Asus U35JC/U45JC

Have you found the optical disk drive to be important to have?
And...
What is the average battery life you get with wifi on?

 

rjoudrey - I think it depends on the person whether an ODD is needed. You should ask yourself how often you actually use your ODD on your own laptop.

After 6 years with my laptop, I realized I don't touch my ODD very much at all. Maybe 5 times at most a year. I stream shows and movies online. I download any media stuff I want.

But if I do need one, I now have an Asus external dvd burner I picked up 2 weeks ago. I also think gentech only charges 19 bucks for addition of an external dvd burner to your notebook purchase. So I can just leave the drive at home when I don't need it and save over a half a pound that I don't need to carry most of the year.

So if you want a thin laptop, nix the ODD. If you watch dvd movies, burn disc, or load games all the time on your laptop...I'd say it's important for You. hehe

 

The thing is, shouldn't SHE be OFF by default if I haven't installed the drivers?

I shouldn't have to download the drivers just to turn it off, correct?

 

Hoping I can get some help here. I recently purchased the U35JC (on Monday) and I just receive my external drive so I went for a clean install. However after the installation I'm receiving this error: "Windows could not complete the installation. To install windows on this computer, restart the installation." I've tried 2 different windows 7 cd's and both report the same error after installation. After the error, windows loads but it comes up to this grayish background and restarts the system. I've tried doing the restore option and that install does work fine (although it only restores the system back to its factory default w/all the bloatware).

Any ideas on doing a clean fresh install? I'm in the process of downloading the iso files for windows 7 found on another topic.

 

PC CANADA - ACER BILING AS3820 I3 W7HP64 4G,500G,13.3HD, ATI HD 5650,BGN,WEBCAM, [LX.PV102.288] - The Original and Highly Rated All-Canadian WebStore

Not bad!

yes! make a USB bootable installation

 

Whats the difference between P4G Battery Saving and Quiet Office? I now P4G Battery Saving enabled the Asus screensaver as well as a unlocked taskbar, but those features are easily able to be turned off (which I have done). Are there any differences besides that?

 

hi everyone, i've been reading this for a while and i got a U45JC about 2 weeks ago

i've got a question though
my idle temps with SHE on are 48/55,and the fan is always running on low (still audible)
when SHE is off, my idle temps kick up to 58/65 and the fan kicks up one level too. at this point, it becomes much more audible

does this happen to everyone too?
its quite annoying how the fan is always on , and gets louder when SHE is off

 

how important do you guys think it is, or how much of an improvement do you think it would be to upgrade the wireless card?

im trying to figure out where to buy my u35 from, gentech offers upgrades but amazon offers lower prices

$854 w/ upgraded wireless
$801 w/external usb dvd drive

 

I don't really think its necessary to upgrade the wireless card, but thats just my opinion. I am here on campus and usually always get 5/5 bars. The speed is very snappy. I get the same strong connection/speed at home as well. I'm sure there is more to a wireless card than signal strength, but I have had no issues with the stock card.

I would personally go with GenTech simply for the peace of mind knowing Ken Lee is available to help you with any problems. You would be able to avoid dealing with Asus for the most part if you order from GenTech. I LOVE Amazon and I am sure you would have no issues returning it or anything, but you wouldn't receive the same customer service from them as opposed to Ken Lee @ GenTech PC. Another advantage of ordering from GenTech is you get a GREAT price on an external drive if you decide to buy one at only $19! A decent external drive usually costs $50+ from other companies.

Hope I helped!

 

That's true. I suppose I could nix the ODD.
But, I like to have the option to watch a DVD on my lappy, but honestly I do that once on a blue moon.
I would like to keep the laptop as light and thin as possible, so it would be a good idea.
However, it makes me wonder if getting drivers and OSes installed would be hassle. Is it?

 

@Relentless715, yeah the customer service is the main reason im leaning toward GenTech, how is your u35 doing btw? any luck in recording the high-pitched noise so we can hear?

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, but...

J&R offers a 30-day price protection policy. They just confirmed crediting me the $50 difference. I pre-ordered more than 30 days ago, but since they didn't actually bill me until it shipped earlier this month, I was covered.

 

I have the u45 and just noticed yesterday that when I'm not browsing the internet, the noise is not there. I use mozilla and always hear the noise when I'm on it. I tried IE today and, for the most part, there is no noise (though sometimes it goes in and out for a few minutes).

 

Yeah, I tried Firefox and I thought I was on to something, but I eventually heard it. I also noticed it didn't seem to make any noise in IE, but I don't want to use that god awful browser.

 

whn u r using latest power4g hybrid, s.h.e will auto enabled whn u choose battery saving mode.. but not in the quiet office mode...

i dunno wht s.h.e did but indeed it push my battery life to stay loinger...

edit: the very latest 1.1.40(im using 1.1.38 previously) will auto apply s.h.e to all mode in power4gear...

