

 

Woops, heh, kinda late, I think you said you placed your order over at NBF.

Well I didnt have any tax applied since im in Florida.

 

hi guys

Just to report my fidings:

Previously I said that my fans do not come on for a while. Well today they did, but after CPU hit 75% (i was playing WOW) BTW this game looks AMAZING on this laptop. No lags whatsoever on the highest setting with AL on max. I have 2GB though. Anyway, back to laptop

I was not sure if that was normal - however, my fans do not come on during boot-up as they should (I was told)

Also Hyperluminous:

please check your temps during playing games - any games and report what you are seeing there. Minimize teh game and check while playing.

Somebody asked about settings on NHC - well, keep the ones that you got as default, however, under CPU speed tab change for AC intake as DYNAMIC SWITCHING and for battery (MAX BATTERY) under CPU voltage, make sure that you current voltage is at 6X 0.95000 (check on the buttom of this tab). If it not - check the appropriate box nest to 6X and run a stability check, but it must work, because it does for me. Yoiu want to make sure to undervolt it as much as you can (which is, unfortunately, limited to 0.95000)

You can also play around with other setting. I suggest you go to their website and check out their guide. Author describes each setting and gives his suggestion as to which to choose.

Also - did any of you guys installed Omega drivers on this laptop. If so, how is it. Do you get substantial performance increase?

If the increase is only marginal, I do not want to deal with heat after installing drivers. Maybe there will be no heat increase. please comment on that too

Anyway - I am really happy with my lappy everyday. And also.....

Somebody asked about looks of this laptop. this laptops looks really amazing. Pictures on the web do not do it justice. when you get it you will see

Owners of S96J - Please post your issues/comments so far and do not forget to report your teps so we all know we are at the same range

vasylko

 

My temps are in the low 60's while gaming and 50° while idle.

 

Hey, I have had my S96J for a couple weeks now, there is an issue I have been unable to resolve. When I plug in my AC Charger into my laptop and click shutdown, the laptop reboots instead of shutting down. If the laptop is off and I plug in the charger, it turns itself on. Has anyone else experienced this issue and does anyone know of a fix?

Thanks

 

Hmmm...

That is interesting - mine gets to 75% when playing games.

Should I worry about that. Maybe I am having some sort of inside issues, because you are already second person (other is cassandra) that reports low temp. My touch pad can get pretty hot (not worm) while I game and fan looks like turns on when I hit 75%. I think fans should turn on much sooner. No?

Not sure what to do at this point? Any suggestions?

 

FlipCody also reports similar temps. I used AS5 and I believe he didn't.

The drivers on the install CD are really old and probably not coded for this GPU as games will crash and 3DMarks are low. Omegas will fix those problems, but I'd rather wait for a new official driver from Intel if I can.

ChimpArmy, I think somebody reported something similar and they were looking at the Wake On Lan feature. I'll look in a bit.

 

I have AS5 installed as well (well, at least I am told so)

Man - I have no idea what to do

My wife keeps comlaining that touch pad gets hot and her hands get sweaty. I tell her that that the beast in this machine (which it is) but now that you guys are reporting different temps and my fans seem to play tricks on me I am not sure

Anyway - when do your fans kick in, at what temps?

vasylko

 

What is the wake on lan feature and is there someway to disable it?

 

My fan kicks on in the mid 50s. I idle around 49C - 53C. Rarely do my fans kick in when I'm browsing, word processing, etc. Recently my CPU temps never go higher than 62C and that is running prime 95 or gaming. I have AC5 installed.

You said 75%, Do you mean 75 degrees C?

 

yes - sorry that is what I meant

Wow - you also have low temps. I think I going to call tech support to see if they can help because what is causing this heat-up i think are fans not kicking in properly on time.

thanks for your reply. Anybody else to report on these temps?

 

Is the 9-cell battery released yet? If so, what is the model number? All the batteries listed on the Intel VBI Matrix were 2200-2440mAh.

