*Official UL30VT-X1 Owners Lounge*

Alienware M11X will probably be what you want

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/alienware-m11x-netbook-gets-official/

 

I am watching that one carefully. It does look even heavier though than Asus 13incher. Also, battery is not changeable which may or may not matter. Also, quite a bit shorter on battery life compare to A1.

Since A1 is not out yet, I can wait and see how m11x turns out.

 

It also has backlit keyboard, 11.6 inch screen, and the GPU is much more powerful than the ul30vt. I hope the screen will be better than the ul30vt's since it's an Alienware. And since it's coming out in the spring, they might even put the ULV i5s in it. This M11x certainly sounds great on paper.

EDIT: Some more update. The price of this M11x will range from $799 to $1000. The CPU is C2D ULV U7300. Someone played MW2 on this puppy, here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW7cog1WTGw

 

Putting a ton of power into a small chassis is only 1/2 of what people want. They want the power, along with the battery life while doing things they love... The fact is that if you are going to put more powerful components into a chassis smaller than the UL30VT you will get far, far, far less battery life out of it and also have cooling issues on your hands.

No, right now the UL30VT *IS* the best option out there right now. Great performance, great thermals and battery life that competes with the best of them.

 

For any of those still wondering about the color of the A1 at XoticPC, here's what I received in email today from Justin W...

"The Asus UL30VT-A1 will have a black exterior finish. This information has been confirmed by two different Asus reps."

So...this is quite surprising to me, but I guess we have to believe this until they actually get them....and then we may hear something else! Anyway, I want the silver, so I'm glad I didn't cancel my Amazon pre-order.

 

could anybody point me to some benchmarks of this unit? While looking around I've found quite a few CULV laptops that I interest me. The only hang up I have is I'm really intrigued by the overclock in this laptop. Does it really give a noticeable boost in performance or is this just marketing hype by Asus? Thanks

 

Anandtech did a review on the UL80Vt-A1, which is identical in specs to the UL30Vt-A1, plus an optical drive:

Application performance: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3689&p=5
Gaming performance: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3689&p=6
Battery life: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3689&p=7

The UL30Vt-X1 should be identical in all except battery life.

 

forgot one important must-have feature that is on the ul80 .....
- backlit keyboard

 

i talked to Justin W a day or two ago as well and he said the same thing ... remains to be seen. David on NBR mentioned that early spec for A1 was black not silver and that it got changed at the last minute. This is a North American spec from Asus, not determinable by any distributor at will.

My guess is it will be silver and they will change their tune shortly once they catch on .... otherwise they will lose my dollar.

(yes, i keep going back and forth)

 

UL80 doesn't have a backlit keyboard.

 

Thank you Osman. That is pretty impressive considering the kind of hardware the 14z is running

 

I am just glad to see there are more switchable graphic laptops to choose from now. Asus is the pioneer on these type of laptops, but other people are catching up. If the ul30vt has backlit keyboard and screen with better viewing angle, I would probably jump on it long time ago.

 

You will end up buying it. Asus has one of the best price/performance ratios and this is a key example. Also this is most likely best option they will have for at least a while, and i'm pretty sure their ul series was their main release for the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I doubt they will release anything better at CES.

 

Just received word from Ken Lee at gentech. The UL30Vt-A1 laptops are shipping out tomorrow

 

yes yes yes yes yes!!! super excited. Ken Lee is the man.

Any word if he popped one open and found out what color it was?

 

Me too! They said they will probably ship them out tomorrow! I'm glad the X1 sold out for so long -- not only am I glad I can get a model with a better battery, but for only $20 more!

 

They are silver, for sure.

 

So much for Amazon being first to ship out first!

 

Well unless they still have announcements tomrw, Im thinking, thats about all the laptops you'll see from CES this year. Mildly disappointing.

Only laptop of note to me was the Vaio Z refresh. Ironically, the Z was the laptop I was looking at before catching wind of the ul30vt back in october. Now 3 months later, Z has me intrigued again. The one thing that was very interesting to me about the Z back when it first debuted was the fact that it was one of the first laptops to implement the hybrid graphics solution by nvidia -meaning you wouldn't have to reboot. I was pleasantly surprised that several other companies followed suit and finally asus implemented it in the VT series. That said, obviously the 30vt and Z are different leagues completely. Price will tell you that much.

The new Z wont be out until march or so, guess Ill have to get a 30Vt for the time being. Wish the A1 would hurry up and release before I jump ship again.

 

Got the call too. Can't wait for next week's delivery. The SSD should arrive just in time too...

 

Which SSD did you get?

 

Did you get an email or did you call?
I'm asking because I don't have an email about my order.

Correction: Just got the email. Gentech certainly has the competitive edge!

 

It was a PM.
If you check gentech's website, it also says that the UL30Vt-A1 is in stock

 

Someone on Amazon's discussions says he got a shipping confirmation for his A1...yes!

