ASUS U Series Bamboo Collection Owners Thread (U33JC/U43JC/U53JC)

There's a nbr forum you can check out...they start at 14"

Asus N43/N53/N73

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/464075-asus-n43-n63-n73.html

Everybody has their own individual style and taste for what they prefer....I understand completely....I'm pretty sure you could spray paint it or get laptop skins eventually

 

Writer.of.Fictions: If you spraypainted your U33jc, you would earn a million gold stars in my book.

 

Thanks for the input! I clicked on your rep button thingie if that helps.

Would it be possible that the keyboard would more resemble the U30jc? And is the keyboard on that thing stronger than the ones on the UL's?

Otherwise I guess I'm opting for an Ideapad z460. Or wait until the Edge gets a better processor and discreet graphics. Sigh. I'd love to get a traditional Thinkpad, but they're too intimidating my current needs. I really HATE to give up on owning the Asus because of its long battery life.

 

Hi guys, my first post on the forum.

Today I phoned simplyasus, a UK asus reseller, to ask them when the u33jc would arrive and they said by the end of this week!!I remember last week they said would arrive in two weeks so their answers are pretty consistent. But I saw other people on the forum said that Asus Laptop - UK Best Deal Sale Laptops Buy Notebook Computer Discount UK - Buy On-Line Laptops and Accessories for Business and Home has confirmed the date as 23rd Aug, so I'm a bit confused here.

I mean, the news say u33jc is now officially released in the UK, does it sound right that we would have to wait for a month until 23rd Aug to actually see it? Has anyone else contacted any asus reseller in the UK to ask them when u33jc would arrive?

 

I asked this a while back and haven't seen a response. Why does no one order it from J&R with the 5% bing cash back or price match this at xoticpc? The specs seem the same. Am I missing something or is no one just aware of this?

 

The best way to deal with J&R is to talk to them on the phone.

 

I'm sure there are people who order from J&R. Not only do they get more exposure via ads and particularly google product search, but they must also be doing well in order to remain open for all these years. However, in this Asus forum here, people understand that purchasing an Asus notebook via an authorized reseller instead of a retailer such as J&R, Best Buy, and other brick and mortar stores will most certainly yield better customer service. This is particularly important for some, seeing that it adds another added layer of security for those who requires them. For example, all Asus notebook customers are entitled to access Asus's customer service. But if an Asus notebook was purchased from a notable Asus reseller such as GenTechPC, you will get the added bonus of receiving technical help through them as well. Asus resellers will generally reply to all inquires much faster than Asus CS and sometimes can even help you avoid an entire RMA process if needed. On top of that, and in my case with GenTechPC, there were some instances where Asus themselves were not able to help me with a driver issue but GenTechPC was able to after dedicating days of troubleshooting to my issue. All in all, from the way I see it, the pros far outweigh the slightly higher prices compared to other larger retailers.

 

Those are excellent points I hadn't considered myself since I often buy from Amazon. Thanks for that.

 

and amazon has free shippping too dont they?

 

So do some of the others like GenTech, and GenTech gives you Tech Support & personal assistance where they can. Amazon just sells you the machine. Nothing more.

 

Thanks David! You made a lot of good points. I think I'll still be ordering from J&R since the customer service doesn't seem worth $36 to me.

 

inside the U.S yea, but no canadian version like amazon to ship free.

 

u guys can do price matching too and see if gentech or xotopic will match and lower to 800

 

Taeil2, like mikeysela mentioned, resellers will often do a price match and I'd also recommend you doing so. You will end up getting more for your money if the reseller matches the price from J&R.

On a side note, even with my limited finances, I find $36 still a bargain for the amount of help and service you receive from a reseller. Not only do you get a better peace of mind, I have to stress the importance of having the option to avoid an entire RMA process for small issues. For example, for a faulty hard drive, Asus will most likely ask you to send your whole notebook in for repairs which can take up to 1-2 weeks before you get it back; however for those who purchased via a reputable reseller, they have the ability to send you a new drive without your notebook ever leaving your possession. If your Asus is the only computer you have, this will be of tremendous help and convenience. As a grad student, I can't imagine surviving without a computer for 1-2 weeks, but to each their own.

