N81VP-d2 VS UL80VT-A1

Okay so i've been reading countless posts about people who keep asking for the closest thing they can get to a "gaming" rig in the 14" range. The response 99.9% of the time always seems to be that no matter what you buy you won't be able to get something worth your while and that if you wanted a gaming machine that you should bump up to the 15" scene. Recently I came across the UL80VT-A1 and wow was I just blown away. Mainly because it the UL series seems to border that of the netbook and notebook. Not only does it hold a supper small form factor it includes dedicated graphics, optical drive and a whopping battery life of up to 10+ hours! I almost pulled the trigger on this machine because it just about fits what I want. I have a HP mini, a older 12" MSI notebook with integrated graphics and a pretty beefy gaming desktop..Now, I want something portable that will allow me to game that is in between my Mini and MSI. When I say game i'm not talking Crysis full throttle i'm talking TF2/L4D2 at a smooth frame rate and decent graphics. The Nvidia G210M 512mb card in the UL80VT seems as if this is something that it could maybe handle.., but it almost seems borderline. Today I just happened to come across the N81VP-D2. I googled and googled and couldn't come close to finding the amount of feedback on the N81VP as I could on the UL80VT. This surprises me because the N81VP-D2 has specs that blow the UL80VT out of the water while still being in the 14" range and only about .5" thicker. Why is this? I don't know and that is why i'm asking you folks. The only given I see is that the battery life on the N81VP will obviously come nowhere near the UL80VT, however i'm still reading you can pull a few hours off of it while not running full throttle. Why is noone else talking about this machine? 14", 2.8ghz T9600 C2D and a 1gb HD4650 gpu?? And its only like 250$ more? Everyone keeps asking for the portable gaming laptop. This IS it!

 

It looks like the N81Vp-D2 is the exact same thing as the D1, except with Windows 7 (64 Bit)...what's so special? Buy.com has the N81-Vp-D1 for $899 so hop on that if you're so crazy about the D2.

 

apparently, you only read the title joebangaa?

 

I can't answer your question with any type of authority. However, for what it's worth, here's my perspective:

I suppose it depends what you're looking for. If performance is a higher priority than mobility/battery/thickness/weight (given that the systems are otherwise similar), then the N81VP outshines the UL80Vt quite easily with 1.76x the 3dmark06 score.

However the larger market at this moment may prefer the UL80Vt mobility features over the 76% hike in graphics performance that the N81VP offers. I know, I certainly do.

I personally couldn't trade 1" thickness, 0.6 pounds, 12 hr battery for 76% increase in gaming performance, considering that the majority of my usage time is *not* playing games. But then, I'm not a hardcore mobile gamer. If mobile gaming was a priority, I might skip this machine altogether and get a proper gaming laptop.

}:^)~

 

Well mostly cause you already touching the pricetag of the G51/G60 that will tear down the N81, i know 14'' vs 15.6, but if you want it for gaming might as well just take the extra size. For me the UL80VT dont shine in gaming, and it shouldnt, its more a great portable laptop with huge battery life. Now the UL30VT... mmmm yummy stuff.

 

I have the N81VP-D2 and it is fast. Probably one of the faster 14" mobile notebooks out there. I use it for gaming and for schooling. And so far it has been good on both. If you want something that is strictly for mobile gaming I would probably go for something else. I choose the N81 because I wanted a 14" and wasn't planning on using it to play strictly games, that's why I bought a console so I can play games.

 

What games have you been playing on it? I do 75% of my PC gaming on my desktop, but when I go to a friends house its a lot easier to take a laptop rather than my whole desktop rig. I use to take my little 12" MSI, but i'd have to drop my settings way down and still wasn't pulling a proper framerate. The most demanding game I am playing right now would be Dragon Age: Origins. I'm curious how it would run on the UL80VT vs the N81VP. I am also a 3d Animation major so having a machine that would allow me to do my Maya homework on the go would be nice. What sort of battery times are you getting on your N81VP, XP_One?

