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

I just finished reading 4 reviews (anandtech, engadget, pcmag, laptopmag). They all reviewed the U33JC, and I'm ordering the U43JC. Do you guys know how the reviews will translate from the 13 to 14 inch models? One thing I'm particularly curious about is the heat and ventilation of the different chassis sizes. Laptopmag in particular noted that the U33JC gets hot on the bottom left side, while all of them note that the GPU is underclocked to 605 MHz to keep it cool. Will the U43JC be cooler? Will the GPU still come underclocked?

 

I read that too and I said "WHAT?"

Quatro, then what is with the countless pictures that we all saw earlier of 2 speaker like grills located on the front lip of the laptop? Those have to be speakers don't they? They are spaced perfectly to be locations of speakers on the front lip. What is up with that? Also, what else could those speaker like grills be then?

 

Yes, the GPU in the U45 is also underclocked to 605 MHz, but can be clocked back up to the normal standard. Odysseus on the U35/U45 thread, noted that his U45's GPU idle temp was 58C (mine is 45C in my U30Jc) and his gaming temp was 80C.

 

"However, the GPU must be switched off for the wireless display feature to function"

They do mean automatically off, correct? As Nvidia Optimus is totally automatic switching on and off of the GPU? There is no Manual switching off of the 310m needed to use widi is there?

 

Probably, like on my U30Jc, those are front air vents and the system mainly pulls air in from those front vents.

See this image (if it shows up):


If that image doesn't show, go here:
http://www.laptopmag.com/images/uploads/2293/g/asusu33jca1_5g.jpg

That grid pattern of holes in the top above the keyboard probably conceal the two speakers underneath.

Yes, the bare-bones & "I-forgot-to-mention-USB-3.0-and-2.0MP-webcam" review at CNet (a worse than pathetic review) mentions that Optimus automatically switches to the IGP when using WiDi.

BTW, I say pathetic review because if the U33Jc is the FIRST laptop (and only one at present) to feature USB 3.0, but he says nothing about it ... is inexcusable.
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I found it intriguing, yet again, that one review puts the weight at firmly 3.96 lbs (AnandTech) and another at 4.4 lbs (LaptopMag). I wonder what is making the weight discrepancy since they have the same battery?

 

Oh maaan. That's not good to hear. My last two laptops (Toshiba Satellite, Lenovo Thinkpad) had severe overheating and shutting down issues. Hopefully this one will still be fine.

 

omg chrome i hate you chrome

 

Which one did you not like? The Envy 14?

And it is NOT clear (at least to me) that that chrome isn't polished aluminum or steel. If it's metal, it should look great. If it's chromed plastic , ... yuck.

That's Fahrenheit temps and not that bad IMO. Notice the slanted (biased) wording in one reviewer compared to another ( both LaptopMag) for the U30Jc & U33Jc:

U30Jc

• Heat
  
  "Even with its discrete graphics chip running, the U30Jc kept rather cool. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the middle of the underside and the touchpad only reached 89 degrees Fahrenheit, and the space between the G and H keys was a balmy 93. The area by the vent reached 100 degrees, which is warm, but we’ve seen much hotter temperatures from machines this size."

U33Jc

• Heat
  
  "With the exception of one trouble spot, the U33Jc kept its cool during our testing. After playing a Hulu video for 15 minutes at full screen, we measured temperatures of 81, 84, and 88 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, between the G and H keys, and underneath the machine, respectively. However, the left side of the system near the vent became uncomfortable on our lap, reaching an uncomfortable 114 degrees."

My U30Jc is never uncomfortable on my lap. The U33 is a bit warmer but at the vent an extra 15F is not that much when measuring the actual air coming out. The underside temps were about equal.

 

But, the space and size of the front grills are just too perfect not to be speaker grills.

But, after seeing your picture and seems like it is ineed above the keyboard. I have to say i did pee a little in my pants with glee......Excuse me, I have to change lol......I hope Best Buy doesnt screw me over with speakers on the front lip then? Wouldnt that cost Asus more trouble and money then its worth to change the actual setup of where the speakers are located for best Buy model? It would be like they would have to stop the speaker production line to change it specifically for Best Buy to put the speakers on the front lip.

Quatro, what you think buddy? You dont think they would actually do that, do you? It just wouldnt make sense.