 

why is this happening!!

I didnt believe it until I tried it myself!


with IE its gone but with Firefox its stays!

 

Just an idea. If your CPU usage is higher with IE, then it won't be throttling your CPU as much because it will need the power. If the CPU throttling is what is causing the noise, then that would explain why the noise quits with IE.

 

If you want to watch a physical dvd once in awhile in your laptop, then you should be already leaning to the u30. The need for physical media is going down these days though as digital media is more desirable. i.e. rip a dvd on your desktop and transfer it over by flash, network, or external hd to your laptop. More trouble...yeah. But you are probably being more portable by not carrying media with you, have more battery life playing media off your hdd or external, and i'm guessing it'll play more smoothly?

Alot of the drivers are downloaded off the internet. After you have them, save them on a usb thumb drive. The OS could be a little headache if you don't have a big flash drive or external dvd. Installing OS should be something done rarely though.

Good luck on your decision. Not the easiest one to pick between those two great laptops. hehe

 

Thanks, that worked =)

With the latest power4gear, is SHE only enabled during battery saving mode?

 

Per my earlier post, I am pretty sure SHE is on any time you have Power4Gear on. Installing the latest version of Power4Gear removed my SHE gadget and added one for Power4Gear... when you open the program, all the settings (from Battery Saving to High Performance) have the SHE 'label' on them. Looks like the two are fully integrated. Not a bad thing, mind you... takes the confusion away and for me it appears to work well with no loss of battery life

 

Will SHE adjust when higher clocks are needed? or do you need to manually turn it off? ie, light gaming

 

with the new Power4Gear, in high performance mode, it sets the CPU at 'full' 2.4Ghz... and I am pretty sure SHE is still running... so as long as you select the right mode you don't need to adjusts SHE (not actually aware HOW to adjust SHE now!).

 

Well, noise is gone when using IE

I spend more time on the internet than other things so good bye FF

 

As my fried TRUEYEARS mentioned. Did the following on my u35jc....


1. Upgraded the Bios using Asus flash utility: Based on latest available one in asus support site
2. Installed Nvidias latest drivers from Asus support site. The 260.63 beta drivers from Nvidia site did not work for me
3. Did not fresh install windows but removed most of the bloatware
4. I heard the dreadful whine noise for less than 1 min before I ran BatteryMon for testing. Guess...it will be back. Not sure I'll really notice in all this excitement
5. Tested my cricket game by installing steam. Worked flawless
6. Downloaded the latest version on power4gear. I am still annoyed with the white Asus desktop screen photo on Battery save mode. Any1 knows how to change it ?
7. Installed BatteryMon.Tested on Wifi off. Volume off
Power4gear on Battery save mode.
No programs running but Batterymon.
Ran for 13 Hrs and 20 minutes @14.04 discharge rate. Not sure how to paste the batterymon output here. Anyone wants I can send log file and the Batterymon output screenshot.

Other things noticed.
- The chicklet style kb is very comfortable. I've used my brother's netbook. Guess it is Acer...I hated the kb. But this one is just fine and awesome. By the way..hitting down the keys makes a sonorous sound.....Read in forum that it bothers peoples...doesn't bother me.

- The look and feel is just awesome

- The vent is on the right side of the machine. It does get hot. But not at all bad as the others i've used. Good that they didnt keep it in front...

- I got to tell about this Windows 7 ...just awesome..Connects seamlessly to remote desktops and VPN, which is a nightmare in vista

- The viewing angle is limited. Given the size of the laptop this is something that 98% of the people can live with. Also...this can be sometimes advantageous

- Did Skype....Worked great. The video movements on my video were slow. But the other end videos were great. May be due to the integrated graphics. Not dwelled much in to that.

Also wanted to do a box opening/ review video on youtube. hmm...Guess what...My other wife Laziness said no....

So far I love this laptop...Let me know if you need more info....

 

Great review... with mine, after I installed the new power4gear, it keeps my normal background in battery saver mode.

 

Does anyone know where one can get the black asus u35jc?
Some ppl on this thread seemed to have received one and I'm wondering where you guys may have bought it from.

Thanks.

 

Unplug & change to Battery Saving mode and then open P4G. In the lower right-hand side you'll see "Battery Saving Desktop". Select "No".

13 hr 20 min? Are you serious? Did it run that long (13 hrs) or was that the time left estimate? If an estimate, how long did you run that test? An output of 1404mW should get you a LOT less battery life. More like 5-6 hrs.

 

Been using my U35JC for more than two weeks now and loving every bit of it so far. Awesome looks and weight, runs well, quiet, cool, it's all I wanted.
So most of you suggest to turn OFF the SHE? I'm still not entirely sure what it does..