 

BTW, is it possible amazon can get their hands on the asus u35jc before xotopic or gentech will?

 

Possibly. I've never kept track on whom gets what notebooks first, but I'm guessing it'll depend on how Amazon sells their inventory of Asus laptops. I'm not sure if Amazon purchases Asus laptops directly from Asus or through an Asus distributor or if they use a drop shipping system, but either way, even if one reseller/retailer receives a particular notebook first, it's only a matter of days before all of them will get theirs.

 

Great, thanks david. Do you see any issues buying with amazon then? cuz sinc eyou rough up the CS stuff, im sure amazon would be the worst for technical support for laptops...

 

I want to personally validate this. I had an HDD problem with my UL30VT and Asus indeed required that I send the whole machine to them, and it was more like three weeks before I got it back. I probably could have gotten J&R on the line and had different results, but I don't want to spoil my relationship with them. They really do go out of their way to beat any price out there, and by a significant margin. But like I said, you have to chat them up.

Of course, if you live in a city where there's an authorized Asus service center, you can probably get spectacular turnaround just taking the machine in yourself. You'd still have to call Asus to get an RMA number, but dealing directly with the service center is a good way to get the repair done on your own terms and in a short period of time.

 

... and only a matter of hours before they're all sold out! :laugh:

Welcome to the world of supply & demand (with the demand often overpowering the supply!)

 

is there logic in pre-ordering then? running out of stock crossed my mind, i just never saw it logical to order before the u35jc came in stock, but id hate to wait till it comes in stock, and then out of stock since all the the pre-order folks already got theirs..

 

I'm actually a big fan of amazon (and many other online retailers) and have no problem purchasing from them depending on the product I'm buying. For laptops, particularly Asus laptops, I'd never buy from Amazon. It's not really a matter of bad technical support, but instead it's no technical support. This is particularly the case with laptops and other electronics. If you have an issue with your laptop purchased from Amazon, their only resolution is to 1. brush you off to the manufacture, 2. return the laptop for a refund or credit.

 

Yea i understand. I imagine i will order from xotopic pc and price match it to JR then , seems like the most logical step.

 

Although this question was directed to Quatro, I'll chip in my 2 cents here.

At a consumer's point of view, I don't see any harm in pre-ordering as long as the retailer/reseller doesn't charge your credit card prior to shipping, which most of them don't anyways. If you're worried about the laptop being sold-out, then I'd put in a pre-order. You can always change your mind and cancel the order without facing any penalties.

 

You have been warned, my young padawan learner.

 

Lol. thanks fellas. This whole ordeal is getting frustrating boys. First time i ever put in this much effort in purchasing anything, but i guess there are alot of lessons to be learned through the process. And all the release date delays sure arent helping

 

Talking about pre-ordering. You know Best Buy actually contacted me maybe 4-5 days ago stating in the e-mail that the U43JC is still on "backorder" and they are not sure when they will be able to ship it. So, with that in 5 days they are going to cancel my order unless I press the button to the right to extend my order. Of course I pressed the button.

Then last night I got an e-mail to confirm the extention but also in the e-mail they stated that the extention is for 10 days and in 10 days if it is not shipped they will cancel my order (there was no option to press a button to extend it this time). I said to my self, I waited this long "F... that" I called Best Buy and told them that I DO NOT want them to ever cancel the order, that I know around the time point they will be receiving it and IT WONT be within 10 days. She documented my request and I got a case# stating that i never want it cancelled.

Could you imagine if they did cancel my order and then all of a sudden it came in stock and with my order being canceled I didn't receive mine and then it really went on backorder. Oooooooo, would I be pissed lol.

 

J&R won't be charging my card for the U35JC until it ships. The only dangerous thing about preordering, in my mind, was whether or not the order would still be eligible for the Bing Cashback that made the deal so tempting in the first place. Thankfully, both Bing and J&R have confirmed that it is the act of putting in an order that counts as "earning cashback," not the credit card being charged.

