Quick Review of V6J

Just recieved today. Here are my first observations. Currently using Dell Inspiron 8600. Needless to say, the Asus BLOWS AWAY the Dell in every category.

Pros:
Great weight and form factor.
Nice screen
Responsive
Fan noise is low (but noticeable)
Solid construction
Looks great.

Cons:
Keyboard flex in top right corner, noticeable when pressing DEL and INS keys

Slow Hitachi 5K100 drive (Seagate and Fujitsu would have been better 5400 RPM choices). Not a big deal as I will replace with a 7200 unit anyway.

No SATA

HDD and DVD on same (primary) channel; should AT LEAST be on separate channels (or use SATA)

No DVI port

Comes with Windows XP recovery CD. I prefer a REAL OS CD.

Comes installed with Norton Security Software

Drive comes in 2 partitions, formatted in FAT32. I will wipe anyway, but this makes no sense to me.

Bottom line:
Unsure at this point. For what this machine cost, I expected feature parity with the competition (Lenovo/IBM, etc). I can live with the VGA port, but the keyboard flex and lack of SATA are a real problem for me. I need to get Linux installed to fully evaluate the machine further. Stay tuned....

 

Nice mini review. In your full review please try to get some pics.

Thanks

 

Thanks for the review. Just wondering why you didn't get the full os cd? Where did you purchase? I know Dell stopped sending os cd's out, unless you ask for it.

 

As for those two keys, I see a slight bit as well, but overall, doesn't effect anything much. The rest of the keyboard is SOLID!

 

Agreed about the overall solid keyboard. It is because of this that the flex is even more noticeable. It is almost like stepping on a dead spot on a floor.

I bought from C9TECH. However, the machine was shipped directly from Asus (at least I believe it to be).

 

Call me a n00b, but what is this "flex" I keep reading about?

 

^ A soft spot on the keyboard...less reinforced is all.

 

Is there a disadvantage to the Windows XP recovery CD compared to a real Windows XP CD?

 

maybe it's supposed to be educational, to discourage u from deleting and inserting too much..

eagerly waiting for the full revw, insane. thanks + yeayy

 

Umm if lack of sata are a real problem for you why did you buy it?

 

As I said, it wouldn't be such a big deal IF the two drives were on different interfaces. I'm sure everyone here knows about the disadvantages of sharing a single IDE interface. I could find no information on this fact before purchase.

 

While there are issues sharing a single IDE interface, this is a laptop... and not a desktop replacement laptop. I doubt there is a single laptop out there that will ever preform as good if not better than a desktop.

I have used a top-o-line Dell XPS laptop at a Dell demo, my 7-month old desktop still beats the socks off of it.

Meh, I don't worry much about the sharing the channel...

 

It depends on how you use the machine. I am very mobile and use VMWare extensively for development and testing. Therefore, very good IO is critical (as well as memory and CPU). Obviously, going mobile requires some compromises. However, for a business class machine, I feel that the drive interface selection was an oversight. Also, as written earlier, several other vendors have moved on and implemented the newer, better interface.

This machine is very close to being ideal (in my opinion). A couple of minor changes could make the machine perfect (for me).

 

Do you think that there would be a huge difference in performance with both HDD and optical drive on the same channel. Surly you wouldnt be using the DVD drive THAT much.... or does it affect HDD performance,? cos if it does I havent noticed on my lappy.

And can you give us an idea on battery life? cheers


Insane

 

Does anyone think/know if the V6j will reduce in price by May/June?

 

I doubt it. If they did it would only be $100.

 

Nice purchase!

What are your specifikations?

I would also like to have some more info about the screen. Is it glossy or matte? If it´s a glossy one, does it reflect much light?

I ordered the v6j a couple of days ago. Mine spec. are:

T2400 (1,86 Ghz), 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HD (price: 2 700 USD)

Excuse my bad english (I´m a Swedish guy)

JoHe

 

There was some speculation that Intel could be lowering Core Duo chip costs around May - this COULD filter down to selling prices, but the key word is "could".

 

Yeap, ENSEMBLE prices never drop, nor increase, no matter how the market flunctuates.

The only times they change, is when ASUS decides to re-spec the models with better specs, when they issue rebates, or when a new processor price point is released(aka. 1.6 'phases' out, while 2.2ghz is introduced)

 

More updates:

Keyboard does not flex. It is loose at the top right corner, almost as if it is unglued.

Right palm rest gets warm, not hot as observed on Dell Latitude and Inspiron.

Linux works well, but requires drivers from Realtek and Intel (networking and wireless)

Touchpad works in both OS, including the scroll area.

Glare screen is fine in office environment. Glare is MUCH more noticeable with darker colors.

Have not tried battery yet.

No benchmarks performed yet. Have run a couple of VMWare virtual machines and performance is improved over current machine (even with slower HDD).

