Asus U35JC/U45JC

I believe you would want to look for a good Core2Duo processor. I have used i core processors that do not make the noise, but many seem to and it may be luck of the draw.

 

My U45JC produces no such noise.

Also, if you are an avid gamer and have games on physical CDs, you could always make disk images on another PC. I picked up a U45JC since I'm still hopelessly clinging to physical media (particularly with music, but that's another story), and it certainly doesn't hurt to have one if you don't mind the extra half a pound. But there are certainly ways to work around the lack of an optical drive on a U35JC.

 

Is it normal for a battery to drain when the laptop is off and not in use? I swore I fully charged the laptop Friday night. I powered it on for the first time since then about 5 minutes ago. The battery is showing 60%. Surely this cannot be normal?

 

Ah, OK. I forgot that the U30JC has the ODD (Optical Disc Drive). I would personally go with the U30JC over the U45JC. I hear the U30JC has superior cooling and I would also prefer 13.3" over 14".

 

I am having such a hard time choosing between the U35 and the U30. Researching it just makes more choices that I have to choose between. The trade-offs seem so difficult to choose from. The 1lb weight difference and no optical drive in the U35 or the thicker, heavier but seemingly better graphic performing U30. Has anyone used both of these for general use and light gaming and can comment on which you preferred? Any U35 users out there wish they got a U30 or vice versa?

 

Hey y'all haven't poped in here ina while, so I have recently updated to the latest 208 BIOS and instllaed the newest Nvidia GFX card driver. But am still having the scrambled video problem as such...Am I the only one experiencing this? Here is one particular video we've been using to test...Im using a U35JC btw..

YouTube - Dre Murray "Too Classy"

 

I just tried to play that video in the 3 different available resolutions and didn't experience any scrambling. I also have the U35JC. Are you experiencing this with other videos? I remember you mentioned this same video before.

 

Zoose: The difference in real world gaming performance between the two is negligible (in terms of framerates, the performance delta will be a few percent at most). It all comes down to whether or not you need an optical drive.

Relentless: Dumb question, but was it in sleep mode? Batteries shouldn't discharge that much when not in use.

 

Yeah? Looks like something worng with my card, possibly? I don't have a problem playing it at OTHER resolutions, but the default one doesn't work for me. Yeah there are a couple vids that this happens with just can't say any other videos off the top right now. Imma try to find another one and post it...

EDIT: Here is one I just stumbled upon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwlfJmuY1GI


It works on other resolutions though.

RE-EDIT: Now it looks like it works fine on FF but not on Opera. Previously switching the browser did not make a difference, but it looks like for this vid it has...Just checkout with the previous Dre Murray video and it works fine now in FF as well.

 

Thanks Chanda, I think I will have a long and hard road of thought ahead of me on the importance of an optical drive in day to day life. +rep

 

Can someone tell me which u35jc and u45jc model they are talking about? I check on amazon and there seems to be 2-3 models of each one.

Also, can someone tell me what they mean by awful viewing angle? I keep hearing this a lot. My old laptop was a dell inspiron 6000 which is 15.4.

 

This means that the color and image distorts or becomes unviewable when you stray from looking at the screen straight on.

Most people on this thread are ordering the American version with the discrete graphics and two year warranty. So you would be looking at the models with "A1" at the end. You will have to call into amazon to find out whether the black version of the u35, which is modeled XA1 has a 2 year warranty.

 

As an addendum to DuYaKnow's post, models with an F in the name (U35 F-A1, rather than U35 JC-A1) do not have dedicated graphics, so watch out for that.

 

That would make a lot of sense, but it didn't start up as if it were in sleep mode. This is the first time I didn't use the laptop in a couple days. I will try it again this weekend to see if it happens again. I really hope it doesn't happen again.

