U30JC discussion thread

Your results seem reasonable, but the advantage you get would depend on how much you watch flash movies. If you're going to watch a couple of hours of Hulu content on a specific day, it would make a big difference.

 

Ofcourse. But playing more demanding content will always raise your consumption. That's why you should always change your behaviour when you really need a long battery runtime. It just shows that situation where you are trying to be as energy efficient as possible, but still need to do some power demanding tasks here and there while running on the battery.

I wouldn't watch a movie over the web with my 2hrs F3Sc when I need it at the college later that day

 

At last, some one with education in the matter speaks. (Sorry, lackofcheese, I'm speaking about MY lack of education in matters electrical/electronic. I think you & others are educated as well. ) I think you're correct, GENETX. I was just hoping for a lazy software method of calculation for those of us who can't do the math you just did in your post.

Excellent post. Thank you for your intelligent contribution.

For me, Optimus works quite fine w/o me needing to mess with anything. I was more on a quest to understand why Optimus overrode my choices at times. But it was more of a question of curiosity, not complaint.

If longer battery life was the most important thing to me, I would have bought the UL30Vt or UL80Vt.

What I find humorous is people's drive to have faster processing yet longer battery life. Even on my U30Jc, to gain longer battery life, my notebook steps the processor waaay down (as in 913MHz) which is okay with me, when my biggest need at that time is battery life. At other times, it's processing power. Most of the time, it's a mix.

At this point in time, I don't think we can have it both ways: i.e. "faster, faster," "more flash videos," "games" &. "12 hr battery life". There will be trade-outs whichever way we choose.

 

. . . Indeed!

 

Maybe I can also report some SSD improvements later. I'll be most likely ordering the U30Jc in July or August (wether it is out in Holland, or buy it when I'm in the states this summer). But I can recommend searching the web for some barely used new SSD's. I scored myself 2 128GB Kingston SSDNow V+-series for 175 euros each. Selling price is 279 euros each. The owner didn't upgrade his laptop because his warranty would void.... So they are brand new . I could do some tests on my F3Sc when I've got them here.

 

Doesn't the U30JC use a 5400 RPM drive? An SSD probably won't change power consumption much.

 

Don't think so either when I look at the dissipation in reviews. But one thing that bothers me is the indexing service in Windows Vista / 7. My F3Sc HDD will never idle... That got me a loss of 30 mins compared to Windows XP and Linux! The SSD will probably allow for more idling and thus save some energy.

Still, I didn't buy them for the saving but for the performance.

 

Hey, so apparently around 2 weeks ago the notebook was on tigerdirect and there was a 12.3% BCB deal with it. It is no longer available on tigerdirect right now, is that because they are out of stock or because they aren't going to get it again? Can anyone tell me the actual price of the laptop when that price was up before the deal? Also if anyone knows of a place I can get the laptop for around $790 with shipping and tax.

Also, does anyone know how well the laptop runs with the HDD and a SDD with the OS and main apps? And possibly how easy it is to switch the hdd and the optical drive back in when the notebook is on?

 

Anyone know where this laptop is available? Or where it will be available again first?

 

Where are you located (country)? We'll try to PM you if we see any thing.

 

I am located in California. Live in LA, go to school up in Northern California.

 

it is my understanding that amazon is still shipping them.
Amazon.com: ASUS U30JC-A1 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver): Electronics

even though they have that 2-4 week message, i believe it is in error (or left over from the time when they really didn't have it in stock) since you are can now actually add the item to your cart

 

I think you can order them and Amazon will ship it to you when they have them back in stock, but currently they are not in stock. If you look at some of the other other laptops you would see the status as "In stock" and x left, while the U30JC has "usually ship in 2-5 weeks"
Perhaps similar to a pre-order.

 

so ummm there is no black version of the U30JC ? not even planned ?

I really dont like the silver colour. I think im gonna be buying the UL30vt

 

so i just got my U30jc last week and so far have been loving it (except like everyone else is saying the screen could be better, but its as good as most other sub $1000 PC laptops out there so oh well).

However..... today I went to turn on my computer and for whatever reason windows will not recognize that optimus exists. The nvidia control console has disappeared completely and when I go to install the Asus nvidia drivers, it just says no compatible hardware found. Any ideas??

 

Is it showing up in the device manager at all?

 

No I can't get the 310m to show up anywhere on the computer device manager included. I even did a system restore back to a few days ago when it was working, but no luck.

 

Time to call ASUS tech support or call whoever you got it from and get another one shipped to you. Tech support way, you'll get a refurb probably. The place you bought it from, you'll get another new one. Your choice!

