ASUS U36JC-A1 Review

so I bought the U36JC-B1 yesterday. Now a proud owner of it!
I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!

Now I just gotta figure out how I can "burn" a recovery without actually needing a DVD. Anyone know if I can do it with a USB or onto an external HD instead? 'cause really it's just an image...right?

 

Finally got mine and seem to be having trouble with the recovery disc as well... For some reason, the AI Recovery Burner won't let me make a recovery disc. Gives me an error message of "No enough free disk space to save temporary files." I have a DVD disc in my external writer, 4.8 gb free but it won't seem to work... Any ideas?

Edit: Nevermind, got the issue fixed with Ken. Thanks as always!

 

hey anyone saw the backlit keyboard mod done on the ul30. think it can be done on the 36?

 

Can anyone confirm for me if the NYC model with 6GB ram has USB3.0..???

I know the B1 model does have USB3.0, but is more expensive and has less ram.

 

The NYC model is exactly the same except for the ram...
you can find it here....
ASUS U36Jc-NYC 13.3" Notebook Computer (Silver) U36JC-NYC

 

So...

A1 has a 460M processor and 4 GB Ram.
B1 Has a 480M processor and 4 GB Ram.
B2B has a 480M and Windows Professional and 4 GB Ram
and the NYC version is the same as the B1 version, but has 6 GB of ram and is $100 cheaper?

How is adding an extra 2GB of ram decrease the price of the laptop by $100?

 

This is exactly my question....

 

It is silver - and thus ugly....so 100$ off. My best guess.

 

From what I can see that all that seems different. I agree with you, I think the silver is very ugly.

 

First of all I would like to thank David for reviewing the u36jc. After reading your review I purchased one myself although the extremely good deal helps.

Most of the review I found on the internet said that the u36jc will get hot during testing and also from streaming videos. This is the part of the reviews that had me think twice about purchasing one of these beautiful laptops. So I would like to share some of my experience, especially to those who are still on the fence.

I got this computer not too long ago and the first thing I did is to hook it up to my 24inch lcd and start streaming videos on youtube and megavideo. Immediately after about an hour and a half of streaming, I watched a 1080p mkv version of the Inception, which I have copied it to my laptop from an external hdd. I can honestly say that the bottom of my laptop is barely warmer than me and the top of the laptop is quite cool. I did, however, placed it on a table instead of on my lap and chose entertainment within power4gear.

While I am typing this in my bed the machine still feels quite cool to the touch and compared it to my two(maybe three) year old satellite with a c2d t5450, the satellite feels much warmer especially when the bottom of the laptop is blocked by my blanket and the asus do not have this problem. And yes, the palm rest stays cool just like they advertised.

Needless to say I am quite impress with my new laptop; the only thing I don't like is the touchpad buttons. FYI, I do not play any games so gaming could still be a problem in terms of heat development.

 

I have a couple of quick questions.

1: Does this laptop come with a hybrid 500GB hdd or is this an option? {Solved: Australian model has hybrid HDD}
2: Can the laptop actually support 8gb of ram?
3: Is the bloatware really bad, and if so are there any issues building a clean install of Win 7?
4: Does this laptop have three antennas to support the Intel N6200 card?

Thanks...!!!

 

2. I haven't seen anything suggesting otherwise, so I'm sure it works. Mind you, I only have 6gb.
3. Bloatware isn't too bad I suppose but it's always nice to do a clean install of Windows 7. You should try to get an ASUS recovery CD if you order a small SSD though from the retailer.
4. No clue so no comment!

On that note, anybody experience a dead USB 3.0 port? E-mailed Ken about it but so far, no solutions that work.

 

For those who performed a clean install, which Asus apps (apart from drivers) did you regard as absolutely mandatory?

 

1. The US version has the standard (non-hybrid) version.

2. Yes, I currently have 8GB of ram installed in my U36JC. I believe the US and AUS versions both use the same chipsets so it should work on the AUS version. Just make sure your OS is 64 bit and you have the latest BIOS.

3. There's significant bloatware. Check out the bloatware guide I created stickied on the main Asus forum to see what you want/need and from there you can either uninstall the unwanted bloatware or just perform a clean install and install the programs you want.

4. The US version has only 2 antennas.

Other than the drivers, there's no Asus apps that are needed to properly run your laptop. I usually just keep Power4gear and scrap the rest of the bloatware.

 

Hi,
I've had this laptop for a couple of months now, it is really disappointing.
I'm surprised by the general positive level of comments by other posters.

As the original poster pointed out the screen is inferior and the trackpad jittery, beyond that I also find the following.

The laptop races for 99 degrees C in high performance mode for simple tasks like the file open dialog, or the first table entry in an Access Database.

