*Official UL30VT-X1 Owners Lounge*

Download BatteryMon and check to see if there's significant wear on your battery.

 

For us Canadians:

So excaliberpc.com has the A1 for $819 with usps shipping. I've put the costs through thefinalcost.com (with the estimated $54.50 shipping to BC) and it comes out to CAD$ 1045.26. Assuming Amazon lists it for $949, with taxes it would come to $1072.37. A difference of $27.11. Now am I missing anything? Isn't there a screen recycling fee that I have to take into account? I seem to remember that Amazon takes care of that... maybe excaliberpc does too?

It seems to me that if they start shipping on the 11th for US vendors that they will ship around the 18th or 19th for Canadian vendors. I'd say the shipping time would be about a week extra from the US. maybe. So I could receive it about the same time, but at a savings of $30. There may be more chance of complication this way though.

Any thoughts?

Edit: this page says the duty on computers is 0%. If that's the case, subtract $50 more from that thefinalcost.com estimation

 

Can anyone confirm that it actually can be upgraded to 8GB RAM? That would be amazing.

 

Asus rep at amazon's forum has confirmed that it is capable of 8GB, but they have not tested it. The term he/she used was 'qualified' for 8GB RAM.

 

In my country the only model available is called UL30VT-QX030V, is that the X1 version people are talking about?

 

Yeah. it's quite low right now. 1.0398 is what thefinalcost.com calculates right now. xe.com is actually lower right now at 1.03355. That's at least at the time of writing out this sentence...

edit: again, I calculated it for myself, so I added 13% (BC) tax to the amazon.ca price but allowed thefinalcost.com to factor in the tax for me. They calculate that at 6%. I don't think PST will be charged. I don't quite remember if it is or not, so don't hold me to that.

 

Hey Keaton. Can you please post the end result here after this arrives for you as I'll probably copy you if it ends up being $80. Also I'm not sure if shipping is free to the states for any of those non amazon sellers but if so and if u live in Vancouver, you can ship to hagens at Blaine and drive the 40 min to the border as another option...

 

using batterymon.... show full capacity 59892mwh .. says design capacity is 61600mwh(4106mah).. shows 4:32 minutes left of 89 percent charge...this is on battery saving mode integrated.
If someone could hover over their battery icon for a second and let me know what you see that'd be great.. preferably on battery saving mode... I just need to know if people are actually seeing 9 , 10 or 11 hours of battery left.. then I'd know something is wrong here.

 

Yeah, I live in Kamloops in the interior so that's not a viable option. I'm itching to do this today so if everything checks out as far as I can tell I will do it. I will of course post my experience!

 

Anyone who lives in Canada will find it worth their while to speak with Ken Lee from GentechPC first. You can thank me later!

 

What's the story with GentechPC?

 

I don't have it in front of me but usually I see about 5 or 6 hours I think at >90% charge.

I hope you weren't realistically expecting 9 hours or more. I don't think anyone gets that (unless the screen, wifi, hard drive, etc... are all turned off)

So, 4.5 hours seems a little low to me, but not horrible. Also - have you used the laptop from full charge all the way down to 5% and checked the actual time, or are you just relying on the estimate when you hover over the battery?

 

pretty ridiculous they advertise 11+ with the 4400 and 12+ for the 5600...
I didn't expect those numbers but I figured I could count on 8 hours for battery saving mode.. that would be 33 percent under their 11+.. in any scenario I can't get more than 7 hours

I haven't timed it yet though... I'll start now at 97 percent.. screened at 2 clicks up from the lowest.. wifi on.. bluetooth off.. I have the power management set to not go off. 97 percent says 3 hours 7 minutes which has to be wrong... lets see.. I'll post when it dies.. hopefully after 7 tonight.. I'll be using it very lightly.. here and there checking email and stock info

 

I wanna know too

Edit: their price is $823 + $43 shipping = $866 USD = ~$894 CAD
and this is not including any taxes/duties if there are any. Supposedly amazon.ca will have it for $920 so I don't think it's worth it at all.

 

This wouldn't be the case if you should need any technical help. Going through a reseller such as gentech is much more convenient and efficient than going through Asus.

