Official Asus U30JC Owner's Lounge and Review Thread

>>> Hello guys, I'm new in this forum. I've heard about Asus for years but I've just known that Asus is one of the best brand in laptop, which has not only powerful laptop but also apply new technology in the products, for recent months. And I think I'll buy an Asus laptop. At the very beginning, I was attracted by Asus U30JC, but now, the new U45JC also appeals me too. I'm so confusing because their price difference is small and their power seems not to be so unequal. Can you help me make a comparison between this two laptops? What's their Pros? What's their Cons?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

You simply hit the FN+key for wireless then MOVE THE MOUSE to check the box for wifi/bluetooth.

 

The problem is the Asus util to control the WiFi and the issue is nothing other than UI design. Each time you hit FN +wireless key it cycled through wifi on/BT on, wifi on/BT off, wifi off/BT on and wifi off/BT off. Thing is this isn't always the case as you switch each time. Sometimes it gets changes somehow and each of the four states can be set independantly. This is done as you hit the FN keystroke and get the alpha ATK overlay you have to click on each of the icons IE the one for bluetooth and the one for wifi.

Many many asus owners have had issues with BT not working because it's disabled in the ATK util and they think just the FN keystroke will switch each mode. NO this is not the case you have to CLICK ON THE ICON for WiFi/BT when the ATK overlay pops up !!!

 

Atheros make the BEST wireless chipsets in the business... Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. have built a corporation using their products. You're crazy to think the Intel solution will be better. It's most likely an antenna issue in the chassis. Most notebooks have very poor antennas and there isn't much you can do less drilling into the chassis and putting your own mini RP-SMA etc jack on it.

Another solution is to get a decent wireless router. I can suggest an older Buffallo model called the WHR-HP-G54. It's a broadcomm chipset unit with an amplifier built in for "high power". It can have Tomato, DD-WRT and any hyperWRT based router OS compiled for it. I use a version of Tomato from Victek and it works fantastic. It also comes with a fairly decent antenna though if you intend to use another one you'll have to pull the thing apart and cut away some of the plastic to have the RP-SMA fit the shaft on most antennas. If you do get one of these routers be sure not to set the output power to more than 18mW because this is BEFORE the amplifier in the unit. It's affectively around 275mW to perhaps 320mW for a great EIRP using a decent antenna (this included the one boxed). In radio performance it will blow the doors off of most if not ALL current n router BS. Only a Picostation from UBNT can best it in my experience and deployments.

 

It can be hit and miss with Asus just like any manufacturer. It would based judgment on the model # and not so much the brand. With that said Asus is rated #1 in the least failures of the lamjor 9 notebook manufacturers in a recent study. They rated higher than even Apple Computers !!!

If you do read the article though you will find the industry averages for failures within three years is simply OUTRAGEOUS and an industry average of over %30 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look for a notebook with a decent thermal design. The asus M50, M60 and N61 (cheap chassis) in terms of thermal design and fan assembly access can't be beak industry wide. Repairs on that chassis is a sure pleasure and the three heatpipe single large fan design is gotta be the best in the industry. These are 15-16" notebooks though...

I've just ordered a U30JC canadian model with the i5. Seems we get an i5 model up here boxed with Win7 Pro and BT adapter with 7200rpm drive. I'm am uncertain as to the thermal design of this particular chassis but I did notice it was pan based less the access to HD and ram. This will suck for a fan assembly repair. Does anyone have the pdf for disassembly ?

As for aluminum Asus notebooks. I remember selling a model in around 2k that was entirely aluminum and it had a slot load optical with a magnetic lid. It was entirely carbon fiber chassis frame with aluminum panels. Best looking and manufactured notebook I've ever seen. So as reviews say it's a departure for Asus this is not the case but a return to the early days when Asus truly made the best notebooks on earth.

This was a silver W2V chassis model. Shame they don't make them of that caliber anymore but who knows with this aluminum U30 Asus might go back to the BEST CHASSIS IN THE BUSINESS...

 

Well for those of you that saw my original problem post regarding the laptop and disagreement with technical support this is truly beginning to become a nightmare.

After I first decided that there was something wrong with my laptop I contacted technical support and presented the problem. The first told me he would look into it and sent me a link to windows support regarding boot issues in VISTA (after I told him it was a hardware issue).

Second guy told me it was a wake timer issue. I was very skeptical but entertained the possibility. Quickly happened again after I hung up.

3rd guy admitted it as a hardware issue stating that he had a laptop that did the exact same thing, motherboard was the problem. THANK GOD. so I got an RMA and sent it in for repairs.

