Asus V1JP Notebook Review (Pics, Games)

Introduction and Overview

The ASUS V1JP is a new high-end 15.4” business notebook. The V1JP offers many features such as a fingerprint reader, webcam, multi-bay, spill proof keyboard and optional docking station. The ASUS V1JP reviewed here comes with a Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, an ATI X1700 graphics card, a WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen, 1x1GB DDR2 @ 667mhz ram, 120GB hard drive @5400 rpm, DVD-super multi dual layer, Windows XP Pro and 2 years ASUS Global Warranty with Global Zero Bright Dot Guarantee for 30 days.

Click on images in this review to see larger pictures



Reasons for Purchasing

I have waited exactly 16 months for a laptop with everything I could want in it. It has been roughly 6 months since ASUS announced the existence of the V1 series, and I knew I wanted one. It was finally released in the US on Dec. 19, 2006.

My main reasons for wanting a laptop is to have a portable computer that I can take to school, and bring it home and use it as a desktop replacement (DTR).



I have seen many laptops come and go, helped many pick the right laptop for others. Some of the many laptops I have considered, was the Samsung X60 series, ASUS G1 which is a hot seller right now, A8js and W3J series for portable performance, the Compal Hel80 and ASUS S96/Z96J because they are customizable.

However, I have had my eye and mind set on the V1JP and waited for its arrival into the North American market.

Where and How Purchased

I purchased the ASUS V1JP from MilestonePC.com. I have known them ever since my first days of shopping for a laptop. As previously mentioned above, the ASUS V1JP was just recently released on December 20th 2006 in the US, and Danny from MilestonePC.com shipped the notebook to me in 2 days from the US to Toronto, Canada. It was supposed to arrive in one day but there was a delay. Danny from MilestonePC.com called me immediately, telling me there was a delay and it will take one more day. I was happy to get a call to inform me about the delay.

This makes me one of the first to own an ASUS V1JP in North America. MileStonePC.com was very helpful, resourceful and their service impeccable. The notebook itself costs $2,000 USD ($2,300 CAD), the price is a little steep but worth every penny.

Specs of the Asus V1JP-AK006P

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0Ghz; 667mhz w/ 4mb Cache)
• Display: 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) Color Shine (Glossy) LCD CMO1523 (N154Z1-L02)
• Motherboard: Asus V1J w/ Intel 945PM Chipset
• Memory: 1024MB DDR2 667 (1x 1024mb)
• Hard Drive: 120GB @5400RPM SATA (Seagate)
• Graphic: ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 512MB
• Wireless: Built-In Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 A/B/G
• Optical: 8x Super Multi DVD Burner
• Battery: 8-Cell Li-Ion, 5200mAh, 77Whr
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional
• Dimensions: 13.29" (length) x 10.35" (width) x 0.98"-1.4" (height)
• Weight: ~5.9 LBS w/ US standard 8 cell and travelers drawer (6.5lbs with everything)
• Warranty: ASUS 2 Years Global Warranty + Zero Bright Dot LCD Policy (30 Days)
• Features: Fingerprint Reader & Trusted Platform Module, Built-in 1.3 mega pixel webcam, Spill-proof Keyboard, Modular Media Bay (Multi-bay), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, (Optional) Docking Station
• Ports: 1x Express Card, 1x VGA port, 1x Headphone-out jack (SPDIF), 1x Microphone-in jack, 1x RJ11 Modem, 1x RJ45 LAN, 3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x IEEE 1394 port, 1x TV-Out, 1x Infrared Port, 1x μ-DVI, 1x Docking Port, 1x 8-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/SD/Mini-SD/XD/Memory Stick/MS Pro/MS-Duo/MS-Pro-Duo)
  

What’s in the box?

• 1 x ASUS V1JP 15.4" Notebook
• 1 x Standard Capacity; 8 Cell; 4800mAh Li-Ion; 14.8V
• 1 x Asus Design Notebook Carry Case
• 1 x S-video to RCA Cable
• 1 x AC Adapter (19v DC, 1.5A, 90W)
• Software
• 1 x AsusDVD (CD)
• 1 x PowerDirector Pro (CD)
• 1 x Medi@Show (CD)
• 1 x Nero Burning Rom OEM Suite (CD)
• 1 x W3 Driver and Utility (CD)
• 1 x Asus Recovery Disc for Windows XP Professional (DVD)

The packaging of the laptop is nice and simple. The shipping package weight is 16lbs and the box protects the laptop well. The laptop itself is protected in a plastic foam sleeve, and then there is a foam sheet protecting the keyboard. Each accessory is individually wrapped in plastic. Overall the packing is simple and nice and provides ample protection.




