Well, since I could find absolutely no in depth reviews on the Z70Va, I decided to do my own. 
Doom 3 benchmarks, in addition to (probably) HL2 will be up in the next day or so, as will pictures. Also, just as a note about HyperMemory... dxdiag does not display the correct "memory." It only displays PHYSICAL VRAM, which doesn't include the HyperMem. 3DMark05 will, on the other hand, detect the amount correctly.
Asus Z70Va (“Refresh”)
•15.4” WSXGA+ screen
•Pentium M 760 2.0ghz w/ Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Cooling Compound
•2GB (2x1GB) PC4200 DDR2 RAM
•128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700
•Toshiba MK1032GAX 100GB Hard Drive
•V.92 56K Fax Modem
•8X DVD±R (DL) / 4X DVD±RW / CD-RW / DVD Combo Drive
•Internal v.92 56k Modem
•Internal IntelPRO 2915ABG Wireless Ethernet/LAN (802.11 a+b+g)
•Internal Bluetooth Wireless Card
•4-in-1 Card Reader w/ SD/MS/MMC/MSPRO support
•S-Video out, 4 USB2.0, 1 PCMCIA, IR, IEEE Firewire
•8-cell Smart Lithium Ion Battery
•Approx 13.9" W x 10.7" D x 1.34" H
•6.0lbs (5.60lbs w/ Traveler’s Drawer)
•Windows XP Professional SP2
Free Accessories Included:
•Deluxe Carry Case
•Free Notebook Essentials Software
•2 year ChemUSA warranty w/ one-way paid shipping
Usage
I am a college student majoring in Computer Science, so I was looking for something that was fairly light, but fairly powerful as well. I’d definitely consider myself a gamer, so I also wanted something with a video card that packed as much of a punch as possible without sacrificing weight. I had originally purchased the Z71V from Discount Laptops, but returned it due to the glaring “sparkle” problem, so the screen was a bit on the important side this time around.
I’d have to carry this to and from class, which is a fairly arduous task, including walking up and down several flights of stairs. Although battery life wasn’t a primary point for me, I wanted to have it “just in case.” Plus, my university has a very nice “Courtyard” area that offers full wireless access, and the offer is something I’d like to take up. So while battery life wasn’t important, the fact that I was looking for something that was lightweight but powerful pretty much guaranteed a decent battery.
First Impressions
The Z70 line of notebooks from Asus is not exactly new; the entire line is based off of the M6 chassis design which, I’m sure most people will agree, is a very nice looking case. When looking at photos of the precursor, the Z70V, I was worried that the fact that the top part of the notebook extends over the bottom part (like an overhang) would make it look a bit campy. Now that its here, it’s hard to even notice, and the rest of the laptop design diverts attention anyway.
Aesthetics
That being said, the case itself is beautiful. The outside of the case is made up of a carbon-based alloy, which makes it a pretty tough laptop. Most laptop manufacturers use plastic for the entire case, but can easily be broken if dropped, hit, and so on. As you might’ve guessed, carrying the laptop to and from class opens it up to all kinds of abuse, and I’m happy to say that I feel very comfortable if it bumps against things—when it happens by chance, of course. The top and sides of the notebook are a rustic gray color, while the front and lower sides are pleasant silver.
The inside of the case looks even better. The screen itself is surrounded by a dark, almost black color, which hides the speakers and accentuates the screen. When I first noticed the keyboard, I also found a surprise… there’s actually a rubberized coating all around the keyboard itself. I wish they had extended this to the palm rests, however; the Ferrari 4005WLMi features the same rubberized material, and it apparently makes for a comfortable rest. The rest of the keyboard area looks stellar as well, with the same gray that covered the outside covering the rest of this area as well.
Another very noticeable area is the touchpad. The touchpad itself is a dark black, and is bordered by a brushed silver finish. One neat feature is that the buttons are not “buttons” per say. They are part of the silver outline and are not beveled in anyway. From reading reviews of other notebooks with a similar design, people seemed to dislike the fact that the buttons weren’t raised. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference, and it wasn’t uncomfortable in the least.
The lights and buttons are also well-placed. The Z70Va features five lights on the lower left hand side of the front of the laptop, with indicators for the CD player, power, battery, Bluetooth, and wireless connectivity, in that order. Likewise, there are lights near the top right corner of the notebook that are embedded in the aforementioned rubber coating, for hard drive load, numlock, and caps lock. Immediately to the right of this trio are five custom buttons and the power button. The five custom buttons are for Bluetooth, launching the default browser, wireless connectivity, disabling the touchpad, and a special button for the included Power4Gear program. What’s special about the power button is a trivial, but neat design; it features a larger outer circle of brushed metal, but then has a sunken area covered by clear plastic, where the glowing “power” symbol lies.
The case is, quite frankly, one of the sturdiest I’ve seen, easily comparable to the much-acclaimed IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad line. Hinge movement is very smooth, and the screen stays very sturdy when closed. I was a bit worried when I noticed how close the screen was to the keys, and knowing that this could prove troublesome if the screen was pushed too hard, I decided to give it a test myself. Unless I planned on attempting to literally crush the notebook, the screen didn’t even budge an inch. When pressing on the back of the display to test for distortions, I was literally afraid of putting my fist through the case before I encountered any screen problems. If it was said once, it begs to be said again: this case looks like it could take a beating.
