Asus UL30JT

What's the drawbacks compared to an SSD?

 

durability and power consumption

 

and also speed in most occasions, although the speed difference is apparently quite small when reading very frequently used data.

 

I've been following this forum for a while and was set on getting myself an Asus.

However, upon trying various models at BestBuy and J&R stores, I changed my mind for good. While on paper the laptops look good, in reality I found them pretty to look at, but not very user-friendly. The keyboard is so-so, the screen is bad (someone here said that the screen of the $1000 Sony S is just as bad - I disagree) and the mouse button needs to be pressed really hard.

While great specifications will get one excited at first, you will soon forget about the cpu speed and stuff like that (especially since most ppl get computers more powerful than what they really need on a regular basis anyway). However, a bad screen, keyboard, mouse buttons are hard to forget about if you use your computer for several hours every day.

On the same note, I found the Sony and Lenovo laptops to be really comfortable to use.

 

More power consuption compared to SSD, but slightly less power consumption to a traditional HDD.

Have any of you guys installed a SSD on a asus UL30 or other laptop? What kind of difference in battery life do you see?

 

Actually, a recent AnandTech article on SSD's shows that there is little real-world power consumption/battery life difference:
Adding an SSD

Here's a good article on the new hybrid drives:
Seagate's Momentus XT Reviewed, Finally a Good Hybrid HDD

Brief answer: it can't touch an SSD in real speed comparisons, but it's a good improvement over a traditional HDD.

 

I confess it was me who said that.

Mine was a side-by-side comparison at Best Buy with my eyes, nothing more.

And there were 2 Sony's side-by-side (no idea if either model was the "S"): 13" & 14", both over $1,000. The 13" had an abysmal viewing angle and washed-out blacks (like my ASUS U30Jc), but the 14" looked far better. I've no idea why.

My $300 ASUS 1000HA netbook has a far better panel (for black blacks & viewing angles) than my $850 ASUS U30Jc. Again, I don't know why.

But I really like my chassis construction & keyboard of my U30Jc. My U30Jc feels very solid and runs extremely cool. My screen color & clarity are also great (to me), but the awful viewing angle & lower 1/3 washed-out blacks are unfortunate.

My wife's 1-yr-old 13" white Macbook has the same poor quality of screen (putting her's side-by-side next to mine) and her screen is much dimmer. The new white MB's have a much-improved panel that look great (same as the MBP now).

But some Sony's panels look excellent. Sadly, ASUS' 13-15" TN panels running at the 1366x768 seem to consistently have the same problems.

 

Do you guys remember that I had a problem with my UL30JT slowing down while using the Turbo33 function.

Yesterday I ran CPU-Z with some bad results:

With Turbo33 off the CPU clocks to about 1,8 GHz

With Turbo33 on the CPU clocks to about 0,5GHz

Does anybody else have an UL30JT, and can they test if something similar happens?

If the turbo33 can't work alongside the Intel Boost I'm returning this laptop.

Update: I got it working with a BIOS update

 

Hi!

I'm new here, but I've been following this topic for quite some time now.

I'm searching for a 13,3 or 14" notebook. I'm going to college next year and I want to buy one before that. So I got 3 months left to buy one.

I'm going to use it for simple office tasks, movies, browsing and some downloading (par/unpar/extract) etc. Gaming isnt going to happen and I don't understand why Asus keeps putting gpu's in their notebooks. You cant game and they %$)*$ up battery life.

Mobility and battery life are most important. So... which one would you recommend? Should I wait those 3 months (is there something to look forward to?) or just buy it?

My budget is around 700 euro's (900 bugs max.)

Thx!

 

Did you look at the TimelineX 3820TG? They are available in Europe.

 

I just did a Super Pi 32M test with the Ul30Jt overclocked with turbo33 and I got:

16 min and 30 seconds/ 990 seconds.

Can any of you guys with the ul30vt do the same to compare, and Quatro you could try it with the U30JC.