Design

The design of the laptop is very sleek. It's smooth with silver accents, which make it a pleasure to view the laptop. The colour of the laptop is a dark grey matte look, and does not show finger prints very easily on the lid. The palm rest area is a grey colour which compliments the dark grey and silver accents on the notebook. This laptop definitely appeals to the business user with its looks.

My initial impression of the notebook was a “wow”. The more I used it the more the ASUS V1JP continued to impress me, especially the screen. The design and accents on this laptop are very nice, a masterpiece even.



Screen

The screen on the ASUS V1JP is a high resolution glossy screen. The native resolution is 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) which was one of the features I wanted in a notebook. After spending a day with the laptop I found one bright dot located in the bottom left corner. It is not annoying and mostly unnoticeable, but since ASUS provides Zero Bright Dot warranty I may take advantage of it. The screen is made by Chi Mei, CMO1523 (N154Z1-L02). This may the same screen as the ASUS G1.

The screen can scale pretty nicely, it is not perfect, but close. I changed the native resolution of the desktop to 1280x768 and the icons and text seems just a little bit off, it could just be my eyes being used to high resolutions.

Max Brightness---------------------------------------Low Brightness


The screen is very bright, and I do feel comfortable using it at the maximum brightness. There are 16 levels of brightness, and the lowest brightness does not turn off the screen. In order to conserve the battery I also feel comfortable at the 6th level of brightness. To further increase battery life, the last 3 lowest brightness levels are still usable, which is good in my opinion, since I want to maximize battery life.



The viewing angles of the screen are very good. This screen resembles the one used in the ASUS G1 laptop from comments I have read. The horizontal viewing angle is roughly 145 degrees on both sides!

The vertical viewing angle is roughly 110 degrees which allows for a reasonable amount of head room up and down.




The backlight is very good in my opinion; there is no light leakage evident which I am very happy about. The screen seems to not have any reflections when there is low light, however when there is a lot of lighting there is a noticeable amount of glare.



Keyboard

The keyboard is a black colour with grey letters on the keys. The sound of the keys is a soft click. The keyboard exhibits no flex when typing, if you press hard on the top right corner there is a small amount of flex there, but nothing to be concerned about. It would have been nice if the letters glowed in the dark or if the keyboard had a backlight.



The keyboard is easy to use; the keys are placed in reachable positions for your fingers to press. One thing that does bother me is the FN and CTRL key, the FN key is placed left of the CTRL key and this is rather annoying since I use the CTRL key often for shortcuts. However, I will adjust to this in time.

Touchpad

The touchpad has a textured feel to it and the colour is also a dark grey. There is a silver accent around the touchpad as well, which enhances the look of the laptop. The touchpad feels great while swiftly moving across the touchpad. The touchpad also has a scroll section which is indicated in silver to the right of the touchpad. There is also a hidden horizontal scroll, which allows you to scroll side to side.



The touchpad buttons are also a dark grey colour and they are relatively easy to press. The sound of the buttons is more of a soft click sound which I do not find to be intrusive when in a quiet room. There is a fingerprint reader that is placed in between the touchpad buttons, which I will discuss more about later on in the review.

Features

The ASUS V1JP has many features in which one can appreciate; these are what I factored into when purchasing the ASUS V1JP, when compared to other laptops.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth manager is very easy to use, it takes roughly 3 minutes to set up a profile for a Bluetooth device. Unfortunately, despite setup being easy for my Motorola RAZR V3i, the connection could not establish, and an error pops up. Oh well, I will further investigate on how to connect my phone with my laptop.

Webcam

The ASUS V1JP is equipped with a 1.3 mega pixel camera, located above the screen and does not swivel. The quality of the camera is decent, certainly better than other laptops I have seen.

This is an image from the webcam, it looks a little dark, however if you are using it in good overhead lighting conditions the picture comes out much better.



Multi-bay

The multi-bay is a feature that a few ASUS notebooks have. It allows the user to remove the optical drive and replace it with a modular bay battery to extend battery life. It also has the option of being a second hard drive to be placed into multi-bay. However, the hard drive tray is not provided by ASUS, both devices you will have to purchase separately. My estimate from the watt consumption per hour is that the modular bay battery would last roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Fingerprint Reader

The fingerprint reader is a great tool for extra security. I played around with the software and practiced taking fingerprints of my index finger. It does take some time using it, because it can measure, speed, length, and how hard you swipe your finger across the reader.

