ASUS UL Series vs. Macbook (Pro)?

I am look to buy either Asus UL80 $820 or Macbook (possibly pro) - $1000

Asus is cheaper, has more ram and has a longer battery life but macbook just works and slightly thinner.

What is your opinion and why ?

 

Define "Macbook just works." Are you talking about the OS or the hardware itself?

 

Don't buy a Macbook. End of discussion.

 

the Macbook is a really nice laptop and you wont be sad that you bought it, with OSX SL out it should run even better. I love my asus and I am falling in love with windows again, I love OSX, but windows 7 is not far behind and the more I use it the more I like it.

I would get the G60vx, hehe but thats just me. If your gonna get a macbook, google refurbished macbook from apple, they give you great deals, and you can pick one up for like $800 and its better then new!

 

i'ved owned a white mb, the new 13" mbp, and now an asus ul30a-x5.

1. operation system: both OS's work just fine if you know how to use it. i prefer windows 7 as my primary machine is windows and i can do everything in windows that i do on a mac. plus, windows is highly customizable compared to osx.
2. hardware: in terms of thinness, my ul30a feels just as thin as my previous 13" mbp. however, the asus is lighter (about 1 lb). i prefer the full aluminum chassis of the mac because of how clean and streamlined it is, but the ul30a is very nice to look at too.
3. upgrade-ability: the ul series have panels at the bottom for easy access to the hdd and ram. for the mac, you have to remove the entire bottom panel to access either one. the asus wins in terms of ease of upgrade ability.
4. price: asus is significantly cheaper.
5. performance: compared to my ul30a, the mac had a much faster processor. however, in day to day use (word, web browsing, watching videos (including high-def), they both feel the same. NOTE: the ul30a was catered toward those who wanted something in between a netbook and full-fledged laptop. however, i feel it can easily be a full-fledged laptop for someone who understands its capabilities.
6. keyboard and trackpad: mac wins hands down with the trackpad. NO ONE in the industry can come close to the multi touch trackpad on the new macs. asus comes close, but apple has made it so easy to use the trackpad. in terms of keyboard, i felt that the mac keyboard is more comfortable to type on, but the asus is well made too. i sure wish my ul30a had a back-lit keyboard though.

 

You have to compare that one will be running exclusively Windows 7, the other OSX Leopard. Two different OS's.

Once you decide which OS you want, and don't go about saying how a MB can run Windows, yes it can but it'll have its compromises, so decide based on that. Up to you.

 

if you game, PC for sure. LOL mac had nothing in the game department. I love on mac when you install stuff on a mac, if you don't want it any more just throw the icon away and it throws everything away!

wish windows was that easy but 7 is working on it! lol

 

I just purchased a UL80VT-A1, so I'm might be a little biased, but I also had to make the same decision you are going through right now, and I decided to go with the UL80VT-A1. I bought it from xoticpc.com which has a 15-day 100% refund policy, which I couldn't find anywhere else.

I'd recommend checking out this review: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3665&p=1

The UL80VT-A1 is definitely the winner in my book. With it's 12.8 hour battery life on idle... and 8.85 hour battery life under load... that's simply fantastic. The Macbook is not going to come anywhere close to that. On idle, the Macbook is going to get closer to 7-8 hrs, and under load it will probably get closer to 4-5 hours. It also got a 3DMark06 score of 3460. The Macbook is going to get about 2/3's that score... so that makes the UL80VT-A1 WAY BETTER for playing games and dealing with multimedia. The UL80VT-A1 also has a great touch pad. The overall performance is also going to be similar, and you probably wouldn't even be able to notice a difference between the two, except for your wallet that is... the UL80VT-A1 is going to cost you WAY less, especially if you buy from a PC dealer out of state through the internet, because there will be no tax, which is going to be at least another $60-80 difference. That makes the UL80VT-A1 priced at $819 exactly, and the Macbook priced closer to $1100 if you buy it from a local retailer.

