New 11.6-inch Sandy Bridge Asus U24E

Updates
- Added a hands on video of mine.
- More pics (Nov 7)
- Added a few more pics (Nov 5) taken from a user
- US Model may have Core i7, see this post
- Added a few more pics
- The first video is out! (added at bottom)

I've been waiting years for Asus to release a new mid-range 11.6-incher! They've just announced a new 11.6-inch Sandy Bridge notebook today, to be released this week (5 Nov). It's the Asus U24E.

- 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 (most likely glossy)
- Core i5-2430M processor + Intel HD 3000 gfx
- 4GB of RAM (DDR3-1333, 2x SO-DIMM slots)
- 750GB HDD
- 2 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0 sleep and charge (USB Charger+)
- HDMI, D-Sub
- 0.3MP webcam
- 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Card reader (up to SDXC)
- headphone / SPDIF out and mic jacks
- 6.8 hour battery
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- Altec Lansing speakers
- Available in Silver
- 291 x 207 x 27.6 mm size
- 1.5 kg weight

Costs 59,800 yen, which I guess might be around $550. (Don't look at currency converted price)

Looks like the battery sticks out a bit.
I'd expect a few more CPU / RAM / HDD variations by region, as always.











Nov 5 (from a user):





Nov 6:



Nov 7:



Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eBMVGuBIJE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI_vAizBK58

 

i like this. this just might replace my ul30vt as my work laptop. I wonder when it will come out to the us.

 

I was thinking of getting an Eee PC Transformer, but I like this a whole lot more. Would be a nice system for when I travel, certainly more powerful than the AMD Zacate Eee PC netbooks, especially if this one can be had for about $500.

 

Wow! I am not a big Asus fan, but this is a really nice combination size and power. An I5-2430M in an 11.6" notebook for $500. Why get a low powered UX-21 for $300 more? This combination looks really interesting.

 

I wonder how well the hdmi port can play full 1080p movies. This may turn out to be a good price of a machine for me.

 

I mentioned $500 but looking into the matter it'd more likely be $550 with the same configuration.
Also forgot to mention Altec lansing speakers and one usb is sleep and charge type.

 

HD 3000 graphics with an I5-2430M will play starcraft with decent frames. It will play a 1080p video seamlessly.

 

thank you for the info. As long as it can play my full (uncompressed) bluray rips im good to go. Like to have that option when I need it.

Being that is smaller the my current ul30, this will be at a nice price point.

Need to get more info on this laptop. I wonder when it will be out in the US.

 

60,000 yen is something more like 750-800 dollars sadly

if it really is 500-600 i'd jump on it. i love notebooks around the 11.6-13.3 inch range (exception of alienware, and i like windows more than os x) but most are either crazy expensive (sony), have problems (acer 3830tg) or are very underpowered compared to full i5. oh and the keyboard looks a little strange, but hopefully they change to suit americans more (my main priorities=big shift on left, big enter, big backspace, moderate tab/caps lock)

 

Products are priced according to their market they'll go on sale in and not another country's price / tax rules. Products are way more expensive in Europe, Japan, Australia, the UK and what not. It'll be around $550 or maybe even $599. The U24E is basically "$100" equivalent more than the 1215B with E-350 / E-450 over here (price at launch), which cost $450 in the U.S and about "$650" in Japan. That should translate to about an extra $100 - $150 on top of $450.

Also don't worry about the keyboard - it's a Japanese keyboard and keys are usually significantly smaller as they have to cram more keys onto the keyboard. I'm never a fan of home / insert / end etc. keys vertically aligned on the right edge though, that's likely to make it's way through.

EDIT - On closer inspection, the pictures show some kind of European keyboard.

 

I guess people who buy the UX21 buy it for the design, weight, screen quality and build quality.

I had a UX21 in my hands last week at Frys. It looks amazing. Nothing like the normal plastic laptops.

 

I would get a discounted X220 over this, simply because it has a better screen, better keyboard (likely) and you can add a mSATA SSD for a duat drive laptop. The X220 on discount often dips to about $700.

 

Yeah this looks pretty nice but they were super late on the 12" refresh from the UL20FT. Would have been a natural upgrade from my U20A. I wonder when it will actually go on sale.

 

The X220 sounds good but that deal most likely only applies in the US (Lenovo mostly sells almost exclusively via retail elsewhere) and it'll be an extra $250.

