Asus P31F 13.3" business model?

Does anyone know anything about the Asus P31F laptop? I can't find it anywhere on the Asus website, but stores in The Netherlands are selling it (already since october) Can't really find much information on the internet either.

On the pictures I've seen so far it looks to be a nice, not too thick, 1.8kg business model with a matte screen. Another interesting thing is that it's got an 8-cell battery.. however even real life photo's can't be found.. so it's not known whether the battery sticks out or not (which I'd really want to know if I buy a laptop).

There are two models available (click for specs and current prices in Holland):
P31F-RO043X
P31F-RO070X

I can't find any difference in the specs, apart from the fact that the -43X one was released more than a month before the -70X

More detailed specs can be found here (english):
http://icecat.nl/en/p/asus/p31f-ro0...aptops-0884840735199-p31f-ro043x-5966519.html
http://icecat.nl/en/p/asus/p31f-ro070x/p31-series-notebooks-laptops-p31f-ro070x-6811490.html

I've also just called the Asus helpdesk, and the guy talking to me was also surprised that there was no information about this laptop on their website, but he couldn't help me further, since he hasn't got any more information either.

 

That is gorgeous. We don't get any P series in the USA as far as I know. It looks like the little brother of the B43F, except with a nicer chicklet keyboard. I also was unable to find any info beyond what you've already linked.

 

Yea and most results I get on google are shops or price comparison websites from Holland :\ So weird.

 

Ah finally, I found out a bit more. When searching for P31, I found out that they sell this P31JG in china, which is almost the same laptop (this one can contain a GT415M and can also have a i3 380M or i5 460M, oh and it's 1.6kg instead of 1.8kg... mmm weird)

Checking on the chinese Asus website I got this when searching for P31JG there:

http://translate.googleusercontent....&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhgp35VPY55pb-Nt0azxcgZRAc4qhg

A bit annoying that the next part of the Asus website can't be put in the Google translater (you'll get directed to the main .cn website). So you'll get this:

http://www.asus.com.cn/product.aspx?P_ID=e3nNj9ee7BvE2R1x (Second tab is specifications)

Unfortunately it's still not clear whether it's a matte screen or not...
Maybe I should just buy it.. I'm so curious now

Overview P31JG (Google translated):

EDIT: LOL, and hidden in this picture on that webpage (just click on this picture on the Asus overview page of the P31JG) is this youtube video of the U31/U41 series.... yeaa right

EDIT2: Hmmm it quite like the U31 demonstrated on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjjDBzaz5J8&t=1m46s (second laptop he shows) Glossy screen though

EDIT3: Specs also match, although the weight and height do differ... (so maybe the screen as well, and the P31 might have a matte one :O? I'll just e-mail some shops, maybe they can tell me)
U31F: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=OV45sT3DY56akobY
U31JG: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=qcgJ2RirwkZL7Hpa

 

Wow you've been digging for a while... lol. Yeah the F/J is for integrated graphics/nvidia graphics but all of the B/P series in current production have matte screens as far as I know.

It'd definitely be a big surprise if it has glossy, but I guess it's easy enough to ask a retailer.

 

Wow what an awesome design (asus ruins their designs imo in most of their models with the glossy left and rightclick mousebuttons underneath the trackpad), and the 800€ price is perfect for someone like me.

Add a nice SB cpu and it'll have acceptable graphics aswell ^^ I can't wait for next year

 

I got several confirmations that this model does have a matte display. Secondly, a distributor of one of the shops I e-mailed also states that the battery, although it is an 8-cell unit, doesn't stick out.

I'm currently in a conversation with Asus, and they are going to check whether this battery does stick out to the back (or raises the laptop).

Here is a detailed specification list I received:

 

Mis-read the post, silly me. =/

However that does look extremely nice, has a nice matte finish instead of the gloss that Asus usually prefer to go with.

 

After watching some videos of other Asus models, I noticed that there are laptops with 8-cell batteries which don't really stick out.

For example the UL30:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om-vOWL5j9E&t=9m12s

So I guess the 8-cell battery in the P31F won't protrude either.

Now I'll just have to wait a couple of weeks to see this model drop in price with the release of Sandy Bridge models..

