ASUS UL30 Review

agree that these 2 will be a tough choice for me come October..

 

source

DisplayPort + adapter = HDMI/DVI. Don't know if HP will implement sound via it, but technically it is possible

 

Personal preference wise I am not so much worried about the lack of an hdmi port - more a price issue ... although the difference between the base and upgrade version cpu wise is like night and day!

I also find bluetooth handy to have at times.... I also find I like the build quality of many of the HP business models I have held in my hands. For me Asus machines have been lacking in comparison....

Another huge consideration for me is battery life, though. I am curious to see how well the probook actually performs via someone's review. The Asus seems to have done very well, and seems to be pretty sturdy, however.

 

The HP only has a 4-cell battery while the Asus has an 8-cell. I think the Asus will undoubtedly have better battery life.

 

Point to dm3 with 6-cell

 

I take that they both are the same speed, so nothing? I could be wrong on this though.

 

Intel does not acknowledge the existence of the su7800, so we'll have to wait on specs.

 

Both are 1.4GHz, 3mb l2 cache, 800mhz fsb, same price at $289 (btw the Core i7 620UM is $11 cheaper ), both introduced a year apart (SU9400 Sept 2008, SU7800 Sept 2009).

sSpec for SU7800 is SLGS5, SU9400 has SLB5V (M0), SLGHN (M0), and SLGAK (R0).

 

Not to sure but does that mean the SU9400 is a little better thought you wont even notice it?

 

All that means is that as far as I can tell, the SU7800 is a renamed SU9400.

 

Ahh ... pity.

No! No! I absolutely REFUSE to heed your devilish suggestions!

 

I think the black one looks better.

Amazon has the UL30A-X3 with 320GB drive for $726.00 Can't imagine what I would use a 500GB drie on a small laptop for anyway.

 

Yeah ... was noticing that on amazon too ... grrr ... one month away and I am already curious to see what will become available in "real time"!

I have found myself using a hp tx2 with a 320gb drive and filling it up with lots of multimedia type stuff.... Never got it filled, but I have known of some folks who could and would do so! Still ... I know what you mean.

 

Right. Seems like a marketing move. My guess is Intel may want to introduce new SU9xxx models and therefor changed the SU9400 to SU7800.

 

AsusUL30A-QX048 for 699€ in Spain with bluetooth, no info about the battery though.

 

UL30A-QX057C for ~720EUR in Poland
Might go to the store to check it's performance and if I still doesn't like black version

 

I expect it's all 5600mAh in Europe.

 

All it's missing is a navigator nub and I'd be all over it.

 

Here it does indeed.

 

SU9600 and Nvidia 9400 and I would be all over this. Or at least SU9400 o/c'd and Nvidia 9400. Better yet, put that in UL20. UL30 is really pushing the size/power ratio. You can get Sony SR4xx series with a 4570 card in pretty much same format for about $1000.

 

And 3 hour battery life. The point of these machines is not power.

 

You can get 4 hours out of SR with regular battery for internet browsing. Probably 6 or so with extended. Heck, Dell Studio 14z with it's flush 8-cell can do over 6 hours.

 

Well the Studio 14z ships with a 6 cell, has a 9400m and a larger screen, and a processor that uses more power, all which won't give it as much battery life as the UL30.

And the extended battery on the SR adds cost and weight. The only pro the GMA 4500 version SR has over this is that you get a more powerful processor, otherwise this is a better buy due to still getting a powerful enough processor, yet you get more battery life.

 

Using NBR's testing method the Dell 14z got 4 hours and 58 minutes.
Using the same testing method Asus UL30 got 9 hours and 43 minutes.

That's double.

 

I'd even probably take 14z but hey, it's US only.

 

Something tells me I would hate that touchpad. Looks nice though.

 

1366x768? Way too reminiscent of 1998 for me. No thanks!

 

say whaaat?! Anything much higher on a 13" would be way too tiny for most users.

 

I think so, too.

On 14 inches, 1600x900 is pretty sweet, and 15 inches as well. By 16 inches I'm itching for 1920x1020. 13 inches, 1366x768 sounds like it will be fine.

 

The Sony Vaio Z offers 1600x900 and the only issue I have heard was some games had problems with that rez.

 

I have a friend with that laptop and screen, thats the only reason I know its too tiny for me.

I prefer to keep an external monitor for my desk anyway for multitasking.
Away from my desk, I'm not usually multitasking that much so a resolution enough for just one window at a time is sufficient.

 

He's probably referring to 768 pixels height. It reminds him of the past when we had 1024*768 screens.

And I agree 768 height isn't very comfortable.

I'd rather have 1600*900 and slightly increase the DPI.

 

1366 x 768 is not that bad actually.

It is the max screen res on my Sony tx770p and works fine for me.

