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

Well done. You can post online companies here. It's okay.

I looked in Infonec.com, Tigerdirect.ca, NCIX.com, PCCanada but none had a way to preorder the U35Jc.

But Amazon.ca DOES have the U35Jc-A1 for preorder HERE for CDN$ 822.

 

SWEET

That is freaking awesome. So, even if my U43JC from Best Buy doesnt come with WIDI stock, all I got to do is install a Intel 6200 card and download the softwares and I am set and ready to use WIDI

YES, I would kiss you, but that would be gay.....So, here is a hardy handshake to you sir

I truly am excited.

 

No kisses please. Just rep points will do!

 

A-Power.com - Canada's Best Computer Store, a company based out of vancouver, they are selling it for 890CAD. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it is customizable which is a shame because i wanted to upgrade the wireless card...

 

BTW, my sister needs a laptop as well. I have researched the hell out of purchasing one for me, but now my sister wants one for Med School, but she wont go lower than a 14 inch, and she wants a light laptop and long battery life. In that case, is the U43JC/U45JC a good option for her?

 

Okay. But Amazon.ca is selling it (preorder) for CAD$ 822 and free shipping. That's CAD$ 68 cheaper. Why would you order from the other guys?

 

Sorry Quatro, I posted that before i even saw your post regarding amazon! thats even better then. Any idea if amazon is a reliable source? I've never ordered from them.

 

They're the Canadian arm of Amazon USA ... the largest online retailer in the US and probably the world!

The savings will let you buy the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 wireless card. Now your challenge will be where in Canada can you find the wireless card? It's small & light enough, you could buy it from the US or get a local computer store order it for you.

You can find the card on eBay.ca, but there have been reports of that a shipment of fakes of that exact card being sold on eBay.

 

LoL, I can'y really argue with that then. Looks like that'll be my order then, im excited man. Now for my sister, since i decided on the U35JC for myself, what would be the best for her in your opinion? She will be going to med school for the next 3 years, and she wants the lightest possible 14-15 inch with long battery life. Since i researched the out of the U35JC, i don't see why she wouldnt be happy with the U45JC. Any comments?

 

I'm not too worried about that Bud. Getting the laptop i want is 95% there, the other 5% are for a wireless card, and ill cross that bridge when i get there. That is, as long as its a doable upgrade. Can one upgrade the network card without too much difficulty?

 

It should be easy. Usually, ASUS puts that little card in not too hard a location (beside the RAM or under the keyboard.)

No idea what your sister would like. It also depends on your budget for her. In med school, I'd think battery & weight would be the most important to her. Is dual graphics important? Can she go with a ULV processor or needs the power of a full M processor? In the 14" realm, there are many choices.

 

Don't you worry, I sent you a rep You have been extremely helpful for everyone looking at the Bamboo line, thanks so much.

 

Dual graphics are probably less of an important thing, even though she likes to stream and watch movies. I rather she get the full M processor as she will need this laptop for years to come and I want her to have a fast computer since she is in such an important program. Weight and Battery life however, are defenetely the most important things for her

 

On weight & size for your sister's notebook:
1) Do you feel that 14" is what she wants size-wise (not 13.3")? The 14" screen is about 1/2 inch wider and 1/4 inch deeper than the 13". They are close in size. For carrying around, my wife prefers her 13" Macbook because she has a large bag/purse she can actually stuff it into or she carries it in her arms. But the MB screen is 16:10 so it looks larger (deeper) than the ASUS ones. ASUS is 16:9 ratio.
2) Will the extra 1 lb weight be okay for her to carry around? The U45Jc weighs about 4.8 lbs (like my U30Jc). Or would she prefer a non-DVD unit?
3) On the U45Jc (if it's like my U30Jc) will give her about 7 hrs battery with the CPU powered way down to about 1GHz and WiFi on. Will that be enough battery life for her?