Display
In my introduction, I said that I wanted a notebook that could play games but not put me in therapy, and the X700 delivers just that. Although most people compare the Z70Va’s X700 to the Z71V’s 6600 Go, the results simply do not compare. Whereas the Z71V has gotten around the 2200s mark, I was able to receive the following benchmarks:
Stock Drivers (350mhz / 300mhz): 2338
Catalyst Mobility 5.8 (350mhz / 300mhz): 2524
Catalyst Mobility 5.8 (350mhz / 350mhz): 2687
Doom 3
Clock Speed: 350MHz / 300 MHz
1024x768:40.7
1024x768 (4X AA / 8X Aniso):23.3
1280x1024:27.6
1280x1024 (4X AA / 8x Aniso):15.5
Clock Speed: 350MHz / 350 MHz
1024x768:46.7
1024x768 (4X AA / 8X Aniso):26.1
1280x1024:30.5
1280x1024 (4X AA / 8x Aniso):16.3
There are a few notes that should be made. First off, ATI has introduced an interesting feature into their cards: Hypermemory. Basically, it uses existing memory (RAM) to “add” to your dedicated video card RAM. The X700 used in the Z70Va is 128mb, but due to this Hypermemory, the full memory is actually 256mb. The second note is that the stock drivers did not have Hypermemory enabled; this option was first enabled in Catalyst Mobility 5.7. Thirdly, the X700 has shown the ability to be overclocked far past the frequencies I attempted. If you’re familiar with Futuremark’s ORB database, you can find users who have achieved over 3,000 marks using ~400 MHz frequencies.
But as it always goes, a video card is only as powerful as the screen that displays its graphics. The screen is great! With a resolution of 1680x1050 (WSXGA+), detail is very sharp. One specific event was the “Return to Proxycon” test; the lighting and edges are very crisp and vibrant. On the desktop, nothing is blurry, and full-screen backgrounds look, at lack of a better word, fantastic. There was, however, some light leakage that I only notice on startup. At the top and bottom of the screen, there is sometimes a fuzzy white “glow” emanating from the edges, yet this problem isn’t noticeable once the desktop loads.
Processor
The Z70Va comes with basically any choice of Pentium M processors, from 1.6 GHz to 2.26 GHz. Since I had originally purchased the 1.86 GHz Z71V, I decided to take advantage of Intel’s price drop and just go with 2.0 GHz. The processor itself is just as fast as the 1.86 GHz, and then some. The desktop boots in under 20 seconds or so, and performance is snappy. To test CPU performance, I used Super PI to calculate the value of Pi to two million digits.
Asus Z70Va (2.0GHz Alivso Pentium M): 1m 39s
Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi (2.0GHz Turion 64 ML-37): 1m 50s
Compaq R4025 (Athlon 64 3200+): 1m 48s
Dell Inspiron XPS2 (2.0GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 36s
HP Pavillion ZD8000 (2.8GHz Pentium 4-M 520): 1m 50s
IBM ThinkPad (1.86GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 45s
Sony VAIO S380 (1.86GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 43s
Toshiba Tecra S2 (2.00 GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 41s
The 2.0GHz Pentium M runs at around 58-64*C max with 100% load, and drops down to around 49-50*C when idling at 800MHz. Although the “critical” point for the Pentium M is somewhere above 100*C, a cooler processor typically makes for a longer lasting system. It should also be noted that I underclocked the minimum FID (5x) to .700V, and the maximum FID (15x) to 1.068. Both of these reduced the amount of heat emitted, but do not affect processor performance. Overall, I’m fairly impressed by the cooling, but I have to note that the air coming out of the vents in both the top, right, and back of the notebook are usually spewing out some fairly hot air when under heavy loads. There isn’t much of a negative effect,
Memory
One of the biggest problems with the new DDR2 memory is that it has a much higher latency than the otherwise slower DDR. This supposedly makes for some slower performance in DDR2.
I originally purchased the system with just one stick of PC4200 DDR2 RAM, but purchased an extra 1GB stick from Newegg. The memory is error free and working fine, but I haven’t really noticed any particular speed gains from the switch. To test out any gains or losses I may have suffered, I ran SiSoftware Sandra’s “Memory Bandwidth Benchmark,” a test that really stresses the RAM. The bandwidth for Integers came out to be about 2897 MB/s, while Floating point came to be 2962 MB/s. Compared to the proposed speeds, the Integer result falls slightly short of the target, while the Floating point was actually a whole 1 MB/s faster.
The DDR2’s higher latency of 4 rears its ugly head, conning the existing RAM out of almost 400 MB/s each compared to a desktop system equipped with the same memory with a latency of 2.
Storage
Perhaps the biggest controversy over notebook hard drives is spindle speeds, and which is faster. With 7200RPM drives becoming more common, it’s come into question as to which is faster: 7200RPM or 5400RPM? Being that the highest available notebook drive available with a 7.2k spindle speed is only 60GB, while the common 5.4k drives are over 100GB, the issue falls down to a few factors.