 

what programs are you operating in the background? Any flash applications running?

 

After 1/2 hour unplugged, battery saving mode, 53% brightness, and wifi on, I was down to 91% battery. The amount of time left was changing between 4 hours and 7.5 hours, depending on what I was doing (just browsing online or watching video on msnbc).

In reality, working that out (9% battery for 1/2 hour) means I'll get about 5.5 hours usage. And that's been about what I get for battery saving, internet browsing, 5.5 to 6.5 hours or so.

 

Is there any place I can order a silver UL30Vt-A1 that isn't in CA? Sales tax and recycle fee blows. =|

 

xoticpc and amazon (i think)

 

Quick update on the battery.. doing better than I thought.. alot better.. been running with the screen on and drudgereport refreshing every couple minutes along with me checking emails and forums here and there... and I still have 60 percent.. and still says 6 hours... so at this rate it could be 10 hours of life.. I'll pull my foot outta my mouth.. I'll update when it dies
Oh yeah .. no flash stuff running

 

Why do u think amazon.ca will have it at $920? The x1 there is $100 more than amazon.com

 

Anyone had their X1 ship from amazon.ca yet? Mines apparently estimated end of Jan 2010 and early Feb!

 

Okay, so, update time!

After talking with Ken Lee, it looks like I can get them to send it by USPS if I ask in the shipping notes. I used paypal so I got the 3% off, and the dollar conversion was 0.9425 in paypal. Paypal sent me a reciept for $903.68 (that's with shipping calculated to UPS, but it should be similar to USPS.) Now I just have to wait to see what happens after it clears the border... I highly suggest anyone looking to buy in Canada to talk to Ken... Or just order it on faith. I think you'll be happy with your choice. Remember to specify USPS. you'll pay a $70 brokerage fee otherwise.

 

That sounds great. What else do you have to pay on top of that?

 

You'll proably have pay tax across the border.

 

So only GST and PST? No duty?

 

Has anyone confirmed that the xoticpc UL30Vt-A1 is actually silver? Black is such a fingerprint magnet. =/

 

the asus rep on amazon said "FYI I expect Amazon will start shipping the UL30VT-A1 (silver, bluetooth), this week."

does anyone know if the x1 model will be shipping at the same time?

 

I am unsure about what the duty would be. Look that up online but you won't get hit with high brokerage using USPS. Its a fixed rate.

 

Any courier shipping it well charge brokerage well over $30. Shipping USPS will have a fee capped at like $8 dollars.

 

I hope it's true...can't wait to get my hands on this thing

 

Can anybody tell me how this laptop's screen compares to the Acer 1410/1810?

Cheers,
Joel

 

So... Final results on my battery test..
Roughly 10 hours... brought the laptop to work.. posted a couple of times about how crappy it looked like the battery life was based on hovering over the battery icon..it usually seems like it's somewhat right but was wrong. So I started the test at 97 percent at 12:55 and it had 7 minutes left on it with 1 percent at 10:35 and I plugged her in. It was running ALL DAY with the DISPLAY on.. I had it set where it never went off.. with Drudgereport refreshing every minute or so.. I lightly used it to check email.. this forum.. some after marked trading.. probably used 10 minutes of every hour.. so pretty light use.. display turned to 2 clicks above the lowest... theres probably a few things I could have disabled to squeeze out that extra hour.. but I'm pretty confident you could comfortably use the laptop 7-8 hours web browsing.. Microsoft office stuff with the brightness half or so up. I'm gonna try streaming Netflix tomorrow and see how long it will go doing that.

 

told ja so ... he couldnt do anything for me, but what a kind individual he is.

 

what, no rep for the hookup? noworries. snicker

 

it will be silver. other posts point to original spec as black, but clearly asus does not deviate from x1 black, a1 silver plan.

call them to confirm, but im banking on it as mine will be from them instead of amazon.

 

All x1s are black and all a1s are silver. If a website has it different it is their mistake. This is only in North America though because the codes are region specific.

 

$903 is total Canadian after shipping and currency conversion. USPS has never charged me much of anything for brokerage fees. I'll mirror the $8 cap suggestion. UPS on the other hand... I've never been charged less than $25. $40 was the highest for me... for a $100 item.

