Asus UL30JT

Good points and valid needs. In your shoes, I'd get the U35Jc as well. And it helps prepare for future needs. Too bad it doesn't have USB 3.0.

Download it and see. It gives you real time info on you CPU speed, BUS, BIOS, mem & GPU, etc. Most use it to see the actual speed the processor is running at at any given time.

In the US, GenTechPC & XoticPC have the U35Jc (the i3-370M, 2.4 GHz version) for pre-order for $819 (no tax & free shipping) w/ 4GB RAM & 500 GB HDD, though with no bag or other accessories. They sell an external slim DVD drive for an extra $19.

 

the price/value difference in this case is so marginal, i didn't bother mauling over it =P

 

I must be missing something here.

$819 vs $1,050 ($231 diff) is marginal? Do you feel your i5 is that much more valuable? What i5 processor does it have?

 

i5 450m. u gotta remember, if i buy it in canada, they'll slap on sales tax, or if i buy it in the states, it'll have to be shipped/clear customs

 

LOL Dude! U cracking me up...... A bit true though...( I mean the Oatmeal story)

 

all credits go to the artist. i'm just a guy who ctrl+c and ctrl+v

 

Hey, everyone. Did you notice that the UL30JT is up for sale over here at Amazon. .... though it lists as being presently out of stock.

Oops ... my bad. It was already posted here on July 11th. I should have done a search first.

 

It's been there for a week now I guess. Somebody mentioned it somewhere it this thread.

 

i think i might end up getting the UL30VT and save the cash for a SSD, for ~$200, it'll probably be a better upgrade... VT is only 637 at micro center (out of stock currently), might get lower before the summer is over, hopefully!

 

Hey everyone. I have a small admission and retraction to make. Earlier, I had said that the new NVIDIA Optimus Beta drivers 258.96 had caused me to lose 400 points.

I was wrong. I DID lose 400 points, but I finally discovered why. It was because a few days earlier, I had messed with my boot up settings (I'm sure none of you ever mess with any of your settings :wink: ) and forgotten about it.

I had reverted back to the original NVIDIA drivers, but the missing points .... remained missing. Then under CPU-Z, I realized it was only reporting 1 core & 2 threads (should be 2 cores & 4 threads.)

EMbarassed, I suddenly remembered my changes under boot of msconfig.

I changed it back to what it was originally, and voila! My missing 400 points magically returned.

So, just to say that the new NVIDIA Optimus Beta drivers 258.96 work realy well for me on my U30Jc.

 

Was "temporarily unavailable" earlier today, but now in stock at Amazon.

 

I thought I posted this, but it disappeared.

Anyone know when the U35JC is going to release? I am leaning towards that, but I can't find a release date anywhere. If it is not coming out for another month or so then I am going to get the UL30VT-A1.

 

What has better power consumption: The i3 330um (which has graphics + chipset on die) or the previous generation which has SU + intel IGP

 

If, by that question, you mean the UL30JT (i3-330UM) vs the UL30Vt (SU7300), the Vt is still the winner in battery life. The JT gets about 20% less battery life if both have the 5600mAh battery.

 

Maybe I've missed it in the hundreds of pages so far in this thread, but can anyone give a concise summary of how much additional processing power you get in exchange for that 20%? How much more powerful is the 330UM and the 310m than the hardware in the VT-A1?

 

Not sure. You need to read various benchmark reviews to see the results. When you say "processing power", it's unclear how you'd define that. PCMark Vantage? Dhrystone/Whetstone? SuperPI? What test are you thinking of?

The i3-330UM is 1.2GHz. Turbo33 pushes it to 1.6; very close to the SU7300's 1.7GHz o'ced.

It DOES have more power due to 2 cores/4 threads compared to the VT's 2 cores/2 threads.

Perhaps THIS is what you're looking for?

The SU7300 ranks #208. FSB: 800 MHz. Dhrystone/Whetstone: 11,679 / 9,118. SuperPI32=1,830
The i3-330UM ranks #206. FSB 2500 MHz. .... but no benchmarks yet run on it. (Though I think they're not using FSB any more on the newer i-processors)

They seem pretty similar in performance here.

I think 3DMark06 tests on the UL30JT placed it very close in performance to the VT (3354 0n the JT and 3400 on the VT). You'll have to look up any hands-on reviews you can find of the UL30JT (not a lot) and then compare any benchamrks with similar tests on the VT to get a clearer comparison.

I'll add, after reading P0int's post below, I completely agree with him. The benefits are small compared to the price difference. I'd either get the UL30VT or, for the same price as the UL30JT, I'd get the U35JC.