 

The credit card that I used to charge the A1 on Amazon now indicates that my credit line is now lower by $849 (the actual charge doesn't show on my balance yet). AND...Amazon status says they are preparing my order and it cannot be cancelled. So it will probably ship tomorrow morning! This helps because I'm tired of stewing over where to buy, whether to wait, etc.

 

Didn't Intel just official announce there new i3, i5 and i7 mobile processors? I could've sworn I saw a i5um or something clocked at 1.2 ghz that could be turboed and had integrated gfx on the chip? Don't know what the battery life will be like though.

 

this is pretty offtopic but does anyone know how the g210 and gt240 compare? are there any benchmarks of the two? and also are there any laptops that have the gt240 for close to the same price as the ul30vt?

i've had so much time to think about this purchase since the x1 is still out of stock and i've now been considering other possible options

 

The GT 240M will perform about twice as well as the 210. From notebookcheck, the 240 gets about 6500 points while the 210 has 3400 points in 3dmark06. This is primarily due to the larger bandwidth and more processor cores in the 240 compared to the 210.

 

Haven't you guys read http://www.asus.com/News.aspx?N_ID=Y5lBIemSOJ8Go3ZQ, in particular the info on U33Jt?

 

Given that prices for bamboo versions are typically inflated by at least $300-$400, I doubt the U33Jt would be a good buy compared to the UL30Vt. Unless Asus makes a non-bamboo version, I'd say still with the UL30Vt.

 

Why do they always bring out a better one after I buy something? Makes me wanna sell this UL30Vt when it comes out

 

thanks for the info, that's a good site. gt240 sounds good, wish the ul30vt had it.

 

The new Alienware MX11 was shown at CES today, it seems very promising as a sub 1000 dollar laptop with the form factor of an 11 inch netbook while providing superior performance than even the UL30VT with 3D Mark Score in the 6000-7000s!
http://gizmodo.com/5442786/alienware-m11x-hands+on-fast-ride-in-a-short-machine

 

thought I read something about video drivers.. the drivers on ASUS website are about 4 months old.. there's some newer drivers on Nvidia but they don't work.. anyone figure a way to update? also is there a technical forum anywhere for these ul308050vt's?

 

whoops - your right! but the U & UX series do!

 

why? its not like you couldnt log on right now and pre-order one again ....?

 

That's the beauty of the tech industry

Having the GT 240M in the UL30VT would kinda defeat the purpose since the GT 240M consumes almost 10W more power than the 210M. This is a good chunk of wattage given the UL30VT pulls no more than 40W in total at load.

 

Darn. I want that bamboo one! Shall I cancel my order!? Probably a good long time away and a good premium on the price.

 

The bamboo variants look very nice, but Asus has always had limited stock for them (like the bamboo U6 and U3 series) - only a couple of resellers had them, one of them was Amazon, I believe. As for the price, I personally don't think it would be worth it if Asus is charging a hefty premium like they do on all their bamboo series.

 

ahh i see. Looks like i just want too much out of a laptop

 

At least you're looking in the right direction
I'm sure in a couple years, we'll see a laptop with the specs you desire in a smaller/thinner form than the UL30Vt.

 

Joseph Lee from XopticPC just emailed that they will get their ul30vt tomorrow as well and he said the color might be silver. He'll let me know as soon as he get his hand on one.

 

Since you're in LA, you might as well drive to GenTech tomorrow and check it yourself instead of waiting
Plus, if you decide to pick one up, you'd probably be the first person to own the UL30VT-A1!

 

Thats funny because im in LA too! i had no idea gentech was in la ... for some reason i kept thinking fremont because of asus.

i think i might need to take a quick drive over to covina tomorrow .....

1420 East Cypress Street, Covina - (626) 915-5008

 

You guys are lucky that you're in LA I already opted for overnight shipping from gentech, but it looks like you guys may actually get the UL30VT before I do!

 

Is the only difference between A1 and X1 the battery capacity and colour?

Because I honestly prefer the Black, and might just buy the larger battery and keep the old one as a spare.

And it shouldn't be a problem getting the bigger battery in black right?




Oh, and has anybody located a shop in Hong Kong that sells this yet?

 

I believe the warranty is different too. I agree I prefer the black also.

 

There's too many to list
Your best bet is to check Wan Chai computer Centre and Golden Computer Arcade in Shum Shui Po. There may be some at Broadway and Fortress stores, but last I checked they were only selling Asus netbooks and are often more expensive.

 

the only place in HK that I know that has it is fortress but they are usually more expensive, Sham shui po area doesn't have it yet from what I heard. Do you have any prices roughly?

 

I'm not sure on the exact price, but knowing that laptops are usually more expensive than the US, I'd say it would cost ~$8000+ HKD.