Computer came back from repairs the other day after 2 weeks (Fedex even lost track of it for 3 days) and all the paper with it said was LCD error, OS reinstalled and passed all test. Guess what? IT'S STILL BROKEN!!!

I told them repeatedly that it was not a hardware issue because...

1. I have used the original OS, a manufacture partition reformat, a manufacture reformat on a new drive, and a clean install on a new drive.

2. The problem occurs when restoring from hibernate but BEFORE I see any POST screen so it's before the MB hands control over to the operating system.

I ran PRIME95 for 12 hours so I have doubts on processor or RAM problems. Graphics show no artifacts or performance problems when stress testing so I see no problems there. 2 different hard drives means no problems there. Logical conclusion is MB correct???

Any computer mechanics/repairmen help would be appreciated here, expecting a call back from a supervisor a few hours from now. So I can have more ammo please post your qualifications and suspected source of problem so that I can have more ammo. I really hope I get to talk to someone that actually knows more then me...

I freaking love this laptop other then the obvious problems that I have been having and India tech support is really killing my buzz here. It's all from the same place but at least Dell tech support listens to you when you are teaching them something.

-B&C

 

It seems that I have been converted to the u30jc.
I was originally going for the u35 or u45 but for the sake of build quality, i was drawn to the u30. The only thing that is deterring me from getting the B1 model is the 512mb Geforce G310m compared to the 1 gig GeForce G310m on the u35/45 models. Is there a big performance difference? (I am a guy that likes to have his options)

 

i heard from many people that the bottleneck on the GPU is the chip itself and not the VRAM... thats why the 512mb G210m performs about the same as the 1gb G310m... G310m is just a rebrand of the G210m

 

How do you update the firmware?

 

BlackAndChrome- I may have already asked, but how do you do the firmware update you are talking about?

 

go to asus support and download the latest bio which is 210 then flash it. theres bunch of ways.

 

Hello,
I've bought the asus u30jc couple of weeks before, the main problem for me is the performance in Skype and other communication services. Firstly i noticed that the speakers lever is very low, and you can hardly hear what your friend is telling you. And now the other thing people also say that they hardly can understand what am i saying.

Are there some ways to make work the way it should?

BR

 

I hope folks are still checking up on this thread...

I recently purchased the U30JC-B1...I love the look and feel of this Asus but I had a couple of questions.

1) Does anyone else have vibration issues with the optical drive -- when I installed a game it was vibrating quite loudly and almost shaking the whole laptop (it was sitting on a flat desk, when I pressed on the door of the drive it seemed to soften the noise quite a bit). Could this be a defective optical drive in my unit...should I consider an exchange before 30 day return policy is up?

2) I initially had trouble connecting to my wireless network at home...figured out I had too many of the wireless adapters enabled. But now it seems my U30 is interfering with my wife's MB Pro internet connection. If while she is connected using her MB when I open up my U30, her connection drops and mine struggled to connect...it appears only one of our machines can connect to the network without interference. I have tried several remedies including resetting my router and adjusting to specs. Any suggestions?

3) If I were to exchange it I would consider an upgrade to the A2B model...I would like built in bluetooth and a faster HDD. What is the biggest difference between Win 7 Home and Pro?

Thanks!

 

Update the bios. I never had any trouble with my volume but for some reason it made my mic go from static and really low to clear and very audible.

Mine is loud as well but not enough that I'm going to send it back, not enough that they would fix it for anyway, hell I still have a broken motherboard.

-B&C

 

My fan is the loudest of them all. Its like a dull roar... of cold air. I really want to fix this. Perhaps with a BIOS tweak? (if anyone cares to venture it) Im on 210

 

Anyone know where I can get the bluetooth module -if they exist- for my u30jc-a1? (didn't come with bluetooth).

 

check on eB*y. You can get a bluetooth 3.0 module + cable for around $30 shipped.

I'll be receiving a U30JC very soon.
The U35-series would have been the ideal notebook, sadly it was just too expensive at my time of purchase.
I'm curious to see the difference between i3 2.26ghz versus the C2D su7300 in real world cpu performance and battery life.

My hope is to get atleast 6 hours of real usage online.

Coming from the UL30vt-x1, i loved the size/weight/battery life w/ more than adequate performance.

what i didnt like:
---manual switching of graphics can get annoying, but with an SSD it wasnt too bad. Better than not having the option.
---lcd viewing angle, but i sit front and center all the time, so it's more of an observation than a complaint.
what i hated:
---the ultra-gloss around the keyboard/palm-rest, especially on the black version