* OFFICIAL UL80VT and UL50VT / VS Owner's Lounge *

I'm currently running it on my ul80vt. The issue I (and others) were having with the brightness settings being reset every startup seem to be fixed. It's still buggy, as it sometimes doesn't want to remember the settings for what to do when the lid closes.

 

I bought a UL50V (win7 64) a couple of months ago because I needed a road machine with good battery life. Plus I got sick of my heavy, leg burning Vaio & its 30 minute battery life.

Not disappointed at all because the battery saving mode when it switches to the onboard graphics and throttles back the processor seems to work well, though it is a little dodgy at times.

Long thread here and I've read through some of it, but am I correct that the Asus Live Update app does nothing? I launch it and assume it executes the file ALU.exe *32 which I can see in Task Manager.

I want to update the bios, software and drivers but am a little afraid to -- as pointed out by many others here, the Asus software update page leaves much to be desired and lacks descriptions of various fixes. Sort of afraid of getting into a mess -- you know the old saying, if it is working don't update. I have a fear of whack-a-mole updates where one problem is fixed and three new ones created.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy because it suits my needs well which is mostly to run a few business apps and work online. The LCD panel doesn't have a great contrast ratio, but I didn't buy it to watch video or do photo editing.

Any opinions or further guidance on updating is appreciated. I wonder if I should at least update the bios, which is dated 10/23/09.

 

For owners of ul70/ul50 how is the build and screen quality of the laptop?

And does anyone know when usb 3 will be the default on these models?

 

Hello fellow UL80Vt owners.

For those wanting extra performance for games, follow the thread below to o/c to 1.9 Ghz!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=472668

 

Excellent!

 

For anyone questioning the build quality of the UL80VT, I just found my 2yr old son sitting on the keyboard, he weighs approx 13kg. No damage done.

 

The quality could be better. Compared to the U30JC I just bought, it's just not quite as good. That said, hopefully the next version of the UL80 will come with an aluminum exterior instead of the plastic one we have now. The increase in chassie stiffness and lack of fingerprints is just so nice.

 

I'm running 1.1.34 and with nvidia drivers updated to 197.16. Unfortunately I can no longer switch between integrated and discrete graphics using the power4gears panel, it has pretty much become useless.

So I have to use the button at the top left of the keyboard to change to/from nvidia card.




edit - I've just gone back to 1.1.25.... and now I can't switch graphics at all, I'm stuck on nvidia card.

 

Contrast is low & colors don't 'pop'. Screen = 4/10. Everything else = 10/10

 

Reading in the UL30Vt owners lounge it seems several are having varied results modifying the Asus Hybrid driver to the new Nvidia 197.16 version. If it will work on the UL30Vt, it should in the UL80Vt as well. Has anyone been able to get a 100% result-with Open CL, Cuda and Direct Compute all functional and mode switching working with both the hardware button and Power4Gear? If so, please post up you detailed instructions so we can all benefit. Sadly, if we leave it up to Asus, it looks like we'll be waiting an awful long time. Thanks

 

can anyone do me a favour...

I was under the impression that I'd be able to watch 1080p youtube clips on my UL80VT.

Just went to youtube, searched for "1080p Nvidia" then hit the first link... but the picture does not flow smoothly at all, or look sharp.... Which is at odds with practically every review I've read on UL80VT which says it can handle 1080p with no probs.

Can someone please check the youtube clip and let me know how it runs?

 

The SU7300 itself is not a particularly powerful CPU. However you can divert some of the load to the GPU to make your HD videos run smoother.
Make sure you have Flash 10.1 Beta/RC installed on your UL80 and have hardware acceleration enabled as well as your nvidia GPU enabled. See if this helps playing 1080p videos.

 

Thanks David. I have 10.1 flash installed, hardware acceleration enabled and I'm using the nvidia card. But unfortunately, the 1080p nvidia demo on youtube still doesn't play smoothly.

Last night I updated nvidia drivers to 197.16 and oc'd cpu to 1.9ghz. I'm wondering if the updated drivers are causing the issues....

Unfortunately I never tried watching 1080p videos on youtube before tonight. So I don't have any clue as to whether or not they would have run smoothly on the stock settings, hence my original query. I have a sneaking suspicion that if I had tried to view the 1080p clip last night, before updating the drivers, it would have played smoothly (as per the internet reviews of the ul80vt which indicate this is the case).

