ASUS U80V-A1 Review

I got my laptop yesterday. I bought max payne 2 and installed it. I tried to use cheat codes and followed the instructions exactly, yet when I hit "`" nothing happened. When I did research it can be b/c of either vista or keyboard drivers. Basically how do you guys think I can reinstall my keyboard drivers.

Ohh one more thing. I installed some updated drivers for the graphic card (just search U80v ati raedon 4570 driver) and you will find it. After I updated it, I noticed Max Payne 2 looked a lot better. Let me know if I am wrong. Thanks

 

Whatever ASUS is planning with this laptop, it's probably gonna be too late for me. I get my scholarship refund on the 21st, and classes start on the 31st. I've decided on the U81A which saves me $300+ versus the U80V from Amazon. I just haven't decided whether to get the black or red one :/

Anyone got suggestions for a backpack for this?

 

Hi, I'm from Slovakia and in my country "will be" U80V-WX051E (C2D T6500/ 14" LED CS 1366x768/ 4GB/ HD4570 512MB/ 320GB 5.4k/ DVD/ WF/ BT/ CAM/ HDMI/ VIS BU) so somethink like yours U80V-A1. It isn't available now, but some resellers gave the date 2009-08-20 (tomorow) as the date of availability of this laptop. It would be for 770 EUR.

I have one more laptop in mind, so the question is, what would be better (price/power/design/...)?
U80V (for 770 EUR):
+ the back-lighted keyboard and ATI HD4570
- bad jack (I often use headphones) and maybe some bad keys

or
Asus K50IN (C2D T6500/ 15,6" LED 1366x768/ 4GB/ NVIDIA® GeForce® G102M, with 512MB VRAM/ 320GB 5.4k/ DVD/ WF/ CAM/ VHP)
+ better price (580 EUR)
- without back light, worse nVidia G102M and bigger body

For me is ideal 14" U80V, but the problems with it look bad and 200 EUR are lot of money, so I don't know which one I want. Are that problems (especially with keyboard) so bad for daily working?

I would use the laptop for common works (internet, office,...), for games (C&C 3, maybe some like HAWX) and for graphical programs like Cinema4D. And the laptop will be daily transfered (work-home).

Please advise me. Thanx.
rebevin

(PS: if my English was bad, I'm sorry )

 

Hi rebevin. I would say go for the U80V. Judging from your description, the extra €200 will give you the GPU power you need to play your games and crunch your work apps.

That's okay, rebevin. English isn't my first language either. I can understand you perfectly.

 

rebevin,

I would still recommend the U80V as well over the K50IN.

However please ask if you can try the laptop out beforehand, so that you can see whether or not he headphone jack will be an issue. If it isn't a problem then you, then I would go ahead and purchase it. It is quite good in every other aspect.

If not, I would be considering Sony Vaio SR Series. But I'm not sure about their availability/pricing in Slovakia.

 

I can't see it before buying, I live in small town, where are only 3 computer shops (especially with accessories) and for them is laptop like u80v too expensive to take it to stock (maybe 1 would have it, but not yet). And I don't plan to go to any bigger city. I would buy it through an e-shop (also better price).

Sony Vaio SR laptops are around 1300 EUR and I don't have so much money.

Btw. In Slovakia there is used primarily qwerty(z) keyboard layout, but I use Dvorak. Is it possible to relocate keys on keyboard of U80V to Dvorak layout by myself? I suppose it isn't possible, but if yes, it would be another +.

 

There's a program called KeyTweak that allows you to remap keys. Hope that helps!

 

That is unnecessry. Windows allows you to change the layout of your keyboard without downloading any third-party programs. If you have vista, go to Control Panel> Clock, Language, and Region > Regional and Language Options. Under the "keyboards and Languages" Tab, click "Change Keyboards," and on the right hand side, select "add." You can find the United States-Dvorak keyboard by scrolling down to "English (United States)", and it will be shown under "Keyboard." Just check off the box, and you'll be able to switch to the DVORAK keyboard easily.

However, you won't be able to physically change the keys to a DVORAK layout.

 

Remaping keys in Windows isn't problem, I also made my own Slovak Dvorak layout (with slovakian special characters) with MS Keyboard Layout Creator, because there wasn't anyone.
In my last post I thought physically relocating of keys. But as wceom told (and I supposed), it is impossible.

Thanx for advice. I'll order this laptop maybe tomorrow and after delivery I'll post my experiences with it.

 

Not unless they made a U80V with the keyboard layout you wanted.