 

Mobility is one area the ULs win out over macs in a BIG way.

The newer macbooks (whites and aluminium) have a 'built in battery' and therefore, the mac does not give you the option of buying a spare battery. Once you're out of power, if you don't have a plug near by, you don't use your computer. Period.

The ULs have superior mobility: At ~10 hours of moderate usage, you won't even need to *think* about battery life when you pack your laptop in the morning. It will have enough power to carry you through a *very* full day, and well into the evening. If you need more juice, you have the option of buying a spare battery, which is a big plus for travel (trans-continental flights, road-trips, backpacking, camping, hikes, bike tours, etc).

I have a crappy netbook, but the one thing I love about it is the sense of freedom I have, knowing that I don't need to 'watch the clock' with battery life. This is due in part to two large oversized batteries, but the sense of freedom dramatically increases the overall user experience.

I also have an Inspiron that gets around 2.5 hours on a charge, which is dreadful. I constantly feel rushed when using it away from a socket, and am checking to see how much time I have remaining. This decreases the overall user experience dramatically.

}:^)~

 

@Quadron,

Great point about the performance. With the UL80Vt/UL50Vt, you're getting a higher performing machine for graphics, and battery life for less cost.

Plus the brushed black aluminum back looks very nice!

}:^)~

 

At the moment I have MacBook Pro 13. Once UL80vt arrive I will compare it and one of them will go to my family member who does not care much about details of the specs. As for myself, if asus will turn out to be as mobile as macbook, I will stick with it and will settle for windows 7. Too bad Linux does not support switchable graphics.

 

One thing that I worry about is 0.3 megapixel webcam. I might be switching from macbook pro to asus ul80vt. Is the webcam really bad for those who have it ?

 

Honestly I think if you have the money you should go for the mbp. I probably won't be, because I am pretty into gaming and I am a big PC geek and mac noob.. but I know so many people who love their macs to death. I must emphasize death though. You must get the applecare or whatever it's called. It's expensive but they will take care of you. Macs work well until they stop working. Not like a lot of PCs that precipitously die.

 

I'm actually looking forward to your comparisons between the two laptops. I have a 13" MBP right now and while it's a nice laptop, I'm actually finding myself liking Windows 7 more than Snow Leopard. Yes, I have a dual boot system now but I'd be willing to make the jump back to Windows for simplicity sake.

 

I am dealing with a dilema righ now. Stay with my order for UL80vt or wait for UL30vt to come out at the end of the year.

What I like about UL over macbook pro:

1) Longer battery life
2) More hard drive space
3) Double the memory

What I do not like about UL comparing to macbook pro:

1) No bluetooth
2) Webcam sucks big time - 0.3 megapixel is a joke in 2009
3) Larger in size comapring to macbook pro.

I think I ca live with either OSX and Windows 7.

What do you think ?

 

the UL30vt is going to have bluetooth.

 

Not confirmed 100%. The ASUS rep might hint it but until the units come assembled from Taiwan and hit the ASUS HQ in California, it's all assumptions.

 

This platform is very interesting with the combo of ligth weight and good graphics. But maybe good "graphics" is not quite correct when they insist on crippling a 14" and 15" laptop with 768 vertical lines in the LCD screen.

I have a 13" Dell XPS M1330 and even that is cramped with just 1280 x 800 at 13". I think Asus needs to do better on that front. Whats the point of such a large screen with netboood resolution?

 

Is there anywhere out there that details all of the models in the UL series and how they differ from each other? I'm looking to purchase a new laptop within the next few months and it'll likely be something in the UL series or a newly refreshed MBP.

Thanks,
Amerzel

 

Another benefit: The UL30 is *much* lighter.

Unfortunately, the UL80 and UL50 are not

}:^)~

 

For the ULxxVt's:
Read this review to get a good idea of what to expect from the UL30Vt (rumored) and UL50Vt.
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3665&p=2

Things to note:
- The UL80Vt is a tad thicker than the UL50Vt, and possibly the UL30Vt
- The 'V' stands for video card, and the 't' stands for turbo33 (factory overclock)
- The UL30Vt should be much lighter if it omits the DVD drive.