 

1) Um she insists of getting a 14 inch minimum, but i told her it would up the weight and i thought 13.3 is good enough. originally she wanted a 15 inch but i was able to talk her down to a 14 because i told her it would keep the weight down so its worth it, but she feels 13.3 is too small(I currently have a dellxps m1330 which is 13.3 and she feels its too small).
2) I would certainly say she would give up a dvd drive to lower the weight, so yes. How is the 4.8lb weight to carry around? heavy? ok? I really want my sister to have the lightest carrying experience when she lugs that thing to the library back and forth (she had a sony vaio 15 inch and it wasnt too bad , maybe at about 5.3 lbs.)
I think that would make her most happy in the long run over CPU speed/dvd drive.
3) 7 hours is plenty for battery life

4) do you feel a 13.3 inch macbook would essentially simulate a 14 inch vieweing experience? Maybe she might be better off getting a MBP 13.3 inch then..?
On a sperate note.. U35jc-A1 I3-370m 2.4g 4gb 500gb 13.3in W7hp Nv 310m Silver: Amazon.ca: Electronics. Does that page look a little sketch to you? Not much on there other than that 1 line of info...

 

Haha, they list the computer weight as 4.1 kg. Fairly certain they mean 4.1 lbs

 

Yes, that does look pretty sketchy (and quite heavy at 4.1kg). But the US Amazon page HERE on the U45Jc is equally as sketchy. It's initial shipping weight at 1 lb is much nicer ... . In reality, the the details section, it lists it as 4.61 lbs

They don't have it in yet so don't have much listed I suppose.

 

4.1 Lb is still not the weight of the U35JC..

And as to why I can only think of maybe its not really a U35JC lol. That seemed to be at the price range of a UL30Vt if you ask me..I am not too confident ordering from a page that looks so poor compared to the U43JC. Hopefully it gets updated to make me feel more secure about it being the real thing

 

like Quatro said (he's quite the smart gentleman), battery life + portability are probably most important to her. i'll be starting professional school next year and i'm starting to think that the envy 14 that i ordered is overkill for my needs.

 

I was looking around for a bit an A Lenovo Y460 series at 14 inch might be a nice choice for her..

 

Yea you are probably right. Should I feel comfotorable in ordering it or wait till more info arrives to be sure? The only reason I can see to pull the trigger now is because prices tend to fluctuate quite a bit on amazon..

 

Hello, I just bought the FORCE 1656-ID1 (Built on the MSI-1656-ID1)

and I may exchange it for the Asus U53JC coming out soon, I was wondering if I could get a better deal with it. The MSI turned out to be about $1350, what I want is basically a fast laptop that can run something like SC2 easily, and have a long battery life (hence why i got a spare 9 cell battery). I am also wondering which network card is better? Thanks

 

Not to worry. Amazon US's side-details page lists the U45Jc correctly at 4.61 lbs.

On the Y460, a close friend bought the Y560 (same as the Y460 except 15"). I'd never recommend it. VERY hot. Fan always on. Bottom gets hot. Poor battery life (of course, he had the i7 quad-core!). For games & multimedia, it's well-equipped. Great speakers. Style-wise, it looks very slick.

But other than that, I wouldn't want it.

All I can say is read the reviews and user comments here (who own whatever laptop you narrow down your search to.)

Unfortunately, weight-wise, I'm not seeing a lot of 14" notebooks w/o an ODD.

For battery life on a 14", I'd get the UL80Vt. If I wanted more processing power and less battery was okay, I'd go the U45Jc.

The HP Envy 14 is pretty awesome, but it's heavier (5.2 lbs), expensive (starts at $1,100), and is a tad thicker (1.1") ... and as Nexus14 said (who's also a very smart fellow), it can be overkill for school use.

Tell us what laptops you begin to filter through to find the one right for her. Whatever type or brand, you'll probably find a thread dedicated to it here.

 

I believe that is the best network card Intel offers at the moment for notebooks. The U53Jc comes with the n-6200, which is a 2-antenna version vs the 3 in the 6300.

How important is portability? I'm guessing not a priority given you are looking at 15" models. If gaming is a priority the GPU in the MSI certainly kicks the snot out of the Asus. It could likely handle SC2 on low settings so it depends if that is good enough for you.

The Asus is cheaper at $1,095 or less, but you definitely get a better GPU, screen, wireless card, and faster hard drive. The Asus probably has better portability and battery life. I see no mention of Optimus on the MSI so battery life should be significantly better on the Asus.