 

Awesome, just bought the newest model (P31F-RO090X) shipped with the i3-380M . First impression is just great.. I loved the keyboard instantly, it's perfect. Quite thin & light. It's almost exactly the same as the U31-series, except that it's not available in silver and the screen is not a mirror On the battery and driver-cd, it also says U31, and on the back it says MB. Ver. U31F beneath Model: P31F.

I decided to buy it now, since the new Sandy Bridge laptops will come a bit later because of Intel's small production failure. Since I could really use it @ university at the moment I checked on 1 Feb again if there were any price drops in these models, and coincidentally, this new model popped up, with a i3-380M @ 2.53GHz instead of the lower clocked i3-370M, so I immediately bought it!

I'll post some photos if people are interested.

 

Post pics!!

 

Im guessing it uses the chassis of the U36, but the U31 looks a lot like it too.

 

whered did you buy it and can you tell us about the screen quality?

 

Hi everyone,

im from Germany and i am was looking for the P31F for the whole morning.
I just found a shop that sells the P31F-RO108X for students at around 700 Euro.
Thats a fantastic price and i think i will oder one just now.
By the way, it has WWAN included allready and comes in a very nice silver case.

I only hope the display (anti-glare) is a good one and the fan and other parts are silent!

The guy from the shop told me, that it will be available at the end of next week

http://www.campuspoint.de/shop/notebooks/hrst/asus/p-serie/p31f-ro108x.html

 

I wonder how this compares with the u36

There are several shops in Australia that have them in stock.

 

Hey SimP,

is there any chance you could post a review and some pictures?
Im really interested in purchasing this laptop instead of the U36Jc, since there are no reviews available of the P31F that would be really helpful.
Im really interested in some more details about the battery life, the screen and heat production.

Thanks in advance

 

@koeln85, BUY IT NOWWWW oh wait, delivery @ 2 weeks so you'll still have to wait a bit But here isn't any model with a 3G module, and it's even cheaper than mine (it cost me ~€790). Although I like my colour better.

@Vico100 & Flixion, if you haven't see it yet, this video might be useful, since they compare the U36 with the U31 (just the looks). But compared to the U36, mine is a bit thicker and heavier I think, but there also has a battery with a larger capacity I think. The P31/U31 does miss the USB3.0 port and fingerprint-scanner. But here's a small review of my impressions so far.

I'm very tired atm and really can't get up from this couch to get my camera But I'll surely post some pictures later.

First of all, the laptop looks really slick and business-like. I removed all the stickers and the material looks OK. Although you can feel the palmrests are from plastic, only the right palmrest gives in a little and makes a small squeak when you push on them. But overall, it feels quite sturdy, with the exception of the hinges which look quite small and more fragile than the rest. The screen doesn't really bend too much, possibly because of the brushed aluminum lid, which looks really stylish. I think the build quality is exactly comparable with the U31-series (so you can check those reviews for more information about that). Although it has more matt parts than most other notebooks, I don't like the bezel having this mirror finish.. it attracts fingerprints, and when opening the laptop you usually touch that part. Same for the area on the right & left side of the keyboard.

When I powered on the device, I immediately noticed, besides being blinded by the incredibly bright powerLED, how quiet it was. When turning on some energy-saving options, the fan won't always spin, and then you only hear the HDD, which I might replace for an SSD soon. Compared to some old laptops I have come across, it's extremely quiet. There is only one outtake on the left side. And when using it on my lap, I can only notice a small heat build-up on the left side (where the fan is located). The right side, palm rests, keyboard etc etc stay cool enough. And if your hands feel sweaty, just touch that slick aluminum lid for a second (fingerprint alert!), it stays heavenly cool . Beneath the touchpad, there are 6 small (fortunately less bright) led indicators.

As I said before, the keyboard is just perfect. I never really used a laptop keyboard before for a long time, but I can say it is way better than some I tried in local stores (Toshiba R700 keyboard is ³ compared to this one, and when looking at the best laptop chiclet keyboards from HP, this one might be as good as those..) Lay-out is also exactly what I wanted, large horizontal ENTER, large left SHIFT, no useless keys. One disadvantage is that I just can't increase the volume with 1 hand, since the Fn-key is one finger too far away (Why don't they make those volume wheels on the side anymore?) It's also more sturdy than other keyboards when pressing hard on the middle. Furthermore, the touchpad is also well-built. Performing multi-touch gestures go smoothly and the mousebuttons (it's one big button) have a better feedback than I expected. Also way better than some I tried in the stores.