 

I've just placed my order for this notebook at NCIX.com. Here are my specs:

Asus S96J with DVD+-RW drive
Seagate Momentus 100GB 7200RPM SATA
Intel Pentium Mobile T2400 Core Duo Processor
Corsair 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-667 RAM
Intel PRO/WIRELESS 3945 MINI-PCI 802.11A/B/G

My order total was $1691 after taxes, shipping and insurance. Because they are assembling it, it may take up to two weeks before I get it. I can't wait!

 

I've been looking at this unit and the MSI MS 1039. I'm actually leaning towards the MS 1039 because I'm much of a AMD freak. Who better to show me the reasons I should be getting the S/Z96J than this group?

So please, throw at me anything you can.

Why should I get a S/Z96J over the MS 1039?

 

Truthfully, all you need to do is look at some Core Duo benchmarks. Not to mention that in a year's time there's a very high likelihood that you can drop a Merom in your notebook.

 

just got my s96j from powernotebooks today!!! it rocks!!! i installed all the drivers and everything and it is super fast. donald was really helpful. stupid ups waited until 4pm to deliver, i was waitin gall day. I've had some weird issues of it going on standby and me not being able to wake it up again so i have to turn it off. I keep thinking it's because i forgot to update a certain driver or something... will look into

And does anyone know if we need all this weird crap that came w/ the drivers? i didn't know so i installed everything and i have like 3 things pop up for wireless and two things for sound and an ati console and my system tray is like packed....

besides that.. i'm quite happy with the laptop. gonna go read up on this stuff and check

 

Well I got all my parts for the S96J last night and put them together successfully... though I had a little scare, since after I put everything together, the machine wouldn't power on. I carefully pulled everything back out, reseated the processor, put the heatsink back on, and pulled out the memory and popped it back on and voila... power!

WinXP install went perfectly. All the drivers installed fine. I'm having an issue with the webcam, but I see someone else has mentioned that and I'm looking up the solution.

I love the S96J so far. My only complaint is the sound. I have it cranked up to max and it's just not loud enough to even listen to a movie. Has anyone had any success in improving the audio? New drivers perhaps?

I installed speedfan and actually saw the system idling at 34C and 33C but I think that was ... wrong, somehow... shortly thereafter it was at like 34C and 53C when I was installing software and playing a DVD. Hopefully it won't get much warmer than that when I play WoW, which I haven't had a chance to install yet (I need to find my install CD).

What are you all using to check the temps on the video card?

I really like the basic appearance of the model. It's nice enough, and light enough, but it doesn't shout POWER HOUSE! So, I'm not nearly as concerned about theft as I would be with some XPS laptop, or some other fancier looking model.

Krista

 

Yeah, I know how a oddity like the initial non-powerup can quickly sap all the excitement out of the experience. I initially got a blue screen on the XP install and suddenly I began doubting myself and my components. Turned out I was using a disk with SP1.

Temps will be in the 30's while it's in standy.....53° is typical of idle and most of us aren't going much past the mid 60's while gaming.

Why does everybody have to play WoW? I think CoH/V is more fun.

 

What's CoH/V?

WoW is addictive. My sister talked me into buying it something last... April or so. I haven't played another game since. Not that I was a big gamer, but still...

Yeah I'd heard about the service pack 2 requirement when I built my PC with a SATA drive last summer so I'd merged the service pack 2 into my XP install CD.

I was really worried about pulling up the heatsink then reattaching it... looks like it didn't mess up the thermal pads though. They were a bit annoying... very soft. I guess from being on the fedex truck, then in the storage room nearly condo assoc. office. Getting the little plastic film off took very careful fingernail manipulation

Krista

 

Check your power scheme and adjust accordingly. You might need to map the buttons as well.

For wlan i did not install Pro wireless console, just the driver. Im letting windows handle the console. I too have 2 for sound and the ATI one. Add 2 from NHC + 1 for Virus Protec. + 1 for firewall and mine is even more packed!. I've gone through startup programs in msconfig to ensure no extraneous programs are being loaded.

