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

Ah, but someone DID!


We just chose not to believe it.

(I still don't believe it at 4.55 lbs!)

As for battery, the only internal difference between the U30 & U33 is the 2.26 GHz 350M vs 2.4 GHz 370M, BT, USB 3.0, 2.0 MP webcam, WiDi and no ODD, so one of those is eating more power. The 150 MHz extra processing? The BT? The USB 3.0 port? The WiDi card? It's not the loss of the ODD or higher-res webcam, of course.

BTW, that observation video was amazing. I really DID miss the moonwalking bear.

 

Ugghhh. 4.4 pounds is a bit on the heavy side and the battery life of 4 something is lower than expected. I read in the above review that the HDD has 7200rpm. Does that sucks more battery than the normal 5400rpm drive? It also has an i5 processor. Is this processor using more energy than the i3 in the US version?

Hmmm. Has anybody looked at the Sony Y series with i5UM processor and ATI 4550 graphic card? Not a gaming computer but neither is the U33JC. Let's see if the U33JC ETA is moved again I maybe jump ship.

 

Yep, everyone misses the moonwalking bear

Well I guess that weight looks pretty conclusive. I am not going to be in denial. I guess if it is 4.55 lbs so be it, even though that does seem hard to believe. If it is too heavy I suppose I can send it back.

Hmm, looking over some reviews again, it seems battery life is closer than I thought. Well, I suppose it really depends on the test, but the Anandtech review shows nearly identical batter life between the U30 and U33.

@mygymnop
What ETA are you assuming right now? You know the current ETA is Aug 23rd, right?

As for the processor, they are probably pretty close in battery life. The clock speed is probably the same or very close with the only key diffence being the i5 has Turbo Boost.
As for HDD, I think in general there is a negligible difference between 5400 and 7200rpm drives when it comes to battery life.

 

That article was mostly full of oddities any way that cause me to not put a lot of stock in it.
1) His is the heaviest weight claimed yet.
2) And no weight mentioned in the review, just that picture. How do we know that isn't a stock picture from some other model like the U43?
3) 3DMark05 used for testing but not 3DMark06? That's odd.
4) The i5, 7200rpm HDD and 2 GB DDR3 give it away as a non-US model, perhaps Taiwan.
5) Battery life: 4.5 hrs with brightness 50%, BT off, (wifi off or on? his quote is "and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth is turned off",) DVD video MP4 playback. I'm assuming the MP4 means it wasn't a DVD but a rip. If so, that's about what the U30Jc gets. But not much of a test to only test it watching videos. And no comment about which GPU the test was using. I'd guess the Intel HD chip.
6) CPU score in PCMark05 is mentioned twice back-to-back.
7) He does a FPS benchmarking in SF4 with the AA ON? Why on? And then he comments "the average FPS is only about 28".
_____________________________

BTW, GOOD NEWS mjnoles1, look closely at their photo from this review HERE:



If you enlarge it a bit, you can clearly see the top of the wireless card protruding from the side of the HDD (bottom of the photo). You can see the two antenna wires attached to the wireless card's two antenna posts!

So good news, that card will be very easy to change out, if you want to do so.

UPDATE: Ken at GenTech just PM'ed me back saying the following:

QUOTE by GenTechPC

• Thanks my friend, then it's exactly the same layout as UL30 series.
  
  I remember the UL30 wireless card is extremely difficult to pull out, you can only lift the card up about a 5 degree angle because of the bottom cover, however, you'll need to lift the card up at least 20 degrees to remove it.
  
  In this case it's very difficult to remove the card, like UL30, because 90% of the card is covered by the bottom plastic panel of the laptop and the card (plug in) is actually facing (underneath) the hard drive.
  __________________
  Ken Lee

So it's not so easy after all. So if you want the 6200 wireless upgrade for $35, I'd pay GenTech to do it.

Otherwise, HERE is a link for how to change out the card on the UL30Vt (same as U33Jc)! ( Not for the faint of heart )

... Oh, except the keyboard top is nothing like the UL30Vt. Again, bad news. Leave it to GenTech or Xotic!

 

Yes, I assume 23-25th of August....:-( 3 weeks....I hate waiting. LOL

 

I am contemplating buying this for school / gaming (yes i know the GPU isn't awesome, but i don't need top of the line graphics).