It goes on sale on Nov 5 in Japan, or Nov 6 for you folks in the US. I'd expect a release in the US very soon - Asus has a habit of releasing the mid-range 12-inchers here earlier.

 

returning my hp dm1z now

 

ASUS U24E Manual (PDF, ZIP, 3.5MB)

 

This is the specs for US version:

-U24E-XH71
- Silver
- 11.6" HD (1366*768)
- Intel Core i7-2620M (2.70GHz)
- 4GB DDR3
- Intel GMA HD
- 500GB 5400RPM
- ODD: NA
- W7 Professional (64bit)
- 802.11AGN
- 0.3M Pixel
- Bluetooth 3.0
- 6 Cell Battery
- HDMI
- 1YR Global/1YR Accidental Damage/30-Day Zero Bright Dot/2-way FREE shipping/24-7 tech support

 

Wow, found myself going in a loop looking for info, Engadget picked up this thread earlier today...

Asus outs 11.6-inch U24E in Japan, appeals to bargain i5 hunters everywhere -- Engadget

 

Thanks for the info! While I'm very certain the Core i5 model would have gone for $549 if it were sold in the US, I don't know how much the Core i7 will add on? Any idea how much this would come to?

Guys.. added a couple more pics to the first post and a link to the first YouTube video showing the U24E. I'll paste it here too:

Asus U24E -- filmowy rzut oka PCLab.pl - YouTube

 

Price should be around $800~$900.

 

I hope we can downgrade from Win7pro and the i7 chip. I just think if its going to be that much i would rather get at zenbook. Will see though after this comes out.

 

Asus U24E -- filmowy rzut oka PCLab.pl - YouTube

Simple translation (if anyone is interested what author of this vid had in mind):

-Hi. Today we will test Asus U24E. Because of it's size and hardware packed inside - it is very hard to put this thing into one category.You can call it very powerfull netbook or very small notebook.We get to that futher.

First look and casing.
Top case is made of aluminium, with matt finnish, although fingerprints are still visible.On the fron we have very matt finished plastic part that both holds antennas and resists fingerprints.
Underside there are stereo speakers made by Altec, service door for quick HDD and RAM exchange and 6-cell battery extending a bit out of slim profile.

On the left we have: power socket, heat went, VGA, HDMI and one USB 2.0 port.
on the righ there's: SD card reader, headphones and mic jacks, 2 USB3.0 ports, kensington lock and "expandable-socket" ethernet port.

First what you'll notice after opening the lid is 11.6" screen hold inside rather thick frame.Above screen there is web cam, below there are function key's: power button and energy profile button. Asus has standard chiclet keyboard, function keys are rather useful, you can mute using FN plus proper key.

Clickpad has only one button - and this is glossy one so it gets fingerprints easily. Touchpad sensor i a bit lower than palmrest, giving slight feel of orientation whether our finger is still on the sensor.

What's make this Asus special is core i5 2430M and 8 GB RAM which gives huge difference over Atom or Brazos netbooks. More than 15 browser tabs, or watching 1080p YouTube vids is no issues at all. But there is downside, 6-cell battery will hold only 3 hours when used extesively.

So who will be happy with this machine...?
-for someone who expects very powerfull machine in very small package...
- and can accept lower battery life, compared to other notebooks in this class.
Asus U24E could be very lucrative and interesting proposition for many, only if pricing will be adequate.

 

The i7 has the same 35W TDP, at least.

Thanks for that.

 

Thank you for the translation, Chris.

Added a couple of photos from a user in Japan, to the first post (and below for convenience). Showing the keyboard and a close-up of the battery underneath.





Interestingly, this non-European (Japanese) keyboard lacks the right row of keys (thankfully).

 

Wow! The design is good, specs are excellent and price makes this a WIN!

11.6" mini-powerhouse Would even handle some current and most older games!

 

ugly 'enter', keyboard layout can be better

 

Note the tiny spacebar and multiple modifier keys. It's a Japanese layout.

The European layout will still have a double sized enter key but the USA version will not.

It looks like a brushed finish screen bezel, contrary to the official press pics seen earlier. That's awesome.

 

Here's another pic showing the brushed metal screen bezel (wasn't clear in the video, and yeah those press renders look like they show the usual glossy bezel):

 

I'd instantly buy this if the display wasn't glossy ...

