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

ordered the ul50vt today from amazon.com 1 day shipping. Thanks to info in this thread for helping me figure out that I definitely want the vt version not the ag version.

 

Just ordered the ul80vt. I was set on getting the ul30vt this whole time... but then I realized the difference between a 13.3" and 14" laptop is barely anything because the screen is measured diagonally of course. So I decided to go with the 14" because it has the better battery, the optical drive, and is the only one available in Canada. And I got free shipping because of a christmas deal! I'm relieved that I can finally sit back and eventually it'll just show up on my doorstep, instead of hovering around the web researching laptops.

 

haha i'm in the same position as you! except, i haven't decided yet. Im sort of paranoid about the build quality on the UL80VT not being as good as the UL30VT, but i never really payed attention to build quality on my current laptop(Lenovo IdeaPad y730). I guess its just me knowing that there is a con there and shying away from it.

I want to be able to have the optical drive(even though i rarely use it), just so its more convinient. (ex: install OS without needing to go through the hassle of doing the whole USB thing, etc).

also, it comes with a $100 gift card if i order it b4 dec 18th on amazon.

i don't really need the bluetooth, i can always buy a dongle, i don't mind.

do you guys think i should pull the trigger on the UL80VT instead since it has more of the things i want? The only thing thats stopping me is the horrible build quality that everyone is talking about, and that the UL30VT IMO has a better wifi card(not the Atheros). Is it really THAT bad that i shouldn't consider it? thanks!

 

I just got my UL80vt from Amazon last night after ordering it during the few days that they were out of stock last week. So my impressions are just initial impressions, and should be taken in the context that this is my first laptop so I have nothing to compare it against. I've tried several display laptops at Best Buy and other stores, so that is my only basis of comparison (those display models did not include the UL80vt - no one has it locally here). I too was worried about the comments about build quality and the possibility that the Atheros wi-fi would have the same problems being reported by many UL30A owners. Here are my initial thoughts on those 2 issues:

Build quality: Seems solid. No squeaks or flex in the palm rest area, but I haven't pushed hard on it to check it. I've only subjected it to normal use while typing or using the track pad and mouse buttons. The keyboard has a little flex but not enough to bother me (the display models of the various brands at the store had a little flex in their keyboards too.) Some people have reported that the build issues didn't show up until they had used the laptop for a few days, so I'll wait to make a final judgment about this.

Wi-fi: After using it for a couple days I am finding that the wireless card finds 5-6 networks in my residential housing neighborhood. Only 1, mine, shows "excellent" signal strength. One shows "fair" and the others show "poor". I don't have another notebook PC to compare it to, so I can't judge whether the wireless card is performing well or not.

I haven't had any dropped connections while using the internet during the 2 days I have been using it in different rooms of the house while connected to my Verizon FIOS G router. I checked the download and upload speed at a speed testing website. I got 16.x\5 Mbps down and 5.x Mpbs up using my 20/5 Mbps FIOS connection. My desktop PC, which is connected to the FIOS router via an ethernet cable, usually gets around 20 Mbps down in these tests.

Other thoughts:

The LCD creen is nice and bright, but as others have noted, the contrast isn't particularly good nor is the vertical viewing angle. The sweet spot is pretty small, but it's not so bad as to be a deal breaker for me.

Like others have reported, there initially was a small white square in the middle of the LCD screen when at the desktop. If I placed the mouse cursor over it, it covered the white square so it wasn't due to a pixel problem. And as others reports, the white square disappeared after a few hours and hasn't come back.

Bottom line: So far I like this laptop. I do want to further investigate the wireless performance by getting some friends to bring their laptops to my house to compare the signal strength of the networks in my neighborhood. One of the things I want to do with a laptop is to be able to get good connections at wi-fi hot spots, so this will be an important factor in whether I keep the UL80vt.

Hope these initial impressions help.

 

Can the UL80VT warranty be transferred from one owner to another?

