Asus UL30JT

Well said! Bottom line: If you want this to be your main gaming system--look elsewhere. If you are looking for thin, light, long battery life, with decent performance and the ability to play the occasional game, then this might be a good system for you.

 

Probably around there, yeah. What I'm most curious about is what would happen to its predecessor, the ulxxvt. Would it drop to $600 then? That might make the ulxxVT a nice buy.

 

Hello everyone, so ive been following this notebook. Im interested in it but was wondering why so many laptops have replacement batteries that connect on the outside? Why do you have to buy a long stick for extra battery life. WHy cant you just open up the lappy and install a new one? Last thing I want is extra weight

I know apple replaces it for 150 =\, but still much preferable than buying a bulky stick to carry around. Ive come down to either the mbp 13" or this 1. I really like the weight on this 1, but thats due to the lack of cd drive.

 

Haha, that makes two of us torn between a MBP 13 and the UL30JT!!!


I personally won't need an optical drive I'm just looking for an ultraportable secondary computer. The weight is nice, but the one part that makes me wary is the way the thinness combined with plastics creates more risk of flex. The MBP 13 doesn't have such flex.

The UL30JT in contrast has a really compelling thinness to it for a low price and it's about roughly 0.7-0.8 pounds lighter.

 

So why cant we replace the batteries? Why do we gotta use a big stick.

I might get the ul30vt if it drops by the time jt comes out

 

Im confused as to what you mean by big stick, the only thing i can think of that is a big stick is the battery itself? most if not all pc notebooks come with a removable battery and having a battery that you can remove means you can replace it yourself (just buy a new battery off ebay or something) versus the macbooks which have their battery stowed away inside the unibody chassis that you have to send back to apply to get it replaced?

Or do you means those larger capacity batteries on some laptops that have a protrusion, in which case just get a smaller battery if it bothers you and get a second identical pair to swap if you absolutely need the battery life because i think for most laptops 2 lower capacity batteries is only a bit more expensive than a higher capacity one that protrudes. But for the ul30jt, there is no battery protrusion i think.

Or do you mean an extended battery dock like with lenovos that take a form of a plate that attaches to the bottom of the laptop as seen here: http://shopper.cnet.com/notebook-batteries/extended-life-battery-laptop/4014-19216_9-30794179.html

your post is unclear to me, but it sounds like you are complaining that laptops require you to put a "big stick" in the laptop to have power and u would rather install a new battery internally inside the laptop, but.. that "big stick" IS battery for the laptop. There is no internal battery. Maybe u are confused because macs don't have removable batteries but that's because mac pros stow them away internally behind their unibody chassis (not sure if they changed this). And replacement batteries are usually the same exact model and add no additional weight since they are usually identical to the first. So that is why im confused as to what you mean.

 

Hmm I thought you couldnt open it up internally, so you had to buy one of those brick things.

So for the ul30vt I can buy another battery and install it internally? The battery will eventually die thats for sure.

 

Wait, what exactly are you talking about? Are you referring to a regular battery? Or the small small small small small small small internal battery on the motherboard that keeps track of time?

 

reg battery I suppose? The one that handles all processes. Who gives a about time? Theres a separate battery for telling the time? O_O .

 

All batteries will die in time of course, but changing batteries is a simple task. There's no real "installation". you hold a latch on the bottom of the laptop, take out the old battery and put in the new one. very simple. there's no screws or opening the inside of the laptop involved, if that is what you are referring to.... i am still lost as to what your concern is, maybe you can show us a picture of this brick you are talking about?

Are you talking about this "brick"


That is a battery by the way.

umm... i think there is some confusion. the battery does not handle processes, the CPU does...

 

Ummm..FYI...it's been on sale today for just over $700. Get it while you can!

 

We have it priced exorbitantly high because of our relatively small consumer base (at least for Asus) and our taxes. It's quite pointless to compare Australia with other countries in terms of most electronics, save Apple products which there is a large rate of adoption. Sadly it means that consumers like me will have to resort to importing to get what we want at the right prices.

 

Yeah, I already responded on that point:

I'm lucky I'm overseas right now so I can buy a laptop in the U.S. without getting international shipping.

 

Sorry to hear that. I know what you mean, spent a year in Korea. People there are forced to either pay 2-3x what we pay here in America for our gadgets or import from abroad and get it cheaper even after the ridiculous tariffs. Imagine bringing in a BMW from America, paying an arm for shipping, another arm and a leg for import fees, but still being able to get it cheaper than you'd get it from a dealer in Korea.

 

A request for help using Optimus (on my U30JC):

I feel my screen lacks deeper colors (blacks feel washed out.) As proof of this, I sat my ASUS 1000HA 10" netbook next to my U30JC, both using the same photo wallpaper that had lots of blacks and subtle grays. Both screens were very bright (way better than my '07 Dell) but my 1000HA had much better blacks (with no moving around to hit a sweet-spot) and yet maintained the grays compared to my new U30JC ... which was still good, but not up to the contrast of the 1000HA. I am still looking to tweak the Intel Control Panel more on this.