 

hey guys

i've fallen in absolute love with my new laptop. had it for 4 days, and though i had my fair share of trouble in the first day with connecting to my wireless (turns out it was the routers problem), everything else has been going very smoothly. here's my report on games so far:

COD4 - well noone is expedcting it to run smoothly maxed out. BUT played it on full res with AA off, it was playable though choppy, especially through portions of the game where there was a lot going on (lots of gunfire, thunderstorm, etc). i'm guessing if i cut down some detail and and res it would run very smoothly

L4D - i ran this at second to highest res, and ran VERY VERY fluently. no frame skips at all.

Need for Speed MW - very playable at full res (this is a 4 year old game though) just less responsive. no lag at all.

theres my 2 cents, sorry guys but i don't plan on benchmarking.

 

I can't believe that this computer is widely available in slovakia and not canada.

El-frustrating-o.

 

That might be possible, if you order from a country that uses DVORAK as the standard keyboard layout. However, if you also want Slovakian symbols/characters then it may not be possible. (Unless you can find a reseller that's offering the DVORAK keyboard where you live.)

EDIT: I just thought of something! If you're able to remove the keys (for cleaning purposes), you may be able to rearrange the letters to form the DVORAK layout!

 

I was actually thinking about that. I've seen some youtube vids of people doing it on MBPs...so why not this model?

 

nodlive: In Slovakia there isn't available this computer yet. Many e-shops has it on page, but with comment that it is unavailable now (waiting for orders). When I was in normal shop the guy told me, that 2009-08-20 (today) maybe it will be available.

wceom: I don't need Slovakian symbols, but I don't have chance to buy tihs laptop outside Slovakia, maybe in Czech Republic, but there is also main layout qwerty.
Your idea with cleaning purposes is good and I thought about that, but I don't know how the keys are connected to the body. (I used this method by my Fujitsu Siemens laptop.) I will see if U80V comes to me

 

the keys are connected individually, and should be removable.

 

Question for everyone who has the laptop:

How do I get my battery last long? (besides turning the brightness down to the lowest level and turning off the backlights). I haven't done a thorough battery test yet, but I'm guesstimating that my battery barely lasts 4 hours even with the aforementioned settings. Thanks in advance.

 

PickNPop - you have preset power-saving modes that you can choose from, but if you want to do it manually the options people usually go for are:

1. Turn off wifi
2. Set screen brightness to lowest

Remember battery life will depend on what you are doing. If you are surfing the net and listening to music then you will get good battery life with the screen on low brightness. If you are playing a game, burning a dvd, and your virus scan kicks in then you will not even if you try to power save.

 

update on static

its definitely there (using earbuds) but it won't interfere with music if it's playing. not a biggie since you'd only have earbuds on if you were playing something right

 

Thanks, nicksti. I remember reading an owner in this thread said they got like 7ish hours after switching to Windows 7. Is extending battery one of the features of Microsoft's new OS?

I want to buy a Y-adapter so that I can use HDMI to watch TV and movies on my slightly old Sony LCDTV. Would the static be noticeable in this situation?

 

The static is an issue with the headphone connector. I would bet that if tcee was using a USB headphone he would not have static.

So if your Sony TV has HDMI then all you would need to do is connect your Asus to the TV via one hdmi cable and you will get sound and picture.

 

I just came back from vacation so I haven't been on my laptop for a bit.

Does anyone know why the keyboard light tends to turn itself back on after disabling them (Fn+F3)?

 

I'm not sure why either. That's one of the few things that pisses me off about the laptop.

Another thing that pisses me off is that I just found out today that my front cover has a bunch of air bubble marks that were left by the packaging.

Update on headphone jack: so I bit the bullet and bought a Y adapter to HDMI out sound through my headphone jack and heard no static at all whilst watching an episode of Lost. Haven't tried with regular earphones yet though.

 

seems like this notebook has its share of problems. maybe that is why asus hasn't given it to a lot of stores to sell?

 

All notebooks are notorious for poor EMI shielding. It's normal to get static from the headphone jack.

 

One major problem I have is the headphone jack. It is terrible. I hate it and I was going to buy some speakers and listen to my music like that, but now I have to change that.

Again, there are driver updates for the GPU and when you update, there is an improvement.

I got to try out left 4 dead, and I can play it on maximum resolution with near max graphics no problem. I can even play it with the HDMI hooked up no problem. The awesome thing is that the laptop doesn't get hot. The area where the hot air releases is perfect.