The USB 3.0 BIOS implementation is alpha software at best. You can't use this port to boot an OS. I didn't really understand the full details, but from what I Googled the BIOS uses an 'int 13h' hack to make the port visible then relies on the operating system driver to implement full I/O as a software function.

The nVidia Optipuss is hesitant between mode changes and consumes excessive power (~30% of total consumption).

The nano meter coated blah blah chassis has cracked through after a month of light use.

The ExpressGate is not on flash memory like ASUS netbooks residing instead on the harddrive. It is a clumsy poor resolution linux implementation that is far from 'instant on'.

The recovery disc process is long and as reported elsewhere on the net rarely produces discs that work.

The SSH combines the power consumption of an SSD and a HDD to provide performance marginally better than other HDDs. The firmware for the SSH has been updated twice (that I know of) (without a published change log) due to the bugs causing excess noise and frequent data loss.

A vanilla install of Win 7 does help speed this machine up due to the burden of factory bloatware.

I also replaced the SSH with an SSD, but this laptop continues to disappoint.

 

why dont u36jc have its own user corner ?

btw i just recently purchased one and i want to find out how to custom choose between the intel and the nvidia graphics between 2 different games..
i want to use the intel one when playing WARCRAFT 3(fairly old game) and then switch to Nvidia 310m when playing World of Warcraft .. Is it possible ?

Is there a program that lets me recognize which one i am currently using as well ?

 

guys, is there any other laptop that as thin as this one? Anyway, I know the heat is the problem on this laptop U36jc-b1b any better?

 

Hi all, just wondered if anyone has a decent ssd install guide, I'm a bit worried about messing it up and can't find a good guide to do it.

 

Anyone know where I can get a list of replacement part numbers for the U36J series? I'm wondering if its possible to upgrade the U36JC to a backlit keyboard... :S

 

I'm new to this so i'm not sure if i'm posting in the right area or not but...

I just got an Asus U36JC laptop. I upgraded it to a SSD and 8gb of ram. I am happy with the laptop, however, it came with the 8-cell battery (A42-U36) which I don't like because it sticks out on the bottom. I want the 4-cell battery that is slimmer but I can't find it anywhere!

I think the part number is A41-U36 and its a 4-cell 3070mAh but i'm not sure. Can someone with this battery verify this for me? Found it here ASUS A41-U36 Battery | Replacement ASUS A41-U36 Battery Online Store but not sure if this is a legitimate website. Anyone know where I can find one?

Thanks!

 

If it says "Replacement" then it is not the real think, just a cheap home brand type, i can't seem to find the 4 cell either, might be worth giving ASUS a call and see what they say.

 

Wow as a new U36 owner, i'm thrilled by this laptop. Even with an humped 8 cell battery.. its lighter, and more powerful than my old lenovo. it looks great and the ONLY time i have noticed it running warm was when i was benchmarking the laptop while sitting on my bed... the lack of airflow made it reasch 93* C.... once i moved it to a desk it cooled off quickly... I was alittle surprised by how loud the fan can get when it needs the cooling, but so far i have only be able to get the fan to kick on when benchmarking it....

For 700.00 plus a 280.00 SSD. i love this laptop.... no issues, with the track point, or buttons.
Also in regards to those crying over USB 3.0 noting being NAtive, check around, ALOT of new computers don;t have 3.0 as native, not yet atleast... Hell alot of NEW computers still don;t have USB 3.0. quit crying, its a great laptop..... I remember when only 3.5 floppy were legacy and CD roms were not supported... a 2.0 USB drive is still 100 times fatser than a CD

 

Even my NEW G73SW-A1 doesn not have USB 3.0 as native, you have to load a driver once windows is installed... didn;t bother me any.. i remember when things were like this back in the day....

Some people just won't ever be happy....

 

I just recieved this laptop today and really am liking it.
So when I am starting up the laptop during the asus load and windows load screen. the lcd looks like it is raining. There is a few hundred pixels that flash random colors. Once windows is started though they stop. Any one else see this if not I'll just return to newegg for a new one since I seriously just got it less then 10 hours ago.

 

Is there a way to tell which models have the finger print reader, the only ones i can fine in the UK are the Asus U36JC-RX197X , ASIN: B005F2M37G

Although nearly asll pictures show without, any ideas on what models have it?

 

What would be a good 128gb/160gb SSD to put in the U36?
Would prefer a sata III (future proof if I use it in my desktop in future).

I heard there were some recent issues with sandforce controllers.

Thanks

 

Quick question about swapping the harddrive, I have the case open, keyboard cable removed, however I'm stuck on how to remove the touchpad cable, it looks different to the connection for the keyboard, any help would be appreciated, defiantly don't fancy breaking it.

