~F3sv Owner's Lounge~

anyone know how to shut off the thing when you hit touchpad disable or change the volume, it comes up with a little icon in the middle of the screen, kinda rippling water under it, anyone know how to shut that off? its annoying when you are in a game...

 

It is the same issue that afflicts the V1J batteries. A bad ACPI.. No solution so far(which I know of).. MysticGolem should know more, but haven't seen him in the forums for a while.

 

Unintal the "Slpendid" Asus software.

 

hey guys, im on the verge of buying this laptop instead of the G1S because of the major price difference and that the look is more conservative than that of the G1s's gamer's look. The F3 also has a fingerprint scanner too. I've heard though that a 'fake' (maybe a print you left on a cup where you drank from) print can be used to bypass the security system. Another worry is the battery life. The reviewer on NBR said that it only lasted about 1 hour. What is the avg. battery life for you F3sv owners.
In summary:
1. Fingerprint scanner : is it reliable and secure?
2. Battery Life: How long is the avg. battery life. Will it be okay to lug it around campus all day?
3. Should I go for the B1 or the A1? (If I get the A1, I will upgrade to 2 gig ram and 120 gb seagate momentus 7400rpm from gentech)

 

1. i really doubt that a fingerprint reader could scan a fingerprint you have left somewhere... i think thats just someones myth
2. the average is about 2 hours
3. i have the A1 and i like the screen resolution personally, but if you like things smaller with a higher resolution, go for the B1. that is all personal preference.

and, this might seem like a silly question to ask, but i know that overclocking voids a warranty, so i was wondering if underclocking/undervolting does as well? (some companies like to run a tight ship with warranties and try to void yours at any opportunity, so you never know)

 

THE FP scanner is very sensitive (granted I disabled mine, might re-enable it tho), so I doubt it could be carbon copied off of an object and used to penetrate the defenses of your notebook. I like the screen res on the B1 (what I own), but at times the text is a little small--however, in windows vista you can customize the dpi of the text to overcome this problem. As for lugging it around campus, I am a TA at college and I carry mine all over campus. As for battery life, I cannot speak on that as I use my B1 primarily as a portable desktop replacement that stays plugged 99% of the time.

In the end, the choice is yours on which model to get, X1 (Newegg exclusive), A1 or B1. I chose a B1 from Newegg and picked up an extra gb of Corsair for it and I cannot complain about (knock on wood) its performance. If I had it to do all over again, I might chose a B1 from Gentech with the upgrade HD, or a C90s--although they seem a bit buggy. I actually spoke with a few folks on the forum that helped cement my decision: Alexonfrye(sp) and gentechpc that pointed me toward a B1.

For me it is a matter of having a machine that will last me for about 5 years (honestly, no machine can really do that if you are a tech junkie) and that would serve as portable entertainment solution/research solution--the F3SV-B1 is that and more.

The only downside is the 8600m GS is a little underwhelming, but plenty of guys in this thread have OC'D theirs and found that with the proper drivers the 8600m GS performs pretty well. So it has gaming potential, but not gaming dominance for future games.

 

I will echo fropwns. Got mine 3 days ago. B1 screen is awesome! The fonts are really small, but as stated you can enlarge them easily. Gentech put another 1GB of RAM in for me and it runs very well with Vista. Right palm rest does get warm, runs quiet . Very happy with the machine to this point.

I''m using the fingerprint scanner. I doubt an amateur could duplicate your print. You may want to go to the asus website, I remember readng about the method used for scanning and I think it reads a "second level " of print , which I would think could not be matched from a copy.

 

So the only difference between the B1 and A1 is that the B1 has a higher resolution but smaller text and has a 2.2 GHz processor instead of 2.0 Ghz

 

hi guys i have a quick question...if i want to uninstall all bloatware, i assume i have to format the two partitions right? If i format them, i will lose Vista, and since Asus doesnt give a vista cd how do i install vista...or if i want to install xp, what will i have to do (i have an xp cd)?
i have never formatted before myself so i dont really know.
secondly, is there an easier way to uninstall bloatware without formatting everything?

 

If you use the recovery cd included with the computer you can reinstall vista without the bloatware.

 

wow thats amazing...i thought that cd restored it to how it came out of the box, which included bloatware, although I am not sure.

 

Nah, I restored my pc and it took out all that junk.

 

1) The fingerprint scanner - I dont think so. Even if you just keep your finger there, it wont let you in. you need to swipe. difficult with something like a print left on a cup i reckon.
2) Battery life : Avg 2 hours for me on my F3SV - A1.
3) B1 is slightly faster than A1 (which is a good thing) and also has a higher resolution (not necessarily a good thing). So if you are going to use Vista, and will be upgrading to 2GB RAM only on A1, then get that! I am using it for a month will recommend it without thinking twice. very impressed with it

 

yeah, you definatly need the second GB of RAM, vista is noticably slower now that one of mine broke and im down to 1GB

cant you just go to add or remove programs and remove the bloatware you dont want?
after i did a recovery it still has the bloatware, all that wasnt reinstalled was the nero cd suite thingy, everything else was the same, so im not sure what that other guy was thinkin (unless he thought the only bloatware on here was nero)

 

ok thanks. i was just wondering if all of it could be removed by manually uninstalling them/removing them

 

I must say bloatware wise, Asus really doesnt come with anything more than the "Splendid" software which is useful in most cases, and the infamous Norton Anti-virus 30-day trial. Otherwise all the tools that come with it are useful, or necessary.

