*Official UL30VT-X1 Owners Lounge*

we'll see, i just went with what the asus placard had written on it about it being 1GB, maybe ASUS is wrong.

 

Oh fun...the waiting game continues....
4-8 weeks is such a vague timeline too. If they can confirm within the upcoming days a mid-Feb release date for this new UL30JT then I'll wait, if not, Ul30VT it is.

On a side note, I like how they market the u30jc as the first with 310m geforce..sony is cramming a 330m into theirs.

 

my speculation is that Asus won't say anything until they clear up the inventory on the ul30vt (which I think it'll be fast, since many people want to get their hands on one NOW !!!).

 

i knowwww, i've been waiting forever, but at least i have a desktop for now... i don't think ill be able to wait any longer than it takes for the jt to release

 

Too bad I can't wait for the jt or jc -- I might have waited if it was with a matte screen.

The new i5um and i7um processors are really a big step up from initial benchmarkings from what i've read.


btw Anyone would ordered from Gentech, have your notebooks actually shipped? Mine just says billing info/data was put in. No actual shipment yet.

 

dont wait too long, if history is any indication asus will release another model in march, another in april, and another in may, a new model all the way to the new year where we, or folks like us, will be drooling over last months offerings while waiting for the next's.

didnt they release something like 18 different models of laptops last year alone...?

 

I think you may have been looking at the i5 processors on the JC version because the i7 620um and 640um on the JT version start out at 1.06 and 1.20 respectively.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/mobile/specifications.htm

Yes this seems to be true, but i cannot wait another 4-8 weeks for a laptop if the only difference(that matters to me) is the processor speed. Although the new i7s are going to be very nice it seems as though the SU7300 is capable of everything I plan on doing.

 

Here's the thing that is making me wait: Intel's just-announced WiDi (wirelessly stream 720p video to your TV with a $100 add-on box) supposedly requires core i3, i5, or i7...That is a killer capability, if the JT is compatible with that box.

 

I was just checking my order status for my UL30VT and it seems to have been already shipping out from Gentech with an expected delivery by tomorrow

 

Damn it asus! Why don't they offer a step up program like EVGA .... Upgrade your laptop within 90 days of purchase and pay the difference hehehe... I would do it.

Btw, anyone care to explain something... So we have the ul30jt and ul30jc, are both of these laptops exactly the same size as the ul30vt? the jc looks a little different...bigger or something...

Also, which is better? the i5 on the jc or the i7 on the jt?...also.....are they quad core???

I'm really confused lol

Someone please explain

 

I don't think there are any laptop manufactures that offer and "upgrade" option within 90 days of purchase.

The Jc and Jt will indeed be larger than the UL30Vt. The heat produced with these faster processors must be supported with a larger cooling assembly and chassis for better airflow. These i5 and i7 CPUs in the U30 series will also be dual core.

Here's a chart from anandtech listing the different i5/7 CPU and their respective specs:


As you can see, all of their TDPs are significantly higher than the SU7300 with a 10W TDP. The Jt/Jc series will have to have at least double the cooling efficiency of the UL30Vt which most likely translates to a larger laptop.

 

The guy with the hand-on review of the UL30JT at the CES 2010 said ASUS UL30Jt "has exact physical specs as the UL30Vt-X1". But it's kinda hard to tell from the picture. The Jc will be larger and probably heavier for sure.

i7-640UM/620UM consume 18W because it has the intel integrated graphic in the same chip. SU7300 consume 10W but that's just the CPU by itself. We gotta figure out what's the total power that SU7300 + the intel graphic use.

 

That would be interesting if the Jt has the exact same chassis size as the Vt. I can only assume that the unit will get quite warm quite fast compared to the Vt.

I don't have the exact power consumption for an Intel GMA, however from what I gather, a 945GM/ICH7 chipset combo with the GMA 950 consumes only 2 watts at idle. From this, one can only speculate that any integrated graphics makes up only a fraction of the total power consumption of any chipset or CPU.

 

Well... from the benchmarks I've seen the UL80VT (and thus also the UL30VT) takes about 8W with Intel IGP at idle, but according to Intel's specs the IGP's max rated TDP alone is 7W ( http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=22207) so I'm not sure how much the 18W combined TDP of the Core i7 really tells about idle power requirements... I guess we'll just have to wait and see

 

Still no backlit keyboard...?

 

Can't figure this one out.