 

Hey guys,

I got my U35JC just this week and did a clean install. However, the laptop can't wake up from sleep mode. Also, when the screen blacks out for Power4Gear, it won't come back on. Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks

 

hey guys what is the battery life on this laptop? Is battery life better on the 35 as oppose to 45 since its 13.3 as oppose to 14.1? Also, if i play online poker which requires resources b/c i use this program called Holdem Manager, how many hours would you say the battery life takes? I am pretty sure its not that extensive as if you play games but i think it does use a lot of resources. Does playing games make it 2 hours? Because if it does, that is really low.

I saw some people mention 8 hours of battery life for the ul30vt? Is that battery life better than these 2?

Also, i need a laptop that has 7200 rpm. I see many of these laptops have 5400rpm. Would it be better to buy it with 5400rpm and then buy a harddrive that is 7200 and install it myself? Or would it be better to go to a website like xoticpc and customize it b/c they can do 7200rpm. What other sites are good to customize it? Does anyone know how long it takes to get an order from xoticpc? And would you suggest that as oppose to buying it somewhere else online? To you guys from usa, where did you guys buy your asus from? I'm from new york city.

Thank you!

 

I bought mine from J&R, but that will tax you in nyc. It appears that the customer service at gentech and xoticpc is great, with personal service. Plus I don't think you'll get taxed buying from those places.

Installing a hd yourself is really easy and the cost would score you a new hd, while keeping your old hd.

You make it appear that texas hold em manager is high on resources, but I don't think it will be more draining then playing high 3d games or videos that require nvidia use. I think you will get more than 4 hours for sure, unless this holdem game you play forces your nvidia card into use, which I really doubt. I am pretty sure you will get way more than 2 hours of battery life even if yo keep playing holdem the whole time.

The UL30vt gets more battery life, but if you're pushing it's undervolted cpu to the limit all the time, it will drain quickly too.

I'm guessing...just an estimate that you will probably get atleast around 5-6 hours of game time on quiet office mode, on the u35.

 

hey..after installing the new itel hd graphics driver from windows update under "optional", i stopped getting the scrambled video. As for the Nvidia VGA, i never had the problem with that.

 

To the above poster, give yourself a month and get a Crucial C300 SSD instead of the standard HDD. I get incredible performance with one on a sata II desktop system. You might be able to get the 128gb for $200 by then.

 

I installed a Momentus XT on mine and it really flies. I can't even imagine how fast it would be with a real SSD.

 

I don't remember reading of any complaints about a high-pitched whine in the U30Jc thread, and that came with the i3-350M.

The video works fine for me. The problem has to be in your software, but I'm not sure what. We mentioned codecs, but to be honest, I've added nearly nothing in that area after I did a clean install of Win 7 Pro except Flash 10.

... oh, I see that supermassive fixed it by installing the latest Intel HD graphics driver.

Good catch! Rep+ for you!

Yes, I'm looking forward to doing that eventually. I wonder if they'll ever give it 8GB NAND flash memory? (or when?)

 

Gah, I have been searching for a new laptop for afew months now and I got recommended the UL30VT but this seems to be the new updated one. Im using a Thinkpad X41 now and its pretty slow for todays use and I wonder how this will do. If you compare this one to a MBP this seems much more value for the money cause of the hardware and it looks pretty neat.

I will use this laptop for personal use like mail, web, movies, and some vmware. Is this a good choice then?

 

even when the U35 already has 7200rpm drive? I was really tempted to get one, but its price will warrant a significant performance improvement before i'll get it. any more info on battery life improvements? speed improvements?

for what you are doing, this laptop will not leave you in want. the i-processor is zippy enough that unless u are doing any thing significant like processing big spreadsheets of data or image processing, you won't feel handcuffed at all. the high-pitch noise is non-existent for me. you hear people whining about it because the people don't have trouble with it won't be looking for solutions and posting stuff. i suspect it's a common problem, but not all have that problem (fyi, i am using a U35jc with a i5 450M cpu and 4gb RAM).

and can people not ask about the high-pitch noise and battery life every other page on this thread?....

 

The United States version has a 5400 rpm hard drive.

Maybe the i3 cpu has the whine issues???

