Topic Asus G1S or C90S??

-HAL-

I need a new laptop now since the old one wasn't crash proof and didn't survive a drop test from 1 meter..
And the waranty did of course expire 2 months ago...

I've been looking at the Asus G1S and C90S since I want a laptop that I can use for more then one year, both for work, programming and gaming...

Both of them looks very good, so I'm having a hard time deciding here now..
Been going through a few notebook forums, but it seems like there are a few pros and cons on both so there are no clear "winner"...

Some technical data on both, with some highlighted pros and cons:

Asus C90S
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 / 2.4 GHz ( Dual-Core ) can be OCed to 2,93Ghz!
RAM: 2Gb DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz , maks 3GB???
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, DDR II SDRAM - 512 MB
HDD: 160 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Pro: CPU/GPU/RAM can be upgraded in the future here, so it may be possible to get a 8800 GT GPU later.....
Cons:
- The 4(!) fans can get quite noisy when OCing or playing games..
- The OC of the CPU isn't that effective since the GPU w/DDR II ram will be the bottleneck anyway..
- Maks 3Gb RAM????

ASUS C90S official info:
Overview:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...&l 3=536&l4=0
Specifications:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...&l 3=536&l4=0


ASUS G1S
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 / 2.4 GHz ( Dual-Core )
RAM: 2Gb DDR II SDRAM - 667 MHz, 4Gb maks
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, GDDR3 SDRAM - 256 MB
HDD: 250 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 opm
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

Pro: GDDR 3 SDRAM

ASUS G1S official info:
Overview:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...&mo delmenu=1
Specifications:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...&l3 =464&l4=0


Other than that they seem to be quite similar and they cost aprox. the same here

mmarsh

Funny I about about to buy a laptop too.

I looked at the G1S, its very good but abit pricey. I made espicially for games
.

No experiance with the CS90.

I am in the USA right now and was about to buy a XPS 1530 which is a games/multimedia laptop. But I think I'll look at ASUS G1S again.

I will say the the g1s will probably be better energy efficient due to the processor.

-HAL-

I think I'll go for the G1S myself.
The C90S is interesting since it's possible to upgrade it later, but the heat, noise and (lack of) battery capacity makes me think that the G1S is a better choice for my needs right now...

mmarsh

I saw the G1S at BestBuy (a US retail shop), it was nice but I found it too big I wanted something more compact.

As I said its seems more oriented to gamers, I opted for something more mainstream. The screen is slightly bigger+better than the Dell, but other than that it compares well. Still the ASUS is a good choice.

I ordered my XPS 1530 last night from Dell. I should point out that the 1530 XPS just won the CES best notebook prize this year in Las Vegas (part of the reason its own sale so cheap).

I built this Config

XPS 1530
T7500 2.2 Intel processor
3 GIGS RAM
250 GIG HD
8600GT
Intel Wireless N card
LG 1440x900 HD screen
Sound Blaster Audigy
Bluetooth adaptor
2 MP intergrated Camera

$1499 (after $699 rebate) plus tax got overnight shipping for free.

I almost bought the X1330 (its smaller brother) but I decided the extra power was worth more than the ultra light. Still its a good PC too, its not a good gaming laptop but its lighter (less than 4lb)

My only worry is I might not get it in time before I leave for Europe, the guy at Dell promised he would put it as a 'priority'. Fingers crossed.

The rebate lasts until Jan 31 for anybody in the USA interested.

-HAL-

$699 rebate sounds nice..
I've checked out the XPS 1530 here in Norway as well now, and a similar configuration to the G1S there would cost around $2,500 USD here (w/ $400 rebate code..).
The ASUS G1S costs around $2,200 in the cheapest Norwegian online store, and it comes with more nice stuff than then DELL XPS 1530 so I think I'll go for that one instead..

What kind of graphics memory does the XPS 1530 have? DDR2 or GDDR3??
I wasn't able to find any info on that...

This is my old (broken) laptop;
ASUS A6Va w/Pentium M 740 / 1.73 GHz and ATI Mobility Radeon X700 - 128 MB
So I guess both the XPS 1530 and G1S will run in circles around it anyway..
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...25&l3= 0&l4=0

mmarsh

OUCH! You have some serious inflation in Norway. I check the price in France out of curiosity and it was 1428 Euros. You poor Norweigans seem to pay the highest of everybody.

For video memory I believe its GDDR3. I think its standard on all 8600GT

For you I would go with the ASUS it seems like the better deal.

-HAL- see PM...

-HAL-

For the G1S or the DELL??
In Euros the G1S actually costs aprox 1500 Euros (11,900 NOK) here, so the difference isn't that big..
USD are getting pretty "cheap" here in Norway now, but Euros have been more stable so that's the reason why the prices in USD may seem a bit high.
Norway is an extremelly expensive country (for foreigners) and our capital is ranks as the #1 expensive capital in the world..

But computer equipment are actually quite cheap in Norway, compared to many other similar countries, so it's really not that much to save by buying abroad.
And we also have to put an extra 25% tax and aprox 10% toll charge on everything (if we get "caught" or are honest... )

The 8600M GT on the ASUS C90S actually comes with 512Mb DDRII SDRAM...

-HAL-

Got the ASUS G1S yesterday, and it looks really good apart from one thing; Windows Vista...

Spent two hours before I even could get the laptop fully up and running...
At first it didn't believe that I had a valid version of Vista, so I had to enter the license code 3 times (and restart 3 times) before it accepted it..
But when it tried to verify it online it wouldn't accept that so I had to call Microsoft to verify the code over their automatic phone verification system, and that took another 20 minutes!!

After that it let me in and a long process of downloading updates started (thank god I have a 20Mbit line).
It still said that I had an unverified version of Vista, but that went away after the third restart I had to do due to patch/security downloads...

Vista looks pretty nice, but it's got a LOT of things running that I really don't want at all so I guess I'll have to go through several sites this weekend to find the best way to optimize Vista (get rid of all the crap there.. )

But the G1S itself is pretty slick looking, with a lot of nice features
(even if some of them are seeminlgy pretty useless... )
And I even got a rather nice backpack and gaming mouse with it..

I'll post a complete review of it later when I've tested it a bit more...