 

Hearing about the build quality turned me off from it, but looking at my old 14" HP laptop, I squeezed on the corner and it made a sound like the ul80vt. It has worked fine for years so that made me feel less concerned about it. I mean, it's plastic, and plastic bends. It's not going to do anything besides make a sound when you squeeze it, I can live with that.

 

has anyone tried to put xp 32bit on theirs for S&Gs? I have a program that won't run on 64bit win7 so I was trying to put xp on an sd card, but keep getting bsod'd.

 

How many hard drive slots are in this Ul80vt? I wanted to put a SSD hard drive in there aswell...can I do that?

 

Sorry if this has been asked before but is there any reason that I shouldnt leave my UL80 in turbo mode all the time when I am plugged in?

Thanks!

 

unless it is wrapped in blankets, it will be fine. it's a stable overclock that asus gives you straight out of the box, they would not give an unstable overclock that could cause the system to fail and cost them money in repairs.

 

Seems to make good sense to me, thanks Doubleshock.

 

I ordered the UL80VT from Amazon with the $100 Amazon gift card on 11/18. I signed up for the Amazon Prime free month trial and got next day air shipping for $3.99. About 24 hours later, I had the UL80VT in my hands. The gift card never came (despite the tracking info saying it was delivered) but a quick email to Amazon resulted in them voiding the old gift card and giving me a $100 credit within a couple of hours of me sending the email! Awesome service.

I bought the UL80VT for portability, battery life, heat-handling, value, and moderate gaming ability. So far, I have no complaints in these categories. I came from a Dell XPS M1330 2.0gHz C2D with 8400GS and LED dsiplay so I'll be comparing my experiences so far with the UL80VT to the M1330.

PORTABILITY: The UL80VT is only slightly wider than the M1330. With the M1330's wedge shape, the front end is thinner than the UL80VT but the back end is about the same. With the 9-cell battery attached (which props up the back of the laptop and extends it back a bit), the weight is fairly close as well. I use my laptop all the time in many different locations so I wanted something at least as portable as the M1330 is.

BATTERY LIFE: The M1330 with 9-cell battery gets about 3-4.5 hours of life, depending usage (while gaming, about 1.5 hours). So far, with the UL80VT, I'd say the battery life is about 7-10 hours of real world use, depending on usage (while gaming, about 2.5 hours).

HEAT-HANDLING: My M1330 has serious heat issues and I knew it was only a matter of time before I needed to get the mobo replaced again (due to the infamous faulty Nvidia graphics chipset), but this time, out of warranty. When I played WoW on the M1330, I literally had to use a mouse pad cut to fit the left palmrest because it got so hot for my left hand. The UL80VT stays cool overall and only heats up slightly when gaming (the only warm spot is to the left of the left side of the laptop where the hot air is expelled). The only thing that concerns me about the UL80-VT in regards to heat is the temperature of the Nvidia graphics chip. Using the latest version of CPUID Hardware Monitor, my max temperature for the 210M is 100 C! This is with the Asus Easy Over Clock feature in the Bios set to 3% (as it came shipped), Turbo Mode on, and the graphics drivers that shipped with the laptop. I've read in posts on this forum that said that Asus said 100 C temps are ok for graphics chips in the Asus G51/G61 series but it seems rather high to me. I haven't noticed any reduced graphics performance due to heat-induced downclocking and the heat coming out of the side of the laptop doesn't seem like 100 C to me (unscientifically-speaking). Perhaps Hardware Monitor isn't reading the temps right? I tried it again with a Targus Stow-N-Go Chill Mat I used to use with my M1330 and it was 94 C after about 2 hours of WoW.

VALUE: About 1.5 years ago, I bought my M1330 from the Dell Outlet for about $1,000 including shipping and sales tax. I got the UL80VT brand new from Amazon for about $830 (including next day air shipping, no sales tax, and a $100 Amazon gift card) with an awesome Asus warranty. I wanted something better than the M1330 at a cheaper price and I think I got it.