Now apparently there's no duty on computer hardware. I'm not fully sure, but that's what I hear. A note on taxes: taxes can't be charged on certain things... things with no value, things that are a gift, warranty repairs... etc. You know... for your info.

And maxer76, of course you get rep! Just a busy, busy, expensive day today.

 

I'm wondering if the amazon site will put all those fancy pictures up anytime soon?

And if I don't do a clean install is it easy to just remove programs or will the computer still be "dirty"

 

Mine died last night... “Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key”
Did a CHKDSK on it so now I hope it will work. Its kinda slow in startup now... Dont know whats wrong. I didnt do anything, I just lift up the lid and there the “Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key” was...

 

Has anyone purchased the laptop using the Amazon Store Card? I'm just wondering if there are any financing options available for the X1?

Also, do you guys reckon this should be enough to play StarCraft2? Id wait until around the game's release but I need a laptop within this month.

 

BTW

just picked up the logitech nano VX mouse for my ul30vt.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Cordless-Laser-Mouse-Notebooks/dp/B000U75V02/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

grabbed it for about 40 bucks on ebay new.

still kind of expensive for a mouse, but this is hands down the best mouse i've ever used. the receiver is TINY. the tracking (for a wireless mouse) is incredibly precise and smooth. there's absolutely no wavering (if you've used wireless mice before, you know what i'm talking about). the hyperscroll is a cool function that i'm already using quite a bit. it also has out of the way backwards/forwards buttons and just looks great paired with my black ul30vt-X1.

highly recommended for anyone looking to pick up a good wireless mouse.

very satisfied.

 

Thanks for performing this test. Just to clarify, you have a UL30vt-X1 with the standard 4400mAh battery, right?

 

Ok, jumped the gun on a 120GB Super Talent Ultradrive ME yesterday. Just need the lappy now. Hurry up Asus...

 

you know, after reading 10k posts and reviewing laptops for what seems like hundreds of hours, i have already canceled my pre-order and am going to wait for while after CES and see what happens.

i like this laptop and its successor the A1 model *alot* ... but im convinced that CULV laptops will become the wave of the future, all but squishing the market on the netbooks, forcing them to evolve as well.

my prediction after CES is that a whole lotta other companies will be offering all day batteries and that the offerings from asus and others will greatly improve as this market and its demand swell.

i was so hyped on getting this laptop that i feel like ive lost my first born by not jumping on the gravy train and getting one. it hurts, it really does, but it just makes sense to wait (everyone who has said it, said it well, it IS all about timing the market right).

if im wrong, im wrong, and i will just purchase one of these a little down the road, but im hoping to see the following improvements before i am totally convinced:

- a 63 00mAh battery
- faster low voltage processor
- non-glare screen w improved viewing angles
- non-rocker style mouse button

id pay 50-100 more for improvements in these areas even without a better processor

*sigh*

 

That's an incredibly small battery

But I doubt something will show up in CES with the unique qualities like the UL30VT, such as an overclockable CPU and integrated + dedicated graphics... and still get amazing battery life (all under $1k).
If I am proved wrong, then only we can benefit.

 

I too have been watching the market carefully for few months now and also CES. None of the new models released so far matches what UL30VT, especially the A1 variation. I am pretty sure I am going to wait for A1. The only thing that would change my mind is if Asus comes up with UL20VT-A1 with same spec except 12 inches.

 

Seriously, if you like the thing and can afford it, buy it! Even if you get your dream machine next week, something hotter will come out the week after. Enjoy life and you won't have regrets.

 

its the screen that is the real barrier. ive got an eee pc 1005ha and its cool for on the fly and the battery life, but the reflective nature of the screen kills me ... i wouldnt want that on any other laptop i was going to be dropping near a grand on ... im hoping asus hears our cries and decides to modify this aspect of their machines .... if there was a way to mod the thing and pop a different screen in, i would, but i dont know enuff about that process nor this machine to do so ..... yet

 

Has anyone tried any recent RTS games on this laptop like DawnOfWarII?