Asus U47VC Owners Lounge

If I looked correctly at the specs on the Lenovo, it beats the U47vc by a mile, if the only thing that's bothering you is the weight of it, I suggest you still get it. 13 hours of battery life?? I'm sold just by that personally haha

 

One last thing... For the people who had been reading this post, it's very much worth it to do a fresh clean install, just follow the advices given by N ne and you'll do fine
Computer is so much faster than came out of the box. Totally worth it, being as much of a beginner as I am haha

 

by the way... Whenever I use the USB 3.0 ports on my Asus, it always stops after a little bit, restarts and kept on recognizing. It happened before the clean install too. the error code is 0x80070037, can anyone shed some light on this issue please?

 

Thanks! Here is the link (just finished the upload). I hope it all works out!

Asus Recovery ISO Disks U47VC

Please do let me know once you have finished downloading. Also, if there are any problems that arise, let me know.

Just wanted to let you know that the download may get interrupted now and then since my "Laptop Server" won't be running 24/7. So, I would suggest just let the download begin and hopefully, it will finish in short intervals. Sorry for not being able to provide you with a continues stream download.

Once again, thanks for the rep

 

That could mean quite several things. I hope it is not a severe problem.

I would first start with downloading this:
CCleaner

Once installed, run the program. Go to "Registry" and click "Scan for Issues" and once that is done, "Fix all issues". My first guess is that there is a registry problem.

Give that a try, if that doesn't work, please do post back!

 

my W7S-G seems to be dieing and this looks like a good replacement. doesn't seem like there are many 13.3" laptops out there with a vertical resolution > 768, include an optical drive, and max 4.3lbs.

Has anybody measured the temps around this laptop, how warm does this it get? my W7SG got pretty uncomfortable on the underside and beside the fan... fan also basically was running 99% of the time, which is probably why my laptop is dieing

Also, could somebody measure the length of the powercord end-to-end? This was a major gripe on my previous Asus, the cord seemed much shorter than most other laptops and I always had trouble plugging in (although it should be less of an issue with 10 hours battery life)

 

Alright, a few corrections I would like to make. First, it is not a 13.3" screen but a 14". The bezels on the side are so thin that it makes it 13.3" chassis. Second, the laptop runs very cool (so far that I have tested it - with gaming for about 6-hours continuously). It is a very quiet laptop. The cord length if I approximate is about 2.5 meters. Third, the battery life realistically is about 8 hours with normal use (See my previous posts).

All the best with choosing your new laptop!

 

thanks for the approximation. my cord for the w7s is about 265cm which i fine is quite a bit shorter than other makes. i also have a 1000he and the cord is about 330mm which makes a big difference when trying to plug-in in class/cafeteria/library/etc.

Yes, you're right, this is a 14". i just meant to say i couldn't find any good 13.3" to replace my existing 13.3". i guess 14" is more popular now.

 

Update: I just wanted to let you know, eesee, that I have been able to put the torrent on a 24/7 server (courtesy of a friend). Hopefully the downloads speeds are now faster.

Hopefully you are doing well with your Asus.

 

Hey, thanks for that, I've been downloading all day and only managed to get 7%, I'm not sure if he is seeding. My Asus and I have been doing very good Everything is back to normal, the clean install was very well worth it. How about you??

 

No worries. Is it still like that - 7%?

Good to know all is well. Myself, I have not done a clean install as of yet. What I actually ended up doing was "disabling" all the bloatware rather than deleting it from "system start up". So, I feel that the machine is now much faster. I still have not decided whether I will be dual-booting or not. But will update if I do!

 

Nope, there is a seeder now haha, sitting at 11%
What is this dual-booting?

 

Good to know.

Dual-booting is when you install two OS's on your HDD. So when the computer starts up, you have a choice of which OS you want to boot. Just like the RAMDisk problem you had.

-- Best

 

Just bought my u47vc today and tested it out for about 30min. One thing that bothered me was the placement of the touch pad. It is to the left and I find that when i started typing my palm may accidentally click the touchpad and move the mouse else where, disrupting my typing. It would be perfect if they put the touch pad in the middle which I dont get why it wasn't done. It's the same problem that UX31A has in the Verge review here Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A review | The Verge

That's my only gripe with this machine so far.. Not sure if I will keep it. Anyone else have the palm-mouse-touchpad problem?

 

Sorry about the late reply, congrats on the laptop! I think its just personal preference, at first I would accidentally touch the touchpad while typing but I guess now that I'm used to it, it certainly don't happen anymore.

I noticed that on the U47vc, there's a C drive and also a D drive, does that mean that the laptop has two harddrives on board? I'm thinking of installing an SSD for the boot drive and don't have the guts to open the laptop yet haha

 

Theres just one hard drive but its partitioned. I am also upgrading to a ssd but I dont know how to openthe back panel, idont know which screws to remove

 

Hey N ne could you please seed the torrent for one more week? Sorry I didn't download all of it due to job haha, I'll try and get it done in a few days, currently sitting at 43%

Thanks again.

