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ABS ZForce F2 (AOpen 1557GL) review - Page 3

post #41 of 66
7/15/04 at 11:33pm
I finally decided on the AOpen and just ordered my zForce2:

Display: SXGA+ w/Radeon 9700 128MB
Optical: DVD/CD-RW Drive
Processor: Pentium M 735 (1.7GHz Dothan)
Memory: Kingston 1GB (2x512MB) PC2700 DDR
Hard Drive: Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM

When it comes, I need to reformat it and install XP Pro (it'll come with XP Home). Wooo! Grand total: $1,888 -- No tax and free shipping!
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post #42 of 66
7/16/04 at 2:57am
Nice, when i got mine i formatted and put on XP pro as well. It is a great machine and I grow to like it more every day. The speakers really arent all that bad for the size. I was thinking of making the jump to 1024mb memory from 512, is it a worthwhile upgrade?
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post #43 of 66
7/16/04 at 3:12am
What do you use it for?
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post #44 of 66
7/16/04 at 3:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrSparkle
Nice, when i got mine i formatted and put on XP pro as well. It is a great machine and I grow to like it more every day. The speakers really arent all that bad for the size. I was thinking of making the jump to 1024mb memory from 512, is it a worthwhile upgrade?
IMHO, the speakers ARE really bad, they are only ok to play windows sond but when it comes to gaming, music or video, I (and everyone I know that own Aopen) use external speakers or headset because those speakers are horrible. I don't really mind, as this laptop is really good for everything else, but if the speakers were better, it could be one of the perfect laptop around
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post #45 of 66
7/16/04 at 11:40am
what do you guys think of the mayhem g2? i know theres a g3 but i rather have the centrino for its battery life.
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post #46 of 66
7/16/04 at 8:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrSparkle
I was thinking of making the jump to 1024mb memory from 512, is it a worthwhile upgrade?
I did (went from 512 to 1024) and I only notice it when I've got 3 or more programs open at once. If you don't do a lot of multi-tasking 512 is probably fine. My game benchmarks didn't change with the extra memory either.
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post #47 of 66
7/16/04 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by clear
IMHO, the speakers ARE really bad, they are only ok to play windows sond but when it comes to gaming, music or video, I (and everyone I know that own Aopen) use external speakers or headset because those speakers are horrible. I don't really mind, as this laptop is really good for everything else, but if the speakers were better, it could be one of the perfect laptop around
Yea I think they're pretty bad too, fine for Windows noises, but for music or games
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post #48 of 66
7/17/04 at 3:09am
Quick question to any 1557 owner. Once you open the screen does it wiggle alittle bit front and back? Mine does and it annoys the crap out of me. It will make me feel better if thats the way its supposed to be.
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post #49 of 66
7/18/04 at 1:43am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrSparkle
Quick question to any 1557 owner. Once you open the screen does it wiggle alittle bit front and back? Mine does and it annoys the crap out of me. It will make me feel better if thats the way its supposed to be.

Mine too, doesn't bother to much though.
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post #50 of 66
7/18/04 at 2:48am
Bigdaddy. could you pm or post here as to how you took off the keyboard for your 1557? thanks matey
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post #51 of 66
7/18/04 at 8:17am
There are quite interesting videos here : 1557 Disassambly videos

Hope that help !
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post #52 of 66
7/18/04 at 3:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by strepto8
Bigdaddy. could you pm or post here as to how you took off the keyboard for your 1557? thanks matey
You have to pry off the speaker/DJ control panel. I started by poping up the fromt of it (next to the keyboard), then the sides. Then you have to close the LCD panel a little and pop the tabs on the back of the speaker panel. You should be able to pull the panel up a little, but be careful cause there are wires connected to it. You don't need to disconnect the wires, you can move the panel out of the way far enough to remove the keyboard. Hope that helps.
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post #53 of 66
7/18/04 at 4:35pm
wow thanks a lot clear those are great videos thanks bigdaddy for the walkthru as well. i'm getting my 1557 within the next week hope all this prep would get it all together)))thanks guys
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post #54 of 66
7/19/04 at 7:51am
what are ABS drivers?

how come ur not using omegas
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post #55 of 66
7/19/04 at 11:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rincewind
what are ABS drivers?

how come ur not using omegas
Not sure what you mean , of course that may not be directed at me so if not just ignore this.
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post #56 of 66
7/19/04 at 11:25am
Stock clock settings (391/202)
ABS Installed driver – 6.14.0010.6430
DirectX 9.0b
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post #57 of 66
7/19/04 at 2:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rincewind
Stock clock settings (391/202)
ABS Installed driver – 6.14.0010.6430
DirectX 9.0b
Ohh, those arn't ABS drivers, I just ment I was using the ATi drivers that ABS installed on the system. I have changed to the Omega drivers which have resulted in a decrease in all my benchmarks. It wasn't a large decrease, but I was expecting and increase form everything I had heard about those drivers. Anyone else have this happen?
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post #58 of 66
7/22/04 at 2:27pm
My zForce F2 came today! I still had a nasty headache this morning that carried over from yesterday (caffeine withdrawal), so I called in sick.

I'm going to wipe this thing clear and install XP Pro. First impression: Wow.

Specs:

1.7GHz Dothan, 128MB M11, 1GB RAM, 60GB 7200RPM HDD, DVD/CD-RW Drive.

NO DEAD PIXELS! WHOOOO!

This is an awesome laptop. The only things I've noticed so far are:

1. There is one part of the screen that does the LCD "warp effect" very easily, no matter where on the back of the lid presure is applied.

2. The lid release button and optical drive face seem just a little bit flimsy.

3. The horizontal viewing angle is quite good, but the vertical is limited. There is definitely a sweet spot. I don't notice it during surfing as much as gaming (I quickly loaded MOH:AA for a trial run, which I was impressed with).

4. There is no "battery charging" indicator on the laptop. Most laptops have an LED indicating such, but I have yet to notice one on this laptop.

Overall, I'm VERY happy I chose this notebook. Now to install the proper OS and tweak away!
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post #59 of 66
7/22/04 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDaddyJ
Ohh, those arn't ABS drivers, I just ment I was using the ATi drivers that ABS installed on the system. I have changed to the Omega drivers which have resulted in a decrease in all my benchmarks. It wasn't a large decrease, but I was expecting and increase form everything I had heard about those drivers. Anyone else have this happen?
I've found that Omega drivers aren't always the best for any configuration, just do exactly what you did - try it out. I went back to ATI drivers, myself.
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post #60 of 66
7/22/04 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoffeeShark
I've found that Omega drivers aren't always the best for any configuration, just do exactly what you did - try it out. I went back to ATI drivers, myself.
Yea I'll be doing that once i get a little extra time. It did only knock the benchmark performance down a little, I can't notice a difference while gaming (good or bad).
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