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Review Asus F3Jm

Asus F3Jm is a further model of the 15.4" multimedia class, a direct competitor of Toshiba A100-979. The laptop is featured with a Core 2 Duo CPU and a Geforce 7600 with 512MB video memory.

Case

The Asus F3Jm's design is pleasant - mostly it is blue-gray. The bottom through and the bezel of the keyboard are black. Above the keyboard there is a small chrome molding. At the right side it merges into small, linearly ordered additional keys, which are typical for Asus notebooks.

The notebook is basically of very good workmanship. Furthermore, it seems very robust. Even the region of the hand balls, where the notebook has got its ExpressCard slot, does not allow any torsions and does not creak, if the notebook is picked up.

F3Jm's hinges keep the display relatively firm at its position. Although the folding mechanism seems relatively robust, the plastic cover at the right hinge is somewhat loose. But this should not influence the usability.

The ports are mainly at the right side of the notebook. At the left side there are only the DVD drive and a Kensington lock. At the relative small front side there are the audio ports and the card reader. At the backside are 2 of a total of 4 USB 2.0 ports.

This is because the notebook is equipped with a 4800 mAh battery, which is placed at the back side. There is also a battery of  9 cells and  7200 mAh available, which can protrude at the back side.

At back of the right side there are modem and Lan ports, followed by a VGA port for connecting an external monitor, a DVI port, a S-Video out, a firewire port and two further USB 2.0 ports.

Interfaces
Interfaces at the left side
Interfaces at the right side
Interfaces at the front side
Interfaces at the back side

Input Devices

Asus F3Jm's keyboard has the distinction of keys with a finely roughened surface. So they feel like having a velvet and soft surface.

We were personally positively impressed when writing with this keyboard. Even the range of the keys seems to be ideal. It is balanced between feedback and ease.

At the first glance, there is nothing special at the layout. Only the cursor block, which is moved away a little bit, interrupts the linear order of the rest of the keys. Some users might need to accustom to the left Ctrl key.

The touch pad is good in use and is of good precision and response. Even the buttons are optically in the same plane and surprise through good response and pleasant resistance to pressing.

Touchpad
Keyboard

Display

colour diagram

The reflecting 15.4 inch WXGA display comes with a maximum resolution of 1280x800 pixels. The maximum brightness is not only subjectively excellent. We measured a maximum of 178.5 cd/m² and a distribution of illumination of 78.8%.

The diagram shows a clear deviation of the blue colors, which hints a reduced representation of blue tones and therefore a warm coloring, because of the excess of red colors.

The test showed a maximum contrast of 198:1. The notebook reached an average grade 6 of the  Pixperan test of legibility.

Operation of the notebook outdoors is limited. It's cumbersome to work for a longer duration, because of heavy reflections.

Horizontally, the stability to the vantage point is excellent. Under bad lightening conditions, disturbing reflections can be observed . Even vertically, from the bottom to the top the display is readable. From top to bottom and at smaller angles, the displayed colors are relatively heavily falsified.

152.4
cd/m²
160.8
cd/m²
154.5
cd/m²
154.7
cd/m²
178.5
cd/m²
163.1
cd/m²
140.7
cd/m²
177.6
cd/m²
152.9
cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
Maximum: 178.5 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 159.5 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 79 %
Contrast: 198:1 (Black: 0.9 cd/m²)
Stability to Vantage Point.

In comparison to other similar equipped notebooks the Asus F3Jm is very good at 3D applications. The reason should be the Nvidia Geforce 7600 video card with 512 MB memory. Also in the fields of office applications the Asus F3Jm is top compared to similar notebooks.

Further information about video cards  can be found  in our  Comparison of mobile video cards. Detailed information to the  Core 2 Duo T5600 CPU can be found here.

Please also look at our benchmark list of mobile processors and at our  benchmark list  of mobile video cards in order to compare the notebook to other configurations.

benchmark comparison
benchmark comparison 3DMark
benchmark comparison PCMark
3DMark 2001SE Standard
19491 points
3DMark 03 Standard
8806 points
3DMark 05 Standard
3722 points
3DMark 06 Score Unknown Setting
2262 points
Help
PCMark 04 Standard
6107 points
PCMark 05 Standard
4281 points
Help
120 GB - 5400 rpm
Transfer Rate Minimum: 19.7 MB/s
Transfer Rate Maximum: 40.3 MB/s
Transfer Rate Average: 32.1 MB/s
Access Time: 17.7 ms
Burst Rate: 78.8 MB/s
CPU Usage: 3.2 %

Emissions

noise emissions

Noise

F3Jm is equipped with the Power4Gear Software Tool, which allows to control the needed performance and therewith also the noise.

On the one side the fans run even in idle mode, but the loudness is only about 34.8 dB nicht and does not disturb. If one selects the profile "Quiet Office" the notebook stays rather quiet.