My question however, is how does upgrading the processor from the i3-370 to an i5-430/520/540 do to th battery life? I know the i3 would have trouble playing several games. (which would you suggest for playing games like WOW and SC2)

I will be upgrading the Hard Drive to either a 128 or 160 GB ssd.

 

I could be wrong but I doubt that the i3 processor will be the bottleneck; it is the 310M GPU.

 

Correct. As well, GenTechPC reported to us HERE that the processor in the U45Jc (and they felt the U33/43Jc would be the same) are not upgradeable. The CPU is soldered onto the motherboard and he even included a photo to prove it.

And why for $330-$370? The bottleneck in gaming will indeed be the 310M.

 

can someone get an accurate u35jc weight reading?

 

Mikey, why don't you post that question on the U35Jc/U45Jc thread HERE?

This is the U33/43/53Jc Bamboo thread.

 

You pissed bro?

 

Uh, hardly. It's just I'm not seeing your logic.

It's unlikely anyone on this thread has the U35Jc since it's a thread for a whole other notebook. Some on the U35Jc thread actually have the U35 in hand, so it's more productive to ask there.

But you can ask here if you wish and if any of us read of an answer over on the other thread, we'll point you over there.

 

Will the i3 be enough to run games like wow and sc2 on low settings? Also, the screen resolution is low, so that should help it perform better. According to benchmarks. Would you suggest and sad or a hybrid drive?

 

Ok, thank you. Quatro, do you believe after the 4.5 lb published U33JC, people will stray towards the U35JC now?

 

there are a few U43F's available at Best Buy, if you're okay without having a dedicated graphics card

Asus - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i5 Processor / 14" Display / 4GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Dark Bamboo - U43F-BBA5

 

Beats me.

And 4.5 lbs for the U33Jc is uncertain. Too many reviews have listed too many varying weights; at least five different weights so far by my count. We'll see.

 

For sure, SC2 will play fine. Several said they played SC2 on the 310M with medium graphics. One even said he played it on high with no problems.

I've no idea about WoW. Someone who actually games can tell you.

Anandtech HERE and Brandon at Expert Laptop Review HERE did test the GPU's FPS in several popular games. Brandon also o'ced his 210M (basically the same as the 310M) and gave his results HERE. That might give you some idea. Also, you can PM eugenes (see HERE) as he plays lots of different modern games and could tell you what he's found. He has a U30Jc 2.26GHz like me.

As for a better HDD, it depends on your cash. The SSD is much better, of course, but I can't afford it so I'll be getting the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive eventually.

 

I can answer that myself wow is more demanding on CPU and hard drive than gpu. I called xoticpc and their sales claimed the hybrid runs better, but I know that's not true.... wondering how fast I want the CPU....

 

Ok, I couldn't wait any longer - starting uni next week and am just impatient =p So I have secured myself a U30JC-B1 instead. I should have it by the end of the week - can't wait!

 

@sebkg
That is great. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. But honestly, it is only going to be a few more weeks. You are going to have the thing for years. That is what I keep telling myself at least.

Who knows, maybe the U33 will get delayed even more. Right now we are looking at a 1 month delay (it sure seems longer, perhaps because I preordered in June). But one month means nothing when I think about the next 3-5 years. It is a painful wait but I will endure.

The U30 is a great machine though. Let us know how you like it.

 

Psalm, for a more practical answer to your question, look at the page HERE. It's Notebookcheck.net's Comparison of Computer Games on various graphic cards.

They list, for the 310M, SC2 as low graphics (though no FPS are given) and WoW as low or medium graphics on the 310M ... in other words, SC2, to them, was more demanding than WoW. You said the same when you spoke of the GPU (WoW is more demanding of the CPU). The i3 2.4 GHz is an excellent CPU with 4 virtual cores and just hums along happily on the 64-bit system.

While they list SC2 as low graphics to get >28 FPS, I have read of everyone who mentioned playing SC2 on the 310M as playing at least on medium.

Should you buy a notebook with the nV 310M GPU, I don't think you'll have any big problems with those 2 games on medium settings.

 

Anyone else notice the u33jc is no longer up for preorder on xotic pc and amazon?

 

What is going on? I have preordered it from Gentech PC. It's still on their homepage but you are right it disappeared from Xotic and Amazon....maybe time to look for an alternative just in case Asus doesn't release the U33JC end of August...

