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

Ha! That's awesome and will make things much easier. Congrats!

There's a very easy and fast way. You can try it on the PC you're using now. In the Start Men, type "Device Manager" in the search box. Open Device Manager. In the list of devices, expand "Network adapters". There should be an Ethernet Controller. Ignore that. There should also be a Wireless Network Adapter listed. Mine says "Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter". So I know that I have an AtherosAR9285 wireless card in my notebook ... and I can't do WiDi. I could if I changed it for the Intel Centrino card, but I don't need WiDi and so I'll keep this very fine card that I have (the most powerful wireless card I've ever owned.)

I'm confident we (and others here) can figure it out and get you up & running though probably none of us have any experience with WiDi or with changing the card in a U43Jc ... since both are so new.

But be prepared for some frustrations and a learning curve as these things rarely go smoothly, especially over long distance.

Trying to walk you through something new without being there can be very frustrating for everyone.

** I will add the unpleasant caveat that at the end of the day, we aren't 100% sure of all of this, because the tech is so new and no one has actually done it yet. So don't hold us responsible if it doesn't work out. We are, after all, just far-away people on an forum thread. But well do our best to help you.

An idea. Since you can't call & ask about the BB U43Jc, we KNOW the U35Jc isn't WiDi-capable, I'd call GenTech and ask them if the U35Jc could be made WiDi-enabled by putting in the Centrino Advanced-N 6200 wireless card and the drivers & MyWiFi software.

 

The Intel Core processor needed is an i-series (2010) and one with on-chip Intel HD graphics (any i3 or i5 and most i7's). That IS "an Intel laptop".

MyWiFi technology enabled (I think) is the MyWiFi software installed & running with a compatible wifi Centrino card that can use the software. You see, there are several more "Intel Centrino" wireless cards than just the 6200, 6250 & the 6300 listed as WiDi-compatible. Only those 3, it seems, have an onboard chip on the wireless card that is WiDi-capable.

And an Intel Centrino wireless Advanced-N 6200, Advanced-N 6250, or the Ultimate-N 6300.

It sounds like the U35Jc will have all of those listed except the proper wireless card.

I wish I could be 100% positive, but I'd suggest calling GenTech and asking them if they can make U35Jc WiDi-compatible by changing the wireless card. They'd know more than all of us.

 

Oh, excellent! I didn't realize it wasn't just the 3 cards (6200-6300) that worked. The Centrino 1000, 5100 and the 5300 also work.

Good find!

 

That info I posted in my last post only pertains to MyWiFi, NOT WiDI. MyWiFi is compatible with all of those wireless cards regardless of the processor, but WiDI requires a WiDi capable wireless card plus a few other things (that the U35JC has). Not all of the MyWiFi cards are WiDi compatible.

To put is this way:
All WiDi capable wireless cards are MyWiFi compatible.
But, not all MyWiFi compatible wireless cards are WiDi capable.

So the point still stands. Add any WiDi compatible card to the U35JC and you meet all of the pre requisites for WiDi.

 

Haha, I think I made things worse with that post. Those are just MyWiFi compatible cards, not WiDi capable cards.

 

Oh, ... you got me! I see your point. So, for example, the Centrino Wireless-N 1000 is MyWIFi-capable, but not WiDi-capable. I hadn't read it carefully enough.

So we're back to 3 compatible cards still: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200, Advanced-N 6250 & the Ultimate-N 6300.

BTW, for anyone buying, the 6200 is a 2-antenna card. The 6300 is a 3-antenna card. So check your antenna wires before buying the replacement card, unless you plan to install the 3rd antenna yourself.

Oh ... and look at THIS! Isn't it great when someone else has already done our homework for us!

And HERE is a retailer on the NBR site selling the Ultimate-N 6300.

Oh! Oh! Another quote. mjnoles1 & mikeysela, this is important This reviewer here says:

So now I'm 100% certain mjnoles1 can get his U43Jc to do WiDi if it doesn't already! And mikeysela can buy the U35Jc and get it to run WiDi if he wants to. Just change the wireless card to one of the three listed above.

** And I wonder if WiDi will only work with those listed 6 CPU's? No, not true. That review is from May & now behind. The i3-370M definitely also does WiDi (U33Jc).

BTW, my U30Jc only comes with 2 antennas so I'd only ever buy the Advanced-N 6200 card as it has two antenna posts. I could buy the 6300, but if I didn't use the third antenna post, I think it's effectiveness would be reduced to the 6200 any way.

