U1 - Optical Drive "Optional"? - No 9-cell?

You're kidding me, right? $2200 and the optical drive is "Optional"??? No 9-cell battery?? Only 4 hours off the 6 cell?? With a 1.0 Ghz ULV, an 11" screen, and a 1.8" HD????

Well, scratch that off the list of potential Z33 replacements along with the V2 and its ""wonderful"" battery life. I'd get > 4 hours off a 6-cell if I had one....

If Asus keeps up these ****ty models (or Asus NA keeps importing ****ty configurations), I won't be able to buy from them again...

Standard 3-cell battery and optical drive, optional 9-cell, how @#$@#$@#$#@ hard is that???

I swear I'd rather Core Duo and Core 2 Duo and Vista not even exist. Every model in the current lineup is a step backwards in terms of battery life erformance compared to the Pentium M, and NO ONE has been willing to call Asus out on the BS.

 

Just a question, have you seen 11" notebook prices recently?

 

Well they won't sell me a 12" regular ratio any more, so what would you suggest that I do? 13.3" is larger/heavier. The closest thing to a 12" regular ratio is an 11.1" widescreen.

I don't care about the price, I care that if I'm going to pay $2200 for a laptop, the least they could do is throw in a freaking optical drive and offer the correct size of batteries. The S5 came with its optical drive, and they offered the correct sizes of batteries - whats so hard about that?

And... 4 hours on a 6 cell with an 11.1" screen and a 1.0 Ghz ULV is ****TY battery life compared to other 11.1" models.

 

The battery life, true, it's pretty bad, I'd expect 7+ hours, but considering the specs on it, pretty much the aesthetic and others, like LED backlighting, the 2.6lbs with a 6 cell, stainless steel frame, leather wristrests, black glossy piano lid finish. I guess they had to make sacrifices somewhere to fit all that within 2.5lbs.

 

Sacrifices??? Like putting a huge resistor in the notebook somewhere to make it suck down battery on purpose?

Because that seems to be what Asus has done with many of the recent models.

I think that the fancy LED backlight uses MORE energy then a regular CCFL.

 

I believe that price you are quoting includes an external SuperMultiDrive (DVD+/-RW). I remember asking this question to Justin of ProPortable, and that's what he said. There is going to be a Blu-Ray drive as an optional upgrade.

Remember, you pay for 1.78kg. It's featherlight and sleek. It's obviously not in everyone's price range.

 

Even if the optical drive is included (which I doubt, because it's not mentioned anywhere on the description on Newegg.com), the battery life is still abysmal.

Just like every other Core 2 Duo / Vista model.

 

Go Pentium M w00t

 

The DVD-RW drive is included. I get more than 4 hours on my U1.

 

Where did you hear of it not coming with an optical drive? All U1/U1Fs come with an external slim DVD burner drive powered directly by the notebook. All come with a 3 and 6 cell battery. I think a 9 cell should be available as an option but it would also detract from the extreme slimness of the U1.

And yes, it is expensive but in line with the really only other 11.1" notebook, the Vaio TX series, look at their prices and they are still stuck at Core Solo whereas the S6F/S6Fms have Core Duo and Core 2 Duo and the U1s have Core Duo.

The entry Vaio TXN model, the TXN25N is also $2200 roughly and the Asus has 1.5 gigs of ram versus the 1 gig in the TXN, Core Duo ULV versus Core Solo, the hard drive is easily accessible on the bottom of the U1 unlike the TXN that you have to take apart. The TXN does trump the Asus by battery life and that the optical drive is included (though that can be a plus or neutral to some, depending on how important thinness is to you.)

I would like to add that I simply don't see why everyone is so excited about LED screens, I have seen Vaio TXs with these screens and they are quite crisp and bright, but despite everyone who says they have better color reproduction, I've found them to have actually worse, for instance a dark green on my Vaio TX looks like a bright lime green instead for instance.

I don't see the fuss in LED screens, nothing that great, I'm totally indifferent to it, not a big deal at all really, TRUST ME.

I do agree the U1 should have better battery life as its status of being a very slim ultraportable.

 

The TX also happens to be around $3000, compared to $2200 for the Asus.

 

That depends on the model, so far, there is only one model of the U1F available but currently three of the latest Vista TXNs, the TXN25N (TXN25N/B,TXN25N/W), TXN27N (TXN27N/B, TXN27N/W and TXN27N/T) and TXN29N (TXN29N/L, the TXN29 runs closer to $3000, about $2800 I think is its MSRP but I have found a seller on Ebay selling it for $2400.