 

Looking at specs alone i would SPECULATE that on real world usage i3330UM and SU7300 are nearly identical in performance.

310M and 210M are nearly identical in performance maybe +/- 100-200 3dmark06 score which is fairly insignificant.

The key difference between the two models is going to be optimus
Also in addition to weaker battery life, the ul30jt currently lacks BT which the ul30vt has.

If i were to get a ul30jt id wait for at least the i5-520um but looking at starting prices (850ish) if a i5-520um model does come out it will likely be 100 more at 950ish thus making it not worthwhile at all over the 600-700 ul30vt.

 

i believe the main difference between the endurance is from nvidia optimus. the vt has manual switching so you can toggle off your discrete graphics card completely (no ifs, buts, maybes, howevers, or damns), whereas jt has auto switching which can turn on your discrete every now and then.

 

Damn.....JT looks very good......I know mine has superior battery life, but all black new core i um cpu JT is waving @ me....

 

Now, howard, calm yourself. Beyond the black color, what improvements really does the i3-330UM give you over the SU7300?

Their processors rank about the same on notebookcheck.net (#206 vs 208) & in combination with the 210M/310M, nearly identical scores in 3DMark06.

Any other benefits? Optimus? Was manual switching really all that hard?

I'm just not seeing it. The only waving it's doing to me is "bye-bye".

The real insult is seeing someone else who's just bought a U45Jc with an i3-370M (2.4 GHz) & the 310M. He's getting 3400 in 3DMark06! I get 3700 on my U30Jc without breaking a sweat. I'm wondering if his shaders have been clocked down (clever ASUS. Sell the same GPU but clock down the shaders for battery life? Who'd notice from the average users? After all, a 310M is a 310M.)

 

Voice of reason appreciate it, money saved lol.

 

Notebookcheck just posted their review for the PL30JT, which they seemed to like quite a bit. Read it here.

The laptop received a curiously low 3Dmark score, despite its i5 CULV processor and 310m. Not even 3000!

 

Romanian Review

 

the 310m looks either screwed up or like Quatro said, had something done to them... the win7 index is only 3.3

 

Interestingly, there ARE Optimus-enabled drivers for the UL30VT in the works at the moment. They're being worked on by user Nautis1100 from LaptopVideo2Go forums here.

 

Optimus isn't just software drivers. Do be careful. You can't possibly make the UL30VT run in auto under Optimus. It doesn't have the hardware. It's a manual switch.

Okay, I went to the link site. Nautilus is calling them "Hybrid drivers" meaning updated NVIDIA drivers for the hybrid (dual GPU) systems like UL30VT & UL80VT, not Optimus!

 

Hang on.
Are you saying that a notebook with the i3-5-7 platform will have less battery life than one based on the older Core 2 Duo platform?

 

May I ask what BT is?

 

Yes, i series' TDP is 18w where as su7300's TDP is 10w. Lower the watt, less the power consumption, and more battery life. But they don't make that much difference unless they are at idle.

 

Isn't that a bit simplistic?
I know about their TDP but isn't the iX platform as a whole more efficient by 2-4W when considering no discrete graphics?

 

Anyone else a little concerned about heat dissipation? I just read the PL30JT review as well as the Romanian UL30JT review. Both mention that they can get quite hot under load. The UL30VT is known for being extremely cool, as is the U30JC I believe (looking at you, Quatro). Both the reviews I read had i5 UM processors but I really would have expected them to run very cool.

I know the notebookcheck review only noted extreme tempuratures under max (unrealistic) load, but still, I don't recall the UL30VT ever having heat issues.

I know the U33JC I ordered has a slightly different chassis, so I hope maybe its cooling is more like the U30JC. The worrying thing though is that these two reviews I read dealt with low-voltage CPUs and the U33 has a standard voltage CPU. Perhaps the overclocking really brings on the heat?

 

Yes. It's not a given. But in the case of the UL30JT vs UL30VT, it is a known fact. In fact, with the new family of i-processors, ASUS has been unable to come up with a 13-14" laptop with battery life to even equal the UL30/80VT series.

Bluetooth.

(Where are those pesky electrical engineers when you need them?) The idea was that power would be saved when Intel did away with the Northbridge and moved its functions into the very processor itself. If they moved the IGP graphics directly into the CPU which was a ULV (Ultra-Low Voltage) already, they could increase performance yet keep the watts out the same.

Voila. Faster solution yet same battery life. But in real life, that hasn't proven out that way. Some say it's the Optimus solution using the discrete GPU when not needed (more power consumption). Others feel that the i-series' 2 core/4 thread (4 virtual cores) uses more power than the C2D (Core 2 Duo) 2 core / 2 thread.