 

I have recently been reading over this thread and the U33 and U43 seem like a great buy. Been thinking of getting rid of my macbook and jumping ship back to windows. This laptop could be the ticket.

Also I spotted an article on Engadget which could be an interesting read

ASUS U33Jc and U53Jc Bamboo Series laptops priced for UK consumption -- Engadget

 

Good find on the Engadget article. Can't wait to start seeing some reviews. Hopefully they are positive! If all goes according to plan, I will have my U33JC at my door before the end of the week. That means we should have one review by the weekend. Mine! (fingers crossed)

 

AWesome, thanks for the info guys. my question now is this, on the upgrade at GenTech, they list a 6200 Intel Wireless Card but the requirement is Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200. I know they are both intel tech, and im being picky, but are those two exactly the same?

 

Yes, I believe so. I don't think Intel makes two flavors of "Advanced-N 6200" wireless card (which is how they list it at GenTech). Centrino is just a brand name Intel puts on them.

To be sure, just ask the tech guys at GenTech.

 

"I wish I could be 100% positive, but I'd suggest calling GenTech and asking them if they can make U35Jc WiDi-compatible by changing the wireless card. They'd know more than all of us."

I called GenTec and no one answered and no answer machine came on.....Then I saw where they are located. I guessed I forgot since it is 11:00 here its not 11:00 everywhere. They are located in California, so I'll call back in 30 minutes when their open

I am excited, so, either way it really looks like I am going to get my perfect laptop. A U43JC that is WIDI compatible

Quick question Quatro, I am soon going to be purchasing a Sprint Epic 4G phone (when ever the darn thing comes out). Since it is a 4G phone, and if the current setup of the Best Buy U43JC doesnt work with WIDI. Should I purchase the 6250 since it is WIFI (same strength as the 6200) but has the addition of the WIMAX 4G? Would it be helpful to have a 4G/WiMax Intel card in my laptop to work with my 4g/WiMax phone?

-Also, how would I know if the U43JC has 3 antennas or 2? I guess wait for the first person to receive their Bamboo WIDI wifi card from the forum and have them go through "Device Manager" steps to find out what card they have and with that info I will know what card I should purchase?

 

Quick question guys.
I'be been looking at this laptop, but is it bad that the Ram can only be expanded up to 4gb max? will that be enough in 3 years?

and how does the u43jc compare to the toshiba http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satel...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1279402683&sr=1-1

 

Quick answer: I know nothing about 4G networks so I can't help you there. If you wanted to see about using 4G (eg your laptop logged on through your phone, I presume), why not get the 6250? But I've no idea where you can buy it. Amazon & Newegg don't carry it. Do be careful of such items on eBay. There have been fake 6200's for sale there.

When you get yours, you use Device Manager to determine the card you have. Then you look it up online and you'll even see visually how many antenna posts the card has.

The bigger question then will be how many antenna wires your laptop itself comes with (some thoughtful laptop makers have three antenna wires inside the chassis, even though the installed card is only using two of them. But that is rare. My Atheros card has two antenna posts .... and two antenna wires in the laptop.)

 

I can't comment on the Toshiba. I'll leave that to you to do the comparison of the specs.

To help you, Newegg has a clearer list of the Toshiba M645-S4055's specs HERE.

That Tosh is Optimus-driven also & uses the much nicer NVIDIA 330M GPU. You can see its ranking # in GPU benchmarks & 3DMark06 scores HERE.

Look also at the rank # & 3DMark06 score on the 310M (U43Jc) for a comparison.

Lastly, look for reviews on the Tosh for an idea on battery life.

Enjoy your research.

_________________________

XoticPC lists both the U33Jc and the U43Jc as expandable up to 8 GB RAM. I'd rather think your "4GB max" is a typo in Amazon's listing.

 

no, no....He stated in another post that he got the info from Amazon. This issue is not from Best Buy

 

Quatro, you mentioned your not sure where I could purchase the 6250. I found where someone is selling for your info and for anyone else that is interested.

Never purchased from this seller, but it seems a lot have. Anyone have any comments on the products this person sells?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...centrino-advanced-n-wimax-6250-cards-new.html

 

Oh yes. Babyhemi is reputable and has been selling a while on this forum with many satisfied customers. Do buy from him. Ouch. At $53, it's the most expensive of the 3 cards.

... and I see that the 6250 has two antenna posts so you won't need to concern yourself with how many antennas you have (unless BB cut back the antenna wires to one! :confused2: )

So does 4G WiMAX on the wireless card mean you can connect online through your phone service (Sprint) without having to use your phone? That would be cool.

