Asus U80 Hands-on!

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=10346

nicksti almost had his money on that
Looks like it is less then 1000 usd but i wonder if they ship international

 

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=10013

for those looking for the u50vg

 

Does anyone know if the U50 comes with any video card better than the G105M?

 

i dont' think it will. geez makes me mad how america is last this time

 

well unless we actually get it in stock before you guys do, technically you're not last yet. having it be available as preorder doesn't mean too much nor does it say much about the actual release date. case and point - starcraft 2 =P

 

http://www.lucomputers.com/site/product_parts_detail.asp?class=350&pro_class=350&id=13342&cid=350

they ship to the u.s

 

I thought under special order they could get it.
thanks for the link ill add to favs as last resort. Still 1030usd shipped isn't that bad.

 

I just ordered ASUS U80V-A1 through staples its expected to arrive on the 15th

For anyone interested.

Part# 4461487

Special order SKU 502793

There price is $1,149 CAD

(got 10% off ) Doing a little happy dance right now

 

15th. is a week from now. hm. ok then so that should be the ball park guess for the release date?

btw what're the part number and SKU for?

 

tcee- american resellers didn't even receive the specs for the u80v so i am wondering if it will even come out soon.
I guess the part number and sku are for people who wanna get it through staples in canada. staples in america do not have it.

 

The part number and sku are for anyone who wants to special order it from staples. I figured since i did all the leg work already by contacting the Laptop specialist and got the information. Basicly so when you go into staples its alot easier and you dont spend 20 mins for the guy to try and find the SKU and part number to order it.

I ordered it from staples for three reasons,

1. no stupid restocking fee and very simple return policy if somthen happens to be wrong

2. No shipping charges.

3. 10% discount

 

WoW,my biggest thread! And although I am proud that I started it, don't you think this should go to other place like owners lounge?

 

technically this isn't an owners lounge yet.. lol

towards sorrix; think you can get me a discount because i "know" you? haha

 

thats what I meant...this was a preview ,and discussion should go to other place!

 

Family only. If i new you in real life i could do it.

 

Really? At my store even family isn't supposed to get the discount. I have to "pretend I pay the stuff" so that I get it >.>

 

wow that sucks. My parents have never had a problem getting the discount, My brother did once.

 

well in any case promise to do a review and first impressions when you get it at in your hands =)

 

Yea i plan on it

 

sorrix you're saying i could go up to any staples, for example the one nearest me at elgin mills and leslie, and i could ask for a special order giving them the part number and the SKU? how high are the chances they don't know what i'm talking about lol

 

just give them the part number it will show up in the system. Make sure they understand its a special order, and if they need to know the vendor is EMJ

The original price was 1,229 but i got the guy to lower it to match other retailers. So the price is 1,149

That SKU number is a special order sku. So they cant type it in like a regular product.

so ya since your in canada u should be able to go special order it. just take that part number it will make it easier.

 

you couldn't get them to price match pccanada who had the lowest? lol
that's great thanks, i'll give it a think about.

btw you're up pretty late LOL

 

oh, yea you could totaly get them to price match PC Canada.

They first were gunna introduce the laptop at 1,229 but then i link the guy a few other retailers showing what the competition price was, so he repeiced it to 1,149.

I couldn't price match it to pc canada and get my discount so i just used my discount. but you could price match it.

 

I'm seriously going to go nutz now that i have ordered it. I hate the waiting game

 

at least you were able to order it

 

i'm already going nuts and i haven't even paid a cent lol

 

then order one, so u can wait knowing yours is atleast on order and on its way.

Mines expected next Wednesday

yippy

 

Wait they're available in the US?

 

sorrix did you put down a deposit or did you just pay the whole price?

 

i just paid the whole thing

 

addressed to the whole nbr population here

is there anyway to upgrade and replace the t6500 by myself?

 

yeah, just buy a different CPU and put it in pretty much.

 

it's that simple? lol..

and u80v is up on ncix. not sure if they ship internationally though

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=41046&vpn=U80V-A1&manufacture=ASUS

edit: well i just quickly did some research on upgrading the processor. from what i gather i can't do it myself, since 1-mobile cpus are rarely sold by themselves 2-the cpu is most likely soldered on to the motherboard. guess i'm stuck with t6500 unless someone is able to correct me.

 

a little over priced there.

 

hrmm, Guess i was wrong, i thought u could just find a different cpu and pop it in, similar to other parts like ram

 

have you guys ever seen this laptop on internet?
it has the same specs as the u80v... well almost the same...except..