 

In response to the speaker question on page 75...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...c-bamboo-review-discussion-2.html#post6559639

 

OK, false alarm....the U33JC is again available for preorder at Xotic.

 

Hello All!

I just joined today and wanted to ask a few things. I have pre-ordered the U33jc at Xotic about a week ago.

I've been hunting through the 70+ pages of info here and haven't seen a lot of updates about the US release. Does anybody have any recent info?

Also, any recommendations on cases/sleeves? This is my first laptop. I was thinking of doing a soft shell sleeve with a zipper and then throwing the laptop in my baclpack. I'm not a fan of the full briefcase style laptop carrier and I'd like to take advantage of the size of the lapop without sticking it in a huge case. What do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

@Matrim33
I try to keep the first post of this thread up to date with current release date info. We are being told that August 23rd is the shipping date from Asus.

I would start checking ebay for sleeves. I've seen some nice ones but I personnaly don't have one.

 

Speaking of first page...U43F-BBA5 (no discrete GPU) Best Buy - $949.99 is now $899.99 and currently in stock at some best buy locations.

 

Hey all.
Amazon just emailed me this:

Hello from Amazon.com.

Due to a lack of availability from our suppliers, we will not be able to obtain the following item(s) from your order:

"ASUS U43JC-A1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop"
Amazon.com: ASUS U43JC-A1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop: Computer & Accessories

We've cancelled the item(s) and apologize for the inconvenience.

Please visit the product detail pages above to see if these items are available from other sellers.

I'm bummed. They still have the u43jc-x1 but it has no bluetooth.

BTW great forum!

 

My wife's 13" Case Logic neoprene zippered sleeve fits my 13" U30Jc like a glove. It should fit your U33 just fine. Perfect for backpacks. There are several styles on Amazon for about $20.

 

I'm thinking about buying a laptop cover early for my U43JC. I looked at other models, and the keyboard layout seems to be the same as the UL80 and the K42. Does anyone know if buying a keyboard cover for the UL80 would work for me? like if Asus slightly changes the dimensioning between similar keyboard designs for the same size laptop?

 

I would research carefully before buying anything. A lot of rubber keyboard covers are made to be a perfect fit. They often extend at least 1/4" to the outside of the keyboard. If there is a dip in the plastic surface (as there is on the UL80Vt) then the rubber is molded to fit that.

The surface around the keyboard of those two notebooks is very different. I can't be sure if even the keys themselves are an exact size and spacing match.

 

Best Buy had the U43F in store (not on display). So, I asked to look at the box (to maybe see some specs and some pics). To my surprise it was just a plain looking boxes. Didnt mention Bamboo at all or any Specs. Just said in big letter U43F. Even more odd, the box did not seem environmentally friendly which I thought it was supposed to be. It seemed like the same material they use in every laptop box.

 

Everyone that already ordered your U33/U43/U53 if you went through GenTech or XoticPC or companies like that what did you add to your laptop to customize it if you didnt keep it stock? Lets make a list of options you added. Begin :

 

As posted a few days ago, I order the U33 through GenTech. I added the "500GB Seagate XT 7200rpm Hybrid Drive 32MB Cache SATA II". I think that was the only option I chose.

I hadn't read any reviews of this particular drive at the time, but I knew (knowing me as I do) that a stock 5400rpm drive would get on my nerves. Particularly since my desktop's OS runs on a newish WD VelociRaptor.

 

Was at my local Best Buy, none in stock, none on display. I was in downtown tonight so I decided to check out the flagship store - no go either

 

did you check online before you went...most of the stores near me show them in stock and available for store pickup

 

To me, GenTech's Seagate Momentus XT 500 is not a very good deal at $139. You're paying extra for them to fiddle with removing your old drive and setting up your new one.

If you buy it at Amazon or Newegg, it's $135 plus you get to keep your old 320GB HDD which you can put in an enclosure as a USB external backup HDD.

So in the first case, you pay $139 for the 500GB hybrid. In the second case, you pay $135 and end up with TWO HDD's.

 

Sure, but if you have more than a terabyte of spare space in a desktop PC (not including Drobo for back-up), don't feel like buying a USB enclosure for the limited purpose of enclosing a small capacity, poor performing laptop HD, and don't feel like reinstalling everything on the new laptop HD, it's a pretty good deal!

