*Official UL30VT-X1 Owners Lounge*

Mine started doing that then it just stopped switching to the nvidia gpu altogether, I tried the new BIOS and power4 gear. I did a fresh install of win7 and recovery via cd and the partion no go. I just sent it back to asus for an RMA yesterday. So hopefully it gets fixed soon as its my wifes school computer, good thing I live about 2hrs from Markham where the asus depo is.

 

Check to make sure your power settings are correct (Control Panel>Power); my machine likes to make changes in the setting it uses without my intervention (ghosts in the machine?). There are a bunch of Windows power settings in addition to the 4 ASUS pre-sets, BTW. There's a selection in the Advanced section which sets when the video switches.

 

So does the Ul30VT-A1 come with INTEL or Atheros wifi card?

 

Mine has the Atheroes. Haven't had any problems with it so far though.

I just got mine today and it is great! I love the brushed silver look and the screen is alot better than I imagined. I think the complaints about the screen and viewing angles (even vertical) are exaggerated. Seems average at the worst. But then again, my last laptop was a HP tx2500 which had a grainy screen with terrible viewing angles. Took it for a spin and watched some Youtube HD videos and it did well. With the GeForce it handled the HD videos perfectly and even on the Intel Graphics it did pretty well. There's alot of bloatware though. Geez. Gonna have to go through and clean it up tomorrow.

 

So far it seems A1 comes with Atheros, the X1 with Intel. My A1 has Atheros, have not had any problems but the metal cover I think might cut reception more than the difference between cards: I've noticed it can be quite location/angle dependent. Like a shift of a few inches and/or a few degrees in orientation can gain or lose a bar or two of signal.

 

Go easy and be sure you know what you're doing, a lot of functionality, softkeys especially, can be disabled by removing the wrong ASUS stuff.

 

quick question. I have an x1 coming today from Amazon. I'm confused about the warranty. I was under the assumption that all Asus notebooks come with 2 years but I've seen some people say that the X1 is one year and the A1 is two years. Can anyone confirm the warranty situation? If it's one year instead of two years I'll probably decline delivery and order the A1. The battery difference isn't worth the 50 dollars and the wait to me but an extra year with a fragile laptop is. Thanks.

 

Thanks for your suggestion, but I've already tried that.

 

It was worth checking but sounds like you do have an actual hardware problem, then.

 

One year is clearly stated on Amazon's product page for the X1. The warranty is one of the differentiating factors: color, battery, and warranty. Also the A1 has a different wifi card than the X1. Some if not all "X" models from Best Buy and Newegg also do not carry the ASUS global 2 year warranty.

Before turning the X1 away, however, understand that the A1 is in very short supply; Amazon is listing a 2 to 4 week wait; it may be available at other resellers like GenTechPC or XoticPC however.

 

Is it okay for me to buy a laptop for my friend, and my friend registers for the ADW warranty under his name?

 

This might help.

EDIT: I'm curious: Has anyone tried Mass Effect 2 on the UL30VT yet? I'm really looking forward to learn how it runs.

 

Not yet. My copy shipped out today so I might be able to post something about it end of week or weekend.

 

KungFusion: Sure. I'm waiting eagerly for your post.

As a side note, is the UL30VT your primary PC or do you have a gaming-capable setup to handle ME2?

 

I would also like to know if this can be ran. I was disappointed when I couldn't get GTA IV to run. Has anyone else been able to get it to run, if so at what settings?

 

Don't be surprised if bad console ports (GTAIV) don't run on this, since they tend to chew on CPU. GTA IV is sluggish even on my 3.0GHz e6850 desktop.

If you are running turbo mode and +5% easy overclock in the bios, this brings you up to 1.815GHz, which meets the minimum reqs for Mass Effect 2, which is probably the main bottleneck you need to worry about. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually runs better than the first game, since the original wasn't optimised very well (in my opinion), while I've heard good things so far about the sequel.

I've recently purchased the ul30vt-a1, I've had it for about a week. Coming from my first laptop (netbook), the n10jc, I've gotta say this thing little machine blows my mind. Especially after putting an 80GB X25-M G2 SSD in!

