Review: S96J Review - Page 10

haha nice!

Yeah I downloaded the audio drivers from ASUS and re-installed them. Maybe I didn't remove everything I needed to first. I'll try some more.

Krista

okay going WAAAAY back to a short discussion earlier in this post (sorry but I only recently looked into buying this laptop and want to keep the cost as minimal as possible) with the CD/DVD drive, I have one currently, are all CD/DVD drives interchangeable? can I use my DVD burner in the S96J? That would be very handy if I could. Also how much does the larger battery stick out at the back? is it much? I have an extended atm so it doesn't bother me that much. Umm any more questions? Oh yeah the S96J doesn't have a modular battery option does it? I didn't think I saw an option for one. Also is .7 of a pound noticeable really?

Mike Check

I believe there should be a bunch of pictures taken of the S96J with the 9-cell battery fitted. It sticks out a couple of centimeters at the back, but that's about it.

Regarding optical drives, I believe they are all interchangable, but to properly fit them you need the VBI brackets and I believe you can only get those together with an optical drive. I think Hyperluminous managed without them though.

righto, I'll probably buy it with a built in DVDRW cause it's not that much more expensive and it's is possibly alot of hassle.

Thank guys

Mike Check

I ordered a s96j from geared2play, apart from the fact that it took 10 days to get the laptop, here are my comments on this notebook (Note that at work I use a T42P, if that matters).

1. Keyboard has too much flex (especially on the left side). I was disappointed with this much keyboard flex on laptop this pricey.
2. Battery times of 2.0 hours on standard battery is pathetic, considering that a T60 now boasts a battery time of 4 to 5 hours on standard battery.
3. 1280x800 is not good for working as most of us are used to at least 1280x1024. (But cannot blame asus or geared2play for that, as it was well advertised). But just in case you are thinking of this laptop, keep this in mind.
Width has increased but height has decreased from a standard T42P point of view. It would have have been nice to increase width, but not reduce height.
4. No bluetooh in this price (around 1400 dollars), (again not blaming Asus or Geared2play for this as it was well advertised). But keep that in mind.

Apart from that, rest of things are okay. Port placement is nice etc. Hard disk seems fast enough as I went for 7200RPM 100GB. One question: would XP SP2 make use of both processor cores ? Where do I see that XP is using both the cores.

Thanks and have a good time.
--dslv

1400? Dude, Gentech is cheaper and is alot better service than that. I dont get any keyboard flex, and XP is capable of using both cores.

No. I also used XP SP2. I had to install it myself. G2P had no instructions on what to do, apart from a flier that said how to connect the battery and turn it on... Also do you think that core duo with USB plugged on could be draining the battery ? Google shows that MS had a bug in that area.

Actually it came out to be 1385 (T2500, 100 GB, Intel wireless, dvdRW) + shipping (28 something). I would have chosen gentech, but CA tax ..think about that ? that could have added 100 dollar more...No personal preference for Geared2Play apart from the fact that it was out of state....

I was gonna say the same thing about battery life. It's kind of hard to compare the S96's battery life with that of a business notebook with integrated graphics.

Hyper,

Yes I do see 2 CPUs in taskbar. One question: Is there anyway to get 1280x1024 resolution on this notebook. Even if the characters look a bit stretched out, I prefer this then to scroll down all the time.

thanks.
dslv

Glossy display sucks !

Is it just me or other users of S96J also who think that choice of Glossy display on this laptop is poor. I hate having to see my image in the laptop while working !. And don't even try having any light behind you ! then you cannot do anything at all.

Have fun.
-dslv

Not me, my glossy screen hasnt bothered me one bit, not one bit!!! I love my glossy screen, hehe, its awesome. I dont see my reflection, ever! Unless its off. Pic: http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8287/dsc05986qg8.jpg

I see that you have "color shine" and thats what gentech advertises too, but I have glossy and thats what Geared2Play advertises. Is there a differenece between the two ? Is this vendor specific or Asus specific. Wouldn't all S96J by Asus have same LCD or would that depend on the vendor selling these. Thanks. dslv PS: Edit: Just found that reflection is only an issue when you keep the brightness too low.

They called it Color shine, glossy, glare...., they are all the same.

Just got my S96J, by 2nd Day Air UPS, from GentechPC. Got Windows installed and lookin good so far...