For the ULxxA's:
This review should do:
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-ul30a.aspx

}:^)~

 

That makes sense, I had wondered what the letters had stood for.

Thank you very much.

 

I decided to wait until UL30vt comes out.

 

yeah, for me, I decided that I might as well go ahead and get the UL80VT-A1 since I will appreciate the disc drive for watching dvd's on the go, and since it is only .1" thicker... I don't see how I would notice much of a difference, except maybe in weight since the UL30 weighs less than 4 lbs, and the UL80 weighs in at 4.8 lbs.

 

The UL series has a great range of options. I really appreciate that in a line of machines.

Personally, I'm going to go the UL30Vt with an external drive for ripping DVDs or backed up content. I'd appreciate the 1lb weight savings, and smallness of the machine. But the UL80Vt is a close second. Honestly, they're both really good machines.

}:^)~

 

I don't think most people realize this, but I purchased a Macbook Pro less than two years ago, and as far as I know/can tell, they haven't changed anything... the Macbook Pro had a 0.3 megapixel web cam (because I could only take pictures at 640x480 resolution, which is 0.3 MP); apple just doesn't tell you what resolution their web cams are... lol

Apple's 0.3 web cam was just a clear and useful one, and their computers have a video card that can render it's video smoothly. In reality, 0.3 is plenty of resolution (standard DVD resolution). Skype transmits at 320x240, which is less than half the resolution of .3 MP. I don't understand why people complain about 0.3 MP web cams when they almost never use it at higher resolution anyway...

 

Is this so ? I was not aware of this. So the new mac book pro that I have right now has 0.3 camera and not 1.3 ?

 

Probably. Try taking a still image picture and check what resolution it saves the image at. If it is 640x480, which as far as I know, it still is... then yes, the Macbook Pro is also 0.3 MP.

 

Just tested it on mine. It's a 0.3 camera on the 13" MBP.

 

This makes me laugh... Apple and their tricky, non-technical advertising...

 

About the battery:

MacBook Pro 13: In OS X with the backlight set to about 70%, wireless active, and the hard drive set to never turn off we found the 13" MacBook Pro to last 7 hours and 59 minutes.

Source: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5105&p=2

Asus UL30A: A more realistic battery life was measured by our test with WLAN surfing. After 7.25 hours the battery was empty. During this test we visited YouTube, downloaded files, and visited several news websites. The display we set to the fourth highest setting, achieving just above 100 cd/m².

Source: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-UL30A-QX050V-Notebook.22057.0.html

So, the battery is not that different. Again, I am thinking that I will get MacBook Pro 13 instead of UL30vt

Hmm....

 

That may just be a wise choice as long as you are okay with OS X and understand that there are no dedicated home/end/page up/page down keys, and there is no dedicated delete key, which translates to **PAIN IN THE BUTT** if you are used to using those keys all the time, and you are also okay spending some extra mulah on the MBP 13".

EDIT: Also, keep in mind, that the battery tests were done by different people. You should use the compare the same battery life tests from the same people on the two machines. I believe the UL30A got 9 hours + under the notebookreview.com test, which would still be more than the MBP.

 

Okay... So you're picking a Macbook for the soul reason it has a better graphics chip?

The battery on the UL30 is far superior to that of the Macbook, so they ARE that different. Sorry, but testing a Macbook on idle with 70% screen, is nowhere NEAR using the UL30 at load with 100% screen. (I would say a different of about 20-30% when tested under the same criteria). Not to mention the Macbook's weight difference over the UL30...

 

You are completely right. The MBP 13" dominates the UL80VT in everything.

