(04/29/05) 3pm, Just got my laptop
was disappointed when i found out that the Pentium M 750 would not be in stock until ~2 months.. soo i settled for the 745M(1.8Ghz @ 400fsb)
and wow, what a pleasant surprise, you'll see later.
(6/04/05) Update, after more than a month of usage. Still no problems at all..
Specs on my Asus Z71v:
Pentium M 745 (1.8Ghz @400fsb)
1GB Kingston DDR-2 533 (2x512mb)
Samsung 80gb 5400RPM 8MB cache HD
8x Dual Layer DVD Burner
Geforce 6600 go
Lets get to the main components right away!
Screen:
One of the most talked about component of the Z71v. My first impression was, wow looks very sharp, bright enough and.. here are the sparkles that every1 talked about, i saw it pretty much right away.
The LCD in the z71v doesn't sport a very fast response time, by scrolling, i can see some flickering issues.. This is either due to the response time or refresh rate(60Hz).. But i'm told most LCD suffer from this issue... Especially ones that are high resolution.
I love how sharp this LCD is, and the high resolution is awsome.. In games, the display looks amazing.. Much better than my CRT.. my CRT seems smoother but blurrier (Samsung SyncMaster 900NF) It took a couple of days to adjust to this LCD.. and now i'm loving it.
The sparkles are apparent, but they don't bother me... Now i don't really notice them.. the first time i saw it.. i can see it on pictures.. not i can only find them on like white or light colours..
There is a small dark spot on bottom right of the screen, i don't notice it either.. the viewing angles are decent.. Not bad, not spectacular...
There is light leakage if you look at a black screen not facing it straight, if you look from a higher angle , looking down on the screen, you can see some light..but only in a completely dark room, on a dark background. if you look at it from pretty much straight ahead, you wont' see anything.
Dark colours are perfect, images look sharp, screen size is perfect with the native resolution(text is not too small). I ran 1600x1200 on my 19inch CRT.
I'll say the screen quality is avg... but you'll love the sharpness and the high resolution..
Looks:
the laptop is a little bit on the big side, it looks fine.. nothing special
After a month of usage.. I really like the way it looks... Size is good, i hope it was a little smaller... I'll prefer the w3v size.. I have to say this laptop does look kind of cheap.. the plastic, etc.. This is where the z70v is much better..
Build:
Sturdy for plastic, nothing special again
The keyboard is fine, there is some flex on the middle top of the keyboard, the touchpad is good, looks kinda cheap ..but the touchpad buttons are definetly loud.. i was never able to use any touchpads.. until this 1.. but i'm still light years ahead with a mouse.
Harddrive:
the Samsung 80gb 5400 rpm is quite fast.. it runs pretty cool ~38 degrees with some activities.
The hardest i've seen it get is about 44 degrees..
The burner and the HD are both on primary IDE channels, which should slow down burn times by a min or 2.. this is not really an issue as some would think it is.. if you are getting the z71v.. it is best to get it with a SATA harddrive.... b/c the z71v supports 1 SATA channel and 1 IDE channel.
Video Card(Gaming):
Impressive, i can't really compare b/c my last GPU is a geforce 2 gts.. It is a geforce go 6600... the name itself is self-explanatory.
the stock speed is 250core/500mem, much lower than the 300/600 speed on the sager 3880..
I ran 3DMark03 at 290/595 no problems at all.. the GPU fan is loud when it runs 3d intensive programs.
Right now i'm running at 275/575 in games..
Heat/Noise:
my palms can feel it is slightly warm on the left side below the keyboard(where you place your right hand), thats pretty much the hottest it gets..
The fan is quiet.. if you have a window open in your room, you won't notice the fan is on.. In a complete silent room, you have to be in the range of usability to hear the laptop fan.. I don't think you can hear the noise 1m away from the laptop.
Battery gives NO BUZZING SOUND!
