Asus UL30JT

So are you guys saying the gpu on the JT models aren't great? I know you can't always go by the gpu ram but shouldn't the fact that the JT's Nvidia 310 M w/ 1GB VRAM > VT's Nvidia 210 M w/ 512MB VRAM have some significance?

So if the VT is playing Starcraft 2 / Modern Warfare 2 / etc. on pretty much native settings mean the JT should be even better?

 

J&R has the UL30VT-A1 for $739, then you can get 5% bing cashback on top for final price of $702.

Ordered one for myself, will give to my mom when the JT comes out at a reasonable price.

Is the VT enough for someone like me who never plays games or encodes movies. I might do some development work, that's it.
I just want my ms office and crystal reports fast. I also bought X25m to put in it.

 

will be better, but not 'significantly'

and the gpu is OK. far from great.

asus' target demo for this laptop aren't gamers anyway.

just a nice ultraportable machine w/ occasional light gaming

 

Change "can't always" to "never". 512MB vs 1GB is essentially irrelevant at 1366x768 on a low-end GPU like this one.

The only difference between the two GPUs is a 2% bump in shader clock speeds, which is entirely negligible.

 

Well it seems good enough for me. I'd say it does decent gaming for the amount of battery life/portability of the laptop.

 

So since the VRAM doesn't matter, why didn't they just include a 128MB GPU on it? I don't understand how RAM used in a computer can really benefit it whereas the RAM specs on a GPU doesn't matter as much as the technology/features of it.

 

for sure, seeing even the VTs run SC2 / MW2 very nicely is awesome

 

That's what I'm saying. I feel like the VT already is a pretty significant notebook for its time. I've never seen a laptop that was that thin, with that amount of potential battery life, that can game that well. The NVidia Optimus technology was a great idea. You could get the best of both worlds depending on if you're gaming or word processing at the moment for example. Genious.

Also, I'm imagining the JT will be a better overall package. I'm hoping it can do all that even better, even if it's just slightly better. I can't wait.

BTW YESHHHH, are you looking at getting the Asus UL30JT or the Acer 3820TG? I haven't looked into the Acers as much but from what I'm seeing, they are more powerful being based on the non ULV chipsets, but take a toll on the battery.

 

It's not that it doesn't matter entirely, but VRAM is not an indicator of performance. Extra system RAM is beneficial if and only if it actually gets used. That's why for many people, 8GB vs 4GB is irrelevant. It's the same with VRAM.

In essence, as you turn up the resolution and the quality settings, more and more VRAM will be used, and it can hurt performance if you don't have enough. However, the 310M is a very weak GPU, only good for medium settings or so at 1366x768 in many games. Many of the most powerful desktop GPUs are still only using 1GB of VRAM which is still easily good enough for gaming at high settings on 1920x1200, and that's 2.2 times as many pixels as 1366x768.

Single GPU solutions have only just hit 1.5GB of VRAM with Nvidia's GTX 480, and yet the GTX 480 still doesn't have much of an advantage over the 1GB HD 5870 at resolutions of 2560x1600 - which is almost 4 times as many pixels as 1366x768.

If you're playing at settings and resolutions high enough for 1GB vs 512MB of VRAM to matter, the 310M will be chugging terribly no matter how much VRAM it has. There might be some justification for 512MB rather than 256MB at resolutions somewhere in between, but overall even 512MB is more than is required for a weak card like this one.

 

Ok I understand. So from what you're saying, having the 1GB 310M will work as a better BACKUP in case the extra memory is needed on say the medium settings for SC2 than the 512MB 210M variant.

I'm not expecting any extremely high graphic Crysis gaming. I'd just like to run most of the current games at a playable, good looking setting.

More realistically though, I'd like to be able to watch/stream HD videos on Youtube/Hulu smoothly without hiccups. I'd also like to be able to play flash websites/videos/games without issues. Lastly, I'm a graphic design major so Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator is a must. Eventually, I'd like to get into 3D modeling. I'm not too worried about all of those though except maybe the 3D rendering.

 

amen bro

back in jan when my eyes were opened to the culv world, i was this close to grabbing a VT

then i saw a youtube video showing the JT at CES

i told myself i'd wait and get the JT, hoping it would come out 2-3 months after CES

well here we are 4+ months and it seems the JT is going to come out in the summer at the earliest

regardless, i did a ton of research and i found acer's new timelineX series

you can see the specs in my sig

basically after that i lost my asus devotion and left the VT/JT in the dust

in hindsight it was a blessing when i stumbled on the youtube JT CES video.

gave me an opportunity to find the acer and its amazing specs

i would have paid $900 + tax for the VT back then. now i expect to pay somewhere around $1,000-$1,100+tax for the acer 3820 and that bump in price will soooo be worth it

acer 3820TG here i come

 

I understand. So if the Asus JT and Acer 3820 come out tomorrow you'll till take the Acer?

Part of me feels like they will both be coming this month. We're already seeing the Asus out for Euro/Asian customers. Also, the VT has been dropping in price. Just yesterday it dropped to $720. The JT has got to be here soon.

