Reasons For Buying
I wanted a smaller but balanced notebook with current components and I wanted to save as much money as possible. I'm not a gamer, but I do travel a lot, so battery life and portability were far more important than graphics. I strongly considered the Dell D620, but couldn't quite get the price where I wanted it. Then I read horror stories about its screen (dim, grainy). I also considered the Dell e1405 (640m through small business) largely b/c of the sick coupons dell offers. But in the end I felt like the e1405 would leave me with poorer build quality, a look that I don't care fore (all the inspirons look ugly to me), and not much in the way of savings by the time I added in the components I wanted. Finally, I really liked the idea of building the laptop myself and the Z62F seemed to be positioned as a DIY choice (easy for a novice to build).
Configuration
14.1" WXGA 1280 x 800 TFT Display
intel T2400 Core DUO 1.83GHz Processor
128 MB Shared Video Ram - Intel 945GM (GMA950 integrated graphics)
2GB Corsair Value Select DDR2 667 MHz (1024MB x 2)
80GB 7200rpm Hitachi ATA6 Hard Drive
8X NEC ND-6750A DVD+RW
56 kbps Modem (V.90)
Realtek Gigabit LAN
IntelPRO 3945ABG Wireless Ethernet/Lan (802.11 a+b+g)
Carrying Case included
6-cell primary battery - default (9-cell batteries are available separately)
Build Experience
I bought the Z62F barebones from buy.com for $488 with a $15 off coupon. It comes with the case and battery, the plastic cover needed for the optical drive, the drive tray for the HD (metal), and the CDs for drivers and manual. The plastic placeholder for the empty PCMCIA slot was notably missing (not a big deal for me).
I bought the CPU off ebay for $180, the Hard Drive from newegg.com for $135, the memory from zipzoomfly.com for $172, the wireless card from newegg.com for $38, and the DVD+RW from newegg.com for $70. I also used some artic silver 5, which I had already. I had a copy of winxp pro already, so that saved me some money.
Total cost: $1083 shipped.
I'm not sure I would recommend this same process to others - it's a lot of work to place many orders (including ebay) and wait for it all to come in. I think the deal at 1toppc.com for this laptop is pretty darn good, so I would steer people that way if they prefer an easier experience and would like some support in the process.
This thing is EASY to put together if you are patient and comfortable holding small parts (small screws etc). You need a very small phillips head screw driver. Probably the hardest part was getting the old bezel off the NEC DVD+RW drive and putting on the one that Asus shipped. I also reversed the Antenna and auxiliary connectors for the wireless card the first time. Fixed it when I realized the wireless wasn't working. Altogether, it took me about 45 minutes to build. This would have been quicker if 1) I didn't apply Arctic Silver 5 and 2) I had hooked up the wireless card correctly the first time.
Look/Design
Fairly plain jane. There are loads of pictures in other threads and around the net. I will say that it looks nicer in person than in the pictures. I kind of like the minimalist/no stickers/no visible branding look.
Build Quality
Fantastic for a plastic notebook. While it would be nice to have magnesium alloy shell, this thing feels more solid than the latitude D610 (alloy shell) we have at work. There is very little flex in the screen and zero play when I shut the lid (the latch has 2 hooks). I wouldn't exactly play catch with it, but you can definitely hold it by the corner or side and toss it agressively into its case. I can also prop it on one hand use type with the other. For comparison, I used a Dell D6000 for a few months last year - which I would assume is similar to the e1405. If the D6000 were a 3 on a scale of 1-5 for build quality, the z62F would be a 4.5. NOTE: another reviewer noted needing to file down some of the plastic on the bottom of the Z62F to make it sit stable. Mine didn't need this - the plastic is perfectly aligned with the rubber feet so it sits flat on my desk with no rocking or unevenness.
Size and Weight
All put together, mine is 5 lbs. It feels "smallish", but not quite "thin and light" - it can only get so small with a 14-inch screen. If you are familiar with a Dell 600 series (latitude or inspiron), this one is pretty close, maybe a wee bit smaller, and a little bit lighter.