Software: Came with 7 CD's
Windows XP Home Edition
Asus PowerDirector DE(cyberlink)
Asus MediaShow SE(cyberlink)
ASUSDVD
Z7100 Series Drivers & Utilities
Nero V6.3.1.25 OEM SUITE
Intel ProSet/Wireless CD
Price:
Had to wait a long time for all the components, my friend help me build this thing, he has a lot of connections with warehouses etc..
So it might surprise you a little bit at how cheap i got this.
It came to $1997CDN that is $1598.08USD
BEFORE 14% canadian tax(arg) so it came to $2280CDN, ~$1815USD
For this price, i got it with Windows XP Home(legit)
This includes no retailer support, just Asus's own warranty. And of course all the Z71v users on the forum.
Overall/Conclusion:
When i just received the machine.. i wasn't exactly impressed with the looks, it didn't wow me like the some of the other ASUS notebooks.. The screen was good but not spectacular.. The specs are absolutely amazing..
This notebook would be perfect if they had a better screen.
I've checked out some laptops at futureshop closely.. the toshiba's have like perfect white's and gray's.. i'm jealous.. they dont' have light leakage either even at extreme angles.. but their resolution really really suck..
************************
now for some overclocked results not seen on other Sonoma's
I noticed my system was running at 2.39ghz (18x133mhz)
So i checked SiSoft Sandra and this was confirmed..
This is because the z71v was designed to work with 533fsb processors.. there iare 2 small jumpers that set from 533fsb to 400fsb.. this enables users to overclock easily with the 400mhz dothan's.... a 1.6ghz(400fsb) dothan will turn into a 2.13ghz(533fsb) without any work done.. Wow..
System Summary:
Model: Intel Pentium M Processor 1.80Ghz
Speed: 2.39Ghz
Performance Rating: PR2873
Front Side Bus Speed 4x 133Mhz(532Mhz data rate)
Total Memory 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed: 4x 266Mhz(1064Mhz data rate) <- dual channel ddr2 533 in action!
So infact, it seems like the Z71v have trouble setting processor at 400fsb..
CPU Arithmetic Benchmark-
Pentium M @ 2.39Ghz(18x133)
Dhrystone ALU : 10203MIPS
Whetstone FPU: iSSE2 3282/4206 MFLOPS
Pentium 4-E 3.8GHz from SiSoft Sandra
Dhrystone ALU : 10312MIPS
Whetstone FPU: iSSE2 2555/4694 MFLOPS
Certainly competitive against a 3.8Ghz P4-E!
CPU Multi-Media Benchmark
Pentium M @ 2.39Ghz(18x133)
Integer x4 iSSE 22560 it/s
Floating-Point x4 iSSE2 24863 it/s
Pentium 4-E 3.8GHz from SiSoft Sandra
Integer x4 iSSE 21028 it/s
Floating-Point x4 iSSE2 25395 it/s
Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks
Int Buff'd iSSE2 3032MB/s
Float Buff'd iSSE2 3035MB/s
Dual Channel DDR2-533 memory, #'s are not bad
Wow, Pentium M processor is insane.. it really runs a lot faster than the listed speed.. you can safely say that it runs at speeds comparable to a P4 with 1.2GHZ advantage
As you can see.. the Pentium M are really capable of being overclocked.. right now at stock voltage.. it is running 100% stable.. I assume that is why people were able to undervolt their processors to like ~ .3 voltage lower..
Ratings:
Screen: 6.5/10
good size, high resolution, dark colours are nice and sharp
sparkles, a dark spot, minimal light leakage
the screen gets a decent grade, b/c it is incrediblely sharp, sparkles aren't as bad as you think, sure it is apparent, but it doesn't affect me..
Build(Placement of ports/durability): 7.5/10
Sturdy, but not the sturdiest, ports are well placed, keyboard is very good
touchpad is fine
Speakers are good for laptop speakers, loud, clear.
complains i have is, too many USB ports.. 3-4 is fine.. non-standard firewire? eh.. and ya no matter how strong it is, plastic is plastic.
