Asus UL30JT

I hope this time around the A1 will also come in black.

 

Good call. I saw that but thought it was the same thing for some reason.

 

Any know if store like Fry's carry the UL30 model, I want to mess with it in person.

 

Looking around and the stories are mixed, hopefully it will see Turbo33, it would make a i3-350M a real power house...........

 

Hey all, I've been following this thread for a little while now. Like many I've read here, I was "thiiiiiiiis close" to ordering a UL30Vt, then caught wind of the UL30JT. My old Dell finally decided to pack it in, and using the wifes' HP doesn't jive with me. I'm a freelance developer and work from home a lot, but over time, cabin fever tends to settle in when you're tethered to your desktop computer, and the wifes' laptop is TERRIBLE for battery life which makes leaving the house to work at a library or a coffee shop difficult unless I happen to come across a power outlet, and I usually don't.
I'm checking back here every several hours to hear if anyone has heard anything, particularly in price and release date. I simply expecting the UL30JT to come in under $1000, so if it doesn't, that could change things. I'm seeing the UL30Vt models dropping in price around the web by about $100 or more, so perhaps that opens the door for the UL30JT to launch around the same pricepoint as the Vt? I'm betting it will. *crosses fingers*

 

Man, all this talk of price drops of the VT is making me pissed at the fact that Canadian retailers aren't dropping a frickin' penny. Sure, I'm not going to buy it even if it DID drop (unless it was REALLY significant, which is rarer than unobtainium here) but it just keeps reminding me about how much more we have to pay for the same thing here compared to the states.

 

Man, you feel pissed for having to pay extra $100 above the US price? I wonder how should I feel here in Russia then. While I desperately wait for UL30JT, its predecessor, the UL30VT, didn't even make it here. And when it does (in the end of March), it's going to cost around $1100... It's pretty embarassing to live in a third-world country (at least that's what ASUS believes). The funny thing, I don't really care how much to pay. I just want to get the damn computer. But I can't.

 

Man, don't forget we live in the earth's hole here in Canada compared to the States.... so it's totally normal ....

But I agree with you. It's stupid not to have any price drop here in Canada while you can get the same machine for 150 $ less in the US.

 

well amazon.ca did drop the price by like 15% lol

 

Amazon.ca doesn't sell the UL30VT-A1. Maybe you are looking at the price of the UL30VT-X1 because I don't see such a price drop.

 

I was referring to the X1 and I guess their sale was finished. It was last week I think then

 

I'm getting impatient here really

We know there's a 30% (almost) difference in performance in favor of Core i CPU at standard voltage.

But will this difference be the same for CULV CPUs? Do we know that ? If it's only 10-15 %, really, I would no longer wait. Yes, Core i5/7 is nice, it's cool to have the latest tech, but other than that, UL30JT and UL30VT are pratically the same (the case chages, but I don't care). Yes, it makes three months I'm waiting for it, but I don't even know if there will be a hughe difference between these two machines.

And just to make it clear : the UL30VT-A1 is the actual update version of the UL30A-A2 with Optimus inside ( nVIDIA GPU ). Is there any other hardware change between these two versions ?

Is there a better deal actually for the UL30VT-A1 than NCIX ( 889.99 ). 959 $ with taxes and shipping right now. Better deal ?

Thanks all. Maybe placing an order tonight.

 

No.

The UL30JT will be the updated version of the UL30VT.

 

$800 for UL30VT-A1 on Amazon.

Someone even said, though hasn't been verified, that newegg had them on sale for one day selling @ $650

 

I don't even no why people bother to wait several months for the JT model with minimal performance increase when the VT saves battery life. The 310m gpu is not even considered an upgrade from the 210m. This is a total crap refresh from Asus. Now if the JT had 335m gpu then we're talking With the VT selling for $650-$700, I see the JT selling in the $900-$1000 range. Is it worth the extra $200-$300? I would say no.

 

The Core i5 with it's integrated GPU is a more efficient design for this notebook, also adding more power.