 

I pre-ordered today from Gentech!!! I was waiting for a reviewer to confirm the specs were what ASUS initially said, esp the webcam and the i370. Horray!!!!

 

As to Best Buy, whatever I say would be a sheer guess, but I'd doubt they'd change the housing that much.

Plus, we don't know about the U43Jc design yet.

 

i got the envy 14 a few days ago and promptly returned it (shipped it back to fedex) the same day. from the beginning, i knew it wasn't the laptop for me but i fell for the hype. it has a pretty good graphics card wihch i didn't need since i am not much of a gamer (if i do game, i would rather do it on a desktop anyway). the laptop came with some sticky residue on the edges which attracted lint from the cloth case it arrived in. battery life was decent according to other people (a little more than 4 hours) but like i said, i returned mines as soon as i got it so i never got a chance to do a full inspection. there were a couple of nicks on the side but not noticeable if u didn't take the time to look for em. the trackpad wasn't aligned correctly and the bottom right side jotted out a bit; people claim this is a design implementation but if u run your fingers along the left side, the edge is not as prominent or noticeable as the right side; if u take a closer look, you can take it's uneven. lastly, the battery latch was stuck and i was not able to remove the back cover.

all these issues made me wary so i ended up returning it. many posters have obtained close to perfect machines so perhaps mines was just an anomaly. in the meantime, i have decided to choose a laptop that caters to my needs which is long battery life + good aesthetics + portability (anything around 5 pounds is considered portable to me). i'm going to pharm school (list of tasks including web browsing, pdf reading, word processing, etc stuff that a netbook can run) so i obviously won't be needing anything too powerful or graphics card capable. that's why i am consider the u33jc or toshiba705 or maybe even the macbook pro 13.


on the chrome, i don't think i have seen polished metal to be so reflective (like that pictured on the u33jc). i have, however, seen chrome plastic (especially on cellphones) that have this shiny tacky look. :x

 

Can anyone vouch to Starcraft II Playability/Performance on either U30JC or U33JC?

 

gah, wish the u53 had a display with at least 1440x900 res.

 

Ugh 4.5 pounds for the bamboo version? This just confirms the taiwanese review. That's just way too heavy for a 13 incher with no DVD.

I'll be waiting for the u35 then.

 

Yes, several have reported they can play SC2 easily on medium graphics (one said "high") on the U30Jc, so for sure it will play fine on the U33/43/35/45Jc.

For example, see HERE.

AnandTech reported 3.9 lbs in their review today of the U33Jc. Depends on who you believe!

Wait until it is released and then call GenTech and have them weigh it for you with the battery. The reviews are not consistent on the weight.

I hope you're wrong ... but you may be right. Nothing conclusive from the reviews (to me). We'll see.

 

The U33Jc weight figures were somewhat odd. Asus told me 3.7lbs, but it felt waaaaaay heavier than that, so I went with the 3.97lb number that I saw on GenTech and wherever else. 4.5lbs is probably a bit too much, it felt very comparable to my old Asus W7S, which is around 4.2lbs, maybe a bit lighter. I think I need to get a scale to actually verify these weight numbers.

For the record, they didn't underclock the GPU, they're using a different SKU with a slower clock/memory speed and more VRAM (which is useless). It's cheaper, basically. Overall, in terms of real world gaming performance it doesn't make a significant difference, so no worries.

 

Oh wow. The AnandTech reviewer himself! Awesome to have you.

Yes, please DO weigh the U33Jc, if you can. Weight reports have been very erratic (3.7, 3.9, 4.0, 4.4, 4.55)

Yes, I saw someone's review mention that the VRAM was a cheaper & slower type. Does that affect the clock of the core as well (not just the memory) due to BUS speeds to the core & memory? I'm merely guessing.

I guess we with the U30Jc just lucked out. All of the newer models appear to be the cheaper VRAM. At least one person has pushed the clocks back up on the 310M to the U30 speeds and is stable (but his GPU is running hotter.)

Can you also tell us what the chrome trim is made of? Chromed plastic? Polished metal? Chromed cheap metal?

 

Anandtech says that U33 is slightly worse then the U30 here: Asus U33Jc: Much Ado About Bamboo - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News . Just something to keep in mind.

