Asus F6A

Anyone have one of these? Looks like a nice system. Bueller?

 

Isn't supposed to be released in the US until mid-August, probably.

 

Newegg shows it in stock. Seems to fit what I am looking for, but battery life is important and sometimes Asus doesnt shine in that area.

 

Good find, haven't seen it pop up on any of the resellers sites yet and it's nice to see other pix besides the tiny ones on Asus' website - but makes me wonder whether NewEgg "really" has them in stock or they're just anticipating the distributors getting an imminent release from Asus NA to sell them....

Looks like a close cousin of the discontinued 12" F9 -- pretty blah design for a new chassis (or did they just reuse most of the F9 with a thinner bezel?), decent HDD and x4500 igp, but with a T5xxx series cpu. For $1000, it's competitively priced. A budget model for sure, and it should hit it's intended market well... but what a serious departure from the W7/U3 lines. I wouldn't expect any more than 3 hours from that 6 cell battery.

Very sad - I was waiting to see what this looked like and now I'm definitely going to have to move on and look at my other leading to-be-released 13" options (Centrino2 M1330 or new MacBook redesign with Vista bootcamp).

 

It's a nice thin little notebook, but it does seem a bit lackluster. Is that the 6-cell battery that sticks out that much from the back? If so, then it's bad... in the W7 the 6-cell doesn't stick out more than a few mm.

 

This one appears to show a different battery.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=AS-F6AA1#

 

No, it doesn't.

Those are Asus' promo pictures ported over from the product page on their website. The side shots are without the battery inserted. The rear photo shows the rounded battery in direct head-on view, which you can see sticking out in the angled photos on NewEgg's page.

The F6' 6-cell battery position follows what Asus did in the U3 chassis battery location. Must be due to the internal component distribution since the W7 had similar dimensions but managed to fold the pack into the chassis so it didn't extend out the back.

And looking at Asus' product page just now, I'm further *stunned* that Asus NA initially chose to import the (relatively) anemic F6A model rather than either of the F6S or F6V configs which both have dedicated gpu's (nVidia 9300M G and ATi 3470 respectively). Really shows where Asus NA marketing is thinking these days, but maybe the latter will be forthcoming later in the year.

 

It's maybe related to the thickness. The F model seems thinner than the W7.

 

But the battery cells are large and cylindrical; position outside the chassis wouldn't necessarily be accounted for by the (slight) difference in depth unless that allowed for that bit of needed space underneath whatever component was there in the W7. Doesn't matter ultimately, anyway.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, maybe some of the internal components in the W7 can be fit on top of the battery (although I doubt it). But the end result is what matters, namely that battery sticks out -- and like you say it's not really an huge issue.

 

any more information on this. was looking at the sony vaio sr but problems with battery draining when computer is turned off completely is a deal breaker.

main question is the pictures show the battery sticking out - is that the 6 cell or a 9 cell that does that?

 

As said on the first page, probably the picture shows the 6-cell. 9-cell will stick out more, in this case.

 

BTOTech now has the F6v-a1 available for pre-order, but no eta listed for delivery; might be up on other resellers' sites also.

Looks like Asus NA decided after all to upgrade their direct units above the F6a -- P8600 cpu, 320gb HDD, HD3470 gpu.

Seems to address most of the concerns I had about the F6A version, except for the chassis. Will still need to wait on the battery estimates, but maybe I'll have to consider this version after all.....

 

I ordered the last in stock F6V-A1 yesterday from BTOTech. I should get it by the end of next week hopefully.

 

Please let us know when you get it.

I'm torn between the F8Va-B1 and the F6V-A1.
I'm also torn if I do go with the F6V-A1 from BTOTech whether to get the 3m cache 2.4Ghz or the 2.53 6m Cache. I render a lot of video!

 

have you received it yet? any first impressions, particularly the battery life

 

I will pick up an Asus F6A today with the following specs:
ASUS F6A 3P022E
Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz
13.3" TFT
3GB DDR2
320GB SATA HDD
Embedded Intel® GMA X4500HD (GM45)

I was looking for centrino2 laptop with hdmi output but only integrated (wants a computer that not generates unnecessary heat/fan noise). Hopefully the Asus is the perfect match for me, haven’t found any serious review but I took a chance anyway.

I will write a post with my impressions on Asus F6A, hopefully tomorrow. I have the possibility to return it if I don't like so I can be rather objective

 

Heh is objectivity really correlated with the return policy of the retailer?

We're waiting for the first-impressions review.

 

Have tested the computer for same days now and it's an ok notebook but not perfect:

+Performance. The laptop is very reponsive so working with larger web apps in Visual Studio is great
+Size. 13,3" is not to small and not too big. I had 12” and the same resolution but it was a bit hard to read in the long run
+Mouse and bag included. Both the mouse and bag are great
+Keyboard. I like the keyboard but it’s probably not for all
+Looks. I like the black color on all the plastic

-Screen. I would say that the screen is the biggest weakness of this laptop. I like glare screens but the viewing angle is not good at all on this, specially on dark colors
-Build quality. Asus use the same chassi for the half priced other F6a model. It's as plastic as HP Pavilion
-Hard drive noise. I thought the 320GB 5200rpm hd should be quiet but it gives some "reading noise".
-Fan noise. The fan is always on and in the low mode it’s hearable but not more. I think there are more quiet laptops with the same hardware but the fan doesn’t go any faster in day to day usage which is a good thing. But I thought the new centrino2 CPU and no external GPU should make the laptop absolutely quiet.

For me the Asus F6A it's a keeper because a need a quiet laptop with a rather fast CPU and hdmi port. I can live with the hard drive noise and the rather poor build quality (only uses inside the house). Most of the time I have the laptop hooked up to an external screen but the 13,3” screen works ok but you need to angle it right.

 

What's the battery life of it?

 

I would also be interested in what user's opinions on the F6a in terms of build, LCD and batterylife quality is.

In general, what is the build quality of the F6 series? I would like this notebook to last!

 

So this thread that about the only info I could find on the F6A. Specifically I'm looking at the F6A-X2 at newegg...

Unfortunately I can't post a direct link due to my low post count... part number at Newegg is N82E16834220477

Anyone have any updated/new thoughts on this system?

 

The main difference between the F6A and F6V is the gpu and cpu (T5800 v P8600). The -X2 is a good, midrange, capable system for any mainstream needs. Encoding and gaming will not be its strong points. LCD is going to be the same for both units.

Battery life is going to be less than 3 hours; Asus isn't going to break that line anytime soon with only a 6 cell battery. Build quality seems ok thus far, but the F6 is not a hugely popular unit so there isn't as much around on it from members. Still, no major reported problems is good.

 

Thank you very much

 

I dind't understand if the 6-cell battery stick out of the chassis of the F6A or not.
Yes or no please

 

Yes, it does. See these pix at Newegg.

 

It's a pity
Thanks