Plus the matte finish body had me very interested.

 

Haha, have done any car shopping? If you think electronic prices up here are ridiculous, check those car prices. 30k cars can be bought for 20k down in the states...

 

Agree... I only still hang around here because i've been anticipating this notebook since early January and I look forward to its release as much as the next guy.

To be honest, the Acer 3820TG is my #1 choice... then the PL30JT (matte screen ftw) with backlit keyboard mod... and third/last on my list is the UL30JT. I'm even considering the M11x once it gets refreshed with the core iXs and all of its bugs are worked out. Has anyone been to the Alienware section lately? Half the front page is littered with M11x problem threads lol.

 

Any links on good details of specs/price/release dates for 3820TG and PL30JT? I'm not finding much with some quick Google searches..

I'm debating between buying the UL30VT now or waiting for the UL30JT.. haven't read much on those other two laptops. The only gaming I want to do is L4D2, Diablo III and Starcraft II.. but I know the UL30VT will be able to handle all those. What I'm worried about is how it will perform under heavy multitasking.. e.g. Chrome Browser with 25 tabs, iTunes, Bittorrent, Citrix session, and streaming video all at once.

 

Depends what you consider problems. 95% of the 'problems' are dell's inability to have adequate quality control. Screens not glued or put in properly, loose screws, wrong hdd specs and bad led. The product itself is fine on those who got one that was built properly, just that dell rushed things to meet the demand.

 

Acer 3820
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=464512

Asus PL30JT
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5182/pl30jt.jpg

The UL30VT can play SCII beta with medium settings but I prefer to get the Acer 3820TG since that will be able to easily handle DIII and SCII on high/ultra .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_DBd6Xc_M

 

In US currency. I can't buy it on Amazon.COM ( US ) from Canada.

phishie, multi-tasking even with a CULV CPU will be possible. If a Core 2 can't handle all that, a Core i5 won't.

But nobody answered me about the power increase between Core 2 and Core i5. What are your speculations ?

Sincerly, the more I compare the UL30VT and UL30JT, the more I see that they are identical if we don't look to the case and CPU. And with an Intel Low power SSD (such as a X25-V 40 GB), both will run at the same speed. Don't forget the Core 2 can be overclocked to 1.73 GHz ...

 

Muchos gracias... any guesstimates on release dates?

 

Yea I guess I'm curious about those same speculations.

 

Last week in March = official announcement & release date from Acer for their TimelineX series .

As for the PL/UL30JT... hopefully late March/early April.

As for the M11x refresh... hopefully late this Fall.

 

Fan issue (which drains battery)
OC not reading correctly in CPU-Z
OC causing BSODs
Faulty MBs needing to be replaced already
Sleep/wake screen freeze
Less than acceptable build quality
- Gaps in screen
- Uneven LED lights in speaker grills
- Uneven LED color in keyboard for certain colors
- Creaking/clicking lid on right side

And more problems...

Then you have to deal with Dell's incompetent order status system. Is my PC built? Is it boxed? Is it shipped? How do I track it? I have the tracking number, but nothing shows up!? Help?

And to make matters worse, to fix the aforementioned problems on what should have been a perfect laptop to begin with, you have to spend hours (literally) on the phone with customer service, sales, tech support, etc. I've even read posts where Dell/Alienware would send out the tech with the wrong part... not once.. not twice.. but four times. I mean, really? Come on.

And did you see the guy who got his faulty Black M11x screen/lid replaced with a SILVER screen/lid? I literally lol'd when I saw his post and youtube vid. Oh, and even though his screen (albeit wrong color) was fixed, that introduced another problem... his lid would creak/click on opening/closing.

I know it seems like i'm just bashing the M11x.. that's really not my intention. I realize with any first generation of a new product, there will be issues. I fully expect there to be a ton of users ranting, yelling, and complaining about their new Acer 3820TG or Asus UL30JT.

