downsides of a W3J

hey everyone i was just wondering if there are any downsides to this machine aside from the fact of the ctrl and fn keys are switched. i would like to know any other annoyances or something to watch out for before i purchase one.

thanks.

 

the W3J is a great laptop. The only downside I have is the heat vent on the right side, right where your hand would be if you are using an external mouse. Also overall, it gets rather warm quickly.

 

Some people talk about heat, some about battery life, some about screen size, some about hotkeys...... Most owners love the machine (lots of folks bought it in Spring and aren't around here much anymore - that should tell you something), while some have quibbles with this or that and these issues are covered in various discussions in the forum; a thread like this is going to get both sides.

You need to read through the w3j threads here and then decide whether you can live with the issues that others raise - for any given person they may be either a dealbreaker or no big deal, but that depends on how picky you are about them... only you can decide whether they are important issues for you or not. Some folks are willing to compromise more to get what is a *very* powerful and stylish machine. Personally, I like it a lot.

 

heat isnt really much of a problem to me unless you can fry an egg on it like a mac book pro so it shouldnt be a problem. and will that vent on the right side cause a discrepancy while im gaming? and how long does it take to get used to having that fn key at the bottom right corner? i can see it now when im on it pressing fn+c to copy and paste or trying to crouch in cs haha.

i just want to know these little things before i get one cause it is an AWESOME machine that i plan to buy in the middle of next month.

 

Two things:

one: I miss not having a dedicated volume control, the Fn+F10-F12 is a reall stretch to operate single handed. I can only just reach Fn+F10 with a single hand.

Two: I miss not having a battery indicator on the batteries, so you can quickly see the charge whithout having to boot the laptop up. (sorry Asus fans thats one thing that Dell does better than Asus) I normally have 2 - 3 batteries, so a small indicator is very useful. (Asus.... please include this in the future!)

so as you can see its not a deal breaker by any means... oh yeah two other things spring to mind.... no velcro strap for the AC adapter and power cord (I took one from my old Compaq) and it would be nice if they dropped the arrow keys down and made the right shift button a bit longer, I am always hitting up arrow or end key.

So as you can see the problems I have are really only related to asthetics and in terms of performance build quality and looks, it exceeded all my expectations. this thing rocks!!! I am very happy with it.

 

I am a heavy user of the right Ctrl key, within a week I was fine, I am having more trouble getting to the short shift key on the right.

Heat, yeah my friend has a MBP same spec, forget eggs..that thing could fry a steak!! after a days light use his palm rest is as warm as under my HDD & CPU! personally I find the W3J does a great job of cooling the system, at least the palm rest stays cool-ish and I can stil use it on my lap. my friens MBP he said is so hot there is no way you can use it on your lap, he said there is even a warning teling you not to!

 

AS great as the W3 series is, two reasons I changed up my main traveling notebook from a W3 to a W7 was for two reasons.... one, it's lighter and has a smaller footprint and two, although most love the quick access buttons on the sides and consider it a feature they bought the system for, the way I handle my traveling laptop is often by the sides and my hands would always trigger a couple buttons when I'd lift it off my car seat.

Now... that's not one you're likely to hear from someone who never takes it off a desk..... and maybe not something you'd expect from someone who's been the W3's number one support over the last year plus, but for me personally, the same thing that one person could love.... or heck, even I loved those features until I started traveling and also once I realized I never really used them.... and that's why the W7 is right for me at this very moment...


.,..... either way, I dare someone who prove there is a better 14" notebook on the market..... there just isn't.

 

those problems dont seem bad at all. but dam.. what causes the mbp to be so hot? im glad the w3j doesnt have this problem even with all that power it has under the hood.

 

CPU & GPU generate heat when used, chassis 1" thin with poor air circulation, and aluminum is a fantastic heat conductor. You can fill in the blanks .

 

Correct, it had same CPU and Ati X1600 and it is about a thrid thinner, I had a close look around ther is no fan inlet or outlet it relies mostly on passive cooling (using the chassis to disapate heat) and considering the steady stream of warm air from the W3J exhaust... that heat has to go somewhere.

The only holes for the MBP are along the entire back tucked under the lid, there is no obvious inlet or outlet, I dont know if there are any fans at all... it looks to be totaly passive heating.

 

Downsides for me are


1. Power Management issues
2. Cannot remap the Hot Buttons on each side
3. No integrated webcam


Thats it

 

if that whole optical battery thing was fixed there really wouldn't be any other downsides..though i am a bit annoyed by the bright leds on the bottom left blinding me when i use this at night..am i the only one bothered by that?

 

1) heat
2) hitting hot button on accident when trying to lift laptop up
3) the fact that about a month after I bought mine, they upped the specs dropping the value of my laptop by a few hundred ><

 

Go over them with a black marker.... you'll still be able to see them, but the plastic lens cover over the leds will be much more subdued..... I think once you start complaining about notification leds being too... noticable... you're really talking about as close to perfect as a notebook could be...

