SUMMARY: Impressive DTR features - the best is yet to come!

The good guys at Directron and AxionTech.com were nice enough to send an ASUS Z71A over to us for a while to check out. This is a largish DTR laptop featuring Intel's Mobile 915GM Express chipset, a feature rich chipset that has Intel's latest bells and whistles, including support for fast DDR2 memory and FSBs of 400 and 533 MHz.

The ASUS Z71A uses shared memory for video; there is an upgrade model, the Z71V, which features an NVIDIA NForceGo 6600 PCI Express Graphics Processor. Tom's Hardware did a nice review of the 915GM and concluded "This chipset is currently the best possible compromise between performance and an acceptable price for components."

Key Features

• Intel® Pentium® M Processor with 2 MB on-die cache - Speeds at 1.67 Ghz - 2.50 Ghz (Dothan), 400 & 533 Mhz FSB; Mobile Intel Celeron M Processor with 512K/1MB on Die L2 Cache-Speed from 1.3 Ghz - 1.7+ Ghz
• 2 SODIMM Sockets expandable to 2 GB, DDR 333/400 SODIMM
• 15.4” LCD 1280 x 800 TFT Display
• Embedded Intel® 915GM VGA Graphics - Shared Memory up to 64 MB with RAM up to 512 MB, 128 MB with RAM > 512 MB
• Azalia compliant audio chip, with 3D effect & full duplex; Built-in stereo speakers and microphone
• Built-in card reader: SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO
• Module Hot Swap Function and 2nd HDD/2nd Battery (PortDock II)
• Fax/Modem/ Wireless 802.11 a/b/g LAN (with PCI card)
• One VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external display
• 5 USB 2.0 ports
• Two Audio jacks - Head phone or SPDIF, Mic-in
• One 1394 B Type jack
• S-Video and composite TV output
• Battery life 6.5 hrs (10 hours with second battery)
• Dimensions & Weight - 14.0” x 10.8” x 1.4”, 6.6 lbs
• 1 year limited warranty, upgradeable up to 3 years

Performance Upgrade to ASUS Z71V

• Intel Centrino with 915PM (Sonoma)
• 15.4" 1680 x 1050 display
• NVIDIA NForceGo 6600 PCI Express Graphics Processor

The ASUS Z71V has the same capability to manually switch FSBs between 400 and 533 MHz.

Disclaimer: This describes my experience with this product - Overclockers.com will not be responsible for any damages, direct or consequential, any consumer incurs by following this example.

The Z71A arrived minus the HD and wireless card; the CPU (Pentium 725, 1.6 GHz 400 MHz), RAM (512 MB Kingston DDR333) and CD ROM/DVD were provided by Directron, and I had a hard drive and wireless card handy:

I received the laptop without anything installed, so I'm going to show how I installed all parts. Let me state at the outset that if you can hold a screwdriver, you can set this laptop up no problem.

The parts that ship with the laptop include the CPU heatsink, fan, hard drive carrier and screws:

Tools/Supplies Needed:

• A small Phillips head screwdriver
• A small "regular" screwdriver
• Needle-nose pliers or tweezers
• Thermal grease

To populate the laptop with its hardware, you turn the laptop over:

All the areas you need are accessible from the back - this is a GREAT feature - on others I have worked on, you have to just about fully disassemble the laptop to get to the heatsink, for example. I'm sure there are others with easy access, but I tend to think this is the exception.

The back consists of two parts -

First lift off the hard drive cover, then the larger cover. Once you do this, you have exposed all the areas you need to get the laptop functioning.

¹Directron has on-line directions HERE which picture a slightly different model.