*Official UL30VT-X1 Owners Lounge*

Anyone using a bluetooth mouse? Connecting my phone was a bit of a hassle, so I'm wondering if mice work any easier.

 

Yes, a Logitech V270 Bluetooth; had no issues pairing and none using it so far.

 

The actual pairing process was a breeze. Just add the device through windows bluetooth thingy and then it'll connect whenever you turn the mouse on. However my mouse seems to be not workin correctly. It is slow and jumpy. I didn't solve this issue yet and I can't tell where the problem is.

 

Sagi, what mouse are you using? I've never had luck with any of the Targus BT models, and the Logitech V470 BT has been problematic for me on some machines, while on others it works fine. Did you install the driver specific to your mouse? Sometimes that helps.

 

So if i order the ul30vt-a1 tommorow from amazon will i regret it? im worried about all these new ulv i5 and i7 laptops. and i dont wanna wait for the m11x or ul30jt

 

I am using Dell 5 Button Travel mouse. It didnt come with drivers, just setting utility, and I cant find any drivers. I tried to install all kinds of different utilities and didnt succes. But even when the mouse works okay, it is kinda unprecise and weird. I think I just got a lemon mouse. I will check it on different laptop..

 

Mr. tallan, the Logitech V470 mouse is a studly thing for my uses! I have 3 of them in use: one for my wife's MBPro; one for my Sony VAIO, and one for the new Asus UL30Vt-X1, and they just work a treat, no issues, not one, EVAR!

What caused you to say it's a problem with certain computers? Are you using Logitech's Mouse Drivers in Setpoint? That's the key to me, always using Setpoint alongside Windows drivers...the Logitech drivers in my uses anyway have always worked in tandem with the Windows BT drivers, and they do NOT conflict at all! :wink:

I am curious how you are using the Setpoint, if at all, and if it's with your Asus laptops that you have had the issues...

 

What a silly thing to post here! "Regret it"? How would that be? Like "buyer's remorse" in a couple days?

No way Jose, not on my watch anyway...these notebooks (if you get a good one like I did, and tallan did for two examples) *grow on you* a bunch, and their abilities are so fantastic that you soon realize that you got a Hell of a laptop with all kinds of potential, potential that nobody else's $800 laptop has, for certain! I have to look at a MacBook Pro 13.3" before I find a better 13" laptop, and even then it's subjectively CPU-bound and OS-enhanced "betterness" that the Mac has, but it's certainly not better in terms of hardware!

My wife has a new MBPro 13.3" 2.53Ghz and it's a stud, for sure, but that thing costs $1600! I like the Asus lineup for their basic design and template use of power accessories, and putting them all together in a superior package with features that nobody's laptops have--just Asus has it all together in my view. :yes:

So no, you wouldn't regret it one bit, especially @ today's price of $749!

 

Turbo Mode REQUIRES a Reboot, plain, Jane Simpleton! You cannot engage Turbo without a reboot, and same with disengaging it: have to Reboot again! :yes:

That's the way it works, honest Injun Tonto!

 

Logitech V470 BT Mouse here, no issues, works perfect, and there is no 2nd guessing my experiences with 3 of them in 3 different computers!

Gotta love Logitech here!...

 

Yea baby just got mine today.
Rexrzer, i thought by going to the Power4gear, you can change turbo and without turbo? I tried switching from high performance to battery saving and it actually downclocks from 1.7 to 1.0ghz. Just wondering it works right?

Anyways i just got it today so i am now backing ai recovery system.
Actually we do not need to back it up since we can actually use the one in the partitioned right? Or am i wrong.:X

I am going to reformat windows 7 home prem later on because i think theres quite a number of softwares i dont need.
Are there any driver format list to follow when installing the drivers?
Thanks!

 

I've been having the same problem with my ul80vt. When I'm on battery the contrast settings seem to vary exactly like you said, with certain text becoming less readable. It's nothing incredibly difficult to deal with, but can certainly be mildly annoying. I wonder if there is any fix to this.

 

I have two of them, and yes I use the Setpoint drivers. Both have given me problems maintaining a good connection to some machines but not others; changed batteries, re-paired, all that, and it just seems to be a case by case issue. They don't lose connection entirely, but can develop a bad case of the "laggies" and when that's happened I've just moved them to a different laptop. All the other Logitech BT I've had over the years have worked just fine, so maybe these are from a bad batch or something. But, as I say, paired with the right laptop they work fine.