Tomorrow I'll compare the screen with my Samsung 2443BW 24" 1920x1200 monitor, but so far I haven't really done much to test it. More on this later. O wait I can see one thing: IT'S NOT A ING MIRROR aren't many options if you want a matte screen .

The battery is the most impressive part, it was one of the important factor for choosing a laptop for me. When I took it to college today and turned it on, it said something like 5+ hours left.. I thought, well manufacturers always lie, so I could've expected this. Well I turned on some energy-saving options and brightness on half.. was on wi-fi all the time, did some programming and web browsing... nothing much. Then after more than 4 hours of usage, with a couple of small breaks, I checked and the battery was still more than 50%!!! So in the future, I won't bring my adapter with me anymore.. saves a lot of space and weight awesomeness. Besides having a higher than average battery capacity (8-cell @ 5600mAH, 83Wh), it's still quite light (1.8kg), for me, I know now a portable laptop shouldn't be heavier

Another con I found is that it doesn't support 5GHz 802.11n.. it doesn't really say so @ laptop specs, but I assumed that '802.11n support' also means the 5GHz band. But perhaps most laptops don't.

The Altec Lansing speakers perform quite well for a laptop. Maximum volume is quite high, but not really important for me. Of course there's a lack of bass.

Performance-wise it's really straight forward, you can check how an i3 performs @ other reviews. But one thing I noticed is that when it's set on 100% it's around 2.90~2.95GHz instead of 2.53GHz.. but it doesn't support Intel Turbo Boost.. perhaps a tweak from Asus? I also tried to play an HD video on it, and it runs perfecty smooth (which is obvious). Pre-installed Windows 7 Professional is full of crap bloatware, so I'll need to find some time to get a fresh install, really hate al those programmes (106 processes running atm!! of course less @ start-up).

Perhaps I missed an aspect, please ask more questions, because I'd really recommend this portable, thin&light, matte screen equipped laptop with an awesome battery life!!

->> one question for you guys, whats the advantage of having more cells in a battery.. this is an 8-cell, but most 8-cells contain more capacity than 5600mAh.. and then you also have the '83Wh'.. I think the mAh part is the most important specification, right?

 

As far as i know 5600MaH is pretty good for any 13" notebook battery. I have been looking for a thin and light for almost 2 months now and i dont think i saw a larger battery so far: most come with a smaller 6 or even 4 cell battery. As far as i know more cells would work the same as more batteries in other products, you can deliver a higher voltage and therefore more watts.

Something i'm pondering about is the question if it is really worth the extra 100 euros compared to for instance the samsung sf310 which has the same processor, an optical drive and the nvidia 310M 1GB to go with it for less money. Do you think this little notebook is special enough to make up for the hardware and cash difference, and if so why ? Shame some parts are still glossy plastic on the notebook, or did i understand this wrong from your review?

Thanks for the short review though, im looking forward to hear more from you because im really digging this notebook and am also really starting to need a notebook for my university work :]

 

Well, YES it is worth it. For me it was even a ~150 euro difference. The other option I was looking at was the HP 4320s (worse touchpad, maybe better keyboard, not so good screen according to reviews, 48Wh battery or something, 0.2kg heavier, unnecessary optical drive, quite thick,).

But I would've never bought a samsung SF310. Because if it's like the Samsung Q330, that was one of the laptops I meant when talking about 'other laptops which I tried in local stores'. The build quality just sucked, and the touchpad was one of the worst ever. Keyboard also bends a lot in the middle when pressing on it, though typing was a little bit better than on the Toshiba R630/R700, but if I remember right, the keys felt a bit more like plastic than the P31F. And doesn't the SF310 have a mirror screen? Or doesn't that matter for you?