The entry model, TXN25, has the MSRP of $2200 the same price of the current Asus U1, so the Asus is not overpriced relatively.

 

Well it's listed as "Optional" on the Proportable.com, and Newegg (which is very good about taking pictures of *everything* in the box) doesn't mention/show it anywhere.

 

I've only heard of them coming with an external DVD burner drive.

 

Fujitsu P7230. If you configure it right, you will get a modular (removable) DVD-DL +-RW drive and amazing battery life + LED display for under $2000 CAD.

The catch: Windows Vista Basic and 10.6" slightly lower resolution screen.

 

Yes, but that's the only exception.

 

I'm waiting too, Jumper. The Fujitsu P7230 is a definite option - I guess we can wait for the C30 customizable and see. I highly doubt that will come out to a high battery life configuration, its going to run a standard Conroe processor right?

 

As far as I know the C30 runs a desktop Conroe, with a 65W TDP. So I expect.... 2 hours of battery life on a 6-cell. Maybe. Think P4-M type battery life.

It's really too bad that Asus jumped the shark.

 

I don't know where you got them jumping the shark, they opted for Conroe because those barebones will be out before Santa Rosa. It's a weird choice, since it barely makes any sense.

Them going to Conroe right now does not mean that they will abandon Centrino Pro, if thats where you are getting at.

 

This thread should be dubbed the cribbing thread...vent you complaints against Asus...

1) U1 will have an optical drive, if it doesn't, you get what you pay for. The reality of ultraportables is that no one really 'needs' them so the markup should be significant.
2) If Asus makes any changes to their line, they are the best businesspeople. Think about it - their livelihood depends on making good decisions. If they used Conroe, it's for a reason. I don't think it was simply a stupid move. This isn't to say that companies can't make poor choices, they just won't make bad major decisions (like messing with a major notebook line)

 

Making an entire line of models that runs hot and has 0 battery life is not what I call a good decision.

Neither is releasing two extremely high-end Ensembles with unacceptable battery life.

 

I think you're on drugs. On my Gateway ultraportable laptop, I'm getting roughly 4 hours on a 6 cell battery. Then again it really depends on what kind of applications you're using and whether you have wifi on. As what some people have said, there will be a optical drive included.

I'm glad that the optical drive is not integrated as I rarely use the external drive for my ultraportable. Not only would an integrated drive would have increased the weight, but also drain the battery faster too.

 

With a laptop that has the optical drive integrated, you could always disable it no?

 

Yes you can disable it but it still draws power. Even if you disable it in the Bios (if allowed) it would still draw power. If disabled in Windows the SATA/IDE controllers are still aware of it and talking to it. Unless you have a hard off switch on the drive itself it will always draw power when the system is turned on.

 

From the other U1 thread:

So no, there is no burner on the U1F in the US. I'm guessing it'll be about $190 extra.

 

My question on the battery is physically how big it is. If you make a laptop smaller, you have to either get rid of components (like the DVD drive), or you have to make them smaller as well. So, what does a 6-cell battery for U1 mean? Does it have porportional amount of power as a 8-cell battery for a V6j? If so, I would expect a ton of battery life, but I suspect that they aren't the same because of issues like size, and weight. The V6j weighs 2.55 Kg, the U1 weighs 1 Kg. Granted, the V6j is larger overall, but there is only so much that you will get rid of, and with the heaviest individual component being the battery, they will have to get rid of weight there. I wouldn't be at all surprised if half of the U1 weight is the battery, so I wouldn't complain so much about its "terrible" battery life.

 

You could also take a look at the LG A1, even though it's more expensive, it has a dual core processor + NVIDIA graphics chip in an ultraportable, a 10.6" screen, and an included external optical drive. The weight is 2.2 lbs with the standard battery. I don't know if it's available in the US though... it's available in Canada for about $2400 US.

The battery life is on par with the U1 I think, but that's because of the NVIDIA graphics.

http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/a1expressdual.jhtml

 

How come there isn't much specs on the A1?

 

they have it at milestonepc.com for 2600 us

 

Not to upset anyone but the UK version of the U1 has 3 & 6cell batteries & DVD Super Multi (not Blue-Ray due to cost) included as standard.
However saying that the full retail cost is £1499 around $2800 (cheapest £1350 or $2540)

I guess for once we look like we're getting a good deal (normally not the case).