Firstly, although a 7200RPM 60GB hard drive spins faster, the density of the data on the disk is less than that of a 5400RPM 100GB. That means that the heads have to move more on a 7200RPM 60GB drive than a slower 100GB drive, which has a much higher data density. So the question is, does the data density or the spindle speed prove victor?
According to SiSoftware Sandra’s results, size wins the average read speed race. Where the Z70Va’s 5400RPM 100GB drive gets a 29 MB/s read speed (3 MB/s under the expected value), the 7200RPM 60GB drive received a speed of 19MB/s. To be fair, however, the 7200RPM 60GB drive is much better for reading small files quickly, but most people will be more interested in the larger 100GB drive for special reasons alone. Since most people won’t benefit from a 7200RPM drive, the 100GB drive is probably a better choice.
Input (keyboard, touchpad, etc.)
The biggest gripe that most people have with laptops is the smaller keyboard. Since fitting a full sized keyboard into a laptop is really only possible in a few very large notebooks, it’s important that the smaller keyboard make up for its size through comfort and quality. Prior to this notebook, I used the Z71V and a larger Sony Vaio, and I was disappointed with their shallow key depth. Plus, my fingers had a tendency to get caught under the rough edges of the Z71V’s keys, which made typing more than a little uncomfortable, especially when not sitting on a flat surface.
The Z70Va feature much deeper keys than the previously mentioned laptops, and it tends to make all the difference. Keys feel very solid to the touch, and typing on it makes it easy to forget it’s just a notebook. However, one of the biggest negatives is the poor positioning of the “Fn” and “Ctrl” keys. Instead of having the “Ctrl” key on the far left, and the “Fn” key right next to it, the positions are reversed, creating a very counter-intuitive arrangement. It takes a conscious effort to force my fingers to hit the “Ctrl” key, even after having experience with it, which makes using keyboard shortcuts much more of a hassle than they need to be. Although I would normally attribute this to be a minor complaint, it gets very annoying when you’re trying to move around programs.
The Touchpad is alright, but as far as all Touchpads go, it’s not the input device of choice. The Synaptic drivers included with the laptop allow for a variety of features—from “hot spots” on the touchpad to scrolling—but doesn’t allow for scrolling in alternative browsers (like Firefox) until you upgrade to the latest Synaptic driver yourself. Even with sensitivity set to high, the touchpad still felt woefully unresponsive. I almost wished I could jack up the speed even higher. Unfortunately, since the touchpad is probably maxed out just so it doesn’t take three-four swipes of your finger to jump across the screen, you’ll probably run into the same problem I did with external mice: it’s TOO sensitive! Overall, the pointing device is a minor complaint, especially since touchpads are typically on the same level as ball mice, and most people don’t expect to use them except when on the go.
Sound
Prior to receiving my Z70Va, I noticed that many reviews of past products on the M6 line praised the four-speaker setup of the chassis. I have no choice but to second that compliment, as the speakers manage to deliver sound that eliminates the “tinny” effect of most laptops. While it’s good for on the go, the base is still lacking, and the sound quality is not exactly going to blow anybody’s mind. It’s pretty much assumed that you’ll be using some form of external sound, be it headphone or speaker.
External sound also sounds great, with very clear sound. I decided to give Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a test run just to test out the sound. EAX delivered nicely, with the on board (but high quality) card providing more than ample power. Additionally, there is a digital SPDIF port available.
Software Suite
When it comes to controlling your computer, Power4Gear will most likely by your tool of choice. It’s a nifty utility that allows you to use pre-defined profiles to control the behavior of your computer when using AC or battery. Quite possibly the biggest negative is the fact that you can’t add your own profiles, although you can modify the existing ones—but only by changing values. The one saving grace is that the program itself is able to be controlled by the Power4Gear button on the top right of the keyboard, which allows for easy switching between the provided profiles. Secondly is the NB Probe program. Although it’s purely informational, NBP provides useful information about your notebook in a very attractive interface. Thirdly is WinFlash, a freely offered program that allows for a quick and painless BIOS flash. Although its freely downloadable, its nice to see that Asus provides such tools for users who aren’t comfortable with searching out and downloading their own programs—especially for a procedure as delicate as flashing the BIOS.
Support
Fortunately, I have yet to ever interface directly with Asus, but thanks to the current setup of resellers, you’ll probably never have to. All of your transactions usually go through a reseller, and all future support requests continue with them. Personally, I was a little wary of going with these resellers… in my life, brand names have always meant definite safety—and usually high quality. However, I’m really glad I decided to stay away from brand names; there are few companies in the computer industry that can claim to have the quality I’ve found in the reseller I decided to go with, DiscountLaptops.com.
When I originally purchased my Z71V, I was off and on about wanting to return it, and thinking there was a 30-day return policy, I waited until about halfway through—only to discovered it was 15-day return policy, and the last day to ship it was the very next day! The staff at DL had an RMA waiting for me in about 10-15 minutes, and I shipped it out the next day. This was in addition to the countless questions I’d asked, with everything from additional pictures to information being asked. If I ever had to wait more than half an hour, it was usually the dead of night—so it usually took an hour or so. Having had a Dell and a Sony, I can honestly say that I’d email them and expect an email back the next business day—if even at all.
