A8JP (4S015P) Euro - advices please !

Greetings !

So far I've been Vaio fan :sony: but it seems that among Sony notebooks I cannot find what I want.
I want light laptop; not to big, but powerfull enough. Sony doesn't have 14" notebooks, it has 13.3" and 11.1".
I use T350 with 10.6" screen which is a beautiful littly lappy with long battery life, but screen is too small for my taste and I would really like some more power. That's why 11.1" TX doesn't fit in and as for SZ (13.3") - it's nice but for that price I can put up with slightly heavier laptop but gain in screen size and better gfx.

Also, I don't want 3kg laptop and big in size, but I can handle lower battery life.

Therefore I turned to Asus, where I found what might be a good laptops for me.

What I want in short:
1. Merom
2. nVidia 7600/7700 or ATIX1700 gfx
3. decent weight
4. decent screen size
5. decent battery life (but I know that's harder considering my first 4 wishes )

I don't know anything about Asus laptops therefore I need your advices what to pick and I thank you in advance.

I have an offer for a new A8JP model 4S015P which has following specs:

- Intel® Core™ 2 duo processor T7200 (2,0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 Cache)
- 14"TFT, WXGA+ with High resolution Glare type Color Shine technology, 1.440x900
- ATI® Mobility Radeon™ X1700, 256 MB VRAM (512 MB HM)
- 1024 MB DDR2-667 (2x512MB)
- 120 GB HDD SATA 5,400 RPM
- 8 x DVD super multi D/L double Layer
- 0,3 megapixels Web/video camera
- Intel 3945ABG WLAN 802.11a/b/g
- 1000 MBit LAN
- Bluetooth 2.0
- Interfaces: Express Card, DVI haven (DVI D), VGA, SPDIF, 5x USB 2,0, IEEE1394, TV Out, 4-in-1 Card reader
- Weight: 2,4 kg
- Dimensions: 335 x 245 x 34.8 – 37,3 (in front/in the back) mm
- Windows XP Professional

You opinions about this one ?

I have couple of concerns/questions:

1. I wanted 14.1" screen with 1280x800 resolution and this one has 1440x900. Is it that resolution to big for 14.1" screen ? I know I really don't like 1280x768 resolution on 10.6" screen. Too **** small !

2. I also considered nVidia 7700 but the guy who gave me an offer told me that X1700 is better solution. It's hard to find and usefull data on X1700. I also heard that it's made with 80nm process but I cannot confirm that. What do you guys think about this issue ?

3. Asus has lot of various laptops with similar specs but different names (A8J and W3J for example) and I cannot grasp all that stuff. Are there "Premium" models like by Sony (Premium SZ with lighter carbon fiber casing) or is it just small make-up differences ?

Again, thank you !

 

The W3J is built with better materials (carbon fibre chasis, brushed alumunium cover) and hence more expensive. One major other benefit is that it has a modular bay where you can put an extra HD or battery if you want to prolong battery life. The drawbacks are no webcam, no DVI and only 3 USB ports compared to DVI, webcam and 5 USB ports in the A8J series.

The A8J all use the same chasis, only different video cards and configs in different countries. eg. A8Jm = Yonah Go7600, A8Ja = Yonah x1600, A8Js = Merom Go7700, A8Jp = Merom x1700, A8Jc = Yonah Go7300.. etc etc...

You should be able to find quite a few reviews around of the A8Jm, A8Ja, A8Jc and A8F.... you can then extrapolate the performance using Merom and slightly better video cards.

The Go7700 and x1700 are quite new and hence not much data available. But as the Go7600 and x1600 are comparable in performance, so will the Go7700 and x1700. Your guy is just trying to make a sale.. I'm sure he'll say the same thing about Go7700 if he had the A8Js in stock instead of A8Jp.

If you really don't want 1440x900, then the A8Ja/A8Jm (1280 x 800) would be an option (once they release the BIOS update to support Merom), if you can find a reseller who wouldn't mind replacing the Yonah CPU with a Merom, and take over the warranty from ASUS, because CPU modding will void the global warranty.

 

Thank you for the stats on your machine.

That helps me figure out the stats that might come in the one coming to NA.


It seems it comes with 2 512 mb dimms and a 5400 rpm hd.

not like the review copy in laptopmag at all.


you will not be able to cross shop the version with the 7700 and the x1700 they shouldnt sell them both at the same time.

The wholesale cost of the x1700 version should be at least $50 less based on the previous model.

most laptops in europe have the ati card. I think it is more popular in europe.

 

According to reports, the core of the MR X1600 and MR X1700 are the same, the only difference is the Fab that they are manufactured in. The MR X1600 is produced using TSMC's 90nm process and the X1700 is produced at UMC. Since UMC is behind TSMC on the 80nm process, the X1700 is almost certainly based on UMC's 90nm process. Both UMC and ATI are marketing the UMC 90nm process as improved, but that doesn't really mean anything. "Improved" may either imply a refined process over UMC's regular 90nm process which is actually behind in transistor performance compared to TSMC's 90nm process or it may just be a reference to UMC's process being different than TSMC. Performance differences between the MR X1600 and MR X1700 look to be based on clocking rather than a major redesign.

I'm not sure what the story on the Go 7700 is compared to the Go 7600 although the performance differences also look to be due to clocking rather than major redesign. The Go 7600 is supposedly produced by UMC on it's 90nm process so it's possible that nVidia is going opposite of ATI and making the Go 7700 on TSMC's 90nm process. nVidia is just beginning to produce chips using Chartered's 90nm facilities so the Go 7700 could also be a reference to that change in production. While it's possible that the Go 7700 uses a 80nm process, it's unlikely since it's die size proportion compared to the X1600/X1700 doesn't indicate that.

As Darrick said, the MR X1600 and Go 7600 are basically equivalent and the MR X1700 and Go 7700 should be too. The newer generation don't look to be much faster than the older generation anyways so it's not really a big deal.