 

asus = culv core iX + class 3 gpu + 10hr battery life
acer = full powered mobile core iX + class 2 gpu + 8hr battery life

(apples vs oranges imo)

the only way id consider the asus is if it debuts at several hundred $$ less than the acer 3820.

 

Yeah I guess it depends if you want a little more battery life or more performance. The Acer does sound pretty pleasing....wow that's gonna be a tough decision for me now lol. I do feel like the Asus has a nicer design. It's hard to tell the built quality between them by pictures though. I had an Acer Aspire netbook and it was good, I'm expecting this to be much better though.

I guess we'll see...hopefully an update this week at least.

 

Just a reminder, if you want to compare Acer to Asus, you're in the wrong thread:

Acer 3820 = Core i5/i7 M models = 35W
Asus U33JC = Core i5/i7 M models = 35W

 

Well you're right, except experience taught me that acer always fries within the first two years of usage. I also remember of a study shower acer returns at 25% while asus were first at 15%. Anyway.

 

A laptop is made of more than just its CPU. The Acers are close enough in battery life to even the UL30JT that they're definitely in competition with it, and the weight is also quite close.

 

I'm also wondering what to get, ant the alternatives are
Asus UL30JT or Acer TimelineX 3820TG

Here in Norway these machines cost:
3820TG - $1188,- USD
UL30JT - $1343,- USD

prices including 25% VAT (sales tax).

The Acer is in stock, while the UL30JT is supposed to come into stock early next week.

 

I could not wait any longer and picked up the UL30VT-A1 and love it. My only complaint is the 5400 rpm hard drive is a little slow. Otherwise it handles games far better than I had imagined and remains cool to the touch. Funny enough it appears their pricing has gone up as well. Supply vs. demand 101 at its best...

 

After waiting for the UL30JT for so long I got tired and picked up a Lenovo
X201i for $834 with shipping.

 

both the Asus UL30JT and Acer 3820TG have appeared in Singapore.

ul30jt - SG$1698
3820tg - SG$1698

this is a tough choice.

 

all those who are scummbing to the intense pressure of not being able to wait now for the JT to release... look at it this way.....

You wanted to get the VT in Jan....

Then you heard about JT...

Then you all waited for 4 months for it to come out....

& now....

When it's just about 1 month away......

You are losing patience & losing faith.....

& buying VT & other laptops...

It's like you have to run 100 meters and you give up at 90.....

Just have to wait for 1 Month.... It's a Stern Test but you can Pass it....!!

 

It's not just that. Some people seemed to be expecting more from the UL30JT than a much faster CPU and slightly lower battery life, so they're turning back to the UL30VT out of disappointment.

 

Yeah but is it really? Do you know first hand? I gave up at 90 and am very glad I did. If I went the full 100 with no JT in sight I would have been even more pissed. Its more like having to run a 10k you see the finish line, then upon crossing it the officials say that you still have another 10k to go. No thanks.

 

Like I said before. The fact that the JT seems to be popping up in Europe/Asia within the last few weeks means that the US should not be far behind. I'm pretty confident in it coming this month.

 

Could you provide links to both....

Thanks...

 

To be honest the only real difference is the optimus and the palm rest change. The video difference from the 310m up from the 210m it's the same thing, the only difference is the VRAM which has been upped.

Sure you can argue about the change about the CPU, which "I "think uses just about the same amount of power as the ULV cpus, if your not on turbo mode or turbo33. Obviously if you OC the cpu uses more power, doesn't surprise me about the benchmarks that are posted. The intergration of the intergrated intel gpu on the cpu chip which now uses 18w instead of the ULV cpu which uses 10w of power, i'm sure if you include the VT's intel graphics card's wattage usage i'm sure it's the same as the i5.

I think the main reason why the JT has a poorer battery life is very likely due to the optimus technology kicking in and forcing the 310m card to run more often than it should, either that or the nvidia card might be powered on, but it's sitting on standby, but uses very very little power, but probably shows up in the long run. They say optimus is seemless, and doesn't require the you to turn it on before running apps, prehaps that's what's causing it.

To be honest, 6hours of battery life with wifi on is more than enough for me, sure it'll be nice to have more, but to me i'd prefer to have the optimus and the palmrest change over the VT, especially after waiting this long for it. I'm sure with driver updates, optimus will only get better and will result in better battery usage, unless hardware is really at fault here. I'd rather have the software automatically turn on the nvidia card than having to turn it on every time I need it on.

 

So any owners of this out there as yet....?!?

 

Not everyone will require midrange graphics. Some might prefer true all day battery life (and manufacturer quoted numbers for run time need to be taken with a grain of salt.)

Also, the Acer is a bit loud. That is a deal breaker for some users. Not everyone is willing to deal with a noisy machine just to be able to play FPS games at high settings.

 

These are my exact thoughts. It's why I'm waiting for the JT. I think the updated driver support will improve on this.

