I have had my Mitac 8050 for about 10 days now and I figured it was time for a review. I'll break down my review into various sections so that I don't randomly jump from thought to thought. I also didn’t see the point of posting pictures since laozx already did such a fine job. First, the specs:
1.7 GHz Dothan, 60 GB 5400 RPM HDD, 512 MB RAM, DVD/CDRW drive, Intel 2200 Pro b/g wireless card, ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 w/ 128 MB VRAM, no OS - all for $1634 delivered from RJTech.
Vendor (RJTech):
Richard Wu at RJTech is a good guy to work with. He responded to my emails promptly. All questions were answered professionally. I placed the order on a Friday and on Monday I got an email stating that my credit card was declined (since the credit card company was suspicious of a big charge). I called up my credit card company, then RJTech, and I was all set. The unit shipped out Wednesday - two days after the order was processed. They had free UPS ground shipping and it took exactly seven days to be delivered (RJTech is in California and I am on the East Coast). The tracking number was emailed to me automatically but was pretty much useless since the UPS site did not have any updates until the day before the shipment was delivered. I was told by a UPS agent that ground shipments come on a train and don't get scanned as often.
I asked Richard about Arctic Silver and was told that they do not use that and the cooling solution on the unit was more than sufficient. So, I guess I'll have to do that myself. When I voiced my concern about dead pixels, Richard said that he would check my unit out personally to make sure there were no dead pixels. With bated breath and fingers crossed, the week seemed to go by very slowly.
Packaging:
The unit came packaged well in a laptop box. I opened the box and was pleased with my first look at the Mitac 8050. It looked sleek and WIDE!! Along with the notebook, there were a few CDs with drivers - one for all the hardware devices and one each for the Intel ProSet utility, WinDVD4 and Gold5 (a CD writing software).
Installation:
I set about installing WinXP SP1 and then all the drivers. For the video card, I used the latest drivers from omegacorner.net. For the wireless card, I used the latest drivers and ProSet utility from ASUS' website. No problems with installation.
First impressions:
1280x800 is the perfect resolution for me. The fonts are the right size and widescreen looks great. I am pleased with the choice. The unit looks sturdy enough.
Extended impressions:
After having owned the system for more than 10 days now, I have been able to put it though it's paces. The keyboard feels pretty good. The Ctrl and Fn button swap did get me a couple of times but I don’t think it is a big deal. The synaptics touch pad is pretty cool and considering that this is my first laptop, you can imagine that I am still getting used to it. I probably will never use the memory card reader since my digital camera uses compact flash. Have not tried USB yet but don’t anticipate anything major there.
My two biggest disappointments have been in the area of wireless connectivity speeds and battery life. Let me explain further.
I have a Netgear FM114P firewall/router/wireless AP all in one. Very rarely is my connection to the AP at 11 Mps – even when I am right next to the AP. Of course, when I am downstairs (and the AP is upstairs), it is even worse. Most times I am unable to get any signal. I have the power setting to 100% on the wireless card with no power-save options. For web browsing it seems to be OK but if I try to download big files, it chokes. I am not sure if the problems I am having are because of the card or because of my AP. If anyone has pointers in solving this issue, I’d appreciate it.
---EDITED INFORMATION BEGIN---
OK. I got to thinking that it is unlikely that the card is that bad especially considering it is an Intel 2200 Pro that other people have had a lot of success with. I played around will moving my access point to a more "accessible" location and sure enough the reception seems to be "excellent" in most places around the house. I'd like you all to ignore my initial comments about the wireless issues but I am leaving them in here anyway so that if someone runs into these problems they know to check out they AP as well. Hope that helps.
---EDITED INFORMATION END---
On to the battery. The advertised battery life is 3+ hours under normal use. I don’t know if watching a DVD constitutes normal use or not but on a recent trip out of town, I tried to watch a movie. On the way out, I got to watch 1 hour and 40 minutes before I was forced to shut down. On the return trip, I got to 1 hour and 30 minutes before I ran out of juice. Both times I had the battery fully charged prior to starting and manually turned off power to the wireless card. I am not sure if I got a lemon with the battery but I have an email in to Richard to see what he has to say.
Finally, onto heat and fan issues. I was surprised to find out how warm this system got. Under normal use (surfing, email, word processing etc), it took about 30 minutes or so before the fan kicked in. About an hour into using the system, the bottom of the unit got pretty hot and I definitely found it uncomfortable to have it on my lap (especially when wearing shorts and skin contact being made with the unit). The fan cycling was not terribly loud but I definitely noticed it. Maybe I need one of those notebook coolers that draw power from the USB port. But I am worried what that would do to my already dismal battery life! I might have to do the AS thing here soon.
I am hoping the wireless and battery issues are resolvable. Even in spite of these two issues, I still think I made the right choice especially with the widescreen.