Tried out Bioshock as well, and I get occasional framerate problems, but I can play that maxed out too (maxed for the graphics card).

I bought Max Payne 2 and that runs no problem.

For the record I am a noob at this PC gaming. I just got what I liked on the consoles. Anyway, if anyone else knows some good games let me know. I want more good PC games.

 

Try any of the Call of duty games (modernwarfare 2 perhaps when it comes out)
Starcraft2 (When that comes out for RTS)
WoW or EVE online for MMORPG.

 

cod 4 runs like hot butter on this machine. of course, i'm not running it maxed out lol but close to. um where are said driver updates?

 

Never had that problem with any of the notebooks I owned tho.

 

I plan on trying CoD 5.

google can I run this

You will get a site that will tell you what games you can run and what settings (min/recommended).

I want to try the new Batman game. MW 2 will probably look bad on this laptop, but who knows

 

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/ATI/Asus-U80V-ATI-Radeon-HD-4570-Graphics-Driver-857000.shtml

 

Update

I tried L4D in 1080p and the game is playable. The only thing is when massive amounts of enemies are on the screen, you get framerate issues.

I also tried Bioshock in 1080p. Good luck with that. I had horrible framerate problems and the computer got freaking hot. Hot enough to boil water and cook eggs.

 

it's too bad it only supports up to 4 gigs of ram, otherwise I'd be all over it.

 

I am arguing with Asus demanding them to upgrade me to windows 7 64bit. I will let you know if I am successful.

Got a new update. I think I got rid of the headphone jack problem. Use the SRS Premium Sound program and make the output headphones. It works perfect to my knowledge. I do not hear that weird noise anymore. I may be wrong, but let me know if I am right. Thanks

 

so is the ability to recognize only 4 gigs is because it only comes with 32 bit vista? So if I had a copy of win 7 64 bit could I use more? I thought it was limited on the motherboard itself.

 

Any one hear of when this computer will be re-available? (In north america).. Maybe as a -a2?

 

Doesn't make a difference to me. SRS does noticeably improve sound quality though. But the static is still definitely there (with earbuds).

Anyways, I just use headphones that don't seem to have any static to em. I only have this problem with earbuds. No biggie.

 

I spoke to one distibuter in Sweden. They just got 2 last week and then Asus told them that the product is end of life. I dont know why though.

End of life at the same time it is released is strange.

 

That is really strange... I´m from sweden also, and thinking about ordering this one. It would be interesting to hear from asus why they are cancelling this model.

 

My friend got hers (I think it might have been the last one in Canada) on Tuesday. It is a very nice laptop. Perfect size, nice screen, keyboard is great, touch pad wonderful, felt really zippy and has that sweet discrete video card. Can't figure out why it is end of life. I really want to get one too!

 

Where is this SRS update?

 

Not an update.

Just the SRS Premium Sound Software that can be found on your Drivers/Utilities CD.

 

what does the ending of this model mean for the global and accidental warranties? the free Windows 7 upgrade?

starting to regret getting this off amazon..

 

Nothing you still have warrenty and the upgrade.

My thoughts on the "end of life" is that it might have been to expensive to make and to low price. 1200 dollars which it costs in sweden is cheep compaired to preformace of other brands. A Sony 14" inc with less performance costs 1700 dollars.

I tried Warhammer Online on my wifes and the trial area went smooth as butter with all maxed out. I could not find a FPS meter.

I will try more games when I get mine this week.

 

Thanks for the review, it was added to the ASUS Info Booth and to the ASUS Reviews and Owners' Lounges Index!

Also, I am moving it to the Reviews sub-forum to make it easier to find.

 

I was looking at the Asus Windows 7 upgrade chart and they note U81V as a qualifying model. I'm assuming the U80V is EOL to make way for this new model.

http://event.asus.com/2009/windows7/

 

are you interested in selling it at all?

 

I searched for this U81V model and I see no difference between between them. I have thought about getting another notebook but I love the U80 too much so I will wait til I can hear about the replacement model.

 

Where did you find info on the U81v? I can't seem to find anything by Googling

 

There is a U81V listed on the Asus upgrade page.

http://event.asus.com/2009/windows7/

I have not seen any info on that at all.

Found this on another site.

1- Asus U80v chạy ATI 4570 512Mb
2- Asus U81v chạy Geforce G120M 1Gb
3- MSI GX620 chạy GF 9600M 512Mb


If that is correct there must be a new model. I dont think there is a G120M, can it be a GT 120M. That card is a little bit slower to my knowlege.