Screen
Beautiful - glossy style. The 1280x800 resolution is perfect for 14.1-inch. I wouldn't want a larger screen with this resolution (like the s96j) - that would make the icons and text too big and clunky for my taste. So far the glare hasn't bothered me at all. It has the same vibrant colors as other glossy screens I've used and brightness is excellent - especially on full (the way I like it). There are no dead or stuck pixels to speak of. There is a very slight discoloration in the bottom right corner near the windows clock. I've seen this on almost every notebook I've ever used. There is almost no light leakage to speak of. In a completely dark room with the screen set to all black, you can notice a small amount. Never during normal use though. It's a grade-A screen for a budget notebook.
Keyboard/touchpad
I love this touchpad - it's the synaptics kind. I find the synaptics software excellent and very easy to configure. The mouse buttons are soft and do not make much noise when pressed (of course, you can use the synaptics software to eliminate the need for them and just use tapping the touchpad instead). The keyboard feels almost exactly like the dell keyboards I've used. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. It has a medium amount of noise and springiness. This size is very comfortable. It has no extra play and feels solid throughout. I do wish the Control and Function keys were swapped though (I can probably find a way to do this). In addition to the power button, it has 5 extra buttons across the top - browser, email, enable/disable the touchpad, and set power scheme (requires "power4 Gear+" utility on CD. There are no media keys, but volume is adjusted with the function keys. You can also put the laptop to sleep, turn the wireless on and off, adjust the brightness of the screen and select an external monitor with the function keys.
Performance
Core Duo. It feels very responsive, even compared to a Pentium-M computer. I think the 7200rpm and 2GB of ram help, though 1GB of ram should be enough for most business and home needs. Of course, you can configure the Z62F how you like, so performance is yours for the taking (outside of video).
Heat and Noise
Almost silent. At first, the Hitachi HD made audible clicking noises, but I was able to set the acoustic mode with Notebook Hardware Control (previously "Centrino Hardware Control"). Now it's silent and the speed reduction with acoustic management is barely noticeable. On full load, the CPU fan runs. It about as unobtrusive as possible - much quieter than my powerbook G4 (which isn't that bad to begin with). Heat is expelled on the left side of the notebook, near the back. This should be helpful to right-handed mousers. Even after being on for hours at full load, the laptop never gets uncomfortable for my wrists or my lap. Just "warm". And you can minimize this by controlling the power scheme. A+ for heat and noise.
Battery Life
The Z62F comes with the default 6-cell battery. You can get a 9-cell for about $100 which should improve battery life about about 50%. I've been running my Z62F at full brightness and getting about 3:20 per charge. I'm sure it'll get over 4 hours if I set the brightness to medium. That means maybe 6 hours with the 9-cell.
Sound
The speakers are Weak and tinny. But this is how most smaller laptops are and I can't say I expected more. It sounds fantastic with headphones though.
Network
Get the lintel 3945ABG Card. It rocks - I can get full signal out on my front sidewalk and my apt. is on the second floor and the wireless router is in the back of the house. For comparison, My powerbook G4 gets no signal at all and my wife's 600m (Intel 2200BG wireless) gets some signal. Measuring transfer speeds, I get a full 300K/second over wireless during a download. This is on Road Runner. Wired, I get 600K/second, so that's 50% on wireless. Very nice. The Gigabit wired network is excellent too. Great way to transfer data to my desktop (but I needed to get a gigabit switch to take advantage of it - $40 from newegg.com).
USB Camera
It works. I haven't played much with it yet. Wasn't a concern when I bought the Z62F. I'll edit this post if I find myself using it and have more to add.
Overall
I'm extremely happy with this laptop. I loved the experience of building it myself and I feel like I've got a high quality product for an amazingly good overall price. For non-gamers, I think this is the best value laptop currently on the market.