 

Quatro another question for you. Is it worth upgrading from a 500GB HD at 5400 RPM to a 320GB 7200RPM for an extra 35$?. 320GB is plenty enough for me, so would the extra RPM make any noticeable difference? I am planning on getting the U35JC with the upgraded Intel Wireless card for 35 to be able to do WiDi and was wondering if the HD upgrade is a welcoming one as well. Thanks

 

In general , there is a difference between 5400 RPM & 7200 RPM, but it's not huge. I have both in my laptops.

If it was me, I'd keep the larger HDD and save the $35. Now if they were offering to upgrade from 500GB 5400 rpm to 500GB 7200 rpm for an extra $35, then I'd say "go for it." But to PAY $35 (probably their labor to change it out) and get 2/3 the HDD? No, I wouldn't.

BTW, a little trick on HDD's. A 500 GB HDD has an extra platter compared to a 320 GB HDD meaning it can access the info faster. So I'd bet that the access time on the 500/5400 is actually about equal to the 320/7200. So you wouldn't be gaining anything and actually paying to lose HDD space!

 

Excellent, saves me 35$, thank you.

So would buying the base U35JC with the upgraded wireless card be a good purchase? people here keep talking about solid state drives and lots of extra things, so should i consider any sort of upgrades to my U35JC of that sort or would I be pretty pleased with the product as is? Thanks again

 

On the wireless card, if you really want WiDi-ability, you'll have to upgrade and the price difference isn't that big of a deal.

When it comes to upgrades like an SSD, it's all about $$'s.

An SSD is incredibly faster, but incredibly more expensive as well.

A cheaper option is the new Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drives. They're nowhere near as fast as an SSD, not even close. But they do load a limited number of programs much faster than a standard HDD.

That'll be my next upgrade.

My advice? Use your notebook as is and see down the road what you'll really need. The upgraded card is not expensive if you want WiDi and are willing to spend the $100 to get the Push2TV box. You can do that now.

Do be sure & check with GenTech to be sure if changing the card & installing software will make you WiDi-enabled. I'd like to hear their take on that any way.

 

Will WiDi really be this popular? I seems more like a gimmick than anything.

 

I called GenTec and it was like me speaking to best Buy. They have no clue at all. All he could state is that the U33jc, U43jc and u53jc is widi ready.. He had no idea about adding a Intel wifi card to the laptop would make it widi enabled. He stated that the laptops should be in at the end of July (didn't tell me what year however lol). In regard to what wifi card is coming in the u43jc stock, Asus didnt list it in their specs but one they have there hands on it they would be able to tell me based on a required FCC sticker that states what model wifi card is on the bottom according to Ken from GenTec.

 

Actually, it is pretty darn cool as i had a widi laptop (Dell blue Label) and if you watch any movies or tv shows online all you have to do is click a button and it automatically transfers the image to your tv screen, I thought it was really cool and is a requirement for my new laptop. You do have to purchase the Netgear PTV1000 router box that conects to the back of your tv either with a hdmi cable (included) or composite cables.

 

That's what I think. But the concept is no gimmick. To use the screen of your HDTV as a monitor with no wires could be very useful.

The idea has been around but to have it with no USB dongle and no wires would be nice.

I just happen to think that Intel's semi-free solution is lacking due to time lag btwn the laptop & the TV and a few other things.

 

Ah, well, so it seems we've researched more than them at the moment.

And look at that, ... the wifi model # IS on my laptop bottom. I'd never noticed that! Great. A new piece of info!

 

What I am hoping for with WiDi is projector adapation. It would be nice to go to presentation/talks and just connect your laptop, and the ability for different people to connect and show their presentations w/out the old plug and play and waste of time.

 

That should be easy. The projector is just a projecting monitor, esp if it has HDMI. It should work.

 

The WiDi has like a 2 second delay, right? So it would only work if you already have a movie cued up?

 

Yeah, it would be good for presentations as well, as i was thinking about that too since I do a lot of them. The problem is, you would have to drag along the netgear push2tv box and plug it in to the tv where ever you go.

 

Does anybody know what is the maximum RAM for U43Jc? Asus site states that 4GB is maximum. Or am I missing something?

Thanks

 

Okay, I just heard back from Ken over at GenTechPC asking him about making a U35Jc WiDi-ready. Here's his response:

Seems clear enough.
1) The U35Jc is NOT WiDi-ready
2) To make it ready, merely change out the card and install the drivers & MyWiFi software.