 

What do you get with the 1M and 2M tests?

 

Here is a Picture with all the Super Pi Tests performed on the UL30JT in High Performance mode with turbo33 enabled:

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/980/superpix.png

 

Where did you get this update, and what version is it? I'm asking this because the Asus support website only mentions version 212 (first release), which suggests that there are no updates available yet.

 

It was the 212 Bios. My UL30JT had the 207 Bios. Maybe its just the first downloadable version.

 

Stick a fork in the JT. It's done.

 

chreller, where did you download SuperPi 32M and what version are you using?

Oh, I see it in your pic: mod 1.5 from TechPowerUp.

 

Well Asus, eat it. Because it's done. (Love "Friends")

 

Well, running SuperPi mod 1.5 on my U30Jc's i3-350M (2.26GHz) for 24 iterations, 32M (calculation of pi up to 33.55 million digits according to the app's text file), finish time was 17 min 36 sec.

So your overclocked i5 in your UL30Jt completed it a full minute faster? I wonder why?

Your UL30Jt has the i5-520UM processor? How fast does it get w/ the Intel Turbo on and the ASUS Turbo33? Stock is 1.06GHz. Turbo can push it up to 1.86GHz. And ASUS Turbo33?

 

It gets between 2.4-2.5 GHz when turbo33 is enabled.

 

Awesome!!!

How does the dual overclock affect your battery life?

 

i thought turbo33 wont work with core i5/i7 procs

 

Turbo33 does work with i5's I can confirm that.

Quatro I have now also done some Wprime tests maybe you could run them with the U30JC?
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2486/wprime.png

I tried running Crysis with full brightness, All medium graphics, native resolution and wireless enabled with turbo33 and highperformance enabled.

I drained 30% of the battery within 40 minutes.

 

On my U30Jc, my wPrime score is:
32M = 32.261 sec
1024M = 1013.144 sec

BTW, if you preface your link image address with instead of , your image will appear (like above) instead of just the link.

 

I figured the 350M would be quicker in Wprime since it uses multiple cores. UM520 seems to have more power in single thread applications since it beat the 350m in a SuperPi test.

 

So the SuperPi test app doesn't access the multiple cores/threads. Is this due to the age of the test?

And your i5-520UM also has 2 cores/4 threads. When you Turbo33 oc it to 2.47GHz, is it reduced to only running on one core instead of two? Otherwise, your oc'd 2.47GHz 2 core/4 thread should easily beat my 2.26GHz 2 core/4 thread.

 

Yeah I heard that the UM-520 can only acces the full 1,86GHz(2,45 with turbo33) when only one core is used.

I just also ran a PassMark test:

 

Here are my U30Jc Passmark 7.0 Scores:



My results read (partial) and the 3D score clearly has a glitch!
It continues to give errors on the C drive saying "Drive 6 has insufficient space to run the test" even though I have 90GB free on the drive.

 

So what do all those numbers mean in Layman's terms?

 

any release day for this laptop in US yet?

 

I suppose they mean that the higher the numbers in a given area, the faster your computer is in that area (comparatively.)

I think chreller wanted to see how his oc'd UL30JT performed compared to my i3-350M (2.26GHz) processor in my U30JC.

Of course, "how fast is fast"? It's all very relative.

For me, my U30Jc works great with my daily needs. I rarely push it beyond its limits ... that's all I need to know.

 

Can you guys do a battery test on both machines?

UL30JT and de U30JC. I'm leaning towards the UL30VT because the lower cost and better battery life. Where the X4500 fails @ full hd, the 210 has no problem with that. I looked @ a review of the JT and the battery was good, but only 2/3 that asus promised (Best case scenario, which isnt realistic)

If only Asus would make a few changes, keyboard backlight, non-glare screen, and an i3/i5 without the grapics card... You cant get proper fps in modern games and for video and normal use it's just useless. (conclusion of a few reviews)

 

You seem to have done your homework. You don't need a battery test and, anyway, there are already lots of reviews with battery tests, though often not the same test.

