U3S Ultra portable with GPS - HOT OR NOT?

I'm thinking of buying this to have is as a portable laptop with me around school and other places. nice freaking laptop with HDMI ESATA omg .... GPS so i won't get lost around town and find some shortcuts when traffic jams.

Any comments about this laptop just let me know. WHeneve i got my paycheck i'll go and get this.

Specs:

The usual stuff and GPS antena.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Asus_U3S.../90NQFA923ED63EQL850T/partinfo-id-582058.html

 

No idea, but reviews should be coming out soon. A few forum members have already ordered theirs...

 

It's a pretty good price for a sweet looking laptop, but I'm waiting to see how the battery life stacks up on it before I consider buying it. =)

 

Both kennyy & tajoh111 bought the Asus U3S from our store ( find them here.), you might want to PM them to get some input about this notebook. Or you can always send us a message for immediate assistance. Thanks!

 

Its an interesting laptop, for sure, but its got the same Asus trademark of being fatally flawed, with its 512MB RAM soldered into the motherboard, and not that low weight for having deleted the optical drive. However, there are the nice features as well: switcheable graphics, GPS, low price, etc.

 

I wouldn't say the 512 is as flawed as the option not to be able to install more than 2.5gb. It has 2 slots which is as much as most notebooks have, the biggest problem is that we can't add a 2 gig and a 1 gig, or 2, 2gigs(and all that memory be recognized.

Excaliberpc, have you tried to install more than 2 gigs on this PC. Although alot of manufacturers say this amount is the limit(e.g harddrive size, ram amount, processor speed), its just the highest currently available and you can go beyond that limit.

I think if you guys could confirm this, it would give alot of buyers more incentive to get this laptop. I would try but I went over the budget for my laptop already and I just don't have any spare ram that size to test it with.

Basically what holding people back right now is questionable Battery life which I will find out soon enough, and the ram issue which everyone is mentioning. If kennyy is looking at this page, do you have any extra ram to see if this truly is the limit.

 

tajoh111, the U3S has 1.5GB DDR2 667MHz as default (on board 512M + 1GB), you can replace the 1GB in there with a 2GB module to have a total 2.5GB in RAM. The spec sheet we received from Asus on 9/4 was not correct, there's only one expansion socket, not two.

update: tested the Asus U3S with Corsair 2GB (VS2GSDS667D2), BIOS reads 2.5GB.

 

That really sucks, basically the ram in there is going to go to waste if someone upgrades to 2.5 gigs.
I wish I knew that. I hope it gives the machine better battery life. Why Asus Why.

Hopefully someone comes out with a 4gb sodimm now.

 

if 4gb comes out the mobo won't be able to see it ( hopefully it will).

Overall i don't need much ram. remember it's not a desktop replacement but the power packs like one. 2gb is good enough people unless windows release another vista that uses up too many ram space.

 

You need as much ram as possible because increasing the turbo cache amount decreases ram amount by almost a gig sometimes(i guess it only matter if your are doing something with the graphics card).

 

agree, as long as it over 1gb of ram should be enough... with the 8400 graphic card we really can expect too much...

we love their design and quality...

 

If someone could post battery life undervolted with NHC that would be great as well. I undervolted my Z33 the day I got it, gained about 45 minutes on the 9 cell that way. Of course the P-Ms weren't locked at the low end, so I got it down to voltages less then a ULV.

 

Yep, on the other hand Core [2] Duos are so you're not going to get much out of that... (CPUs are idle under normal usage patterns most of the time)

 

do the sonoma core2 duo's have the same min 0.95v set in stone? or can they be reduced below 0.95v?

 

Good question. I expect they're locked, mainly because I believe this is mainly a marketing move rather than a technological requirement. (Why would people buy crippled ULV when you can get almost the same energy drain by undervolting a better-performance CPU? And the performance is there when you need it.)

 

Sonoma Core 2 Duos? Sonoma was the final iteration of the Pentium M line of chips.

And my Santa Rosa C2D chip idles at 0.876V. It is locked at minimum to that, I think. And I wish they wouldn't have locked it, that would have been awesome to get another hour or so of battery life out of it.

 

Exclusive: Asus U3 Hands-On
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2007/08/23/Exclusive-Asus-U3-Hands-On/p1

 

That exclusive is for a preproduction model of the U3, and doesn't include benchmarks for anything, including battery life. =(

 

I think he meant the Core 2 Duo Merom 667 and/or Core 2 Duo Merom 800 FSB.

 

Looking at this review... its prety hot!

 

Holy, 300 minutes! Though it's for the 9 cell...I think? Way too good to be true for the 4 cell, cause if it was, 9 cell = 10 hours?


That model looks to be the 'high end' U3s, with LED backlighting, t7500 and 2gb of RAM.

If it has 2gb of RAM, does that mean there is no soldered on RAM?

 

yeah thats 5Hrs, you woud have to be happy with that! it did mention that it was the extended battery that protrudes from the rear of the Laptop not the standard 4 cel battery

 

According to Asus the U3s only has a 3 cell and a 6 cell battery.

 

I was reading the review, and it's definitely a 9 cell they are talking about. But 5 hours for a 9 cell is a good length =D

 

The battery that comes with the Newegg model sticks out the back, and it doesn't look like a 9-cell:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...3.3"+Wide+XGA+NVIDIA+GeForce+8400M+G+NoteBook

It's a 6-cell:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Asus_U3S_Laptop_U3S-3P092E/version.asp

That's the model tested in the review. 1.75kg with the 3-cell and 2.2kg with the 6-cell.