 

I ordered it from GenTech so hopefully they can hook me up with a new one

 

question want to ask those U30JC owner,
does this laptop get finger print as easy as the ul30vt?
and it that any possible that a i5 version will come to US?
i saw the ul30vt is very ugly with those finger print..

 

the only places where i really notice fingerprints are on the super glossy bevel around the LCD (and the LCD itself). The rest of the laptop which is brushed aluminum/matte plastic, doesn't really show any fingerprints.

 

so i solved my own problem, figured i would share if anyone else runs into the same problem. all it took in the end was reflashing the BIOS to the latest revision (205) as my model came to me with revision 204 installed. after flashing the bios, windows booted and reinstalled both intel AND my nvidia driver

 

That's not true. They've had that 2-4 week message for nearly 3 weeks now. I placed my order the day they just happened to run out of stock. You were always able to add to cart even with the message but you're guaranteed to wait before they will ship.

 

Good job man, it doesn't make a lick of sense that it happened because of that but cool non-the-less! I'd have been ticked if my junk would have done something wierd like that(pretty much right out the box).

 

it comfirm that the 320m on the MBP is better than 310m on this one?
by how much ?

 

Strange. It looks like Amazon.com is no longer accepting orders for the U30JC. They were taking them as recently as two hours ago, but now they won't even let you add it into your cart.

I hope this doesn't bode poorly for my existing order. I submitted an order on April 21st.

 

I have an existing order placed on April 13th. I wonder if this means they're getting ready for a new shipment and don't want people ordering more than they have...or something. Mine says delivery estimate May 5-12. *sigh* When will I get this freakin thing?

 

I ordered mine on April 17th from Amazon and recieved it the 20th, I still can't believe that they shipped to me over just a few $ difference vs the people that already had their orders in...

 

Yeah, that would be really peculiar if someone ordered on April 13 and is STILL waiting for their order and you ordered on April 17 and received yours 3 days later. That makes no sense at all.

 

Well, If he's the same one that ordered at 872 and I ordered at 879, that's probably why they shipped mine (I'm just assuming). I don't know if you remember me talking about that within my first couple posts! I've seen them come into stock since then once and then flash back off (kinda like it did the day I ordered mine). You would have thought he'd have gotten one of those!

 

My friend purchased a Thinkpad t410 a few months ago. He replaced the original HD because every time he was watching a movie or playing a video file, movement of the Thinkpad (lifting it up, dragging it across the table,) would cause the video to slow down and stutter for a few seconds.

Does the u30jc suffer from this?


I told him it might be some sort of security feature on the t410 that shuts down the HD when in free fall but he has looked through his options and found nothing.

 

At this point, I think I may just go ahead and cancel my pre-order with Amazon and instead go with Gentech. I dig the fact that they'll swap out the DVD drive with an internal Blu-ray drive, even if it means spending a few extra bucks.

Although... I wonder... would that affect battery life?

 

I've not seen this problem on my U30Jc, and I am using the stock 320GB 5400rpm HDD it came with.

 

All ThinkPads have a free-fall sensor built in to the hard drive, along with an active protection system that shuts down the hard drive, and they have for years. Clearly your friend didn't look all that hard for the option to disable it/reduce the sensitivity, since it puts an icon in your system tray that shows a big yellow "pause" symbol on it when it stops the drive.

Edit: Here's a screenshot of my T61's desktop from when it was still in the land of the living. That icon on the far left of the system tray is the active protection system.

 

$130-139 more is "a few extra bucks"?

Plus, they get to keep the original drive they took out.

 

I bought mine at the $872 price which ships directly from Amazon. I wasn't aware they had anymore in stock since then. You probably purchased yours from a 3rd party merchant, correct?

 

the U30Jc is on the market in Portugal from yesterday only with the i7 flavour:

Processador: Intel® Core™ i7-620M Dual-Core 2,66GHz; Turbo Boost até 3,33GHz
Cache: 4MB Intel® Smart Cache
Memória: 4GB DDR3-1066
Disco rígido: 500GB SATA (5400rpm)
Drives: Gravador DVD±RW Double Layer
Ecran: 13,3'' LED HD 1366x768
Placa Gráfica: NVIDIA® GeForce™ 310M + Intel® GMA HD
Memória Placa Gráfica: 512MB dedicados
Sistema Áudio: 16-bit stereo; altifalantes stereo Altec Lansing®
Comunicações: Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n
Rede 10/100
Sistema Operativo: Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Dimensões: 328 x 238 x 20~29,9 mm
Peso: 2,0 kg
Outros: WebCam e Microfone integrado
Teclado 'chiclet'
Material da estrutura em alumínio
Garantia: 2 Anos

Price: 1050€

I think the price is overrated because it doesn't have bluetooth.