Congrats and Good Luck to all the new owners. The 96J is better than what i expected. This notebook isn't the top-of-the-line model but it sure does get the job done!

 

I downloaded 3Dmark05, but it's just the free version... that defaults to a resolution of 1024x768, instead of my native res, and I can't change any other settings...

But, I got 3649. Is that a good score for 3DMark05?

Krista

ASUS S96J
1.83ghz dual core
1 gig (667) memory
100 gig hitachi 5400 rpm HD
X1600 (256) vid.

 

In the S96j review, Fliptwister got 3,921. So if at native res then it would be probably higher.

 

Yeah, maybe he also had 2 gig of RAM and a 7200 rpm HD? I may not have shut down everything that I should've either. Still it's a lot better than the Acer 5762 that I almost got

Krista

 

HD speed won't play any role in your 3DMark score and it's doubtful more than 1GB memory would either.

Which drivers are you using? Omegas should get you right below 4000. The drivers on the CD will get you around 3500.

 

Does this sound like a good deal from GennTech PC:

I'm thinking of cancelling the Dell E1505 I just ordered yesterday and getting this instead. The specs of the Dell are at the following link. What do you guys think? What should I do???????

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=61649

 

what are omegas and NHC?

Thanx

 

http://www.omegadrivers.net

I don't use NHC (I install as little as I need to), but probably stands for Notebook hardware Control.

cktb2793, with the Asus you're getting double the memory and a bleeding edge 7200 rpm drive and a video card that will run circles around the X1400. The E1505 can be a spectacular deal when you can configure them with an X1400 for $850 or so.

 

I would do it, your getting double memory, double as powerful video card, better build quality, more stylish in my opinion.

 

I checked my power schemes and it is set to stand by when i close my lid, but that doesn't explain why it wont' come back alive from it. Sephiroth, i uninstalled the wireless crap and started using windows also now, and i hide most of the stuff on my systray so its not so cluttered.

How do you get the hotkeys to work that are to the left of the power button?

And does anyone elses' wireless light at the front bottom right of the laptop not turn on at all even if your wireless works?

 

I checked my power schemes and it is set to stand by when i close my lid, but that doesn't explain why it wont' come back alive from it. Sephiroth, i uninstalled the wireless crap and started using windows also now, and i hide most of the stuff on my systray so its not so cluttered.

How do you get the hotkeys to work that are to the left of the power button?

And does anyone elses' wireless light at the front bottom right of the laptop not turn on at all even if your wireless works?

 

Are you saying don't cancel the Dell or don't get the ASUS????

The ASUS I configured has double the memory and a better video card (at least I thought it was)than the Dell I currently have ordered. Which one had better build quality and is more stylish?

 

You said you were thinking of cancelling the Dell... He is saying Yes, do it, cancel the Dell and get the ASUS with more memory, better video card, better build quality and more stylish looking.

 

Thanks, yes, that is exactly what I mean.

 

That's what I thought you were saying but you said "don't do it" and that threw me.

Is the price I got for the ASUS I configured a good price?

 

You could drop the price down a couple hundred easy with negligible performance loss.

 

Thanks for all the prompt answers! But are Omega drivers really better? And did anyone try the dual core hotfix at: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416
?

 

Yes, usually. It will depend somewhat on what applications you are using

Yes. See the post at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1450138&postcount=141

 

Yep, saw your reply on notebook forums, and I was using the drivers on the CD. Figured yesterday that that might be it... ATI's driver didn't want to work, I'll get the Omega tonight.

Krista

 

Say, can we start a S96J Tech Support forum? I'm sure I've got a few questions that have been answered in these 400 posts, but it would be nice to have one place to go for tech issues.

New owner of S96J, 2GHz, 2GB Ram, 80GB 7.2

Quick questions:
-NHC? is that a temperature monitor? where found?
-Anyone having issues with DVD playback (audio too low).
-Camera issues (think I got an answer off this forum today - thanks, eddie/G2P).