Asus W7J and games

I'm currently considering buying either the aj8s or the w7jp. I'm leaning towards the w7jp, but i'm not sure about its gaming capabilities. I use to be a hard core gamer, but have since college calmed down and I currently play cs:s and need for speed most wanted and carbon. I did use the search function to see if I could find someone commenting on w7jp's performance while playing those games but wasn't particularly successful.

Could owner's of the w7jp please comment.

Best Regards,
Philip

 

ASUS A8js
13.3" x 9.7" x 1.38"/1.48"
5.37lbs (2.44kg)
14" WXGA (1440x900) Glossy
Go 7700 512mb

ASUS W7Jp
12.5" x 9" x 1.15"/1.46"
4.29lbs (1.95kg)
13.3" WXGA (1280x800) Glossy
Go 7400

When looking at the dimenions, the A8js is 1 inch longer and wider, but roughly the same thickness, but the specs in the A8js are much better, plus gaming on the A8js would be more fun, since the graphic card can do high settings. Whereas the W7J would have to play on Low or Medium setting.

As for the weight, the A8js is 1 pound more, but the battery life on both laptops is roughly them same 2 hours to 2.5 hours.

So you will have to decide whether you want a slightly bigger and heavier laptop with much more performance for 50$ more or 100$ more with the bluetooth A8js.

 

The W7 is more for a person like you that calmed down on that hard core gaming and become more professional. However, in your free time - like at the airport or on a train home - you want to be able to unleash the beast and pass the time with some good old gaming.... Have I hit anywere near the mark?

It's a common change and I like it when others realize this. There are plenty of others that would rather carrying around a 7-8lbs laptop because they never want to leave that hardcore gamer stage - but they do and they don't make use of that big old system they're lugging with them everywhere.

The 7400 gpu is powerful enough to play what you want to play, especially on a 13.3" screen, with out noticable degredation. You were what I once was, and my current laptop is a W7 because I didn't need everything that was even in the current W3, but I started to travel a lot, yet needed something that could be used as a little powerhouse when I needed it to be. You can't go wrong with either of the two you're looking at, and given they're about the same size and price - it's really not going to change your life if you pick one over the other. The W7 is built better and the footprint is smaller... those are basically the only things I can tell you it has over the A8..... but those are important to a lot of people, it's just a matter of if they are to you.

 

CS:S isn't too demanding, but the W7jp can't handle 2006 games with out considerably lowering the graphics. For example when running Hitman: Blood Money, I found the W7jp to be only a marginal improvement over my desktop Nvidia FX5950, but ultimately, I had to play it on the same low settings.

the Nvidia 7400 is the best card you can find on a 13.3".. but if you're willing to move up a lil more, you get a big difference in video card abilities in 14.1" models.

 

I would be concerned about the soldered RAM in the W7J. It would be pretty difficult to remove the module if it went bad..(unless you visit the closest ASUS service center)

 

I have systems that have run 24/7 for year without RAM "going bad"

In fact the only two times I have ever returned RAM, it was defective on arrival..

 

The soldered ram isn't vulnerable like dims are..... on the board it's just as good as any other chipset component... it can't move and it's directly attached to the board.

The only thing anyone could or should be "concerned" with, would be a current limit of 1.5gb. However, with 2gb modules coming out and getting cheaper in the next 6 months to 1 year, you'll limit yourself to 2.5gb at some point...... Currently many people can make use of more than 1gb...... so they mostly go right to 2gb... but most people can't make use of more than 1.5gb at this current time, so it's not really that big of a deal... especially for such a small system.... but there are ways down the road to upgrade.

 

I can't add anything, except to say that I have never liked a machine as much as I like my W7J (and I have owned many notebooks). I have also not had any issues with gaming.

 

I have made several cross country flights with my
W7j now. I has been a great laptop. I also have run Far Cry on it and it has been fun to use it in this capacity. 2 hours of far cry run without a hitch on my W7. I have not seen or used the A8js but there seems to be a reasonable core of users, either machine then would have forum support which I feel is as important if not more than point of sales support as the forum users tend to uncover every good and bad thing about their machines as well as the solutions.

 

Funny thing.... many people ask questions about notebooks, and it almost seems like current users never seem to be around to give their long term input... just people who just ordered one, or maybe have for a week or so......... Finally, one time I can actually say that a handful of long term users stepped up and gave some real input.

Thank you guys.