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Hey everyone,

Didn't see much about this guy, and we just sold one so I had the opportunity of playing with it... The person who bought it is a good friend of ours, so first I will tell you my experiences, and later I will post what he thinks (after a week or two of use).


Generl Overview / Overall Look & Feel:

As usual ASUS delivers a high class look, but with this being an entry leve model, some corners were cut. The plastic is not the typical M5N quality, but it's not horrible. It's a little flexible when you push down on the center top of the LCD cover, but everything else is well built and has it's place...

It feels fairly light (for a 15" model), and I would say it's around the 4lbs area.

The LCD is a nice level of bright, and looks are the same quality as other ASUS notebook LCD's (a good thing). 15" LCD with 1024x768, a lower res than typical LCD's, but understandable since this is their entry level system. I actually like the 1024x768 since it's so much easier to read your text on icons, etc...

Keyboard... One of the crucial components to grading a notebook: This one is nice. It feels like the other ASUS keyboards, a little stiffer and yet still quiet! Good job there.

I have to say the coolest feature of this notebook that sets it apart from the rest, is the VGA WebCam / Microphone built-in to the top of the LCD frame! I tested it out, and the speed / quality is really better than most webcams I have seen. I would easiliy compare it to a Logitech VGA res webcam. It uses the system's USB 2.0 hub internally, so it produces a better quality / speed of stream... Cool stuff.


Some pics [sorry about low res / blurriness]:








For the price [$1095 @ c9tech.com], it's definitely still a Tier1 computer and crushes the HP / Dell market on quality. Great for the person that doesn't need that much, but still demands high power and portability with a bigger screen (and a nice webcam built in). If anyone's interested in more info, just e-mail me: sasha@c9tech.com

More updates to come soon!


Agent9

Anymore updates? Im interested in this laptop.
Thanks

agent 9... :P ... ur store isn't up YET? hahaha

Of course it is...

I'm the guy that owns the Z91N. Here's my experience.
The Z91N is an excellent notebook. It has a excellent performance and a sophisticated look. I have had no real troubles with it and I love the extra features like the built in camera/mic and SM/SD/MS card reader. These little extras make a big difference. A friend of mine just got an excellent Toshiba notebook (Satellite 548 I think) and when I got a chance to play with it, all I immediately noticed the little deficiencies it has compared to the Z91N. Its fan was much lauder, it was much heavier, its battery life was shorter, it only had two USB ports, and it didn’t have the little extras that make the Z91N standout. In the end, I purchased a machine for less money, same quality, and more utility than the big brand sold down the street at Best Buy or Circuit City. I hole-heartedly recommend the Z91N and ASUS in general.

Note: I used to own an excellent IBM T21 (until it died) and would never consider buying anything but an IBM. Now, however, I would go for the ASUS any day of the week.

Thanks for your purchase and contribution to the ASUS forums!

Glad we could turn you into an ASUS enthusiast!


Update: The Z91N has now been updated to the Z91E [Sonoma Platform / 533FSB].



sasha@c9tech.com

As far as the international, non-whitebook, model numbers go: That's (almost) the same as an A3N (or A3E for the Sonoma upgrade), no?

Correct.

Only difference being chasis color.





sasha@c9tech.com

Hi I am new to the forum so I am not sure this message should go here. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Anyway, I have been shopping for about 2 months now and set my heart on an ASUS. I'm thinking of either the Z91E (which is how I found this thread) or the Z71A. For the same specifications, the price difference is about $100. I haven't seen the build quality of the Z71A so I am trying to figure out which would be the better buy?
I think maybe the Z91E but that's because it's cheaper and comes with a webcam.

Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Since they both run on DDR, not DDR2, I would recommend getting the Z91E.
The Z91E already includes a DVD/CD-RW Combo in it's base price, which is still lower than the Z70A base price w/o an optical drive.
If you want a DVD burner, you would have to go with the Z70 or Z71, etc...

Note: The Z91E will be listed on our site soon!

If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail me!

Thanks.

plus, it looks purtier

Ok looking at the Z91E I was thinking of getting it with a Penitum M 740 CPU with 533MHz FSB. I am wondering about why ASUS is only offering Corsair SODIMM DDR PC3200 RAM with it-which only runs at 400MHz.
I called the reseller and asked if it was worth it to get the faster more expensive CPU despite having the slower RAM. He was telling me about the dual channel nature of the CPU so eventhough the RAM runs at 400MHz, it's plenty for the CPU. That information was new to me so I've been trying to confirm it... I have been having a hardtime doing this. I confirmed that is dual-channel but can't get the bit about the appropriate RAM pinned down.
Can anyone please tell me if the M 740 with PC3200 RAM is ok or am I just getting a salespitch and throwing my money away? Thank you!

It's pc 2700, aka ddr 333. The FSB is 533, but the RAM still runs at 333. It probably won't cost you much in terms of performance (due to DDR2's latency). Buying ram that is any faster than 333 is a waste of money and would probably be less-than-stable.

As for dual channel- I remember reading about that somewhere and I think it's single-channel (atleast, the stats page from asus doesn't mention dual-channel). Yet another reason why the z91E is just a little cheaper than the rest of the line.

Still, as an Asus budget-model it's a better build than most of the other laptops out there. And I'm speaking from experience- I had a chance to molest one of these puppies myself.

Ok, thanks Sanitard and c9tech! BTW, how do you figure out the nomenclature on the ASUS. There are m's, w's, z's, v's and other names depending on the website site. How do you figure which ones are equivalent, i.e., the Z91E is actually M6, etc.

I'm sorry, but I think you both need a crash course in the Z91E
The RAM runs @ 333MHz, not 400Mhz.
It's DDR, not DDR2.


Z91E Product Page
The SpecSheet [PDF]
Photo Album
http://vipforums.asus.com/4583/agend...91E/index.html


There's also a new entry model that ASUS is releasing that you may want to check out:

Z93E Product Page
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...20&modelmenu=1
Photo Album
http://vipforums.asus.com/4583/agend...93E/index.html


If you haven't already, read up on the ASUS Turion Notebook:

A6U Product Page
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...03&modelmenu=1
Photo Album
http://vipforums.asus.com/4583/agend...92U/index.html


If you have any questions, please e-mail me [below]!
I would be more than happy to provide facts.

Thanks for posting!