 

First off, you'll need to clarify some needs for us.

The FORCE 1656 comes with the NV GTS 250M which ranks # 47 on Notebookcheck.net. It's base 3DMark06 score is 7625.

The U53Jc Bamboo comes with the NV 310M which ranks # 112 and scores 3154 on 3DMark06.

The FORCE comes with a 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen.

The U53Jc comes with a basic 1366x768 screen.

The FORCE has 2GB RAM. The U53Jc has 4GB RAM.

If you paid $1300 for the FORCE then you probably got the upgraded i7-720QM quad-core (1.6GHz). The U53Jc comes with the i5-450M (2.4GHz).

What I'm getting at is that these two notebooks aren't even comparable; they're nothing alike.

1) What's the speed/type of gaming GPU you want? Desired score on 3DMark06? (Please don't say, "As high as possible.") SC2 isn't Crysis or ME2. The 310M should run it fine. But the FORCE 1656 has a GPU that is over TWICE as powerful. How much game graphics power do you want/need?

BTW, this poster HERE said he had played Starcraft 2 on the NV 310M GPU on "mostly high settings and didn't have any issues." ANother user on Newegg reported he played SC2 on his UL80Vt (310M) on "high performance" mode. So you should be fine with that GPU for SC2.

2) How many hours of battery life do you feel you need on max power saving? What to you is "a long battery life"?

3) "Which network card is better" is unclear. What do you want to do with it? Intel makes a LOT of wireless cards. A lot also depends on the type of router you use and the bandwidth of service you have. The best is probably the wireless & router that work together to create two connections simultaneously and give you double the bandwidth & download speed.

 

For those still interested, Asus' first shipment of the U33JC (and likely their other newly released models) has been pushed back to August 4th. Some of you probably know Best Buy pushed back their shipping date for some of their Asus notebooks and the same stands for GenTech (and probably any other retailer).

*widee*
*widee* *widee*

 

Oh no! Sorry!

We are now the knights who say .... "nowidee."

*nowa*...uh... *newa* ...
*nnee* *nee* *nee*

 

Gahhhhh -.-

 

Bad news for all us UK residents! I just got off the phone from asuslaptop.co.uk. They said that they had literally just got off the phone from Asus who had told them that the first UK shipment will now not be available until the 24th of August!

I'm soooooo gutted! I think this might actually be the final straw. Time to start looking at alternatives. I can't go another whole month without a laptop! The only internet I have had at home for the last 3 months has been via my iPhone.

Can anyone provide me with a list of alternative laptops? No Apple, Dell, Acer or MSI though please and you can forget about the Vaio Z series... I'd need to be a drug dealer to afford one of those!

My requirements:

• 13.3 or 14 inch screen
• Discreet GPU
• At least 4 hours real work battery life
• Preferably less than 2kg in weight, but a bit over is OK
• USB 3.0
• chiclet keyboard

ASUS..... YOU SUCK!!!

 

Why, ASUS??? WHYYYYY???

 

kingswood, I would figure out first what you wouldn't mind trading off and then search, might not find all of those in the exact package but something else might be close enough.

Other options:

Lenovo Y series
HP Envy

 

Truly bad news indeed. Sorry!

You don't make it easy with your list (or perhaps easier because it's so defined!). Throwing out the makers listed and then adding in USB 3.0 is tough. What notebooks are even offerings USB 3.0 at present? Even the new Envy 14 doesn't have USB 3.0.

I was going to suggest the Toshiba R700, but no joy there. Some of its varieties come with eSATA/USB but not USB 3.0.

I don't even think the Yuppie Sony Z nor the impossible-to-get-in-the-US Acer 3820TG comes with a USB 3.0 port! So you could sell lots of drugs (a drug bust may be quicker) and still not get USB 3.0 in that Sony Z.

For USB 3.0, 13-14" and under $1,000 (in the US. UK prices are higher. All of those nifty hidden taxes you've got there,) and your other requirements, the U33Jc still sounds like the best choice.

Actually, it's the USB 3.0 that is the problem. If it's important to you, I'd wait for the U33Jc.

Can any one list for us ANY 13-14" notebooks that have USB 3.0 at present?