 

Bluetooth should be bug-free and totally stable by now but it's not, one reason I guess it seems to be dying out as a mouse interface: there are 10 USB "dongle" models at least to every BT offering these days when a few years back it was closer to 50/50. In any case without having the right drivers you might be paying a performance penalty; I'm surprised they aren't available somewhere on the Dell site. Dell may have rebranded a Logitech or MS model, so you might check that out: Logitech has a great site with pictures of all their models, don't know about MS. I'm sure you've tried re-pairing with fresh batteries and without the driver set that's about all I can think of to do after, like David said, re-loading the latest BT driver from the ASUS web site.

 

One BT mouse I can honestly recommend is the HP Intesity mouse offered for $18 on Ebay. It has three great features that I like:

1) Buttons that take very little pressure to activate - this is a blessing for the lots of people suffering tunnel carpal for stiff mouse buttons.

2) Uses AA batteries. AAA batteries have short life and cost almost the same as AA.

3) Works great on all surfaces - including black which seem to give problems to cheaper Logitech mice.

 

I did not know that; maybe my problems with the Logitech V470s has been mousepad color, NOT which laptop I was using! I'll check it out, and thanks!

 

Sounds interesting, however I don't trust bluetooth anymore and I don't trust cheap mice either. I ordered Logitech V450 nano in matte color. Looks quite nice. It has only 3 buttons but I never used those two additional buttons anyways. It's laser and it's pretty expensive so it better work like charm!

Also, I would like to state that I tested my laptop and I compared my temperatures to other people computers and mine runs actually about one degree colder. Never higher. It is only my own feeling, what can feel as warm to you I would call hot.. Palmrest gets warm a lot of times but it is never uncomfortable. I played games for hours and processor was about 55 degrees hot. Only spot that gets hot is on bottom where the vent is.

Other issues either went away or don't bother me. The harddrive is silent most of the times. I don't have any flex. Only thing is that I can MAKE the palmrest click but it never happens when I am just using the laptop. Maybe I will disassemble the laptop one day and figure out how to fix this clicking noise. But it is MINOR issue.

What seemed to be as a lemon turned out 95% great and I already started to love this tiny machine. Maybe I imagined really ICE cool palmrest which is really not but it doesn't bother me that much since it warms up my for ever icy hands.

The performance is just amazing. It can run Win7 like nothing, with multitasking and everyhing. I played trackmania and company of heroes both on highest settings and it gave me reasonable fps.

The display is not that bad. Actually I find it really good. Very bright, the angles are bit smaller than I would like but it still works really good. The wifi adapter from Atheros works pretty good. Although it sometimes drops packets little bit more than Intel Wifi's. Reception is avarage and works for me.

So I am excited about getting and SSD, throwing the stupid harddrive 10 feet away and then getting 8GB RAM. But that'll come later.

Only thing that could be better would be the matterial of palmrest or it could be at least better assembled and sealed.

 

I think you'll be really happy with the V450; I use one with my U80V and have nothing but praise for it. The nano USB dongle can "live" in the mouse itself in a little holder under the battery cover in case you do have to take it out to get the lappie in its case, but it's truly tiny and you probably won't need to bother. I'm glad it all worked out for you; it IS a surprisingly peppy and capable computer.

 

zhehao wrote: "Rexrzer, i thought by going to the Power4gear, you can change turbo and without turbo? I tried switching from high performance to battery saving and it actually downclocks from 1.7 to 1.0ghz. Just wondering it works right?"

Hi zhehao...good deal, you are experimenting with the new machine...how do you like it so far? Good one, right? I hope all is going well with it and you... :wink:

About P4G Hybrid Control Panel: When you select Turbo the button will turn "Red" after a reboot, that is how you know it's active. Turbo will be "On" until you change to Battery Saver Mode, or Entertainment Mode, but in High Performance Mode you will be @ 1733Mhz on Turbo until you disable it. To disable Turbo you have to reboot again, after clicking on the "Red" button that says Turbo "On"--that is how you disable it and get back to 1.3Ghz on High Performance.

When you go from High Performance to Battery Saving Mode the clocks will ichange to 1Ghz or so...it can vary down to 800Mhz if you do certain things with the Energy Saver controls in Windows, but at least down to 1Ghz, that is correct, it's operating right if it does that. :yes:

If you do any video or music encoding, with the Turbo "On", it will enable you to work with most programs that do those things, including iTunes , WMP etc, plus the specialty programs of course like Handbrake, and all the other codec tweakers. It's a surprisingly capable computer with Turbo "On", so use it a lot if you do those types of things... :smile:

Good luck, and hope you really love your X1!

 

I answered the questions above....