Thanks for reading and I will be happy to answer any questions or try out any suggestions you guys may have.
-Cacofonix
1.7 GHz Dothan, 60 GB 5400 RPM HDD, 512 MB RAM, DVD/CDRW drive, Intel 2200 Pro b/g wireless card, ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 w/ 128 MB VRAM, no OS - all for $1634 delivered from RJTech.
Vendor (RJTech):
Richard Wu at RJTech is a good guy to work with. He responded to my emails promptly. All questions were answered professionally. I placed the order on a Friday and on Monday I got an email stating that my credit card was declined (since the credit card company was suspicious of a big charge). I called up my credit card company, then RJTech, and I was all set. The unit shipped out Wednesday - two days after the order was processed. They had free UPS ground shipping and it took exactly seven days to be delivered (RJTech is in California and I am on the East Coast). The tracking number was emailed to me automatically but was pretty much useless since the UPS site did not have any updates until the day before the shipment was delivered. I was told by a UPS agent that ground shipments come on a train and don't get scanned as often.
I asked Richard about Arctic Silver and was told that they do not use that and the cooling solution on the unit was more than sufficient. So, I guess I'll have to do that myself. When I voiced my concern about dead pixels, Richard said that he would check my unit out personally to make sure there were no dead pixels. With bated breath and fingers crossed, the week seemed to go by very slowly.
Packaging:
The unit came packaged well in a laptop box. I opened the box and was pleased with my first look at the Mitac 8050. It looked sleek and WIDE!! Along with the notebook, there were a few CDs with drivers - one for all the hardware devices and one each for the Intel ProSet utility, WinDVD4 and Gold5 (a CD writing software).
Installation:
I set about installing WinXP SP1 and then all the drivers. For the video card, I used the latest drivers from omegacorner.net. For the wireless card, I used the latest drivers and ProSet utility from ASUS' website. No problems with installation.
First impressions:
1280x800 is the perfect resolution for me. The fonts are the right size and widescreen looks great. I am pleased with the choice. The unit looks sturdy enough.
Extended impressions:
After having owned the system for more than 10 days now, I have been able to put it though it's paces. The keyboard feels pretty good. The Ctrl and Fn button swap did get me a couple of times but I don’t think it is a big deal. The synaptics touch pad is pretty cool and considering that this is my first laptop, you can imagine that I am still getting used to it. I probably will never use the memory card reader since my digital camera uses compact flash. Have not tried USB yet but don’t anticipate anything major there.
My two biggest disappointments have been in the area of wireless connectivity speeds and battery life. Let me explain further.
I have a Netgear FM114P firewall/router/wireless AP all in one. Very rarely is my connection to the AP at 11 Mps – even when I am right next to the AP. Of course, when I am downstairs (and the AP is upstairs), it is even worse. Most times I am unable to get any signal. I have the power setting to 100% on the wireless card with no power-save options. For web browsing it seems to be OK but if I try to download big files, it chokes. I am not sure if the problems I am having are because of the card or because of my AP. If anyone has pointers in solving this issue, I’d appreciate it.
---EDITED INFORMATION BEGIN---
OK. I got to thinking that it is unlikely that the card is that bad especially considering it is an Intel 2200 Pro that other people have had a lot of success with. I played around will moving my access point to a more "accessible" location and sure enough the reception seems to be "excellent" in most places around the house. I'd like you all to ignore my initial comments about the wireless issues but I am leaving them in here anyway so that if someone runs into these problems they know to check out they AP as well. Hope that helps.
---EDITED INFORMATION END---
On to the battery. The advertised battery life is 3+ hours under normal use. I don’t know if watching a DVD constitutes normal use or not but on a recent trip out of town, I tried to watch a movie. On the way out, I got to watch 1 hour and 40 minutes before I was forced to shut down. On the return trip, I got to 1 hour and 30 minutes before I ran out of juice. Both times I had the battery fully charged prior to starting and manually turned off power to the wireless card. I am not sure if I got a lemon with the battery but I have an email in to Richard to see what he has to say.
Finally, onto heat and fan issues. I was surprised to find out how warm this system got. Under normal use (surfing, email, word processing etc), it took about 30 minutes or so before the fan kicked in. About an hour into using the system, the bottom of the unit got pretty hot and I definitely found it uncomfortable to have it on my lap (especially when wearing shorts and skin contact being made with the unit). The fan cycling was not terribly loud but I definitely noticed it. Maybe I need one of those notebook coolers that draw power from the USB port. But I am worried what that would do to my already dismal battery life! I might have to do the AS thing here soon.
I am hoping the wireless and battery issues are resolvable. Even in spite of these two issues, I still think I made the right choice especially with the widescreen.
Thanks for reading and I will be happy to answer any questions or try out any suggestions you guys may have.
-Cacofonix
what decrypter do u use? srry, I have no experience doing this.