 

Awesome to be here, though I've been around for a while.

I'm pretty sure the review that mentioned the clock speeds is mine. It's not that the different VRAM affected the core speed, just that both happen to be clocked lower. The 10% difference in synthetic benches doesn't really translate over to real life - the U33 doesn't test significantly slower than the U30. A couple of FPS, at best. It is the same GPU, after all, and the core is not that much slower, only 20MHz difference.

 

Quatro, did you not read my last post. I PEED MY PANTS WITH GLEE. You cant come back from that. Don't mention "Plus, we don't know about the U43Jc design yet" and ruin my high LOL

 

Well, at over 4,400 posts, I suspected you had been. But I've not seen you on these latest U30Jc, UL30Jt or U33/43/35/45Jc threads. So it is a real privilege to have you ... a real human who has actually handled & analyzed the U33Jc! That's a lot better than our (my) guesses any day!

 

Am I missing something? Because I'm pretty sure we know what the U43 is going to look like/feel like/act like....It's gonna be fairly similar to the U33, except with the larger form factor/chassis, integrated DVD drive, and associated component bumps.

 

I'm sure you're right. I was merely saying that the U43 hasn't actually been reviewed, so anything I say is a guess. I'm guessing/hoping the speakers were on the top above the keyboard as well on the U43 as they are on the U33.
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So, while you're here ... what about the chromed trim? What's it made of?

Two reviewers said the speakers were on the top above the keyboard. One said in the front (as usual). Which one is right?

 

Well, these types of things usually carry over across model lines, so I'd assume it's above the keyboard as on the U33.

U43 seems like kind of a waste though, no offense to anyone who's getting it - it has the same amount of power (GPU, CPU if you upgrade it) and the same screen resolution in a larger and heavier form factor that will get less battery life due to larger screen area. And it costs more. The only thing you get out of the bargain is the integrated DVD drive.

@Quatro, the reason you haven't seen me in any of those threads is because I really haven't been around much, and due to the press embargo, I couldn't actually say anything about the U33 until this morning...LOL.

 

And the chrome trim ... what's it made of? Could you tell?

 

I'm assuming it's plastic, but if it was metal, that'd at least partially explain the weight. Anyways, I'll check when I get home, I don't actually have the U33 on me right now.

 

I have been following the thread for a while but am a 1st time poster.

I have a question that hasn't been answered in the reviews: how loud is the cooling system/fan of the U33? does the pc run as quiet as the previous ASUS notebooks? How would you rate it?

I am looking for a notebook that runs very quiet.

Thanks for any information.

 

Based on the chrome/silver trim on the U6 series, I'm guessing that it's made of plastic and coated with some type of shiny finish, similar to the touchpad buttons on the UL series.

For the speakers, I'm speculating them being on the front given the 2 grills located there based on the pics posted by Asus and Asus resellers. If we look at the N71/N61 series where the speakers are actually above the keyboard, we don't see any vents/grills on the front of the laptop.

 

Oh, thank you. That'd be great.

Trim composition and actual weight with the battery.

And I have LOVED your new coining of the acronym YALLD "yet another lousy laptop display"! Too true.

It's my only real complaint on my U30Jc-A1 (that, and the way-too-thin aluminum plate lid ... and flimsy bezel around the screen). Poor contrast ratios/light bleed means that every full-screen movie has washed-out grays instead of black. Unlike my $300 ASUS 1000HA netbook which has very little light bleed.

Perhaps, but several reviewers clearly stated the speakers were over the keyboard.

On my U30Jc, I have an extra set of holes in the grill in my front for the air to be pulled in. The U30 has no air holes or vents anywhere on the bottom. So I was wondering if perhaps that's what the grill holes are in the front of the U33 IF it indeed has the speakers above the keyboard.

So, Redline, we also need you to listen to music on the U33 and tell us where the sound is coming from! Top above the keyboard or in the front angled down a bit?

No wonder you don't come around very much. You're barraged with questions!
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So, David, the trackpad toggle bar is made of chromed plastic? Wow. Mine really looks like metal and I can't tell if it isn't. I'm not going to scratch it to find out. Good job, ASUS.

 

It's a lot cooler than say, any 2007-era Asus notebook (*cough* W7S *cough). It's not noticeably good or bad, though it gets pretty warm when you're gaming/benchmarking. And obviously when gaming, the fan spools up, but aside from that it's fairly cool and fairly quiet.