Whatever the reason, no i-series ASUS laptop (except for a netbook) is getting the battery life that the UL30VT or UL80VT gets.

 

I must say I am surprised.

I've been holding out for the UL30JT expecting more performance and better battery life.

Better battery life being my prime concern (and the SU7300 enough for my purposes) should I go for the UL30A then (UK)?

 

Honestly, I think one of the high points of my U30Jc is the cooling. I simply can't seem to get the CPU or GPU really hot. It's amazing, esp when you consider this notebook has no air vents or grills whatsoever on the bottom! I've no idea how they did it.

Perhaps it will be like the UL30VT and its incredible (impossible) battery life. Maybe they have yet to come up with a cooler design.

Oddly enough, ASUS seems to not want to repeat this chassis design.

I'd not worry about a problem until it happens. Life has enough worries as it is.

Your U33Jc design IS unique. So you can't compare it at all to the PL/UL30JT body design.

Something similar between the U30Jc & the U33Jc ... more use of aluminum on the upper housing and thickness. (Yours, I think, has lots more aluminum than mine.) Compared to the UL notebooks, ours are quite thick (1.2" & 1.22"). It could be that that extra thickness helps in internal cooling.

Also, when I was taking out my wireless card under my keyboard to have a look-see on antennas yesterday, I did notice all-copper sheeting down by the plastic housing below. That may be how they can have no heat vents on the bottom of my notebook. Let's hope the U33Jc has something similar.

Whatever it is in mine, it works.

Faiakes, if battery life is of primary concern, I'd get the UL30VT. As well, in speed rankings the JT's i3-330UM (no idea what you have in the UK version) at 1.6GHz o'c is about the same as the VT's SU7300 (1.7GHz o'c). I would think the extra 2 threads would help in the JT, if one needed them. But in CPU & 3DMark06 tests, the two notebooks aren't that far apart. Why spend the extra?

Now if power were also a need and you wanted to balance it with battery life (an adequate 7-8 hrs vs an amazing 12 hrs), then I'd suggest the U35Jc or U33Jc with full 2.4GHz i3 or i5 processors. But they are £100's more (probably) than the lowly yet amazing UL30VT.

But why buy the more-limited UL30A? Do they not carry the UL30VT in the UK? The UL30A only has the Intel HD graphics chip. It doesn't have the NVIDIA GPU. Why not dual graphics for when you might need them?

 

That is exactly right. Currently Asus only has the UL30A in the UK and the rumour is that they won't be bringing the UL30JT at all.
In that case they'll be making me a Sony customer (Y series) if the new platform proves more energy efficient.

I don't want any graphics (neither spending the money or the energy). This is going to be a purely web-surfing, cool to hold, video playing machine.

thanks anyway

 

then UL30A will be great for you... or heck, any good netbook will be too.

and quatro, i seriously hope you are wrong about the U35jc's graphics card... lol
i've only asked my dad to set up mine for me atm. all i've noticed is that it is indeed pretty damn fast. i'll ask him to check its temperature sometime.

i'd imagine the U33 would be a beast at staying cool as well. it's asus' "luxury" line afterall. with a price tag like that, they should be using every trick in their bag. i wonder if the bamboo is better at dissipating heat than plastic... lol

 

Temps? I'm not worried about those.

What post of mine are you referring to on the U35Jc's GPU? Where we were taking about the U45Jc's 310M GPU being underclocked? Since the U35Jc is it's 13" brother, then I would imagine the U35's GPU clock has been underclocked as well.

In temps, I'm only saying that ASUS must have had some reason for underclocking the GPU. So if we put it back up to where mine are and leave it there, it would be good to monitor the GPU temp for a bit while or after gaming.

Most likely, it will be fine.

Here's an interesting test, since it sounds like you have the U35Jc. Download 3DMark06 and run it. Tell me/us what your combined and broken-down scores are.

Download GPU-Z and tell us what your default NVIDIA GPU clock speeds are.

Then download & install the NVIDIA System Tools and the latest NVIDIA 310M drivers (at least 257.21). Then you can bring your GPU clock speeds up to my 625 / 790 / 1530 (not really an overclock since the U35's are underclocked, I think) and then run the 3DMk06 test again and tell us what you find.

 

Notebookcheck pl30jt review:
"The waste heat looks hazardous at first sight, but we'd like to point out two things: Due to the warm summer, the room temperature was about 5 degrees higher than usual. And the stress test is also an unrealistic maximum load."