The optical drive also gives you more weight, and the 310M only uses battery, but isn't really a significant improvement over the integrated Intel graphics. And at least I do not need a thin&light for gaming (I would want to actually, but it's just too expensive). Btw, I shortly tested Trackmania today, and it runs perfectly smooth @ lowest settings, native resolution, perhaps I can even run it higher.. I'll test what the framerate exactly is later today

Indeed there are some glossy plastic parts, but as I said, most other laptops have got more of that. With a matte screen and a normal mobile cpu, this laptop is the most beautiful one of all available models (which aren't many in my country)

But about the batteries, there might be more cells, but each cell individually has less capacity, but well it doesn't matter, since the battery life is way more than average.

 

Awesome you have pretty much persuaded me to order my P31 on monday, exactly your model as i live in the netherlands aswell . Which university are you attending by the way?

If i may ask one last thing from you it would be some pictures, because the pictures asus gives us always make it look more dandy than it actually is
Thanks alot for all the info :]

 

Here a battery example, from the Vaio Z:

58,32 Wh (10,8 V/5400 mAh)

So less Wh, but almost the same capacity..

I got to work now, but I'll definitely upload some pictures this evening And those official Asus pictures do look awesome yes. But while the keyboard-part of the laptop looks exactly the same (without stickers), the bezel is a bit more reflective in real life.

I follow a study @ VU =)

 

Correct but the Wh is the same as Voltage * Ah, and as the asus battery delivers a higher voltage(15V) with a slightly higher mAh it logically has a higher Wh aswell. But as far as i know its the mAh that really determines the battery life. Good luck at work, looking forward to the pics :]

 

Thank you simP!

Yor review is a very good help and i definitely gonna order one soon.
There are only two things i am worrying about:

1) i'd love to buy this in black...;-( (no shop offers that here in Germany)
2) i found an other offer with an nvidia 310m inside. it costs 50 euros more and i dont really know wether it is worth paying more just for this feature. Do you have an advice?

Asus P31F-RO108V silber mit mattem Display und UMTS

Thanks again!

 

Hey koeln, quite funny i would actually like to buy one in silver with a 310M so that model would be perfect for me, but they dont have it here in the netherlands and i really dont want a german keyboard. If you dont mind a qwerty keyboard instead of a qwertz keyboard you could consider ordering a U31F from the Netherlands?

If you want to play some newer/heavier games or run any application that uses the graphics card for acceleration it might be a good idea to go with the 310M. The Intel GMA HD will use some of the regular system memory and perform a bit worse than the 310M. You might have a minor bit more power consumption but not alot due to the nvidia optimus technology; it only uses the 310M when its needed.

 

hey flixion,

thanks for your help! The problem is, that the ones they sell in the Netherlands are without the WWMA, which i think is very usefull...

So ok, i actually think the better graphic card would be worth the 50 euros more.
I'm only afraid of the fact that the extra card will come with an extra van, which could rise the noise! I'm really looking for a quiet one...what do you think? Is that a realistic problem?

 

Well simP said this P31 model is rather silent, but it only has the processor to cool. I believe that its common to cool both the processor and graphics card with one same fan, especially in a small notebook like this. So if you have both the processor and graphics card under full load i guess together they would produce more heat, making the fan spin faster and produce more noise.
But then again i dont have this notebook and im not sure about the hardware layout 'under the hood' ^_^ also as the 310M is a pretty basic card with a low power consumption i dont see it causing a huge amount of extra heat.
Like i said i would buy that silver model with the 310M over the dutch version any day. Im getting a little bit frustrated with asus: they offer better/more hardware for less cash in germany. Every time i want a notebook the one i want is only sold there, and here we have a model that is worse for more cash

 

Allright, i think i will order the one with the 310m...we will see how silent it is ;-)
I calle the cyberport team and they said, it might take 2 weeks untill it finaly arrives! Thanks for your help again and much fun with yours, too!!

