A8Js glory!

Hi fellow asus fans,

Greetings from Toronto!

Well, I picked up my A8Js from Milestone PC today. Now it's sitting pretty in my home.

I upgraded it to 2 gb ram, 667.

I will pick up my wireless router next week as they are not in yet.

Along with the 2 yr. global warranty, it comes with a case and a (usb connection) optical mouse w/scroll wheel (logitech).

okay, that's it for now. more to come.

 

awesome welcome to the a8j club

 

Congrats... some benchmarks please and battery life...

 

Will you be writing a review for NotebookReview? It'll certainly help the A8J-considerers out!

 

I just placed my order today and I'll be picking it up from MilestonPc tomorrow!

I can't wait...but it put me back a cool $2000 CAD =S
oh well, you get what you pay for huh

I was just wondering if upgrading from the 100Gig HD 5400rpm to the 7200rpm would be a good choice? Does it really make that much of a difference?

And should I upgrade to 2 gigs of ram? =D

i CANT WAIT!

 

It depends what you need and want. Video editing, and I think Photoshop will benefit from a faster hard drive. Most of the other applications, like word processing, etc. don't really matter, I'm pretty sure. I'd still upgrade it, though.

 

Well in case someone here didnt know, which I doubt because Im the most obnoxious poster here, I ordered one too.

I think you made the right decision based on what was for sale.

At this point Id like to see 3d mark scores with overclocking I dont think Ive seen that anywhere yet.

 

Hey, that's MY title!

Add me to the A8Js club -ordered mine last Friday w/ 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Bluetooth 2.0 from Portable One

I'll be writing a review for my web site when I get it in and I'll see if Chaz will post a link to it in the reviews section here.

 

I'm on the verge of ordering it !

I still have couple of more days to decide, but it seems I cannot find competition considering all aspects of A8Js (build, power, mass, size, etc.).

 

sorry guys but I don't know how to do benchmark scores. Is there a program or web link to run tests?

14" wide, 1440 x 900
Duo2Core T7200 2.0 ghz
1024 Mb ram
100 g sata 5400
winxp pro
nVidia GeForce Go 7700
DVD Sup. MTI (Matsu****a)
intel pro wireless a/b/g

optical mouse (usb connect) WITH scroll wheel

protective bag (nothing exciting about it but its "plainness" might be a good thing, making it less attractive to steal)

there are 5 quick buttons - the bluetooth button does nothing, it doesn't light up =(

there are stickers on the palm rest (Splendid..etc) and one of them says intel Centrino Duo BUT the screen protective cover from the packaging had Intel Core 2 Duo sticker - so don't worry, it is a Merom laptop =)

I uninstalled Norton antivirus 2005 (hate this program)

The camera is vga, above the screen and there is a microphone (mono) built into the keyboard top casing just left of the function key. So the camera and microphone are in 2 different places.

Going into My Computer there is:

Local Disk C: (48.5 gb free) FAT
Local Disk D: (36.4 gb free) FAT
DVD Ram Drive E:
Vimicro USB PC camera

this is how it came partitioned.

the Fn key is at the bottom left with ctrl key to the right of it. I have seen complaints about this but i checked my brother's Lenovo T63 and the function key was in the same place as my A8Js.

the mouse pad is the same plastic as the palm rest casing.

lights-glows bright green (hard disk, caps lock, power button, wireless, etc.), no glowing, "light sabre" blue =(

hinges have right amount of stiffness. not too loose.

this is my first laptop. It's quiet to me. Fan is quiet - i don't find it bothering. it's quieter than my desktop. I have a 19" samsung monitor and it appears to have the same viewing content as the A8Js 14.1" only smaller letters so "everything fits on the screen, the web page". good thing the resolution was increased to 1440 x 900 c.f. to
A8Jm.

It would have been nice to have carbon fibre but that would have increased the cost. The build quality is good enough. It's what inside that counts for this computer. My wife's friend asked "is that a mac?" - so to bring up that kind of response shows its smaller form and that the finish is "less boring" than the other brands like compaq and hp.

I am happy with my purchase. Can't get this much power and features for the price.

Buying the yonah models, will save you money with the rebates. but also remember that warranty is one year and there is no case or mouse.

I believe my A8Js purchase had good value. The Merom will survive obscelence longer, 2 yr. global warranty, case and mouse and killer specs (the main reason for this purchase) and it's portable enough thanks to the 14" widescreen.

gtg, later

 

Some links for benchmark tools:
Super Pi – ftp://pi.super-computing.org/windows/super_pi.zip
PCMark05 (free version) – http://www.futuremark.com/download/?pcmark05.shtml
3DMark05 / 3DMark06 (free versions) – 3DMark05: http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark05.shtml (283MB), or try 3DMark06: http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark06.shtml (580MB)
HD Tune – http://www.hdtune.com/
Everest – http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html or here http://www.notebookreview.com/everest.exe

 

thanks darrick ill keep those handy for when i get mine. what is the most popular overclock program for an nvidia 7700 thats quick to use?

 

How are you finding the trackpad? It's a little odd that it's a membrane over two switches instead of two separate buttons.

 

stamar: For NVidia, usually either use the built in but hidden CoolBits (registry enable), or RivaTuner, CoolBits is very simple and does the job quite well IMO.

 

Do you guys know if the A8JP and A8Js have the same build quality. I'm interested in A8JP as it fits my budget better. Have just read complaints about the build quality and the hinges loosening and stuff.

So will i be satisfied the build quality of A8JP or should i go for some other laptop cos build good quality is a factor that i value?

 

pallonaama: All the A8 series are built on the same chassis, so quality will be the same.

The only complaints I've seen so far are about hinges and sometimes lid not closing properly, nothing else... the machine is quite sturdy and well built. My hinges are still fine after about 6 mths of use, although some people have had problems with them

 

I have been a little disappointed in the trackpad. This is my first laptop, so perhaps I may just not be comfortable with it in general. In any case, so far I have found that it is a little more difficult to right-click (compared to left-click) - it seems a little more stiff. Also, I find that the trackpad surface itself seems sort of "sticky" - this may just be my fingers, but it also seems "stickier" than the surrounding surface...

As a sidebar, I have noticed that my Tab key seems to click ever so slightly louder than every other key... not really noticeable, but when I pay attention to it, it is sort of annoying.

Well, that's just my two cents...

 

Pictures please! B)