 

Lift UP gently on the small black plastic clip on the top of the ribbon connector, it should fold up out the way, then grab the stiff plastic tab and pull it out of the connector.

 

David -

Since according to your signature, you'd DONE this...

I have a new U36SD and I just got an Intel 6300N card from an old broken machine. I already opened the U36SD once to install an SSD.

Is the upgrade for the WiFi card worth it? (better range, speed, signal strength?) Did you use the 2 stock antennas only, or did you add any new one? (if so, where?) Any tips you could give would be great for the upgrade..

 

I installed a 3rd antenna to take advantage of the 6300 wifi card. Ideally, you should place the 3rd antenna behind the LCD panel, but I found it difficult to do so; hence I placed the antenna in the chassis on top of the SSD. In terms of performance, I noticed a slightly larger wifi range and that's pretty much it.

 

Thanks for the info..I just ordered a Tyco antenna on eBay. As soon as it arrives, I'll give it a shot.

Did you notice any problems with sleep/hibernate after your install? I've had one laptop that would hang coming out of sleep after an Intel 6200 series card was installed to replace the factory card..

 

I have a newly purchased U36S.

Has anyone tried to make a recovery "disc" using a suitably large SD card?

Does anyone know if it is possible?

Regards to everyone on my first post.

 

Hi! I'm not an owner yet but my U36Jc should be arriving by the end of the day

Are you talking about making a backup recovery image of the entire hard drive? That shouldn't be too hard, and you could save it to whatever device you like (SD card, USB thumbdrive, external hard drive, etc).

There are lots of free tools to do this type of thing. DriveImageXML is one popular choice, it lets you back up an entire drive to the destination of your choice to be restored later if needed.

 

Excellent, thanks sprocket87. I've downloaded a copy of DriveImageXML.

BTW. You won't be disappointed with your U36J.

 

Thanks! I got my U36jc yesterday afternoon and it's AWESOME. I love this little laptop! Mine is the NYC model so it's the silver finish (way higher quality than I thought, the magnesium alloy is soooo nice) and has the Core i5 480M, 6GB RAM and a 500GB 7200rpm drive.

This little guy is quite speedy! I'm not a big gamer but I do play Starcraft 2 a lot. I know the Nvidia 310M is not a great gaming card but I figured with the fast i5 480M it should make up for it somewhat, as I've read SC2 is more CPU intensive than GPU intensive, at least at low-medium settings.

I played a test game yesterday with 6 CPUs opponents on 1366x768 (full resolution):
LOW - 100+ FPS, no problem
MEDIUM - 50-60 FPS, again, no problem, even during big battles
HIGH - 30-40 FPS, playable but probably would slow down during big battles
ULTRA - 25 FPS, not really ideal

I was surprised to get results this good with the lowly 310M. I'm going to retry some more tests with live multiplayer opponents to make sure it wasn't a fluke. But I can say confidently that even during huge battles versus CPUs medium is very fast.

I should add that I did a complete wipe after receiving the laptop and reinstalled a fresh copy of Windows 7 to get rid of all the bloatware that Asus loads it with. The only Asus app I reinstalled aside from basic drivers was the ATK keyboard filters so the function keys work properly. Performance is definitely better this way.

I also partitioned my drive (500GB 7200rpm) for better organization and performance:
- 100GB - Root partition for Windows 7 and program installations
- 8GB - Partition for pagefile. Removed pagefile from root C: partition and added it to this partition. More efficient and can avoid defrag.
- Remains (~300GB) - Storage partition. Documents, photos, music, videos, downloads, etc. Keeping it on a separate partition from Windows is more efficient and it lets me reinstall the OS without having to worry about my personal data.

Now all that's left is finding a good, slim, lightweight carrying case for this puppy. My old 17" laptop bag swallows it up, I need something svelte

 

Getting the U36JC-B1 soon!

Does that model have bluetooth built in on the WiFi card? It will affect whether I replace the card with an Intel 6230 (2 antennas with bluetooth) or Intel 6300 (3 antennas without bluetooth). Also, how many antennas will I be able to connect?

 

Yes, it should. I'm pretty sure all the U36JC models have built-in bluetooth.

I don't know about the antennas thing... what are you trying to do?

 

So the 6230 would be the best option? I am trying to make sure I have the best wireless signal and still have bluetooth capability.

 

Yeah, I think that's the best option.

Notice this review from a U36 owner on Amazon:
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: 6230 IEEE 802.11n (draft) Bluetooth 3.0 - Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo Adapter (Bulk)

Should be what you need. I'll probably pick one up soon too because my U36Jc's Atheros card only gets a couple bars down the hall from my WAP.