Can any ul80vt or ul30vt users out there, confirm whether or not they can get the nvidia 1080p clip on youtube to play smoothly ???! cheers !!

 

Using this youtube video, I encounter significant lag when viewing 1080p in windowed mode on my UL30VT, but as soon as I switched to full-screen, there wasn't any stuttering that I could see.

 

hmmm just as I suspected. For me, the clip stutters slightly using integrated graphics, but the picture is even worse using nvidia. I have a feeling that I should have stayed with the Asus hybrid driver instead of attempting the upgrade detailed in the ul30 thread.

 

The video runs pretty smooth once I downloaded to my computer and using VLC player to play it. I ran it through the G210M with the ASUS drivers.

 

This might seem like a simple question, but how can you tell which video driver is currently running -- the discrete or the NVidia? Also, how do you manually switch? I have the UL80vt

Thanks

 

reposting: Is there any way for me to rebind the FN + Arrow keys (Media player keys) to be used in winamp instead?

 

Right click on your desktop. If you see the option for Nvidia control panel, then you laptop is running with the Nvidia graphics card enabled. If you see Graphics Properties, then you're running integrated graphics.

To switch between the 2 graphics options, press the top left button (with an arrow pointing).

I haven't tried this personally, but I've heard that you'll need to enable global hotkey in winamp for hotkeys to work.

 

Thanks, my video switches when I plug in or out. However, the top left button does not switch the video. Do you need to do anything special (hold with a function key etc). If not, which software controls that? Maybe I don't have it installed.

Thanks

 

So does the top left button do anything when you press it? More specifically, is there any message pop-up on your screen when pressed?

 

Nope, nothing. But, if the computer was off and I pressed it, it would start up into expressgate, which I found useless, so I uninstalled it. Would this have anything to do with the button switching video?

 

I don't think so. Do you have Power4Gear Hybrid utility installed and running?

 

Are you still using the ASUS video drivers that came with the laptop? I find that when I use the new nVidia drivers, the button doesn't allow me to switch between cards. A quick re-installation of the asus drivers allowed me full functionality again.

 

The button is supposed to perform 2 functions. If the notebook is off and the button is pressed, it will boot into expressgate. If the notebook is already on and the button is pressed, it should initiate the graphics switching between the nvidia and intel graphics modes.

 

I'm still using the original driver (never changed it). I did upgrade the Power4gear. Perhaps I should try reinstalling the drivers.
What do the ATK drivers do? I thought I would reinstall.

There are 5 ATK drivers, PowerGear4 and 2 Video drivers (NVidia & VGA Patch). What order should I install these in? Are there any others I should install?

1 ATK ACPI Driver
2 ATK Hotkey
3 ATK Media
4 ATKOSO2
5 ATK Generic Function Service

PowerGear4

Nvidia Driver
VGA Patch (is this needed)


Thanks!

 

If anyone wants to update your Hybrid Driver to 197.16 Itaru posted these instructions on the UL30Vt forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6114037&postcount=3073
Follow the instructions carefully and it should work on your UL80Vt. OpenCL is the only thing that doesnt work correctly at this time.

 

You have probably noticed that the sound volume, even when maxxed out is still fairly low. Here is an easy fix:
Right click on your white speaker icon in the taskbar, choose "playback devices"
On the playback tab, highlight "Realtek High Definition Audio-Default Device"
Click properties-another window will appear
Choose the enhancements tab
Scroll thru the choices available to the very bottom one "Loudness Equalization" and check the box, then click apply.
You will immediately notice louder external speaker volume levels. Now it's not gonna blow out your windows, but it is fairly substantial.

 

Wow, that helped a lot. Thanks!

 

OK, it works when I am logged in as Admin, but not when I am logged in as regular user. Anyway to get this button to work while logged in as a non-admin?

Thanks

 

Those interested in updating the hybrid graphics driver to 197.16 should go here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6120876#post6120876

It provides detailed guide on how to create a modified 197.16 hybrid driver for Windows 7 64-bit. All discussions about the modded hybrid driver should be posted there.