 

yeah those LEDS are blasting, they are slightly recessed I was actually thinking of filling them with a dark petexing (you know the stuf you melt and fix holes in skis and snowboards), you could melt it into the holes, scrape off the excess and you would be left with a sleek flush finnish and it would tone down the LEDs, you would still be able to see them, it would just tone them down a bit.

Just saw Proportables reply, marker would be easier ha ha

 

good point lol

 

Not something I was really expecting wonders from, having had a W3v, but I wish that the sound would just be a little bit louder. I was trying to watch a video the other night while cooking dinner with the laptop on the counter in front of me, and could barely hear the dialog. Don't expect much from the stock speakers.

Edit - Actually, funny enough, the guy I sold my W3v just came to me last night complaining about the same thing.

 

Also another downside for me that no one else mentioned is that it has only 3 USB. Shouldn't be that big of a problem, it's just that I am used to 4 USB. Normally I would plug in my mouse, external speakers and ext harddrive. Sometimes quickly copying something from my flashdisk would require one extra USB. But really, it's not a reason to NOT buy this amazing laptop! I had an A6km, and I'm buying the W3J in the next 3 weeks.

 

Could someone post before and after pictures of this? Preferably in dark and bright light conditions.

 

No worries mate.... just do what I did, buy a bluetooth mouse, then you will still have 3 available USB ports!

Ps; after reading reviews on Bluetooth mice.... much to my surprise the microsoft bluetooth intellimouse won over the logitech, it just had much better power management. but I find it really good, nice and responsive. and to be honest there is not too much choice in bluetooth mice, all the good logitech ones run on radio frequiencies and require a usb reciever!! whic is a pain when you are traveling as anything poking out is easily knocked or bent.

 

Again, that really shouldn't matter..... If a notebook has two usb ports in todays world, that's more plugs that you should really need to plug in..... On the road, if you have room to plug in a thumb drive and maybe a mouse, that should be enough..... When you're at home, as long as you have $5 usb hub..... then you just need to plug one thing in. The way you need it, a hub would be better because then you can leave everything plugged into that and then when you get home, you just plug one port into the computer.....

... remember this though, the W3 loses one usb port so it can fit an s-video out port......... That was something that people suggested after the W3n came out and they changed it for the W3v.... You can't add an s-video out magically...... but 3 usb's instead of 4... I know you mention it as a downside... but I don't even think it's that..... Like said above... beyond the usb hub idea.... with bluetooth in the system and bt mice, keyboards and other things......... it makes it even less important. The one thing 99% of people who have laptops and refuse to use a touchpad will want to do is add a mouse..... and therefore a usb port would be important..... unless of course you could get one without wires and connect via bluetooth... tadaaaa... there you go.

For you though, get a hub. They make some really sexy looking hubs out there now... they also make really, really tiny hubs as well... ones that'll fit in your pocket. If traveling with it is a problem - you may want to go small.

 

After the fact of buying the W3J I have found a new curiosity in packet sniffing and other wireless explorations. HOWEVER..the wireless card in the W3J does not work with the software I am trying to use. So in my searches for a card I could put into the Express slot I found that there are no wireless cards for the express slot yet!!!!

Look like I am totally ***** as far as wirelss activities.

 

I have never used a bluetooth enabled mouse. If you play say example CS, is the movement totally smooth? The cursor doesn't "jump"? I've used a wireless mouse before, and that didn't work. The cursor would "jump" from time to time and was very annoying.

 

m394byt3

I was a bit worried about the movement as well, but it is very smooth if not more sensitive than my standard logitech MX510. it moves quickly with no sign of lag or jumping.

If you use it constantly there is no lag or jumping, the only time there is a one off delay is if you dont move the mous for about 2 minutes, it goes into like a sleep mode, but move it and it wakes up and it is back to normal, with normal consistant use it never jumps as you are using it.

I did see othe reviews of bluetooth mice that had bad lag, but the intellimouse explorer I have works really well, although the tilting scroll wheel feels a but more mushy and not as precise as the logitech, just needs a bit of getting used to.

 

I have the logitech bluetooth mouse that came with my W3J and I concur with NZwaverider:

 

Downside?! What downside? No, there's no downside with my W3J?!!

Ok, I agree with opinions from the other fellas.

One thing to add: When opening the lid, I have to hold the base... it seems the hinge is quite tight.
Anyone has the same issue?

 

no DVI
no fingerprint reader
no pointing stick

those are the main ones for me, YMMV

 

i suppose the hinge is tight to make sure that it stays closed in transit..but yes it definintely requires two hands to open

hmm i didn't really care for a pointing stick..thats kinda something that you'd more expect on a thinkpad..same with the fingerprint reader..if anything i wonder if it'd be possible for the next 14" to come only with dvi..i believe the a8jm has vga and dvi?

