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Z70va vs. S96J

post #1 of 25
6/12/06 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
Could anyone tell me why the Z70va is more then the S96J? From what I can tell the S96J is superior in every way except for the screen. Which from reading these forums some people prefer the glossy screen over the matte.

I would have thought for sure with the release of the x1600 that the prices on the Z70va and Z71v would have dropped. The Z71v seems to have a bit, but the Z70va is still up there in price.
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post #2 of 25
6/12/06 at 12:37pm

Good Question...

Ack I guess I hijacked his thread. I'll post my own. I'm asking similar questions.

From what I have seen the screen resolution on the Z70Va is better, and it definately has a nicer look to its build. On the other hand, you just can't ignore the specs on the S96J. It has duo core, integrated camera, better video card.. IMHO I would go with the S96J. Check my new thread for other laptops I am looking at which are similar if you are interested.

Regards,
ColdSun
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post #3 of 25
6/12/06 at 1:10pm
whoa coldsun.... way to hijack cooks thread. well cook, ive ordered the s96j, but i have not recieved it yet. i hope its as good as it sounds. i have never even heard much about the z70va. im not sure about this, but i think theyre both about the same performance. NOT SURE, but thats what i think.
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post #4 of 25
6/12/06 at 2:36pm
Thread Starter 
The Z70va uses a Pentium (SP?) M which is single core, S96J uses Core Duo
The Z70va uses the ATI X700 128MB, the S96J uses the X1600 256MB

Both instances S96J > Z70va in CPU and GPU, both use DDR2
But price wise Z70va > S96J and I'm confused as to why that would be.
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post #5 of 25
6/12/06 at 2:49pm
The only reasons I can think of the price being higher are:

1. Higher native resolution
2. The "sweet" design of the Z70Va build

The screenshots of a Z70Va running windows look awesome. But, with a native resolution that high, I would think that new games would not perform as well in that resolution with that video card as they would on the X1600 with twice the video RAM. The S96J also has an advantage there because it runs the games at a lower native resolution.

The Z70Va sure "looks" nice though. If I wasn't a hardcore gamer I would put it higher on my list. So far, I'm liking the Sager NP5750 and the ASUS S96J the most.
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post #6 of 25
6/12/06 at 4:57pm
Are the speakers as crummy as some have said on the S96J?

I want to at least be able to use the laptop on the games that it's capable of doing, without having to wear headphones all the time.

Krista
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post #7 of 25
6/12/06 at 5:57pm
Price is higher because it was one of the premium notebooks from the previous generation of Built-On Asus. They're offering rebates and letting the niche market for these notebooks clear them gradually out of their resellers hands.
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post #8 of 25
6/12/06 at 6:30pm
Could someone please comment more on the speakers/sound? I've read several revies on the S96J that say the speakers are crap and you really need to use the headphones, but has anyone been able to find a way to improve the sound??
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post #9 of 25
6/12/06 at 6:36pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hyperluminous
Price is higher because it was one of the premium notebooks from the previous generation of Built-On Asus. They're offering rebates and letting the niche market for these notebooks clear them gradually out of their resellers hands.

Excellent, thanks for the response.
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post #10 of 25
6/12/06 at 9:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will82
Could someone please comment more on the speakers/sound? I've read several revies on the S96J that say the speakers are crap and you really need to use the headphones, but has anyone been able to find a way to improve the sound??

I've used a half dozen notebooks and the speakers are always horrible. Use headphones or external speakers.
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post #11 of 25
6/13/06 at 10:55pm
If you think the S96J looks decent, then I'd go for it. The build of the Z70Va may be slightly better (carbon fibre correct?) but the increase in performance for the S96J cannot be ignored. Plus, even though it's plastic, it's still built very well.
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post #12 of 25
6/13/06 at 11:27pm
I'm on an S96j at the moment. Before buying it, I'd heard the speakers were terrible. Well, while doing the dishes tonight I had my laptop about 15 away with the volume fairly high and was quite surprised at the volume and clarity. It's certainly not great sound, but good enough for me.
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post #13 of 25
6/15/06 at 2:10am
I asked the same question today in PowerNotebooks forum. Still unanswered.
Even if itś carbon fiber and a better resolution, it cannot explain a $200 difference. Especially if you consider that the newer Asus has a Duo procesor and a much better GPU.

And why on Earth are most of the new models (from Asus and others) WXGA instead of WSXGA+ ?? Is it because of stupid kids who want to play their stupid games at some stupid native resolution and get a gazillion frames per second? And then they put these GPU's that generate more heat than a volcano so the machine is bigger, heavier and the battery life is terrible.

If you ask me, 800 pixels of height suck. I'm a PROGRAMMER and I want to see many LINES OF TEXT. (W)XGA is more or less the same resolution people were using 10 years ago!

I've spoken... I feel better, thank you.. I'm ok now...
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post #14 of 25
6/15/06 at 12:05pm
Thread Starter 
I'm a gamer and I PREFER WSXGA over WXGA. I'm actually debating getting rid of my hardcore notebook in my sig below for a 15.4". It was rational in my mind that since the S96J's are out on the market and perform so much better then the Z70va's that it would drop the price of the va's....boy was I wrong!
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post #15 of 25
6/16/06 at 5:53pm
Thread Starter 
So I've been looking for some coupons or some great deals on the Z70va's...

No go

I can get a loaded S96J for under $1400, but can't get the Z70va for under $1750 with the same specs...
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post #16 of 25
6/16/06 at 5:59pm
Forget everything.. forget Asus who are having lots of internal problems and they are not delivering on time!
I found my dream computer! The new Compal HEL80 that now has a WSXGA+ option!
go to PowerNotebooks and look for the 8.15 or 15:2 models (same computer, different warranties or something like that)
woooooooooooooooooooooooot!
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post #17 of 25
6/16/06 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
I'm out of the loop on notebook cards...how does the 7600 256MB compare to the x700 or x1600?
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post #18 of 25
6/16/06 at 6:15pm
same here
but i've read it's better than the x700 and comparable to the x1600
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post #19 of 25
6/16/06 at 6:55pm
The HEL80 is a nice laptop. It has some great features and I like the NVIDIA stuff myself. The only problem is that it doesn't have DVI out I think. That's a deal-breaker for me.
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post #20 of 25
6/16/06 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
Only thing holding me back on the HEL80 is the fact that I've never heard of them before....ever.
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