I've got one problem that I'd really like to resolve though:

After putting the laptop to sleep, on resume the brightness functions no longer appear to work when on the integrated chipset. Switching to the nvidia chipset restores brightness control. Switching back to the intel chipset again loses control. A reboot resolves this issue, but I don't call that a solution (even with 20 second boot times). Additionally, the GraphixBoost button (the button at the top left corner of the laptop), also ceases to function after putting the computer to sleep, though the fn+spacebar hotkey still works.

I've tried downloading the ATK drivers from Asus, uninstalling, reinstalling, nothing seems to work.

If anyone knows how to fix this problem, do tell! In the meantime, I'll be posting my feedback about this little beauty.

 

Interesting. This is slightly off topic, but I played ME1 on both a Pentium 4 3GHz and a Dual Core 1.8 GHz, and it ran great on both. If the engine is better optimized, I wonder why the system requirements for ME2 are much higher; and I really do hope it plays passably on the UL30.

 

Is there any consensus on what the best fitting case for this laptop would be?

I've read through about 80 pages so far but have only seen suggestions (like zero shock). Has anyone received their case and tried their laptops in them?

 

GTA IV is playable on my UL30Vt-A1.
It actually runs better than my desktop (5 yr old AMD FX-55, X1800GT).
Are you sure the problem you're running into isn't a No-cd problem?

I don't want to break any forum rules, especially since No-cd cracks are a 'grey' area. Try Google.

BTW, I play on fairly low settings because I want to make sure it's as smooth as possible. Anything jumpy can make the firefights really tough.

 

Hi,

I actually registered just to be able to ask whether the UL30Vt-X1 is available in Europe? I live in Ireland but could have it shipped to a UK address too.

Would love to get my hands on one of these! Thanks.

 

Yes, it is perfectly fine.

 

I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-Messe...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264697241&sr=8-1

It's ridiculously cheap at $14.25, built well like all Lowepro, light but very roomy; I carry a Lite-On DVD burner with me w/ power supply, iPod, calculator, other bits and pieces. The actual padded part for the laptop is a tad big for the UL30, but not unreasonably so. Can't tell if you were looking for a case or a sleeve, but if a case I don't know how you'd go wrong with this one at the price, or even if it cost 3X as much.

 

Thanks a lot. I am surprised at how cheap it is considering the cost of the camera bags I have from Lowepro! Definitely ordering this

I am also looking for a sleeve for times that i need to pack it in another bag.

 

Yeah, but that rig is two years old with a Radeon 3870 so I don't know how much better it is.

True. ME2 runs the unreal 3 engine build for PC while the RAGE engine for GTAIV is a console port.

BTW, how did you do the +5% easy overclock in bios? I was playing around in bios a little last night and all cpu related setting where greyed out. Also, the core clock speed show 1.3 in bios but when running speccy in W7, the two cores come in around 1.7 as expected w/ turbo.

 

anyone try ME2 on this guy yet? thinking about picking it up.

 

Can anyone who overclocked the GPU post what speeds they got up to? Thanks.

 

so the only place that have the A1 in stock is Gentech and XoticPC? That's crazy! 3 weeks wait after the product has been released?!!? what are the competitors doing? Why can't Asus have a better working supply chain system.

 

Oh, there's a considerable delay even at the places where it's available. Just received the UL30VT-A1 from Gentech today (28th). I ordered on the 15th!

Waiting to go home from work so I can unbox it and set it up. Will throw every game I have at it to see how it performs.

 

i got mine up to about the same as the guy from expertlaptopreviews.

didn't feel like pushing it anymore.

runs dragon age at native res + high settings + 4x AA pretty well.

 

Now I am having creaking/clicking when I apply pressure in the lower right palm rest area. This is in addition to the sometimes hypersensitive trackpad and other times undersenstive trackpad. I type a lot on this laptop and it is really pissing me off. The rocker trackpad buttons suck as well. My A1 will no longer automatically switch to turbo mode or back to battery mode when I plug in/unplug the ac adapter. Since I'm whining, I'm also disappointed that the screen doesn't tilt back past 120 degrees. I am starting to get pretty frustrated with this laptop.