The real comparison you want (and are doing) is the UL30Jt compared to the UL30Vt. Leave the U30Jc out of it, unless you want a more metallic chassis (which is really just the palm rest & trackpad.) The U30Jc is very different and includes an internal DVD drive.

The U30Jc also isn't the ULV chip so it is stock at 2.26GHz (the i3-350M). It also doesn't overclock like some of the i5's & i7's.

As an average, with WiFi and 50% brightness and on "Quiet Office" power mode and the IGP as the default chip, I get about 7+ hrs.

The UL30Jt may be similar. It doesn't sound like the i-series chips are getting as good a battery life as the Vt's SU7300 processor.

I'm not sure what you mean by "proper FPS in modern games". The 210/310M, by reviews, seems to do quite acceptably with most modern games as long as you can accept medium or low settings.

 

Quatro the palmrest and trackpad are also metallic on the UL30JT

 

The thread is too big. I've ran a search that didn't produce a satisfying result. I'm wondering: How's the Linux support? I need to know what kind of wireless card this laptop has. Atheros? Intel? Broadcom?

Is there other stuff that doesn't work?

I know that the graphics doesn't switch when running Linux. Damn Nvidia for slacking on the Linux front latelty. Deeply unsatisfied by that.

I was going to buy a UL30A, but then I started seeing threads about bad wifi. And then I thought that a Core 2 Duo 1,3 GHz is quite weak. Wanted more.

 

Linux should run ok on this, minus graphics switching, though it will depend on your distro. If you use Ubuntu-Lucid, make sure to install the proper backports package for your kernel.

Resource: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/Old/AsusUL30A

Yes, I know that it's for the UL30A, but I can't imagine that the wireless has changed. If someone has a UL30JT and a linux live CD that could post the output of "lspci", that would really help.

 

Additional Linux Information for Ubuntu (it's what I'll be running on it)

https://launchpad.net/~asus-ul30

 

My UL30jt has an Atheros AR9285 Wireless card, but the wireless card I believe is something that is not the same in all the different models.

 

First off.... is this meant sarcastic ?

Thanks for your reply!


Your right about the ulv chip. How ever, the only tests I've seen has been done with the i5 520UM (or was it the 540?). No real benchmark with the 2 lower models. I mean, the i3 330um is (what i guesse) more like the su7300.
Last one is more enough for office, browsing and watching a video. I still have 2 months to go before I'm buying, so I'll wait it out.

That's just my point. Gaming @ lowest settings and still then you get 20/25 fps. Every single thin & light laptop that Asus has (see asus world magazine may/june 2010) is fitted with a 310m geforce card. Not everyone is interested in gaming on such a laptop. So why fit it on every single laptop.
I mean, the i series has a good enough built in gpu. Even for hd video.


I keep following this forum/topic and will get back in a month or two.

 

Oh. I didn't realize that. I thought its palm rest & trackpad were like the UL30Vt. Then I've three quick questions:

1) Is your trackpad dimpled with little bumps or smooth brushed aluminum?

2) So does your UL30Jt look like the U30Jc? (you can see photos of the U30Jc on Amazon or any review.)

3) Also, does your UL30Jt have an internal DVD drive?

Thanks!

 

Nope. Not meant to be sarcastic in the least. I was actually serious.

I meant, by your reply, you had done your homework and reading on the models. You don't need our battery life measurements/guesses.

 

OK Well you were right, I've been looking/reading for a few months now. Like many, I need a good portable laptop for college next year. Here in the netherlands they only sell the ul30a (which is 'outdated', meaning asus has an renewing addiction ) and the ul30jt.

After looking on the internet I found out that the VT model is, looking @ amazon, just a few bugs more. This model is in my opinion better than the ul30a. Less plastics etc. This one is on top of my list now. No brand can beat asus in battery/looks imho.