 

what

that was me! http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/490903-asus-u35jc-u45jc-223.html

anyway yeah

I had to read the whole topic to figuired everything out and thanks alot to quatro for the great help he has given us!!!



overall, the pc does what it was advertise to do, literally 10 hours if you do nothing but look at it LOL




well, here is my overall review on it


design: I love it, looks like a mac pro, but not really at the same time which I like. I love the keyboard, its easy to type, I love how thin it is and LIGHT. I purchased the Zeroshock III case someone from here recommended and wow!! I love the memory foam it has you can drop the laptop inside and dont worry it will break. As my first laptop, it has been a pleasure experience aside from the battery issues we had and the whine noise. I get about 6 hours of battery life with Wifi On , office mode, she enable, 30% brightness, I do nothing surf the web and watch some videos, pretty much all I am really doing, will start gaming on it as soon I get a portarable external hard drive for it since I bought a 30gb SSD drive and WOW boots under 30 secs and turns off under 9 secs.



battery life: Since I dont do much now with it, it gives me about 6-7 hours. I was REALLY disappointment with the advertisement. I feel like I was lied too.............sure, it last 10 hours, but if you dont do anything!!!

cons: the screen viewing angles are horrible. just horrible, you cannot tilt or move with out already seeing glare or white fades. I hate these LED backlit monitors, I hate how white ish they look, I hate the white background light. I wish I could fix it but it has two GPU Intel and Nvidia so its hard to configure it or at least I havent figured it out. The mouse sometimes moves around but thats because when I am typing my palm touches the pad, but I wish it was more below. and last but not least. the high pitch sound. I took it to college today, and I couldnt hear it at all. Even in class, its awesome btw with the SSD drive, takes less than 30 secs to boot. turn it quick for mail and turn it off in less than 4 minutes. Anyway, the high pitch sound isnt really that bad, but right now, I am alone in my room and I can hear the fan and pitch sound. I seriously doubt asus will do anything about it, they're know for ignoring complains and forgetting to fix their issues.



overall: 8.5/10



advertise hours should be revised and not advertiser with a big 10 hours plus..

 

As I'm in the market for another laptop, may I ask what battery runtime You get on Your laptop?

Since You seem to be real active in this thread, could You please help me telling whether the U35JC's cooling is sufficient?

Thanks in advance!

 

Right, but no worries, friend shall I be for the both of You .

Thanks again for the info!

 

I would look at the U3OJC


Quatro has it and it has been a good buy for him

its thicker which means it has better cooling

 

How bad is the cooling on the U35JC?

 

Yeah, whats the deal with turning off SHE? I thought it was supposed to help battery life?

 

Tough to answer without knowing why you are asking... are you talking about physical temp in the machine, 'feel' on the palm rest and bottom... or temp at the exhaust fan? Cooling for the internal 'parts' is solid. Can't speak for any major overclocking (if that is the basis of the question) but running at stock speeds there are no issues at all. As far as 'feel', it is the coolest laptop I have owned... both palm rest and bottom stay cool to the touch, awesome for 'laptop' usage... I am accustomed to needing a lap table due to high temp.... not so with this laptop. Finally the vent. The air from the vent (back left side) from the cooling fan is very warm... but that is the point of a cooling fan... get the hot air out Definitely noticeable if you have your hand/leg near the vent... otherwise not an issue. On mine, the fan is extremely quiet... need to actually lean down to hear it, even in a quiet room, which is also awesome

 

It does help battery life. I believe they recommended to turn it off when one is testing the laptop's computing power...ie, windows experience index. If you leave it on, people have received low scores, since SHE saves battery by throttling down the cpu.

 

Have posted on this issue a few times recently... the most recent power4gear doesn't seem to give you an on-off option. My guess/plan is leaving SHE on all the time is the right answer... that is what it is built for! If you are trying a FPS or other high intensity work and feel the SHE is bottle-necking you... then kill it. But I don't think that will happen. Have been using SHE on netbooks for years and never turn it off, as it works great.

 

Sry buddy I got ur name wrong. Corrected in my initial thread. Sry again!!!

 

figured out why the viewing angle is so bad with this series lol

because they are supposed to be business notebooks. Meaning they viewing angle suck to give you privacy and thats why it has an HDMI output if you ever want to watch a movie, you hook it to your big HDTV


make sense now

 

Kiskapu, I see from your signature line that you own the very excellent and hard-to-get-in-the-USA Acer 3820TG and you are looking for another notebook?

I own the U30Jc-A1, not the U35Jc of course. Every owner of the U35Jc that I've heard from here says their cooling is great and the fan is quiet. Some complain of a very high-pitched whine. Others can't hear it. Some say the whine disappears when they run some program like IE.