I wanted a smaller but balanced notebook with current components and I wanted to save as much money as possible. I'm not a gamer, but I do travel a lot, so battery life and portability were far more important than graphics. I strongly considered the Dell D620, but couldn't quite get the price where I wanted it. Then I read horror stories about its screen (dim, grainy). I also considered the Dell e1405 (640m through small business) largely b/c of the sick coupons dell offers. But in the end I felt like the e1405 would leave me with poorer build quality, a look that I don't care fore (all the inspirons look ugly to me), and not much in the way of savings by the time I added in the components I wanted. Finally, I really liked the idea of building the laptop myself and the Z62F seemed to be positioned as a DIY choice (easy for a novice to build).
Configuration
14.1" WXGA 1280 x 800 TFT Display
intel T2400 Core DUO 1.83GHz Processor
128 MB Shared Video Ram - Intel 945GM (GMA950 integrated graphics)
2GB Corsair Value Select DDR2 667 MHz (1024MB x 2)
80GB 7200rpm Hitachi ATA6 Hard Drive
8X NEC ND-6750A DVD+RW
56 kbps Modem (V.90)
Realtek Gigabit LAN
IntelPRO 3945ABG Wireless Ethernet/Lan (802.11 a+b+g)
Carrying Case included
6-cell primary battery - default (9-cell batteries are available separately)
Build Experience
I bought the Z62F barebones from buy.com for $488 with a $15 off coupon. It comes with the case and battery, the plastic cover needed for the optical drive, the drive tray for the HD (metal), and the CDs for drivers and manual. The plastic placeholder for the empty PCMCIA slot was notably missing (not a big deal for me).
I bought the CPU off ebay for $180, the Hard Drive from newegg.com for $135, the memory from zipzoomfly.com for $172, the wireless card from newegg.com for $38, and the DVD+RW from newegg.com for $70. I also used some artic silver 5, which I had already. I had a copy of winxp pro already, so that saved me some money.
Total cost: $1083 shipped.
I'm not sure I would recommend this same process to others - it's a lot of work to place many orders (including ebay) and wait for it all to come in. I think the deal at 1toppc.com for this laptop is pretty darn good, so I would steer people that way if they prefer an easier experience and would like some support in the process.
This thing is EASY to put together if you are patient and comfortable holding small parts (small screws etc). You need a very small phillips head screw driver. Probably the hardest part was getting the old bezel off the NEC DVD+RW drive and putting on the one that Asus shipped. I also reversed the Antenna and auxiliary connectors for the wireless card the first time. Fixed it when I realized the wireless wasn't working. Altogether, it took me about 45 minutes to build. This would have been quicker if 1) I didn't apply Arctic Silver 5 and 2) I had hooked up the wireless card correctly the first time.
Look/Design
Fairly plain jane. There are loads of pictures in other threads and around the net. I will say that it looks nicer in person than in the pictures. I kind of like the minimalist/no stickers/no visible branding look.
Build Quality
Fantastic for a plastic notebook. While it would be nice to have magnesium alloy shell, this thing feels more solid than the latitude D610 (alloy shell) we have at work. There is very little flex in the screen and zero play when I shut the lid (the latch has 2 hooks). I wouldn't exactly play catch with it, but you can definitely hold it by the corner or side and toss it agressively into its case. I can also prop it on one hand use type with the other. For comparison, I used a Dell D6000 for a few months last year - which I would assume is similar to the e1405. If the D6000 were a 3 on a scale of 1-5 for build quality, the z62F would be a 4.5. NOTE: another reviewer noted needing to file down some of the plastic on the bottom of the Z62F to make it sit stable. Mine didn't need this - the plastic is perfectly aligned with the rubber feet so it sits flat on my desk with no rocking or unevenness.
Size and Weight
All put together, mine is 5 lbs. It feels "smallish", but not quite "thin and light" - it can only get so small with a 14-inch screen. If you are familiar with a Dell 600 series (latitude or inspiron), this one is pretty close, maybe a wee bit smaller, and a little bit lighter.
