Asus U41JF, U31JG

Found this

Proactively responding to the Intel-identified Sandy Bridge chipset design error

 

I would've preferred the U41 (better specs, same battery life) but due to the smaller size will need to get the U31. Amazon is artificially pricing it higher no doubt due to demand.

 

U31F here I come, who needs a 1 gig graphics card for work? not me.
;0 yeah.

probably the best laptop on the market if you want something portable and reasonably priced with good battery life.

If this release doesn't corner the market I will be surprised.

One question though, I know the U36 comes in brushed aluminium but does the cheaper sister model *the one I am after, UL31 F) have the same kind of casing?.

 

the U31 comes with brushed aluminum and the 36 the MG alloy. The only thing these computers lack is the new gen processors. Not only would they be better with crunching the numbers but also stop the negativity about not having a graphics card. They also are more power efficient. Hopefully these options are available in the near future

 

Are you sure U31 comes with brushed alluminium? Is it alluminium or plastic like brushed alluminium?

 

U36: Lightweight AL-MG Alloy LCD cover for a refined yet rugged look

U31: elegant “brushed alluminium” finish that extends and enhances even the palm rest, helping to make it more elegant appearance

 

Does anyone know of a site where i can get a backlit keyboard mod for the Asus U41?

 

The size and layout of the keyboard looks the same as the UL30/80 series, but I'm not entirely sure. You might be able to confirm if you find your keyboard model # and compare it to see if they would be compatible. Then it would just be a matter of finding a reasonable power source inside the laptop for the ribbon on the backlit keyboard.

On another note, LAPTOP Magazine has a review of this model up now. You can read it here. Seems to be mostly in line with the impressions in this thread so far.

 

Thanks alot man i don't have it Yet but i hope its the same i really want a backlit keyboard.

 

One quick comment I have that I noticed today on my U41 is that the plastic around the edges of the keyboard is kind of weak-ish. It looks like it has gotten a couple of almost unnoticeable little dimples in the plastic itself from the lid or the little rubber spacers on the lid, I'm not sure which. The only way I could see these was due to the shinyness of the plastic itself; they look like little shiny spots but are not deep enough to make a difference in the look at a glance. Just thought I'd bring it up. It would have been awesome if they had used some brushed aluminum on the backing for the keyboard like they did on the U35 model. Oh well, I'm still very satisfied with this machine.

 

Thank you for the informative reply, much appreciated. Damn the glossy screen takeover! why on earth are so many companies changing to this kind of setup?. I might just have to buy a sony or a thinkpad (they're ok in my books).

Hope that screen protect thing works out, you might be onto a winner if it does hey.

 

A glossy screen makes pictures look really nice the clarity is worth it, if your really concerned about the glare, you can buy matte screen shields. However, I think that companies are making a wise choice. If you have ever seen a mac or an alienware there screens are one of the best I have ever seen.

 

Can someone Please confirm your keyboard model # and compare it to the UL30 http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/465841-ul30-backlit-keyboard-mod.html
.

 

If anyone cares, Abe's of Maine has the U41JF-A1 for $799. Just ordered mine.

ASUS U41JF-A1 Intel Core i3-380M 500GB 4GB Bluetooth Windows 7 Home Premium 14inch - Silver

 

I agree about clarity, the images look nice and sharp on the U41JF.
But, since you brought up the Mac screen, why don't we see such screens on Windows laptops damn it?! That's a hell of a screen - incredible viewing angles, awesome colours and really bright!
In my opinion, the only things missing from windows laptops are screens and touchpads like the Mac ones. When these come out, the MacBook will be overrun...

 

Looks like the 3D screens are matte, fwiw.

 

Amazon has the U31JG-XA1 available for pre-order at $700. Looks like the only difference is the hard drive (320GB vs. the U31JG-A1's 500GB) and the color. I don't see it listed on any other sites yet, but I may jump on this especially at that price. I can wait until its released.

 

Does anyone know of a way to reduce the keyboard flex on the U41JF? I received it yesterday and really like everything about it except for the flex which seems a bit excessive.

 

Be aware the warranty on XA1 versions are only one year as well.

 

Could anyone with a U31-series laptop tell me whether this is normal?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...roduce-different-sounds-asus-p31f-normal.html

 

Thanks for the heads up! I don't think that will affect my decision, but it's nice to know all the differences.

 

CNET has a review up now. Not quite as favorable as PC Magazine or LAPTOP Magazine, but I feel their cons aren't very objective.

 

Interesting that the reviewer thought of the U41 and U36 as being quite similar in price. When shopping for laptops $1000 and under, I consider a $180 difference to be reasonably significant.

I also noticed the U41 outperformed the Envy 14 in almost all of their tests. From what I remember in other reviews/comparisons they were comparable overall, with one having a slight edge in one area and the other being better in some other benchmark.