I'll look, but I'm pretty sure they were at the top. Sure enough to put in it into my review at least....I might be wrong though, so I'll double check.

 

Yeah, the W7S did run quite warm, but it was mainly due to the 8400M GPU and wasn't nearly as bad as the C90S which can easily double as a bbq grill

 

Hey, after my W7S ate it's 4th motherboard, they gave me a free bump to the W7Sg logic board with the 9300M GS. So far....I haven't really noticed a difference, mostly because I haven't been using it.

 

Thank you for the information. i really don't like the loud constant spooling of the fans in a lot of notebooks. i need a quiet notebook that stays "fairly cool".

i am not a major gamer, so i doubt i'll max the pc out in that manner.

it is good to have some first hand information. here in Austria, we are getting it theoretically next week, but there has been so little information until now.

what sold me is the USB 3.0 for quicker access to my work peripherals (translation databanking program)--hope to be up and running in a couple of weeks. and the privacy factor of the webcam is a nice bonus.

 

USB 3.0 shouldn't be a huge selling point for you, it's really hamstrung on the Intel H series chipsets because they're just connected to a PCI-E 1x lane, so you won't get the full bandwidth of USB 3.0.

 

really? that isn't what i was hoping to hear. was looking for the quicker connection of true usb 3.0

like i said--information here is rather meager.

then i perhaps i need to revise pc. the sata-connection was what i have been using for the access and usb 2.0 just wasn't working. i was hoping the usb 3.0 would be comparable (i have a peripheral that is usb 3.0 enabled/capable.

any ideas? speed connection to the exernal peripheral (imperative), quiet, stable, good benchmarks, long battery (6+ hours). oh, and lightweight (4lb or less)--i'm tiny. thought the u33 was almost perfect for me. sigh.

 

Oh dear. And yet again, real technical knowledge bursts through the bubble of ASUS sales talk.

I hadn't realized the HM55 chipset hindered the USB 3.0's speed. Any real tests done by anyone on data transfer speed difference (e.g between USB 2.0 external HDD and USB 3.0 external HDD under the HM55 chipset?)

 

You must have gamed on it pretty often. I too have a W7S and only went through one mobo replacement. Though I rarely use the graphics card

 

me either, Quatro. i just assumed it was the same as the usb 3.0 i've experience with--i was REALLY happy and the 60 euro were worth every cent if it had been "real".

now i am really unsure. any ideas? originally i was considering the ul30 (?) which seemed perfect except for the "missing" sata connection...

 

So David or Redline, are you saying that with the USB 3.0 through the HM55 chipset, there is NO speed improvement compared to USB 2.0 or just limited speed improvement (not the full 10x)? If limited, how limited? What's the real transfer rate? How much improvement over the USB 2.0?

 

Not no speed improvement, just not 10x. Anand wrote about it at length here - 6Gbps SATA Performance: AMD 890GX vs. Intel X58/P55 - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News It's not specifically about USB 3.0, but the same bandwidth shortages that occur when you drop an SATA 6Gbps port off a PCIe 1.0 line happens when you drop a USB 3.0 port off PCIe 1.0. I haven't actually tested it and gotten numbers, but that's the technical explanation.

@David - here's the sad part, I didn't hardly do any gaming there. It was pretty sad.....I stopped being a computer gamer after I got an xbox.

 

This is the first I've heard about the H series chipsets and USB 3.0. Would you happen to have any documentation to support this? From what I gather, the HM55 chipset uses PCI-e version 2.0 which offers 500MB/s per lane per direction but can be configured to have x2 or x4. Although USB 3.0 has a theoretical speed of 5Gbit/s (640MB/s), it's raw throughput is only 4Gb/s (512MB/s) which is pretty close to what a single lane PCI-e 2.0 is capable of.

 

Yeah, except that the PCIe 2.0 slot is taken up by the graphics card. Read the link in my last post.

 

I thought the article said that the H5x (HM55 in our case) uses the PCIe 1.0 lane but that the processor with the onboard graphics has PCI2e 2.0 ability and that's taken up by the graphics.

