* OFFICIAL UL80VT and UL50VT / VS Owner's Lounge *

I removed every sticker sans Nvidia / Altec Lansing, and the little graphix boost sticker. Those three are very small and unobtrusive. IMO the Intel/Microsoft stickers are ugly and stand out too much.

 

Personally, IMO the multi-touch works well. I think if you feel that the scroll feature is too fast you should turn down the speed in the touchpad control. This makes two finger scrolling much smoother.

 

Anybody tried running turbo mode and using it for crysis while on battery?

How long will it last?

 

Has anyone been able to upgrade their graphics drivers on this notebook??

I'm going to be very sad if it turns out only the asus drivers will work .. maybe some way to copy the needed files from the asus driver set into the latest ones to make it compatible??

How to update graphics drivers on UL80VT-A1?!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5564728

 

for you guys that want to install an ssd on this beast, you should check out this one. it's actually a slightly crippled intel G2 ssd.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1111/1/

it blows away the competition on random read and writes (that's what matters the most. not sequential writes)

if you don't have much money and want to make your UL80/50 much faster for a hundred bucks. go for it.

you can use your current 320gb HDD as storage with an enclosure.

 

was thinking about grabbing the kingston 40gig, but a couple things stopped me:

1) no TRIM support (as of yet)
2) size - 40 gigs is just barely enough for windows, but if i throw photoshop, office, and a game or two on there, things get very tight very quickly
3) it's weird, but the intel 34nm architecture seems to get faster with size

160 gig intel G2 > 80 gig intel G2 >>>> 40 gig kingston

the 80 gig G2 is faster, bigger, has TRIM at around 250. the kingston is about 150. not sure if losing all that is worth the 100 dollar difference.

 

1) a kingston rep said it will be available and btw, i'll tell you something... there is an official 40gb intel ssd, so TRIM support is guaranteed.

2) after the windows 7 install you should have 17-21gb left, which is plentiful to install all your applications.

b) remember, this is marketed as a boot drive, not a storage drive. it only costs 100$.

3) I don't know about that but the 170mb/sec read is a conservative specification, it can actually achieve much higher. (220~)

sorry? I got mine for 118$CAD taxes and shipping included. I imagine that you can get it for 110usd shipped if you shop around.

I think this drive is really an excellent drive to start off with ssd's until prices go down.

no point in investing 250-400$ on something that will considerably go down in price within the next 12-24 months.

 

I had no problems upgrading my nvidia drivers from nvidia site.

 

does the ul80vt comes with a bluetooth?

 

No it doesn't.

 

oh ok! 8( thank you! im gonna be get my laptop on friday.. any suggestion what accessories that can be useful for a student.

when i receive it il be buying http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0018O9JIG/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance and http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001G777ZM/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A23S71QXDZCPQA&v=glance

any other thing to get?

 

Hey, that's the bluetooth dongle I have. Can't say much about it, but it get the job done. Recommended, etcetera etcetera.

For passive cooling, the Edova Xpad Slim is a favorite of mine.

For laptop sleeves, the Zeroshocks are good from what I hear.

There's a lot of recommendations for mouse and headset, but what are you looking for in those departments?

 

im looking for accessories i can use for school. does the zeroshock fits the ul80vt like a glove? it's widescreen right? so widescreen sleeve is better?

 

zeroshocks sound cool.

what's a decent portable headset for around 70 bucks? something that will be good enough for movies, games, music that isn't cheap/ty.

i don't like earphones.

 

Can the UL30 VT carry the 5600 mAh battery ?

 

i got some questions

is the backing of this laptop really aluminum? it feels more like plastic to me.

also, my fn number pad doesn't work. (like fn j is supposed to be 1)
and i can't change the brightness with the fn button?

and my total hard drive seems to be only 284 gb? i think its supposed to be 320

sorry im a noob

 

i've read some reviews saying that the multitouch is difficult on the UL80 because if your fingers aren't exactly lined up right then, for example, the scroll function won't work.

1) what is everyone's experience?
2) is this any different than other asus multitouch laptops. i have a u81a in my household and I think it works fine.

 

Logitech and Microsoft mice are good workhorse units. Browse around Newegg--or better yet, a physical store--to see which one you might like. I use mostly wired, gaming mice, but I think the Logitech Nanos are liked well enough by NBR.

A Zeroshock of the right dimensions should fit just fine.

It's less because of formatting.

 

Hey guys I'm a new member. Received my UL80VT this past weekend and I've found it running pretty warm for a CULV. When I first booted it up I used SIW and the CPU was running at about 50 C. Today I checked the temperature and it was running at about 23 C this after noon but its up to 37 C. I have used Everest for reference and it runs at about 47C. For reference my SU2300 on my Acer runs at 30C and I feel no heat at all. On the Asus the SU7300 runs way to hot and I can feel heat coming out of the vents.

What kind of temperatures does your UL80VT run on? Do you think I got a lemon, I read that the build quality on these are quite variable. So far everything has been ok but the keyboards also squeek quite a bit and the battery life was not up to par with the 12 hours advertised.