Under Optimus, both nVIDIA & Intel have their control panels & in both, you can strengthen the contrast & colors. But even when I run a HULU film under Firefox & a DVD under PowerDVD at the same time (both specified to run using the nVIDIA chip under nVIDIA's Control Panel), I find that the Intel CP affects my contrast levels (while the apps are playing) but not the nVIDIA CP. I've not figured out why yet.

But when I run 3DMark06, it's the nVIDIA chip that's clearly playing. My scores show that.

To be fair, in normal use, I don't notice the washed-out blacks. Actually, my screen colors look very good & clear. And my colors & contrast in films under PowerDVD also look excellent, so nVIDIA's CP must be working there. It seems my real problem is HULU (& my desktop wallpaper).

I've no idea why HULU is doing what it's doing. I get the feeling it is still deciding to use my Intel chip, even though I am running it as HD (480) and telling the NVIDIA control panel to run Firefox using the nVIDIA GPU.

As an aside, I think the new Intel GPU is quite adequate to run HULU HD, etc. So perhaps Optimus thinks it knows best.

But I can't figure out which GPU is running when. Oh, for a little tray indicator from nVIDIA or ASUS.

Suggestions, anyone?

 

Quatro, do you really feel it necessary to continue posting in this thread regarding your U30JC? I don't think it is adding to the discussion. I see you are also postign in the U30JC thread, which is perhaps a better place for your enquiries.

 

Well, its another Monday...and for whatever reason...I am again hopeful that there will be at least an announcement on a US release. Come on, Asus!

 

U need to take a chill pill.

Bronsky

Hint: I would not make my first contribution on a new forum, biatching about someone else posting.

 

/agree with Bronsky.

Besides the fact that if there weren't off-topic discussions and digressions going on in this thread it would have fallen off the front page long ago with the lack of new information released about the UL30JT.

 

WaryWolf does have a valid point that this discussion is opened to ul30jt. A discussion for u30jc already exsisted, which should provide more resources than here.

 

Well norwegian and swedish webshop dustinhome.no/dustinhome.se, has the UL30JT available for preorder now. Estimated delivery May 1st.

Can't wait for the first real reviews to be released, so I can make my final desission about this machine.

 

Thanks Blaa! Hopefully that's a good indication of it coming to the states soon too. But now I feel like it's not coming until May .

People familiar with Asus laptop releases, do they usually just release suddenly without notice? Or are there notices/pre-orders/etc. ?

 

Someone in Taiwan has already got this and he posts some pic for it also. The CPU scores 6.2 in the Win7 test.

 

Sorry, WaryWolf.

Two reasons:
1) I need help on a problem that relates to anyone with an ASUS dual-GPU notebook and ASUS' infamous screens on their U & UL models. It's not specific to my model.
2) I enjoyed posting here until I bought my U30JC (then I just sneak over here & read). The page is familiar to me & many of you here are quite knowledgeable.

So I'm not looking to take things off track, but to get help with a specific screen/nVIDIA issue that should be common to anyone with any of the UL*VT's and will relate to any one getting a UL30 or 33JT. Or to find out if it is just a common screen weakness that isn't fixable.

I promise to creep back over to the U30JC thread now .... (kinda' small thread. Not many owners there yet )

 

Quatro I'd be glad to help you if I had a newer Asus notebook of any sort. Maybe when I get my UL30JT Good luck with the issue.

 

Well, to be totally honest... It hasn't been out long enough for there to be a lot of owners bro! I'll let you know when I get mine and look into what you've asked. You should be able to leave the Nvidia GPU on at all times (nbr had that in their review I believe). Lock her in to always on and see if you have the same issues with HULU! This will eliminate the question if it's Intel or not!

 

Thank you, urbanglowcam, for your kind & compassionate response. I, too, look forward to all of you getting your UL30JT's. Had it come out this month, I'd have surely bought that.

And it may turn out that my issue may have to do with the Optimus nVIDIA driver. No idea, and Optimus is so new, there are few people/owners to discuss or compare it with.

NOTE: just last night, I was watching HULU HD via Firefox (set on running on nVIDA GPU) and the washed-out blacks in the lower half were really noticeable.

Personally, I think it's the quality of screen ASUS is choosing to use on their U & UL models (so the UL30JT will probably suffer from it as well. I hope not.)

Why? When I boot up and get the black "ASUS" boot screen and then black again before Windows starts, I can see the "banding" of the black on the screen, meaning the lower 1/3 looks washed out while the middle band is perfect black and the upper corners are beginning to look negative. Moving the screen up & down only makes the perfact black band move as well and the other areas grow or shrink.

I suspect I can improve this some using nVIDIA's Control Panel, if I can get it's contrast, gamma & brightness features to work (so far I haven't.) The Intel Control Panel seems to ALWAYS control that feature, no matter what is playing or running.

Really odd.

 

interesting, do you have a link?

 

That's what I tried last night. Same problem: nVIDIA's CP doesn't affect the contrast, gamma, etc while Intel's CP does. I'd have thought (and have read) that the nVIDIA's chip's handling such things is much better.