But I'm understanding David to say that the HM55 has PCIe 2.0. The article says the H5x (HM55) only has the more restricted PCIe 1.0.

To quote Anand's article, "the P55 and H5x chipsets don’t have any PCIe 2.0 lanes". David just said the HM55 does. "HM55 chipset uses PCI-e version 2.0 which offers 500MB/s per lane per direction."

So which is correct, or am I utterly misunderstanding the article (very possible)?

What about this AnandTech article. Note the section under " USB 3.0 on the HM55 Chipset".

• "We hooked up OCZ's Enyo 128 GB USB 3.0 external SSD (which has received glowing reviews everywhere with upto 200 MBps read and 190 MBps write speeds) to the front USB 3.0 ports of the Core 100 HT-BD. Contrary to our expectations, we managed to get a maximum of only 93 MBps read and 75 MBps write performance out of the drive. Connecting the same SSD to an USB 2.0 port resulted in a maximum of 33 MBps reads and 29 MBps writes, in line with expectations. We do not get the fabled 10x, but only a 2.7x, improvement over USB 2.0 with the Core 100 HT-BD's USB 3.0 implementation. A little more analysis revealed that the HM55 chipset does not support PCI-E v2 fully and the bandwidth is limited by the chipset."

This seems to confirm what Redline is saying. So there was a 2.7x improvement of the USB 3.0 over the USB 2.0, but not more due to the limited bandwidth of the HM55 chipset. Is that correct?

But are you sure that ASUS hasn't found a clever way around this chipset bottleneck? They did take a long time to get this USB 3.0 port to market.

And typical of marketing hype, even this review HERE shows that when he had a PCI Express USB3 controller card and a USB3 external drive, he still only managed x3.5 data transfer (writes) faster than the USB2 port. The reads speeds were not so dramatically different. That makes it look like 10x is a total fabrication to start with. Or that more work must be done to optimize use of the possible bandwidth.

 

Sooo, Redline, on top of bugging you to look into:
* U33's chrome trim material
* U33's real weight w/8-cell battery

IF you happen to have laying around a USB 3.0 HDD enclosure, could you also do a couple of transfer rate comparisons for the USB 3.0 port and the USB 2.0 port? Or has someone else already done it for us with the U33Jc?

 

Hehe, if I had a USB 3 enclosure I woulda done the testing for the review itself. Sorry dude. Also, not to disappoint you further, but I don't think I have an accurate way to measure the weight as of the moment, though I'll see what I can do.

10x isn't a total fabrication, it's just under ideal conditions, assuming you have enough bandwidth to maximize potential. Obviously, as of yet we don't have it.

 

Wow, looks like I have a few reviews to get caught up with. Can't wait. Sounds like overall they were pretty favorable. Too bad about the USB 3.0 port not being as fast as advertised. Guess we won't know for sure until we see some benchmarks vs its USB 2.0 ports, but doesn't sound too promising.

Very interesting that we have some sources saying the speakers have moved to the top. Hmmm. That would be a nice surprise.

That is awesome we have some of the actual reviewers popping in and thoughfully giving us some more insight. Thanks guys.

Hopefully we can finally nail down that weight and chrome trim.

Don't be too jealous, Quatro. You still wouldn't get that DVD drive in the 13" and your GPU is every so slightly better. Plus, yours probably runs cooler and apparently the USB 3.0 isn't quite what we thought. Oh, and we know it won't be too long before the next great thing is announced. And one more thing, WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHEN WE ARE GETTING THE DAMN THING!
Does that help at all?
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The first post has been updated with links to the 5 reviews I know of right now for the U33JC

 

What's the power adapter like on this? Anything special?

 

Not sure what a special power adapter looks like, but here is a picture of it courtesy of Anandtech. Were you perhaps expecting a bamboo power adapter?

 

Okay, everyone.

Since several reviews on the U33Jc have been posted today sort of spread out, I'll list out what I & others have found thus far.

U33Jc

AnandTech Review

Engadget Review

LaptopMag Review

PCMag Review

PCMag Test Scores

Hot Laptop Review (We've seen this before)

CNET Review & Video Summary (Be sure & expand the 2-page review as it is longer than it looks)

TweakTown Video Review (We've seen this before as well, but just to add it to the list.)

If you know of more reviews on the U33Jc, post the link and I'll add it here as well.