 

Yeah, I don't know why people are so hung up on USB 3.0. We've lived with 2.0 for a long time, did your life get that much more important that you can't afford that time anymore

I'd rather think you'd want a SSD to save the precious time all the time, versus just doing external movement.

 

@ Kingswood

I feel your pain man! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have been phoning asuslaptop.co.uk everyday now for like 2 weeks and the guy is like yeah, one or two days. Yesterday he even told me they were going to arrive "any minute" !

I did just see this

http://news.idealo.co.uk/news/8074/newest-eco-friendly-asus-bamboo-laptops-out-in-uk.html

but i guess its just plain wrong like everything else! What kind of situation are we in where we can get more reliable info from a forum?!

Is there noone else that will have this in the uk sooner ?!

For the guys that really understand this I have a question

1. Is it true that the u33jc has Switchable Graphics: NV G310M, 1G VRAM + Intel GMA 4500MHD? Because all of the reviews of NV G310M say it has a maximum of 512mb ram?

 

I don't have any devices that use 3.0 so why in the hell would I want to pay for usb 3.0 atm?

 

Two words: "Future Proofing"

I'm gonna have this laptop for at least 3 years. Plus I've had my heart set on the U33jc for so long now that I guess the idea of giving up on having a laptop with USB 3.0 is just too hard to think about. :cry:

 

This is the closest I can find to my required specs (but no usb 3.0) and still freekin expensive compared to the U33jc: VPCS12L9E/B (VPCS12L9E/B) : Technical Specifications : VAIO and Computing : Sony

 

Simple answer: YES. See ASUS' own specs for the U33Jc HERE. I don't think ASUS is releasing ANY newer notebooks w/ 512MB VRAM. They are all coming equipped with 1GB.

USB 3.0 external HDD enclosures are now available and they're not expensive. If you have a USB 3.0 port on your laptop, you can transfer data 10x faster than USB 2.0. Faster even than eSATA. That's one good reason right there. Soon enough, ALL notebooks will come with USB 3.0 ports

And kingswood, you're right. There's a big difference between the £669 ($1,017) for the U33Jc compared to the minimum price of £939 ($1,427) for the Sony Z (that also doesn't have USB 3.0).

Okay. It's another 4 weeks. Not fair. But it has what you're wanting .... wait for it!

 

Sorry, this is my first laptop, I don't know very much about them

On the force I didn't get the i7, i upgraded to 4 gigs of 1333 mhz ram, 500gb 7200 RPM hard drive, the network card, and a spare 9 cell battery. Portability is a pretty important factor, I always figured a 15.4" screen was portable, but if not than I will gladly go smaller. Also, with the 9cell battery I was hoping that I could get maybe 3-4+ hours on it on power save mode(they have that on all laptops right?) because the stock battery is 6 cell and it says the laptop can go for about 2-3 hours. I did want a fast computer less than $1300 that could play SC2/TF2 at good settings, but was also portable and decent battery life(ok, maybe 4-5 hours for taking notes in calss/writing papers)


By the way, thanks a lot for the help


+rep

 

I have to admit that once more the mighty Quatro is right. I've taken several deep breaths, counted to ten and have come to the same conclusion. There really is nothing else out there in the market (well... strickly speaking it's not actually in the market yet, but you know what I mean) that offers the same specs with the same level of build qaulity, the same amazing warranty and pricing. I just know that if I settle for something else, I'll end up paying more for less and when the U33jc does eventually arrive I'll end up with a severe case of laptop envy and regret.

I feel like a donkey with a carrot on a stick dangling in front of my nose. Aaaaarrrgghhh!

 

I have placed pre-order at XOTICPC for the u43JC. I stuck with default configuration..Only change i made was for the Diamond Thermal Compound which was $35 and the total is $1,107.40. I was browsing at amazon and i saw that they put up the u43 for $999 free shipping and tax would not apply to me..So is the 100 extra worth it? I wont be doing a lot of gaming, maybe the most i would play a bit of Empire Total War that would be it..i figure it would be worth it if i wanted to overclock it but even then how much of an improvement would i see in regards to overall system performance not gaming? Also since XOTICPC is authorized by asus to make upgrades my warranty stays intact...so what should i do

 

I believe xoticpc pricematches. Try it out.

