ASUS UL30VT

[zach538467]

So is anybody else stoked for this laptop or am I the only one? I'm thinking this may have to be my Christmas present to myself . I've been looking at netbooks for awhile, but I like the idea of 12 hour battery and a discrete switchable card. It's supposed to be out Dec. 5th. May be old news for you guys, I did a search and didn't find anything though.

http://www.amazon.com/UL30Vt-X1-13-3-Inch-Laptop-Windows-Premium/dp/B002XZLURC/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258821657&sr=8-6

 

[buwish]

Looks like a nice laptop, especially if it suits your needs. Just get your mouse clicker finger ready to order it when it comes out! You never know, it may go fast.

 

[zach538467]

W00t. Preordered it Monday, shipped Tuesday, should be here by Saturday or Monday! I can throw up some impressions/comparo's when I get it if anybody is interested. I am excite!

 

[mrmark27]

interesting. let us know how it performs, could be an intriguing option.

 

[zach538467]

I will. I'm hoping the turbo33 doesn't make it run too hot, but I doubt it will. I have seen others getting fairly good performance with the UL80VT, but this size is much better for me. I'm pretty skeptical of 12 hours, but as long it is 7 or so I'll be happy.

 

[zach538467]

Well, finally got it in today! I will post more hopefully tomorrow, but so far I love it! Screen is very nice, keyboard rocks. Pretty snappy for the money!

 

[raykinstl]

Yea, I want to hear all your impressions. I've been looking at the Dell Vostro v13, which is very similar. I like the dual graphic options the ASUS has and the backlit keyboard looks really nice as well. Those two things may persuade me to go with the ASUS instead. I really want to hear your thoughts on the form factor, aesthetics, build quality, touch pad, and screen quality. Please post when you have a good idea of what you like and dont like. I definitely want to hear the good AND the bad! My biggest concern is the hard drive. I feel like I would almost have to spring for a SSD after getting the machine. I just feel like a 5400 RPM drive isn't going to cut it when I am used to running a raptor drive at home on my desktop machine. I look forward to hearing all your thoughts!

 

[zach538467]

Ok, so far I love it. There are definitely some drawbacks, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. The size is great, very thin and very very light. The finish is definitely the worlds biggest fingerprint magnet though, the top and the inside. Heat wise it stays really cool. The ASUS utilities to switch GPUs and overclocking are a little weird at first but you get used to them. Speakers are decent, pretty good for a laptop. The screen is good I think. Many people are complaining saying the colors are washed out and the viewing angles are low. Well, on mine, the colors look really good, and the viewing angles are low, but no more than any other laptop that doesn't cost a couple grand. The wireless works great too. Some have complained about the hard drive making noise, but maybe they are just noobs who have never heard a hard drive. It does not have a back-lit keyboard. No problems with creaking or weird things like that. As far as hard drive speed, it seems good to me, and my main machine is pretty beefy, with a spintpoint f3. Battery life seems pretty titan so far, I played with it all day at work, transferring files from an external and playing mp3's. Any other questions let me know.

 

[stuntinbaron]

What is the speed like on day-to-day tasks (word, excel, websurfing, iTunes(or whatever you use)? Is it good for multitasking or is it more one or two programs and then its slows down a ton? Im really interested in getting this computer. Thanks!

 

[zach538467]

I don't heavily multi task a lot really, more or less just web surf and listen to music. It is snappy though. I am used to an i7 in my desktop, and it doesn't feel unbearably slow at all. It is of course slower in certain things, but overall I love it still.

 

[stuntinbaron]

How's the build quality? Does it feel flexy at all? Do you feel as though any parts will wear out? Thanks!

 

[zach538467]

There is one creaky spot just to the right of the trackpad, but other than that no flex. It is very well put together, it feels much sturdier than my last laptop which was a 2004 macbook 12".

 

[stuntinbaron]

Oh nice! I have the 12' Powerbook too, the Asus must be a tank then. Thanks, too bad the Asus is out of stock on Amazon.

 

[zach538467]

Yeah good luck getting one The A1 should be coming out soon, silver with the higher capacity battery. Silver should get rid of some of the finger print problem. Although I don't know if they have a price for it yet or not.

 

[zach538467]

Best answer selected by zach538467.

 

[t0lkman]

Does anyone tried linux on this laptop?

I can't install nvidia drivers on ubuntu ;[

 

[dwellman]

Does anyone tried linux on this laptop?

I can't install nvidia drivers on ubuntu ;[

you ran nvidia-xconfig. . what's your xorg.conf?

The problem isn't, I think, support for the 210, but rather the hybrid Intel / NVIDIA graphics that's confusing X. Is the information on this page helpful?

Also reports are Ubuntu is getting fairly egregious battery life with this machine.

 

[t0lkman]

ubuntu even doesn't have xorg.conf, it's optional there
but anyway as far as I understand the problem is in linux kernel, it's still doesn't support hybrid video cards

 

[dwellman]

Nvidias reference drives don't either. Only optimus on this notebook and one other model, I forget which.