Current specs
Inspiron 8600
Pentium M 1.7 Dothan
1.5 GB Ram
Hitachi 7K60 HDD (7200 RPM 60 GB)
Geforce GO 5200 32 MB
15.4 SVGA+ 1680x1050

New Specs
Duo T2300 1.66
1 GB RAM
Hitachi 5K100 (5400 RPM 100 GB)
Geforce Go 7400 128 MB
15 SVGA+ 1400x1050 Glare

 

Yea, with a black screen, you can see yourself Not for light, and white screens.

As for the right wristrest, that's where the HD lies, so its not unexpected

 

hey insanedc
i notice you had a higher resolution screen
was wondering how you are finding the screen when you compare it to your old system.. can u feel the diff?

 

The two screen don't really seem to be that different from a resolution perspective. This is because they run at a different DPI (72 vs 96). I have not adjusted the V6 to see if I prefer a different look.

 

Update...

I have been trying to get the restore CD replaced with something that I can actually use, like a real installation CD (Linux is my primary OS; will install XP in VMware). Asus won't do anything; MS says it is the responsibility of the OEM. I will see if MS will sell me a "replacement CD" for a nominal fee. If not, I will return the machine. I will not pay twice for the same software.

This would be no big deal if this was included for "free". Of course, XP isn't free and is included in the price of the computer.

For all of Dell's faults (and there are many), at least they still ship an OS CD that can actually be installed. They even offer a no OS option. It's just too bad that their machines are so lackluster...

 

Dude if you want ill send you the Win XP PRO ISO through FTP or something. Just private message me on here if you are interested. You have the serial number on the bottom of the laptop so i can legaly send you a copy.

 

Any other V6J owners w/ some feedback on the performance and other nuances?

I'm still considering it, especially if I have to wait much longer for the w3j.

 

Can anyone compare briefly this machine with new LG P1? Which one have better screen?

 

Update. Successfully created a real OS CD from the restore CD.

http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/wxp/

Additional comments:
Several people have been impressed by the machine. Most people don't know who Asus is. This machine has impressed everyone, with its sleak construction and light weight.

Design - I like the easily accessable memory and processor compartment. This will make it quite easy to upgrade the processor later.

VMware performance is much improved, since I can allocate a single processor core to the VM while the other can be used to handle other tasks. Still experimenting to see if I can allocate separate VMs to specific cores using VMware Workstation.

Overall, it will be a fine machine for my purposes. The dual core DOES make a big difference if you are a heavy multi-tasker. I will be performing some comparisons with my desktop (A64 2800+ with 1GB ram) running Ubuntu. The Inspiron 8600 is noticibly slower than the A64 even on simple tasks.

 

Just opened / started using my V6J yesterday. Haven't had much time to really play with it. World of Warcraft ran great on it. The fan is quiet. Still trying to figure out how to get rid of the modem helper icon in the system tray by the clock. If I had more time, I would do a complete format/reinstall of the OS, but at this time I do not.

Has anyone put an additional 1gig ram in their machine yet? The system came with NORTON products. Those came off and were replaced with Kaspersky and Outpost firewall.

So far I'm impressed with the machine (my first laptop).

 

gizbug, can you take some pictures of your new V6J?

I'd like to see what it looks like.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/83667/asus-v6j.html

What's your opinion on this review of it?

 

hi ph3nom,
it was discussed on this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=44815

 

Hi all,

Is it true that the fan on the V6J is always on, as mentioned in the main V6J review on this site?

Or is it that the CPU was geared in high speed, and the fan will stop if it's geared down?

 

I don't own a V6J, so I can't be certain, but the fan should only come on when the internal temperature reaches a certain point, and only when it reaches that point.

 

Yeah, I've discovered another thread on the topic in the meantime. It seems that the fan kicks in at a low temp (38deg) and that's why it's "always on".

 

Lack of sata, but you knew that before buying.

Oh well, still an awesome machine, lucky you.

 

Note: originally "M6BNe" was "M6Ne" in the text. That was a confusion; I actually owned the M6BNe.

Here's my twopence on the Asus V6J.

I hope I will be excused if I compare it with the M6BNe which I have owned for almost a year, but I really fell in love with that notebook... It never gave me any kind of headaches, just ran smoothly without getting itself noticed - the way I like all technology to run.

So, anyway, my M6BNe got cracked in a car crash. Case and LCD cracked, HDD bent. This pretty much sums the damage. The car - smashed beyond repair, hit from the back. Notebook was in the boot (!!). HDD still works though it received a tremendous impact and was bent by 2mm, I recovered all my data. Respect Hitachi! I opened up the notebook, everything is intact inside. I think this says something about the quality of the carbon-fiber M6 chassis...

But back to the V6J. I received it on Tuesday this week, been running it 16 hours a day ever since (rough week at work ).

Config: [V6800J]
T2400, 1.83 GHz Centrino Duo
1GB RAM 667 MHz
100 GB HDD 5400rpm
SXGA+
8cell 5.2 amps battery pack

Let's start with the pros:
--------------------------------

Speed
Blows you off the seat Running CPU-intensive simulations, my 3GHz PIV work desktop has nothing on it, in fact it runs about 30% slower.