Sony today introduced its latest consumer notebook,
the NW series.
The NW series will have a 15.5-inch screen and start at $800;
models equipped with Blu-ray disc drives start at $880.

The design is a selling point of the NW series; it will be available in three colors: walnut brown, birch white, and rattan silver. Other design features include a wavy textured finish and an isolated chiclet-style keyboard.

Specifications include an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card. The NW has ExpressCard, 3x USB, HDMI, and a media card reader for port selection. The NW's weight starts at 6 pounds and battery life is claimed to be four hours with the standard battery and 5.5 with the optional extended.
The NW series is slated to go on sale later this month.

 

Well the U80 is a 14' while the Sony Vaio NW is 15 so they technically are in a different competing class.

 

I just picked up my U80 from a shop in Shanghai for aroun $1150 USD. It got a model with the P8700 CPU, 2GB of RAM (upgraded to 3GB) and Vista Basic (which is really strange for a machine of this calibur). My initial impression is quite positive despite the keyboard requiring a bit of getting used to. Right now I'm putting it through an entirely unscientific test of battery life with general surfing over wifi and downloading. I will let you guys know about how long it lasts. I'd be happy to answer and general questions though benchmarks are pretty much out of the question because I'm hooked up to such a slow internet connection.

 

wow thats a strange build. Better cpu but less ram and windows basic... Just seems odd.

Hows the build quality? feel firm and sturdy or cheap? is the shiny surface really bad with fingerprints?

 

It is a strange build. Still, I'd rather put in some more RAM than play around with the CPU so I guess it makes sense in a roundabout kind of way. The overall build quality is pretty nice, no keyboard flex to speak of unless you press down really hard, all the plastic fits together with no creaking or imperfections. The only exception to this overall quality would be the CD drive mounted on the right. It's somewhat loose as in you can easily push the cover in a bit and have it rattle around and sometimes I hit the eject button by accident while carrying it around. Build quality would have been more or less perfect if they had used a slot loading DVD drive.

As you would expect, the glossy surface gets somewhat dirty through even light use. I don't find it to be too much of a problem but clean freaks should probably stay clear of this machine unless they want to whip out the cleaning cloth every couple of minutes. As for the battery test, I'm coming up on the 4 hour mark and Windows says there's still around 40 minutes left. This is just doing some surfing on full power saving mode. I would say that the 6 hours that Best-Buy put up is extremely optimistic but then again that model does have a slower processor.

 

Sounds pretty good.

I never owned a laptop before. What to people mean by keyboard flex?

 

well the keyboard is essentially one big piece, unlike your desktop keyboard right? so think of it like a see saw, having pivots wherever there're supports underneath your laptop keyboard. if there are not enough supports, then your keyboard would bend (or "flex") up on one side when you press down on it on another side. this was apparent with the n80 series.

i would die for the p-series processor in the NA version of the u80v. but wow you're right 2 gigs of ram and vista basic? the ram i wouldn't mind since that's easily replacable but i'd say you got shafted on the OS..

 

oh ok cool, yea i get what you mean about the flex.

Although the t6500 could be better im content with that. Becuase a p series or T would be another 100-200 bucks depending and im useing it mostly for school so the t6500 is more then powerful enough.

 

Does everyone think this'll live up to the hype we've given it?

 

yeah yeah yeah
just got this notebook yesterday with this spec:
p8600
ati radeon hd4570
3 gb ddr2
320 gb harddisk
vista home premium -> it will be ditched once free windows 7 upgrade program is up and running!

first impression is awesome!
with this same spec (well, not exactly) the vaio cs26g costs $150 more!

haha, sorry if this annoys someone
just wanna share my excitement!

.....and sorry for my bad english!

 

Cool specs. Wished it was maxed out at 4GB but whoever said it was the recommend RAM. How much was it and where did you buy it?

 

This comes in the US with 64 bit vista right?

 

pretty sure it'll be a 32-bit vista. jealous of that p8600 =P

 

Means the best-canadian pricing fits the U80V-A1 between a MSI-EX300 and ASUS N81VG, though the latter has a $100US rebate too.

13.3" $950 MSI EX300-024US P7350-2.0 4GB 320GB HD3450
14.0" $983 ASUS U80V-A1 T6500-2.1 4GB 320GB HD4570
14.0" $1000 ASUS N81Vg-X1 P8600-2.4 4GB 320GB GT120M

 

has anyone tested the graphics card yet?