 

I am still waiting on Amazon to restock before I order mine, but if any of you get this one, please let me know what the battery life is like.

 

Sorry, I didn't know we weren't allowed to generalize in our posts. I'll be more careful about that in the future.

Can you recommend a good internal drive I can buy off of Newegg, in that case?

 

Nah. I'm just giving you a hard time. Truth is, its a trade-out that is worth different amounts to different folks. If it's worth $130 more to have internal Blu-ray, then go for it. It's an entirely personal decision.

For example, last year I bought on Amazon a slim USB external DVD/Blu-ray read/write drive for $104 (and I see that they have now strangely gone UP in price!). This works well for me and I can use it between any machine I wish including my U30Jc (though to play Blu-rays does require the right hardware on your PC or notebook.)

It was worth the $100 extra for me to have it available for whatever machine I wanted. Others might not have spent it. Others would want the drive to be internal.

As for other blu-ray internal drives to suggest, I don't have the internal measurements of the U30Jc's DVD drive, so I'm not sure what is available on eBay, Amazon or Newegg. (And I don't see that Newegg even sells internal notebook DVD/blu-ray drives.) Can any of you others who've changed out the ODD know what specs/size of blu-ray/DVD drive he should look for?

I watch so few blu-ray discs, I'm happy with my external drive when the need arises.

But if you want internal blu-ray and the amount extra is worth it, go for it!

 

Make sure it is actually Amazon selling and not one of there vendors. I have seen several different sources of th U30JC on amazon not just amazon. I got mine from amazon on the first day but have seen others like J&R, B&H etc. Remember it is not just Amazon bit also some of their preferred vendors that may have different price points then Amazon itself does. Just my observance and $.02.

 

I purchased it through Amazon but it shipped from one of their vendors (J&R). I haven't seen Amazon actually carry this laptop to be honest, J&R when it's in stock was 879 and when it was out of stock it was 872. I bought it when it was in stock at 879. (only 4 left and that only lasted probably 15 minutes or so from the time I saw them in stock that Saturday morning) I wish you all luck, personally I'd cancel and go with gentech or something if they get in stock. Waiting this long is ridiculous!

I believe this one will work, it has dimensions listed in the specs and I'm pretty sure ours is a 12.7mm form factor height (reference post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...s/473976-adding-cd-bay-hdd-asus-u30jc-a1.html). There is also a code for 15% off that price good until 5/9.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name...lu-ray-SATA-Super-Multi-Combo-Drive-Bulk&c=CJ


Dimensions(WxDxH): 5.0 x 5.0 x 0.5 inch / 128 x 127 x 12.7 mm
Interface: SATA

 

Thanks Th@n@tos, I really appreciate the help.

Of course, while I'm waiting for just about any vendor to get the U30JC in stock, I saw the news this morning about the HP Envy 14. And suddenly my determination to buy the U30JC wavered. The Envy 14 looks AMAZING. The caveat is, I'd have to wait until June 27th. But that form factor and the list of specs... wow.

 

It's definitely an amazing machine at it's price point. I saw the engadget review as well!

 

Definitely looks like a nice machine. It will be interesting to see if battery life lives up to claims. For myself I would also weigh into consideration warranty and repair history. Having been part of the HP DV fiasco with the display and wireless going out from over heating and dealing with a less then responsive support department I would be hesitant to go back.

 

Sorry, Th@n@tos. Your first link has a problem.
Here it is again in normal fashion:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...s/473976-adding-cd-bay-hdd-asus-u30jc-a1.html

And THANK YOU for those specs on the DVD drive & the link to buy a blu-ray drive. I had read about it in the past and forgotten where I had seen them. Now you've given me/us a place to bookmark. Excellent!

 

And the U30Jc still looks to have better battery life.

 

It had a ) at the end of the link, I don't know why it captured that in the URL. Thanks for pointing it out though.

$123 shipped isn't a bad deal for an internal 6x blu-ray drive I didn't think. I'm seriously debating on getting one but at the same time, my home "power" system has a blu-ray drive and I rarely go anywhere else and watch blu-ray's. I'd say they'll fall before to long so I'll probably wait until then!

 

And I take back what I said, Skittlesdfw. If the link Th@n@tos gave is typical, then it'll cost $138 to change out the drive if you do it yourself, or $139 to let GenTechPC do it and they keep your old drive in exchange. So you save nothing ... unless you want to change out the drives yourself & sell your original drive on eBay or keep as a backup.

But it's a fair deal if you want internal blu-ray.

 

Oh duh! I thought the $138 was AFTER the discount code. $123 is even BETTER!