 

Battery saving mode reduces the contrast ratio and bit-depth of the video output to 16 bits of colour. This can be changed in the intel graphics options, not hybrid4gear. There is no noticable difference in battery life between quiet office and battery saving mode, as far as I know.

 

For the Bleached Intel Graphics, here is a fix:

What you need to do is (while Intel drivers are active) right-click on the desktop and select change resolution. Then click on advanced settings. Select the Intel Graphics tab on the window that pops up and then click the Graphics Properties Button.

After you have gotten into the Intel Graphics window, click on the Color Correction settings option on the left. Then set the Gamma to 1 (left most value).

Hope that helps
Chuckles

 

Hey everyone.

I am looking to buy a laptop for a max of around $900. I have been searching religiously for something to use for school (information security major). I don't really need something for gaming since I have a desktop rig to use. I wanted to multiboot Win7 and Ubuntu on it, as well as using Backtrack 4 for classes. Other than that I would only be using it to stream media online for video purposes.

Mainly, I want a laptop that can be quite portable (strong battery life) and durable.

I have been looking at the UL30VT-A1 as a favorite now for around a week. I was trying to wait around to see any details on the UL30JT but it looks like it's not coming for some time (1-3 months) and the price could be $1k+

My concern is the Core 2 Duo. I have been trying to find something with a smaller screen like this one with a decent battery life, and possibly a i3,5,7 in it... But I am having no luck for anything at a max of $900-$1000

Is the UL30VT something that will still be okay or is there any other comp at a par price with a better processor/chipset? I'm not sure of the comparison of this processor to the i3,5,7 after reading many of the reviews.

In other words, I don't want to waste the money on this one if there's something else at the same price that will do more. I've been all over these boards and can't find much to compete with as I really need a machine within the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for any help

 

Same price range? There are many 13" ULV laptops now - although none (?) with switchable graphics which is the big selling point of the UL30vt.

All the ULV CPUs (including the i3/i5/i7 variants) will be slower than Core 2 Dou or "real" i3/i5/i7 (stupid Intel branding). So if you want power + battery life + features then you have to pay for it... i.e HP (business) + Lenovo + Sony offer powerful machines with long battery lives.

 

Linux on the UL30VT can be slightly problematic because at the moment there is no way to control the switchable graphics under Linux. Basically both graphics are enabled under Linux which kills battery life and there's no way to use the Nvidia discrete graphics under Linux, but other than that Ubuntu and Backtrack run just fine. Someone has figured out a way to disable the Nvidia discrete graphics by writing and compiling a custom Linux kernel module so that only the Intel integrated graphics is active, and I think that's the best that can be done with it. Oh, and I've also read that Red Hat-based Linux distros (Fedora, Mandriva) have problems with the notebook, but Debian-based distros seem to be fine other than the problem mentioned above.

Fortunately, you don't need to multi-boot. I use Virtualbox under Win7 so that I can run any Linux distros without having to do the multi-boot dance. The overclocked SU7300 ULV processor can handle PC virtualization just fine, and with the standard 4GB of RAM I can even run several virtual machines at the same time smoothly. With Virtualbox, I can run Linux (several of them at the same time) and still get the benefit of Win7 environment. Multi-boot is just so outdated .

If you want a faster processor in the form of Core i3, here's a Toshiba one: http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satel...8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&qid=1268487158&sr=1-67

The Core i3 330M kicks the overclocked SU7300's butt, but of course for gaming UL30VT kicks all the other 13-inch notebooks out there in the butt. The Toshiba's LCD is still 1200x800(16:10) whereas the UL30VT's is 1360x768(16:9). The battery life on the Toshiba totally sucks though, only a third of the UL30VT's. Overall, I think the UL30VT still wins. The overclocked SU7300 is fast enough, plus you get all the other useful features which other current notebooks can only dream about at that price range.

 

Thanks man for replying!
Love my ul30vt man.

Somehow it only have 1.7ghz and 1.0ghz when i look at the cpu-z for all the p4g settings with turbo on. Dont see 1.3ghz actually.:X

I did a reformat and reinstalled the important drivers and some impt utilities.
Works like a charm.

 

Note that the UL30A series includes models that only have the integrated Intel graphics and cost less than the UL30VT... if you really are not a gamer one of them may be perfect for you. Also Dell has announced the Vostro 3300 series with the newer i-Core CPUs with a 13 inch model in this price range, but I have no idea when they will actually begin shipping or what kind of build quality they will offer. Thin & light 13" laptops seem to be "hot" right now, and as long as you don't need or want the discrete graphics there's a growing list of machines out there you can choose from, but I'm not sure if any match the battery life of the UL30 series.