I do appreciate the beauty, light weight and superb battery life. But all the things I mentioned above are really starting to make me dislike this laptop.

 

I got the Marware Sportfolio Deluxe, and it's great. It's a little pricey, though, $60 shipped on amazon after tax. The compartment for the laptop is a perfect fit, and it's got plenty of room for extras in the other pockets. I generally carry the laptop, a 5-subject notebook, mouse, headphones, and a book in there, all comfortably. http://www.amazon.com/Marware-Sport...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264726243&sr=1-2

Got it all set up nice now. I customized the power settings, so the only difference between Power Saving and High Performance is the graphics card, as it was really bugging me that there was no way to switch JUST the graphics card, without upsetting the other settings. Now I just hit the little button in the corner to switch the graphics card, and I can keep my desktop actually looking like it's on a computer built in the last ten years. Yeesh, it was horrible on the stock power saver setting.

Now I'm just working out the kinks in linux. I threw Arch linux on there running Openbox. Gotten most power tweaks out of the way, but still not optimal. It's consuming about 15W average, which I think can be lowered. Oh, and I haven't gotten a way to get the brightness and volume keys working yet, if anyone has any ideas.

I'll see what I can find out about switching off the Nvidia card.

 

"I'll see what I can find out about switching off the Nvidia card."

I am delaying to buy this laptop because the Nvidia card doesn't work in Linux.
Please keep posting regarding your progress. Thanks very much.
Cheers.

 

I got a Casecrown 13" Classic Slim Pocket Case. For $25 I can't believe the great quality. Oh and it fits my 30VT like a glove.


http://www.casecrown.com/notebooks/classic-slim/13-classic-slim-pocket-case-black

 

Turbo mode requires a re-boot. I think you are talking about automatically switching between the dedicated and discreet graphics cards.
For automatic switching make sure you are in "power detection" mode. You'll see an icon that looks like a robot after pressing the graphics switching button.

 

https://launchpad.net/~asus-ul30

 

Thanks for the link!
From other readings that the Nvidia card at the moment can only be turn off in Linux to save battery life, but not being take advantage of.
It would be great if someone can confirm everything works in Linux.
Cheers.

 

Low settings in ME2 probably look better than high settings in ME1, while running smoother with fewer glitches and fps drops. The minimum specs of ME2 requires a 6800gt or better, or ~2500 3Dmark06 points, while the g210m scores ~3400 points, which is hopefully more than enough. Again, the CPU is probably the main bottleneck to worry about.

It lets me select 5% overclock without a problem, though I'm not sure it's actually overclocking the cpu an extra 5%, it might not stack with the 33% turbo boost.

 

Just finished getting rid of bloatware, and installed Mass Effect on the A1.

ME runs *much* better than I expected, quelling my disbelief at the figures posted earlier in this thread: Runs smooth at 1280x720, textures on high, particle effects on medium, point filtering (no AF) and no dynamic shadows.

The only problem is that the physics is all wonky, chairs and bodies stutter as they move. (This is not a framerate issue, the game plays real smooth.)

I suppose I now need to worry about the CPU handling ME2; the GPU looks like it can hold up its end.

 

Hi everyone,

I have had this laptop (A1) for two weeks now and I'm happy with what it has to offer. Haven't really put it through its paces yet as I have just been using this for the superb battery life just for school work. However until recently it's been running great. Has there been a fix for the function keys to stop working after returning from sleep/hibernation? I think I have a problem with the wireless card. When I connect to the guest network at school, its causing the laptop to randomly reboot itself. I've went through different scenarios in what would cause it to restart like that and narrowed it down the the wifi and/or the network at school. When I have the wifi on, but not connected, the laptop is totally fine and it doesn't restart at all. I also have not experienced any restarting episodes when I am at home connected to my home network. I don't know how to fix this problem I'm having. Hopefully I don't have a lemon as it works fine at home. Has anybody else been experiencing problems like this? Any fix that worked for you? Thanks in advance.

