Notebook Purchase Thoughts? - ASUS G1-AK008M

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 12, 2007, 10:19 pm

Well, I have been wanting to buy a laptop for some time now--I could not find a good mix of power for the price though...until now? The G1 seems like a sweet setup for under 2K. The 512MB dedicated memory for the nVidia 7700 Go also seems like a winner. I have read several reviews and they are very positive for the most part.

Does anyone have one of these? I am hoping to order one in the next couple of weeks so I have time to thoroughly evaluate.

Thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220098

Specs:

Model
Brand ASUS
Model G1-AK008M
Part# 90NLAA123321141L400T
General
Operating System Windows XP Media Center Edition
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.00G
Screen 15.4" WSXGA+
Memory Size 2GB DDR2
Hard Disk 160GB
Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700
Video Memory 512MB
Communication Modem, Gigabit LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x Type I/II PC Card Slot
Battery Life 2 hours
Dimensions 12.76" x 11.19" x 1.48"
Weight 6.84 lbs.
Tech Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
Other Features Gaming feature- ASUS Direct Messenger
Gaming feature - ASUS Direct Flash
Gaming feature - Gaming focused keyboard
Touch Pad Lock
Power 4 Gear+
Battery Re-Callibration
Gaming bag and Mouse
30days ZBD (Zero Bright Dot)
Discrete graphic card performance
CPU
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed T7200(2.00GHz)
CPU FSB 667MHz
CPU L2 Cache 4MB
Chipset
Chipset Intel 945PM
Display
Screen Size 15.4"
Wide Screen Support Yes
Display Type Wide SXGA+
Resolution 1680 x 1050
Operating Systems
Operating System Windows XP Media Center
Graphics
GPU/VPU NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700
Video Memory Dedicated 512MB
Graphic Type Dedicated Card
Hard Drive
HD Capacity 160GB
HD RPM 5400rpm
HD Interface SATA
Memory
Memory Slots 2 x DIMM
Memory Speed DDR2 667
Memory Size 2GB
Max Memory Supported 2GB
Memory Spec 1GB x 2
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type DVD Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Optical Drive Spec 8x Super-Multi DVDRW Dual layer
Communications
Modem 56K
LAN 10/100/1000Mbps
WLAN 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
Bluetooth Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR
Ports
Card Slot 1 x Type I/II PC Card Slot
USB 4
IEEE 1394 1
Video Port 1 x VGA, 1 x DVI, 1 x S-Video TV-out
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack (S/PDIF)
1 x Line-in jack
Audio
Audio Integrated Sound card
Speaker Internal Speakers
Input Device
Touchpad Yes
Keyboard Standard Keyboard with 88 keys, Gaming focused keyboard
Supplemental Drive
Card Reader 4-in-1 Card Reader
MMC, SD, MS, MS-Pro
Webcam 1.3M Camera
Power
AC Adapter Output: 19V DC, 4.74A, 90W
Input: 100 - 240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Battery 8-cell lithium ion
Battery Life 2 hours
Physical spec
Dimensions 12.76" x 11.19" x 1.48"
Weight 6.84 lbs.
Features
Software Included Multimedia Software:
ASUSDVD XP 6.0
Power Director V3.0 DE
Medi Show V2.0 SE

Virus & Tool Software:
Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2005
Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0
NERO Express V6.0

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » January 13, 2007, 12:38 am

That looks like a good deal; the Sager with similar specs on powernotebooks.com is the Sager NP2080 FORCE and to spec it out to the same level brings the price $1617 for a smaller graphics card.

Oh and then go back in June and pickup a solid state HDD for your new notebook

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 15, 2007, 2:31 pm

The SS tech is growing well.

Thanks for the link, Arch. I think I am still going to go with the ASUS, but it is nice to see comparisons.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » January 15, 2007, 2:56 pm

Have you priced out the Dell Inspirons? Not necessarly the XPS as I think that will add about a grand but I think you can get the M1710 or whatever with a similar card for about the same price.

sarlen · Post by **sarlen** » January 15, 2007, 5:45 pm

Marbus wrote:Have you priced out the Dell Inspirons? Not necessarly the XPS as I think that will add about a grand but I think you can get the M1710 or whatever with a similar card for about the same price.

Same with the D620's from Dell. You can get pretty close to the same specs for about the same price. The video card is the only part dell doesnt offer in the D series, they only go up to the 256 cards. I own a Dell D620 (god bless my employer for staying current with laptops) that I game on and it does nicely playing WoW with all the bells and whistles turned all the way up. I guess the only reason to pick one over another would be comfort level with the manufacturers warranty and service. Or if that extra uumph in the video card makes or breaks it for ya.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 15, 2007, 6:45 pm

Looks like the Inspirons are going to run a bit more with the smaller video card. I will look at them some mroe though before I make my final choice. It seems that it is going to be hard to match bang for the buck w/ ASUS.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 21, 2007, 2:39 am

Thanks for all the input, folks! I am going to order my G1 next week! I think this may be about the best 15.4" out there for under 2K. I was even looking at the G2, but the resolution is just not as good and I favor the nVidia 7700Go over the ATI 1700. Looking forward to scraping the bloatware and having some fun with it!

noel · Post by **noel** » January 21, 2007, 2:45 am

Cane, you might be able to call them on the phone ahead of your order and see if it's possible to have them omit the crap software instead of installing it. I know Dell will do that for you. Check into it. Well worth it if they'll do it for you.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 21, 2007, 4:48 am

Does NewEgg deal with requests like that? If not, I am not too worried--sorta compiling a list of what is useful and what is shite... if all else fails, I can just reinstall the OS--no biggie.

Either way, I am pretty stoked on this box. I can afford to go nuts and buy a bigass 17" box with all the fixins', but I would rather spend the extra cash on other toys like a 24-30" monitor, etc.. Plus, the reviews are mainly fucking tits for it...for those in the market, I wouldsuggest giving the ASUS G1 a looksee.

noel · Post by **noel** » January 21, 2007, 2:17 pm

Not sure if Newegg does... probably they don't. I didn't see your leading link until after I posted that.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » January 21, 2007, 2:22 pm

Well NewEgg isn't the only retailer out there.... actually, I think I will just check the dealer page on the ASUS site (if they have one). Prices are pretty much all the same right now since it is a pretty new product.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » February 1, 2007, 1:59 am

Just arrived today, woohoo!

I am still updating/configuring/etc...and trimming bloat, blah blah...

So far, I love it! What a well-built notebook. I was willing to spend 3k, but it was hard to pass up a sub-2K notebook of this nature. It should keep me happy for some time.

I can post specific information if anyone is in the market for a similar box. (perf #s, forum links, etc.)

WoW looks wonderful and currently installing Medieval 2 : TW.

Yay!