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

i just want to say that battery life on the envy 14 is not 7 hours. it's around 4 hours with wifi on, give or take 30 minutes

 

HP ENVY where is the USB 3.0?? im sticking with asus. I dont mind the screen resolution. Whats the point you are doing gaming on a 14 in screen? and i will never buy an HP my 2 previous one are crap their Tech Support sucks..but IMHO that envy is mighty good competitor.

 

I read some reviews, it looks really good, because if i can get portability, resolution, speed and battery life on one laptop i am happy. I really like a 14" screen, i think that would be best. But like the user above said, I've heard HP's tech support is horrible, so I am not sure that this is the best option.

 

Well, seriously, nobody's got USB 3.0 yet. And that wasn't on his list of priorities anyway. (It would be on mine if I was buying a notebook now.)

I have no experience with the real battery life and was only giving the PR ad line from HP. From what I've read of reviews, apparently, the HP Envy 14 is made differently from the 13 & 15"; better made, less heating problems.

I was just trying to give him options if he wanted gaming AND a 14 or 15" screen (his list of desires).

And, really, I have a 13.3" screen & gaming is still fun on my laptop!

AND BDF92, pay no attention to these guys (or me for that matter) concerning ownership of the HP Envy 14. They don't own one and neither do I. ( Nexus14 is an Envy 14 owner so you can even PM him questions! ) Tech support develops & changes. Don't go by old stories and don't knock a whole company because of one or two stories. As well, EACH notebook should be judged on its own merit. For example, clearly not all HP Envy's are made the same. Changes can happen from model to model. It's better to read reviews from actual owners before you decide to plunk down yours or somebody else's $1,000.

That being said, if I were you and you were even thinking a little bit about the Envy 14, I'd go over to the NBR Envy 14 Owners' Lounge thread HERE. It was started June 21st and is already over 960 pages ... so that should tell you something right there.

Go over to their thread and ask the actual owners how they are finding tech support with HP. There's lots of activity on that thread so you should have lots of readers to respond to you.

As for tech support, I had an HP about 5 years ago and I needed tech support and got someone in India (it sounded like) just like Toshiba and the others do in outsourcing. No big deal.

But that was just once and that was just me. I can't say for others' experiences.

They gave me an RMA after chatting through the problem, and they sent me a shipping box and after mailing it, I had it repaired and back home in a week. No better or worse then I had with Toshiba repairs.

And one reviewer on Expert Laptop sent his ASUS UL80VT in for repair ... and it took OVER A MONTH TO REPAIR IT AND RETURN IT TO HIM. So ASUS isn't always that amazing either. You can read his account HERE under "Build Quality".

 

Here is the updated ETA for Bamboo series:

U33JC-A1 = ETA 8/4

U43JC-A1 = ETA 8/12

U53JC-A1= ETA 8/25

U35JC-A1 = ETA 8/25


U33JC-A1 ETA might change again but don't know for sure.

 

Thanks, Ken. Thoughtful of you to update us!

 

OK well, thanks for the help I think im going to cancel my order and go with the HP envy 14

 

Do please research (reviews) and talk to Envy 14 owners for AT LEAST two days before ordering.

Hard to wait, but you'll be glad you did ...

or at least one day.

... *money* ... *burning hole* .. *my pocket* ... *must spend it...*

 

USB 3.0 will be in near every laptop, desktop within a year. I will be with my USB 3.0, he will be With USB 2.0. lol J/K. either way this was important for me might not be for you now but, i always try to (dont know if its possible) be "FutureProof"

I never meant gaming wasn't fun, but at that small size really how much more is it going to change your gaming experience.

And regarding HP Customer service it is CRAP FOR ME! . I had my laptop sent in and it just kept giving me trouble. First the battery wouldnt charge there was big recall for that, then the power supply board whatever is called a circuit fried, then the keyboard.. i mean this happened not just to me but to my friend also..i was like is a 4 year old running at HP..they sold crap and I will not trust them again ever ever ever lol..oh and the time for each repair was close to 3 weeks so thats close to 3 months that isn't acceptable for me.

THINGS MIGHT have changed at HP but i will never ever buy a laptop from them ever ever ever again..I hope that they really did change cause seriously that was just horrible. i had the dv6000..