 

I would strongly recommend to buy VT version. I can see the huge difference of Nvidia and internal graphics when I switch them.. Even the desktop looks so much better. VT FTW!

 

Ok so I guess I have no choice then.

In which screen can I find this "switch"?

EDIT: Nevermind - found the app.

 

Thanks for the reply. We use virtual environments at school and wanted to do that with this box but wasn't sure it was that capable of it. Guess I will be using that instead of the multiboot

As far as the switchable graphics in Linux, it can only get better right? It's a new technology and they are constantly working on the solution so I figure it will be operational at some point. I just wanted the Linux distro's to play around with and not depend on them. I think this machine will work out perfect for me.

Thanks again for all your input.

 

So I got my UL30vt-a1 back from asus after the the first one had a cracking noisy palm rest. The second one has much better build quaility, but it seems much slower and the heat coming from the side vent is hot. The first a1 I had was always cool. The worst thing is that the new one takes over 20 seconds from the time I open the lid to the time I can type my password, and this is from hibernation. It also take 12 seconds to open the control deck link on the desk top. Should I send this one back as well, these times are slower than a netbook..

 

Oh and the led screen is much better on the slow A-1, and the slow one has 3 bars on wifi and the bad build one always had 4, and my ul50vt always has 5 bars

 

I'm afraid the switchable graphics feature in the VT models is already outdated technology thanks to Nvidia Optimus technology, so I don't think the Linux developers will bother supporting it. They may officially integrate the kernel module which disables the Nvidia discrete graphics to save battery though. In any case, the Intel integrated graphics is more than adequate for Linux including full Compiz support, and for virtualization the overclocked SU7300 CPU (which supports hardware virtualization) and 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory are more than up to the task.

It's possible the heatsink isn't properly secured, causing heat buildup inside the notebook. If so, the Intel CPU automatically slows down to prevent damage when it gets too hot. Use CPU-Z and HWMonitor to see the speed and temperature of your notebook components. Both can be downloaded from http://www.cpuid.com. At maximum speed with Turbo33 on, the CPU should be at 1733MHz. Use the Asus Power4Gear Hybrid utility to set the power mode and turbo mode of your notebook.

Better check what kind of wireless card is installed in your notebook through Device Manager. The Atheros wireless card is known to have lower sensitivity than the Intel wireless card. Maybe your current notebook uses Atheros whereas the previous one used Intel.

 

Well.. I dont like that every one of these series are different. Mine has cracking palmrest AND runs kinda hot .. But it's blazing fast..

 

chrisnsx wrote: The first a1 I had was always cool. The worst thing is that the new one takes over 20 seconds from the time I open the lid to the time I can type my password, and this is from hibernation. It also take 12 seconds to open the control deck link on the desk top. Should I send this one back as well, these times are slower than a netbook.."

Doesn't sound like a hardware issue, but factory installed software that is slowing things down, if that... 20 seconds is really pretty snappy, considering the switchable graphics, and multiple control panels and things that are interacting with Fast Boot on a full boot, and the Hibernation engine on the recovery boot.

I don't think your notebook is a lemon at all, just perhaps needs a clean install of the software, and reinstall of the key driver packages. I know that my particular UL30Vt-X1 just changed complexion totally when I did a HD swap, and clean installed the Win 7 HP 64-bit and the drivers myself. I mean there is no comparison to the factory install...they must install ALL of the drivers at once and never restart or use a Registry Cleaner (Like Glary, or Reg Mechanic) when they install the factory software...because it's never optimum, never!

Try cleaning up the software install and then pronounce it a bad notebook, as it is I don't think you can do that...

 

I have no idea how to do a clean install. I did remove the game software, but everything else is still stock. Is there a link to what I can remove and still keep the asus hot keys and other asus stuff..

 

I suppose it's conceivable that a start-up process has been corrupted and is in some sort of endless loop chewing up resources, slowing the machine down, and making it run hot but the likelihood is next to nil in my opinion. Far more likely is an actual hardware issue, like poorly applied or missing thermal paste on the CPU or what Itaru mentioned above. Certainly a Restore is easy enough to do: press and hold F9 on boot and a fresh factory disk image will be reloaded onto your hard drive (back up first, you'll lose all your data) but it sounds more likely to me that there is an actual problem with your laptop's hardware and it needs to go back, again, to ASUS.