That 1GB of RAM with no paging file really does the trick for Windows XP. At no time there is any lag when switching between apps. And the dual core means that I am able to work unhindered while in the background the CPU sweats running Matlab simulations for hours on end.

Looks
Great. I mean, brilliant. If a guy from the 25th century would land in a spaceship and open a V6J it would by no means look anachronic. (sorry if I misspelled)

Size and weight
Small and thin. Especially compared to the M6BNe I was used to. Very portable.

Meds:
---------------
Battery life: 3 hours - 3 hours 30 mins (when notebook actually used). Very roughly. Not as much as the M6BNe, at the same load. But given all the juice-sucking monsters that growl inside the case, it is very reasonable.

Screen size: that 1400x1050 is really killing my eyes. I increased DPI to 106, and I am thinking to go even further. On the other hand, you have a lot of space on the desktop.

Heat: for a machine this powerful, it is reasonable. It can be felt, but it is reasonable. Right now, running idle on AC, I am holding it in my lap through pyjamas and there's no problem.

Fan noise: should this be a con? Considering the heat that it has to dissipate and the size of the machine, I believe not. CPU doesn't seem to drop below 50 deg Celsius, so the fan never stops, and it is quite noticeable in quiet environments, such as now in bed - at least for me.

Ports on the right-hand side: Not really an issue for me, they don't give me trouble with operating the external mouse.

Cons:
----------------------
Touch pad: compared to the M6BNe, not as good. Less responsive, buttons really hard to press. And that moron default setting for palm detection prohibits tapping in the middle of the pad. That's silly. Took me a day to figure that out.

Sound: really ****py compared to the M6Ne. No bass at all, a lot of treble, even in (high quality) headphones. Does Creative make notebook soundcards on Express slots yet?

Viewing angles: poorer than M6BNe, especially vertical is very narrow. Quite annoying, as soon as you shift in the chair you have to turn the LCD up or down. I think that the brightness and colors aren't as good either.

Recovery CDs for WinXP Professional: built by morons. I wiped the HDD clear and created a 25GB NTFS partition thinking if I choose "first partition" it will put the system on it. Yeah, right. The kit expanded it to 100 GB and formatted it FAT32. Jesus Christ! What can I do with a 100 GB system partition?!? Default to FAT32, in 2006? I had to defrag, resize, and convert, pointless extra work and lost time.

After installation was complete (after about 2+ hours, in which time driver and software install scripts invoked countless sleep(60)'s during which the computer really seemed to be idle -- what the hell is the point of those sleep(60)s?), I had to:
- manually install wired LAN driver
- remove and reinstall USB driver
- manually install Bluetooth drivers

and, of course, remove all the ****py extra software that I'll never need. But that's by default.

Oh, I almost forgot. Narrow (horizontally) arrow keys. That's rather stupid. I believe they could have slightly decreased the other keys, which are OK in size, and put normal-sized arrows. They are among the most often-used keys on the keyboard. And there's no right-hand side function button, which the M6BNe got me used to. That means that if I am watching a movie from the RHS of the laptop, I have to use both hands to turn the volume up-down. That's annoying. But on a 15inch keyboard, it's also normal, so it's not really a Con.


Unknowns (yet)
=============
GPU performance. I plan on running a HL2 "benchmark" sometime soon, see how it does.
DVD drive performance. I used my M6BNe drive intensively, read and burned CDs and DVDs, and it never gave any sign of trouble. I just hope this one is as reliable.


To wrap up: I never regret my decision in getting the V6J. But if I still had my M6BNe, I would turn down the offer of switching it for a V6J. In other words, I have yet to fall in love with my new laptop.

Hope this helps some of you,

E.B.E.

 

how did the chagne from 15.4" to 15" affect your ability to use the laptop?

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

I had the same experience, so I will give you my two cents as well (I don't intend to steal anyone elses thunder)...

For me the increased resolution takes care of the problem. I don't truly notice the difference in any program. The only time that the widescreen was nice was for movies, but I found that they are just slightly smaller. The extra 1" or so sounds like a lot, but it really isn't much to miss.

 

EBE

Great review, you should consider making a review with pictures in the specific 'notebook review section'

 

If E.B.E indeed owned the M6Ne and not the M6BNe... then he did not go from 15.4" to 15", since the M6Ne is a 15" SXGA+ system just like the V6J.

 

MysticGolem

I don't think I have any problem with the actual screen size. It's the resolution that is a bit too high for me.

In fact, I believe the widescreen 15.4 has a number of disadvantages: a lot of software (programming, document editing) tends to stack horizontal toolbars one below the other at the top of the screen (e.g., WinEdt), and on a widescreen this means you are left with less actual editing space. Also, many (older) games do not support widescreen resolutions, and that was an issue for me, I used to run them in 1024x768 without scaling and that meant I was using only the middle area of the LCD.

One advantage is that widescreen (cinema) movies look better. But again, if you watch many 4:3 TV series (like I do), widescreen means you either lose LCD space at left and right, or movie image at bottom and top.

 

I think it was actually the M6BNe :S