Both 1024 x 600 and 1024 x 768 are just a little too small for me personally. 1200 x 800 and 1366 x 768 work okay.

On a slightly different note, though, I saw pics for the black version of the Asus UL30 ... wow ... BEAUTIFUL!

I think I am leaning more and more towards this as my next laptop.... The Timeline seems to have been left in the dust.

If only there was an Asus model with an SSD....

 

my thoughts exactly...
too bad I'm gonna have to wait an indefinite time period for the black to be available in the US

 

Ya know nightfox91, I saw it available on eBay and the seller being in California. Also, iirc I also saw some (a little more expensive) available on eBay from someone in NYC as well. Betcha it could still be there if you are interested.

 

Funny thing that most of people here want black one and have only silver ones available and at my local forum everybody want silver one and only black ones are available

 

Mycanid, thanks for the info, I saw some on ebay like that, but I figured they made the same mistake ExcaliberPC made...maybe I'll look into it, but I'm not going to buy anything until windows 7 is preloaded on it anyway

embrion, I guess it goes to show that Asus has their markets confused

 

I have heard mention of the silver/black mixup in the Asus forum dedicated to this model ... unfortunate indeed.

I am quite tempted to wait until Windows 7 comes out as well ... but I may not be able to, as my present laptop will be going to the shipping department fairly soon. If it does I may go ahead and give it a try and chance it with eBay - I will not be utterly devastated if I "only" get a silver one. The seller I am looking at presently has two different offerings for both the 13.3" and the 15.6" models in both black AND silver and they are clearly listed as such on the web pages for each model.

So - we shall see!

Edit: Weird. I just noticed that the the UL50Ag model with black casing (smaller hard drive, 15.6" screen, built in optical drive) is available from amazon.com, but not the silver one of the same model.

If this reflects thew standard approach to marketing in the US, is Asus thinking that the black aluminum brush model will sell to more Americans in the 15.6 category and the silver ones in the 13.3 category?

 

So wait a minute, the UL30 isnt available in black in the US?

 

That's what folks seem to be saying.

Although I have seen a few resellers on eBay with black models available, a few other users on the site have purchased from eBay sellers what they thought were going to be black models and received silver ones instead.

Edit: I have come across what appears to be a black model available from a US retailer though - mwave.com

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=FO&scriteria=7703206

 

well that stinks

 

Agreed. mwave.com is located in california, though, and the linked page has further connections to phone numbers and the rest where you might be able to talk to an actual person who could tell you whether or no they actually HAVE a black 13.3" model....

 

mwave is a pretty legit place, I once went to their warehouse to order some parts, it is a huge place. Just saying if anyone is weary of them bit.

 

I'm not that far from ordering one of these. 1366x768 is just fine for me.

Being in a somewhat urgent need of a new laptop and slightly prefering 12" > 13" - does anyone know when the UL20A will be available?

And is it possible to find a list of various configurations/price of the various UL30/UL20-models somewhere?

 

Expected 22nd of October. You might want to wait anyway because it will come with Windows 7 and it saves the hassle of upgrading.

 

In the labs we have some monitors that are 1024x786 and that is a pain.

 

I really trust NBR for reviews but sometimes you may also want other reviews. here is another website that have reviewed this laptop. you may want to check it out also http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2353246,00.asp.

their editor's choice in this category beating acer's timeline series.

 

The UL20 won't be out for quite a while I imagine, I have not seen any pictures at all, not even in Asia (and they are months ahead of the US). The U20, though, is being sold at NCIX with a SU2700 for $1299 CAD if interested ( http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=41163&vpn=U20A-A1&manufacture=ASUS). The UL30 is a much better deal though.

In terms of configurations, the UL30 so far comes with either the SU3500 or the SU7300, and either a 500GB or 320GB hard drive. So far no models in North America come with BT or Intel's Wifilink 5100.

 

Just wondering if anyone can give me an idea on the quality of the touchpad. I have had a bad experience with dimpled touchpads in the past so this is a big issue for me, although that might have been a problem with the drivers and not the hardware itself.

I am currently torn between buying this or the Acer 3810T with SU9400. I am aware that the Acer has the superior Synaptics touchpad, a better webcam, faster processor, and is 0.4lbs lighter. However, where I live the Asus is $80 cheaper, has 4GB of RAM vs Acer's 3GB, 500GB HDD vs 320GB. and greater battery life.

I know that Acer has 3810T models with 4GB RAM and 500GB harddrive but it's not available here.

 

Doesn't the U20 come with an optical drive? And I thought I read it also can be optioned up with a dual core cpu. That said if I was looking at the U20, I would look at the N20 also as it has the same gpu, but its paired with either the intel P or T line cpu, in what I think is a bit uglier case.