UL80Vt vs K40IN?

Wow am I glad to have found this site. What a wealth of information!

I'm in the market for a midsize laptop and was primarily interested in the Dell XPS/Studio XPS notebooks for their power and available 3 year warranty. However, problems with the M1330/M1530 and general reports of poor build quality have made me very hesitant to purchase a Dell from the consumer line.

I have always loved Asus' innovation and the fact that they consistently offer notebooks with dedicated video, well thought out airflow designs, and stylish looks (I cannot really say the same for the Latitude E series which is sort of plain and all-business looking).

I spent last night looking at the specs of just about every notebook on the Asus website. I was really interested in the UL series after reading about the claims of outstanding battery life out of a notebook with dedicated (well OK, switchable) video. The idea that a notebook could last several hours between charges and still have the power to run a game decently really appealed to me. I know it's not meant to be a gaming machine, but I don't need it to be able to play new games at high detail levels as I'll be using it primarily for web browsing, school work, etc.

I'm still trying to narrow down my choices, but between these two this is what I got out of the NBR reviews:

UL80Vt:
Better battery life
Better graphics performance

K40IN:
Better build quality
Better display
Better keyboard
Faster processor (?)

Not sure about that last one, as I haven't been able to find many comparisons of the SU7300 against the T/P C2D's. I know Anand wasn't the SU7300's biggest fan, but as long as it provides a snappy experience in 7 I'll be happy. I read that Vista neutered its performance but I won't be running Vista if I can help it.

As for the keyboard, HotHardware loved the keyboard while NBR wasn't a fan, claiming that their review model's board exhibited looseness and flex. I wonder if their unit was a fluke? Perhaps owners of the UL80Vt could comment on that (I'll also do some more searching).

Funny thing, when I posted this thread I was sure that the K40IN offered very little over the UL80Vt. But if it truly offers better build quality and a more beautiful screen while still getting respectable battery life, I might consider it. The graphics performance leaves something to be desired, but we already know that notebooks are typically all about compromises.

Sorry for the long post -- I'm pretty picky when it comes to my tech toys, and I have so much to think about before I make this purchase.

 

Nearly 1 pond heavier than the UL80VT

 

If you're worried about the build quality of the UL80VT, then take a look at the UL30VT. First impressions of it have mostly agreed that it is more sturdier than the UL80VT, since it doesnt have the DVD drive and larger chassis to flex.

Except they're dealing with a potential spacebar issue, not sure if its widespread yet or not. But worth pointing out nonetheless. Oh, and it's sold out right now...could be another problem....

But yeah. There's not much anyone can recommend for you, since you've laid out the pros vs. cons pretty succinctly there, and nobody really knows what you need except you...so good luck!

 

To be honest, I don't see why you ever want K40IN. UL80VT (and UL50VT, UL30VT) is a great laptop, despite of its flaws - and there's no other laptops that is really comparable to it. But K40IN? It is somewhat overpriced, considering its weak components, and there is nothing special about it.

So, yeah. I'd agree with the above poster, and I suggest looking at UL30VT, unless you cannot stand the lack of optical drive. My friend has UL30 (not Vt), and it seems to be working very well for her. Or, UL80VT, if you like a larger screen.

If you don't mind Sony, I also recommend to look at Vaio SR and Vaio CW. SR has better screen than every other laptops listed here, and has decent GPU. CW has about the same size/battery life as K40, and GT230 should vastly outperform G105 in K40.

 

Hey thanks. I know the UL30VT seems to be much-loved right now, but unlike others I'm not sure that I consider the lack of an optical drive to be a pro...I know most will advise to simply buy an external drive but unless they've come a long way, externals used to be slow and clunky. Not that I'd make use of the optical drive every day, but it's nice to have when you need it.

Also, I'm not sure I want to go as small as 13.3". I know that's not much smaller than 14", but my GF owns an Inspiron 15 w/15.6" display and when I look at it and imagine cutting off over 2" it seems like it would be really small!

I was also looking at the UL50VT. I guess it stands to reason that it has even more chassis flex than the UL80VT because it has the largest chassis of that series, unless Asus realized this and added some reinforcement. Personally, I don't think the flex would bother me much unless I could feel it while typing...but apparently that's the case and as I read more I see that some of the other models suffer from that as well (including the beastly N81VP). I'm really gentle with my electronics, so it not like the lappy would be in for rough treatment. I just don't want something that feels "cheap," although I guess in the end I would prefer cheap-feeling and reliable to solid and plauged with issues like the M1330...

 

Well, I wasn't really sure where it's supposed to fall in Asus' lineup. They have the thin-and-lights with great battery life, the medium range notebooks with a balance of performance and endurance, and the purpose-built gaming machines. To me, the K40IN would seem to fall in the middle. The one I was looking at was configured with T6500, 4GB, 320GB, and G102M and was around $100 less than the UL80VT. To me it was basically a trade-off between the better keyboard and display of the K40IN or the better video card and battery life of the UL80VT. I guess the additional $100 would be worth it as long as the UL80VT's build quality is acceptable.

Well, here's the thing...I was really hoping to buy a notebook while I can still get 20% cashback on eBay through Bing. Since only Amazon carries the UL30VT at this point, the cashback offer will likely be long over before I can find one on eBay. I could probably deal with the lack of an optical drive, but the (lack of) availability of the UL30VT is what's killing it for me.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be honest; I have zero experience with Sony notebooks. I've never owned one, I don't know anybody that owns one, and I've never worked on one. I've always thought that they were attractive looking notebooks, but I wasn't sure about Sony's warranty and customer service, and I assumed that they would be pricier than other brands due to the Sony branding. I was also afraid that they would be expensive to repair after the warranty ended, but I suppose that could be said for most brands. I'll check out their product lines and check out some of the Sony threads if I have any questions.

 

K40IN is a budget laptop, and is a pretty good one at that. It has all major checkbox features - discrete GPU, C2D, glossy 16:9 screen, etc. It is not a laptop that many people on this forum would consider, but I imagine it can sell well at brick&motor stores.

One thing that favors UL50Vt/UL80Vt over UL30Vt is that the former uses 8 cell battery, compared to the later which uses only 6 cell battery (at least in USA) - resulting that the former two can get more than 8 hours of battery life, where as UL30Vt gets "only" 6 hours or so.

By the way, as you may know, UL80VT has about the same weight as K40IN, although it is about 2" wider and about 1" deeper.

Yeah, the default warranty on ASUS is hard to beat. I heard that after-warranty repair of Sony tends to be expensive (at least in USA), although I do not have the first-hand experience. Sony sells the extended warranty at the average price, if you get it at Sonystyle (meaning that, it is not overpriced, as in HP or Apple). That being said, they seem to be running out of CW parts at Sonystyle. They had a very good deal around Black Friday, that must have done it.