 

can someone please teach me how to remove the backplate to swap hardrives? I only see one screw there and it still doesnt seem to budge.

 

So how are the speakers on the laptop?

 

I'd say it's pretty standard, you will definitely need a external speaker or a headphones for better quality sound. However, if you're just watching a video with your friends it will get the job done. Now the speakers are coming out of the two grills on the front side of the laptop so they aren't too loud.

 

Hey, eesee, my apologies. I thought you would be done but I guess I was wrong. Will seed soon.

Hello there! To remove the back plate in order to insert a new SSD, you will have to remove two screws. One is under the embedded rubber padding (I believe that is the one you opened). The other one is under the round rubber padding (bulging out). Then you should pretty much be able to lift that plate up. Best of luck with opening it. Please do let us know how the installation of SSD goes!

By the way, don't mind me asking but why do you want an SSD?

The speakers, as mentioned by eesee, are not the best of them. To get nice surround sound, you would have to use external speakers or one could always use good headphones (they work very well).

 

thanks for the reply but there is no screw under the round rubber padding. There is just one screw to the left (small circle)

The only thing left is the rubber footing on the far right of the laptop... Can the screw be under there? I dont know why asus did this..

edit: after reading the manual they say theres only one screw to remove:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/U47A/E6947_eManual_U47A_U47VC_Z103.pdf

page 59 is this true??

 

Alright friend, to make sure myself, I went onto remove the back cover.
The manual is correct in stating that there is only 1 screw indeed. My apologies for saying there are two.

The tricky part is the fixing of the back cover. There are too many clip holding it down and they are "hard" clips. Meaning, you will have to pull hard yet in a way that you don't break it.

1. Unscrew the "1" screw
2. Now place it so that the battery side is facing towards North and the SD-card slot side is facing south.
3. Start from the North side by pulling using the small gap which is built into the plate.
4. You will need a slot-head screwdriver
5. Use the screw driver once you feel the cover seems to be stuck to pull it out (Be Careful).
6. Open the cover starting from North and then work your way on the right and the left hand sides.
7. The bottom clips are slide-clips so once you are done the top,left, and right, you will be good to slide the cover northwards.

Here is a proof - I did it Let me know how it goes. All the best!



@eesee, the seeding has been restarted.

 

I'm surprised that none of the usual sites, CNET, Techradar, the Verge, Laptopmag, etc have reviewed this laptop which looks real nice on paper. I'd really like a professional review benchmarking the U47 to other laptops. If anyone comes across reviews, please post links.

 

Wow I finally got it off! Thanks for the help! Asus made it way harder than it had to be. I have no clue why theycouldnt use more screws
omg so mad lol

 

So does anybody have any new complaints/issues thus far with this laptop? I plan to buy one this week.

 

Hello there,

In terms of hardware built quality, I have no complaints whatsoever. One thing that needed getting used to was the track-pad which has a sensitivity on par with any MacBook.

In terms of software, there was quite a bit of bloatware but that can be dealt with once one purchases the laptop. Not a HUGE issue.

Personally, I am happy with my purchase and especially with the quite-solid built quality.

Good Luck!

 

My only complaint would be the speakers, other than that, awesome laptop!

@No.one, currently 87% done!
And after I finish downloading it, do I install a fresh copy of windows first then use the iso, or use the iso first then fresh install?

* I created my own backup disks after the fresh install but for some reason, when I used it it gave me a big red ERROR, do you know why that had happened? *

 

How is the noise of the fan? Is it always on like most of the new HPs?

 

Modern usage is pretty much never on, this laptop stay cool all the time ( unless you're intensive gaming )

 

It is a personal opinion of every person but I would say that the speakers on a 14-inch usually are not so good. When I was buying it, I expected the speakers to literally be of no use but they kind of exceeded my expectation

Good to know that the download is 87% (Should be more by now )

Could you elaborate as to what the error is and when does it occur?

For the back-up discs you are downloading now, they are technically the OS plus all the Asus Factory-Ware. So, you will need to press F10 during the POST and a screen would pop-up giving you various options:

ASUS Recovery Partition

Using the Recovery Partition:
1. Press [F9] during bootup (requires a Recovery Partition)
2. Press [Enter] to select Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]
3. Read the “ASUS Preload Wizard” screen and click Next.
4. Select a partition option and click Next. Partition options:

Recover Windows to first partition only.
This option will delete only the first partition, allowing you to keep other partitions, and create a new system partition as drive “C”.

Recover Windows to entire HD.
This option will delete all partitions from your hard disk drive and create a new system partition as drive “C”.