I highly, highly recommend www.discountlaptops.com. I’ll vouch for their support any day, and their prices and selection are very nice as well. However, I’d like to point out that nearly all the resellers are very helpful, and most are willing to provide support even if you didn’t purchase from them.
Battery
One of my requirements, as stated above, was not battery life, but it was something I'd like to have, and the Z70Va surprisngly delivers almost 4 hours of battery life, clocking in at 3:44 exactly. To test it, I basically used the laptop for about an hour and a half copying pictures (which will be up later tonight, since they came out blurry), surfing the web, checking email, and typical office stuff. However, since I wasn't going to just sit there using the notebook aimlessly, I decided to watch a little anime with it. CPU and OS load was constantly above 50%, and hard drive access was low to moderate. THis gave a very nice indication of what an average consumer would be using, although it may have drained the battery a bit faster than if I had continued using the internet, etc.. That being said and done, the wireless was on the whole time.
When I went to battery, Power4Gear (Asus's handy included utility) automatically clocked down to 500mhz (25% performance) under "Battery Optimized." Likewise, the ATI card clocked its core down from 350 to 200mhz; considering the 6600 Go jumps from 300mhz to 100mhz for desktop purchases alone, I'm wondering what would happen if the card were underclocked even further. Undoubtably, this may push the battery life well over four hours, but I can't say anything for sure into its been tested. For a laptop of this caliber, its a fantastic showing, and I hardly noticed any speed decreases, even with several windows open. Although the difference between 800mhz and 500mhz isn't much, I'm still surprised that it was able to last as long as it did.
Extras!
Everybody loves free stuff, so imagine when I realized I wouldn’t just be getting a great notebook, but also a free deluxe carrying case! Of course, that isn’t exactly promising. When I first got the Z71V, the case that came with it was acceptable for a free one, but not really very pleasing on the eyes. Not only was it very plainly black, but there wasn’t a single Asus marking on it accept for an attachable ID tag. I’m glad to see that they made several changes to this new bag, and it looks a lot classier!
Although the ID tag is back, the bag itself has had a few changes made to it. In addition to having what look to be deeper side pockets, most of the internal material has a beveled “Asus” logo tiled across it, but not so much as to become too much of an eyesore. The zippers also feature the same logo on them, but the nicest feature of all is the larger “plaque” on the front of it. It’s not very large (perhaps .6” x 2”), but it has a blue Asus logo against a silver background. Safety wise, the bag is decent in padding, but I wish that they had made the area underneath the laptop a little more sturdy; there’s basically a strip of padding that’s thinner than the actual compartment, and it looks like it could be very easy for the laptop to bypass the padding entirely and hit the nice hard ground.
DiscountLaptops was also kind enough to provide the “Notebook Essentials” software. The suite comes with a long list of some nice software: DiskKeeper Lite 8.0, EasyFax, Eudora Pro Email, ExpensAble 6, Game Drive, iAnnotate-It 2, iCapture-It 2, iOrganize-It 2, iClean for Windows, Spam Catcher, StuffIt Standard 8.0, INFOtrack Personal 2004, LapLink Gold 11.5, McAfee VirusScan Online, MusicMatch Jukebox 8.2, OpenOffice 1.0, Photo Explorer 8.0, RealOne Player, World Tours Golf, and Zoner Draw 3.0. If you’re not impressed by the sheer amount of programs, take a look at the caliber of a few of them. DiskKeeper is a very powerful defragmenting program, even though it’s a Lite edition. McAfee Virus Scan is a $40 value in itself, and Open Office is a great alternative to the costlier Microsoft Office.
On separate disks are copies of Quicken 2005: New User Edition and Nero OEM suite for the DVD+-RW drive. Fortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Also included are copies of Asus Power Director DE, AsusDVD player, and Media Show SE. While obviously not being brand name software, it’s a surprisingly full featured package of programs that most people will actually use.
Conclusion
The Asus Z70Va is a full featured, powerful laptop. The X700 definitely makes it more appealing to gamers, but it is by no means a gamer-only laptop by far. Its very sleek and professional looking, but its definitely a lot more powerful than most business users will need. Students looking for a notebook to take to and from class—with a little gaming on the side—need look no further than the Asus Z70Va. With the pricing several hundred dollars below a similarly priced Ferrari 4005, instance, it’s a choice that won’t break your wallet either. Overall, it’s easy to see that the negatives carry far less weight than the positives, and I recommend this notebook for anybody looking for power and versatility, but don’t want to end up hoisting around an 8+lb notebook.
Pros:
•Top notch performance while remaining very portable
•Powerful graphics card
•Beautiful screen
•Comfortable keyboard
•Included Bluetooth
•Great quality for laptop speakers, although lacking in bass
•Professional look and feel
•Enormous suite of included software
Cons:
•Misplaced “Fn” and “Ctrl” keys
•Bottom of laptop gets VERY hot
•Hot air is constantly blowing out of all three of the vents
•Touchpad driver is not up to date, not useable with Firefox until update
EDIT: Added battery comments, fixed Asus reference and changed it to Discount Laptops.