MODERATE GAMING ABILITY: I play games like WoW, Left 4 Dead, Torchlight, Plants vs. Zombies, Half-Life 2, etc. and I have been very pleased with the UL80VT's gaming performance. It struggled with Champions Online at high settings though (luckily, I don't think I'll be playing that long-term).

NEGATIVES: Prior to buying the UL80-VT, I was a little put off by all the reported build quality issues (keyboard flex, creaky left palmrest, flimsy plastic above keyboard area, etc.) and also with the complaints about the LED display. I can definitely see the build quality issues others have reported, but none were deal-killers for me. The LED display definitely has some viewing angle issues so if it's critical that you have wide vertical/horizontal viewing angles, you will probably not like the UL80-VT's LED display. In the sweet spot, I find the LED display to be bright and clear and at least as good, in terms of quality, as the M1330. The most annoying things to me about the laptop are the touchpad buttons. The one-piece rocker design is awful and the buttons require too much pressure to activate (even at the edges). The left/right buttons on the M1330's touchpad are easy to press (and hold down) with good key travel and pressing them both together acted as a middle button. If I could change one thing about the UL80-VT, it would be the touchpad button design/implementation. I do like the multi-touch scrolling but I wish it supported pinch zooming.

Overall though, I am very satisfied with my UL80-VT. Today, I bought a Targus 14.1" SlipSkin laptop sleeve. The width and depth are perfect for the UL80-VT but the height is a little large (maybe half an inch too big). It's close enough for me though.

 

Great to hear of another satisfied UL80vt user. I am going to pull the trigger on one of these soon, as well. But I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should go with an SSD or not. Any thoughts on how an SSD would effect the performance of this laptop?

 

I'm using an SSD, it's silent, quicker, and probably 5% better battery.

 

Just received my UL80VT but I'm trying to set things up but my screen randomly goes blank, what gives?

 

If the program you're trying to run isn't too performance demanding, I'd set yourself up an 32-bit XP install via Virtualbox. It's free for home use, and it's pretty easy to set up. http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

My company's VPN software is 32-bit only, so I set myself up a XP 32-bit VM, and now when I need to remote in, I just boot up the VM, and I'm all set. The performance is more than reasonable. I wouldn't do autocad or serious gaming in a VM, but for everything else it's great.

 

Hi All,

Been a lurker here, but finally would like to let you know how things are going. I bought a UL80VT on Amazon w/ the $100 GC. I love this laptop in almost everyway (except for the touchpad button!).

But I did have the build quality issue where the palm rest is squeaky on BOTH sides, and that the front of the laptop is quite sharp (the top and bottom pieces aren't flush).

Anyways, I called ASUS to get my laptop repaired on last Fri. Found out that ASUS is only 5 minutes away from where I work in Fremont, CA. I was able to drop it off on Monday afternoon. The lady at the reception was nice and took my laptop right away and gave me a receipt. I called Tues, Weds, and both days the tech support guys said that my laptop was still under repair. Both times that I called, the tech support guys said normal turn around time is 2-3 days. So, hopefully, by Fri morning, I should be able to get my laptop back. I'll let you guys know what happens when it is returned to me.

 

not digging my ul80vt-a1 so its up for sale, go check it out guys in the marketplace.

 

Ahhh, just finished reading the entire thread...I'm a little disappointed that more people didn't opt for the UL50Vt because I'm trying to decide between the UL80Vt and UL50Vt. I think the 14" model would be a bit better for toting to class, but I was sort of hoping that some of the build quality issues would be resolved (or at least less prevalent) on the UL50Vt. The larger chassis could in theory allow the chipset and gfx card to run a bit cooler due to more room for airflow, and given the fact that the UL50Vt has a different keyboard and chassis the issues with keyboard/chassis flex might be different. Could be better, could be worse. I realize these models are fairly new and not everyone will see this thread to post their experiences, but if anyone with the UL50Vt would like to chime in, I'm all ears.

It's also a little disconcerting to see a couple of people in the latter part of the thread having temperature and battery issues. I assume the majority of your systems are running cool and quiet like they are supposed to, and you continue to get close to the advertised amount of battery life after using your notebooks for several weeks?