 

I wouldn't say that all the processors have the whine. Quatro's U30JC and my U45JC have not experienced any weird noises.

 

Deacy:
Where did your order your i5 u35jc?

 

HERE is a great review from AnandTech on the Momentus XT Hybrid.

Its conclusion? The Momentus XT is worth the upgrade price, even if you already have a 7200rpm drive.

But many of us (like me) only have the 320GB 5400rpm drive, so the 500GB XT would show us a big improvement, even though it is a long way from true SSD performance. 500GB Momentus XT is $129 at most places.

Oh, and HERE is a very good comparison of the XT compared to the 10K Raptor, an SSD and a standard 7200rpm HDD (the poor 5400rpm drive didn't even get in the running!)

... and TigerDirect is selling the 500GB XT for $119.

 

Gah, after reading about the noise from the processor some people getting im thinking.. If u get one of those examples, will that be on the warranty?

Nevermind.. I dont care, can't find a better laptop for the price and I love the looks on it. Picking it up today .

 

The noise isn't bad enough to warrant not getting it. I am in a pretty quiet classroom right now and I don't even hear it.

Don't pass up on this awesome laptop for that one minor issue! I'm sure you will enjoy it!

 

I agree with Relentless715. We haven't experienced many problems with the noise that is being described and should you experience it your reseller will be able to help set up the RMA with Asus. An issue like that would be covered under warranty, especially if it is excessive.

 

hey. since we are talking about Harddrives. im just wondering what boot times you guys are getting with the 5400 hdd under w7 pro

 

I've had the U35JC for around 3 weeks, but just 2-3 days ago I noticed it crashed, I didn't think much of it. It happened again today, but this time the laptop does not boot into windows. I am currently using Express Gate to write this message.

When I press the power button, the asus logo appears, then I see a blank screen with a flashing underscore _ nothing else happens.

At the time I had a few tabs open in Firefox when it crashed.

Has anyone else experience this or know how to solve this problem?

 

Why do most people get a Windows 7 CPU score on this of only 6.4?
MY desktop E8400 underclocked at 1600 Mhz with C1E and SpeedStep disabled, DDR2 board/Ram gets 7.0
What's to make of that?

 

@Deacy - I can't really comment on the original hard drive and its speed because I swapped it out after 2 or 3 reboots. I am very happy with the XT. After getting all my programs installed and booting at startup (Kaspersky, dropbox, elan drivers, nvidia gpu icon, coretemp etc), I am in my browser in ~30 seconds after turning it on. No complaints here.

On my machine, the high pitch noise is barely audible. I wouldn't make that the deciding factor in purchasing this laptop. In my opinion, its being a bit overblown. The battery life is good so far after disabling the mic, 8 to 10 hours.

On another note, I'm puzzled by the disappearance of the extra keypad features after the laptop goes to sleep. No idea how or why that' happening, but add me to that list.

 

REJOICE! It's been awhile since I last posted here, but I have been waiting on my laptop to return from an RMA after a failed BIOS flash. After a few weeks of waiting it's back, and they fixed it! In fact, everything is here just as it was.

Asus = Amazing tech support. I'm not saying they're perfect everytime, or every failed bios will be fixed. But I'm giving them much thanks for it. I assume the Accidental Damage Warranty played a big part in this; that and the fact I only had it for 6 hours before tragedy struck ><.

Lesson: Be careful with the BIOS! It WinFlashing, DO NOT DO NOT restart the computer if there is an error. Make sure it's plugged in (like it should be anyways), and reflash until you 100% positive it's fixed. Even if worse comes to worst, and you still have a warranty, call them and send it in. Chances are if your patient, nice, and tell them exactly what happened (in this case, the Asus program itself bugged), then they'll probably fix it. If not, there ARE ways to fix a failed bios.

I know this is a wall of text, but I really wanted to share my experience with the issue and Asus Tech Support. Now it's time to really get to know this thing and have a ball with it! Oh, and thanks again for those that gave me some support with the initial freak out. ;P

 

I think Windows 7 has somehow been deleted/corrupted.