Doom 3 benchmarks, in addition to (probably) HL2 will be up in the next day or so, as will pictures. Also, just as a note about HyperMemory... dxdiag does not display the correct "memory." It only displays PHYSICAL VRAM, which doesn't include the HyperMem. 3DMark05 will, on the other hand, detect the amount correctly.Asus Z70Va (“Refresh”)
•15.4” WSXGA+ screen
•Pentium M 760 2.0ghz w/ Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Cooling Compound
•2GB (2x1GB) PC4200 DDR2 RAM
•128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700
•Toshiba MK1032GAX 100GB Hard Drive
•V.92 56K Fax Modem
•8X DVD±R (DL) / 4X DVD±RW / CD-RW / DVD Combo Drive
•Internal v.92 56k Modem
•Internal IntelPRO 2915ABG Wireless Ethernet/LAN (802.11 a+b+g)
•Internal Bluetooth Wireless Card
•4-in-1 Card Reader w/ SD/MS/MMC/MSPRO support
•S-Video out, 4 USB2.0, 1 PCMCIA, IR, IEEE Firewire
•8-cell Smart Lithium Ion Battery
•Approx 13.9" W x 10.7" D x 1.34" H
•6.0lbs (5.60lbs w/ Traveler’s Drawer)
•Windows XP Professional SP2
Free Accessories Included:
•Deluxe Carry Case
•Free Notebook Essentials Software
•2 year ChemUSA warranty w/ one-way paid shipping
Usage
I am a college student majoring in Computer Science, so I was looking for something that was fairly light, but fairly powerful as well. I’d definitely consider myself a gamer, so I also wanted something with a video card that packed as much of a punch as possible without sacrificing weight. I had originally purchased the Z71V from Discount Laptops, but returned it due to the glaring “sparkle” problem, so the screen was a bit on the important side this time around.
I’d have to carry this to and from class, which is a fairly arduous task, including walking up and down several flights of stairs. Although battery life wasn’t a primary point for me, I wanted to have it “just in case.” Plus, my university has a very nice “Courtyard” area that offers full wireless access, and the offer is something I’d like to take up. So while battery life wasn’t important, the fact that I was looking for something that was lightweight but powerful pretty much guaranteed a decent battery.
First Impressions
The Z70 line of notebooks from Asus is not exactly new; the entire line is based off of the M6 chassis design which, I’m sure most people will agree, is a very nice looking case. When looking at photos of the precursor, the Z70V, I was worried that the fact that the top part of the notebook extends over the bottom part (like an overhang) would make it look a bit campy. Now that its here, it’s hard to even notice, and the rest of the laptop design diverts attention anyway.
Aesthetics
That being said, the case itself is beautiful. The outside of the case is made up of a carbon-based alloy, which makes it a pretty tough laptop. Most laptop manufacturers use plastic for the entire case, but can easily be broken if dropped, hit, and so on. As you might’ve guessed, carrying the laptop to and from class opens it up to all kinds of abuse, and I’m happy to say that I feel very comfortable if it bumps against things—when it happens by chance, of course. The top and sides of the notebook are a rustic gray color, while the front and lower sides are pleasant silver.
The inside of the case looks even better. The screen itself is surrounded by a dark, almost black color, which hides the speakers and accentuates the screen. When I first noticed the keyboard, I also found a surprise… there’s actually a rubberized coating all around the keyboard itself. I wish they had extended this to the palm rests, however; the Ferrari 4005WLMi features the same rubberized material, and it apparently makes for a comfortable rest. The rest of the keyboard area looks stellar as well, with the same gray that covered the outside covering the rest of this area as well.
Another very noticeable area is the touchpad. The touchpad itself is a dark black, and is bordered by a brushed silver finish. One neat feature is that the buttons are not “buttons” per say. They are part of the silver outline and are not beveled in anyway. From reading reviews of other notebooks with a similar design, people seemed to dislike the fact that the buttons weren’t raised. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference, and it wasn’t uncomfortable in the least.
The lights and buttons are also well-placed. The Z70Va features five lights on the lower left hand side of the front of the laptop, with indicators for the CD player, power, battery, Bluetooth, and wireless connectivity, in that order. Likewise, there are lights near the top right corner of the notebook that are embedded in the aforementioned rubber coating, for hard drive load, numlock, and caps lock. Immediately to the right of this trio are five custom buttons and the power button. The five custom buttons are for Bluetooth, launching the default browser, wireless connectivity, disabling the touchpad, and a special button for the included Power4Gear program. What’s special about the power button is a trivial, but neat design; it features a larger outer circle of brushed metal, but then has a sunken area covered by clear plastic, where the glowing “power” symbol lies.
The case is, quite frankly, one of the sturdiest I’ve seen, easily comparable to the much-acclaimed IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad line. Hinge movement is very smooth, and the screen stays very sturdy when closed. I was a bit worried when I noticed how close the screen was to the keys, and knowing that this could prove troublesome if the screen was pushed too hard, I decided to give it a test myself. Unless I planned on attempting to literally crush the notebook, the screen didn’t even budge an inch. When pressing on the back of the display to test for distortions, I was literally afraid of putting my fist through the case before I encountered any screen problems. If it was said once, it begs to be said again: this case looks like it could take a beating.