That being said, I'm still slightly miffed by this delay

 

In my mind it seeems like a mental thing. Pre-oredering makes you feel like the search is over and that you have secured a laptop. but with all these delays, laptops coming out in parallel to the one you got might slip you by..

 

I'll look into it, mjnoles1, though they often don't like customers trying to put MP3's on the store HDD to test out sound/music quality.

In the meantime, read what this poster just said about his U45Jc HERE that he recently bought:

There you are again. The speakers are not that quality.

Why don't you PM Gary who actually HAS the U45Jc and ask him your questions about the sound & speakers?... or call GenTech who actually have the model in stock now.
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FYI, GenTech PM'ed me with a YouTube link to their video inspection/tour of the U45Jc:

The U45JC-A1 video on Youtube :

 

I asked XoticPC to price match and mentioned the Bing Cash Back in my comments. They then offered me the laptop for $1085 with 2% cash back. This brings the total to $1063.30. The original price was $1095 with 3% cash back, which was $1062.15. Also, to get the 3% cash back, I needed to use one of those specific payment options where I would not get my usual 1.5% rewards on my credit card. At J&R, the price for me was $1079.99 - $54 (BCB) - $16.20 (credit card reward), and the total for that comes out to $1009.79. In the end, the price difference between the two was $52.36 ($1062.15 - $1009.79) for me. I understand that customer service matters more to some people, and I appreciate everyone's concern and feedback, but I ended up ordering from J&R.

 

Hello again to all my fellow desperados waiting impatiently for the laptop they've dreamed about for far too long! I just came across another semi review of the U33Jc, this time in the Queens English and with a few new images I don't think we've seen before: ASUS Bamboo U33Jc Notebook Review | Blog - ScreenAid.com

Enjoy!

[Edit] In my hurry to post this to you you all I hadn't exactly read through the whole thing. I have now and I think in respect to the Queen I don't think we can call it Queens English... more like pidgeon English ;-)

 

Argh... they made no point about the display. But still, nice work sprinkler!

 

By the way... I don't know about you lot but I won't be upset if my U33jc dosnt come with that rediculous looking mouse! That's certainly NOT my bag baby!

 

LOL, Quatro, I am in no way asking you to bring in your MP3 player and download music on their machine LOL......

It would be a world of help if you could just go their and just go into Windows Media Center and play one of the 3 pre-installed songs that is included in Windows Media Center or any other content that is on the Windows Media Center. If you do that you will know right away if the Asus speakers are as horribly and let me say this again HORRIBLY low volume sound that you cant hear a darn thing. They are really that bad. I just want to make sure the Asus has decent volume speakers with no distortion. If you could just do me that favor and compare the two that would be very helpful.

 

Download? I was more thinking of a USB flash drive with a song or so. I'll try to see if they have it in stock. After all, my rep now says I'm a "really nice guy" so I have a reputation to protect!

 

In your review, It mentions having a the Core i5-450 and turbo boost. Is that right? All of the pre-order sites have it listed as Core i3-370. Anyone have any input on this matter?

 

Sprinkler didn't write the review. He just posted a link to it.

This review & laptop (combined with stilted English and the included bamboo-colored mouse) shows it to not be the US version. Perhaps Taiwan as it hasn't been released in the UK yet (has it?).

The US-version will come with the i3-370M, as you noted.

 

Thanks for getting my back on that one Quatro! I definitely don't want to be credited with writing as poorly as that given English is my mother tounge

Just to confuse things more on the processor front, I'm pretty sure our UK cousins across the pond are getting their U33JC's fitted with a i5-430M. Just out of curiosity, is there much difference between the 430M and the 370M?

 

The 370m in question is an i3, whereas the 430m is an i5. Notebookcheck.net has them right next to each other on their CPU benchmark list, and looking at the numbers (which may not mean much in the real world, but they're all I've got at the moment!), this initial assessment seems correct. The 370m doesn't have turboboost, but it runs at 2.4GHz stock. The 430m stock clock speed is 2.26GHz, but through turboboost, it can run at 2.53GHz.