 

Ah yes, as much as I appreciate CNET's efforts, they often seem to miss the whole point. I had to chuckle how they qualified it as a "meainstream" system. Granted, price-wise it may be mainstream, but as far as features go, you'd be hard pressed to beat the specs within a few hundred dollars. I also had to laugh that the reviewer mentioned that it is close in price to a MacBook. That may be true, but the MacBook referred to is the basic white plastic model that is in DESPERATE need of a refresh, as it only sports a meager C2D last I knew. I'll keep my extra couple hundred!

 

we have a review from here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6029&review=asus+u41jf

not the kindest words that I saw. I expected the poor screen, but the poor build got me of the hook for this laptop.

 

I'm going from a desktop e6600 CPU / hd 5770 / 4GB ram that I used for gaming to a laptop so I can get my gaming fix during my long commute. So, I purchased the HP dv6t Quad Core ... Sandy Bridge. Yes, that's right.

The WEI was 7.5-7.6-6.9-6.9-5.9. The 5.9 being the slow HDD as opposed to an SSD. Well, it performed really well, playing CIV V was faster on this laptop than the desktop!

Well, I returned the unit thanks to the SB issue. And if I had to do it all over again, which I did, I would have picked something smaller. When you have a laptop... In your lap on the train, you want something small! I started looking at the Dell XPS 14 and the HP Envy 14 then saw the article in laptop magazine. Well, the gaming benchmarks pushed me to the u41. The $799 pricetag at Abe's of Maine helps! Should get it by the end of the week.

So owners, what's the WEI on the U41?

 

Mine gets the following;

Processor - 6.9
Memory - 5.9
Graphics - 4.4
Gaming Graphics - 6.6
Primary Hard Disk - 5.8

(Note that the 4.4 is due to the Intel HD graphics as far as I can tell)

 

Anyone do a WEI on the UJ31JG yet? I'm interested to see if the nvidia 415m is much better than the 310m in the U30/35's, judging by core #'s along it doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

 

Mine gives the almost the same as Bellyfish's:

Processor - 6.9
Memory - 5.9
Graphics - 4.4
Gaming Graphics - 6.5
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9

 

Yeah, me too. It even comes with free mouse! I was excited when I saw my UPS package arrived ( saw via tracking on the UPS site ) only to discover it was the mouse that arrived and the packing slip says my computer was drop shipped! ( shipped from the manufacturer )

How soon did you get yours?

 

What kind of mouse did they send (just out of curiosity)?

 

They scoured the earth to find the absolute cheapest mouse in existence. Then I got a call from Abe's talking about a GREAT deal they had on upgrading the RAM! $100 off!!!!! Well, this means I can get an 8GB upgrade AND get $10 back in cash, right? Right?? I mean just go to Newegg and see that the best 8GB available is $90 for 2x4GB. No, somehow they have special ram that costs $300... I hope the uninformed consumer doesn't shop here. I guess this is how they can offer stuff so cheap. The computer comes directly from the manufacturer, so I'm not too concerned.

By the way, if you go on their site, the U41 is currently unavailable... 2-3 days wait.

 

Well, it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but since UPS tracking is showing 0.8 lbs, I guess I'm just getting a mouse, too. When I saw the weight was 0.8 lbs, I emailed customer service yesterday, but no response. Hope this doesn't end up being a headache.

The upsell call was funny, though. Loved the guy with the thick Jersey accent trying to sell me memory and laptop bags. To be fair, he wasn't too pushy.

 

Should we create a U41 owners lounge? I'm note entirely sure how that all works and whatnot, but just a thought.

 

I just purchase the Asus U41JF from excaliberpc.com. I'm plan on getting the new Intel G3 SSD and replace the hard drive.
Should I do a clean install with the recover dvds or just find a windows 7 OEM and format using that?
Would the bloatware reinstall if I do the clean install using the recover dvds I created?

 

I have been reading mixed reviews about the noise level from U41. Can anyone pls confirm the noise the fan makes while running on high performance??? I have been tryin to find a replacement for my G51 which makes noise even on quite office mode.

 

Hey guys.

I'm having a problem with my left SHIFT key on my 10-days-old U41JF.

Sometimes, when I press it, it makes a strange sound and I get a feeling as if it goes through an extra step before reaching the lowest point. There is no functionality issue, as every keystroke is registered normally. However, I'm a bit worried that there may be a problem arising in the future, if it keeps happening.

I noticed that I mainly have this issue when pressing the SHIFT key a bit off-center (particularly when typing, in which case I click the SHIFT with my left small finger).

Is anyone having any similar problem(s)?
Any suggestions on what to do?

Hey there. I mainly play Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II, which is demanding in terms of graphics and CPU load. The fan starts working very quickly and the laptop gets quite noisy. However I don't mind, because it does the job and it keeps my computer at very tolerable temperatures.
When not playing games though, the laptop is very quite and at very good temperatures, so I would say that I'm pleased with the cooling system overall.
Hope this helps.

 

@zambir I've noticied this too on some newer ASUS keyboards. It's not ever been much of a problem that I've noticed, just a quirk. As long as the key registers I wouldn't worry about it, but the systems I've noticed it on aren't old enough to know if it will develop into a problem down the line. It seems to be a design issue with the newer ASUS keyboards.