Recover Windows to entire HD with 2 partition.
This option will delete all partitions from your hard drive and create two new partitions “C” (60%) and “D” (40%).
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the recovery process.

The factory default option you would have to choose would be:
Recover Windows to entire HD with 2 partition.

REMEMBER to back-up any information of yours since it will install a complete new copy.

Let me know how it goes and if any trouble, do post here!

All the best!

The fan is on most of the time but you will only come to notice it if you place your hand in front of the heat vent on the left-hand side. You can't hear it at all. Even under pressure such as high end gaming and running AutoCAD 2010 and AutoDesk 3ds you won't be able to hear it but you will realize that the wind speed becomes faster if you place your hand in front of the heat vent.

 

Done now, thanks so much

The error occurred when after I did a clean install, then used the backup disks that I made, the "Asus preload Wizard " came up and all the selections that I chose gave me an error ( Recover windows to first partitions only, entire HD, or Entire HD with two partitions, it said Windows cannot load... ( can't remember the specific file )
could it be that my recovery partition of the laptop is somehow damaged?

 

hey guys i am considering buying this laptop for school and light gaming and i just wanted to know if this laptop is too heavy for carrying around all day and i am also considering the lenovo u410 and wouldnt mind some help picking between both of them

 

Hey thebomb342, sorry about the late reply

You should chose the U47! If I looked correctly the Lenovo has a geforce 610m and a 4 cell battery, and 6 gigs of ram, i5-3317U.
The U47's every specs beats the Lenovo x) it has 750GB hard drive, i5- 3210m, geforce 620m, and a 6 cell battery that will last up to 6 hours on standard usage ( like word processing and youtube + itunes ) the anti glare screen also helps a lot when using in sunlight, now I gotta admit that the matte screen's colors aren't as vibrant and rich like the glossy screen but when you start using it in the sunlight in your campus, you and your friends will be impressed because you're the only guy who can actually see your screen haha.
The laptop isn't heavy at all, you can carry it with one hand, it will be lighter than your textbook for sure, it's about 4lbs? ish
Hopefully I have converted you

 

+1
great design and specs are good for its class
another choice would be the sony S13. 1 inch smaller, but 1680*1050 res. matte screen as well. however it has a smaller hdd (500gb) and less ram (4gb). Both are good choices. also bit lighter at 3.8 lbs. u47vc is 4.4 lbs

 

I am going to buy this laptop (well, a variant of it) tomorrow! Office Depot has the U47A-RGR6 for $700; I believe the difference is that it doesn't have the nicer video card. I've never owned a laptop and this looks fantastic for the price. I want something thin, light, and fully featured - I think Asus really knows exactly what some people want. I for one love that it has a DVD drive, although many seem to not want this. Here's hoping this model is as good as the VC!

 

The U47A is the exact same laptop except without the Geforce 620m, I think you will be pleased

 

Picked it up today, so far so good. Couple things:

Keyboard seems to miss keystrokes sometimes, but I can't tell if that's just me getting used to it.

Touchpad's great except for inertial scrolling. This is the one really great macbook feature I've been envious of, and am sad it doesn't work well on the elan touchpad, it's super choppy. Not a dealbreaker.

Hurts to use touchpad as palm rests on edge of laptop, but I'm thinking this would be true of any laptop (since this is my first, I'm not sure how others feel).

Everything else seems super nice - I read as much as I could about it beforehand, so no big surprises. Hopefully keyboard issues work themselves out as I get used to it - I plan to use this for programming.

 

i agree about the palm touch pad thing. U cant have your palm on the touch pad. if they shifted the touchpad to the middle of the laptop (logical thing to do im not sure why they didnt) it would fix everything. but i guess you have to get used to it. thats my biggest gripe about this laptop.
i find the keyboard to be ok to use

 

I thought by putting the touch pad to the left a little actually made the laptop look a bit better haha, It's personal preference I think, I have to admit the first time I used it, It wasn't as good as the mac book but after a while, it's pretty good
I never had a problem with the key strokes missing but it could be that it's brand new, try for another few days, if it's still like that then return it for a new one
Best of luck!

 

Keyboard seems much better. I think I am just not used to using this kind of keyboard (my main one is mechanical), and so it just seemed less responsive. Seems much better now that I'm used to it.

I spent most of today installing Ubuntu alongside Win 7, which was something of a nightmare. Because the laptop uses UEFI instead of a traditional BIOS, Ubuntu didn't install grub properly and it would continue to boot into Windows straight away. I had to use boot-repair, and that fixed it. This took me all day to diagnose and fix. Not a fault of the laptop of course, but something to be aware of. I had never used UEFI before.

