Sony S-360 vs. Asus w3v (For College) - Page 2

I'm assuming Intel GMA900 on the 4200, 855GME on the 1000 and have no idea on the 4100...Hoping it's going to be ATI RS480. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.

whats this about being able to customize the w3v...how / where?

my bro just got the sony you speak of...great machine, only downside is no recovery cd's, its all stored on a partition of the hd, which means no replacing the hard drive yourself...plus I think the asus looks cooler and is better built

About the recovery discs... you can make your own recovery discs using sony's recovery tool. It is kinda annoying since it's 7 discs, but it can be easily done. I just got my 360 a week ago and I'm really liking it. I created the recovery discs and then installed XP Pro on it without any problems.

Regarding the previous post saying that once you install your own copy of XP, the media keys and whatever wont work. That is completely not true. All you have to do is install the right drivers after you install your XP. Sony has a driver recovery utility as well which will place all the drivers you need in a folder in the windows folder. They also have another utility which will let you choose what software to install, such as the software needed to use the 2 function keys and the ones to change the brightness and volume.

Anyway, I only have experience with the 360 and it's great. The screen is really nice, great battery life (about 4-5 hours with wireless enabled, doing just some web browsing/text editing). I havent tried too many games, but I played need for speed underground 2 with (almost) max details (minus full FSAA) and it's running really smooth.

Wow... so much Anti-Sonytism.

Anyway, I used to own an Asus M6BNE and then switched to a Sony S360, and I never looked back. There is a link in my signature for an Asus M6BNE vs. Sony S360 comparative review.

I had the same dilema. I am heading to law school in august. I bought a s380 and returned it and got an asus w3v. I'm so glad I did. I really don't have anything against sony products they are good. However, the asus is cheaper with better specs and larger screen. It also has a modular bay for a second battery and believe me when I say this the sony power brick is huge compared to the asus. I mean I was shocked at the size and weight of the sony brick especially since this is something one has to carry with them. Anyway go for Asus w3v you will not regret it. In addition after "rmclocking" I am getting 3.30 hours of battery easy.

viva la asus .

OK, the weight of the w3v is 5.5 lbs and 5lbs without the dvd drive. However a very important note the US version of the w3v is shipped with the extra capacity battery which is heavier then the regular yet exactly the same size. I would have ordered the extra capacity battery anyway so it was a nice little bonus. Sony ships with the standart battery. In addition the power brick for the asus weight a mere 0.5 lbs! It is the smallest power brick I have ever seen for a laptop. The sony is at least triple in size and weight.
As for rmclock it is a utility for undervolting the proccessor without loosing performance yet greatly increasing battery life. At minimum speed I am able to run on 0.700 volts stable. Check out the tutorial in this forum for details.

asua w3v = wow

I'm thinking of getting the W3v configured at PM 2.0 ghz do you think this is going to overheat the little machine compared to the 1.8 ghz?

Why would you buy the w3v from somone who configures it? You are going to end up paying for not only the parts you are buying, but the parts they are pulling as well as the overseas warranty you arent getting.

Chances are it wont overheat it though.

how come there are no w3v reviews anywhere?

Sorry been busy. Anyway I'm no expert on viewing angles but the asus seems absolutly fine to me. The brightness is great and I usually keep it in the middle or less when on battery power. It is very hard for me to tell which screen is better the asus or the sony since they are so close and are both great. The heat is easy though the sony definitly got warmer and it has a much louder fan then the asus. In fact I thought the fan was so loud I was worried it might bother people in class. I believe the sony forum had a discussion about that. The asus fan is very quiet though and it does get warm but not overly so. As for battery power I think it averages aroung 2.30 - 2.45 hours for normal stuff. Depends on what you are doing ofcourse. The sony came close to lasting that long as well yet not as long I belive. I now however average 3.30 hours. I must point out that I now have a bias for asus though I was a long time loyal to sony (I have a TV, camera, monitor, and a trusty old srx77 laptop which I am still using). The asus w3v is an amazing machine and it has converted me as far as laptops concern. I do not believe it is possible to find a perfect laptop but for my needs (law school) I think I am as close as I can get.

Thing is, I can get it cheaper than the ensemble model configured with a 2ghz processor, 60gb 7200 hdd and 1gb ram. And a 1 yr warranty from the store.

For me, if the machine works ok and doesn't overheat with the specs above then the only real issue is the ASUS global warranty (2yr global) vs the retailer's warranty (1yr Japan only) and I will be moving back to the UK in the summer. But so far my experiece with laptops has been good and I have never used a warranty. THough now having said that If ibuy the asus it will probably cause me many problems!

What can you do? Gotta take risks in life.