Why is the UL30VT-X1, $130 more expensive than UL30VT-A1 (which has a better battery)???????

Any clue?

 

Atm the X1 price is jacked by a Reseller, once amazon gets it back in stock it will probably be $799.

 

Thanks Abula.

 

im waiting for this as well...

 

Me too - that would be a bigger difference to me than a refresh of the CPU/GPU. On the other hand you can see how the power draw from a backlit keyboard is sorta antithetical to the low power / 12 hour battery life of the UL30Vt series. On the other other hand we benefit from switchable graphics, and keyboard backlights are also switchable, so...

I've convinced myself! Backlit keyboard = GOOD!

 

According to that little card of specs, it's nearly the exact same numbers as the UL30.
ASUS UL30 website specs: 322 x 233 x 14.8~24.6 mm
The card specs for UL30Jt: 322 x 232 x14.8~24.2 mm

For the tiny variation in mm, who know why it's like that. And besides, the laptop looks exactly the same, it's still a UL series.

EDIT:
So I did some searching... and found this: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/intel-core-presser-32nm-core-i3-core-i5-and-core-i7-cpus/

This is interesting... so they are saying that the actual CPU is only 8W? That's less than the 10W from the SU7300... and as noted by someone here, the IGP takes up 7W, so making a total of 17W vs 18W. That's hardly a trade-off for a significant gain in processing power.
The new chips are also 32nm, doesn't this also make them more efficient or something? Personally I would wait, the core i7 chips will be a lot better and I don't want to stick with the old Core 2's anymore.

 

So what all are the differences between the X1 and A1? Silver, smaller battery and what else? Also can you buy the bigger battery for the X1? I don't really like the silver. Lastly, has anybody here run autoCAD on either of these? Will it run it? Thanks for any and all help. I'm in the market for something, and I would like to know if I should just upgrade to this now, or wait it out a few months?

 

This may help you (and others):

http://www.amazon.com/Differences-between-UL30A-A2-and-UL30A-X5/forum/Fx1QTNGQKACI7JG/Tx1AXWH36CU8DGL/

 

Just received my UL30Vt-A1 and it's a beauty

Just to further confirm, the Vt-A1 is indeed silver (as Ken from gentech has previously stated). The screen isn't as bad as what I had initially thought, but certainly not the best. The palm rest is made from plastic and not aluminum, yet it does a fair job resisting smudges and fingerprints. Coming from using SSDs and 3+GHz CPUs, I found the SU7300 + standard mechanical HDD quite sluggish. There's been a couple changes/additions to the bloatware in the new Asus lineup, such as replacing the trial version of Norton with TrendMicro (also trial version).

So if anyone have any more specific questions, i'll be more than happy to try and address them.

 

David, pics please

 

Yes, pics please!

I assume you are going to do a clean install since you are putting in a SSD. Are you going to start removing any of the bloatware before you do that? If so, could you list which programs are removeable.

Any creaking chassis or sticky spacebar?

Are you going to put Crysis on it?

Mine doesn't come until Wed, I need to live vicariously for now

 

I'll post pics in a bit.

I didn't perform a clean install - simply uninstalled all the bloatware. All the removeable bloatware is pretty much listed on the bloatware guide I created here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=380681

There are very minor creaking while lifting the laptop by its corners but it holds steady over all. Flex is minimal and much better than other consumer class laptops i've seen.

Keyboard is very pleasant to use and no "sticky" spacebar that i'm aware of. Although the key travel is short, it still has sufficient tactile feedback for a good feel.

I don't think i'll be putting crysis on it, but one thing that I noticed is that there are several trail (60min) flash games included with the UL30Vt-A1. These include: Alice Greenfingers, Chicken Invaders 2, Dream Day Wedding Married in Manhattan, Island Wars 2, Piggly, and Smileyville.

 

U33Jt Bamboo anyone?

13.3" Bamboo + All metal chassis and spec'd like the UL30JT

 

Thanks! sounds like a good first impression.

 

Just to add comments on the battery, on power saving mode w/ integrated graphics and 2 clicks from the dimmest setting, windows is reporting 10 hours at idle with 97% battery life left. As soon as i start browsing the web and utilizing the CPU, this number decreases to about 6 hours.

 

I think it takes a full-discharge before the computer learn the true battery capacity. Some said that the Windows battery prediction is highly inaccurate.

 

is the 5600 battery bigger? or just heavier? than its 4200 counterpart...