 

Picture of a display model U24e:



Via some Japanese blog.

Same blog shows WEI score of 4.7:

7.0 - Processor
5.9 - Memory (RAM)
4.7 - Graphics
6.2 - Game Graphics
5.9 - HDD

Price suddenly dropped "$50" (5000 yen) on Amazon JP for some reason, so its roughly "$500" now! (55,000 yen) Ordered one.

 

More users are giving their initial impressions:

- The display used is the AU Optronics AUO205C (as seen on the Asus 1101HA, Acer Aspire One 751) so it's pretty average display for a notebook.
- At least initially, no fan noise but the HDD can be heard.
- No keyboard flex
- L shaped AC connector
- Aluminium lid / palmrest (as opposed to the fake plastic type)
- Access panel for HDD and 2x RAM slots
- Touchpad feels better than on the UL20A / UL20FT. Button is softer to press.
- Power button is hard to press

Via 2Ch (Japanese)

 

Underside showing storage slot, 2x RAM slots and Wi-Fi card:





Another close up shot of the inside:



Side view showing off those 2x USB 3.0 ports are oh-so rare on this form factor and price segment:



Via: 2Ch

 

I just bought this notebook for myself and, after formatting and installing an English copy of Windows 7, I can't get bluetooth to work again. Does anyone know which driver should be installed for the bluetooth module?

 

@kaworu1986 what's the wifi chipset, maybe it's integrated BT? There is an azurewave BT driver here:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download U24E

@frychiko thanks for the pics and more info!

 

I'm pretty sure when you use the ASUS recovery partition, you can choose what language you want, no need for a clean install?

 

You can't change the language interface of Windows unless you have Ultimate Edition, or unofficially enable it with Vistalizator for Home Premium Edition (which the laptop has). In his case, a clean install of English W7 was not needed nonetheless.

 

I think he means when you first do the ASUS recovery, when setting up windows for the first time, you can choose between languages preinstalled for your region. For example, Spanish, English, Chinese. Most people who clean install do so as a personal preference, though...

 

Oh right. I can't speak for other countries but I've never seen a laptop offer those options here in Japan. In the case where there was an option, it has just changed the language during the recovery process.

 

Anyways, back to the U24E. One issue currently in discussion is Wi-Fi strength, which according to one user is a bit weak (user wishes it had more antennas).

 

Yes unfortunately it seems to be an Atheros AR9285 based AzureWave combo card called AW-NB037H. Since it is a two antenna card it shares one for Wi-Fi diversity and bluetooth.

 

Those guys that have this laptop already, where did you buy it?
Im living in Sweden and Asus Sweden have no clue what so ever, so i think ill have to get it from somewhere else

So post your links if you want to help

 

So far it is only selling in Japan, and appears to be coming soon to Poland according to a Polish shop that posted a hands on video on YouTube earlier. Even then, there's no sign of any product page up yet. Given that Japan gets the 11-12 inch sized laptops earlier than the US (as has been with the UL20A, UL20FT), you can expect this out soon in the US as well, and one poster (owner of a store) already posted US specs showing a Core i7 model. I don't know about Sweden.

 

Thanks for the info, nobody knows about Sweden hehe, not even the retailers it seems. But i can travel to poland by boat and shud only cost me like 40$, pretty much half of the postal fee etc . Just to wait and see i guess where it becomes available first.

 

Considering how much crap comes installed with the system, I'd say a clean install was very much needed
BTW, for future reference, I tried installing the Azureware driver from the Asus website and Bluetooth started working.
Unfortunately, however, a new problem presented itself: the Crucial M4 SSD I just bought isn't being recognized in the BIOS. Thinking the drive was a lemon, I tossed it in my external SATA enclosure, and to my amazement it works there. Does anyone have any idea why this may be happening?

 

Oh yeah, bloatware crap - sure I understand. Sorry I can't help with the SSD stuff, don't know what's going on there.

 

Try flashing the latest firmware.

 

Hey guys I have to be very quick right now, because I have to go to a dinner and I am already late, but I got my hands on a U24E and I started an owners lounge here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...es/624121-asus-u24e-review-owners-lounge.html

I will post a review when I get back.

 

AllurGroceriecs, are you able to tell us how much you got the laptop for?