Just to be clear im not a stan or fanboy of either company. I do think that you will be happy with whichever laptop you choose to buy. Good luck with your purchase. Some suggestion research till you throw up, then do some more research have some beers pass out , wake up do some more research, until you are absolutley sure. lol

 

Yes ... in a year. But he is buying NOW. What laptop would you suggest he order this week that also has USB 3.0?

I'll tell you: none.

So USB 3.0 can't be in his list if it's not being offered by anybody in the next two weeks. Just the way it is when you buy.

I can see you're serious about not buying from HP. Fine. There are 960+ pages of posters over at the Envy 14 thread who'd probably disagee with you.

I've got my ASUS. I'm happy.

Of research, there is no end. But some research and talking to owners is just smart purchasing.

 

I just returned my envy 14. it's a nice machine, except the build quality wasn't really up to snuff and the processor whine was just too much of a headache. I know all icores have the whine problem, but it just seems that HPs get the brunt of it.

I'm looking at the u33jc. It's true the u33 will be slightly more solid than the u35? My only concern is the screen quality, but I really like how light it is.

 

Now its a toss up between the Envy 14 and U30JC. I can't wait until September, I have classes in August.
I think I'll be going with the U30, the envy has too many issues and I don't want to risk it. Plus the U30 has a much longer battery life.
Quatro, speaking from personal experience, good choice?

 

Why would you do u30 and not wait for the u35JC? i mean i find it kind of ridiculous to get an older technology laptop just because u might be a couple of weeks without a laptop. Go to the library, find a way, but its ridiculous to get an older laptop when a new one is right around the corner and its an investment for years to come, think long term.

 

Nice one mikeysela! If only politicians could think long term! Rather than "what do I have to do to keep my job after the next election?" I hate politicians, like I hate MacBook fanboys!

 

What about the UL30VT

Amazon.com: ASUS UL30Vt-X1 Thin and Light 13.3-Inch Black Laptop (11 Hours of Battery Life):…

or UL30JT??

Amazon.com: ASUS UL30JT-A1 13.3-Inch Laptop - Black: Electronics

 

What you guys think the resell value will be in one year for the U33JC?

 

That's a tough one dude. So many factors would play a part in it. This might surprise you though... I recently sold my 3 and half year old Asus G1s on ebay. It's Nvidia GPU had packed it in... no screen activity at all when you turned it on and I was selling it without it's hard drive. Removed it because it had all my photos and music on it. I listed with a starting bid price of 1p and it sold for £103!! This is it here: Asus G1S Gaming Laptop - Faulty on eBay (end time 13-Jun-10 14:24:28 BST)

You never know your luck

 

Depends on your purposes. If those are your two choices.... for class & general use (battery life, not hot, quiet fan), the U30Jc is better, IMO.

For gaming/GPU speed & screen quality, the Envy 14 is better.

I'm very happy w/ my U30Jc, and the newer U30Jc models (B1 & A2B) have more options like bluetooth, WiDi, i3-370M, etc.

 

I'd imagine the U33 has the same screen panel as the U30Jc, which is adequate. Nothing amazing. Bright, crisp & clear color images & fonts, but with poor viewing angles and light bleed.

BTW everyone, the 258.96 drivers have now been WHQL-certified. You can get them HERE.

 

As a follow up to the WiDi duscussion earlier, Ken over at GenTechPC PM'ed me saying:

So, it seems that, as well as the Centrino 6200, 6250 & 6300, the Wireless-N 1000 also can make a notebook WiDi-ready.

 

I for one think WIDI is very important in my next purchase. Because I had the chance to utilize the technology and I think it is very useful.

Side note: Quatro, is the Intel Centrino 1000 a lower end wifi card compared to the 6200 which we thought at first the Asus with WiDi would be coming with?

 

I'm guessing, yes.

Because the XOTICPC site that allows you to customize your u33jc shows the Intel Centrino 6200 as a $35 upgrade.

And, although it doesn't say so anywhere (that I can find), the default wifi card must be the 1000 since that would be the only other lower-priced card that would support widi.

And I'm with you, mj, about the attraction of widi - especially without requiring a usb dongle.

 

Would the bamboo on the u33jc make it slightly heavier or lighter than the u35jc?

 

since they're both the same weight, I'd guess neither heavier nor lighter.