 

Thanks sprocket! I installed the 6230 in my U36 last night, along with an Intel 320 series SSD, RAM and matte screen cover/protector for outside use It was easier to take apart than I thought it would be. I thought I might have to take the whole mobo out but didn't. One thing... this laptop gets very hot it seems. The fan blows quite fast even in the BIOS after a few mins. Thankfully, it's not an annoying whine like some laptops. I'm just used to my 1015pem with Atom proc. that barely ever turns the fan on. Hope this is normal for this thin beast!

Have yet to actually install clean Win7. So many to-do's!

 

I will say that I thought about replacing the TIM but thought better of it. In the past, it has only made a difference of a couple degrees C if that and I didn't want to risk it. I guess I wish maybe they had included more heat pipes or even another fan. I will test prime and maybe the fuzzy doughnut to see how hot it really gets. Hoping it doesn't reach thermal limits and shut down.

 

Awesome!

I wish I had the spare cash to afford an SSD upgrade, but the 7200rpm 500GB model in mine does pretty well as is so I'll just leave well enough alone for now. The wifi upgrade will probably happen soon however

My U36 doesn't run all that hot. When I game on it it does heat up, and the fan kicks on occasionally during regular use, but I don't find it particularly loud or annoying.

 

Hello sprocket87, tjk925

After backing up the 'Hidden Partition', I intend to do replace Win7 Home with Win7 Pro Student Licence and install PC BSD8 on a larger partition.

I'm waiting for two Cooskin accessories, one is a screen protector and the other is a keyboard cover. I have not yet found a suitable skin because the lid has a sculptured effect.

 

I just ordered an U36SD-DH51 from amazon. It will be here in 24 hours.

Is it actually worth it to do a clean install? Can't I just remove the unwanted software and get the same result?

Second, what upgrades should I consider. Ideally I would install an aftermarket backlit keyboard, but I assume that would void the warranty. (It does not help that I am not good with building things and tools)

Other things I have read about were the SSDs, which are expensive, ram upgrades which I am not sure I need, and a intel 6205 wireless card, again something I am not sure I will need.

I purposely took the i5-sandy bridge model with a the 5400 rpm HDD because I know I don't plan on doing any games beyond minecraft on this box. It will be for surfing the internet and watching movies.

 

I've been racking my brain over this issue too. Apparently the ATK drivers for the U36 were missing some important code. On my U36Jc I can see a blue label on my 'C' key that looks like a PC monitor with the letter "S" on it -- presumably the brightness sensor control (Fn+C). I know it's supposed to be Fn+A for other models, but hey. Even with the ATK drivers installed, neither Fn+A or Fn+C do anything at all.

Things I've tried:
- Install latest version of ATK drivers (I'm running Win7 x64)
- Install older version of ATK drivers
- Install ATK drivers for Asus M50 laptop (which definitely has Fn+A as the brightness sensor control key)
- Update BIOS and check for BIOS control for ambient light sensor (nope)

Finally I reinstalled Power4Gear, which I hate... But whaddyaknow -- in P4G, if you're set to the High Performance profile, the ambient light sensor is apparently disabled. Full brightness all the time. Switching to the other modes like Entertainment instantly re-enable the sensor. The Fn+A or Fn+C keys still do nothing even after P4G is install.

As far as I can tell, the ONLY way to disable the ambient light sensor on the U36Jc is to install P4G and enable the High Performance profile.

 

PS - I finally got around to installing an SSD in my U36Jc (Sandisk 120GB) and it SMOKES now! Boots from power to Win7 login in 12 seconds flat, another 5 to desktop. I took the stock 500GB 7200rpm out and put it in a USB 3.0 enclosure and now I've got 100MBps+ transfers to my new external storage drive

 

I would like to warn You all of possible weaknes of hinges.

Hinge looks like this:


Here's post of one of users (he has few of Uj36 in use) ( Google T?umacz -google translate).

He sent his laptop for repair due to mainboard failure, this was of course replaced and sent him back, but company responsible for service did break hinge in laptop (as user points). They deny this and offer paid repair or he will loose his warranty. Now remember this, it is not Asus itself but cooperat that Asus choose to cover their warranty services in Poland.

 

Are the CPUs in the U36SD/SG socketed or soldered to the mobo?

 

Hi, I bought this u36SD model. I see on the top left hand side there is a button. I guess that is for switching the graphics between intel and Nvidia. However I press that button and nothing happens. When i go to the CPU-Z graphics setting it only shows Intel (R) HD Graphics family. Nothing about the Nvidia. I see the Nvidia Geforce GT520M Cuda GB on the left of palmrest. Am I missing something? Any advise?

 

unfortuneately the cpu is soldered to the board.