Except that the UL80VT can last 12 hours in decent settings
Except that the UL80VT has a better graphics card.
Except that the UL80VT has a removable battery if you want a second one
Except that the UL80VT costs 300$ less than the MBP 13"
Except that the UL80VT has a 1 year accidental damage warranty
Except that the UL80VT has a higher screen resolution
Except that the UL80VT has a bigger harddrive
Except that the UL80VT has twice as much ram

And my personal favorite, Except that the UL80VT has a right mouse button.

Seriously though- in my opinion the only place the MBP wins against the ul80vt is the appeal from a unibody allum frame and having a better processor ( but only by .5ghz )
I would say backlit keyboard, But I installed one myself in the UL80vt

 

Have you had a chance to compate UL80vt to MacBook pro ? Is Ul80 much bigger than mac ?

My initial idea was to get Ul80vt and give my MacBook pro 13 to my family member as the laptop I am buying is for that person. Then Ul30vt was rumored and I thought of waiting. But now we have no idea when it will come out. December is too long. So now I am thinking of maybe just getting a mac.

 

If you're unwilling to wait simply a month, then you have issues. Buying a Mac will confirm that you chose the weaker of the two choices. ASUS' new UL series is far superior, for a way lower price. I don't know why you would even think about going for a Mac...

Hell, screw the UL30, the UL80 is only less than an inch bigger in screen size, yet still way better performance, thinner, lighter, faster than a Mac.

 

tbh, the UL80 is a way better choice than the 30.

The 30vt is going to have the weaker battery and no dvd drive.

Is it really worth it to give that up for .8 inches diagonally?

 

if the UL80 had bluetooth I would jump on that in a heart beat.

 

For me... yeah, it's worth it. I have a laptop with a DVD Drive and I rarely use it, it only adds more weight to the thing. Battery, you can always buy another spare one. For school, the UL30Vt is perfect for my needs.

 

Even better, as the UL30VT is cheaper than the 80VT, and about the same price as the 30AG (since the AG released with win Vista). I would suggest MSRP would be 799 rather than 849, because of the lack of optical drive and the smaller screen. Battery life and performance should be similar, however.

regardless, UL series > Mac 13" in every aspect.

 

I would think that it would be the same price since smaller things generally cost more + the UL30VT has bluetooth and the UL80VT does not. But we don't know for sure, so there's no point in arguing about it.

 

Well until it's confirmed, I would assume it wouldn't since it uses the same Intel chipset.

Regardless, 50 bux ain't worth bluetooth, but an Optical drive is. (I can get one of those super-slim bluetooth adapters easily for 10 bucks.)

 

I was under the impression that none of the ULs had Bluetooth. Is that not true?

 

On Amazon ASUS mentioned that UL30vt will have it.

 

That would be good... but I could have sworn I read otherwise.

Shame about the lack of backlit keyboard. That would be attractive.

 

I need a laptop soon and cannot wait until sometime in December. November maybe, but not December. notebookrevie.com posted a review of UL80vt and it is not that good.

I am again leaning towards a macbook pro.

 

Check out http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428368&page=16 for the discussion on the review.

As for the review itself... Do you really understand any of the hardware specs? I'm still wondering why you think the Macbook Pro is a better unit, and not just get a screen less than an inch smaller... ASUS is lighter, smaller (thinner), and even with the 14" screen the physical width is nearly the same (with the bezel, on the UL80VT)... I just don't get it.

Fun fact: Most Macbook users think the same thing before buying a Mac when comparing it to a cheaper, similarly specced PC! (I work in the retail industry...)

 

I can personally say that the 13" mbp will NOT last longer than 7 hours even under low usage. Even when I had brightness all the way down, bluetooth off, I only got 6-7 hours on wifi.

Biggest misconception of the macs. They do have a right click option all you have to do is touch the trackpad with two fingers.

 

A week ago I was ready to order UL80vt. What got me confused is the whole discussion on Amazon.com about UL30vt.

I have spent 5 days already in a confused stare trying to make a choice between MBP 13, UL80vt and possible UL30vt.