My Own Pirate Radio

Thanks everyone who recommended laptop models to consider. After much debate and hunting around I bagged an Asus W3V. So far, so good: it’s plenty fast, compact, easy on the eyes, and has all the ports and connectivity I wanted.

Cons: at 5.5 pounds this notebook is a wee bit heavy for my taste (although I must say it’s hard to find a lighter config in widescreen models); the super-fast CD/DVD drive is also super-noisy; the Ctrl, Function and Delete keys are in slightly wonky non-standard places; and the default touchpad configuration has a bit of a learning curve to it. In other words, there’s not much to complain about.

See specs here. I got the 1GB RAM config. At $1800 CAD before tax it’s pretty good bang for the buck.

Asus has long made white-label PC components for many PC OEMs. Apparently they also manufacture iBooks and PowerBooks for Apple. This helps explain why their own laptops have such interesting aesthetics; they are clearly experimenting in industrial design, and having spent time looking at many models the past few weeks I’d assert they are one of the leaders. (Hey, it’s a PC… you don’t have to do much innovation to take pole position on aesthetics.)

The range of laptop products they offer is bewildering. They would do much better only offering 5 choices instead of the 20 they have today on their site. Less is more.

You can also buy barebones machines and configure them as you like.

If you are buying in the Toronto area, your best bet is to check out the stores clustered at Spadina and Bloor. I bought from PC-Metro for $1800 CAD. I saw prices as high as $2200 CAD. I also shopped online but there just aren’t that many online sellers who ship within Canada.

The W3V will be replaced soon by a new model — W3J, I believe, with a Duo Core processor and a much more hefty pricetag — so inventory is starting to drop. If you are not a fan of widescreen form factors, check out the Asus V6V.

I also considered other Asus notebooks, IBM ThinkPads (T43, z60m) and Apple’s luscious new MacBook Pro which runs on the Intel Core Duo. I must admit I was tempted by the MacBook, but that price tag and some gossip about heat problems turned me off. I’ll wait for v3. :-)