 

@Timelessvictory: No matter what, the 7300 is going to run hotter than the 2300. The specs aren't even close to one another. The more powerful the CPU, the hotter it is going to be. That being said, the discrete video card also adds to the heat. Keep that in mind. I personally do not feel that the laptop is hot compared to similar sized-speced laptops. You tried to compare the ul80vt with a netbook. Thats a no-no.

Secondly, perhaps the battery life is not up to par because of the myriad of options that you have not turned off or on. I remember trying to tinker with the different video card settings along with the actual power4gear hybrid settings in addition to the dual option for discrete and integrated graphics. The settings personally are very complicated. You would literally have to tweak all the settings to lowest settings in order to get the 12 hours. I have actually had my wifi and surfing the internet on this thing for about 9 hours. So there is absolutely no way I am going to believe that this thing cannot run at 12 hours at dim brightness, word processing with no wifi on.

 

Mouse-wise, I would highly recommend the Logitech VX Revolution. On sale, you could probably PM it for less than $40. Just make sure you have a decent mousepad though, 'cuz if the pad's surface is worn out, the laser tracker is a bit finicky.

I have to respectfully disagree with you concerning the laptop's battery life performance. I've been consistently using my laptop at school, where my days are from 8-3:30 with no breaks (>10 min) in between classes, and I use my laptop for all of them. In class, I have wifi on, and I'm using a combination of internet surfing (with some flash) and word processing. It's on integrated video, brightness is on the second-to-lowest level, and overclocking is enabled. By the end of the day, both battery gauges (Windows and P4G) say I still have 2-3 hours of battery life left. Therefore, I would have a potential of 10-11 hours of battery life with these current settings.

I do agree that you will won't achieve the 12+ hours unless you have every possible power-saving function enabled. But, you can get incredibly close.

 

30 to 40 celsius

 

I have no problems with the touchpad. Admittedly, it was a bit of a learning curve to find out how the fingers are aligned, but I'm used to it now. As one reviewed pointed out, we tend to have our fingers on a slant (even diagonally) since we just rotate on our palm from keyboard to touchpad. So you have to physically *lift* your hand so that your two/three fingers are parallel with the bar button. Then, scrolling is a breeze. I know some people have voiced their dislike about the dimpled, polished trackpad, but I have found it much more comfortable and less resistant than my old Acer.

Try experimenting with which fingers you want to use for scrolling. I have found sometimes that my middle/ring finger duo work a lot better and is more ergonomic.

On a separate note, I'm still wondering from the tech experts whether there is a version of the Elantech driver which supports zooming? Can't find it on Elantech's website, nor on ASUS's.

 

I do this as well. For some reason, when the scrolling finger is higher than the static finger (index + middle), it doesn't seem to register well.

 

No, though there are rumours of an A1 series coming out with the bigger battery. The current Amazon listing is the X1 which carries the 4400mAh

 

I think they want to know if the 5600 fits in the 30vtx1.. and yes I believe they do.

 

Does the Amazon U.S. version of the UL80vt have gigabit LAN?

 

atheros ar8131 pci-e gigabit ethernet controller

 

Thanks, that is good to know. I couldn't find the LAN specs on the Amazon site.

 

Thanks for your input but I was not comparing it to an Acer Netbook. I'm comparing it to a 15" Timeline. Although I would expect the Asus to have more heat due to the stronger Core 2 processor vs the Celeron based 2300 on the Timeline I think that the heat is getting excessive. Since last night it has been running at around 50-57 C so its getting progressively worse. Which is 10-20C higher than a user quoted below. I am also running this on integrated graphics not the G210M. At first I thought that might be the issue so I switched it and it still continued to stay hot. After a few minutes of use I can start feeling heat on the left side of my keyboard. The keyboard also has a rattling noise on the left side. From most reviews this laptop is stated to run very cool with no heat so this excessive heat is alarming. If this keeps up it may end up like the AMD Turion on my previous DV2 laptop.

Which program are you using ? Thanks

 

So Best Buy had the UL50Ag with a non glossy finish and I think I read on here where they will be getting the UL30Vt and UL50Vt, but they don't have the 2 year warranty. Anybody know if Amazon be getting the UL30Vt and UL50Vt with the non glossy finish?

 

i used siw

 

my fn number pad wont work (example fn+j is supposed to be 1)

and my fn brightness control only works sometimes.

can someone help?

 

I've experienced a similar problem with the Fn number pad. The / * - + characters work with the Fn key, but not the numbers or the decimal point.

All of them work properly if you use the Fn NumLK option, which doesn't really do much for me.

I wrote up a Techinical Report about the problem yesterday on the Asus website. They say they will try to answer within 48 hours. I'll report back as soon as I receive an answer.

 

if i'm not planning on gaming and my only graphics intensive activity is watching divx and mkv and possibly HD flash... does the VT vs AG decision make a difference?

