[I posted this at notebookreview.com earlier today, but I think it deserves to be here as well.]
I received my Asus W2V last Friday. I intended to test it thoroughly during the weekend to be able to give you a fairly comprehensive set of first impressions, including battery life tests and benchmark scores. However, all my time has been spent on trying to improve the (for me) unacceptable sound, so everything else will have to wait. Sorry.
Here in Europe there are two versions of the W2V available - one with 2.0 GHz / 100 GB HDD / 1 GB RAM (2x512MB) and another with 1.86 GHz / 80 GB HDD / 512 MB RAM. I ordered the version with the lower specs, because then I could afford to splurge on RAM upgrades to 2 GB.
Speaking of RAM, only one slot is easily accessable. I slipped in a 1 GB stick there (so 1.5 GB is now installed), but have decided to wait with the slot hidden under the keyboard until I find instructions on how to disassemble the notebook. I searched ASUS website but have not found such instructions for the W2V. The manual clearly says that RAM upgrades must be performed by an authorized ASUS dealer, or the warranty will be void.
The notebook looks great and is well packed. In the box is a high quality case, a small optical wheel mouse in matching aluminium, two (!) remote controls (full size and PCMCIA size), a restore CD, two CDs with all necessary drivers, Norton Security, Nero DVD burning and Asus theater software, some games, a fairly heavy transformer, around-the-neck headphones (pretty, but crappy sound), a tiny TV antenna and lots of cables.
My computer was delivered with a German version of XP pro which I didn't want (I'm Swedish). The disk had two partitions of 35-40 GB and a third 2 GB restore partition. The first thing I did was installed TrueImage to backup the original disk, reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP (English) and the drivers. The driver CD was invaluable for this. Everything worked as expected.
So far so good. The screen is gorgeous - clear, bright and no bad pixels. Viewing angles are fine. The fan is clearly audible - it runs nearly constantly, even when idle. It is a bit louder than I had hoped, but the sound is much less disturbing than I had feared. The sound is constant, so it doesn't call attention to itself. The noise is low frequency, with no dominant tones to drive you crazy. Not bad at all, and there is still hope for further improvement using e.g. Centrino Hardware Control and SpeedFan.
The TV tuner worked fine, although I was not impressed with the Asus Theater software. The slot loaded DVD player/writer is cool, but the sounds the mechanism makes are more Volkswagen than Mercedes.
So Saturday night I plugged in my Etymotic ER4p earphones and settled down to watch a movie, fully expecting a great experience. It wasn't. The sound pretty much sucked - almost total lack of bass, and very muddy highs as well. I first blamed the rip, but decided to test the sound the next day. What a disappointment! I found I could improve the sound slightly by enabling the equalizer in the Realtek sound drivers, but nowhere near to an acceptable level. Even my 5-year old Thinkpad T20 is much better than this. I also listened to the same MP3 with the W2V and my iRiver IHP-120 mp3-player. The iRiver totally blew away the W2V. I have never been very impressed with the sound quality of my iRiver - pretty good for a portable mp3 player, but nothing to write home about. But even the average performance of the iRiver was pure audio bliss in comparison with the W2V - great bass, lovely midrange and clear distinct highs.
Now I have to admit I'm a quasi-audiophile. If I weren't on vacation, I would be listening with my top-of-the-line Sennheiser HD650 headphones and a dedicated headphone amplifier. So perhaps I'm not a typical listener. If you listen with the built-in speakers (which are better than average laptop speakers) or with the included junk headphones, you probably won't have a problem with the sound.
On the other hand, I'm not a rabid full-scale audiophile either. I'm quite happy on the road with my mp3 player and the ER4p canal phones. It would have been acceptable for me if the W2V had equivalent sound quality. But no. The sound quality from the W2V is a significant step down from my mediocre old Thinkpad sound. "Intel high definition audio" - what a load of crap.
I seriously hope that I have a lemon, but I doubt it. Without good equipment the sound isn't obviously terrible. With good stuff and good ears, the sound is definitely horrible. I tried updating the Realtek drivers, but no improvement.
My last hope is that I can save the sound using an external soundcard, or perhaps just a DAC running from the SPDIF output. Can someone tell me if the SPDIF/DAC combo will channel all sound, including output from MP3s and games?
