Well, I have had this laptop for a few days now, and it seems to be holding up pretty well.
What I was looking for was a 14-15 inch widescreen laptop that could game pretty well,
but also have a decent battery life. It came down to the Z70V Refresh and the Z71V, but
in the end, the Z71V won out because of time restrictions. I ordered it on July 4th from ISTNC,
and it came on July 14th. Now on to the review:
Specifications
1.86 GHz Pentuim-M 750
1 GB stick PC4200 DDR2
80 GB Fujitsu SATA 5400 RPM HDD
nVidia Geforce 6600 GO
Samsung/Toshiba DVD+DL Drive
Looks/Style
Well, when I first opened up the box, and took the laptop out, I thought that it looked pretty decent,
not ugly, but not super stylish either. I really like how the laptop looks when it is closed.
The top has a nice shape and looks attractive. However, I think the laptop is a bit too curvy looking
when it is opened. The blue power button looks nice, but it can get annoying when watching movies in the dark.
The laptop was a bit larger than I had expected, but the size is still acceptable for me.
Score: 7/10
Build Quality/Construction
The actual laptop is very well built, and there is little to zero flex on the laptop.
The LCD does not deform when I press on the back of it, and I don't hear any creaks.
I am still getting used to the keyboard, but it does seem to be placed back a bit far, and it can make your wrists sore
after typing on it for a while. Also, before I figured out how to turn off the touchpad, my palms would always
brush it and move the cursor somewhere else, creating quite a few typing errors. The placement of the ports
is excellent in my opinion for the most part.
Score: 8/10
LCD Quality
Well, it does have that "sparkly" sheen on solid colors that has been talked about, especially on white and light green,
as people said, but you can get used to it quite quickly. I've seem better quality LCD's, but this one isn't terrible.
It's just not exceptional. It looks pretty decent when watching movies and playing games
Score: 7/10
Gaming
It has the Geforce 6600 Go, and it plays all current games quite well. In CS:S, at native resolution, I get around 30-50 fps,
with all settings on high, and no anti-aliasing. It plays games faster than my old desktop, so that was a huge plus on
the laptop's part. The 6600 Go is definitely powerful enough for me, but since it is not the fastest out there,
I can't give it a perfect score.
Score: 9.5/10
Noise Levels
It is pretty much quiet almost all the time. The only time I can really hear anything is when I am playing
games or using the DVD-DL drive. The DVD burner is pretty much the loudest thing on this machine.
Score: 10/10
Benchmarks
COMING SOON! (I hope I have the time to get around to these)
Pictures
COMING SOON! (Hopefully)
Conclusion
Overall, I am satisfied with the Asus Z71V. There could be some things better about it, but nothing is perfect.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
What I was looking for was a 14-15 inch widescreen laptop that could game pretty well,
but also have a decent battery life. It came down to the Z70V Refresh and the Z71V, but
in the end, the Z71V won out because of time restrictions. I ordered it on July 4th from ISTNC,
and it came on July 14th. Now on to the review:
Specifications
1.86 GHz Pentuim-M 750
1 GB stick PC4200 DDR2
80 GB Fujitsu SATA 5400 RPM HDD
nVidia Geforce 6600 GO
Samsung/Toshiba DVD+DL Drive
Looks/Style
Well, when I first opened up the box, and took the laptop out, I thought that it looked pretty decent,
not ugly, but not super stylish either. I really like how the laptop looks when it is closed.
The top has a nice shape and looks attractive. However, I think the laptop is a bit too curvy looking
when it is opened. The blue power button looks nice, but it can get annoying when watching movies in the dark.
The laptop was a bit larger than I had expected, but the size is still acceptable for me.
Score: 7/10
Build Quality/Construction
The actual laptop is very well built, and there is little to zero flex on the laptop.
The LCD does not deform when I press on the back of it, and I don't hear any creaks.
I am still getting used to the keyboard, but it does seem to be placed back a bit far, and it can make your wrists sore
after typing on it for a while. Also, before I figured out how to turn off the touchpad, my palms would always
brush it and move the cursor somewhere else, creating quite a few typing errors. The placement of the ports
is excellent in my opinion for the most part.
Score: 8/10
LCD Quality
Well, it does have that "sparkly" sheen on solid colors that has been talked about, especially on white and light green,
as people said, but you can get used to it quite quickly. I've seem better quality LCD's, but this one isn't terrible.
It's just not exceptional. It looks pretty decent when watching movies and playing games
Score: 7/10
Gaming
It has the Geforce 6600 Go, and it plays all current games quite well. In CS:S, at native resolution, I get around 30-50 fps,
with all settings on high, and no anti-aliasing. It plays games faster than my old desktop, so that was a huge plus on
the laptop's part. The 6600 Go is definitely powerful enough for me, but since it is not the fastest out there,
I can't give it a perfect score.
Score: 9.5/10
Noise Levels
It is pretty much quiet almost all the time. The only time I can really hear anything is when I am playing
games or using the DVD-DL drive. The DVD burner is pretty much the loudest thing on this machine.
Score: 10/10
Benchmarks
COMING SOON! (I hope I have the time to get around to these)
Pictures
COMING SOON! (Hopefully)
Conclusion
Overall, I am satisfied with the Asus Z71V. There could be some things better about it, but nothing is perfect.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