 

I'm pretty sure this was asked many times but, how do I fix the screen? It's so damn bright.

 

Does anyone know where I can see and feel the UL80VT in person? I can't seem to find them in Best Buy anymore. The don't even show up on BB's website.

 

does anyone's screen go blank for a few secs when windows loads up to the log-in screen?

 

me too, and why am I get so low of hours on battery? its at 99% 5 hr 47min left and it's on quiet office.

 

me too, and why am I get so low of hours on battery? its at 99% 5 hr 47min left and it's on quiet office. also why did my screen get all dark out of no where. and how do i overclock the processor?=

 

I just ordered the UL80VT and had an internal debate with myself. I love bigger screens and the numeric keypad. I am used to using 16/17/18.4 monsters. What made me decide on the 14 was that I recently tried a 13.3 and compared it to my current 16. Now the main issue I have with the Ul50VT was that based on the measurements, it's even LONGER than my current 16inch! Only by less than an inch, but whoa....my 16 is long enough as is. So I opted for the 14....but trust me it was not an easy decision. Also the 14 incher I got for $140 less. To me that was a big difference that I could not pass up.

Now my big concern is a sleeve. I can't seem to find one that I really like and that fits it like a glove. I've seen ones either too small or too big. I've seen a few that should fit fine, but I didn't like how they looked. I know it's shallow, but if I'm carrying around a notebook, I'd like it to look good

 

The processor defaults as overclocked. To change settings, go to the Asus program "Power4Gear Hybrid" and click the turbo mode button that appears in the lower left corner.

As for battery life, mine is only about 8.5 hours max. To get that you can't let the computer go to sleep or hibernate, because returning from such states really kills the battery. Turn the brightness to a minimum, the processor use to a minimum, and make sure you aren't in turbo mode.

 

why does hibernation kill the battery?

 

I just received my ul50vt yesterday and it's the best, and worst laptop I have ever had. It seems to do everything it is supposed to do well, unfortunately it seems that mine has a broken hard drive (or something). All I had it doing was installing windows updates, and downloading a file in google chrome, and suddenly I hear this clack clack clack noise at really fast intervals. Loud. Sounded like a machine gun from a video game. I was on the other side of the couch so I had to reach over to get the laptop, and i picked it up and the whole left side was shaking!! and it had also locked up. So I held down the power button to turn it off, and when i turned it back on, the shaking was gone, but I could hear the hard drive spinning. Loud, like an old desktop from 5 years ago. And it got louder ever time I lifted the computer or moved it even slightly. It was that way for hours but now it's quiet again. I really don't have time to send it back to asus right now though because I'm going out of town around Christmas and I really need this laptop to get work done while I'm gone so hopefully it will at least work for a couple weeks, and then I can send it back to them to fix.

 

@triplethreadlaptop?

Could you elaborate on what you like about the UL50Vt? How's the build quality as far as keyboard and chassis flex? Do you feel any "give" in these areas?

Best of luck using it until you can send it in for repair!

 

My ul80vt just arrived this morning and so far I am loving it! I used a windows 7 professional product key to upgrade the home premium version to the professional version. I guess I could've done a clean install but it doesn't look like there are much bloatware and it would probably take too long. I've removed the anti virus (Trent micro internet security) and the Office 2007 Home and Student edition (will be installing the 2010 beta) because I understand those are trial versions? Did you guys remove anything else?

 

I just got a call from ASUS in California after shipping my UL80VT off for a dead pixel and build quality issues (squeaking). The representative Hai told me that the squeaking was part of the design and that he had checked with the models he had. Even if he replaced my unit it will be the same. He said the techs can tighten the screws, but they would rather not because being too tight would cause problems in the future. I told him this was quite a common problem with this model according to forums, so he will forward the problem to Taiwan. If this is by design then this unit is poorly designed. Though I have to admit their customer service here in California is top notch and friendly. I guess I'll wait for my unit to return to see if problem is fixed. If anyone else sent it in for the squeaking could you let me know how it went. Thanks.