I also know that there are many users here who got their problems fixed in minutes without hassle. Faulty keyboard? New one shipped overnight. Dead pixel? Screen fixed within a few business days. In addition, I know there are many users who have received perfect laptops without a single thing wrong with them (except maybe the fan issue). That I applaud Dell/Alienware for.

Before the M11x came out I laughed at the idea of an 11.6" gaming laptop... I said to myself "screen is too small... it's too thick... it's too heavy." But now that it's out and i've seen pictures, unboxing videos, performance videos, etc... i'm a fan and seriously considering purchasing one when it refreshes with the iXs. By then, Dell wouldn't be rushing to get these units out and they would have (hopefully) fixed all their internal QC issues involving hardware/software.

To bring this post back on topic... this is (another reason) why I prefer Acer / Asus... they resell their laptops on Amazon... and as we all know, Amazon's customer service and return policy is the industry standard. Have a problem with your new laptop? Are you within their 30 day return/exchange policy? Just call them up and in minutes they will have a new one shipped out to you.

I have no problem being the guinea pig for the new Acer/Asus laptops, cause Amazon's got my back .

 

heh, i guess I see where you're coming from. It's just far more people have a solid laptop and are just happy and not posting away. Happens with any product on any forum.

As for a refresh it would most likely be a iXum in which case would probably yield a 15%-30% performance gain depending on which one they stick in..And I'll probably end up getting this first version now. I'll still be on the look out for the PL30JT and especially the 3820TG. But those seem to be coming out not soon enough for me. Need a laptop before May and knowing Canada, they won't get the product till at least 1 month after USA =(

 

It's not the gfx, it's the Optimus so you don't have to do anything manual, it's all automatic on JT. And it's a better CPU with HT.

And for all you Timeline 3820 fans, the Asus U33JC is exactly what you want. The UL30JT but with full mobile 35W CPU like Timeline.

 

You said it bro, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of satisfied M11x users. They are just having too much fun using it and can't be bothered to post a good review on forums .

With you being in Canada and all these unknown ETAs... looked like the M11x is your only option.

Holy smokes you're right! The U33JC is a much better competitor...

However, its GPU is far inferior... the 3820TG GPU (ATI 5650) will run circles around the 310M.

 

Optimus is only a software which makes the automatic switching. Maybe I'm wrong, but the actual UL30VT handles Optimus.

And even if it doesn't support Optimus, most of us use 95 % of the time the IGP. Is that so painful to switch between GPUs?

 

I would not be surprised if Apple is hording all the i7/i5 ULV chips for the MacBook Air. I have a feeling the UL30JT will be released after the new MacBook Air. We'll see though, this is really why I hate apple, they have so much money to go around they prioritize there parts before others, the procs really should be distributed equally.

 

Well, I'd argue that the big trick is getting both sets of drivers to run simultaneously, which is made possible by Windows 7 and Optimus.
The Optimus Copy Engine Nvidia is using in its 40nm GPUs is the only hardware that's needed, and all that does is send the graphics data to the IGP framebuffer via PCIe rather than output it through VGA/DVI.

It's also a lot better to have automatic switching than to deal with blocking programs.

 

I think it goes down. Not because of the CPU, the i5/i7 actually uses a bit more than Core 2, but because i5/i7 includes the PCI-E etc, which will lower power a lot compared to the old P45 chipset.

 

No, it's also hardware. The VT can never learn Optimus.

And yes, it's a pain having to shutdown your 3D application because you started it without switching and then restart the app. Optimus is an on-demand gfx switch, like the CPU these days automatically raises/lowers Voltage and frequency. You don't want a computer where you have to turn the CPU up and down with a button all the time? Having it fully automatic optimizes battery time and gives your apps full 3D use always when needed.

 

Actually, I believe the G 210M does have the Optimus Copy Engine, since it's one of the newer 40nm GPUs. It should be possible to get it to work on the UL30VT, I think, but the hardware switch would need to be permanently set to output from the IGP.

 

And with Asus's Power4Gear software, you can set it to use integrated graphics even if your plugged in and have it set for High Performance.