Guys I am finally getting back to normal with the battery. I hope it stays that way

 

yeah true....hmm but I'm really having an issue with a few things and I am pretty sure it is because of the ram but not 100% sure. First of all
1) Is it typically this slow on vista with 1GB of ram?. It takes a while to turn off and shut down, and a while to load up programs. My Intel Centrino 1.86 Ghz with 1GB ram on XP runs about as fast, or even faster.
2) Why does it take so long to transfer files...We were extracting 3D Mark 2005 from a CD to the desktop, and it was averaging about 4 BYTES a second
3) We recieved 2 BSODs when we put in a San Andreas Game CD and a Ghost Recon CD. I never get these when I put Cds in in my toshiba laptop. I am not sure but i think this is a memory problem.

Is it ABSOLUTELY necessary to get 2GB of ram so it holds up well to the rest of the specs? I ran super pi and got 1M 02 secs, which is fast, so everything else seems fine besides the ram. I am also a bit disappointed with the game cd issues because i really wanted to benchmark the graphics. We really want to find the potential of this laptop (which it seems to have a lot of)

Secondly after painstakingly reading almost all posts, so far are these proper solutions:
a) install absolute newest drivers -> not sure which are best or where to download, got a bit confused by some of the posts
b) disable UAC
c) disable Aero (i dont know if this is with home premium).
d) overclock a bit -> 575/450?
e) check temperature
f) Memtest86
h) 2 GB!
i) Possible format

 

a) the 158 drivers I use and is quite good.
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13378

b) Yes I disabled UAC too

c) Didnt disable AERO.. dont think it affects much

d) I overclock to 650 - 550 while gaming

h) 2 GB YES!!!

 

im using the new driver from the asus website, and when i ran my video stress tests on counterstrike source, it was only like 1fps below the modded drivers, but i noticed that it was alot smoother in the gameplay...

and yeah, 2gb is a must for vista. i had a problem with corrupt ram and i was getting the bsod for gaming and eventually when i was just surfing the net. run memtest86+ and see if that finds your ram to be corrupt or not.

and another question of my own, is there anyway to disable those graphics when turning the volume up and down without uninstalling splendid? i kinda like everything else that program has to offer.

also, can you disable the windows key? i keep hitting it when playing games or maybe change the functionality, switch it with a different button?

 

any of you guys know about the shipping from US reseller to Canada. eg. taxes, customs. If you need mroe details heres my thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143981

 

Why disable Aero?? If that is the case just unstall Vista and slap Xp on the notebook. Aero is what helps make Vista, Vista. 2gb is a must, I might eventually push it up 3gb (that is the real plateau of this chip-set--for now)

 

Are you O'Cing it any? Or staying with the (New Asus) driver's stock settings?

 

thanks guys i am now pretty sure what is wrong...and its probably memory. But I am going to run a memory test on my friends F3 (which is what i was asking about). I was just wondering should i run windows memory diagnostic or MemTest86...is there any real difference between either?

 

memtest86 is more reliable.

 

I will tell you something. Shipping from the US to Canada will end up costing you the same or more as buying from Canada.

Costs:

First they will convert the price of the notebook to the current exchange rate usually minus 2 cents, depending on the borker, ie. 1500 USD /.94 = 1595.74 CAD.

Then they will multiply the enitre price by the the customs. You pay 4% duties, and 6% GST and then whatever the price of PST is in your province.

I live in ontario so this is what it will end up being:

1595.74*1.18= 1882.97

Then add the usually unreasonable shipping charges from the US ranging from 50-100+ USD.

The total will end up being more than buying it in Canada. So unless this notebook is from eBay or it is not available in Canada, or the price difference on the actual product is so much less that it evens out, I say shop in Canada.

 

The thing is though, that if I buy in Gentech I can get a 2GB RAM for only $39 and a 120GB 7200RPM hard drive for $119 and the notebook is $1425. I checked around on the Canada websites and some don't even have options to customize and the deals for the RAM and HDD are pretty good from gentech. Like 39 bucks to change from 1GB to 2GB? If I bought the laptop and did the upgrade here, it would cost like 100 bucks for the RAM. thats my problem right now. Upgrades are expensive in Canada. thats why i'm asking to see if ncix would do a price match on those upgrades. NCIX also said there would be a $50 labour fee. thats a ripoff

 

Actually Ncix is offering another 1Gig stick Corsair DDR2 667 Value Ram for 50. I upgraded my f3sv to 2 Gigs, for 40 accroding to a special at the time. If I were to buy my F3sv from Newegg instead of Ncix I would have probably ended up paying about the same or slightly more and waited longer. Do the math, using the calculations I posted, and the upgrades are not hard to do. Just buy the components, and follow the instructions provided in your panphlet. Upgrading Ram and HD are the easiest things ever. If it comes out cheaper in the US than go for it.