Screen
Beautiful - glossy style. The 1280x800 resolution is perfect for 14.1-inch. I wouldn't want a larger screen with this resolution (like the s96j) - that would make the icons and text too big and clunky for my taste. So far the glare hasn't bothered me at all. It has the same vibrant colors as other glossy screens I've used and brightness is excellent - especially on full (the way I like it). There are no dead or stuck pixels to speak of. There is a very slight discoloration in the bottom right corner near the windows clock. I've seen this on almost every notebook I've ever used. There is almost no light leakage to speak of. In a completely dark room with the screen set to all black, you can notice a small amount. Never during normal use though. It's a grade-A screen for a budget notebook.
Keyboard/touchpad
I love this touchpad - it's the synaptics kind. I find the synaptics software excellent and very easy to configure. The mouse buttons are soft and do not make much noise when pressed (of course, you can use the synaptics software to eliminate the need for them and just use tapping the touchpad instead). The keyboard feels almost exactly like the dell keyboards I've used. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. It has a medium amount of noise and springiness. This size is very comfortable. It has no extra play and feels solid throughout. I do wish the Control and Function keys were swapped though (I can probably find a way to do this). In addition to the power button, it has 5 extra buttons across the top - browser, email, enable/disable the touchpad, and set power scheme (requires "power4 Gear+" utility on CD. There are no media keys, but volume is adjusted with the function keys. You can also put the laptop to sleep, turn the wireless on and off, adjust the brightness of the screen and select an external monitor with the function keys.
Performance
Core Duo. It feels very responsive, even compared to a Pentium-M computer. I think the 7200rpm and 2GB of ram help, though 1GB of ram should be enough for most business and home needs. Of course, you can configure the Z62F how you like, so performance is yours for the taking (outside of video).
Heat and Noise
Almost silent. At first, the Hitachi HD made audible clicking noises, but I was able to set the acoustic mode with Notebook Hardware Control (previously "Centrino Hardware Control"). Now it's silent and the speed reduction with acoustic management is barely noticeable. On full load, the CPU fan runs. It about as unobtrusive as possible - much quieter than my powerbook G4 (which isn't that bad to begin with). Heat is expelled on the left side of the notebook, near the back. This should be helpful to right-handed mousers. Even after being on for hours at full load, the laptop never gets uncomfortable for my wrists or my lap. Just "warm". And you can minimize this by controlling the power scheme. A+ for heat and noise.
Battery Life
The Z62F comes with the default 6-cell battery. You can get a 9-cell for about $100 which should improve battery life about about 50%. I've been running my Z62F at full brightness and getting about 3:20 per charge. I'm sure it'll get over 4 hours if I set the brightness to medium. That means maybe 6 hours with the 9-cell.
Sound
The speakers are Weak and tinny. But this is how most smaller laptops are and I can't say I expected more. It sounds fantastic with headphones though.
Network
Get the lintel 3945ABG Card. It rocks - I can get full signal out on my front sidewalk and my apt. is on the second floor and the wireless router is in the back of the house. For comparison, My powerbook G4 gets no signal at all and my wife's 600m (Intel 2200BG wireless) gets some signal. Measuring transfer speeds, I get a full 300K/second over wireless during a download. This is on Road Runner. Wired, I get 600K/second, so that's 50% on wireless. Very nice. The Gigabit wired network is excellent too. Great way to transfer data to my desktop (but I needed to get a gigabit switch to take advantage of it - $40 from newegg.com).
USB Camera
It works. I haven't played much with it yet. Wasn't a concern when I bought the Z62F. I'll edit this post if I find myself using it and have more to add.
Overall
I'm extremely happy with this laptop. I loved the experience of building it myself and I feel like I've got a high quality product for an amazingly good overall price. For non-gamers, I think this is the best value laptop currently on the market.
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