 

@koeln85, 1. too bad but you're lucky with the 3G-module 2. If you plan on gaming more than games like trackmania or if you want to run them at a higher setting, you should definitely buy it for just the €50,- extra (I still paid more than that!). However, I would still not buy it myself now I know I can run games like trackmania, because if I am gaming on this laptop i still want to be able to do that wirelessly The nvidia 310M will only be draining my battery.
But why do the display specifications say: 33,8 cm (13,3 Zoll) HD Glare Type 16:9 Display ( glänzend) on your website? A bit confusing.... it also weights 0.1kg more ^^

There is no room for another fan, so I guess, like Flixion says, it's done by the only fan, which will only produce more noise when you're gaming. And of course there's also more heat yes. But it won't change anything for your non-gaming experience (except for the 100 grams of extra weight ) when the 310M is turned off.

@Flixion, maybe you can try to contact that german vendor and ask whether they ship to Holland? When checking the pictures, it is the US-international keyboard version, so there shouldn't be any problems. Although it would be a pain in the when something's wrong with the laptop after 1 year, because I think Asus' international warranty is only 1 year, so you would have to send it back to Germany or something...

Oh and I think I promised some photos:

Dropbox link

The first three are still with the stickers on it (especially the blue energy star lable is ugly!) Fortunetely you can't really see them (the small ones are on the left palm rest)

Oh and as to the batteries, I understand it now, thanks. Of course it also has to do with the voltage, otherwise 1.2V (AA) batteries with 2300mAh (which are currently in my sucky camera) could power my laptop for a couple of hours ^^

According to my not so accurate scale, it's 1866 g.. I thought that should be rounded to 1.9kg But as I said, it's an old scale and it was way too small for the laptop

 

@SimP

The pictures look good thanks for uploading! I've already tried to mail a german vendor yesterday because i also noticed the us keyboard layout in the pictures. Unfortunately the vendor ensured me that this was only because asus sends them international marketing material and the laptops in fact have a german qwertz keyboard

 

@SimP I found this thread when googling for some info about this notebook. Thanks for all the information. You got me thinking about buying it too
I'm a linux user, so I was wondering...... Are you gonna test your laptop too on linux?
The FEW faculty is also really pro linux! (I guess you study @ few, cause of the programming you mentioned)
I study AI @ vu

 

@ Flixion, ah too bad, but I actually feel better, otherwise I would've also wanted that german laptop instead of mine so badly . Well I guess usb/wifi-tethering isn't that bad, usb might also be less power consuming than a 3G connection.

@Stevie, Yup studying business mathematics & informatics (probable name next year: business analytics), but I'm not so into linux and stuff.. really just started programming in Java never really did much earlier, except for some simple HTML and small try-outs in Ruby. So I can't help you any further on that.

Is this normal guys?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...roduce-different-sounds-asus-p31f-normal.html
Perhaps I should return it for a new one..

 

Pretty annoying man .
I just ordered my P31F though, the model with the i3-380M aswell.

I've been reading some more on laptops that are coming up with better specs etc but if i wait i could just aswell wait forever as there is always something better around the corner

I should have it by wednesday, im really curious!

 

Where did you purchase it? And I think you're talking about Sandy Bridge then? Because I also waited on that for some time, but since Intels production failure will delay this, I just bought it. And first they'll only make new i5 and i7s later the cheaper i3s..

 

I just looked up the cheapest shop on tweakers.net 0900-laptops or something

And yeah, im tired of waiting so whatever, this model seems just fine
I was referring to sandy bridge, but also models with new nvidia gpu's(540 and 550m).
Then again ofcourse these models wont be sold in the netherlands, the market here is just not too great for thin and lights

 

I even haven't seen many laptops with the nvidia 4xxM series here . Ah yea I was also thinking about ordering there, but centralpoint (also in/near amsterdam) was easier to visit (near my university) so I'm glad I picked that one now.. I just hope I can just return it tomorrow myself.

There are not many other options yup, at least not with this battery life and a 2-year warrenty. All I can think of excluding acer&samsung: HP ProBook 4320S (quite thick), HP ProBook 5320M (bad battery life), Sony Vaio S (glossy screen, lower than average battery life), Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 13 (low voltage, glossy screen, battery protrudes a bit), Toshiba R630/R700 (one of the worst keyboards, and the latter is a bit more expensive than the others, but 3 year warrenty (if the keyboard was better I would've bought that one))

 

@Flixion, btw I came across a Samsung SF310 today @ MediaMarkt, and I have to say it's better than I expected. If you don't mine the glossy screen, you might opt for that one. Keyboard was more than decent, perhaps same quality as the P31F and it all felt quite sturdy. But it's a bit thicker, heavier, hasn't got an 8-cell battery pack (but still more than average battery life I think) and a has a worse touchpad. On the other hand, some users might find the optical drive handy and could use the power of the 310M.