I'm also considering doing a clean install of win7 pro. Where did the ~50GB of HDD space go?

 

Does the card-reader manages SDHC cards correctly?

 

I've had the A1 for nearly two weeks now, and I'm loving it. The only problem was that the harddrive made lots of clicking sounds, but I was debating whether I should get an SSD, and that made my mind up for me. After getting an SSD, I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to HDDs.

Anyway, here's my rundown on this laptop.

- Screen is fine. Viewing angles are limited, but I find this not an issue.
- Very impressed with gaming ability. Dragon Age works great with nearly everything maxed out on native resolution. Oblivion is a breeze on this computer.
- Awesome trackpad, really like the surface. Not so fond of the buttons, but I do most of my clicking on the trackpad itself.
- Great keyboard
- Feels quite light, perfect size for me.
- I use it as my main computer, hooked up to an external monitor.
- Feels very fast, especially with an SSD.

Only issues beside bad HDD
- Wifi seems a little weaker than my old 2007 Macbook
- Screen flickers at start-up
- Only been getting 4.5 hours for general use (web surfing, listening to music etc) in high performance mode. Which is still not that bad.

 

I had the same problem with the creaking. Try loosening and tightening the screws underneath the palm rest area; I find it no longer creaks when I'm just resting my palm (still creaks if I purposefully apply pressure by pinching the palm rest but that doesn't bother me).

For the trackpad, make sure you've thoroughly cleaned off all the glue from the sticker; even a very fine residue will cause problems. Also make sure you're not applying too much pressure to the trackpad, I find gentle strokes are more responsive, plus my fingers glide smoother across the surface. Apparently the trackpad is more responsive if you uninstall the ELAN drivers, though I've personally had no problems with the trackpad after cleaning it and a few hours of use lathering it up with finger oil. Additionally, I use tapping rather than the trackpad buttons, especially after reassigning two-finger taps to the right mouse button and three-finger taps to the middle button.

Enabling the nvidia g210m tends to do that... This laptop lasts anywhere between 3-12 hours depending on how you use it.

 

1280X720 fullscreen with most effect turned off, just finish 1st mission, actually there's still some slow down in some realtime cutscene, but 99% of the gameplay is smooth. believe it or not, even turns almost all the effect off, the visual is still better than ME1, which I've used to play with medium details, 1280X720.

if you can live with 800X600, you may even turn on some effect

 

I have a Kingston 4GB SDHC dedicated to ReadyBoost in mine with no problems.

 

Do you even notice any difference with readyboost? it's already got 4 GB of ram, and i doubt the card reader is that fast anyways.

 

I did, actually, notice a little smoother operation, apps seem to be a bit snappier accessing data, etc. I can't document it except to say it feels slightly faster... maybe on the order of 2-5%? (Total WAG). Had the card anyway so no cost, why not?

 

Thanks, sillypilot. Does it look anywhere near as good (or feel as smooth) as this? I'm considering buying it if it's anywhere near that.

 

I think 1280x720 is smooth, but not that smooth, the clip should be run in 60fps..... I didn't measure the actual fps, but I guess I'm getting around 25fps
you may need to play with 800X600 to get that smooth.

 

Had my UL30vT-A1 delivered yesterday. I was pretty damn happy with the thing for the first half-hour of getting things installed and setting it up, until it started crashing. Since then I've had it crash numerous dimes while browsing the web, watching Hulu, and updating windows. I'm getting really angry because I can barely get anything done before it crashes again and restarts. Each time I get a screen telling me it did not shut down properly. Sometimes there is a bluescreen.
I called ASUS and was referred back to the reseller(GenTech). Until business hours I'll be attempting to update the bios and get windows updated.
I want to love this slim little powerhouse, but that's not going to happen if it keeps crashing like this.
Any tips?

So far the main program I have run is firefox with all the typical plugins. I Installed both and Avira security programs.

 

Uninstall avira and see if bsod still happens. It could be avira. Gotta eliminate one thing at a time.