Docking Station

The docking station is one of the key features of this notebook. The docking station is a great addition to this notebook and has an array of ports. I did not purchase one, however I may in the future. The docking station has the following ports: 5x USB 2.0, DVI-D Video Out, VGA, S/PDIF out, Mic-in, Line in, Gigabit LAN, Parallel, Serial, PS/2, Power.

Sound System

The speakers are located to the left and right of the keyboard, where the sound can distribute evenly around the user. The soundcard is a SoundMAX Integrated HD Audio, but it seems not to offers much options. I will have to browse through the laptop and Internet to find more sound options.

The speakers is not up to par in my opinion, with all the sound options maxed, the volume output is very low. Also there is an evident lack in bass. However, I do not plan on using the laptop speakers very much.

On the other hand, using headphones, my experience was quite pleasing, the treble and bass through my Plantronics Audio 90 headset. I also use this headset for gaming as well, in which the sound quality was good. Overall the sound on the headphones was good, but not stellar like my desktop which uses Realtek HD Audio and my other desktop using SoundBlaster Live.

Input and Output Ports

The ASUS V1JP has an array of ports where the majority of ports are placed to the left and right side of the laptop.

The front side of the laptop there is only a latch in which you press to open the lid. The latch is simple and easy to use, I like it.

The right side has the following ports in order from left to right:

• Express Card
• 8-in-1 Card Reader
• Headphone + S/PDIF Jack
• Mic-In Jack
• USB 2.0
• IEEE 1394 port
• Heat Vent
• RJ11 Modem
• AC Adapter Plug

The left side has the following ports in order from left to right:

• RJ45 LAN
• S-Video Out
• VGA out
• 2x USB 2.0
• Mini DVI
• DVD SuperMulti

The back side hosts the battery compartment and Kensington Lock Port.

Underneath the laptop there is a Docking Station port, you can purchase the docking station as an option for the V1JP.

Above the keyboard there are 3 indicators and 7 buttons (left to right).

• Disk Usage, Num Lock, Caps Lock LEDs
• Buttons: The buttons are Direct Media, Power4Gear, ASUS Splendid Modes, Bluetooth, WIFI, Touchpad and the Power Button.

Wireless

The ASUS V1JP comes with a Built-In Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 A/B/G miniPCI, which is very nice since it only took me a couple of clicks to get wireless internet working. My router is a Linksys WRT54GC. Here's a quick rundown of the general connectivity I get:

• When I place the laptop 7 feet away from the router in the same room my signal strength is 4/5 bars.
• When I place the laptop in the next room I also receive 4/5 signal strength.
• When I take the laptop to the main floor (one floor away) I receive 3/5 signal strength.
• Lastly when I place the notebook in the basement (two floors away), I get 2/5 signal strength

Overall I am pleased with the signal strength and speed of the wireless internet.

Build Quality

The build quality in my opinion is good, but when you compare this to the wonderful ASUS V6 series laptop, there is some room for improvement. The materials used are high quality, the lid is constructed from magnesium alloy and the chassis is carbon fiber.



Firstly, the lid exhibits a considerable amount of flex, I personally am disappointed. Even though the lid is made from magnesium alloy, the lid flexes, and then shows ripples in the screen. I do feel a bit weary of the lid not being able to protect the screen at its highest potential.



Secondly, the hinges seem to exhibit some flexing but no creaking sound or anything, I do feel comfortable with the hinges, but I would have liked to have the same hinge design of the ASUS W3 series.

Thirdly, the wrist pads exhibits very little flex when excessive force is being applied. The feel of the wrist pads are nice, not a plastic feel, but a high quality feel to it.

Lastly, the overall quality, and feel of using the laptop is high, but the lid is a drawback in my opinion. I appreciate the fact that ASUS created a well designed laptop with great materials like magnesium alloy and carbon fiber but it could maybe have been thicker.

Size and Weight

The size of the laptop is just like any other 15.4” laptop. The dimensions are, 13.3" (length) x 10.4" (width) x 0.98"/1.4" (thickness). This is quite reasonable since the footprints of other laptops are roughly the same in all aspects as well.

The weight of the laptop is roughly 6.5lbs and that is with the main battery and optical drive in the laptop. The power brick and cords weight roughly 450 grams which is 1 pound. So when you add the power brick and cords to the laptop weight your total ends up being 7.5lbs, which is quite standard in my opinion.