 

Much like Zambir said, the fan does spin up quickly when in-game, but really keeps the temps low. I tried Battelfield; Bad Company 2 on the system to push it a bit, and with native res. and all graphics settings on medium, the CPU never got over 76, I believe it was, and the graphics card stayed at around 65ish I think. When in normal use, it is very quiet, and every now and then the fan will spin up just slightly and then go back down again. Really, it seems like for such a small system, the fan does a good job of keeping temps. low without giving too much extra noise. Hope that helps.

 

Well, lets hope it will last!
Thanks.

 

Hello all,
I have posted my thoughts/a mini-review of my U31jg-a1 in another thread
Hope this is helpful!

 

Just got my U41 and had a few minutes to play with it tonight. Here are a couple notes, things that weren't quite what I expected (for better or worse).

- It felt a bit heavier than I was expecting. It's replacing a really old 8-lb HP, so I figured 4.7lbs would feel lighter than this.

- The touch pad is much better than I anticipated. 95% of laptops I tried a couple months ago at BestBuy had rubbish touch pads, ASUS models included (obviously no U41/31/36 back then). Out of the box the feel and precision of the U41 pad is very good. The side scroll area will need a bit of tweaking in the driver software but that's no big deal. I still want a textured side scroll zone though. As for the rocker button, it works but it is rather stiff and I'd much prefer two buttons, as the rocker is rather impossible to press near the center - where my thumb naturally falls. I may have to start learning to tap the pad in place of using the lower button.

- Speaking of things I will miss, opening the screen one-handed isn't possible with the U41. Maybe down the road the hinges will loosen up a bit. But the base is light enough I'm not sure how much difference that will make.

- The screen is about what I expected so far. Average. But well lit. At first glance blacks don't look black enough but I will have to fiddle with it before passing judgement.

- Keyboard flex has been often mentioned for this model as with other cheaper Asus laptops. One Asus (K-series?) at BestBuy had apalling flex in the keyboard. I'm happy that my U41 has an acceptably minimal amount of flex here and typing is a breeze. Do note that I'm a touch typist and I don't consider myself to have a heavy stroke on the keys.

- Flex did rear its ugly head in one spot, though - the center rear of the black semi-shiny plastic piece that has the Power and ExpressGate buttons on either side. This piece "bows up" in the middle, at the back of the unit, such that a gap exists between it and the top of the battery. I don't expect it to be an issue in terms of breaking but it's a minor annoyance nonetheless.

- The U41 generated more heat than I'm used to. One spot on the bottom was noticeably warm after <10 minutes of setting up Windows7 and doing a bit of browsing, all on the battery in power saving mode. My ancient HP would take much longer to get hot, and then most of its heat would be blown out the side vent. The fan in my Asus didn't kick into overdrive during that time so perhaps that level of heat in the middle of the unit is considered normal these days. I don't know. I guess it will be nice in the winter time.

- Plenty of bloatware pre-installed but I expected this. I've already got an SSD to put in it. Since laptops don't come with Windows discs these days, what's the best way to do a fresh install? Can I download W7 somewhere, stick it on a USB thumb drive and use the license code on the back of my U41 to activate it?

- The screen seems really small. My old HP is a 15.4" 16:10 screen at only 1200x800 resolution, so one would think the standard 1366x768 these new 16:9 screens have would feel similar. I think the main difference is just the physical size of the display itself. I almost went for a U36 instead - I think that display might have been small enough to drive me nuts.

- The charger brick is much smaller and lighter than my old one, so this will be great for travel (which I've been doing more of lately, and the 8lb monster was not great for that especially since its screen hinges broke!).

- I can't believe how amazingly slim the screen housing is. I guess that's LED backlighting for you, combined with thin metal and plastic virtually shrink-wrapped around the panel.

I may sound disappointed at first but I'm not. These were just some things that stood out to me on initial impression. It's early days yet and I expect once I get used to some different things this laptop will serve my needs very well.

 

Is it a i5 or an i3 you bought?
I've ordered me a u41jf i5, only difference I could se was that the i5 has 640 gb hd, and a matte screen.
Can only find reviews on the i3 one, so I hope someone has bought the i5 version so they could comment on how it is.

 

IS thieir a Asus U41JF with USB 3.0 yet ?

 

Where did you order? I couldn't seem to find these.

 

I ordered it in Norway. Several places i can buy it here..

 

Right now in the USA the i5 is not available in the U41. Mine has an i3-380M, 500GB HDD, and glossy screen.

 

I have one with the i5-460M but it has a glossy screen. Got it from Taiwan. What did you want to know about it?

 

The keyboard flexs even if u don't press hard, but flexing keyaboard has nothing to do user experience. It just flexs and maybe makes u think it gonna crash or something, but it won't.

The problem which annoys me quite a lot is the touchpad. Touch button is freaking hard and loud! Fine, let's use touchpad instead. OMG! The touchpad has .5 s delay under double-clicks! Anyone got same experieces?