some concerns on getting an a8jm

I too am looking at the two models that you have mentioned. From what I hear now, (novice) the A8 is a cheaper model, but again, you are getting what you pay for. If you want a laptop for today, go with the a8, if you want a notebook for tomorrow, go with the w3j.

At allasus.com you can upgrade the processor, and get the 2gb ram with a 100gb 7200 drive for a little over 2 grand.

Its a shame that they are out of stock, but worth the wait in my opinion.

I get the impression that the a8 will be phased out long before the w3j, plus the w3 looks tons better.

The A series has always been a budget series, but its a damn good deal.

PATA does make a difference, but realistically, not that much unless you think you really need it. PATA is still standard in notebooks nowadays, it'll shift around in the future, but until then, not much you can do.

As for the plastic casing, its not bad, its pretty solid, but of course, your opinion

Thick, yes, but it needs the room for the ventulation system and the 'guts'. its a 7600 Go in there, you have to expect some sort of size increasage :P

ASUS W3J
13.1" x 9.8" x 1.2"/1.3"
4.8lbs (2.2kg)
14" WXGA (1280x768) Glossy

ASUS A8jm
13.3" x 9.7" x 1.38"/1.48"
5.37lbs (2.44kg)
14" WXGA (1280x800) Glossy

THese are straight from the specs.

The W3J and A8jm both weigh like 5.5lbs in real life, with everthing inside.
Yes the W3J looks better.
Yes the W3J is better built.

The A8jm has DVI, but it is 1.48" thick in the back
The A8jm is slightly bigger too..nonetheless the A8jm is cheaper in my opinion better because of the DVI, since you can hook that up to anything.

But i'm not sure if a Express Slot DVI port can be created??? If so, how would it work, since it needs to be connected to the GPU, ohwell w/el <- prolly won't be made =\.

Here's the thing i really want, a 14" Widescreen with DVI, and a modular battery, thin and light, with a X1600, lol a8jm has half of what i want, and the W3J has the other half i want.

My goal is to use a 14" for school and have modular battery so i can get 4+ hours in school, and then bring the laptop home and connect it to a 17" LCD for home use and gaming, VIA DVI, but ofcourse you can get a DVI and VGA LCD, but still DVI!!!.

There is one other notebook that does meet all my needs, it's the BenQ S73 for ASIA, also known as Evesham C545 Plus for UK, Mitac 8224D for Europe.

This notebook is thin and light, X1600, DVI, beautiful screen, has a 6 cell battery but you can buy a 9 cell extended battery which protrudes out the back.

I personaly don't mind a protruding battery since the evesham C545 PLus is similar in size to the W3J.

Unfortunately you will havta import it, the estimated cost for this notebook, is anywhere from 1600-2200 USD depends where you get it imported it from.

Idealy i would just buy the barebone and equip it here in North America since prices here are MUCH cheaper than in UK, and Europe and some parts of Asia.

Well i hope this helps.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

I'm not sure why crisrees feels that the w3j would be better equipped for the future... these laptops have almost identical hardware specs. The a8jm actually has a slightly more powerful graphics card in the 7600 512mb, and the DVI port...the w3j is just prettier...and more expensive

Because the W3J is built with the intentions of the future, like being able to replace the processor for one of the new (merom or something) that is to be released, as well as being ready for Windows Vista. Also, I'm not too sure of this, but does the A8 have a Dual Core? If not, then there is your answer right there. Again, I am a novice, so please correct me if I am mistaken.

Oh, and the bluetooth capabilities. I'm not saying that is something great or anything, but lets say you get a new phone in the next year and it has bluetooth technology, you are going to want a computer that will already have those capabilites, right? You don't want to spend another xxx amount of money to have to upgrade your laptop that you just bought a year ago, as well as dealing with the issue that it is even capable of the upgrade in the first place.

The A8Jm and W3J are similarly spec'd , and if you say W3J is more ready for the future, I'd have to disagree. What's the difference except looks? Same proc, RAM, HD, comparable graphics..... if W3J is ready for Merom when ASUS makes the BIOS upgrade, then so is A8Jm. It's the CPU that's pin to pin compatible with Merom, so I don't see how W3J can be more future ready than the A8Jm (they're both Core Duo), and both should support Vista fine should it come to it based on these specs.

As for Bluetooth, this is only a North American difference. Anywhere else in the world, the A8J series will have BT installed (why ASUS, why ? ). And if you really really want it, it can be installed (well, not in Canada, but in the US)

The only differences are:

W3J:
- Better material quality
- Extra modular bay
- 3 USB ports

A8Jm:
- Webcam
- DVI
- 5 USB ports

I'm not saying that they are two totally different systems, I guess its what I said earlier, you are getting what you pay for. For the added xxx dollar amount, you are getting a T2500 Processor, BT, and a better build quality.

I guess what I am trying to say about "Future ready" is that it seems that you might have to upgrade the A8 alot sooner than you would have to on a W3. I would hate to buy a notebook only to see it phased out in the next year. The Webcam is not a necessity, you can pick one up practically anywhere, the 5 USB vs. the 3 can easily be solved with a Hub, the only thing that the W3 lacks is the DVI output.

I don't know, like I said I'm a novice with laptops, and I'm not trying to create any waves here. Before I made my purchase I compared alot of laptops and the A8 was included. I went with the W3, and yes looks were definitely something I was considering, but I was thinking about this time next year and if I would have to upgrade or even buy another laptop, with the W3 I wouldn't have to, but it seems that according to your information with the A8 you wouldn't have to either.

I think we can all agree that no matter what laptop he/she chooses, that they are both excellent laptops and will service all of your computing needs.

Well, you probably got the W3J refresh version that came default with 2GHz right? I was comparing the original W3J to the original A8Jm that came with 1.83Ghz. The next A8Jm might also be 2GHz, who knows..., so not fair to compare the 2GHz new W3J version to the original A8Jm version, you'd have to compare it to the A8Jm refresh when it comes out.

Anyway... both are great machines, not trying to badmouth W3J or anything, just wanted to correct the assumption that W3J is more 'future' ready than A8Jm. They're both 'future' ready if you want to call it so.

I dare you to try and feel the difference between a Core Duo 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz assuming the rest of the system is pretty close to even (which is definitely the case when comparing the W3J and A8JM). By the time you'd think the A8JM's processor was too slow, that 2.0GHz would be too slow as well, trust me.

In terms of looks an build quality, the nod definitely goes to the W3J, but (at least in Canada) you're getting that look, better build, and bluetooth for $300. We don't have the refresh yet. So you look at that incremental cost and you ask yourself if it's worth it. In no way is the technology actually more future proof in the W3J. Even if they do phase out the A8JM before the W3J, you'll know that you have just as powerful of a laptop, whether or not ASUS phases it out or not. By your reasoning, if ASUS still listed a Banias-equipped P-M but phased out the W3J, you'd rather have had the old P-M laptop right?

When it comes down to it, if you're going to need to upgrade the A8Jm, you're going to have to upgrade a W3J as well. That's the end of it. Now look at the features other than performance that each one has and decide whether it's worth it. Personally, because I take pretty good care of my laptop, I've go with the A8Jm over the W3J SOLELY due to the DVI. I need that big LCD for development work.

supposedly they'll both be upgradeable to merom in the future...we'll see how that goes i suppose, oh also you can add a bluetooth module to the A8jm, it was supposed to have it in the first place, but asus decided to leave it off the north american models