Asus Ul30JC vs Asus Ul80JT

What is the main differences between the two? I'm looking for something portable, yet powerful but not for gaming, maybe for making slideshows, and photo editing here and there and watching movies. I'v always had HP and Mac and i'v been looking at Asus ul30jc and waiting for the ul80jt but i'm sick of waiting for the 80jt and was wondering if I will be better off with the 30jc. I'll be starting school soon, and people say it is to bulky but it doesn't look bulky at all?!?!

 

The UL80JT is going to be slimmer, lighter, and most likely have better battery life. Performance wise the U30JC is going to have better performance because of it's standard cpu. The UL80JT is going to have a ULV processor which is an ultra-low voltage part that has a low clockspeed in favor of low power consumption. I'd say you're going to want the U30JC, only because you start school soon and no one has a clue when the UL80JT will be released. Intel has said it will release the i5 ULV's in Q3 but no concrete dates on that nor when Asus will be ready with the UL series.

 

Other than screen size (U30JC 13.3" to UL80JT 14"), main difference I guess is UL80JT has an ULV processor, albeit boosted with Asus's Turbo33 feature. U30JC lacks an optical drive. I believe the UL80JT also has 1GB VRAM compared to the U30JC's 512MB.

As you mentioned, a huge difference is that the U30JC is actually available now. No word yet on the UL80JT. Given that Asus presented it at CES in Jan, you'd have thought we'd have it available or at least some news by now...

 

WRONG! Just realised. Lack of sleep...

 

Is the JT worth waiting for or should I just go for the 80vt-a1? The JC is what i'm leaning towards but how much thicket and heavier is it from the 80jt? which i'm assuming will be the same weight at the vt?

 

UL80JT/VT:

Dimensions: 338 x 240 x 14-26.8mm
Weight: 2kg

U30JC:

Dimensions: 328 x 238 x 20-29.9mm
Weight 2kg

Whether the JT is worth waiting for depends on when it'll be released. If you definately need one before school, may as well play it safe and go for the JC. But if you can hold out, at least until a release date is announced, might be worth it.

 

Thank you for all your help, do you think the JT will have the same build quality as the VT? That's why I didn't get the VT was the build quality. I heard the JC has good build quality. I'm just not sure which one yet, I have a Hp 2700 right now and I'm happy with it, but I figured with the jc it will be more portable and have a much better battery life. My HP only gets 2-3 hours.. and it drives me CRAZY! JC is 8 hours right?

 

I own a UL80Vt that was built in December 09. It's build quality is just fine. No keyboard flex or "pinging" keys unless you just beat on them. No palmrest creaks either. The slick, dimpled touchpad took some getting used to but after I updated the drivers it works great. All in all, I am quite pleased with it. The battery lasts forever on integrated graphics and 2-4 hrs on the Nvidia GPU. It never gets hot either. Granted, there may have been some early ones that had problems, but it has apparently been sorted out.

 

I actually was about to start a new-thread on this but I have a similar question. Should I get the U30JC now or wait for the UL80JT?

About me: recent college graduate and not in a rush to buy right away, though my current big laptop (a 15" Dell Inspiron) is running a bit too hot to be enjoyable not to mention that the battery life pales in comparison to my netbook. I bought an EEE PC 1000HE while in school and absolutely love it but want an additional computer with more screen real-estate and power. Not looking to use it for games but like having that option available just in case. I'm fine with a 13.3" or 14" screen but don't want to go over that. I was thinking of getting the UL80Vt but once I heard about the UL80JT I decided to hold out, especially since I'm not in a huge rush to get a new notebook. Suggestions?

Oh and I really like the grooved touchpad of the Vt and as much as I'd love to have that feature, it's not a dealbreaker. Same with an optical drive.

I figure most would recommend waiting for the UL80JT then no?

 

My suggestion is: wait if you can and will. At least until some reviews on UL80JT pop up. And go to a local store, and take a look at both models in real. You'll save some money by waiting anyway. Another suggestion would be: buy U30JC now so you don't have to bother about hardware for a year or two.
PS. I enjoyed reading a rare post written in good English. ))

 

Thanks MCVla! I figured I should wait. Sine you have the U30JC, can you tell me about the fan? is it loud? And how's the webcam? The EEE's webcam's not to great.

 

Yes, I'd like to know about the webcam too! I asked but no one bothered to answer

 

The longer you wait before getting a laptop, the better deal you'll get. Always. Computer prices don't rise with time, they fall (with an occasional blip due to supply issues). Your $900 today will buy less than the $900 in 4 months, and unless you're getting the absolute top of the line in hardware, will be overshadowed by something faster, cheaper, smaller in 6 or 7 months anyways.

 

The fan noise appears to be quite tolerable even at high load. At casual load the system noise is barely audible. I installed a game to check the noice at high load. Well, the noise became quite audible, but it remained white - like loud whisper. No pitching tone that had been reported on some systems with more demanding graphic capacities. However, I can tell from my previous experience that most notebooks tend to become noisier with age. They gather dust, and the fan's bearing loosens.

As for the WebCam. If you care about it, you'd better consider something else. ASUS keep installing low-end 0.3Mpixel camera on most of their portable models. The exception is bamboo U33-U53 series. Or ACER 3820TG/4820TG might have a better camera. Don't know about other manufacturers. I personally see no point in a good camera on a notebook.