I thought I would write an initial review of the Asus A8F, which I received a few days ago. It seems in North America the A8 model of choice is the A8Jm (also in general the board seems to be dominated by people from North America). In the UK we have a choice of the A8Jc or the A8F.
The A8Jc comes with the GeoForce 7300 graphics card, while the A8F comes with the Intel 950 integrated graphics card. Now many of you are probably asking why get a laptop without a dedicated graphics card? Answer, I don’t game, so graphics card is not important to me.
OK, why did I get an A8F? My previous laptop was a Dell 6000, which I had owned for about a year. It did a good job and is in great condition. However it is just a bit too big and bulky. A change in circumstances means I’m required to go on the road about once a month and the Dell was proving just a bit bulky. I have been looking at Asus for a little while, mainly due to the rave reviews on their build quality.
Specs:
- Dual Core T2300
- 512 MB Ram (upgraded to 1GB)
- 80 GB 5400 RPM Hitachi hard drive
- 14 inch widescreen
- DVD writer
- Wireless, infrared and Bluetooth
- 2 year global warranty.
So the main difference between the A8Jc and the A8F is the graphics card, the installed RAM (A8Jc comes with 1GB 533Mhz as standard) and HDD speed (A8Jc comes with 4,200 RPM).
Naturally the A8F was cheaper because of the graphics card and less RAM. I paid a total of £620 including shipping (note I don’t have to pay and sales tax because of where I live, so people buying in the UK need to add another 17.5%). The A8Jc would have worked out at about £680 delivered. However I was wanting the 5400 RPM HDD. I could have bought the A8Jc and changed the HDD to a faster one, however that would have invalidated the warranty, so decided against.
I bought another 512MB of RAM for £27. I was under the impression that the installed RAM would be 533Mhz so bought that. However, once running diagnostics, its showing as 667Mhz. Luckily the retailer that I bought the RAM from is willing to exchange.
The A8F is based on the same chasis as the other A8’s, so most of you will have seen loads of photos. I will get to taking some photos myself at some point.
Initial views of the laptop? Well it looks very nice. Much nicer than my Dell. However I didn’t purchase the laptop for looks, but for functionality. Size wise, it actually isn’t that much smaller than the Dell (which I found a bit surprising). It is thinner though. Also it is much lighter, which I am very happy about. The screen border is quite thick, but this may be due to the mounted webcam.
The screen is of the glossy variety. it’s a very nice screen. I know many people have talked about the quality of screens, etc. I’m not too fussed by that. However the glossy screen is very nice. I was worried about glare, but have not really noticed. I have already smudged it a bit. How do I clean it?
The keyboard does have a bit of flex, but a lot less than my Dell. As some have already commented, there is a bit of flex on the left hand side. This is the scase with me as well. The layout of the keyboard is a bit “squashed”, however this is probably because I was used to the larger layout of the Dell. I’m sure I will get used to the keyboard. The swapping of the Function and Control keys, noticed, but got over it in about 1 minute.
The track pad and buttons, looks nice. However am very disappointed with the track pad. There is a lot of drag, and it is not “smooth”. Also the scroller on the side is a bit of a pain to use. I find the whole track pad to be very unresponsive. I can increase the speed in the settings, however it means when I connect my mouse, I have no control over the mouse. The one looking button thing looks nice. I find I have to press the button a bit hard though. The track pad isn’t dead on centre, but instead a bit to the left. This means when I’m typing, occasionally my left palm will rub on the track pad leading the cursor to wonder. Again prefer the Dell buttons. Also for some reason I am always getting an error message each time I try entering the Synaptics settings in the “Mouse” in the control panel.
The speakers are not that bad for laptop speakers, which are at the front of the laptop. They are about on par with the Dell ones (which again for laptop speakers were pretty good). No base, however they do the job. Plugging in my external speakers naturally makes a difference.
There are the Hcontrol buttons up top for Power4Gear, Bluetooth, wireless, Splendid and Instant On (which I will come to later).
The build in mic and webcam are nice additions. Webcam does the job, although for some reason I can’t adjust the brightness settings in MSN Messenger. Also the mic is pretty good. This saves having to plug in my headset for VOIP and Skype.
There are loads of connection options. On the left we have Express Card, SPIF / headphones, mic, USB, DVD Drive and SD card slot. At the back we have Kensington lock, modem, Ethernet, SVGA, DVI, USB x 2 and power connector (which I find quite tight getting the cable in). To the right we have the cooling fan and USB x 2. Quite impressed by the number of USB slots and the fact they are spread around the laptop.
Asus bundle a small amount of software, which I’m sure you are all aware of. I also got a Works CD, which BTW was not pre installed. The HDD came in two partitions, both as FAT32. However there is a pre installed application to convert them to NTFS, which I did. Of the bundled software I’m running Power4Gear (and maybe Splendid) from startup. I have installed some of the software, can’t remember what though.
Yes, Instant On does not work. The manual claims it does. I press the Instant On button, it loads Windows and then loads Asus DVD. Front of the laptop has three lights together: hard driver, caps lock and instant on light. When you load up using the Instant On button, this light goes on. Really Asus need to sort out the situation here.
On another note, the supplied manual is rubbish. It is tiny (about 30 pages in total) and gives very limited information. Again I compare this the Dell manual, which was very useful and provided so much more information.
The laptop comes with various Cds including a Windows XP, drivers, Nero, Works and various Asus software. The cables provided are a modem cable and SVGA connector (but for some reason no network cable). You also get an optical wired mouse and a laptop bag. I think the bag looks great and very stylish, nothing like a laptop bag.
