Thinking of buying an ASUS Laptop... help with jargon

Shiroi

Hi all,

I'm thinking of buying http://www.asda-electricals.co.uk/shop/product/asus/x51rl-ap036c.html?
ASUS X51RL-AP036C Laptop.

It's been recommended to me by my brother because it's Dual core, and "great RAM."

It's a lot cheaper than the other laptops with lower specs than it at £398 and comes with 2 year warranty. Can anybody recommend Asus (or otherwise) and tell me if this is a good laptop to buy? Also I'm wondering if it's capable of playing games (I know it's a Laptop but to some extent anyway) with the ATI X1100 Graphics Controller, and if "Windows Vista Home Premium" would come with any Word programs as it's going to be for University use. Will it connect to a University's Wireless Network? DVD Super Multi means that it can copy and play DVDs, CDs I hope?

Sorry for all my questions, I might have more later too!
Kind Regards,
Shiroi.

cuttersblade

hi,
firstly, ive never actually had an ASUS laptop, but i have used desktop components made by them and never had any problems with them. the laptop its self doesnt look too bad, 2gb ram is probably about the minimum for running vista on and the cpu is one of the earlier dual core types. the onboard graphics wont be able to play the most graphically demanding games, depends what youre into really. vista comes with the usual wordpad etc which is basic, if youre going to uni you can get the ultimate steal deal which is really cheap and you get the full office package for £40. it should connect to uni wireless fine.
hope that helps

Shiroi

Thanks Cuttersblade for the speedy reply.

That helps quite a bit, so it seems like a good laptop to get. Can you point me to any of the around £40 packages you've said about as I really have no idea what to look for - I can only find ones for £80 so I suspect I'm looking in the wrong place, or at the wrong thing.

Also, and maybe a bit of a weird question, would it be easy or is it easy in a laptop to fit a different graphics card so that it could run a more demanding game, or should I just go for a different Laptop altogether.. I know it's pretty simple in Desktop PCs, if it's similar then that's fine. I was thinking Age of Empires III which would be the only one I'd put on anyway but it is quite a big game to accommodate on a laptop I was thinking.

Kind Regards,
Lisa

cuttersblade

http://www.theultimatesteal.co.uk/ is the link for the office software, all you need is a .ac.uk email address, which you would get from uni.
im afriad it isnt possible to change graphic cards in laptops due to the way laptops are built.
havent played Age of Empires 3 myself but the sytem requirements dont seem to be huge so you may find it is playable on the lower settings.

hope this helps

Blacksheep1979

Asus make laptops for Sony and Toshiba and in my opinion their own ones are better quality than that of the sony/tosh ones and far far far far far better quality than acer

superscaper

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

Asus make laptops for Sony and Toshiba and in my opinion their own ones are better quality than that of the sony/tosh ones and far far far far far better quality than acer

and even make them out of bamboo http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops/asus-updated-ecobook-bamboo-laptop-hands-on-gallery-321609.php

Shiroi

Haha

Makes me feel a lot better. Well, I've ordered one. Thanks for all your help.

spakkker

Give openoffice a try. It's free and I believe its MSoffice compatible. Search this site even or google for comparison.

Danni

OpenOffice.org (the name is also the url) is a MS Office compatible software suite. It has most of the functions most people need, and though it's a little slow at the great price of nothing I like it

superscaper

Danni wrote: »

is a MS Office compatible software suite.

Except for Office 2007, it can't seem to handle .x formats. And Office 2007 Ultimate can't really be compared to Open Office, especially for £40. The OP should definitely use open office in the meantime but no reason to stick with it once they can use the ultimate steal offer.