 

OH, the U33JC is on amazon too! A tad more expensive though.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-U33JC-A1-13-3-Inch-Bamboo-Laptop/dp/B003UNOWAS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1279740066&sr=1-4

 

ASUS laptops have a recent history of running pretty cool. They are known for it. I don't think the reapplied silver compound is going to help you all that much, if at all.

Xotic does sometimes price-match. There's a page to submit that request or call them and find out. And they already give a 3% discount if paid by other than a credit card.

BTW, does Xotic's $1,095 include shipping?

 

I know exactly how you feel! and I feel the same way Something I'm going to do to start passing the time is writing down the way I plan to configure and tweak the laptop. I bought my girlfriend a UL30VT and did this very thing and basically, I got her laptop locked down and performing tight. Something those apple nuts like to brag about, "it just works"... so now I've started planning for the U33JC...yes there are other laptops out there BUT I REALLY like this one and feel this is one of those "threats" I deserve to give myself...

 

That's fine. Not to worry.

A few pointers:

1) All laptops have various power saving modes as does Windows itself. The amount saved depends on what you're doing, the speed of the processor & GPU at that time, brightness level, if you're using WiFi or bluetooth, size of battery, etc.

ASUS have some of the cleverest battery saving schemes around. On power saving on my U30Jc and my 8-cell 5600mAh battery, I'll get 6-7 hr with WiFi on. 7-8 hrs with no WiFi. Watching a movie or HULU may drop it to like 4 hrs. If I play a game, that battery time drops rapidly to about 2 hrs. See what I mean?

So how much battery life time, w/ power saving on (and no gaming or movies) do you want to have for class, around school, etc?

2) You've mentioned SC2 & TF2 as games you'd like to play on the laptop. A low-end GPU like the NV 310M will do that, though not on highest settings. It'll even play Crysis, but on low settings. What other games do you plan to play on the laptop and on what preferred graphics settings? HERE's an article on some of the games tested on the 310M (same as the 210M). HERE's another article on games tested on the 210M. Would that GPU be okay for you (if you also have a desktop or PS3 or an XBox)?

Chew on those two articles, think about my questions here and what I asked previously and then get back to us with your thoughts, questions & answers.

BTW, from what I've read, the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 is and excellent wireless card if your notebook is wired with 2 antennas. The Ultimate-N 6300 is even better, but only if your laptop has 3 antennas inside.

 

Well my only concern for battery is being able to take notes in class or write papers, which I would like at least 3 hours of battery time. Other than that however, I won't be playing games or watching movies away from a power source.

 

Yes that Quote for $1,107.40 is total including shipping and the 3% discount..FYI the sales staff told me if i combined the free shipping then only 2% discount is applied. I was thinking same thing about the compound just thought i get some advice from asus owners thanks..

Oh and regarding release date i got info from XOTICPC THAT ALL THE U MODELS HAVE BEEN PUSHED BACK TO LATE AUGUST

 

BDF92, my only concern then is the GPU. I just have this gut feeling that you want a laptop that will play your games beautifully when you want to play them. Will the 310M be enough for you? Have you read those two articles yet on gaming and the 210/310M GPU? What do you feel about the NVIDIA GeForce 310M?

Lastly, have you looked into the HP Envy 14? Portable. That awesome ATI HD5650 GPU. All magnesium-aluminum alloy skin. Slot DVD drive. Fast. HP has them starting at $1,099. A beautiful 1600x900 screen contrast-wise (black blacks). Up to 7 hrs battery life, which is good. i3-370M (2.4GHz) or the i5-450M (2.4~2.66 turbo) for $50 extra. 4GB DDR3. 500GB 7200rpm HDD. Wireless-N & bluetooth. That setup for $1,140 ($1,099 w/ the 320GB HDD). HERE's the link.

Go read some reviews and get back to us!

 

Late August.
Well looks like a cancelled order for me. I can't go laptop'less for that long. Nor can I be that short notice on getting one right before school.

Any suggestions for another similar laptop?
Small 'n' Light
13-15"
Good battery life (5+ hours actual use)
Solid build
USB3.0 would be preferred, but I suppose not a lot of choice out here.