The dimensions of the power brick are, 5” (length) x 1.2” (width) x 1.2” (height). I find that the power brick to be big, but I guess this is just average size for a power brick. I would have liked a smaller one if possible. The power brick does not get hot, it is just warm.



When placing the laptop onmy lap I don’t feel the weight at all, however I feel the heat coming from the right side of the laptop, especially where the vent is located. I am wearing jeans and the heat from that right side of the laptop makes my right thigh warm.

The weight in terms of carrying it in my hands feels ok, not light but not too heavy. When I place the laptop into my backpack, I can definitely feel the weight increase, but it is not uncomfortable.

Heat and Noise

When I first received the laptop and plugged it into the AC adapter, I noticed warm air coming out of the vent. Unfortunately the vent is located on the right on hand side and will blow warm and hot air onto your mouse hand, I found this to be annoying.



One of the first parts to get warm spots on the ASUS V1JP is the area of the vent and the touch pad, also the right palm rest gets warm too. I tested this during gaming. When doing light tasks the same warm spots on the laptop are slightly cooler than when gaming, which is ok in my opinion since this laptop has a reasonably sized footprint.

There are also cold spots on the laptop while gaming, the middle of the keyboard gets just slightly warm. The left side of the keyboard is cool, same with the left palm rest.

The cooling system in my opinion seems to be efficient, since it can remove the heat effectively to the right side of the laptop without spreading the heat to the left side of the laptop.

The noise of the laptop while doing light tasks is slightly audible. When doing medium tasks, the fan is audible, the fan noise will travel roughly 1 foot from the vent, and the sound is a slight “whir” sound. However, while doing heavy tasks like rendering and gaming the fan noise is audible to roughly 6 feet away, however if the speakers of the laptop are on, you will not hear it unless you try to listen for it. Also if you are wearing headphones you will not hear the fan noise while gaming, since the game sounds will overcome the fan noise.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in this because I want to be able to do light tasks without having any fan noise at all, because I will be taking this laptop to school and be using it in classrooms and in the library.

I used Everest Ultimate to gather temperature readings:

Idle Temps:

• HD – 40
• CPU – 50
• Motherboard – 52

Gaming Temps with Battlefield 2142

• HD – 42
• CPU – 82
• Motherboard – 63

Gaming Temps with NFS Carbon

• HD – 41
• CPU – 79
• Motherboard – 59

Battery Life and Real Life Experiences

The main battery of the ASUS V1JP is a 8 cell, rated at 14.8V and has 5200mAh, which is a total of 77mhw battery. You can see on CoolMon 2 how many W (watts) you are consuming per hour.



Battery Life Test 1 – My first battery life test, I unplugged the AC Adapter and the laptop automatically gets set to Quiet Office mode in Power4Gear, WIFI on, but Bluetooth off. The screen brightness automatically goes down a few levels.

I adjusted the brightness at 50%, 8/16 and the CPU runs at roughly 1000 MHz, but the CPU fluctuates a little. The fan noise that comes from the vent is a very faint “whir” sound that is audible from 2 feet away.

I spent most of my time browsing the internet, typing and viewing images. The weight of having the laptop on my lap was pretty much nonexistent.

However, the heat coming from the upper right hand side, it is not uncomfortable to use, but you do feel the heat. I have had the laptop in my lap for 30 minutes. The temperatures are, HD: 40, CPU: 52 and Motherboard: 54.

The battery lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes under these conditions, which I think is quite decent. The discharge rate was roughly 25W.



CoolMon 2 program

The program above is called CoolMon 2. This program displays and monitors many sensors and aspects one may desire to have on their desktop. The program uses plug-ins to get information and then it is displayed withinCoolMon 2. It can be downloaded here:
http://www.coolmon.org/

Battery Life Test 2 – My second battery life test will be about watching movies and DVDs. The settings I used were Quiet Office mode in Power4Gear, and max brightness. I placed my DVD Madagascar into the tray loaded optical drive and started to watch the movie. There was no noise from the optical drive; it was silent the entire time.

I had the laptop on my lap for 30 minutes and the heat was evident but did not burn, but you can feel it through jeans. The weight of the laptop is nice on your lap. The battery lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes and the discharge rate 31 W. You can easily watch a long movie on this battery with these settings.

Battery Life Test 3 – My third battery life test will be gaming on battery. The settings I will use is WIFI on for those who want to play online games on the go, max brightness, and Power4Gear set to Super Performance.

I played NFS Carbon with the above laptop settings, however when gaming on battery, I had to turn down all of the settings and graphics, in order for the laptop to play the game at reasonable FPS, and yes these are different settings than the ones below with the AC adapter.