OK, its about 2.30 in the morning now and I’m very tired. I will update hopefully tomorrow after I’ve had some sleep.
The A8Jc comes with the GeoForce 7300 graphics card, while the A8F comes with the Intel 950 integrated graphics card. Now many of you are probably asking why get a laptop without a dedicated graphics card? Answer, I don’t game, so graphics card is not important to me.
OK, why did I get an A8F? My previous laptop was a Dell 6000, which I had owned for about a year. It did a good job and is in great condition. However it is just a bit too big and bulky. A change in circumstances means I’m required to go on the road about once a month and the Dell was proving just a bit bulky. I have been looking at Asus for a little while, mainly due to the rave reviews on their build quality.
Specs:
- Dual Core T2300
- 512 MB Ram (upgraded to 1GB)
- 80 GB 5400 RPM Hitachi hard drive
- 14 inch widescreen
- DVD writer
- Wireless, infrared and Bluetooth
- 2 year global warranty.
So the main difference between the A8Jc and the A8F is the graphics card, the installed RAM (A8Jc comes with 1GB 533Mhz as standard) and HDD speed (A8Jc comes with 4,200 RPM).
Naturally the A8F was cheaper because of the graphics card and less RAM. I paid a total of £620 including shipping (note I don’t have to pay and sales tax because of where I live, so people buying in the UK need to add another 17.5%). The A8Jc would have worked out at about £680 delivered. However I was wanting the 5400 RPM HDD. I could have bought the A8Jc and changed the HDD to a faster one, however that would have invalidated the warranty, so decided against.
I bought another 512MB of RAM for £27. I was under the impression that the installed RAM would be 533Mhz so bought that. However, once running diagnostics, its showing as 667Mhz. Luckily the retailer that I bought the RAM from is willing to exchange.
The A8F is based on the same chasis as the other A8’s, so most of you will have seen loads of photos. I will get to taking some photos myself at some point.
Initial views of the laptop? Well it looks very nice. Much nicer than my Dell. However I didn’t purchase the laptop for looks, but for functionality. Size wise, it actually isn’t that much smaller than the Dell (which I found a bit surprising). It is thinner though. Also it is much lighter, which I am very happy about. The screen border is quite thick, but this may be due to the mounted webcam.
The screen is of the glossy variety. it’s a very nice screen. I know many people have talked about the quality of screens, etc. I’m not too fussed by that. However the glossy screen is very nice. I was worried about glare, but have not really noticed. I have already smudged it a bit. How do I clean it?
The keyboard does have a bit of flex, but a lot less than my Dell. As some have already commented, there is a bit of flex on the left hand side. This is the scase with me as well. The layout of the keyboard is a bit “squashed”, however this is probably because I was used to the larger layout of the Dell. I’m sure I will get used to the keyboard. The swapping of the Function and Control keys, noticed, but got over it in about 1 minute.
The track pad and buttons, looks nice. However am very disappointed with the track pad. There is a lot of drag, and it is not “smooth”. Also the scroller on the side is a bit of a pain to use. I find the whole track pad to be very unresponsive. I can increase the speed in the settings, however it means when I connect my mouse, I have no control over the mouse. The one looking button thing looks nice. I find I have to press the button a bit hard though. The track pad isn’t dead on centre, but instead a bit to the left. This means when I’m typing, occasionally my left palm will rub on the track pad leading the cursor to wonder. Again prefer the Dell buttons. Also for some reason I am always getting an error message each time I try entering the Synaptics settings in the “Mouse” in the control panel.
The speakers are not that bad for laptop speakers, which are at the front of the laptop. They are about on par with the Dell ones (which again for laptop speakers were pretty good). No base, however they do the job. Plugging in my external speakers naturally makes a difference.
There are the Hcontrol buttons up top for Power4Gear, Bluetooth, wireless, Splendid and Instant On (which I will come to later).
The build in mic and webcam are nice additions. Webcam does the job, although for some reason I can’t adjust the brightness settings in MSN Messenger. Also the mic is pretty good. This saves having to plug in my headset for VOIP and Skype.
There are loads of connection options. On the left we have Express Card, SPIF / headphones, mic, USB, DVD Drive and SD card slot. At the back we have Kensington lock, modem, Ethernet, SVGA, DVI, USB x 2 and power connector (which I find quite tight getting the cable in). To the right we have the cooling fan and USB x 2. Quite impressed by the number of USB slots and the fact they are spread around the laptop.
Asus bundle a small amount of software, which I’m sure you are all aware of. I also got a Works CD, which BTW was not pre installed. The HDD came in two partitions, both as FAT32. However there is a pre installed application to convert them to NTFS, which I did. Of the bundled software I’m running Power4Gear (and maybe Splendid) from startup. I have installed some of the software, can’t remember what though.
Yes, Instant On does not work. The manual claims it does. I press the Instant On button, it loads Windows and then loads Asus DVD. Front of the laptop has three lights together: hard driver, caps lock and instant on light. When you load up using the Instant On button, this light goes on. Really Asus need to sort out the situation here.
On another note, the supplied manual is rubbish. It is tiny (about 30 pages in total) and gives very limited information. Again I compare this the Dell manual, which was very useful and provided so much more information.
The laptop comes with various Cds including a Windows XP, drivers, Nero, Works and various Asus software. The cables provided are a modem cable and SVGA connector (but for some reason no network cable). You also get an optical wired mouse and a laptop bag. I think the bag looks great and very stylish, nothing like a laptop bag.
OK, its about 2.30 in the morning now and I’m very tired. I will update hopefully tomorrow after I’ve had some sleep.
