no posted w3j/a8jm reviews yet?

quite a few people seemed to have gotten there w3j's but if you check the notebookforum reviews there are no real w3j reviews other than a few posts in the forum.

i am still on the fence about buying it, i've done a lot of research, and I ended up purchasing the acer travelmate 8204 because it had what i considered to be the best hardware/options/etc however it turned out that the screen actually was kind of crappy (the resolution of 1680 x 1050 was too high for the 15.4" screen IMO, and some colors looked sort of splotchy) and then 3 hours into using it the left speaker just stopped working. it is in the process of being shipped back through UPS while I type this up.

at this point, i've narrowed my search down to 4 laptops:

1. the ASUS s96j
2. the ASUS w3j.
3. the Portable One MX (asus A8JM)
3. the chembook 4080 ( http://www.chemusa.com/chembook_4080.htm)

the s96j seems alright, but it only has a 6 cell battery and apparently it has quiet speakers. i suppose "quiet speakers" is a subjective term but it would be nice to find a laptop without quiet speakers in case i want to watch DVD with a couple of friends. i think you can get a 9 cell battery for it that sticks out the back.

the w3j seems to be the best of the bunch, despite the slower hard drive speed. how is the sound on the w3j? i don't expect it to have any bass but would it allow for me to watch a dvd comfortably in a room sitting 6 feet away?

the screen looks good, the case looks good, it doesn't appear to have too many problems (some people have said it gets a bit "hot" but every laptop gets a bit hot) and i should be able to customize the other things on geared2play.com...like a 7200 rpm drive and a faster processor. I plan on doing some music with the laptop and these things would help out.

the portable one MX also sounds good on paper but only comes with a 6 cell battery, and once again, there are no official reviews for this computer either on here yet.

the chembook 4080 seems to have nice comparable to the 8204 travelmate hardware but it doesn't look as good as the ASUS models and I don't really know anything about COMPAL other than the fact they make some dell laptops. and the battery awkwardly sticks out in the back of this machine... i'm not sure how much that matters though.

i'm willing to spend up to about $2100 for my perfect laptop, but i don't know if it exists yet!

what do ya'll think?? can someone with a w3j and someone with an a8jm post a review for me?

 

check http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=28568
around page 6-8 for MilestonePC's comments on the w3j and a8jm. While there may not be a formal review of it in NBR's format.. there's enough information posted to give readers a good insight on their performance. For example.. even though the W3J and A8jm use an 8 cell and 6 cell respectively.. they seem to get very similar battery life. Their 3dmark05 scores are also pretty similar despite that one has 256mb dedicated while the other has 512mb dedicated..

Compal is a major ODM. I've never heard anything bad about them. In 2004, the CL 56 was all the rave.. but their 2005 models didn't really gather that much attention and people slowly forgotten them. Their 2006 models seem interesting. They are generally cheaper than their Asus counterparts.. but they also have a much smaller user base.

 

compal is the second largest manufacturer of notebooks in the world.

 

The W3j's speakers are also quite weak. They sound really quite good, but they don't get 1/2 the volume I would like. Also the 7600 and the X1600 are quite simmilar. The X1600 scores about 200pts better than the 7600 in 3dmark05. Either the W3j or A8jm would get my vote.

 

I've submitted my A8Jm review for posting at NBR. Should be up soon.

 

after reading a bunch of different messages, all things considered, it seems as if the w3j/a8jm is about the same in terms of performance. i'm waiting for Darricks review right now. I'm curious if the a8jm has a louder volume than the w3j.

jasonck08, i have a question for you. The w3j only has half of the volume you want but you would still recommend it over the other 3? that's interesting...is it loud enough to watch a dvd from 4 feet away and still make out the audio, or is it far too quiet?

I'm going to try to get more information about this chembook 4080 machine from one of the vendors whos selling it.


it seems like a lot of people are still deciding on the w3j vs the a8jm, i'm glad i'm not alone!

 

I'm also interested in people's opinion about the W3J's speaker volume... I found that the volume for the Z70VA was good, so maybe someone here who has used both the Z70VA and W3J could please post your comparison on this? Thanks.

 

Nothing special. Very average at best.

 

I don't have access to a Z70VA, so I can only comment on the w3j:
Initially I was somewhat disappointed by the max volume level of the w3j. I felt it was at best adequate for quiet environments. However, when I changed the advanced audio properties within the Asus DVD player software from "normal environment" to "noisy environment" the sound level dramatically improved. I did not even use the speakers at their max volume level any longer. It seems that the volume level might depend on which playback software and internal settings you use, and finally what your preferred listening volume is... Personally, I now quite happy with the volume output.

Hope this helps some.

 

That's good to hear. Have you tried changing other players like iTunes or WMP? And do those have the same effect?

 

I tried WMP, and changed the output to the higher setting and it made a huge difference! Highly recommend doing it. I'm using WMP 10, by the way.