The heat and noise was not as bad as I thought it would have been, it was quite reasonable and I was able to play the game on my lap for a good amount of time, but I also used a table as well.

The battery lasted an amazing 1 hour and 50 minutes , this shows how efficient the CPU and GPU are when heavily taxed by gaming.

Benchmarks

Boot time

To measure boot time, I used a program called BootLog XP.

• The boot time of the laptop when you first get it will be roughly, 108 seconds on AC adapter.
• The boot time of the laptop after you tweak the start up is roughly, 95 seconds on AC adapter.
• The boot time of the laptop with little programs on start up, but on battery is 99 seconds.
• Overall the boot time is rather slow in my opinion, I would have to spend more time tweaking to decrease the boot time

SuperPi

Here’s a screenshot of SuperPi, the ASUS V1JP calculated 2 million calculations in 1 minute and 3 seconds. This is beats my stock clocked desktop Core 2 Duo processor gets, 1 minute 10 seconds.



3DMark05

This tests the graphics and performance of the laptop. When the laptop is plugged in the X1700 is set at 472/396. When the laptop is running on battery the X1700 is set at 209/135.

The laptop scored 4217 points on stock drivers.



3DMark06

This tests the graphics and performance of the laptop with Shader Model 3

The laptop scored 1861 points on stock drivers.



PCMark05

This tests the overall performance of the laptop. When running PCMark05, for the first time I heard the hard drive spin, the sound was soft but audible.

The score is a respectful 4525


HDTune

One thing that is nice is that the hard drive makes no noise when accessing it. From my experience the hard drive is cool and noise free. The hard drive is a Seagate Momentus 5400.3 @5400rpm 120GB but it is partitioned, C drive is 66GB and the D drive is 43 GB.

Here’s a screenshot of HDTune which shows the performance of the hard drive.

Comparisons

Here’s an Excel document that compares my two desktops to the V1JP and two rival LG laptops.




Games

NFS: Carbon

This game is very fun to play, but it is very tough on the laptop there is some lag at these settings.

• Resolution: 1024x768
• AA: Off
• Texture Filtering: Anisotropic
• Graphic Settings: High/Max
• FPS: Ranges from 13 – 18 FPS

These settings here provide a much better result, gaming is smooth, no lag despite low FPS.

• Resolution: 800x600
• AA: 4x
• Texture Filtering: Anisotropic
• Graphic Settings: High/Max
• FPS: Ranges from 15 – 21 FPS

Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2 is a great game, many play it online, and the game runs very well on this laptop.

• Resolution: 1024x768
• AA: 6x
• Graphic Settings: High Details
• FPS: Ranges from 38 – 45 FPS

Oblivion

Oblivion is another game that many have played and is very tough on computers. The game plays nicely, no lag when in combat or outdoors.

• Resolution: 1280x768(*)
• AA: 0x
• Graphic Settings: Medium Details with HDR
• Indoor FPS: Ranges from 20 – 50 FPS
• Outdoor FPS: Ranges from 20– 25 FPS

Call of Duty 2

COD2 another great hit first person shooter that many play online as well. The game play is smooth, only some minor stutters if there is an excessive amount of smoke or bodies.

• Resolution: 1024x768
• AA: 4x
• Graphic Settings: Medium and low settings
• FPS: Ranges from 15 – 30 FPS

Medieval 2: Total War

The game looks great! Zoom in and out and the quality is quite nice, despite low FPS. The game run smooth for the most part, only minor amount of stutter if you zoom in too fast when there’s a big battle.

• Resolution: 1024x768
• AA: 4x
• AF: 4x
• Graphic Settings: Medium details
• FPS: Ranges from 15 – 25 FPS

Battlefield 2142

Lastly, Battlefield 2142 is an awesome game and decent graphics. The game play is smooth, except when excessive amounts of particles and smoke are present, and then you will feel some difficulty in rendering.

• Resolution: 1024x768
• Graphic Settings: Medium details
• FPS: Ranges from 15 – 25 FPS

Software

The ASUS V1JP comes with Windows XP Pro pre-installed, which is great since this is the operating system I prefer. When you first receive the laptop you will have to setup some basic Windows setup which takes 5-10 minutes. When you boot up the system, you will find an array of programs, some are useful but many are not.

I would like to point out that ASUS MultiFrame is a program I like a lot! It allows you to manipulate the sizes of windows automatically. For example you can take a word document and a web browser and have it vertically side by side, or manipulate it top and bottom. Moreover, you can take four windows and put each of them into all 4 corners of the screen, with equal sizes.