That being said, I have no experience with either, and don't know if there is any difference in the architecture that makes i5s inherently more efficient/powerful as compared to a similarly clocked i3.

 

I'm a little worried about the weight. The scale at the end of the review says "2.064" (i think). That would be ~4.55 pounds, which is a lot more than the 3.7-4 lbs we were expecting.

 

ASUS & GenTech list the U33Jc as 3.96 lbs (nearly 4 lbs). Xotic & Amazon lists it as 3.74 lb.

I couldn't find where the review listed ANY weight.The term "2.064" wasn't referred to anywhere. Are we talking about the same review? Could you cut & paste it here for us?

UPDATE: Oh, I see where you're getting that number, from the photo of the notebook on a gram scale. It indeed reads 2064, which we'd assume is grams, making 4.55 lbs as you say. (My U30Jc weighs 2177 grams on my scale, but it has an ODD.)

But I'd be very slow to take that photo alone over the specs given at four other sites, including ASUS.

The review was odd in some areas. For example, they ran a graphics test using 3DMark05, which nearly no one is using, but not 3DMark06 that everyone uses.

A different processor than the US version as well. We'll see.

I wouldn't worry about it until there is something more substantial to worry about. All will become clear in the next few weeks.

 

Here is a full review of the U33JC from Engadget:
ASUS U33Jc-A1 Bamboo series review -- Engadget

They like the U33JC a lot, except some minor things like no backlight keyboard, keyboard has a cheap feel, lack of optical drive and clunkier than the Toshiba Portege R705. But nothing really what could stop me from buying it.
Enjoy reading it!

 

Oh, thank you for that. Great reading!

So they got an hour more on the IGP video watching then they did on my U30Jc ... seems we have a winner here, and I'm gonna' be jealous of Case1! .... and I'm telling you, that lid, hinge & case trim is metal, not chromed plastic, or so I'm predicting until proven otherwise.
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And did anyone notice this section about WiDi (makes sense since Intel owns the tech) only running under the Intel IGP?

• "NVIDIA said it was possible, and the U33Jc is a testament that a laptop with a discrete GPU can be coupled with Intel's WiDi or Wireless Display Technology. However, the GPU must be switched off for the wireless display feature to function, so there was no NVIDIA graphics power when streaming video from the U33Jc to our 40-inch HDTV. Also, don't forget that you've got to have a $99 Netgear Push2TV box to get the whole WiDi thing going. While you still can't stream full 1080p video, the technology is pretty awesome, and we enjoyed watching an episode of Mad Men on the big screen rather than on the 13.3-inch screen. There's still about a three second delay, so it's just not going to cut it for gaming or real productivity."

I still think I'd prefer the dongled real solution.
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Encouraging news about the sound for those concerned about speaker location. ASUS has done something new for their U & UL line:

• "The speaker strip along the top of the keyboard produced decently loud and full sound when watching some clips and listening to Pandora."

Speaker strip along the TOP of the keyboard? Nice. .... Oh no, I'm getting jealous again, Case1!
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And only 3403 in 3DMark06? ... There they've gone and underclocked the GPU again. Fortunately, you can clock it back up again!

 

Suddenly the 24th seems so far away...i pre-ordered a week ago and cant wait to get my hands on it. At least the review wasnt bad, those gripes i can live with. :-D

 

Another review: Asus U33Jc: Much Ado About Bamboo - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Reading it now.

 

Weird on the photos I can't see a speaker strip along the top of the keyboard.

 

The Anandtech review I'm reading now says,

• "The speakers are located at the top of the keyboard, which is a nice change from all the other portables that have the speakers under the front edge. Output and sound quality are decent for a small notebook, but for any kind of serious listening you will want to connect to a good speaker system or headphones of some kind."

So the sound grill must be up there somewhere.

 

Time to convince my sister that she should buy my UL80 at a discount so I can upgrade

 

is it just me or is it clearly noticable on the 'in and around' page of the reviews pics???

 

heres another: Asus U33Jc-A1 (bamboo) Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews)


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