Heat/Noise/Battery Life: 10/10
Very quiet, doesn't get too hot.. i've done all i can.. i got it to 67 degrees at 2.4Ghz with undervolting.. i've seen people z71v's not go higher than ~60 degrees..
at my stock speed 1.8ghz undervolted, i never get over 58 degrees.. which is amazing
Battery Life is very good.. 3 hours and 10 mins from a full charge utilizing >95% CPU load in office mode... Reality is.. i'm not going to game on battery.. the video card drains A LOT of battery at full speed.. I don't think it'll last more than 1:30 when gaming. I think it is the Asus motherboard that is beating the competition.. i can undervolt a lot and still operate normally.. While on the dell i9300.. this is not the case.. The quality of Asus hardware components are what separates the z71v from its competition.. the fact that my 1.8ghz runs @ 2.4ghz with low voltage(more battery life and cooler than others) is just mind blowing..
Specs: 10/10
It is able to sport the best notebook processor in the market, the fastest notebook ram in the market, large choice of hard drives, dual layer dvd burner, intel wireless/azalia(sound), geforce go 6600 128mb.. dream come true for all hardware enthusiatics...
Looks: 7/10
it looks good, a little bit sexy, wouldn't say its super hot(10/10), you be the judge.. I'm sure no 1 will find it spectacular.. but i doubt many will dislike the looks..
Overall: 8/10
Think of it this way..
this could be the best laptop there is
- Perfect Specs (sonoma platform, SATA support, go6600)
- Good Size and weight for a 15.4 widescreen laptop
- Good Battery Life (especially considering it is using a go6600)
- Stable (Asus components)
- High resolution Sharp Screen
but unfortunately.. a lot of us .. at the end.. will be using office applications, checking forums.. and this is affected by the screen.. I was checking out the toshiba's at futureshop.. and i mean wow.. the little quirks i have with this screen.. it has none on theirs... i was impressed by those LCD's.. they don't seem to have any problem except for low resolution..
The screen could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.. I'll have to agree even tho i'm not bothered by sparkles... and light leakage don't affect my use.. i'll still like something better ..
was disappointed when i found out that the Pentium M 750 would not be in stock until ~2 months.. soo i settled for the 745M(1.8Ghz @ 400fsb)
and wow, what a pleasant surprise, you'll see later.
(6/04/05) Update, after more than a month of usage. Still no problems at all..
Specs on my Asus Z71v:
Pentium M 745 (1.8Ghz @400fsb)
1GB Kingston DDR-2 533 (2x512mb)
Samsung 80gb 5400RPM 8MB cache HD
8x Dual Layer DVD Burner
Geforce 6600 go
Lets get to the main components right away!
Screen:
One of the most talked about component of the Z71v. My first impression was, wow looks very sharp, bright enough and.. here are the sparkles that every1 talked about, i saw it pretty much right away.
The LCD in the z71v doesn't sport a very fast response time, by scrolling, i can see some flickering issues.. This is either due to the response time or refresh rate(60Hz).. But i'm told most LCD suffer from this issue... Especially ones that are high resolution.
I love how sharp this LCD is, and the high resolution is awsome.. In games, the display looks amazing.. Much better than my CRT.. my CRT seems smoother but blurrier (Samsung SyncMaster 900NF) It took a couple of days to adjust to this LCD.. and now i'm loving it.
The sparkles are apparent, but they don't bother me... Now i don't really notice them.. the first time i saw it.. i can see it on pictures.. not i can only find them on like white or light colours..
There is a small dark spot on bottom right of the screen, i don't notice it either.. the viewing angles are decent.. Not bad, not spectacular...
There is light leakage if you look at a black screen not facing it straight, if you look from a higher angle , looking down on the screen, you can see some light..but only in a completely dark room, on a dark background. if you look at it from pretty much straight ahead, you wont' see anything.
Dark colours are perfect, images look sharp, screen size is perfect with the native resolution(text is not too small). I ran 1600x1200 on my 19inch CRT.
I'll say the screen quality is avg... but you'll love the sharpness and the high resolution..