Unfortunately, there is a small amount of bloat ware which you will have to clear up, such as Norton and others, and these programs slow down your boot time. You get the following CDs in the box, Nero, ASUS V1J Drivers and Utilities, ASUS Recovery CD and 3-in-1 Multimedia Pack of CDs. There is a lot more programs installed on the laptop than the ones I mentioned above.

Accessories

There are two main accessories that come with the ASUS V1JP the ASUS laptop bag and the mini USB optical mouse made by Logitech. The laptop bag is nicely padded and has many compartments.



The mini USB mouse was a nice treat, since I didn’t have an extra mouse, I had to use this, and it was a pleasure to use. Nice and small, portable, and works great, I am considering taking it with me to school. The other accessories included are the mini DVI to DVI cable and the micro fiber cloth which is a great way to clean the screen from particles and dust.

Customer Support

I have not had the chance to use ASUS’s customer service, but I may have to since I do have a bright dot pixel (ZBD) at the bottom left corner of my LCD. This laptop comes with a 2-year ASUS Global Warranty and ZBD warranty which allows me to get a new screen.

Conclusion

Overall it is a pleasure to be one of the first to own the ASUS V1JP in North America. This laptop has a lot to offer in terms of performance, quality, features and decent battery life. I would recommend this laptop to business users looking for performance, graphic designing, security features, flexibility and a docking station. This laptop is my first laptop, and it is a pleasure to own the ASUS V1JP.

Pros:

• Screen (Great viewing angles, and brightness)
• Graphics (Decent performance for the X1700)
• Performance (Overall performance is just like my desktop except the graphics)
• Battery Life (Decent battery life, achieving 3 hours maximum)
• Multi-bay (A feature in which you can add a second hard drive and or battery)
• Docking Station (It has the ability for a docking station for those who need one)
• Fingerprint Reader (A great tool to help protect your files)
• Touchpad (Textured feel, worked well right away, with vertical and horizontal scroll)
• Keyboard (A pleasure to type on, little to no flex, spill proof)
• Build Quality (Good build quality all around except for the lid)
• Optical Drive (Quiet and works well, no problem reading my CDs or DVDs)
• Hard Drive (Seagate Momentus, quiet, cool and efficient)

Cons:

• Price (I would have at least wanted 2GB of Ram at this price point)
• Heat (The right side of the laptop gets very warm and hot)
• Noise (The laptop has fan noise which is audible when doing medium and heavy tasks)
• Lid (The quality of the lid, leaves more to be desired since it flexes)
• Weight (6.5lbs, you’ll feel it when traveling, especially with the power brick and cords)
• Hibernate (You have to press the Power Button in order to resume from Hibernation)
• Vent (The vent is unfortunately on the right side and blows hot air onto the mouse hand)
• Speakers (Low volume, little sounds options, good headphone quality)

See more Asus V1JP Pictures Here

 

Good viewing angles and overall package. I think that is (one of) the most powerful GPUs out there right now in a notebook. Surprised to hear NFS laggs on high settings.

 

Nice review. Are you going to repartition the HD to one or keep it as 2? I was going to repartition to one. Why do they put 2 partitions on there anyway? Don't get me wrong..I know why there are multi partitioned HD's I just don't recall other Laptops coming pre configured as such.

 

Solid review. It's been a while since I've read one so thorough. Great job!

The V1J is one of my favorite systems. If I were shopping right now, I think it would be one of the few I'd be considering.

The screen looks really good and has some excellent viewing angles. And your benchmarks scores are quite nice at stock settings.

My main gripe would be the right-hand vent. It probably wouldn't affect me much since I usually go with a more desktop-like setup but it could be irritating during on-the-go usage. I was also a little bummed that you felt the build quality could be improved.

All in all, this system is awesome and I congratulate you on finally getting what you wanted. Great review!

 

Nice Review and Nice Laptop!

 

Wonderful, perfect review. Will the X1600 in the V1J play those games as well?

Thanks for all the photos, cheers

 

I don't often comment on reviews, but I just wanted to say this was excellent. Very thorough and more unbiased than most. Many people tend to gloss over the shortcomings of their system since they have just dropped large cash on it, but you provide a good list of flaws. All the better for prospective buyers.

I hope this system works out for you

 

Thanks for the comments!

@copterguy - I am currently going to re-partition the hard drives. I want the C drive to have 25GB and D drive to have the rest, since I don't be using the laptop to download much.