 

Hope this is the right place:

Just got a ul80vt-a2, fresh out the box, charged up the battery fully, unplugged it, and at 100% battery it's saying it has just over 6 hours of life. Anyone had this problem? Any suggestions?


Edit: Did a search and didn't find anything.

 

Try using power saving mode on power4gear, turn your brightness down, and disable your bluetooth adapter. Also close any applications you don't need and uninstall any pre-installed bloatware you don't use. Disable indexing on your C drive can also help.

 

just received it today. very nice.

 

Let it idle for a few, if it's still booting up it's still loading startup services.

 

I've got the rubber palmrest version from best buy - what are you guys using to clean the rubber material with?

 

Just got my shiny, silver A2 via beachcamera @ebay.

Let me just say that after many hours of research, I pulled the trigger on this and I am very happy with my purchase. I just wanted to thank you guys for all your input.

The other contenders were the M11x, Dell Studio XPS 13, and the UL30VT.

I went with this based on the battery life and its performance. I'm looking to play some light-moderate games, price/value, and the fact that it has an optical drive (vs the UL30VT).

So here are my questions:

Will this play Starcraft 2 well?

Should I perform a clean reinstall of Win 7?

What are your recommended settings for getting 7-8+ hours on one charge?

Thanks!

 

I am currently trying to decide between the UL80vt-a2, UL30vt-a1, U30jc-a1, and the Sony Vaio CW and I have a couple of questions if anyone has the time to answer them.

1. I have read that the UL80vt-a1 has build quality problems, is this true of A2 as well? And is the UL30 really built much better (I would like an optical drive)?

2. I know all the benchmarks say the SU7300 is fine for basic use but is there any slow down that anyone feels when doing basic things?

 

I wanted to share a very frustrating experience trying to use Eclipse on this laptop in case someone else runs into it.

I had not been using my laptop for any kind of software development until I was in a training class at work for the Google Web Toolkit. We use Eclipse at my shop. I was trying to do code completion using Ctrl-C and every time I would do it, the keyboard would produce some type of Asian characters on the screen until I did another Ctrl-C to toggle it off. After much digging, it suddenly recalled seeing a posting about Asus preinstalling the Korean keyboard on this laptop to ease in support should it be returned for fixes.

I literally had to REMOVE the Simplified Chinese (or whatever it was) keyboard from the laptop in order to use code completion in Eclipse.

 

Oh how I wish my ul30vt had the rubber palmrest. For that mater I would have ordered the rubber screen bezel if available!! My worthless shiny black bezel has wear lines from contacting the palmrest.

These are tools made to be carried on a pillow in a clean room?

.. off rant.

I would use a damp cloth..

 

http://www.sgpstore.com/product_info.php/products_id/967

and while we are here... a whole bunch of really cool looking covers!! But I still like my brushed aluminum.
http://www.sgpstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=UL30a&x=0&y=0

 

Great find! I just stuck 6 -3/8" felt dots around my bezel. I'm going to book mark theses. The covers will be great if one was to dent our aluminum covers

 

I can definitively say that yes it does run Starcraft 2 well. I am participating in the beta and am able to run it great at the medium presets with the NVIDIA card enabled. I have not tested the game at higher settings but I don't get any lag or hiccups at medium so it will probably run with some if not all of the settings higher.

Good find! For those interested the ones for the ul80vt are here. I'm going to order one and report back with how effective it is.

 

Oooooooh. I just ordered one of them for my UL80VT. I really love this thing but always HATED the wrist rest area. I will report back after I receive/install mine.

PS: These laptops also look far better with all the damn stickers removed. I strongly suggest everyone do it to theirs.

 

Just got my UL50VT today and i love it! HOWEVER im having issues playing world of warcraft. it installs but wont even load! i get a error saying no valid display was detected! anyone getting this too?

 

The beautiful UL50Vt has two display cards. Have your tried to install it under the Nvidia Discrete display card and under the "High Performance" mode.

And, try to play under the same card and mode.

 

working on a fresh install as i type!

 

I'd like to buy UL80Vt . But I need to work (fulltime) with Visual studio 2008. Is performance oh this NTB adequate for real work with VS. Thanks. M.

 

Would anyone mind answering these questions?

 

whats the difference between the UL80vt-a2 and UL80vt-a1?