 

Yes, that's true that windows' battery meter is unreliable. The numbers I mentioned in my previous post was just to give a rough estimate of battery life.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the 6+ hours i'm seeing is also with charging my iphone at the same time (phone just died and i'm currently at a coffee house)

 

In terms of physical size i would assume it would be the same since my 5600 mAh battery is already flush with the laptop. I'm not so sure about weight though.

 

Another comment regarding the infamous wifi issues in the UL30 series.... I have not had ANY issues with the stock wifi card. Stability and signal strength are solid. I've doubled checked to see if it was the same card as the other UL30 owners whom have problems with their card and it's infact the same Atheros card with a single antenna. In fact, this Atheros card gets a stronger signal compared to an Intel 5300 card with 3 antennas and my desktop wifi card.

 

I kinda thought they would used the same as the X1 (Intel Pro 1000). But its good to hear no problems with it, i have vt-x1 and a-x5 to pickup this week . Btw you planing on doing a full review on it?

 

Yeah, the UL30A series uses the Atheros card which had me worried at first since the A1 also uses the same card. The Intel Pro 1000 is the newest wifi card offered by Intel, however it lacks the 5Ghz n-band (only 2.4Ghz) that the previous generation 5100/5300 has. I don't have any experience with these new Intel wifi cards, but from using many older Intel wifi cards, they are usually better than the competition.

I'm still debating whether or not to do an official review since NBR already has one for the UL30A.

 

Can't wait for some of the A1 pictures to start flowing in.
Went to my university tech store and checked out the plain U30 in black. Looks like from afar, but definitely fingerprint disaster up close.

That said, I think im just gonna purchase the U30vt based on my preference of black or silver. Since Im in canada, the A1 hasnt even shown up the on the amazon page yet. By the time the A1 comes up, I bet the new JTs will be up on the american site...

 

Well i hope you do, i enjoy your reviews a lot, also with how this VT series become some popular and the long awaited A1 i think a lot people would like it, up to you , also no VT real review out, just the owners lounge.

 

Greetings, my very first post here but like the many first time posters I'm a long time reader aswell. I was very close to buy UL30A2 but now I got to know about the UL30VT and confused on which one to go for given the price difference between them being too tiny. Just want to confirm, the only difference between UL30A and UL30Vt is the switchable graphics?

I live in Australia, and the only reputable seller I can find with decent shipping price is Sparco.com. Sparco has no UL30VT in stock at the moment and I don't know if Gentech will sell overseas.

 

why is everyone thinking there's a UL30JC?? It's 2 separate models...the U30JC (thick notebook) and the UL30JT which is the EXACT SAME SIZE as the UL30VT...

Han Bao Quan posted pictures from CES too! Here's the link to them...the matte palm looks great!

 

Time for a *Official UL30VT-A1 Owners Lounge* ?

 

I initially thought that both the UL30Jc and UL30Jt will be larger than the UL30Vt due to the i7 CPU. That was just a speculation on my part and I was wrong

Sounds good to me.

 

Build it and we shall come! Pictures David.. pictures!

 

UL30JT looks to be the same as the 30VT. Nearly identical weight as well. Nothing new, except component upgrades.

It's the U30JC thats interesting.

The U30JC (notice its not a UL) should be part of the U series. The touchpad has a lightup bar, but I haven't heard word nor could tell from the pictures if the 30JC has a backlit keyboard like the rest of the "U" lineup.
This particular U laptop supports dual graphics options, but based on the infocard, its automatic...

If only the UL series popped in the backlit keyboard too, that would be such an awesome feature. True, its more of a gimmick, but imo, a backlit keyboard seems to add a touch of class to the laptop.

 

Actually, it might not be worth it to make a new thread. After all, we're still talking about the same laptop but only with a different color cover, higher capacity battery and a different wifi card. Other than that, the rest of the hardware and software are identical

 

I'm going to look to this a bit more. I have a backlit keyboard on my Dell laptop and an external backlit keyboard for my desktop and have gotten used to it.

 

nice... does this guy have any more pictures/videos of the other models at ces? website?

 

Are we talking about differences in the X1 and the A1? I thought it was only the color, battery capacity, and warranty length, not wifi card. Maybe you're talking about the UL30a? Or maybe I've missed something.

 

Maybe the warranty is different too, I'm not certain. But according to the first post in this thread, the X1 has the Intel Pro 1000 wifi card. In my A1, I have the Atheros AR8132M.