@chrisyano - Yes that heat vent on the right side is a disappointment, but luckily I can tolerate the heat, but some may not be able to. The heat blows out to 3-4 inches outward.

@FiReWoLf - The X1600 is roughly 3% weaker than the X1700, the V1J comes with a core duo processor, which is roughly 10% slower than the Core 2 Duo. You also have to remember in North America, the V1JP is the only notebook available, the V1J did not come here.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

overclocking results?
(i really need to know desperately benchmarks 512 dedicated x1700 vs 512 dedicated 7700)

Considering the hype i see a lot of cons facing this laptop , including 4 important ones in my opinion. 1) The cpu gets WAY too hot (80+ degrees is dangerous)....2) Price (you just can't market a business laptop at this price without 2gb of ram)...3) Sound quality , if its anything like you say i really expected better....4) Vent on the right side (this one is just lol i could not tolerate that while gaming there's no way).

Props on a great review mysticgolem.

edit: on the positive sides its one of the best looking laptops ive seen. and im a real fan of that graphics card in a 15.4"

 

Whaa?? You actually BOUGHT a laptop? rofl, I remember first seeing you a very very long time ago on Notebookforum. Congrats!

Question however: are the Oblivion stats with HDR enabled? If so, with 6X AA that's pretty impressive. Even with 2 or 3 settings turned to medium, HDR/no AA at 1280x800, I can still only get 15-20fps in busy outdoor places on my A8Jm.

 

i noticed that as well. his oblivion settings are much better then what my x1600 in my s96j can handle with 2 gigs of ram. I play on high, but without any aa or af. although i do use max draw distance

 

Thank you for taking so much time to describe your machine Mystic Golem.


initial scores of the ati x1700 in the v1jp are exactly like the x1600 in your s96j line 98. Thats what gets you scratching your head about it is why use a different number to describe the same thing?
Although its possible there is a difference, ati describes it as exactly the same gpu.

It is running at exactly the same speed. It gets the same 3dmark scores.

The only difference I have seen described is something called hdcp support which is something dealing with copy protection from a blue ray or hd dvd movie.

You could be on to something as far as aa settings. But if you were it stands to reason that ati would advertise a difference and they never did.

If there is a difference Id be interested in x1700 owners discovering what it is. There are a lot of confused shoppers on nbr that ask about the x1700

If it uses less power, if it handles a game setting better. And even this hdcp, does it run a hd movie any differently?

 

Very well written review!

The performance on Oblivion certainly seems much improved compared to running on the X1600 (I have the S96J too).

I agree US$2000 is really high for a laptop that I thought should have been placed between the A8J series and the G1, considering the G1 has 2GB max RAM installed and cosmetic upgrades.

 

Great review.

 

the build of this notebook far exceeds the g1, hence the higher price. while the g1 is built slightly better then the a series or zs models it is still just pretty plastic, as opposed to the carbon fiber and magnesium used in the v1

 

Asus makes so many laptops with similar specs it gets to be quite confusing. Isn't this essentially a G1? Most other companies only have one notebook per screensize/graphics combination.

 

asus has the largest line up under one name brand.

 

A very informative review.

Is that 13.3" length dimension correct? 14.3" is more likely (a 15.4" LCD panel is 13.3" wide). Are the weights your measurements?

I considered the V1Jp as an alternative to my new Samsung X60plus (the internal hardware is almost the same), but was discouraged by the higher weight (partly attributable to the bigger battery) and higher price.

John

 

MysticGolem
V1J & V1Jp both same specs, only different in graphic card. V1J come with ATI X1600. Bothe C2D 2.0GHz.

Hey, how about a picture of u & your V1Jp. Dont be shy

 

As the V1Jp is limited in stock & new to the market, that y the price is a bit expensive. Yes, agreed with you that should have 2GB RAM with this price.

As for the vent, seem left side should be better for long hours usage in office work or gaming.

Sound, dont really care. I have couple of good external speaker in stock

Getting hot, that worry me a bit. Bit using a cooling pad hope will help to reduce those heat

 

thats a nice one

good review

 

good review, nice pictures.

merry xmas, btw

 

The RAM is spec'd at 1x1GB of DDR2. Is it possible to field upgrade to 2GB by adding a second stick of RAM ?

 

As for Overclocking, I will do that possibly around new years, because I have have 3 things to do, 1) Get a Modular Bay Battery, 2) LAN Party, and 3) Setup the laptop to my likings for school and get accessories.