Looking @ the world magazine I think the JT would be the most likely candidate to replace the ul30(a and vt) because it has the UM cpu's. Looking @ the 520um review the battery is much lower, so I'm wondering what the i3 will do. A better/newer model is always much more fun (gadget freak mode )

Well, lets hope asus will bring us much more new cool stuff so prices will drop on the older models and we can see some reviews and compare.

 

Well, the UL30A is a very different notebook since it doesn't have the discrete graphics chip option. The discrete chip with dedicated VRAM along with the Intel HD IGP chip makes the VT+JT options faster in many things.

Because the JT will most likely be $200 MORE than the VT here in the US, the discussion here is whether the faster i5-520UM (in the US) is worth the extra $200 compared to the VT's SU7300. The discrete 210M+310M are nearly identical and the VT's SU7300 C2D does very well.

Some don't feel the extra is worth it.

But pricing in the Netherlands will typically be very different. Is there a big price difference in Holland between the VT & JT models?

As for battery, reading reviews, it sounds like if you oc the i5-520UM, you will get similar battery drain to the U30Jc's i3-350M: over 7 hrs with WiFi on, brightness at 50%, and no flash video or movies. Just Office apps.

The VT is rated (and has gotten in testing) over 12 hrs. The JT is rated for over 10 hrs. So there is a good 15-20% battery life loss for the JT compared to the VT.

 

Both prices

This is the ul30a with the bigger battery (up to 1000 min. on a german site ). They are hard to come by lately, but you can get one for 640/650 euro's. It's a 250+ euro difference, which i'm not willing to pay.
The VT model isn't for sale here, but looking @ amazon, the price difference is only about 30 or 40 bugs or so. That's not much for less plastics and better grapics (and not loosing battery life) US prices are much lower than they are here... If I get the VT I'll buy it on amazon or something like that... saves me almost 100 euro's (hoping that customs will look the other way )

I'm hoping the JT with the i3 will be better prices and will deliver the promised 10 hours, although I doubt that very much. Also I wonder if that model will be comming to us here in the Netherlands. We'll wait and see.

 

1. It is not dimpled like UL30VT or the way Asus post on their website. It looks like this: http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8857/p1020650l.jpg

I think these small squares are a lot better than the small circles on the UL30Vt, and I have tried both.

2/3) No it looks like a black UL30VT.

Ps. The UL30JT has the biggest battery in the series. It has a 5800 mAh battery while the biggest battery in the other UL's is 5600 mAh.

 

Oh, that was really helpful. Thanks!

So, the palm rest & trackpad are brushed black aluminum like the U30Jc except the track pad has little squares in it?

Do you or others have pictures of the UL30JT posted any where?

 

Hi, what's the differences between UL30Vt-a1 and UL30Vt-a2 ?. Despite of the larger number, the A2 in amazon is a bit cheaper.

 

I'm not sure there is a UL30VT-A2 for sale. Amazon doesn't list it. Where are you finding a UL30VT-A2 model?

There *IS* a UL30 A-A2: it has no discrete graphics (it only has the Intel HD IGP chip) and no bluetooth (the UL30VT-A1 has both.) It has the 12-hr, 5600mAh battery & is silver like the UL30 VT-A1.

In the UL30 VT line: the A1 is silver and has the 12-hr, 5600mAh battery. The X1 is black and has a weaker 10-11-hr, 4400mAh battery.

The UL 80VT is the one that offers us (in the US) A1 & A2 versions that are reversed: the A1 model is black and the A2 model is silver and they BOTH have the 12-hr, 5600mAh battery.

Confused yet?

 

I didn't find a UL30VT-A2. Are you referring to the UL30-A2? In that case, it's missing the discrete graphics card.

Amazon DOES have 2 versions of the UL30VT-X1 now, one with kindle software, and one without.

As far as i've found, there's still only 1 version of the UL30VT-A1 (and no A2)

 

ah you are right, I misread it, lol