Looks:
the laptop is a little bit on the big side, it looks fine.. nothing special
After a month of usage.. I really like the way it looks... Size is good, i hope it was a little smaller... I'll prefer the w3v size.. I have to say this laptop does look kind of cheap.. the plastic, etc.. This is where the z70v is much better..
Build:
Sturdy for plastic, nothing special again
The keyboard is fine, there is some flex on the middle top of the keyboard, the touchpad is good, looks kinda cheap ..but the touchpad buttons are definetly loud.. i was never able to use any touchpads.. until this 1.. but i'm still light years ahead with a mouse.
Harddrive:
the Samsung 80gb 5400 rpm is quite fast.. it runs pretty cool ~38 degrees with some activities.
The hardest i've seen it get is about 44 degrees..
The burner and the HD are both on primary IDE channels, which should slow down burn times by a min or 2.. this is not really an issue as some would think it is.. if you are getting the z71v.. it is best to get it with a SATA harddrive.... b/c the z71v supports 1 SATA channel and 1 IDE channel.
Video Card(Gaming):
Impressive, i can't really compare b/c my last GPU is a geforce 2 gts.. It is a geforce go 6600... the name itself is self-explanatory.
the stock speed is 250core/500mem, much lower than the 300/600 speed on the sager 3880..
I ran 3DMark03 at 290/595 no problems at all.. the GPU fan is loud when it runs 3d intensive programs.
Right now i'm running at 275/575 in games..
Heat/Noise:
my palms can feel it is slightly warm on the left side below the keyboard(where you place your right hand), thats pretty much the hottest it gets..
The fan is quiet.. if you have a window open in your room, you won't notice the fan is on.. In a complete silent room, you have to be in the range of usability to hear the laptop fan.. I don't think you can hear the noise 1m away from the laptop.
Battery gives NO BUZZING SOUND!
Software: Came with 7 CD's
Windows XP Home Edition
Asus PowerDirector DE(cyberlink)
Asus MediaShow SE(cyberlink)
ASUSDVD
Z7100 Series Drivers & Utilities
Nero V6.3.1.25 OEM SUITE
Intel ProSet/Wireless CD
Price:
Had to wait a long time for all the components, my friend help me build this thing, he has a lot of connections with warehouses etc..
So it might surprise you a little bit at how cheap i got this.
It came to $1997CDN that is $1598.08USD
BEFORE 14% canadian tax(arg) so it came to $2280CDN, ~$1815USD
For this price, i got it with Windows XP Home(legit)
This includes no retailer support, just Asus's own warranty. And of course all the Z71v users on the forum.
Overall/Conclusion:
When i just received the machine.. i wasn't exactly impressed with the looks, it didn't wow me like the some of the other ASUS notebooks.. The screen was good but not spectacular.. The specs are absolutely amazing..
This notebook would be perfect if they had a better screen.
I've checked out some laptops at futureshop closely.. the toshiba's have like perfect white's and gray's.. i'm jealous.. they dont' have light leakage either even at extreme angles.. but their resolution really really suck..
************************
now for some overclocked results not seen on other Sonoma's
I noticed my system was running at 2.39ghz (18x133mhz)
So i checked SiSoft Sandra and this was confirmed..
This is because the z71v was designed to work with 533fsb processors.. there iare 2 small jumpers that set from 533fsb to 400fsb.. this enables users to overclock easily with the 400mhz dothan's.... a 1.6ghz(400fsb) dothan will turn into a 2.13ghz(533fsb) without any work done.. Wow..
System Summary:
Model: Intel Pentium M Processor 1.80Ghz
Speed: 2.39Ghz
Performance Rating: PR2873
Front Side Bus Speed 4x 133Mhz(532Mhz data rate)
Total Memory 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed: 4x 266Mhz(1064Mhz data rate) <- dual channel ddr2 533 in action!
So infact, it seems like the Z71v have trouble setting processor at 400fsb..