 

@Timelessvictory: that is very surprising. I must have mistaken your comparison. But yes, on my ul50vt, it never runs hot unless I am running games for 5+ hours straight. Even then, it does not get uncomfortably hot. You might want to get that checked out because when I am not running extensive programs, it runs very cool to me. Especially on the integ graphics, I barely notice any sound from the fans which correlates to low heat.

@angrystudent13, pigmywolf: you guys might want to get that checked out by asus. I have a ul50vt and all my Fn keys work.

@substance12: If the MOST graphics intensive thing you are going to do is watch HD flash, the integrated graphics should suffice. Yet since the VT is only about 50 dollars more than the Ag for both ul50 and ul80, why not just buy the vt? The marginal benefit far outweighs the marginal cost in this instance. Even if you are not using the 210m now, it may serve useful to you in a few years when you decide to do some light gaming or do something more graphic intensive than HD flash.

 

My problem with the fn keys is that when I click on fn+down arrow, it opens windows media center rather than pausing/playing my music. Thats with media player and winamp. I tried asus nbkeys but without any success.

 

I'm assuming the BB model is similar in build quality to the vt. I just checked it out. there is keyboard flex but it didn't seem like a dealbreaker to me. the trackpad buttons were a deal breaker. it was very difficult to click. has anyone else experienced this?

 

They are a bit stiff at first, but its not that bad.

 

I just picked up a UL80VT today in Dubai. I was apprehensive in picking it up at first due to all the issues which had been reported, but the model I got seems to be in perfect shape. There is no flex, atleast nothing which I can tell even after putting significant amounts of force (the salesman asked to me stop doing it ). The keyboard seems fine, though I have to get a little used to the chiclet design. The only issue is the buttons for the trackpad - it's really stiff. Got it for 3500AED (~952USD) which seems quite reasonable. It's less than a 2 weeks old to (all the software was installed on the 22nd of November) so that might be why it's in such good condition. Just cleaning up all the bloatware now.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention my other issue - the button for the DVD drive. *shakes fist*
EDIT 2: A few pages back someone mentioned that there was no BT. The model I have does have BT. Also came with Windows 7 ultimate.

 

The UL80VT seems like it would fit the bill for what I’d like to do. A little bit of gaming, but mainly browsing and streaming video to my TV or PS3. It’s a little weird for me to be wanting to buy a 1.3ghz processor as I haven’t owned anything around that speed since the AMD T-Birds but the chip seems to perform well from the reviews. I wanted a laptop that is lappable, somewhat speedy, and can last on flights/ travel.

Besides the build quality issue that has been expressed, I have concerns about streaming Hulu Desktop/Hulu HD to my TV/ Hotel TV.

Could someone satisfy some of my concerns by pluging in an HDMI cord into the laptop and into a tv and feeding the TV Hulu HD. Does it stutter? I’m trying to feed a 47inch HDTV. I could feed it in 720P and up convert via my Onkyo receiver but I’d like to know if this laptop could handle that… I might play some light gaming (mainly Total war in lower graphics) with it on my TV via this method too.

Thanks!

 

Hey all, when I try to make a call on Skype using Express Gate I get an error that says "Problem with Audio Capture".
Anyone have any ideas how to fix this?
Thanks!

 

You are correct on that. ASUS has designated those keys as Multimedia keys when using the Fn function. Use them to start, stop, pause and skip forward or backwards a track when playing a CD. It gives you all the detail on page 31 of your Users Manual.

Still no answer back from ASUS on the number pad problem, but I only submitted it last night.

 

Wow! BT and a Windows upgrade! Very nice. Even with a few small issues, I'm really happy with this machine.

I saw that Amazon has the specs up on the UL30VT. Same as UL80VT except for BT and 500 GB HD come standard. And no optical drive, of course. A weight of 3.74. $799.00 USD

 

Second. I'm curious about this as well. How well does the UL80Vt stream HULU HD? What about with the GPU enabled flash player (10.1, I believe).

I'd gladly give rep for a quick test!

}:^)~

 

It streams hulu hd great, very smooth, no issues (tried it on nvidia graphics).

 

Thanks, chessphoon! This answers my question perfectly. If you don't mind, can you try with the integrated graphics and turbo33? I'm just curious how HD performs in this mode. For example, if I wanted to watch Hulu HD or a similar service while mobile and away from a plug socket.

Enjoy the rep!

}:^)~

 

I dont know anything about the zeroshocks but I just received a laptop sleeve from Dealextreme for 8.25 shipped. I am sure there are better products but this one seems pretty nice and it DEFINITELY fits the UL80VT like a glove, cant complain at all.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9655

 

I'm also experiencing issues with temps. When I first received the laptop approx 3weeks ago, I was very happy with it, particularly as it seemed that the battery life was approx 10hrs and I could feel no heat coming from it whatsoever as it sat on my lap.

But now things have changed..... I have it set on battery saving mode, with nothing running in the background at all, only thing running is firefox.. and HWmonitor shows temps between 45c and 57c.

Furthermore, battery life is only about 6.5hrs. I think I'm going to call asus about these issues, something isn't right.

 

maybe the g210m is on?