 

What a question! How can any of us know that for sure unless someone owned the model (which hasn't been released yet) and spent another $200 to pull out the 2x2GB and replace them with 2x4GB DDR3 in that laptop (that hasn't been released yet)?

ASUS indeed lists it as 4GB max.

GenTech & Xotic list it as having an 8GB max.

Given standard specs for recent notebooks and Win 7 x64's ability, I believe the later is true, but how can I be certain?

 

Yes. Using it as an extended desktop would be very frustrating. It's for movies, photos, auto-run Powerpoint, etc. Not for real-time gaming or desk work.

There are other solutions that DON'T have the time lag.

Too true. The Alereon NoWire wireless adapter is very small and it seems like a better & more powerful solution to wireless HDTV use.

 

yea but it also requires a usb dongle being plugged to your laptop at all times which is pretty far from ideal. For me that is anyways..

 

At all times? How often would you be using a WiDi solution?

 

I sure hope he's right. Just to note it again, when I spoke to him on the phone he was not nearly as confident. I had to walk him step by step of the spcifications needed for widi to work according to Intel website. With that information he stated. "Well, I guess if thats the specs listed it should work, but I am not 100% sure"

When I talked with him it really seemed like he was just going along with what I was saying.

 

I don't mean that i would be using it all the time but that it has to be plugged in at all times during use. Where as you don't need to plug anything to your laptop with the netgear box, the box is always going to be connected to the tv, but usb dongles are easy to misplace. Sure, call me picky, but its not as nice as not needing anything plugged into your laptop.

 

Am I the only one who is sick of hearing about WiDi? It's boring me to tears! I mean really.... how often are you gonna use it for anything other than watching videos or showing photos? Get a NAS with a built in media server and stream it via your PS3 or even more simply, get an Asus EEE Box or one of it's cheaper competitors. You can probably get one that's the same price or even cheaper than the Intel WiDi receiver box thingy you need.

Can we please have a change of subject? You're doing my head in!

 

We are the knights who say ... "widee".
*widee* *widee* *widee*

 

Nice one Quatro! LOL. I was just getting rather tired of page after page of chatter about a technology that really isn't very ground breaking or exciting.

Here's something new to chat about, the official press release PDF document for the release of the U33JC and U53JC that came out in the UK today:
http://www.tru-pr.co.uk/press/clients/asus/ASUSU33U53BambooPRFinal.pdf

 

This question goes all the way back to the UL30VT. The Asus rep on Amazon commented that they only test their machines with 4GB of ram. Supposedly this means they are only certified to work with 4GB. The rep did say though that there are no technical reasons that would prevent 8GB from working.

Ah, I found the post. I'm pretty sure the rep gave a more detailed post somewhere else but this is all I could find:

This was back in January but here is the link.

 

Not to derail the conversation, but does anyone know the part number for the U33/U43/U53 AC Adapter?

Is it: ASUS 90-XB04N0PW00040Y? Or #90-N00PW5400T?

 

Wow. How enlightening: "reduce C02 emissions with Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) and NVIDIA Optimus". So Super Hybrid Engine helps reduce CO2 emissions. How eco-friendly.

I have Optimus, so I must be eco-friendly as well.

That's it! That's the answer to global warming: the US & Canadian gov'ts should buy 2 million ASUS notebooks with Optimus and ship them to Africa where CO2 emissions need the most reduction.

ASUS, you done it. You've saved the planet.

How ever are we supposed to find the part number for an AC adapter for a notebook that hasn't been released yet?

 

Thanks a lot for clarification, Case1

 

Good news, mjnoles1 & mikeysela! Ken Lee at GenTechPC just sent me this PM about WiDi (apologies kingswood for use of the "W" word!)

 

That's awesome! for the extra 35 bucks then, why wouldnt i do it then eh?? sounds pretty sweet and like a good deal which leads to wanting the u35JC so much more now than the u33JC, thank you Quatro.

 

*Ahem* ... Okay everyone. Please give me some reputation points. I just noticed that I seem to be stuck as "Quatro is a jewel in the rough" when I put my pointer over the rep points area.

Help me out here. I don't want to be stuck as something in the rough.

 

Btw, for all you canadians out there, i found a canadian site to order a U35JC from instead of having to do it via the USA. contact me for more info

 

Seems I don't have PM'ing privileges. Weird. Anyways, I'm interested...Where can I go? And can they customize the model like XoticPC?