 

So I am thinking of replacing my 1201N with one of these (the Atom 330 just doesn't quite cut it). I see that an OCed UL30Vt scored about 4000 in 3Dmark06 whereas I can just break the 2000 barrier (tho that is with OCing the Atom to 2GHZ which causes strange behavior in games, slow mo effect, weird FPS reporting). So obviously my performance would increase, but is it worth an additional $400? (I figure I can sell my 1201N for about $400). It is just the gaming performance that I find lacking, I get about around 15 FPS on the COD:MW (native res, high texture, everything else low), Grid is just about playable (1024x768, everything low), GP4 I get about 28 FPS. Anyone think I will get a significant increase with the UL30Vt? Or would I be better off waiting for the refresh with the i7 and does anyone know the new version will have optimus?

 

I had an ASUS N10J, with dedicated graphics, and this UL30 just spanks it; no comparison. FPS in WoW were 12-15 compared to 25 to 30. Plus you get a totally useable keyboard and screen rather than putting up with a Mini Me version. Is that worth $400? Only you can say.

 

I dont think the 1201N is a mini me version since it is in a 12" chassis rather than a 10" The screen is the same res as the UL30VT. I got similar performance in WoW that you stated with the N10J. I think I will wait for the UL30JT, unless there is a significant price drop to the VT or the JT is over $1000. Thanks for the input tho.

 

If you don't mind the wait the JT should be a sweet machine; enjoy!

 

I just got my ul30vt, but since its asian version I got
- 5600 mAH battery
- 350GB HD
- 2GB RAM
- DOS (so i have to manually install express gate on windows 7, long story)
- Atheros Network Card ? (in device manager there's atheros and intel wireless)

Quick review:
Heat after windows 7 installation: Slightly warm
Battery live at 60% about 6:30 hrs on max battery mode
No creaking sound anywhere
Screen is adequate
Touch pad, nice but 2 fingers scrolling need some adjustment on my part
Express Gate, seems ok but the problem is cannot connect to my ad-hoc wifi notebook with mobile internet connection, ad-hoc wifi working perfectly in windows 7, is this the fact? I mean splashtop express gate cannot connect to ad-hoc wifi? The connection appears but after verification seems denied or something, anybody can confirm ?

I give this ul30vt, 8/10

 

I recently tried to installed hacked drivers to get 195.62 for my nvidia card. However, I ran into trouble. I got a blue screen during the installation so I had to uninstall it and I ended up reinstalling the original driver. It seemed to be okay at first, but then I noticed that I was stuck in the nvídia mode. However I tried, I couldn't make it use the integrated intel graphics. I uninstalled and reinstalled the original drivers. I also reinstalled the ATK package and P4G, but I am still stuck and not able to switch graphics.

Does anyone know a quick fix, or do I have to reinstall windows?

 

I've seen this happen on both the original and "hacked" drivers immediately after I suspend the notebook.

Rebooting does not fix the problem - but putting the computer to "hibernate" and resuming it always magically reenables the graphics switch.

Weird but at least this is my current work-around.

 

Anybody who has trouble with gestures on the touchpad.. (And, yes.. elan drivers are totally dumb and cant recognize the movements right).. Please try install Synaptic drivers along with a little free utiliyy called TouchFreeze.

The recognition of gestures will improve EXTREMELY.. You can scroll with two fingers wherevere you put them.. Even almost verticaly or diagonally. Also three finger tap is recognized flawlessly in whichever shape you put the three fingers down.

The touchpad is amazing, but the ElanTech drivers blow! Try the synaptics and you will see an improvement!

The touchfreeze locks the TouchPad whenever you're typing. It works 99 percent of the time and it works so much better than palmtracking. I promise!

 

Tried it, but it doesn't seem to work for me. I still can't switch. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling P4G another time, but it doesn't fix the problem either. I'm at a loss here, I really can't think of what else to do.

 

I have no real knowledge on this but I bet it's a Registry issue: somewhere there's now a 0 where there should be a 1 or vice versa. Anyway before doing a re-install of Windows you could try finding a Registry restore point from before you made the video driver changes and restore that, see if it helps.

 

I tried it and it worked! I can now switch back and forth again. Although the system seems a bit weird. The command center says I should download the 195.62 driver for my graphics card (even though we all know it doesn't work ) and it also says I don't have an anti-virus installed even though Avast is running. Hopefully I can get everything back to normal soon. Thanks for the help.

 

The trouble with using the Registry Restore function is that the computer now thinks it's back in the state it was at the time the restore was created, and you can get some "anomalous behaviors." Not much you can do except attack them one by one, hopefully you'll be able to squash any bugs and it's a net win for you; glad it worked!

 

I was wondering if this laptop is powerful enough to handle programming in C (through VirtualBox) and Java (IDE Eclipse). Will it be super slow? Or be able to run/compile at a decent speed. If it can I'm all over buying this laptop!