 

well I haven't really taken apard computers before, and I'm just scared that I could screw it up. And upgrading the HDD, I would thne have to use the recovery to install vista again. Am I correct? And this corsair would work on my F3SV right, and waht about a hard drive, anything's good?

 

i dont overclock, so im staying with asus's settings.

and, i would recommend buying in canada, what model of a f3sv are you looking at? talk to NCIX for a pricematch, i found one site in canada that was selling the f3sv-a1 for $1518 CAD and ncix matched that price for me, i cant recall the link though, i think i have posted it in here before so just read over the 28 pages of this owners lounge or search for it, that would be a better idea

 

If you get the seller to write 'GIFT' on the package, you don't have to pay any customs up to a certain amount($2000? maybe there isn't a limit either). You should go check it up yourself just to make sure though.

 

I;m goin for the A1 and considering NCIX, but i want them to install the extra 1GB RAM and a faster HDD, but the labour is 50 bucks so I might just do it myself but it seems to be the best Canadian site. Although I won't know what to do with the HDD that originally came with the laptop.

 

the limit is $60 CAD. I don't think theres a laptop out there that cheap lol

 

Seriously? I got ~$1000 thing customs free before lol. Maybe the gov't recently changed the policy.

 

yeah i just checked it although i could've misssed something

 

has anyone done anything with undervolting? i would like to know how you would do that, and if its worth it (to save battery) or not.

 

When you undervolt, you are essentially reducing performance as well as power output. If you undervolt anything in the laptop under what it has been set too, you will not even be able to run a Microsoft office program.

I know there are programs out there that can undervolt the processor slightly. I am not sure if any programs have been developed to be compatible with Santa Rosa platform components though.

Any way undervolting past 1.38V is ridiculous. But if you want to try it go ahead, I just predict the results will not be to your liking...

If I am wrong please tell us, and see how much battery life you can save.

 

well, i was hopeing someone else had already done it, because i dont have a clue how to undervolt it... but, if it cant run an office program that would be terrible, im sure you could do that at least, depending on how much you undervolted

 

which audio driver are you using?

the V6.0.1.5406 driver improves the sound quality?

 

before I buy the Asus, I just want to know if I should install the extra 1GB RAM (to make it 2GB ) and the 120 7200RPM HDD by myself (have never done this before and am not a computre techie) or if I should let NCIX install it. The only downside is that they will charge a 50$ labour fee. Is it worth it? Or should I do it myself

 

If you're not confident about it, then have the techie do it. Installing the RAM was easy, but I wouldn't know about the HDD. $50 is a small price compared the actual price of the laptop.

 

who are you asking? if that was just asking anyone, i am using 6.0.1.5374, looks like i should upgrade then

 

its a piece of cake, the manual has nice detailed drawings on how to do it (both ram and hd). I wouldnt waste your money on that.

its as simple as unscrewing and inserting it in, then rescrewing. Its like lego with screws

 

what sized screw driver is required to open the screws/compartments? I tried with a regular phillips screw driver and a slightly smaller one even, and it was unsuccessful.

 

With the new hard drive though, I would have to use the recovery CD included with the laptop to reinstall vista right?

 

I just got my F3sv-A1 and I love it....Only thing is I can't stand Vista, and I'm trying to reinstall my goold 'ol win xp. When windows xp setup does its little checkup it keeps telling me that there are no hard drives installed, what can I do to fix that?

 

Hi folks. New to this forum. I was in line for a Sager but they couldn't seem to deliver in the month and a half I gave them before I left the country. I'm looking at this one now. Any recommendations on where to buy? I was looking at the x1 from new egg. I need it here fast.
I don't really think I want the a1 or b1 b/c from what I've heard, running at the native resolution on the x1 should suit me fine but is there anything else I should know before I buy?

 

Man, my fan seems to be making htis annoying buzzing sound now. Even and when I move the laptop it makes an anyoing noise as well. I am definitley going to list all these issues and send it back to Asus pronto!

 

well, you gotta get one that fits the screw tightly...

yes

where are you from? i bought from ncix.com and they got it to me asap. And why dont you want the higher resolutions? id recommend actually phsically seeing them. The A1 has the perfect resolution if you ask me. My friend has the same resolution as the X1 on his laptop and its really big... but i dont know what you will use it for, so its your decision. I just recommend the A1, B1 might be too much

 

ok I see. But it looks to me like the resolution is the same as the B? Sure it would be nice to have more, but I'm trying to squeeze every frame out. I doubt I'll really be able to play games at the 1440 res with this card right?

BUT if the screen handles non-native resolutions well, I'd consider it. Anyone know? If I get the A, will it be able to run games at lower res without looking weird or losing frames?

 

Mathishard

I have the A1 and it plays F.E.A.R at 1024x768 perfectly!!

I tried oblivion at the same resoultion!! no problems.