 

We don't know for sure because there is some conflicting information out there regarding weight, but the U33 is slighty heavier than the U35. The U35 has a different and overall slightly slimmer chassis. The U33 should be just slightly under 4 lbs which should be plenty light, but the U35 IS lighter and slimmer.

According to GenTech:

U33JC
12.91" x 9.13" x 0.58"-1.22" (W x D x H)
3.97 lbs (with 8 cell battery)

U35JC
12.9" x 9.28" x 0.6"-0.98" (W x D x H)
3.74 lbs (with 8 cell battery)

As you can see, there is a about a quarter lb difference in weight. The U33 is also thicker at its thickest, but ever so slightly thinner at its thinnest.

U33JC

U35JC

 

good stuff case.

xoticpc shows them both at 3.74 lbs., but 1 picture = 1000 words.

 

Thanks Case. I think I'll still go with the u33 because of the usb 3.0 and the possibly better build.

 

no. the u35 jc is better in every aspect

 

Please don't resort to personal insults and stay on-topic in this thread; thank you.

 

Thank you, Charles, for that.

Yes, the 1000 is a lower end card (why it comes bundled free) than the 6200, 6250 & 6300 wireless cards. The best is to go over to Intel's site and look up the specs on each of those 4 wireless cards and see what their exact differences are.

From what I am reading on the specs, the U33 & the U35 have the same internal components except that the U33 has a much better 2.0 MP webcam, bluetooth (U35 has no BT), WiDi, and a USB 3.0 port (U35 has USB 2.0 only).

Why do you feel the U35Jc is better in every way?

 

I would like to hear the answer to this as well...

U35JC = sexy

U33JC = sexiness on steroids

 

I have a question about financing. I'm thinking of buying the U33JC. It's $999 at amazon.com, and $969 at a few other sites (eXotic, genTechPC, and excaliberPC). The catch is, I'm pretty sure I CAN finance the amazon purchase with no interest for 12 months while I don't see any financing options at the other websites; I would have to pay up front.

Spreading the payments out would be helpful considering I'm a student, but it's not super critical since I have already budgeted for the entire expense up front. What do you think I should do?

 

Ha! "Sexiness on steroids." Cute.

That's a very personal decision. $30 to finance over 12 mo w/ no interest is pretty cheap. That's $83/mo. I guess it depends on what you want to do with the money budgeted for the purchase if you spread that payment over 12 mo. Me? I try never to buy by payments as it can sneak up on you (combined monthly payments) but sometimes, you have to.

Up to you.

 

I feel like the U35JC is better in every way simply because i live the silver look so much more than the bamboo one, and i dont think usb 3.0 and a mega pixel cam, 2 non eseential components in my mind justify a 150$ increase. simple as that.

 

I feel like the U33JC is better in every way simply because i like the dark bamboo look so much more than the silver one, and i do think usb 3.0 and a mega pixel cam, 2 eseential components in my mind justify a 150$ increase. simple as that.

 

I agree with you.

And don't forget, the u33 also includeds WIDI.

But of course, these are all very personal preferences, so I could certainly see where one would want the $150 savings associated with the u35.

 

Ha! And that's why ASUS cleverly makes TWO models: U33 & U35 ... and U43 & U45 for those who want a 14" screen and a DVD drive.

 

And I agree with you, Case1. I'd gladly pay $150 extra for that extra list of features and 3-4 ounces extra in weight. But that's my personal preferences.

 

I apologize for that, but he did mock me by copying my exact pargraph and changing the words. So although he didnt explicitly insult me, i was indirectly insulted (i.e indirect addressing to my insult byte received data)

 

Honeslty, I really don't buy anything I can't pay for up front. I would (err, I did) go through either GenTech or XoticPC and get the 3% cash discount. Maybe being in finance has something to do with it, but just pay for it up front, especially since you have already budgeted the entire expense. You will save $61 vs buying from Amazon.

 

how do you pay gentech or xoticpc cash?

 

I did it through Paypal. There is an option called E-Check that takes the money directly out of your bank account. It was pretty easy and risk-free, it just takes longer to clear (like a real check). I suppose you could also mail a check. There may be other ways as well but Paypal is probably the easiest and safest.

 

Could someone point me to a source that states the Wireless-N 1000 is WiDi capable? I'm not asking to turn this into a WiDi discussion but merely to get a better idea of what wireless card is coming in the U33JC.

Here is the link to Intel's Wireless Display page.