[Edit] I think I should try to describe the sound of the W2V. I find it tinny and thin, with a lack of bass and little detail in the upper register. This greatly affects my enjoyment of music and films. I would appreciate if other W2V owners, especially self-proclaimed audiophiles, could chime in and let us know if they hear the same thing. I very much want to know if it is my computer only or the W2V model in general.[/Edit]
I received my Asus W2V last Friday. I intended to test it thoroughly during the weekend to be able to give you a fairly comprehensive set of first impressions, including battery life tests and benchmark scores. However, all my time has been spent on trying to improve the (for me) unacceptable sound, so everything else will have to wait. Sorry.
Here in Europe there are two versions of the W2V available - one with 2.0 GHz / 100 GB HDD / 1 GB RAM (2x512MB) and another with 1.86 GHz / 80 GB HDD / 512 MB RAM. I ordered the version with the lower specs, because then I could afford to splurge on RAM upgrades to 2 GB.
Speaking of RAM, only one slot is easily accessable. I slipped in a 1 GB stick there (so 1.5 GB is now installed), but have decided to wait with the slot hidden under the keyboard until I find instructions on how to disassemble the notebook. I searched ASUS website but have not found such instructions for the W2V. The manual clearly says that RAM upgrades must be performed by an authorized ASUS dealer, or the warranty will be void.
The notebook looks great and is well packed. In the box is a high quality case, a small optical wheel mouse in matching aluminium, two (!) remote controls (full size and PCMCIA size), a restore CD, two CDs with all necessary drivers, Norton Security, Nero DVD burning and Asus theater software, some games, a fairly heavy transformer, around-the-neck headphones (pretty, but crappy sound), a tiny TV antenna and lots of cables.
My computer was delivered with a German version of XP pro which I didn't want (I'm Swedish). The disk had two partitions of 35-40 GB and a third 2 GB restore partition. The first thing I did was installed TrueImage to backup the original disk, reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP (English) and the drivers. The driver CD was invaluable for this. Everything worked as expected.
So far so good. The screen is gorgeous - clear, bright and no bad pixels. Viewing angles are fine. The fan is clearly audible - it runs nearly constantly, even when idle. It is a bit louder than I had hoped, but the sound is much less disturbing than I had feared. The sound is constant, so it doesn't call attention to itself. The noise is low frequency, with no dominant tones to drive you crazy. Not bad at all, and there is still hope for further improvement using e.g. Centrino Hardware Control and SpeedFan.
The TV tuner worked fine, although I was not impressed with the Asus Theater software. The slot loaded DVD player/writer is cool, but the sounds the mechanism makes are more Volkswagen than Mercedes.
So Saturday night I plugged in my Etymotic ER4p earphones and settled down to watch a movie, fully expecting a great experience. It wasn't. The sound pretty much sucked - almost total lack of bass, and very muddy highs as well. I first blamed the rip, but decided to test the sound the next day. What a disappointment! I found I could improve the sound slightly by enabling the equalizer in the Realtek sound drivers, but nowhere near to an acceptable level. Even my 5-year old Thinkpad T20 is much better than this. I also listened to the same MP3 with the W2V and my iRiver IHP-120 mp3-player. The iRiver totally blew away the W2V. I have never been very impressed with the sound quality of my iRiver - pretty good for a portable mp3 player, but nothing to write home about. But even the average performance of the iRiver was pure audio bliss in comparison with the W2V - great bass, lovely midrange and clear distinct highs.
Now I have to admit I'm a quasi-audiophile. If I weren't on vacation, I would be listening with my top-of-the-line Sennheiser HD650 headphones and a dedicated headphone amplifier. So perhaps I'm not a typical listener. If you listen with the built-in speakers (which are better than average laptop speakers) or with the included junk headphones, you probably won't have a problem with the sound.
On the other hand, I'm not a rabid full-scale audiophile either. I'm quite happy on the road with my mp3 player and the ER4p canal phones. It would have been acceptable for me if the W2V had equivalent sound quality. But no. The sound quality from the W2V is a significant step down from my mediocre old Thinkpad sound. "Intel high definition audio" - what a load of crap.
I seriously hope that I have a lemon, but I doubt it. Without good equipment the sound isn't obviously terrible. With good stuff and good ears, the sound is definitely horrible. I tried updating the Realtek drivers, but no improvement.
My last hope is that I can save the sound using an external soundcard, or perhaps just a DAC running from the SPDIF output. Can someone tell me if the SPDIF/DAC combo will channel all sound, including output from MP3s and games?
[Edit] I think I should try to describe the sound of the W2V. I find it tinny and thin, with a lack of bass and little detail in the upper register. This greatly affects my enjoyment of music and films. I would appreciate if other W2V owners, especially self-proclaimed audiophiles, could chime in and let us know if they hear the same thing. I very much want to know if it is my computer only or the W2V model in general.[/Edit]
