User-Test Asus V1S
Business goes Gaming – This could be the slogan which Asus could use to advertise the V1S. Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVidia GeForce 8600M GT, 160GB hard disk: Is this a business notebook? Absolutely, because it is also complemented by Centrino-Pro functions: Intel Active Management Technology, TPM Security Chip, fingerprint reader, docking port. Together with eSATA-port, Modular Bay and movable 1,3 Mega Pixel camera, this should be the perfect notebook. Does it keep its promise? The following user review should clarify it.
Scope of Delivery
Asus was really generous regarding accessories: A high-quality bag, a good travel mouse, a towel for polishing the screen, DVDs including Nero 7.5 OEM, drivers, and recovery software, a printed handbook, a modem cable, and S-Video/Cinch-adapter cables, a klett tie-wrap. So, in total the whole packet is very complete.
Case
Nobel – lot's will be jealous. Anthracite combined with black colors glow in the sunlight, silver moldings and dark aluminum moldings enhance the design.
Here are also the first cons: The flexural rigidity of the case should be improved. If you press the palm rest areas or pick it up at one of the sides, you'll hear some creaking noises. It is easy to push the case in by applying only moderate force. If you press in front of the right touch pad button, you can even emulate a click.
But, there are also pros: The materials seem to be of high-quality, the shimmering in the sunlight hints on a kind of plastic-magnesium composite material, the display cover is sufficiently stable and it hardly blurs, when pressing the display cover in.
The hinges sufficiently stabilizes the display's position and allow an opening angle above 180°. Feature: The display does not have a transport hook and can easily be opened at the frame of the camera, which exceeds the case a little bit.
Another features is the water-proof keyboard: The complete keyboard is placed on a sealed-off tray, so water cannot percolate through it to the main-board.
Interfaces
The equipment with ports is very complete, new standards like eSATA and HDMI are availbe. A Module Bay for easily removing the DVD drive (even if turned on) and adding an additional hard disk or supplement battery, and a camera, and fingerprint reader make it perfectly equipped.
Furthermore, two MiniCard (miniPCI v2.0) slots for Intel TurboMemory and UMTS/HSDPA, or other extension cards are available. But, you'll need to completely open the case in order to add them.
Input Devices
Stable keys, clear and hard point of pressure and long travel (2,5mm) make it a user-friendly keyboard for powerful fingers. The keyboard does not yield at all during typing, and besides the enter key none of the keys clatter. Typing feels nearly alike on a desktop keyboard. However, the cursor keys are a little small, and the FN-key's place left beside the Ctrl-key might need some time of adaption for all those who are used to the other order, but, it eases the use of the blue labeled num pad and special keys.
The key is also kind of glossily coated. It seems like a film of tried glue and should presumably protect the keys against wear and increases the user-friendliness of typing.
The touch pad reacts very well to the moving fingers, and its slightly roughened surface make it user-friendly. Its buttons are a little small, because a fingerprint reader is provided in between them. Furthermore, you'll need some force to click them, making clicking a little cumbersome for the fingers.
Display
The matt WSXGA+ display with a resolution of 1680x1050 pixels is excellently bright, has beautiful colors and a comfortable contrast. The high resolution ensure brilliant overview, two Word documents or two Windows Explorer windows can be easily displayed beside each other, and so increase user-friendliness in many situations.
The display is also perfectly legible in direct sunlight from the back, so making a trouble-free outdoor usage possible.
Typical matt display, the display is somewhat grainy, which can easily be verified with white background colors, but there is no further impact on the display quality.
The viewing angles of the display are excellent, horizontally, the displayed colors nearly stay the same and the contents legible even at 180°. Vertically, the viewing angles are also very good.
Only white areas change to a warm yellow, if you look from one of the sides.
Performance
Actually, the focus should be on office performance in the business notebook class. But, also the video performance of the Asus V1S is very good. So, it is also an attractive notebook for gamers.