No laptop is perfect, however, the V1JP meet most of my needs, luckily the heat and noise I will be able tolerate.

Haha, yah Danny announced it's release on the 19th, and within 3 days it was mine on 22nd, and the review on 24th.

As for Oblivion, yes I was running HDR, sorry I forgot to mention it.

I don't own any HD movies, I barely use CDs and DVDs, I knew that the X1700 was going to be very slightly better than the X1600.

The V1JP had the features and quality I wanted, plus a good GPU, of course I would have liked an Go 7700 512mb, but I'm happy with the X1700. As for the X1700 differences i'm not sure, I tried looking for them and couldn't find anything. Maybe someone can shed some light on it.

As for Oblivion, yes I was running HDR, sorry I forgot to mention it.

I was personally very impressed my Oblivions performance on this laptop, however I don't like the game, I prefer Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, but everyone wants to know how Oblivion runs, so I played that game for a while.

That was a typo, it is suppose to be 14.3" not 13.3". I had a ruler to measure. The dimensions are ASUS numbers but confirmed by me. The weight, I used my scale, to weigh the laptop, and came out 6.5 for the laptop and 7.5 with the power brick and cords.

I feel the same way, so I'm not too worried.

That is correct, the laptop come with 1 stick of 1gb ram, I confirmed that with Everest Ultimate. You can then purchase a 2nd stick of ram and put that into the notebook to have a total of 2GB. However, I would have liked to have the laptop come with 2GB stock, because of the price and because I don't own any computer with 2GB, they are all 1GB computers.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Oopse there's another mistake with Oblivion:

Currently in the review it states:
Resolution: 1280x768(*)
AA: 6x
Graphic Settings: High Details
Indoor FPS: Ranges from 20 – 50 FPS
Outdoor FPS: Ranges from 20– 25 FPS

It needs to be changed to this:
Resolution: 1280x768(*)
AA: 0x
Graphic Settings: Medium Details with HDR
Indoor FPS: Ranges from 20 – 50 FPS
Outdoor FPS: Ranges from 20– 25 FPS

I wrote all the game specs on a piece of paper, sorry for the confusion.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

wow
might be the most thorough review I've ever seen on NBR
seems like a great laptop.
really expensive though!

 

The GPU memory is clocked at 396MHz? That implies that DDR2 was used versus GDDR3 in the W3J. That's what is probably holding back the X1700, because although the GPU is clocked very high, it's limited by memory bandwidth. I guess you can never have everything.

Anyways, congradulations on getting the laptop you've been eyeing for so long.

 

I like the styling, it reminds me a lot of my Z33. I think the non-flush touchpad would drive me crazy though, once you go flush I don't think you can ever go back

Congrats and thanks for an excellent review!

 

Ahh, makes sense! If you almost doubled my frame rates with 6x AA enabled then I'd have a real head-scratcher. I have to agree with you though, I got kind of bored with Oblivion. I never get the feeling of accomplishing anything since getting more "powerful" spells just means bigger numbers, but then the things you fight have an equal increase in their stats so you never really get to feel powerful unless you slaughter innocent animals/people. To my credit, I can 1 hit KO deer now. By now I mean 3 months ago since I haven't played it since.

I took my A8Jm to its first LAN party 2 days ago, felt pretty good to have the smallest AND the fastest laptop (smallest until someone showed up with an iBook, grr)

Merry Xmas, nice review and thanks for responding to all the questions!

 

ahhh yes the 6x aa mistake explains all the confusion. I was tempted to try some aa just to see if it was one of those flukes where turning up the AA wasnt really stressing ati cards. but oh well, guess not.

 

Yes, this makes much more sense. I was beginning to think that the X1700 must have the equivalent power of the Go7900 series for a moment.

 

Thanks so much for your honest review MysticGolem !
Like you I have been searching for some time before buying my first lappie.
I am due to buy one in the next few days and the V1J is likely my first choice.
I was sad to read about the laptop cover flex given the mag/alloy lid.
Options for buying an Asus in Europe (especially Spain) are either REALLY expensive or non-existent. Currently looking to buy online in the US.
Would you still recommend MilestonePC for after sales support? It´s not easy to find good tech & customer support these days
How did the ZBD screen replacement go?
Thanks again for all your work.
Cheers
FiLs

 

I was bummed about the screen flex as well, it would have been an impulse purchase if not for that issue. Now I'm researching other options as well.

Thanks for the thorough review!
Matt

 

Guys I have question.

Great review. Does this notebook support up to 4 GB of memory or only up to 2 GB ?

Thanks.