 

I also ordered the P31F yesterday. I hope it get's delivered soon, really can't wait

 

It's too late for that, im receiving it today and i dont mind really. I really prefer a matte screen over a glossy one though and a good touchpad/keyboard are essential. The extra power from the 310M would be welcome, but if i need (graphics) power i can always use my desktop at home or one of the desktops at the university :]. The main thing i need is mobility and a really decent build quality

 

So I got my P31F yesterday. The build quality is really excellent. Especially the laptop lid, it just feels really sturdy.
Everything works out of the box under ubuntu 10.10, even al the function keys. Really happy with it!

edit: oops, not everything works out of the box, it won't go into suspend
edit2: fixed, thanks to: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1444822

 

Hey SimP i seem to be having the same problem with the audio that you have. Did you return your laptop to the store yet and if so what did they say? Because since i have the same issue it seems as if it might be intended? It seems as if the left and right speaker complement each other.

 

Stevie could you try the test at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8ODm-F9-IM

do you have the same issue?

 

Hi, yeah I already posted it in the thread on gathering.tweakers.net. My right speaker seems to be way less powerfull than the left one.

Just found another problem; I can't boot using the card-reader. Really a shame, because I'm used to taking a micro sd-card with Backtrack4 on it everywhere I go, just in case I need it

 

I have not heard from the store yet, but this can't be normal.. I just emaild them if they could seld me a new one, but it looks like this whole batch has this defect.. let's hope not..

 

Hi guys, great thread SimP I have a quick question though. How many people have bought this with the matte screen? and how many have got the gloss screen? are there any definitive variations in the model number to tell them apart if this is the case.

From what I have read there are a number of options with this model to chose from (factory of course, ASUS haven't gone lenovo on us just yet) but from what I have read there are variations in screens, graphics, SS and the like.

I was after a business type laptop that could go the extra mile in battery life without GPU power as it won't be needed for what I'll be using it for.

I'm from Australia and the models which many places over here have said will be available soon are the U36JG and the U31F (glossy, I believe), I don't want to sound like a baby here but I would really like to get my hands on the U31F without the glossy screen. Does this mean I have to order from the Netherlands? because I will. Can't be that hard to learn Dutch, right?. It would be worth it IMHO.

Hope someone has more info than I do on this (hope I haven't missed it within the thread).

Cheers, Busy_lad

 

All U(L)3x-models are shipped with a glossy screen. Ordering a P31F from the Netherlands or a country closer than one on the other side of the world is your only option then. Though I think all windows professional equipped laptops in the Netherlands are multi-langual. I also picked English when I installed my p31f, so that shouldn't be a problem.

However, coincidentally or not, 3 of us got one with defective right speaker, so if I were you I would wait a bit... perhaps this whole batch here is defective..

 

According to the asus benelux twitter this speaker issue is normal. The left speaker is larger than the right one. Together they sound perfectly normal to me so i dont really care, im not using this laptop to play music over the speakers or something. In fact sound will usually be muted.

 

Damn... are you kidding me!? I've seen their messages to you yea... And well I shouldn't say perfectly normal.. how can stereo effects be produced with this correctly... not that I mind too much, I usually don't use those speakers either, but still I want something which works for 100%. I'll see what the store has to say.. if they'd just reply to my e-mail!

 

Just as a workaround I mixed the left and right stereo channels to get mono, and upped the volume of the right speaker a bit.
It isn't stereo, but you can't really hear the difference between stereo and mono on such a small device. Now everything sounds perfect

 

Wow.

Stick a entry/mid-lvl video card, high resolution/high caliber screen and the Sony Z has a worthy competitor.

 

FWIW, the macbook pro 5,5 was like this, the left and right were mismatched in terms of volume because of their placement. It had a middle speaker/subwoofer that smoothed it out.