And I can understand why a lot who are looking for the gaming laptop would opt for a 15" screen, but I am still quite surprised that I haven't seen many people with the N81. The 14" first the 15.6" makes a big difference for me in my backpack as well as the weight. The UL30VT seems to be the same as the UL80VT with a little bit smaller screen and no optical drive, yes?

Thanks you all for the responses.

 

I'm playing Dragon Age right now, I have the settings set to medium and so far it's been playing smoothly. I could probably increase the quality up some more, but it doesn't really bother me where it's at right now. One thing I have to note is that, the N81VP-D2 comes with an HD 4670 instead of a 4650, but for some reason the HD 4670 has been downclocked to run at HD 4650 speeds. I've compared my GPU-z results with another users HD 4650 results. Clock speed is the same, except the HD 4670 has a faster memory clock speed not by much, but faster. You could just overclock the HD 4670 to where it should be and I'm sure it'll be fine.

I've only ran the N81V on battery once and it was still set to high performance and according to the battery indicator in windows it was saying 2.25hrs remaining at 99%. I'm sure if you tone down the performance you could probably get more battery power.

 

Next time you sit down to play a session of Dragon Age you should unplug it without adjusting any brightness settings and see what you get out of it!

 

I'd say Vaio CW is much better laptop than N81VP. Although N81VP does have faster GPU. But CW is more sleek, even though it is not particularly a sleek laptop - N81 is way too bulky for 14 inch laptop. CW is way better looking, more aggressively priced, and have better battery life. Honestly, I don't see any reason to choose N81Vp over CW now (note: N81 appeared long before CW did).

Vaio CW: 13.44"(W) x 1.09-1.52"(H) x 9.18" @ 5.3 lbs
Asus N81VP: 13.5" x 1.5" x 10.1" @ 5.5 lbs

On the other hand, UL80VT is a great laptop - inexpensive, very portable, great battery life, and decent performer.

BTW, I am sure N81VP (or Vaio CW, for that matter) can run Dragon Age on high...

 

The Sony Vaio CW seems to be the N81VP, but with the graphics card of the UL80VT-A1. I actually just set one of those up for a computer illiterate friend, but didn't have the chance to try and game on it. Just by looking at the specs you listed though it seems like it is not that much slimmer? I've never owned a Asus nor a Sony, but have heard poor feedback on Sony machines. Any input on that?

 

I probably won't get into running Dragon Age on battery for a while, but I would assume you would probably get less then 2hrs of battery life. Knowing the fan gets up and loud. Like I said, if you want something strictly for gaming go with something that comes with at least a GTX 260M.

 

Some CW come with GT210 (which is what I think your friend got), others with (somewhat underclocked) GT230. 4650 perform marginally better than GT230 in CW, but GT230 emits less heat and uses much less power, due to smaller process.

CW is .5" slimmer, and has 1" less depth. What I don't like about N81 is its excessive depth, which make it look more like a chassis of slightly shortened 15.4 laptop with 16:9 14.1 LCD, resulting in its huge bezel. Of course, some may not dislike huge bezels as much as I do (for me, CW bezel is borderline "too big", and N81 bezel is unacceptable).

About the quality of Asus vs Sony - well, although Vaio S/C/N aren't the most well-build Sony, I'd say they still are above average, and I'd prefer them over ASUS N/K/F (which, again, are not the most well-build ASUS). ASUS may be bringing N more "upscale" with recent refreshes (while placing K series below N), but N81 is older than these refreshes.

The problem with CW is that the models with Gt230 are hard to find right now, unless you are okay with purple, thanks to great deals they had over black Friday. I'd imagine they will stock Gt230 models with other colors soon, though. You can find the monster thread on CW here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=427692

 

Thank you all for your help. After coming across this article where they cover a whole bunch of different games and how they ran on the UL80VT-A1 I decided that the 210m can handle what I need to do. Sooo I just placed an order for the UL30VT on Amazon and it shall be here on friday..I can't wait!

 

Great tbo! I'm sure you won't be disappointed with this laptop. It's gotten some great reviews all around.

}:^)~