I've tried to set nVIDIA CP's brightness to max (which should turn any screen nearly white) and then did games, 3dMark06, DVD movie, HULU, etc ... picture looks great, so clearly the NCP isn't affecting the picture -- only Intel's CP is. (Doing the same on Intel's CP caused the screen to be white-ish washed-out on ALL apps, DVD's, games, etc after that.

It's as if nVIDIA has a control feature that's not working for me.

 

Yes, I wanna pay for that weight loss!

 

Here you are.
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=233&t=1517779&last=18915940

 

Ha! I hear you. I'd prefer slimmer & lighter as well, though I'm kinda' liking the quick+easy-to-access DVD drive. (I have an external slim blu-ray as well.)

Though they should be similarly priced (with a mix-match of 320/500GB HD, bluetooth or not, DVD/no-DVD, etc) if the UL30VT & UL80VT are any lesson to us.

They were the same internals, but 13.3"/14.1", 500/320GB, no-DVD/DVD, bluetooth/no-bluetooth -- yet in the end, they sold/sell for nearly identical prices.

 

Thanks! Decent Win 7 scores but why was the Windows Aero score so low? 2.9??

 

Indeed why so low?

The Win Aero score on the U30JC's i3-350M+310M was 4.6. The Win Aero score on the UL30VT's SU7300 (1.76GHz overclocked)+210M was 4.9. (Diff in score seems to be that Optimus insists on letting the WEI test run only on the integrated Intel GPU.)

 

I was thinking the same thing, perhaps the Windows Experience Index ran using the integrated graphics card rather than the Discrete GPU.

 

Yep. Thinking the same thing. How did the JC and VT score so much higher then? Is it because they were manually set to use the discrete memory so there is no chance the integrated could kick in?

 

Still, 2.9 is low compared even to the U30JC which is *apparently* also running the WEI on the Intel GPU.

Possibly, but then why did the U30JC with better CPU & basically-identical GPU score lower than the UL30VT on the Aero score? If both were set to use the 310M (mine is), why their diff scores? They should be nearly identical or the i3 should show improvement.

Remember that the NBR review stated,
"In dedicated graphics mode, the system stayed on for eight hours and 15 minutes and set to integrated graphics mode the system stayed on for seven hours and 35 minutes (no those numbers aren't switched around)."
which is quite impossible if the 310M were actually running all of the time! The 310M chip is much more battery-consuming.

Or is this Optimus being stubborn? I can say from experience that setting Optimus' 310M as the preferred GPU (as they did in NBR's review) doesn't mean Optimus always chooses the 310M to run an app.

The Intel GPU is actually fairly-powerful (for what it is) and does well with HD streaming & DVD's. It seems Optimus knows that and uses it wherein possible.

I suspect Optimus combined with WEI are undependable & inaccurate benchmarks. IMO, better to use something like 3DMark06.

 

Just for a WEI comparison from that Chinese review, in order of release:

UL30VT: 4.9, 5.4, 4.9, 5.9, 5.8
U30JC: 6.3, 5.9, 4.6, 5.7, 5.8
UL30JT: 6.2, 5.5, 2.9, 5.4, 5.9

The WEI scores for the UL30VT, U30JC & UL30JT are:
VT JC JT
CPU: 4.9 6.3 6.2
RAM: 5.4 5.9 5.5
GPU: 4.9 4.6 2.9
Games: 5.9 5.7 5.4
HD: 5.8 5.8 5.9

 

Geez. The first deliveries will come well after the $100 rebate on the MBP 13 expires! NOOOOOO!!!!

 

Just buy one and get it over with!

 

I'm stuck between the two!

It's a unique situation in which the MBP 13 is not so overpriced in my book and the UL30JT competes against it even though it's a thinner ultraportable!

EDIT:

Current mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s

 

From what it says on the Windows 7 WEI score explorer. Looks like he was on battery when running the WEI scores. The yellow exclamation mark thing says he's on battery and he might not experience the real performance.

 

Dammit...is there someone fluent in Chinese/Taiwanese who is willing to message the guy telling him he's doing it wrong and needs to retest his benchmarks!

 

UL30Jt is just out for sale in Taiwan recently, see the following link

translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobile01.com%2Ftopicdetail.php%3Ff%3D233%26t%3D1517779%26p%3D1%2318919827

 

Yes, we've known about that. If you read back one page, someone already linked to that website.

 

Yeah. My gf is Taiwanese so maybe I'll ask her to do it later. I'm interested to know. I just don't know if she can type in Chinese.

 

Whatever it takes, haha! Even if it means voice-recording this message!

 

Someone asked when the ul80jt will be out on facebook

asus responded with:

So one can infer (and confirm earlier speculations) that US probably wont not see a UL30JT release till summer as well

ASUS also had the nerve to respond afterward to above question with

pfhtt, we dont want to buy the damn u30jc

 

The reason for the low windows aero score could be, that the ULV`s graphic core is clocked lower compared to the other arrandales.

 

That, or the dedicated GPU wasn't active while running Aero. Mr. Pico above also mentioned the notebook was running in battery mode.