On my battery life, I have the stock 5600mAh 84Wh battery.

After 5 months use, I show about 4% wear (80Wh capacity now).

In real-world use:

• 8.5-9 hrs: wifi off, 30% brightness, Word 2007 open, Battery Saving mode, Discharge avg 8.5-9W.
• 8-8.5 hrs: Wifi on, 30%, 2 tabs in Firefox, Battery Saving. Discharge avg 9-10W.
• 6.5-7 hrs: wifi on, 30%, Quiet Office mode, 2 Word Docs open. Discharge avg 10.5-11.5W.
• 4 hrs: wifi on, 30%, FF, watch HULU, GPU on. Discharge avg 19-20W
• 2 hrs: gaming

If I'm at a wifi hotspot all day like B&N and do a mix of web browsing & Quicken accts and Word/Office stuff (no flash video), I typically get about 6.5-7 hrs real time. I have gotten a real over 8 hrs once just doing desk work & accts, but never 9. I never sit that long without doing other things on the laptop and I'd go stir crazy tied to a laptop that long. So it is extremely rare for me to use a laptop over 4 hrs at a stretch.

Does that help?

 

I've used SHE for years on my 1000HA netbook as well.

But keep in mind that the SHE on the netbook is quite different from the present SHE on the U33/35, etc.

The netbook SHE simple fixed the Atom processor at a certain set speed (no throttling up & down) and included the ability to give a small o'c (1.7~1.9).

This present SHE works with P4G to throttle down the CPU even further. It doesn't seem capable of o'cing the CPU unless one has the i5 inside. I think it has something to do with affecting the actual CPU multiplier or BUS speed.

I'd love to read a tech article on what SHE is actually doing that's different from what P4G does as P4G sets min & max on the CPU as well. Anyone know of a good explanatory article or forum posting?

 

Thicker indeed (1.2") & 4.8lbs and a blockier appearance.

Someone on this thread just bought a Sony Z. Reading of its 1" thickness and 3lbs weight (combined with the double-the-speed GT 330M & beautiful 1600x900 screen), mine sounds like a dinosaur!

Ooh, and he has a lovely backlit keyboard & a 128GB SSD! Argh! . . . of course, his costs $1,800 before tax.

But my U30Jc is very solid and I still like the feel of the cool aluminum on my palms.

 

And I thought it was just because ASUS was saving money using cheaper TN panels because the buying public rarely asks about light bleed or contrast levels on notebooks. BTW, the need for privacy (IMO) comes from side angles. But these cheaper TN panels (not just ASUS) typically have a problem with the up & down angle (vertical?) and not so much the side angles.

 

Ok. Thanks for the info.
How is the build quality of the u35jc? Does it feel sturdy?

 

I think the build quality is awesome given the size/weight. Played with the Toshiba 705 series as an 'option' and thought it felt like it would snap in my hands... u35jc feels much sturdier. Some have complained about the screen/back feeling flimsey, but I think the aluminum back makes it feel very sturdy with little to no flex. Hard to believe you could to much better without adding more weight or maybe titanium

 

Can someone who owns this notebook and plays SC2 tell me about the performance?

I'll be happy if this thing can play SC2 on medium at 1920x1200 and the frames per second stay well above 25-30 during big battles.

 

Lemme know if you find anything... I am equallyl interested. On a side note, I ran WEI with the current P4G (SHE on) and the score is identical to the score I had with the previous P4G with SHE off. 6.7, 5.9, 4.8, 5.9, 5.9 with the 2d graphics as the limitation. Interestingly, I ran WEI in High performance mode and again in Battery saving mode (still plugged in, won't run otherwise) and I got the exact same score both times... so clearly WEI takes over the computer and changes settings... ergo probably no value in 'turning off SHE' to run it!

 

Just noticed Asus added a new NVidia driver... 259.34. Interestingly NVidia still shows 258.96 as the current non-Beta... will try installing and see if there is any difference

UPDATE: Installed and saw no real 'difference', however when I ran WEI, had a reduction in 2d and 3d performance: 4.8 to 4.3 on 2d... and 5.9 to 5.6 on 3d. Figure 10+% drop is 'bad' so I reinstalled 258.96 (from NVidia site) and both corrected back to their previous values... haven't tried the beta drivers

 

Are there any of you that have bought the U35F?

I really like the look of Asus and their battery performance is the best, right?
I use my laptop for normal day things and watching videos etc. Would you recommend the JC over the F or is an integrated gpu enough? What can it handle without a problem?

U35JC, U35F... or a different one?

 

Nope
not gonna cut it

sorry you wouldnt be getting even 10 FPS at 1920X1200

the 310m isnt meant for gaming like that lol