I plan purchasing an Asus notebook Centrino 15" or 15.4",  series and
model not yet decided.
The follwing issue regards the display color support quantification.
Here is the display color support values reported by Asus on their
Italian site:

1) A6700G, A6700N, M6800N: "256K colors"
2) V6800V: "16,7M colors"
3) M6700N, W1700N: no color data value.

Here are my questions, wishing some of you can help:

a) is the difference between 1) and 2) actually perceivable by the
users?

b) what about the missing Asus specification 3)?

c) any other comment on the Asus displays color issue?

Thank you in advance

uplbet wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteMaybe I'm missing something, but 256K colors seems really odd to me.
That would amount to 18-bit color, something I've never seen before.  I
guess it sort of makes sense: 6-bits for each component, R, G and B, but
foreign to me.

There is very little distinction between 16-bit and 24-bit color, but it
  can show up in high resolution photography.  If you're using the box
for web browsing, game playing, word processing, and that type of stuff,
you should not see any difference.

Shoot them an email.  You're entitled to finding out what they are
selling *before* you buy it.  If they are not interested in answering
your pre-sales question, that will give you valuable information about
the disposition of the company as well.

I'm a little surprised that a contemporary video card, even if it is
embedded in a laptop motherboard, has these sorts of limitations.  Even
relatively inexpensive cards can generate 32-bit color at 1280x1024.  I
don't have that much recent experience with laptops, however.  Perhaps
it would be a good idea to shoot their sales department an explicit
email asking for a discription of available video settings?

news:LBjZd.128129$4q6.60387@attbi_s01...
Show quoteHide quoteCould be 32bit colour video but only using a 6 bit LCD panel.

can't understand, sorry.

Regards

Noozer wrote:

uplbet wrote:

It's news to me as well, but apparently LCDs, unlike CRTs, may have a
limited set of discrete values they can display.  For CRTs it
(basically) just depends on the video card, but for an LCD, it depends
on the card *and* the display.

It makes sense, I just was not aware of it.  Here's a rundown:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/multimedia/a/LCDColor.htm

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:10:30 GMT, Grinder <grinder@no.spam.maam.net>
wrote:

excellent link, the concept  was new to me!

I'm quite negatively surprised by the "user-confusing" way Asus put
things down in their (italian) specs.

Thanks a lot to you and to Noozer,
regards

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:10:30 GMT, Grinder <grinder@no.spam.maam.net>
wrote:

for your info, I have phone-contacted the tech assistance service of
Asus Italy an hour ago.
In summary, the tech guy stated that the LCD displays of their recent
models are 32-bit (?).
When I mentioned the 6-bit depth hypothesis, he looked quite surprised
and simply stated that, as far as their notebook displays are
concerned, that would go back to prehistory.
By the way, the series I addressed in our discussion are:
A6700G, A6700N, M6700N, M6800N, W1700N and V6800V (italian codes).

Now I just wonder if I can trust him. Too bad we could not exchange
email ...    

Any comment?

uplbet wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteMake sure you get an explicit, written price quote that details the
specifications of what you intend to buy.  If they don't send a matching
product, you will have leverage to pursue them.

It's also worthwhile to keep a written log of your interactions with the
company, including your recent phone call.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 16:21:25 GMT, Grinder <grinder@no.spam.maam.net>
wrote:

I plan to buy an Asus notebook (my first notebook) in a physical
computer store located in my area. As to notebooks, they sell Asus
mainly - and just a few Acer.
They keep a dozen Asus notebooks on the shelf for show purpose, and
are available to switch on any of those upon customer request.
How would you suggest me to address my color-depth issue to them?

Thank you

uplbet wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteIs this LCD 6-bit or 8-bit?

Be cautious, though, sales reps will often make up stuff if they don't
understand your question, or know what the answer is.  Sometimes I play
dumb to check them.

Like, if they say 8-bit, because 8 is bigger than 6, then I say, so I'll
only be able to get 256 colors on the screen then?

This should prompt them to explain what 6-bit and 8-bit means.  If they
don't or if they screw it up, you can suspect they don't know if it's 6
or 8-bit.

Checking the screen properties may not help either, as the video chip
may will produce 24-bit/32-bit color, but be limited by the LCD.  I
suppose the safest bet is to get a detailed spec sheet for the product,
which should be easier to do for a laptop than a case build.

uplbet wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteOh, I almost forgot to reiterate.  Write down your recollection of any
conversations you have with the sales people as soon as you can.  Also,
you might want to ask them if they have an employee/extension number
that you can use to uniquely identify them in the future.  This puts
them on notice that they will be held accountable for their words and
actions.

This may make me sound like a pr*ck, and perhaps I am, but I've found
that it benefits both parties to be cautious and rigorous in our exchanges.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:10:01 GMT, Grinder <grinder@no.spam.maam.net>
wrote:

I fully understand and share your opinion.

I'm presently trying to get a written statement from the computer
store guys.

Thanks again for your advice !!
Best regards

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:12:12 GMT, Grinder <grinder@no.spam.maam.net>
wrote:

seems odd to me too.
Just to make sure about my interpretation, here is for example what
the Asus Italy spec says about their A6700G series display , literally
(I think language is a minor problem in this specific case)

url:
http://notebook.asus.it/prodotti/notebook/a6700g/specifiche.htm

display spec section (copy/paste):
------------------
Display
--Matrice attiva a colori TFT 15.1"/15.4"
--15.1" XGA/SXGA+ & 15.4" WXGA (1280*800) Glare (solo modelli GA) /
WSXGA+ (1680*1050) Colori 256K Max
--Dual Channel LVDS I/F
-----------------

Notice that "Colori 256K Max"

By the way, don't you have the correspondent url in your language?

I think I'll do.

Thank you and regards

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