The V1S is comparable to gamer notebooks like the Acer Aspire 5920, the Zepto Znote 6625WD or Nexoc Osiris E619.
System (Windows Vista performance index):
Vista performance index: 4,5
Processor: 4,9
Main Memory: 5,1
Video (Desktop): 4,5
Video (Games): 5,1
Primary hard disk: 4,8
3DMark06
@ 475MHz GPU- and 400MHz clock rate
Total: 2939 3DMarks
@ 600MHz GPU- and 480MHz clock rate
Total: 3643 3DMarks
3DMark03
@ 475MHz GPU- and 400MHz clock rate
10273 3DMarks
CPU Score: 1393
Aquamark3
@ 475MHz GPU- and 400MHz clock rate
Total: 85230
CPU: 8318
GFX: 17478
@ 600MHz GPU- and 480MHz clock rate
Total: 94302
CPU: 9108
GFX: 19551
PCMark04
6029 PCMarks
CPU Score: 6230
Memory Score 6543
Graphics Score: 4882
HDD Score: 3726
In PCMark05 the V1S reached 4079 Punkte. It could be better here.
Emissions
Loudness
The fan of the V1S is clearly audible, but hardly disturbing. During office operation you can decently hear it from the background, but, it's also never really quiet. Under load, i.e. at level 2 the fan is relatively quiet.
But, the DVD drive tends to cause heavy vibrations of the case at read and write access (inserting of a CD, burning), and, so, also a humming noise. This is caused by the Module Bay, where the DVD-drive is inserted, so not being completely tightly attached to the case, because of not being bolted together.
Temperature
Top side max. 35,4°C above the right top corner of the touch pad
Bottom side max. 40,5°C above the RAM slot, 38,0°C above the CPU
At the right palm rest area the surface gets clearly warmer. This is above the RAM slots. Similarly, also at the bottom side the right side next to the RAM slots and the CPU get clearly warmer.
All other parts stay comfortably cool, i.e., you can not feel a temperature increase of the notebook's left side as it stays below 30°. It would be preferable if the temperature increased more evenly, because the left hand stays cold, while the right hand does not need to freeze in winter. However, neither during office nor during game operation the temperature increases are really disturbing.
Internal Temperatures:
HDD: idle 40°CGPU: maximum 85°C, idle 62°C
GPU: maximum 85°C, standard 62°C, idle 54°C
CPU: maximum 70°C, idle 50°C
Environmental temperature: 25°C
Battery Runtime
The video card consumed more current than necessary in idle and office operation, because the provided NVidea driver missed out PowerMizer-support. This problem could be solved by installing the NVidia ForceWare-driver 165.01 provided by www.laptopvideo2go.com.
The frequent hard disk access of Windows Vista decreases the battery runtime. So, the minimum power dissipation is 22Watt with a power consumption of 1,48A at 14,8V input voltage. The maximum power dissipation is about 59Watt.
The maximum runtime can be increased to up to 6 hours by adding a supplement battery to the Modular Bay.
Akkulaufzeit
Verdict
The V1S is Asus' answer to the seek for a perfect notebook. The equipment is very complete, the performance high. It is a very good notebook for businessmen and gamers, and also mobile, because of a brilliant display and passable battery runtime. The case could be stabler, but high-quality materials are used, so, it's sure a reliable business notebook.
Is it the perfect notebook? Nearly. Still, the V1S presumably approximates this aim of its notebook class most closely.
Update:
The BIOS update with version number 208 published on 12th of September 2007 optimizes the fan control. So the noise of the fan is also at level 1 very comfortable. Now, the V1S should also rate top regarding this criterion in its notebook class. So, the noise is no longer a point of critique.
Furthermore, we observed that the fan is also completely turned off at very low environmental temperatures or when the case is open (improved air circulation).
Many thanks to the forum user "maati", for this comprehensive user review. The according forum entry can be found here (German forum).