Another thing that is very disappointing is that the touchpad actually works way better in Windows than Ubuntu. This is probably the first time I've run into that - usually I find most of Windows default (and unchangable) settings to be a major pain. Oh well, hopefully Ubuntu 12.10 will bring some more fixes.

Otherwise, great laptop - light, sleek, pretty much perfect. And the price is one of the best parts!

 

Can anyone comment on the weight of this laptop? According to the Asus website it weighs in at 4.36 lbs but in the past I've found their numbers to not be particularly accurate.

 

4 lbs ish is correct

 

Thank you!

 

i did a clean isntall all my fn+keys work except for disabling the touchpad. anyone know whats wrong?

 

I'm looking at the u47VC as a mostly-work computer. The usual web browsing, MS Office, Thunderbird etc., but also some more graphics-intensive stuff like Photoshop, InDesign, DreamWeaver, and a little video editing. Maybe some light gaming. Looking at this and the Lenovo Y480. Any thoughts out there on how the two stack up against each other? Recommendations one way or the other?

 

Sorry was away for a while! You are most welcome - I hope it works.

The only reason I can think of it giving you that error is a damaged "Recovery Partition". To check if you still have a partition, type in the Start Menu "Disk Management" and click on the first link that shows up. See if you have 25.00 GB of "Healthy Recovery Partition". If not, then you know that it is a partition problem. I am unsure as to how one would go about restoring a partition that comes from factory but I will get back to you on that once you find out.

All the best to you!

The only reason I can think of is that there could be driver issues or registry issues. Try this thread:

"Asus Fn Keys"

Please post back and let us know how it goes? All the best!

It is a bit difficult to compare the two but to be honest, I myself was considering the Lenovo Y480p when buying the laptop. The reasons I did not buy the Y480 but the U47VC:
1. The weight factor (Y480 = 2.31332 kg while U47VC = 1.95045 kg)
2. The battery factor (U47VC sits at approximately 8 hours while the Y480 sits at about 3 hours 20 minutes)
3. The thinness factor (U47VC being less than a inch thick)

If you don't care about the above things mentioned, then go for the Y480 but again, for what you need a laptop for, (the things that you have mentioned) the U47VC does a beautiful job. I work with media arts as a hobby and from my experience until now, programs such a PS, DW, FL, Premiere and Soundbooth work flawlessly. I run AutoCAD 2010 on it and the performance is very nice.

I am quite a gamer and this laptop hasn't disappointed me.

I must mention that the max amount of battery life it has given me was 10 hours and this was when I was only coding, screen brightness was zero as well as the keyboard back-light.

I hope I have provided you with enough information to make up your mind. If you have further inquiries - just post - someone will get back to you!

All the best!

 

Thanks so much N ne. Great to hear your responses. I hadn't realized the Lenovo had such a short battery life - that's a big deal. The 10 hours you mention is great, though you mention you have screen brightness at 0 and no backlight. What is the life like more generally?

The only other question I had was about the webcam - while not the laptop's primary function, I do hope to do a little Skyping. I believe someone posted earlier about a significant lag in the webcam, and an overall low resolution. Have you found this to be the case?

Thanks again. This is very helpful.

 

can you comment on the build quality and finish material? is it hard aluminum or more bendable magnesium, and how the screen bezel handles stress? also is the battery user removeable/replaceable if it goes bad?

 

You are most welcome. Yes, the 10 hour battery I mentioned was when I wanted to test how much would this machine give me with minimal usage and it was a good 10 hours. However, if you are to use it normally (by that I mean, web browsing, word processing and things as such), then it will give you around plus-minus 8 hours.

Right, I believe you read my previous posts then. I wouldn't say the camera lags but it is definitely grainy and a bit noisy in terms of the picture but otherwise, it gets the job done. Ofcourse, if you were to compare it to a 1.3MP which I have on my other laptop, then I would say the 1.3MP as a matter of fact is way better. But again, as I said, it gets the job done. Skyping was/is not a major factor for the work I bought this laptop for. Once again, it isn't that bad.

If you really want to be perfect, then you should look for a laptop with 1.3MP or higher camera.

Hope that helped!

The build quality as mentioned in the earlier posts, if sturdy. Well built and well proportioned in my opinion. Since you own a MacBook, let me tell you that it not the real aluminum that Apple uses. I would say it is hard but not aluminum (not pure at least). That being said, if you were to apply an aluminum body to this machine, then you would be paying well over $1200. Personally, I have no complaints (I am a frequent MacBook user and comparing it to that, in terms of body, I am impressed). The thin bezel (many are inquiring about it) is amazing. I don't think that Asus has decreased the sturdiness by installing the think bezel. The battery, unlike the MacBook, and its competitor (somewhat - U310 Lenovo) is removable and user-replaceable. The removable battery was one of the deciding factors for me.

I hope I have answered your question. All the best!