Display
In my introduction, I said that I wanted a notebook that could play games but not put me in therapy, and the X700 delivers just that. Although most people compare the Z70Va’s X700 to the Z71V’s 6600 Go, the results simply do not compare. Whereas the Z71V has gotten around the 2200s mark, I was able to receive the following benchmarks:
Stock Drivers (350mhz / 300mhz): 2338
Catalyst Mobility 5.8 (350mhz / 300mhz): 2524
Catalyst Mobility 5.8 (350mhz / 350mhz): 2687
Doom 3
Clock Speed: 350MHz / 300 MHz
1024x768:40.7
1024x768 (4X AA / 8X Aniso):23.3
1280x1024:27.6
1280x1024 (4X AA / 8x Aniso):15.5
Clock Speed: 350MHz / 350 MHz
1024x768:46.7
1024x768 (4X AA / 8X Aniso):26.1
1280x1024:30.5
1280x1024 (4X AA / 8x Aniso):16.3
There are a few notes that should be made. First off, ATI has introduced an interesting feature into their cards: Hypermemory. Basically, it uses existing memory (RAM) to “add” to your dedicated video card RAM. The X700 used in the Z70Va is 128mb, but due to this Hypermemory, the full memory is actually 256mb. The second note is that the stock drivers did not have Hypermemory enabled; this option was first enabled in Catalyst Mobility 5.7. Thirdly, the X700 has shown the ability to be overclocked far past the frequencies I attempted. If you’re familiar with Futuremark’s ORB database, you can find users who have achieved over 3,000 marks using ~400 MHz frequencies.
But as it always goes, a video card is only as powerful as the screen that displays its graphics. The screen is great! With a resolution of 1680x1050 (WSXGA+), detail is very sharp. One specific event was the “Return to Proxycon” test; the lighting and edges are very crisp and vibrant. On the desktop, nothing is blurry, and full-screen backgrounds look, at lack of a better word, fantastic. There was, however, some light leakage that I only notice on startup. At the top and bottom of the screen, there is sometimes a fuzzy white “glow” emanating from the edges, yet this problem isn’t noticeable once the desktop loads.
Processor
The Z70Va comes with basically any choice of Pentium M processors, from 1.6 GHz to 2.26 GHz. Since I had originally purchased the 1.86 GHz Z71V, I decided to take advantage of Intel’s price drop and just go with 2.0 GHz. The processor itself is just as fast as the 1.86 GHz, and then some. The desktop boots in under 20 seconds or so, and performance is snappy. To test CPU performance, I used Super PI to calculate the value of Pi to two million digits.
Asus Z70Va (2.0GHz Alivso Pentium M): 1m 39s
Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi (2.0GHz Turion 64 ML-37): 1m 50s
Compaq R4025 (Athlon 64 3200+): 1m 48s
Dell Inspiron XPS2 (2.0GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 36s
HP Pavillion ZD8000 (2.8GHz Pentium 4-M 520): 1m 50s
IBM ThinkPad (1.86GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 45s
Sony VAIO S380 (1.86GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 43s
Toshiba Tecra S2 (2.00 GHz Alviso Pentium M): 1m 41s
The 2.0GHz Pentium M runs at around 58-64*C max with 100% load, and drops down to around 49-50*C when idling at 800MHz. Although the “critical” point for the Pentium M is somewhere above 100*C, a cooler processor typically makes for a longer lasting system. It should also be noted that I underclocked the minimum FID (5x) to .700V, and the maximum FID (15x) to 1.068. Both of these reduced the amount of heat emitted, but do not affect processor performance. Overall, I’m fairly impressed by the cooling, but I have to note that the air coming out of the vents in both the top, right, and back of the notebook are usually spewing out some fairly hot air when under heavy loads. There isn’t much of a negative effect,
Memory
One of the biggest problems with the new DDR2 memory is that it has a much higher latency than the otherwise slower DDR. This supposedly makes for some slower performance in DDR2.
I originally purchased the system with just one stick of PC4200 DDR2 RAM, but purchased an extra 1GB stick from Newegg. The memory is error free and working fine, but I haven’t really noticed any particular speed gains from the switch. To test out any gains or losses I may have suffered, I ran SiSoftware Sandra’s “Memory Bandwidth Benchmark,” a test that really stresses the RAM. The bandwidth for Integers came out to be about 2897 MB/s, while Floating point came to be 2962 MB/s. Compared to the proposed speeds, the Integer result falls slightly short of the target, while the Floating point was actually a whole 1 MB/s faster.
The DDR2’s higher latency of 4 rears its ugly head, conning the existing RAM out of almost 400 MB/s each compared to a desktop system equipped with the same memory with a latency of 2.
Storage
Perhaps the biggest controversy over notebook hard drives is spindle speeds, and which is faster. With 7200RPM drives becoming more common, it’s come into question as to which is faster: 7200RPM or 5400RPM? Being that the highest available notebook drive available with a 7.2k spindle speed is only 60GB, while the common 5.4k drives are over 100GB, the issue falls down to a few factors.
Firstly, although a 7200RPM 60GB hard drive spins faster, the density of the data on the disk is less than that of a 5400RPM 100GB. That means that the heads have to move more on a 7200RPM 60GB drive than a slower 100GB drive, which has a much higher data density. So the question is, does the data density or the spindle speed prove victor?