 

I've had the UL50VT for 3 weeks now and am very impressed. No squeaking and keyboard flex is minimal. I've received a lot of positive comments from friends on the keyboard! The longest lifetime I've seen is about 8 hours, but I've never proper tested battery life, so the stated battery life is questionable. I'm not a gamer, but speed is awesome, even in battery-saving mode. I would have liked built-in Bluetooth, but a purchased a mini-dongle for $10. A back-lit keyboard would also have been nice, but it would have run the battery life down. Wireless connectivity has not been an issue on the road or at home. Fingerprint smudges are very noticeable!

All-in- all, I'm happy with the purchase. The larger screen size and numeric keyboard have also been a nice bonus. Purchased at Amazon for $823.

 

This is annoying on the bottom with the green thing I press
"increase performance now" all it does is makes my screen blank and it doesn't come back to normal. and I have to press the left top bottom to get out of it. whats wrong with it?

 

Hey guys, I should be getting my UL80VT in the mail Monday.

Quick question, I am going to be doing a clean install on my SSD, did anyone ever come up with a list of programs / drivers we need to install to take advantage of all the features (switchable graphics, turbo)?

 

Let us know how that SSD works out. I'm trying to figure out how it effects the battery life of the UL's.

 

is there anyway i can adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad without adjusting the sensitivity of the mouse at the same time?

 

quick question... can this play a 32 player game of Team Fortress 2 without dropping under 30 fps? probably should have asked that before I ordered one... I know it can play the game, but I'm wondering how much a large amount of players hurts frame rate.

 

Triplethreat - it sounds like your HDD is failing. When you say you are doing work with it I hope you are not saving anything to the drive because it is not going to last much longer.

Loud, constant Ticks, Clicks, and clunks are not good noises. Odd for it to be like that off the bat. I would wonder if your baby took a drop during shipping and handling.

 

I went to the CA center today to check on the status of my repair, for the same squeaking issue. Didn't talk to the tech, but the lady at the RMA front desk went to ask about my status, and said that they were waiting for parts (same as what Quadron reported). No ETA. I'll check back next Monday, and if they still don't have an ETA, I'm gonna ask for my laptop back since I really want it for the holidays.

 

Get a mouse with adjustable dpi

 

How to FIX the painfully bad contrast/image quality when in integrated graphics mode:

1. Right click on the desktop, select 'graphics properties'.
2. Click on 'display settings' on the side.
3. Click on Power Settings
4. Adjust the slider. I have mine set to "Better Power Savings" and it looks MUCH better.

Hope this helps everyone!

It has made a HUGE difference for me! (Though, I'm still not sure what impact it will have on the battery life.)

 

Is there another option to the UL80VT? I looked at the Lenovo ideapad Y450 which actually comes with a better video card (240) and a real cpu. Not as nice looking though.

 

anyone know how to adjust the sensitivity settings for the 2 finger scroll?

 

Control Panel/Multi-Finger

 

where in control panel? i cant find it

 

Hey all I just received my UL80VT. yes I notice the flex on the left side of the keyboard. Also I have a dead pixel. I got it from Amazon, I am curious if you all would get it exchanged. I've never been one to enjoy dead pixels....but at the same time I know the next one could have more you know?

 

30 day pixel perfect guarantee.

 

From Amazon? Or Asus? I've never heard of that. I know Asus offers the 0 bright dot guarantee. Thank you for letting me know by the way. It's actually kind of funny how I found out about it. I saw the Asus UL screen saver and since its black, the dead pixel stuck out like a sore thumb. I think it's from ASUS but I'd rather deal with Amazon since who knows what will happen once I ship the laptop to Asus.

 

Omfg, I was in a chat with a live rep from ASUS and he disconnected on me and nothing was solved. is that? I'm starting to get tired of this laptop. I was expecting for me to switch graphic cards whenever I want but screen goes blank when I try to switch it to the dedicated card.

 

update your drivers, if it's not working after that, you might have a bad nvidia card. Mine works flawlessly.