Expand the section "Learn more about Intel® Wireless Display requirements" and you see this:

I'm not saying it isn't impossible that the Wireless-N 1000 is WiDi capable (could be an out-of-date listing, Intel may be trying to push their newer cards, whatever) but I haven't found anything from Intel that says the N 1000 is WiDi capable. The Intel page I listed above does leave out several newer processors that are WiDi capable so there are mistakes on the page, but really I'm still hoping there is an Advanced-N 6200 in the u33.

Update: Turns out the new 1.2 update added support for the Wireless-N 1000. Damn.
Source

 

Hey y'all. Count me in as a future U33JC owner. I just called in my pre-order (and through a simple phonecall, managed to get it down to $940 including tax and shipping). Since January, I have followed lots of users as they debated the relative benefits of a wide variety of forthcoming 13" laptops, from the UL30JT to the PL30JT to the Acer 3820tg to the HP Envy to this one. Today, I did some research and made some phone calls that finally put me over the edge with this purchase.

First: I couldn't go with the Acer simply because of the warranty. The ASUS warranty is superb, and I have received great support ever since my first-generation netbook, which I got serviced free-of-charge while traveling in India, before India even had netbooks.

Second: In order to keep that warranty, I had to make sure I could upgrade beyond the i3 processor. Apparently, when I am back in India this winter, I can bring a factory-sealed 540m processor to any authorized service provider and, for like 20 bucks, get the i5 processor installed while keeping my warranty intact at a final cost of under $300. I really really wanted to pay GenTech to do the upgrade for me, but if ASUS in India can do it down the road, I'd rather pay less and keep my old i3 processor for later resale. Same thing goes with the forthcoming PixelQi upgrade (as soon as they release 13.3" displays). Even though I can do these upgrades myself, ASUS has verified that all of this can be done while keeping my warranty if I take it to my friend Santosh.

Third: USB 3.0, bluetooth

Fourth: It looks like the dashboard of a 1950s speedboat. I mean, come on -- it's so cool in such a ridiculous way, it doesn't even belong to the traditional concept of a good-looking laptop. I usually just spray-paint my laptops as a way of finalizing my purchase, but this one I might actually leave alone. If you're really self-conscious and you just want your computer to look all modern and inconspicuous, then who cares what your opinion on aesthetics is? This laptop looks good next to chest hair and sunglasses (which is right where it's going to be), and that puts it in a class of its own.

So I hope that this helps people make this hard decision. I have been slaving over it since January, but I'm pretty sure I finally found the computer of my dreams. Thanks to Quatro and Bronsky for keeping it real.

Edit: If you don't have a Santosh in your life, strongly consider having GenTech upgrade your processor to the 540m. It's a great upgrade, and they'll do it while keeping your warranty intact. They were very helpful in explaining the process and validating the benefits.

 

That source is Ken Lee at GenTechPC himself. He said that he found out from ASUS that the WiDi-capable laptops were coming with the wireless-N 1000, not the higher-end cards. The rest is logical conclusion.

Here's exactly what he said:

 

Thanks. I did see that comment you posted from Ken. It was just that without some kind of statement from Intel that the N 1000 is WiDi capable, it left some doubt in my mind. All I could find were those 3 network cards that are WiDi capable, but I just found the page stating that the new update includes support for the N 1000.

 

This is the greatest line I have heard! Hahahahaha. Fantastic. I couldn't agree more.

 

Sorry, I wasn't trying to insult you. Just making a point that it is not clearly obvious as you make it sound that one laptop is better than the other nor the price is that outrageous. Everyone has difference needs. The U33JC obviously has more features than the U35JC and hence obviously cost more. For many of us, 15% more is well worth it. I think it's pretty affordable since Asus's previous "premium" were closer to 2K.

 

Once this thing hits b&m stores, I'll be sure to take some pictures. It seems all the photos out there are just stock images w/ the European keyboard

 

Woah man WiDi and usb 3.0 & bluetooth are my high priority list. Might not be yours but this is serious new technology alot of us can't wait to get our hands on. And the 2.0 Webcam is just plain icing on the cake! Now if only this U33jc was as thin as the U35jc then I would have the perfect laptop! Too bad nothing is ever perfect but yea your priorities are different so it might suit you but for ALOT of other people on this thread, the usb 3.0 and WiDi make a tremendous difference.