... LOL

i'm concerned that the battery life is attained by clocking down the GPU. but i suppose if that's possible, there should be no harm just clocking it back up to get the performance that i need?

i can probably do the first 2 tests, but the third test will have to wait till i actually get my hands on it

edit: in case u forgot, i ordered my U35jc in taiwan, and it's currently in my dad's possession (in taiwan). i won't get it until early september, but i can ask him to check a few things

edit2: i've found someone's results for U45jc:
http://www.techbang.com.tw/posts/2900-asus-u45jc
if you scroll down you will see the screenshots with the 3Dmark results. they have mentioned that the results are from the integrated GPU and not the discrete nvideo... i guess optimus doesn't recognize the test programs as things that need discrete GPU?

 

Trust me. They didn't get 3379 points on 3DMark06 using the Intel HD integrated graphics.

Still I'd like to find out your GPU's clock, memory and shader speeds on your U35Jc (whenever your dad can find that out), what your score is in 3DMark06 and the three subscores in 3DMark06.

___________________________________________

*Ahem* ... Okay everyone. Please give me some reputation points. I just noticed that I seem to be stuck as "Quatro is a jewel in the rough" when I put my pointer over the rep points area.

Help me out here. I don't want to be stuck as something in the rough.

 

yeah, after some research, the score IS from the 310M gpu, unfortunately.
i'll be busy for the next little while, but i will do it.

... and lol @ your signature. is rep begging allowed here?

 

I didn't notice any rep begging... <whistles>

So, after going through all 105+ pages of this post, it looks like I will be purchasing a UL50VT.

Seems reasonable, and unless someone knows if a UL50JT will be made available before September in Canada, I think I will track one down.

The reason I want a ul50 is exclusively because:
a) it will fit in my bag
b) Ive got 3 accounting courses to go through this year so the number pad will help.
and c) It looks like Optimus is going nowhere fast.

Now, I need to just find a backlit keyboard mod...

 

Your reasoning, PsycSuffix, seems very sound.

The only thing for me was the weight of the 15-inchers (my Dell is 15"), but looking at the specs, yours is 5.1 lbs, not really that much more than my 4.8 lbs 13" U30Jc. My Dell was like 6.6 lbs

I do a lot of accounts and I can say that the 16:9 ratio makes the screen less deep for the width and, in the 13" screen, is just smaller than I'd like for that. The 15" should be perfect for you. ... And I forgot about that included numeric keypad. Not many 15" notebooks have that.

Can you do a backlit keyboard mod on the 15" with the numeric keypad? Just the standard keyboard like in the UL30/80VT? Awesome. I saw a YouTube video once on what the various locations were to draw power for that mod on the UL notebooks.

Begging for rep? Yea, pretty pathetic. ... It's just that my ego is crushed being stuck as a jewel in the rough. That's very hard on a deity (apparently godhood was bestowed on me in the last month.) If I were a mere mortal, such things wouldn't matter so much. Omnipotence is such a heavy weight to bear. With great power comes ... yadda, yadda.

 

laptop mods - when there's a will, there's a way...

lol, quatro, lol...

 

Well, Quattro, Im still as of yet unsure of a backlit keyboard mod for the 50s. Seems like ASUS only offers replacement keys in the 30/80 size.

Now, my only predicament is where to buy it.

ASUS UL50VT-A1 - Price Comparison - Canada's Cheapest Prices

NCIX is my store of choice, but they dont carry any non bilingual models anymore. And Im not sure if I want to wipe away fingerprints every 10 minutes with a black model, silver would be best.

Do I just bite the bullet and go down to the UL80VT? is it really a big deal not having the number pad? 4.4 lbs, slimmer, backlit keyboard mod, would still fit in my bag...
Although apparently, same price.

Asus Notebook UL80VT-A2 - Price Comparison - Canada's Cheapest Prices

(Sigh.)

Anyone have any recommendations on any of those retailers? BestDirect in particular?

 

You'd sacrifice the numeric keypad (calculations, remember) and the larger screen (lots & lots of spreadsheets in those classes) all for a hoped-for backlit keyboard mod that you have to jury-rig as it is anyway and even then the keyboard light can never be turned off.

Is it really worth the trade off? Practical vs aesthetic.

 

BUT ITS SO PRETTY.

Kidding, of course.

Good points all around.
Plus, French isn't that bad...

 

just got my UL30JT

 

I5 and a 640GB HDD, nice

Why does it say UL30J for the model? This isn't another BB knockoff is it? ha

 

from Amazon ?

I preordered from xoticpc, it's still in preorder state what the hell

 

I think he's ouside of the US. Taiwan perhaps.

The US version will have the i3-330UM processor. And it will read "UL30Jc".