According to SiSoftware Sandra’s results, size wins the average read speed race. Where the Z70Va’s 5400RPM 100GB drive gets a 29 MB/s read speed (3 MB/s under the expected value), the 7200RPM 60GB drive received a speed of 19MB/s. To be fair, however, the 7200RPM 60GB drive is much better for reading small files quickly, but most people will be more interested in the larger 100GB drive for special reasons alone. Since most people won’t benefit from a 7200RPM drive, the 100GB drive is probably a better choice.
Input (keyboard, touchpad, etc.)
The biggest gripe that most people have with laptops is the smaller keyboard. Since fitting a full sized keyboard into a laptop is really only possible in a few very large notebooks, it’s important that the smaller keyboard make up for its size through comfort and quality. Prior to this notebook, I used the Z71V and a larger Sony Vaio, and I was disappointed with their shallow key depth. Plus, my fingers had a tendency to get caught under the rough edges of the Z71V’s keys, which made typing more than a little uncomfortable, especially when not sitting on a flat surface.
The Z70Va feature much deeper keys than the previously mentioned laptops, and it tends to make all the difference. Keys feel very solid to the touch, and typing on it makes it easy to forget it’s just a notebook. However, one of the biggest negatives is the poor positioning of the “Fn” and “Ctrl” keys. Instead of having the “Ctrl” key on the far left, and the “Fn” key right next to it, the positions are reversed, creating a very counter-intuitive arrangement. It takes a conscious effort to force my fingers to hit the “Ctrl” key, even after having experience with it, which makes using keyboard shortcuts much more of a hassle than they need to be. Although I would normally attribute this to be a minor complaint, it gets very annoying when you’re trying to move around programs.
The Touchpad is alright, but as far as all Touchpads go, it’s not the input device of choice. The Synaptic drivers included with the laptop allow for a variety of features—from “hot spots” on the touchpad to scrolling—but doesn’t allow for scrolling in alternative browsers (like Firefox) until you upgrade to the latest Synaptic driver yourself. Even with sensitivity set to high, the touchpad still felt woefully unresponsive. I almost wished I could jack up the speed even higher. Unfortunately, since the touchpad is probably maxed out just so it doesn’t take three-four swipes of your finger to jump across the screen, you’ll probably run into the same problem I did with external mice: it’s TOO sensitive! Overall, the pointing device is a minor complaint, especially since touchpads are typically on the same level as ball mice, and most people don’t expect to use them except when on the go.
Sound
Prior to receiving my Z70Va, I noticed that many reviews of past products on the M6 line praised the four-speaker setup of the chassis. I have no choice but to second that compliment, as the speakers manage to deliver sound that eliminates the “tinny” effect of most laptops. While it’s good for on the go, the base is still lacking, and the sound quality is not exactly going to blow anybody’s mind. It’s pretty much assumed that you’ll be using some form of external sound, be it headphone or speaker.
External sound also sounds great, with very clear sound. I decided to give Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a test run just to test out the sound. EAX delivered nicely, with the on board (but high quality) card providing more than ample power. Additionally, there is a digital SPDIF port available.
Software Suite
When it comes to controlling your computer, Power4Gear will most likely by your tool of choice. It’s a nifty utility that allows you to use pre-defined profiles to control the behavior of your computer when using AC or battery. Quite possibly the biggest negative is the fact that you can’t add your own profiles, although you can modify the existing ones—but only by changing values. The one saving grace is that the program itself is able to be controlled by the Power4Gear button on the top right of the keyboard, which allows for easy switching between the provided profiles. Secondly is the NB Probe program. Although it’s purely informational, NBP provides useful information about your notebook in a very attractive interface. Thirdly is WinFlash, a freely offered program that allows for a quick and painless BIOS flash. Although its freely downloadable, its nice to see that Asus provides such tools for users who aren’t comfortable with searching out and downloading their own programs—especially for a procedure as delicate as flashing the BIOS.
Support
Fortunately, I have yet to ever interface directly with Asus, but thanks to the current setup of resellers, you’ll probably never have to. All of your transactions usually go through a reseller, and all future support requests continue with them. Personally, I was a little wary of going with these resellers… in my life, brand names have always meant definite safety—and usually high quality. However, I’m really glad I decided to stay away from brand names; there are few companies in the computer industry that can claim to have the quality I’ve found in the reseller I decided to go with, DiscountLaptops.com.
When I originally purchased my Z71V, I was off and on about wanting to return it, and thinking there was a 30-day return policy, I waited until about halfway through—only to discovered it was 15-day return policy, and the last day to ship it was the very next day! The staff at DL had an RMA waiting for me in about 10-15 minutes, and I shipped it out the next day. This was in addition to the countless questions I’d asked, with everything from additional pictures to information being asked. If I ever had to wait more than half an hour, it was usually the dead of night—so it usually took an hour or so. Having had a Dell and a Sony, I can honestly say that I’d email them and expect an email back the next business day—if even at all.
I highly, highly recommend www.discountlaptops.com. I’ll vouch for their support any day, and their prices and selection are very nice as well. However, I’d like to point out that nearly all the resellers are very helpful, and most are willing to provide support even if you didn’t purchase from them.