CPU Arithmetic Benchmark-
Pentium M @ 2.39Ghz(18x133)
Dhrystone ALU : 10203MIPS
Whetstone FPU: iSSE2 3282/4206 MFLOPS
Pentium 4-E 3.8GHz from SiSoft Sandra
Dhrystone ALU : 10312MIPS
Whetstone FPU: iSSE2 2555/4694 MFLOPS
Certainly competitive against a 3.8Ghz P4-E!
CPU Multi-Media Benchmark
Pentium M @ 2.39Ghz(18x133)
Integer x4 iSSE 22560 it/s
Floating-Point x4 iSSE2 24863 it/s
Pentium 4-E 3.8GHz from SiSoft Sandra
Integer x4 iSSE 21028 it/s
Floating-Point x4 iSSE2 25395 it/s
Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks
Int Buff'd iSSE2 3032MB/s
Float Buff'd iSSE2 3035MB/s
Dual Channel DDR2-533 memory, #'s are not bad
Wow, Pentium M processor is insane.. it really runs a lot faster than the listed speed.. you can safely say that it runs at speeds comparable to a P4 with 1.2GHZ advantage
As you can see.. the Pentium M are really capable of being overclocked.. right now at stock voltage.. it is running 100% stable.. I assume that is why people were able to undervolt their processors to like ~ .3 voltage lower..
Ratings:
Screen: 6.5/10
good size, high resolution, dark colours are nice and sharp
sparkles, a dark spot, minimal light leakage
the screen gets a decent grade, b/c it is incrediblely sharp, sparkles aren't as bad as you think, sure it is apparent, but it doesn't affect me..
Build(Placement of ports/durability): 7.5/10
Sturdy, but not the sturdiest, ports are well placed, keyboard is very good
touchpad is fine
Speakers are good for laptop speakers, loud, clear.
complains i have is, too many USB ports.. 3-4 is fine.. non-standard firewire? eh.. and ya no matter how strong it is, plastic is plastic.
Heat/Noise/Battery Life: 10/10
Very quiet, doesn't get too hot.. i've done all i can.. i got it to 67 degrees at 2.4Ghz with undervolting.. i've seen people z71v's not go higher than ~60 degrees..
at my stock speed 1.8ghz undervolted, i never get over 58 degrees.. which is amazing
Battery Life is very good.. 3 hours and 10 mins from a full charge utilizing >95% CPU load in office mode... Reality is.. i'm not going to game on battery.. the video card drains A LOT of battery at full speed.. I don't think it'll last more than 1:30 when gaming. I think it is the Asus motherboard that is beating the competition.. i can undervolt a lot and still operate normally.. While on the dell i9300.. this is not the case.. The quality of Asus hardware components are what separates the z71v from its competition.. the fact that my 1.8ghz runs @ 2.4ghz with low voltage(more battery life and cooler than others) is just mind blowing..
Specs: 10/10
It is able to sport the best notebook processor in the market, the fastest notebook ram in the market, large choice of hard drives, dual layer dvd burner, intel wireless/azalia(sound), geforce go 6600 128mb.. dream come true for all hardware enthusiatics...
Looks: 7/10
it looks good, a little bit sexy, wouldn't say its super hot(10/10), you be the judge.. I'm sure no 1 will find it spectacular.. but i doubt many will dislike the looks..
Overall: 8/10
Think of it this way..
this could be the best laptop there is
- Perfect Specs (sonoma platform, SATA support, go6600)
- Good Size and weight for a 15.4 widescreen laptop
- Good Battery Life (especially considering it is using a go6600)
- Stable (Asus components)
- High resolution Sharp Screen
but unfortunately.. a lot of us .. at the end.. will be using office applications, checking forums.. and this is affected by the screen.. I was checking out the toshiba's at futureshop.. and i mean wow.. the little quirks i have with this screen.. it has none on theirs... i was impressed by those LCD's.. they don't seem to have any problem except for low resolution..
The screen could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.. I'll have to agree even tho i'm not bothered by sparkles... and light leakage don't affect my use.. i'll still like something better ..
. In my opinion, you got a pretty good deal there 
.
