my A8JM thoughts after 1.5 years

I have had my A8JM for almost a year and half. I was buying it with the understanding of how great asus products were etc....well here are my thoughts

- build quality,super cheapo chasis... nothing great at all for the money this was a $1700 plus machine when I bought it. The screen hinges wobble and feels cheap. When the screen is shut it doesn`t even sit flush when closed. The hand rest finish is worn from my hand. The keys flex and even have shiny worn spots. This is disappointment as old compaq which was used for 2 years previous just as much never had anything like this.

_the exhaust on the right side, right where you use your mouse. It really is bothering and you have to move your hand away alot as the heat is an issue.

-the machine has been stable and no problems. The graphic card 7600go has been trouble free and brings me much enjoyment. The main reason I bought it. The screen is fine, no complaints.

I dont post much but but visit regularly. I will not buy another asus product as I feel they are over priced. I bought this without even seeing it, just based on reviews. After living with it for quite some time the heat and cheapo exterior is awful. This is just my opinion however others may be more than satisfied with theres. This is not a hate or bash thread, so don`t treat it as such

 

I can't comment myselfon the A8 series, but iirc they were not the "highest" quality Asus had to offer, now having said that that still isn't an excuse for the problems you've mentioned. I"ve owned W5Ae, W5F W5Fm, Z62F A6Vc, and Z84j, I havn't had any problems with them, granted except for the Z62 and Z84 they were the higher end models,

I do remember seeing posts regarding some of the A8 series having some problems, although imo i don't think you should count out Asus, if its possible goto a store that sells them and try them out in person. I still think that anything Asus (cheap to expensive) is better than 90% of the other notebooks out there.

 

I'm pretty much done with Asus as well -- between the V1S and V2s problems and the A8xx screen problems (viewing angle), I just haven't been that happy. Battery life has been middling at best on my A8jm. It's not a BAD machine by any means, but the vertical viewing angles have been really, really bad on it. It plays games well, which is nice, but there is nothing really compelling any more.

My wife got a Toshiba U305 from Costco for like $1200 and so far it feels like a much better machine all the way around than a comparable Asus. I would still prefer Asus over, say, low-end Dell or HP units.

 

The A8J's chassis build quality was well documented and throughly discussed in these forums. If build quality is important for you, consider business-line laptops. They are typically more expensive, but much more rugged. A perfect example is the A8J and W3J a year ago. The A8J was more powerful and cheaper, but the W3J was sturdy as hell.

This being said, ASUS' present business-line is not very impressive .. actually it's quite horrible. Hopefully they come out with a decent replacement for the W3J one day.