Battery
One of my requirements, as stated above, was not battery life, but it was something I'd like to have, and the Z70Va surprisngly delivers almost 4 hours of battery life, clocking in at 3:44 exactly. To test it, I basically used the laptop for about an hour and a half copying pictures (which will be up later tonight, since they came out blurry), surfing the web, checking email, and typical office stuff. However, since I wasn't going to just sit there using the notebook aimlessly, I decided to watch a little anime with it. CPU and OS load was constantly above 50%, and hard drive access was low to moderate. THis gave a very nice indication of what an average consumer would be using, although it may have drained the battery a bit faster than if I had continued using the internet, etc.. That being said and done, the wireless was on the whole time.
When I went to battery, Power4Gear (Asus's handy included utility) automatically clocked down to 500mhz (25% performance) under "Battery Optimized." Likewise, the ATI card clocked its core down from 350 to 200mhz; considering the 6600 Go jumps from 300mhz to 100mhz for desktop purchases alone, I'm wondering what would happen if the card were underclocked even further. Undoubtably, this may push the battery life well over four hours, but I can't say anything for sure into its been tested. For a laptop of this caliber, its a fantastic showing, and I hardly noticed any speed decreases, even with several windows open. Although the difference between 800mhz and 500mhz isn't much, I'm still surprised that it was able to last as long as it did.
Extras!
Everybody loves free stuff, so imagine when I realized I wouldn’t just be getting a great notebook, but also a free deluxe carrying case! Of course, that isn’t exactly promising. When I first got the Z71V, the case that came with it was acceptable for a free one, but not really very pleasing on the eyes. Not only was it very plainly black, but there wasn’t a single Asus marking on it accept for an attachable ID tag. I’m glad to see that they made several changes to this new bag, and it looks a lot classier!
Although the ID tag is back, the bag itself has had a few changes made to it. In addition to having what look to be deeper side pockets, most of the internal material has a beveled “Asus” logo tiled across it, but not so much as to become too much of an eyesore. The zippers also feature the same logo on them, but the nicest feature of all is the larger “plaque” on the front of it. It’s not very large (perhaps .6” x 2”), but it has a blue Asus logo against a silver background. Safety wise, the bag is decent in padding, but I wish that they had made the area underneath the laptop a little more sturdy; there’s basically a strip of padding that’s thinner than the actual compartment, and it looks like it could be very easy for the laptop to bypass the padding entirely and hit the nice hard ground.
DiscountLaptops was also kind enough to provide the “Notebook Essentials” software. The suite comes with a long list of some nice software: DiskKeeper Lite 8.0, EasyFax, Eudora Pro Email, ExpensAble 6, Game Drive, iAnnotate-It 2, iCapture-It 2, iOrganize-It 2, iClean for Windows, Spam Catcher, StuffIt Standard 8.0, INFOtrack Personal 2004, LapLink Gold 11.5, McAfee VirusScan Online, MusicMatch Jukebox 8.2, OpenOffice 1.0, Photo Explorer 8.0, RealOne Player, World Tours Golf, and Zoner Draw 3.0. If you’re not impressed by the sheer amount of programs, take a look at the caliber of a few of them. DiskKeeper is a very powerful defragmenting program, even though it’s a Lite edition. McAfee Virus Scan is a $40 value in itself, and Open Office is a great alternative to the costlier Microsoft Office.
On separate disks are copies of Quicken 2005: New User Edition and Nero OEM suite for the DVD+-RW drive. Fortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Also included are copies of Asus Power Director DE, AsusDVD player, and Media Show SE. While obviously not being brand name software, it’s a surprisingly full featured package of programs that most people will actually use.
Conclusion
The Asus Z70Va is a full featured, powerful laptop. The X700 definitely makes it more appealing to gamers, but it is by no means a gamer-only laptop by far. Its very sleek and professional looking, but its definitely a lot more powerful than most business users will need. Students looking for a notebook to take to and from class—with a little gaming on the side—need look no further than the Asus Z70Va. With the pricing several hundred dollars below a similarly priced Ferrari 4005, instance, it’s a choice that won’t break your wallet either. Overall, it’s easy to see that the negatives carry far less weight than the positives, and I recommend this notebook for anybody looking for power and versatility, but don’t want to end up hoisting around an 8+lb notebook.
Pros:
•Top notch performance while remaining very portable
•Powerful graphics card
•Beautiful screen
•Comfortable keyboard
•Included Bluetooth
•Great quality for laptop speakers, although lacking in bass
•Professional look and feel
•Enormous suite of included software
Cons:
•Misplaced “Fn” and “Ctrl” keys
•Bottom of laptop gets VERY hot
•Hot air is constantly blowing out of all three of the vents
•Touchpad driver is not up to date, not useable with Firefox until update
EDIT: Added battery comments, fixed Asus reference and changed it to Discount Laptops.
Also, the Notebook Essentials software is provided by Discount Laptops, not by Asus or Chembook. So anyone who purchases a notebook from DL will have it available, (I think Power Notebooks has an analogous software suite as well) but those who don't buy from them won't get it.
I often wear shorts and the laptop usually ends up against bare skin. In your opinion, would this be viable with the Z70v? A) I don't want to burn my skin off, and B) I'm a little paranoid because of the following article : 
