Asus U41JF, U31JG

Anyone know a brick and mortar store you can get the U41 at? There is so many differing opinions on the pros and cons that I wanna test drive the laptop before I buy it. I'm in souther california but if you know any major chain stores that have it, that would be a nice clue to where I can look.

 

I am able to use it for ~8 hours with wifi on. Mine has 8 cell battery.

 

No backlit keyboard on mine (U31JG-A1).

 

So it seems the screen backing is aluminum, that's good to hear. What about any other parts of the chassis? Is it all plastic or is there any metal any place else?

How does it feel in terms of the chassis flexing? I've read of people in the U35jc thread picking up their laptop by grasping the hinge area where it connects, and the screen bezel popping out or cracking in that area.

 

The tray under the keyboard should be metal, too.

The chassis has a bit of flex if you twist hard enough, but shouldn't flex at all under normal circumstances.

And picking up a laptop by its weakest point isn't the smartest idea...

 

So far my battery life hasnt been more than 4 hours but thats because im using it heavily. I was installing programs steadily. Not actually using it like I should. (8 cell here as well)
In terms of build quality, the rest on the outside is plastic i believe. FYI this is the XA1 not sure about the A1 version of its the same. and under the keyboard is that metal material as seen in the backlit mod thread. When u remove the battery u can see it.
In my old M50Vm it was super cool (temps), this is a lil hot the the touch. By the fan vent its quite hot. Then again ambient temps where I am is quite high around 34C upwards during the day.
I really like this keyboard though. I dont see what the talk is about the flexing...
My other gripe is that the on light has a high intensity. I think i will be using a marker to color over it
Im suprised GenTech didnt reach in here yet! normally they would be all up in these threads.
Overall i really like it. I need to throw some games at it now

 

Hi guys.
Has anyone of the U41 owners noticed any issues with the Fn key?
On my 2 month-old U41JF, sometimes after resuming from Hibernation, the Fn shortcuts either are very slow to work or do not work at all (especially the brightness: Fn + F5/F6).
I never have such issues when booting from a normally shut down state.
What do u think?

 

I've had that issue, but it was actually with Windows, not the computer. It must've been some update, since my PC also had the problem (programs being slow to respond, Windows crawling to a halt, etc.). It's something in the Event Logs that you need to go into the registry and delete a key to solve. I'll dig up the info tonight if you want.

 

Thanks BlueBomberTurbo, I'd be grateful if you could give me the exact registry key I need to edit...

 

Here's what was causing the errors on my computers:
Solve Service Control Manager Error - Tech Salsa

Go into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer and see if there are a bunch of errors from Service Control Manager. If so, then follow the instructions above. I originally thought the issue was a driver problem, but it kept getting worse and worse, so I kept digging for possible solutions.

 

i now realized that the DATA partition (D) had compression ticked off... >_> currently uncompressing it... about 11GBs

 

Considering the U31jg-xa1 from Amazon. Have any of you returned a laptop? If I am not satisfied with the screen viewing angle or feel the keyboard has too much flex, can I return it for a full refund, or does it have to have something defective or not working for a full refund? I called and the rep cannot give me a an answer, he said he does not know if they would give me a full refund if there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Amazon's return policy seemingly lets anything through. You just fill out a form and at the end, they give you a shipping label.

 

Been using this laptop a lot lately and I've become quite fond of it. Once the room temperature is under 30C you wont notice the heat from it. But i live in the tropics so during the day its normally 34C+.

Cool things:
-the fan turns off if not needed. So if your room temp is like 23C and you are not gaming, it will turn off. I think in general cooling is quite efficient in most asus laptops so this is why it happens.
-although there is some kind of flex, i dont even notice it. The chiclets are so nice to type with!

not so cool things:
- the screen, the viewing angle is not that great. To me i dont care! its normally just one person viewing.
- the gpu compatibility with games. Only until you buy an Optimus you will realize you might encounter some headaches with punkbuster based games. So far if you update to the latest drivers this should go away. I havent tested it yet.
- by far the biggest for me, the speakers. The loudness is ok but, who in ASUS was the retard to put one speaker facing right and the other forward?! really?! thank God i have headphones. (yea that was mean...sorry asus)


On other notes, i never get more than 5 hour i think on it. To me i really dont care about it too much but i really wished to see at least 6. But ohh well.
In terms of speed, even on battery saving it is acceptable, I lowered my processor maximum to 65% though so the hit is a little noticeable when browsing.
If you ever switch battery modes and your wifi is dead (happens EVERY time i go from high performance to battery saving and vice versa) Just take off wifi and turn it back on. (Fn+F2).

 

well this thread got quite.

im loving this laptop so far! One of the best investments we made.

I got the screen protector from eBay. The matte one.
It certainly is a must have! Took my time and thank God i had no bubbles.
The display is relatively unaffected.

 

That's very disappointing. Maybe try playing more with the power settings or power4gear? U35JC owners were reporting 6-8 hours easily for non gaming/processor intensive stuff. Isn't the U31 essentially the same computer as the U35 with the i3 380 and different colored keyboard?

 

yup! Thats why i found it weird. I think im managing to get more out of it but i hardly ever just use it for non-tasking stuff. I always slip in some Flash and games now.

Another question. Yesterday i was at a lan party and it ran well with COD4 but i noticed my temps were VERY high. My CPU was 74C and my GPU was around 75 under heavy load. I'd say ambient room temperature was about 26C.

Is that normal? i think that is high...

 

Those temps actually sound very good for a thin & light Arrandale system under full load in a warm room. The new Sandy Bridge laptops are anywhere from 10-20 deg more and the max temp for your hardware is going to be in the 100-105C area so you should be fine. Maybe some actual U31 owners can post their temperatures for comparison.

 

SOLUTION

The max volume was too low for me so I found a way to increase it.

Click on Speaker --> Playback Devices

Highlight Speakers --> Properties

Checkmark Equalizer, Highlight Equalizer --> Click the ...

Max out all the frequencies. Save and Name. Ok.

Click X --> Ok --> Ok.

Enjoy!

 

thank you very much! I was getting a little bit scared then i realized wait, this is a tiny laptop.

 

I've got an Acer 4820TG, as does my teenage son, and my machine hits 90C CPU and 80C GPU temp when gaming. I wish it ran as cool as your U41jf... then again, even with those temps, it never throttles or crashes.

 

wow! i got a u31 btw.

i think i have fell in love with laptops again. i'd wish this came with the backlit keyboard... im thinking about doing that mod now!

btw for those who hate the bright on light. i had temporarily color it with a marker but now i used a piece of privacy screen protector (like what you use on phones) and crazy glued it on. now at the angle i sit, it generally blocks most of that light

 

Sorry if Im being very lazy right now, but is there any list made of which programs that's essential to install on a U31JG on a fresh windows installation?

Im having my girlfriend doing this herself, and would really appreciate if anyone's written this down to help her since I dont have time the next couple of days

Is there such a list to be found?

 

hi,everyone. sorry for my bad english
anyone upgraded u41jf to 8gb? because I suffered damage every turn on SHE and put 8gb. such as Flikr and hung, must be shut down forcibly to finish. and can repeat randomly every boot. thanks

 

Hey guys,

Anyone else did the windows 8 upgrade? I paid the 40$

So far everything seems to work. The brightness control is a bit buggy though.
I got an SSD also.
I must say its pretty fast!