I currently don't have a 4GB usb to boot windows 7 from, but instead I have a SD card with a usb SD card reader. I used windows usb tool to make it bootable but it's not booting from there. I made sure the first booting device is the usb card reader.

How else are people installing a fresh copy of Windows?

EDIT: I just had to hit Esc key when the Asus splash logo appeared and chose SD. I can now install Windows 7

EDIT 2: After installing a fresh Windows 7, Power4Gear says the notebook needs to be Asus to run...what do I need to install for Power4Gear to recognize this IS an Asus notebook?

 

i think u need to install one of the atk drivers first before p4g will recognize ur asus computer

 

Cheers that worked

 

Ugh, I haven't even had this laptop 3 months and the keyboards shiny surface is already coming through. I hate how it looks in a bright light. It looks like grease spots, but its the shiny undercoating poking through due to regular wear and tear I guess. My hands are always very clean before I use my keyboard.

I wish the keyboard was a semi gloss or something to combat this. Oh well. Just have to not use the laptop under real bright light

 

Same thing happens to most keyboards. Even ThinkPads, which for a while were considered to have the best keyboard of any lappy. It's something about plastic, just starts shining after enough use.

 

Use 99% isopropyl alcohol dampened onto a rag. That should remove the oils on the keys from even the cleanest hands. I saw one of those silcone key covers somewhere on a tawian site for u35 model for about $7 when I was looking up the foreign models for this. Maybe you can get one for the u35 of ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/TPU-Keyboard-Pr...122?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb1790cca
http://cgi.ebay.com/Keyboard-Protec...764?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5f95febc
if you get it less us know how well it works.

 

Unfortunately, that wont do anything. The problem is that the top coating of the keys are wearing off (due to wear and tear) and revealing the shiny undercoating.

 

Gah, didnt have time to pickup my laptop yesterday. Btw, should I pick another harddrive with it? Like a SSD or will I be satisfied with the drive that follows?

 

Hi, i have a problem with my webcam
I looked at the device manager and the webcam is there but if i start Lifeframe it says my camera is being used by another program?
how can i fix this please help?

 

SSD cost too much at the moment, I'd wait a year or two for the prices to drop. I have the 5400 rpm 320GB (really 297 GB) hard drive, it's a good size but the OS partition was too small for my liking, it was ~70GB. I had to format the drive yesterday, so I decided to delete all partitions and have a single drive. Speed wise, 5400 rpm is fine, the cost of upgrading to shave off a few seconds from booting up and opening applications is not worth it yet.

 

Aha oh crap, its prepartitionated by Asus? :<.. I hate having two partitions on one drive, bad bad!!

 

You can format it easily so you only get one partition by hitting F8 prior to boot up. Thats what I did.

 

It's actually fairly simple to merge a partition to the C: drive. Here's a youtube video that shows the steps: YouTube - How to Merge Partitions in windows 7/vista

-First you make sure there's no data in the secondary partition.
-Then right-click on "Computer" in the start menu and then select "Manage"
-Click on the "Disc Management" section.
-Right-click on the partition you want merged to C: and select "Delete"
-It will ask for a confirmation, so just click yes.
-Where the partition was, it should read "unallocated data"
-Right click on the primary partition and click "Expand"
-Click next and okay, and all the data should be merged!

Hopefully my explanation plus the youtube video makes the process pretty clear. It's not very complicated, just have to know what to do.
Prepartitioned drives by manufactures can be slightly annoying, but easily fixable

 

Are you sure it's not F9 (which runs the AI Recovery program, can repartition the drive and reinstall the OS).

 

After a fresh install of Windows 7, which driver is needed to show the camera properly? Currently in Windows Live Messenger, the camera is upside down. I tried installing both camera drivers on the Asus driver page but they didn't do anything.

Also, when typing, my thumb touches the touchpad which is very annoying because the cursor is clicked to somewhere else, causing messed sentences. Does this happen to anyone else?