I considered what you suggested and I couldn't envision any scenario where the spare laptop HD would be of any use.

 

Do these laptops support 8GB RAM? The official specs say 4GB max, but some users are discussing otherwise.

 

LOL. Fair enough!

Yes. Confirmed by GenTech as well.

 

Hey Quatro,

Is this a theory or a fact?

If it is true, then could the same be said for the stock 640gb 5400rpm vs a 500gb 7200rpm hard drive having the same speed?

 

See Tom's Hardware 2009 Benchmark Chart HERE ( that I only just now looked up at random):

This benchmark total is taken by averaging the mobile performance (50% Throughput - 25% PCMark - 25% I/O). It's important to compare apples to apples, so the same maker and type like
Seagate Momentus Mobile Performance Scores: (higher is better)
500 GB 7200rpm - 317.65
640 GB 5400rpm - 287.40
320 GB 7200rpm - 276.81
500 GB 5400rpm - 272.38

So, from this, I can see that the 320GB 7200rpm is still faster than the 500GB 5400 ... but not by much. And the 640GB 5400rpm beats them both out.

Even just taking the PCMark Vantage Benchmark, the scores are:
500 GB 7200rpm - 4289
640 GB 5400rpm - 3855
320 GB 7200rpm - 3590
500 GB 5400rpm - 3541

The 320GB 7200rpm here is slightly faster than the 500GB 5400rpm, ... sort of. (Though the 640GB 5400rpm is much faster than the 320GB 7200rpm.) The point being that the benefit isn't that much to justify an "upgrade" to a smaller disk that has faster RPM's. And an added platter to add GB's of space also adds faster access times.

Here are the Avg Read Throughput Scores:
500 GB 7200rpm - 80.12
320 GB 7200rpm - 69.64
640 GB 5400rpm - 69.10
500 GB 5400rpm - 64.06

And the Avg Write Throughput Scores:
500 GB 7200rpm - 77.70
320 GB 7200rpm - 69.35
640 GB 5400rpm - 68.60
500 GB 5400rpm - 63.80

Here the 500/7200 is much ahead of the others, but the 320/7200 and the 640/5400 are nearly identical and the 500/5400 is close.

And to answer one of your questions, no, in these benchmark tests, the 500GB 7200rpm outperformed the 640GB 5400rpm ... perhaps there isn't another platter involved there? Not sure. But the benchmarks tell the story.

 

Man, U43F-BBA5 (no discrete GPU) keeps dropping in price. Listed at 849.99 at Best Buy now. Probably because most people realize gpu's are preferred even for non-gaming purposes such as Hulu.

 

Would a dedicated GPU help in outputting better 1080P quality via the HMDI output than a discrete graphics card?

 

I just saw the Bamboo u4xjc in a Best Buy ad. It was listed for 849.99 but I believe it was the one with the integrated GPU

 

Does anyone know how well the U43F's webcam works? I know its 0.3 MP but does anyone have pictures with it so I can check them out? I'll be moving cross country so a good webcam is essential for me so I can chat with my family. All the help I can get will be great.

 

2 Questions:

1. Is the hard-drive on the U33JC easily accessible from the bottom with a normal screw? (I'm going to replace it with a Seagate XT)

2. Is the IC Diamond Thermal Compound that beneficial for the U33JC?

 

The U43Jc's 2.0 MP webcam is WAAAAY better. I have an ASUS netbook w/ a 1.3 MP webcam and an ASUS U30Jc w/ the pathetic 0.3 MP webcam. Used it tonight. The image is grainy & poor light sensitivity. The 1.3 MP is just so much better over all.

If a good webcam is important to you, DON'T get the 0.3 MP webcam. Buy the full U43Jc w/ 2.0 MP instead. Or else, buy a better external webcam after you get the U43F.

 

1) Yes. Very easy.
2) GenTech has reported that they have found several of the latest ASUS' U-series with the CPU soldered to the board. They suspect the U33Jc will be the same (in case you were thinking to change out the CPU.) If you JUST wanted to change the thermal compound, I wouldn't mess with it. ASUS' cooling is pretty good; better than average. They know what they are doing in that area. I doubt you'll get much improvement.