A8Js -Da .02

After using the A8Js for a day here is my .02:

1) The viewing angles on the LCD are narrow, especially on the vertical side. But I do not find myself fiddling with the LCD as I move around in my chair -so viewing is comfortable for a single person to use. I don't recommend the screen for movie watching unless you do it solo. The color and contrast of the display is incredible for an LCD this size, and it's very nice to do image editing on a 1440 x 900 pixel display! My images have never looked better

2) Even though the case is plastic it feels solid, and it's definitely better built than the Dell's and Sony's' that I've owned. The keys are large enough that I don't find myself hitting caps lock or shift by mistake. The swapped control and function keys on the left side are gonna take some getting use to because I use the Cntrl key for copying and pasting text.

3) I use to have a PCMCI Sound Blaster Audigy 24 card in my old Vaio -but I don't miss it. I played part of a movie last night just to compare the sound quality of the A8Js and I was hearing effects that I never heard with the Audigy card -surround sound in head phones actually works on the A8Js!!! I'm using Intervideo WinDVD 8 for movies -highly recommended!

4) I bought my laptop from Portable One and had them install a 160GB drive (Seagate Momentus) and it's very fast! I'll work up some benchmarks when I do a full review.

All in all I'm very happy with the A8Js -extremely fast and well built! Plus it's tough to argue with the price to performance ratio of this laptop...

 

You have a 160 GB Seagate Momentus hard drive? Is it SATA or PATA?

 

thank's for the info

 

Just to add, I also don't find the angle as bad, sure it would look better if the screen is at eye level, not to mention my back, but its not too bad. I also find if you play with the splendid tech, it might help with the colors.

 

Doesn't seem to matter either way since the SATA controller in the A8Js can read and write to it just fine. No idea how to tell except for opening up the laptop and taking a look at the drive...

 

Is the vertical viewing angle really that bad? So bad that you stand by your words that DVD viewing for 2 people is not recommended?

I sold my HDTV while moving to a new place and have to resort watching DVD's on a laptop with my fiance, and that would be quite unfortunate for the A8Js to have poor viewing angle (I hope that this is just overestimated).

The A8Js is an extremely good laptop for the price. I've been doing research for a bit, and ended up with final choices of the Sony FE790 and Dell's e1505 (which offers WSXGA+) but the A8Js is a dealbreaker as it offers a resolution a little bit better than WXGA yet it offers the most powerful video card for notebooks.

The A8Js is so good, in fact, that I realized that every single platinum ASUS reseller (according to resellerratings.com) doesn't have them in stock!

 

It's not too bad, depending on the distance. I am sure it can view at least 2 people. I just tried spacing myself and fixing the angle between two spots, it works. But, I wouldn't want a huge gap between the two people.

 

I only know one asus dealer that has them...

I think that newegg.com has them also but I wouldnt count on it. next shipment is 4 days and theyll take orders that close.

 

Newegg.com doesn't have any in stock right now - but that's OK - I actually won't bite the bullet until January or so. Prices of these bad boys only go down.

I finished reading the entire A8J owners thread (all 20 pages) and it is quite disheartening to hear about all those complaints about "average" build quality. I'm going off of a Sony R505 (their flagship slim notebook over half a decade ago) and it is still working perfectly fine minus one oddly working USB port. There are no cracks or looseness in the hinges, dead pixels, loss of bright (or at least any that is noticeable after 5 years), or anything of that sort. I also used the ultraportable HP laptop (can't even remember the name, but it was 0.8" thick and was to be used with docking station) - that laptop developed holes in the back from cracked pieces of the chassis coming off. The LCD latch also broke off. Half of the markings of the keys wore off. I also had a Gateway that was horrible - two keys fell/snapped off.

Oops, forgot to mention that the dog(s) chewed up the Sony R505 one day when I was gone. Normally they like to finish what they start but the laptop was too hard for them and they gave up (they left bite marks on the laptop) but even with the bites, the laptop is still holding on strong.

Can ASUS handle 5 years?

EDIT: One of the my competitors against the A8Js is the FE790, and the last I checked, the FE has a decent build. Quite rigid. It's pretty hard to see any ASUS laptops in person in stores...

 

The V6j could take all that and more. The A8 isn't going to be built as well as some of Asus' nicer lines, like the V and W lines.

 

I doubt it will drop during the holidays. I can see dell, Hp, and even sony, those companies already immersed in the North American Market. But, not Asus, we can only hope.

Depending on model and how well you take care/use of the unit, I am sure it can last.

The A8Js is pretty solid, haven't played with the FE at compusa, but my unit feels good.

 

If the two of you are sitting close together then it won't be that bad -but don't expect to put too much distance between you.

 

The build quality of the A8Js is better than the Dell and Sony laptops that I've owned and I have a 4 year old Inspiron 8200 that just recently died due to a bad hard drive. I would expect the A8Js to last just as long, if not longer. Everyone knocks the build quality of the A8J series and I think it's just to justify spending a lot more money on the W3's case...

 

Sounds good, Dalantech. What I would like to hear are thoughts from somebody who actually has (and still uses avidly) an old ASUS laptop. There are already people complaining about the hinge issues of the A8Js and even though they may constitute a minority of say, 1 out of 6 users, that's still a concern of quality control.

 

sqwaks what you cant do with this screen..... and it will come up.....

is watch it while you are sitting down and have someone standing up behind you see a movie or something clearly.

This situation comes up to most people somewhere along the line it has to me a few times already.

As I learn I know while im sitting down they cant see a thing. Ive got the number down now too, 65 degrees.
So the eyes above cant be 65 degrees above.

For movie watching cant have one standing one sitting.

this is the problem. Both sitting next to eachother watching a movie is great.

It is such a clear bright screen you could see it across a small room.

 

I've watched DVDs with 6-7 people before on my A8Jm, it wasnt ideal (e.g. colors were a bit off) but it still looked great.

We were watching it from like 2-3m away though so it was quite small and the max angle wasn't that big. 2 people would be fine as long as you sat back a bit. What WOULDN'T work is one person sitting and 2-3 people watching over his/her shoulder, as the combination of vertical/horizontal angle would make for crappy viewing.

 

I agree with what has already been said...
Vertical viewing angle is quite poor - colours get washed out.
Horizontal seems fine - things get slightly darker.