 

Thats true we havn't heard yet of a reviewer that knows how to setup optimus properly for battery tests (put firefox and flash and video rendering executables on integrated).

 

Can some of the more technologically knowledgeable members here answer this...

1. In what conditions/situations will the i5 520UM be better than a SU7300...?

Thanks.

 

X2 SAME QUESTION

 

sorry no links. Call one.

Singapore is OUT.

Asus UL30JT - Black only.

13.3
i5 520UM
4gb
500gb

FREE
mouse
carrying case
dvd-rw

only black color @ $1698 available @ NEWSTEAD

 

Would that be justified over a $100+ difference if not more (with a price drop in the VT)?
I feel there's going to be quite a premium for the JT over the VT.
The VT has 8hrs of battery life in powersaving mode which is two more than the JT.

I'm not trying to deter anyone away from getting the JT. It's just that the JT hasn't lived up to the hype and ASUS took WAY WAY too long to release it. I say the tests from til are pretty solid as they are. In retrospect, the UL30JT is a terrible addition for the UL30 line-up. It's inbetween "new" and "old" technology. Sure it has the new I5 processor and optimus, albeit the weak 310 GPU, but it's still lacking the next gen USB 3.0, eSATA and all the fixes that plagued the over models. It still has the low quality GLOSSY display and webcam. Even the new eeepcs have USB 3.0.

The optimus technology on the other hand is "ify" at best. The real world performance of the JT has yet to fully show the benefits of the graphic optimization and in fact, the JT seems to have worse battery life than its predecessor. Until then, one must remain skeptical of the "great leaps and bounces in battery life" as promised by nvidia optimus. It could be all marketing.

The UL30JT looks good on paper at first, but give it a deeper thought and it's not the "dream-come-true" computer we've been all waiting for. It's really the new "i5" that's making us all drool. The graphics is the same and optimus so far is just a fail. Battery life is the same as the VT at best and worse according to preliminary reviews.

ASUS shouldn't even have showed it at CeBit yet alone announce it right after they JUST released the UL30VT-A1 model.

 

Even ignoring the i5, the fact that the body of the JT is made with more aluminum, has a larger battery than the VT-X1, has a gfx card with more VRAM, and gets similar battery says a lot to me. That alone is worth another $200. But you could be right with the performance being not much better.

I'm sure we'll see some more reviews soon.

 

Guys the UL30VT-X1 dropped in price again on Amazon haha. $710.00. Either the A1 is taking all it's glory or the UL30JT is about to drop.

 

How come we are seeing it in places like Norway and Singapore and not US or the UK?
Has anyone got an insider ASUS contact that could tell us when is it going to be released in the UK?
For mobile phones, it's usually the US that leads, then the UK, then other countries.

 

Unzipping files (assuming hdd is the same speed on both
Flash when it's not using GPU acceleration, like some video players and games
Gaming when GPU's are equal
Compiling programs
Scientific/Mathematical simulations that don't use GPU
Photoshop filters that don't use GPU
Etc.

 

i am just glad that - that isn't the same for all products.

 

The A1 is still at $740. Maybe this is because they still feel like some people will go for the silver color even if it's last gen. You could be right about it being ready to go for pre-order soon.

 

Yeah I did notice that. It has the larger battery too so it should be more expensive.

Edit: Also this article says some new models are hitting May 13th. I really hope the UL/PL30JT are apart of that batch.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20100504PD216.html

Edit #2: Engadget's also posting a similar article. http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/asus-eee-pc-1218-said-to-be-ion-based-more-laptops-coming-may-1/

 

Finally we have what seems to be a firm release date, at least being released for pre-order. I would not be surprised to see the UL30JT be one of those that are released in the U.S. on the 13th. Still, I may not go with the JT but wait for the Acer 3820TG which may be out around the same time. Ah, decisions!

 

I'm considering the UL30JT or the new Macbook Pro 13". Does anyone know how the ULV i5 compares to the 2.4 ghz c2d?

 

I've heard a 20% jump in processing power with the new i-Cores, but because these have not been seen yet or tested, there is no way to know how they are going to perform with any certainty.

 

May 13th...now my newly ordered ul30vt will have to sit in its amazon box for potential return.

 

The first UL30JT has now landed in Sweden, expect the other stores to get them this week too:

Asus UL30JT-RX008V - Hitta lägsta pris, omdömen och information om Bärbara datorer

 

I sincerely hope that the ULxxJT series notebooks are at least available for preorder on May 13th in the US.

At this point, I doubt it. The articles don't mention anything specific about UL notebooks. Just "multimedia" models (perhaps N82JV?,) bamboo series, and netbooks...

But perhaps I'm just too jaded with this waiting. Either way, May 13th is the day I purchase (or at least preorder) a notebook.

 

HP Envy 14 coming soon may be calling my name.

Backlit keyboard, core i5, slot DVD, starting $999,
HP Envy 14 and 17 officially official, Envy 13 slowly waves goodbye -- Engadget

 

I was looking at that too now.....ahh the choices.... lol

But how do the Envy line compare with these?

HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors -- Engadget