Asus W3V Review

Asus W3V is the natural successor to the W3N. It’s almost an exact physical replica though it’s a little brighter in the nuances of the colours. The series features a natural transition to the Sonoma platform and the PCI-Express interface. It raises the front side bus to 533 MHz and gives it DDR2 memory. The graphics chip has also been moved from the aging AGP interface to the newer PCI-Express interface. Previous tests in other magazines have shown the transition to come with a decrease in battery life so let’s see if it’s true in this case.

This review will take its point from the previous review of the W3N and will therefore be shorter than our usual reviews. It’ll primarily detail the difference between the two revisions and if you haven’t read the previous review we’d strongly advice you to do so to get the full picture.

The accessories are the same as that of the W3N but here’s a quick recap:

- Quick-start guide in 15 languages (including Danish, Norwegian and Swedish)
- User manual in English
- Installation guide (drivers and utilities) in English
- Modem cable
- S-Video to composite cable (for TV-Out)
- Recovery CD
- Driver CD
- Asus DVD version 5.0.1107
- Asus PowerDirector DE SE version 3.0.1208
- Asus Medi@Show 2.0
- Nero OEM Suite version 6.3.1.25
- Games Power (CD with game demos including Splinter Cell, WarCraft 3 and Colin McRae Rally)
- Gun Metal – War Transformed (Game Demo)
- Battle Engine Aqulia (Game Demo)
- Notebook Warranty Card
- Chart with telephone numbers and contact information for Asus-Service
- Wireless optical mouse (produced by Logitech)
- USB Dongle for the wireless mouse
- Shoulder bag in nylon
- Travel Drawer (dummy module for replacement of the optical drive)
- Primary battery (8 cell, 4800 mAh)

Processor	1860 MHz Mobile Intel Pentium-M 750 (Centrino)
RAM	512 MB DDR2 RAM (PC2-4300)
Hard Disk	60 GB 4200 RPM HD
Optical Drive	DVD+/-RW Dual Layer
Graphics Chip	ATi Mobility Radeon X600 with 64 MB DDR-RAM (128 MB Hyper Memory)
Display	14" TFT WXGA (1280x768) Colour-Shine LCD
Communication	V.90 modem, 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet, Bluetooth, IEEE1394 Firewire, 802.11g WLAN
Battery	Li-Ion
Operating System	Windows XP Pro DK
Pointing Device	Touchpad
Weight	2,2 kg
Other	Card Reader
Price	DKK 13.795

This topic is too important to simply refer to the previous review. For a longer period of time we’ve had both notebooks lined up and at no time was the noise from the newer revision significantly louder. This is an indirect indication of a good battery life since noise is generally comparable to power consumption and thereby lower battery lifetime. This model has the same Hitachi 80GN as the W3N making no difference in the setup. It’s also a positive surprise to see Asus didn’t equip it with an extra fan for the graphics chip as they’ve done with the revision M6Ne to M6V unfortunately causing more noise from the fans. Note: Read the comments in the conclusion.

The results are to be expected since the ATi Mobility Radeon X600 chip is a newer generation than the ATi Mobility Radeon 9700. It shows with a clear difference in the tests though they don’t warrant a change of notebook if you already have an older model. Therefore it’s a subtle evolution to PCI-Express and Sonoma and no revolution as one would hope.

A bit of a surprise is the overall performance of the notebook. Despite a faster CPU and better access to the RAM neither MobileMark nor SYSmark show any change. In fact the W3V scores slightly less than the W3N. Not a change I can explain but the battery life might suggest that Intel is changing a little with the way the processor varies its speed with the transition to the Sonoma platform. The battery life is generally better on the newer model despite the PCI-Express interface should consume more power than the older PCI/AGP interface. A notebook that performs so well and at the same time can operate unplugged for 250 minutes in mixed office applications is definitely approved.

All tests results are available here.

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The new revision is in no way a lesser acquaintance than its predecessor and it pleases yours truly that the noise level hasn’t changed despite its faster graphics chip. It’s also encouraging that the battery life hasn’t suffered either with the transition to the new interface along with the cooling of the graphics chip still being handled by heat-pipes and the primary fan. We can therefore conclude this new revision once again hits the targeted market spot-on.

+
Nice battery life, excellent performance in games and office applications, nice keyboard, good quality and design. Warranty and service is above the competition.

-
Placement of the ventilation fan, slightly higher weight when compared to its physical dimensions

Note: Some users have noticed that the notebook has a problem with the fan as it’s always spinning and doesn’t stop even with low load like office applications. It’s important to note the fan isn’t particularly noisy but nevertheless it’s still irritating it never stops. We’ve spoken to Asus about it and they promise that those who’re affected by this problem will naturally get it fixed – Added 28/10-2005.





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