Noise Level

Idle
34.8 / 39.1 / 36.6 dB(A)
HDD
34.8 dB(A)
DVD
39 / dB(A)
Load
0 / 43.1 dB(A)
  red to green bar
 
 
30 dB
silent
40 dB(A)
audible
50 dB(A)
loud
 
min: dark, med: mid, max: light    (15 cm distance)

Temperature

Generally, the Asus F3Jm does not notable warm up, if idle. At the bottom side we could measure a maximum temperature of 36.6°C near the fans. At the top side above the touch pad we measured a hot spot of about 35.6°C.

Upper side

palmwrist: 30.1°C max: 35.6°C avg: 31.2°C hotspot: in the middle, above the touch pad

Bottom side

max: 36.6°C avg: 31.4°C hotspot: near the fans

environment: 22.5

Speakers

The speakers, which are placed above the keyboard, sound loud, but the basses are poor. Until a loudness of about 80-90% the sound of the speakers can be rated positive.

Battery Runtime

The pre-installed „Power4Gear“ Power Management Tools allows controlling the performance and therewith the battery runtime. If the profile "High Performance" is used, the maximum battery runtime is 1h 22 min.  The maximum runtime, if the profile „Battery Saver“ is used and with minimal brightness, is above 3 hours. But it must be admitted that working with minimal brightness is very cumbersome.

Energy demand

Without load (Idle), min. brightness, without WLAN: 23.6 Watt
+ max. brightness: 30.1 Watt
+ WLAN: 31.6 Watt
full load (+WLAN, max. brightness): max. 58.3 Watt

Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)
3h 15min
DVD
1h 55min
Load (maximum brightness)
1h 22min

Verdict

Asus F3Jm

Asus F3Jm has a solid and well manufactured case. Considering the rather slim part at the front side, we were especially surprised by the good flexural rigidity.

Also the quality of the input devices convinced us. The keyboard, as well as the touch pad is good in use and even proper for intensive use.

The bright, but reflecting display rated well by all measurements. The only weakness is the stability to the vertical vantage point. This weakness gets obvious, when looking at the display top - down. Outdoors we could observe a lot of reflections.

The Core 2 Duo processor with 1.8 GHz and the Geforce 7600 with 512MB memory lead to good results for 3D as well as for office applications.

The temperature and noise emissions of the Asus F3Jm are limited, although having a good performance.

Even regarding the  battery runtime, the measurements should good values.

The notebook rated well in nearly all tests. In total Asus placed an optimal product, which is able to conform to a variety of different requirements.

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reviewed: Asus F3Jm

Specifications

Asus F3JM (F3 Series)
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 - 512 MB VRAM
Memory
1024 MB 
, DDR2 PC5300 SDRAM, max. 2048MB, 1x1024MB
Display
15.40 inch 16:10, 1280 x 800 pixel, WXGA Color Shine Glare Type TFT Display, glossy: yes
Mainboard
Intel 945PM
Storage
120 GB - 5400 rpm, 120 GB 
, 5400 rpm, Fujitsu MHV2120BH PL: 120GB, 5400rpm
Connections
ExpressCard, IEEE1394 Firewire, Mikrofon, Kopfhörer, Line-In, 4x USB 2.0, S-Video Out, VGA Out, DVI, Kensington Lock, LAN, Modem
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 40 x 365 x 270 ( = 1.57 x 14.37 x 10.63 in)
Battery
, 4800 mAh Lithium Ionen Akku
Additional features
HDD: 120GB, 5400rpm, Fujitsu MHV2120BH PL, Realtek HD Audio, DVD +/-R (DL) Matshita UJ-841S,
Weight
2.94 kg ( = 103.71 oz / 6.48 pounds) ( = 0 oz / 0 pounds)
Price
1499 Euro

 

F3Jm, is a 15,4" multimedia notebook of Asus...
Speakers: Hidden, but acceptable sound.
Fans run non stop, but can be controlled by the Power Management Software.
Good Performance thanks to Core 2 Duo CPU and Geforce 7600 video card with 512Mb memory.
The reflecting display convinced through its brightness.
Asus F3Jm is equipped with an integrated WebCam.
The user frienldy keyboard convinced us.
It is of good workmanship.
...and with the design in total.
...pleases with details, which are typical for Asus...
Thanks to the software one can take full advantage of the 4800 mAh battery.

Pro

  • good workmanship, robust case
  • variety of ports
  • comfortable keyboard
  • user friendly touch pad
  • bright display
  • good performance
  • low emissions
  • acceptable battery runtime
  • Contra

  • nearly all ports at the right side.
  • Vertically low stability to the vantage point
  • Similar Notebooks

    Bewertung

    Asus F3JM - 08/31/2007
    J. Simon Leitner

    Chassis
    88%
    Keyboard
    90%
    Pointing Device
    88%
    Connectivity
    88%
    Weight
    76%
    Battery
    62%
    Display
    88%
    Games Performance
    89%
    Application Performance
    95%
    Temperature
    84%
    Noise
    80%
    Add Points
    92%
    Average
    85%
    86%
    Multimedia - Weighted Average
    J. Simon Leitner, 2006-11-29 (Update: 2013-05- 8)