Computer Questions

[thegayhare]

hello all

well now that I'm working I'm looking into upgrading my PC from this clunky old compaq armada to a nice new(er) laptop.

For the price range I've stopped some nice laptops but I'm not sure about them for one reason

I'm not familer with the company

Is anyone familer with Asus computers?  The reviews on the site I'm planning to order from  are all very positive but I know that can be misleading.  so anyhelp you nice folks might be able to give me

[superluser]

I know the name, and I've never heard anything dodgy about them, but I haven't had any personal experience with them.

[Azlan]

They have no brand stability, but for personal users that is less of a concern than a business.

[Ryudo Lee]

I have an Asus motherboard in my home PC, it seems to run pretty well... though I've pretty much hit the ceiling for performance on this thing (it's 2+ years old).  I've heard from a few friends that Asus does fairly well with laptops, though I've never used one personally.

[Reese Tora]

I have a number of Asus products now and in the past(motherboards and video cards, and Tapewolf and I both have laptops from their Eee line...) and I haven't had many problems with them.

[Tapewolf]

I have few complaints about the EeePC 701 - it is cheap, compact and makes a nice machine for travelling.  With a solid-state disk, an 18" drop won't kill all your data either, unlike my backup unit last month.  Don't make it your main machine, though - that's not what it's for.

The 701 is a machine I have direct experience with.  Asus make many other laptops so without knowing which one you have your eye on, I can't really help.

From my point of view (and I am far from the only one who thinks this) I will say that Asus' success with the EeePC seems to have been a fluke and they have a total lack of clue as to what made their line useful and successful.
Lately they have decided that the 701 can only be sold to schools (...?) and that everyone else has to buy their more recent lines which have:

1. A much bigger price tag
2. Larger screens (crappy battery life and less portable)
3. A fragile mechanical disk in them instead of an SSD

...and this.  Or they will have soon.  XP will soon be dropped and whichever way you dice it, Vista isn't really going to run properly on this class of machine.

...anyway.  If you want to post a few models that you're looking at, that might be an idea.  As a whole?  Asus have done some good things, some bad things and some stupid things, much like any other manufacturer.

[thegayhare]

sure the models I'm looking at are here

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4623267&sku=F12-150007

or this one

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4318118&CatId=3998

[Tapewolf]

Looks like they should do pretty much everything the average user could want.

[Sofox]

By the way, Vista consumes a lot of resources. Windows 7 is said to be coming out before the end of the year and apparently takes up a lot less, but I can't honestly recommend whether you should wait or not because I don't know enough about what you need the laptop for and what'll be the difference in the end.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I have a number of Asus products now and in the past(motherboards and video cards, and Tapewolf and I both have laptops from their Eee line...) and I haven't had many problems with them.

I've got one, too. No problems here, but I've heard of some issues with the bigger models - the cheaper versions having slightly cheap build, so if it's (physical) stability you're after, you're possibly going to be disappointed.

Having said that, all the cheaper laptops are like that, so if you're happy with it, having seen it in the flesh, as it were, go for it.

[Netrogo]

By the way, Vista consumes a lot of resources. Windows 7 is said to be coming out before the end of the year and apparently takes up a lot less, but I can't honestly recommend whether you should wait or not because I don't know enough about what you need the laptop for and what'll be the difference in the end.

Third option. Buy laptop, uninstall the std then install XP.