 

for me, the downsides are no DVI (I want to be able to connect to my LCD clearly... VGA just doesn't have the sharpness of DVI)

The second downside is that there's no webcam. I know some of you are going to say that the webcam isn't that useful or not so good blah blah blah... but one thing it is, is convenient. I'm going away from BC to alberta this sept for university, and I would love to video chat with my family back in BC, and a built in webcam would be so much more convinent.

 

yes you need to hold the base when you're opening it for sure. i like the tightness though, it gives me confidence in the toughness of the hinge design, which by the way is awesome

 

Yes the A8Jm has both VGA and DVI.

The hinge is quite tight (looked at W3J in the shops), but I don't see that as a con, but a pro. Sturdy = good!

 

wow . this thread grew last time i checked >_<

anyways now i know what little things to watch out for when i purchase a W3J. as for no webcam or dvi port ill be alright with it because the 14.1" screen will be great enough to game on. the usb ports wont be a problem since i dont really utilize them as much but maybe ill use like 2 for a mouse and my ipod.

question though - what accessories would be neccessary for me to purchase with my system? i was thinking of another spare battery or is the optical bay battery a better option? any other suggestions?

 

bump bump^^

 

The only thing that bothers me is the reversed ctrl/fn keys. I'm prepared to rewire the notebook to get it working the way I want. Has anyone tried it? Is there a similar sized asus notebook where the keyboard has the keys in the regular positions so I can perform a swap?

 

ooo, I got a new one!


Is it just me or are the keyboard keys too far apart?

My desktop keyboard is a Logitech elite keyboard and the spacing between the keys are much smaller then the ones on the W3J... so when I type, I sometimes miss the keys....


Now that I look at my keyboard.... the spacing on the W3J seem ginormus....

 

I don't think the keys are spaced further apart than previous keyboards I have used. But maybe I'm not that detailed orientated concerning the keyboards

 

It's really not an issue for me, after 2 weeks I got use to Ctrl and Fn layout. I won't put that down as a downside.

 

optical battery and optical hd are good accessories...as far as the spare battery goes..make sure to get the one for the w3j..the ones for the w3n/v won't work..i believe proportable mentioned this is one of the millino threads in the asus forum

 

but what is better in convenience having an optical bay battery or just another spare main battery?

 

to replace the main you must shutdown/hibernate first..i suppose the weight would be about the same though

gwester: what space between the keys..the macbook..now THAT has space between the keys lol

 

The heat issue that most user's mention, is it really a problem like does it get that hot which would make it unsafe to use on your lap or does it just get a little warm? Also, about the heat vent being on the right side, wouldn't you have to be using the mouse at a real close range for it to be a problem?

 

I have used the W3J on my lap, on the train, and at home, it is warm but it is bareable, also on a desk top, just fold a credit card over and place it by the vent, it deflects the heat up quite well!

 

I don't notice the warm air anymore since I just put my mouse slightly below it and it doesn't bother me at all. I don't notice it when I use it on my lap. The credit card trick is pretty ingenious

 

I've also noticed that there are users who are having problems with the standby mode. Generally, when you close the laptop lid, it goes into standby and when you open the lid, it recovers back to normal. But, users can't seem to get the laptop to recover from standby when they re-open the lid? Is there some kind of fix or something for this issue? Is this a issue on the W3J and the newer W3J model as well?

 

There are a number of post relating to the standby/hibernate issue. It seems that the most common way of solving the problem is a complete fresh install of Windows on a reformated HD. I personally, never had this issue. Mine is a refreshed version.

 

It seems that the W3J weigh a lot (5.5lbs?) - about 2 lbs more than a 13" SONY but only 1" bigger. Is portability an issue if I take it everywhere with me- between classes, campus, library etc. carrying adapters & other stuff?

 

I like the right side vent.

Finally an advantage to being left handed!

 

LOL, you right I'm a lefty too.

Overall how do you rate the Asus W3J with the others. From a Scale 1-10. One being the worst and 10 being the best. Does it recieve good wireless signal, or is it weak. How much does it really weigh, and how long does the battery last approx, if I were just to use Microsoft Word and Photoshop?

 

I rate it a 9/10. The wireless signal is strong but weakens a bit when running on the battery, though it doesnt seem to be happening to everyone. Weights 5.5lbs. And the battery life depends on what settings you run it on but on high performance with no major power consuming programs or games, it runs around 3~ hours for me.

 

I really like mine. Yes, in retrospect, it was probably too much for my needs at the moment (X1600 for playing Ricochet?) but I'm not going to get one for a long time to come so it will still have longevity down the road.

The power management was a gripe at first, but I followed the threads linked above and it worked such that only under very specific conditions will it lock up. I will probably reload windows when I get a chance or can dink around with it, but until then I will just soldier on.

I love the screen. The heat is bearable. The weight is a little heavier than I bargained for, but it is still a much nicer form factor than the 15". And you can't beat the construction quality.

I reckon it's about an 8 or a 9, maybe even nine and a half in four beers' time.

--KK