 

So, 300 mins = 6 cell?


Jeez I wonder how large the 9 cell is.

 

What happen asus, why did you take out the Led lighting on N american models. Man it sounds like LED lighting can double the life as results from the first owner(eugenes) on this forum indicate around 2.5-3 hours of battery life with wifi off.

I think alot of u3s owners are going to do a screen transplant in the near future.

Does the UK version really come with the LED screen those, its sounds like gps is lost in the UK version but got 3g

 

The pricing for the Euro U3s is $2200~ USD or so, a fair bit large then the $1600 price tag here.

 

hmmm, reading about the uk version of the u3 i really wonder whether they might sell that one in germany too. our version comes w/o the gps, no 3g and no led backlit lcd. but looking at 1600 pounds (should be around 2200 euros, 3000 usd)... i dont think i would want to spend that kind of money for an asus considering their customer support history....

h

 

well that review doesn't seem to have been written by a laptop specialist. More like a salesperson. I really really do hope Eugene, Kennyy or Tajoh111 come with a full review of the american model ASAP. I've saved the money and want to buy the U3 within a week since my old laptop just died on me (well, sort of, the screen bezel broke apart from the screen cover but the screen is still working. I just can't close the laptop How awkward is that?
so please guys when you do the review, do a good one.

 

Haha, I was checking the progress of mine distance wise and basically yesterday it was in Vancouver sortation plant, now its in the flippin Richmond Sortation plant. This might sound good if Richmond wasn't part of the greater Vancouver area(and yes, vancouver is a city). At this rate its going to hit every sortation plant in Canada before it hits me.

I feel for kenny those, basically his is at customs and he gets no update. I get update but mine are so small. (I also had mine move from San jose to San francisco) and keep in mind this is express shipping. If this is express I would hate to think if this was just regular mail

 

I just got the mail from Australia Custom..i need to fill in 2 forms and wait another 24 hours to progress.

That means i have to wait until next week around Thursday or Friday to get my U3S on hand.... so in total it take up to 2 and half weeks i reckon...

 

What the bloody hell kenny, I think we not only have to pay for express shipping anymore when shipping items to australia, we got to pay for express customs too.

I bet if in your package contained a 26 oz of scotch or a carton of cigarettes addressed to the customs people, it would be like bam, on its way already.

Those forms sound scary? I hope your duties and taxes are not bad.

 

I think this is normal for USPS shipping. I had to wait for 2 weeks when i ordered from US. Customs was also very slow.

When i ordered from Japan, with DHL, customs took 1 hour.

If you want to go through customs fast you need to pay for UPS or DHL.

 

I have absolutely no ideas how to fill in that forms. I have to wait until next Tuesday cause over here (Perth) Monday is public holiday, they don't work on Saturday and Sunday. Then go to the Custom Service Counter to fill in that bloody forms and wait for 24 hours to process and then they will ring me up and tell me how much should i pay. After the payment they will issues me Notice of Assessment then i can choose between picking up by myself or let the Australian Post to forward the parcel to me. Well if i choose to use Australian Post i probably have to wait another 2 days. So i decided go to fill in the form then wait their call then pay the bloody GST and go to the bloody Australia International Post office to pick up!!!

I hate USPS!!!

 

Its friday and mine is not here either, it still in Richmond, customs is done, what taking them so long.

 

can't wait til some ppl got hands on and brieft overall review. Awaiting answer from Tajoh and kenny.

This seems like a great competitor to XPS 1330... I don't mind much about the battery life but it's portable and GPS so we expect around 2 hours or more my 17" won't last longer than 1 hour though .....

I gotta work my a$z off for this beautiful machine.

Did some1 get a white and a black one?

I'm still confusing in choosing color. If i choose white, it looks nice but white will gets dirty over time. Still can't decide. Black is nice and it'll match my computer set at home though.

 

I got a white one, so did eugene, also kenny got a black one.

 

I'd take white. It goes way better with the silver keyboard and trim than the black does, since that ends up contrasting with the silver and creating a less harmonious look.

In the end though, its your choice and you really can't go wrong either way

 

I have been reading whatlaptop for 3 years now and their full time job is testing and reviewing laptops, trust me I have seen them give Asus and other reputable brands bad reviews before, so I would feel confident that this is actually a very good lapotp, but it does seem the UK spec is very good, so reviews for the US model might not be as positive.

These guys have less bias than Asus owners, after 3 years of reading their reviews, I would trust their reviews

 

Five hours on a 6 cell is not so bad at all! So this is the European version, isn't it? Hmm... Maybe my next laptop could be an ASUS after all?

 

Thats for the UK model with LED backlighting though. Owners of the US spec model are quoting battery life of around 3 hours under normal usage.

 

Yeah, I remember that. But I'm in Europe

I am more than satisfied with 5hours out of a notebook. Even 4 will do.

 

Oh, ok, then it should work out well for you. Europe is very lucky in getting these highly specced models earlier than the US. However, they are very expensive there, so maybe its not worth complaining.

 

Yep, quite expensive, it's something like: take the price in USD, add VAT 20%, and then change the currency (but not the numbers) from USD to EUR. Roughly correct for most IT equipment prices.

I'm not going to buy the U3, probably not going to buy another notebook for a year or so. But I'm glad ASUS is still able to offer a notebook that I might consider buying.