 

The only thing is that you might get conflict between the standard switching and the Optimus driver, specifically with respect to controlling whether the GPU is switched on or not. Essentially, if you wanted to get Optimus to work, the first step would be to get the system to work with IGP only and the dGPU disabled, using the standard Intel drivers.

 

I'm not sure if this has been posted but zeedomax has found the manual for the UL30jt on the Asus website as well as an FCC filing.

I looked through the manual and guess what... two mouse buttons! The manual picture looks just like the PL30jt mouse pad that we saw at cebit, which would make sense because the chassis are nearly identical. I checked out the UL30vt manual and it shows the uni-button, so the manuals may be a fairly accurate representation of the final product. Let's hope the manual is correct and hopefully it won't be too long before this things pops up for sale.

 

The Sony buyers have speculated the same thing about the GT330M in the new Z. It will be interesting to see if it is possible.

 

ul30jt with 2 mouse buttons? holy.... damn i hope TRUE

 

The manual covers a few models including the PL30JT, so it might be a generic picture meant to cover all of the J models. Don't get your hopes too hight without seeing the actual computer. Seems like we will see it sooner rather than later though.

 

I know somebody already mentioned this but I've seen a few recent posts of people looking for deals on the ul30vt.

So, if you're thinking of jumping ship...

go through bing.com and get 5% cash back. I just picked up my asus ul30vt-a1 for $711 ($750 - 5% cashback) + free shipping.

That's the lowest price I've seen for the vt-a1 yet. Also, you can order through amazon so you will get their support along with the computer.

 

@ bajiqua

You forgot to mention where you bought it! lol

Bing.com -> shopping -> featured stores -> J&R Music World -> Search for UL30VT

 

Ah, I see now at the bottom where it references the PL30J. I'm still holding out hope that this suggests they are going to use the same trackpad and buttons but you could very well be right.

Let's hope Asus heard all the complaints and will make the trackpad update for all future notebooks. This could be an extremely popular notebook for them so it would certainly be worth it to correct the issue now on the UL30JT if they are already making an identical chassis with two buttons for the PL30. Honestly, how hard could it be to make this change?

 

Some bad news for everybody that thought that the Ul30JT is going to be released soon. In a german forum a ASUS employee stated that the UL30JY won't hit the market before End of April. Maybe even later, as there is no exact release date yet.

Link

 

I saw a blog just for CULV processors in general, that they wouldn't be out until summer.

 

Well, now that you stated that, I should also mention something I was told. I emailed XoticPC about the UL30Jt and they told me these either weren't coming to the U.S. at all or not until the 3rd quarter of this year

 

Well, to be fair, the Amazon rep him/herself said there would be no silver version of the UL30vt and I think it was just a week or two later that the UL30vt-a1 pops up. While none of this information about the release date is positive, everything is still highly speculative at this point.

With the recent price drop of the UL30vt to a very temping sub $750, I think something has to be announced within a month. Would they drop the price if they weren't trying to clear out the old model to replace it with something new?

I think the odds of it not coming to the U.S. are very slim. We've seen this thing at CES and cebit (I think), and the manual on the Asus website and FCC filing just cement that we should be seeing this in the states, maybe soon too.

But this is just my wishful thinking. Asus could ride the UL30vt for several months and it would probably sell quite well at this low price. I imagine most people don't even know there is a UL30jt and would be quite happy with the vt. But then again, the vt would still probably sell quite well even with the jt on the market at a slightly higher price. Ha, there is no point tyring to guess what Asus will do.

 

I still stick with my original June/July release date prediction for mass availability. Theres just no way ULV CPUs will be out in any real quantities before then.

 

The thing to keep in mind though is Asus isn't doing the price dropping, the resellers are. Although either way if the resellers are reducing the price, they must know something we don't.

Right now on Amazon the VT-A1 is at an all-time low at $793.31 (how does Amazon come up with these prices? lol).

At J&R.com, it's been $749.99 for a bit as well.