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Rating

As other customers commented, this is a very nice laptop, I would give it 5 Stars if its HDMI port worked. Amazon did excellent job on very quick shipping. The first shipment delivered on the next day. I tested everything, it worked very well except HDMI Port: the HDMI Port didn’t work on my home 46″ Sharp LCD TV. Then I tested HDMI on two monitors in my office (while other laptop with HDMI works well), it didn’t work either. I called Asus tech support, they couldn’t get it work either. They issued me RMA and need to repair it. I didn’t want a brand-new laptop to be repaired, so I returned it to Amazon and got a replacement the next day – Again, Amazon did excellent job and this is why I always shop on Amazon as my first electronic supplier.

Guess what, the HDMI Port on the new replacement laptop again doesn’t work on my home TV and on monitors in my office while a HP laptop with HDMI Port works very well. I don’t want to return it to Amazon again because I should leave some profits to Amazon. I guess either I have bad luck on this Asus laptop or such Asus model laptops have the same problem.

Fortunately, I am not going to use its HDMI Port anyway because its resolution is low. I got a media player supporting 1080p for my home TV and Projector. While in office, I don’t need HDMI Port at all. Therefore, I don’t really care about its HDMI Port because it is still a good laptop without working HDMI Port for its price.

If you do need to use HDMI Port, you need to test it immediately when it is delivered to you. I wish this would help you to get max value from your purchase!

****** Additional Comments:

Hello to all Asus fans:

Good news is that I finally got the HDMI port work on my replacement laptop. Here is the trick: Install all Windows Updates, reboot the laptop, connect to LCD TV or monitor with a HDMI cable, wait for a short moment, if the “Plug N Play” doesn’t work for you (it doesn’t work for me), press and hold down “Windows” key (the key between Fn Key and Alt Key and press X key, that is, Windows Key + X Key combination, Windows Mobility Center window will pop up, if you still cannot see any External Display shows there, click Connect Display buttom, it will find the connected LCD TV or monitor.

I wish the above trick could help those who have HDMI port issues.

Now my Asus UL30Vt deserves 5 Stars!!

Rating

I am told I over analyze purchases and must say I have been watching laptops for a couple of years. My goals were lightweight and portable but not so small I could not read the screen and LONG battery time. After all it is a portable! I tried a 15.6 but what a moose! A 14″ seemed just right but the chassis was bigger and heavier. I was afraid of a 13.3 but then it dawned on me that is was the same resolution as the 14 and only .7″ smaller, not a full inch. I went from store to store lining a 14′s up next to a 13.3′s and I really could not tell the difference! Listen my fellow middle agers,I have exceptionally poor eyesight so if it worked for me it will for you! (no offense to my eye Surgeon, Dr. Barry Lee, he did a great job with what I gave him to work with!).

I have a powerful desktop so I did not need a desktop replacement class Laptop. I also can’t stand a slow poke so a netbook was out and so was a celeron. The T6600 CPUS are the sweet spot for price and value and they are plenty snappy but they are power hungry (compared to the SU’s). The SU7300 was just the ticket. Yes, I got the TURBO 33 VT version but I don’t think that matters at all. I wanted it for bragging rights only. Same goes for the separate GPU, I want to hedge my bets in case I do some vector art editing. I am NOT a gamer.

I wrestled with the lack of a DVD drive but hey you can download ANYTHING, DVD drives are really on the way out, don’t sweat it!It’s worth the size and weight savings. The keyboard is REALLY GREAT, I am not a touch typist and the keys have nice spacing and definition. (I would have paid BIG money for a back lit keyboard but that just narrows the field TOO MUCH. Touchpad is fine also but I live with my Logitech NANO V450 mouse anyway.

The battery life is the real deal and that sold me on this unit. I am coming up on 4 hrs with wifi, bright screen, remote desktop, iTunes, 2 browsers and only down 25% on the battery. Seriously! I charge it and leave without the power cord. I really wanted the silver cover after seeing a black one in person it really showed finger prints. Silver is GREAT!

Another thing I like about the VT version is a little bit faster DRAM and Bus, I don’t believe anyone could tell a difference but it makes me feel like I have the latest and greatest and am hedging my bets regarding being outdated sooner then later. If you need to save a few dollars, don’t worry about it!

There are no compromises here and if you don’t know ASUS, they have been around FOREVER and have been an OEM supplier since, like FOREVER! Don’t get hung up on the big name companies, it means nothing! The ONLY complaint is the lack of documentation. I got NOTHING to help me figure out the VT features like discrete graphics switching or the Turbo boost (That’s the over clocking feature. It steps the CPU up 33% This is VERY unnecessary, I can not come close to pushing this thing in standard mode.) I suspect most will never adjust these features anyway but HEY ASUS, are you listening? Send me a manual, pdf is fine! If its on here somewhere then you made it too hard to find!

Rating

I like everything about this computer except the touchpad. The size, weight, screen, speed – everything adds up to an ideal blend of portability and power. BUT, the touchpad and its software are the worst I have ever used. For some reason, the manufacturer doesn’t allow you to adjust general sensitivity, only palm-brush sensitivity. As a result, the best I can achieve is something that isn’t too sensitive to my wrists resting on the wrist rest but that takes some effort to get a positive click. Paradoxically, it is prone to inadvertent dragging. I’m giving it three stars because I like everything else so much. Be warned though, you’ll need to be patient learning how not to trigger erratic touchpad motions.

Rating

This is easily the best laptop I’ve ever purchased. It is everything it advertises itself to be from the insane battery life (between 10.5 and 11 hrs on my first charge), stylishly thin and featherweight design (~3.8 lbs), beautiful dead-pixel-free LCD, to what is the best “chicklet” style keyboard I’ve ever typed on. This product is extremely configurable and is easily tailored on the fly to your power consumption/usage needs. It boots into Windows crazy fast (with FastBoot) and provides nice utilities for pruning out the garbage. It is not pre-fab’d with lots of bloatware and spam as typical with the major PC vendors which made me exceedingly happy (first laptop whose lifetime didn’t begin with format c: /s).

The mousepad can take some getting use to at first as the surface is simply dimpled and not depressed into the palm rest. But after a day or two, I was hooked on this new design (it is worth spending a little time with the touchpad driver configuration as the touch pad sensitivities are marginal out of the box). My harddisk was a 5400 RPM Seagate drive which exhibited an audible “clicking” noise when the drive spun up. This was my only point of irritation. I called ASUS and they immediately replaced it with the WD Scorpio Blue WhisperDrive and it’s quiet as a stealth bomber. I believe this is what they are shipping standard on this unit now, but ask the reseller to verify the drive (insist on the newer WD).

My customer service experience with ASUS support was top-shelf and given by knowledgeable support staff who genuinely seemed to care that I was happy with my purchase. They treated me with intelligence and did not farm me off to some third-world call center with people reading from a script. I could not say the same for this laptop’s predecessor, HP. Best of all, the warranty (which includes accidental damage protection) comes standard. No additional contracts are necessary.

I’ve owned Sony’s, Dell’s, HP’s, and Micron laptops prior to this. This machine has earned ASUS my loyalty. I will definitely buy again. I would strongly suggest others end their search now and buy this laptop while it’s still around.

Rating

The laptop seems good works good.

But somehow when i use there is always faint burning smell which is stronger near fan exhaust.

The smell is there both on power and battery.

The other thing is that when it is on power, you can touch and feel current in almunium case, which is not there when it is powered on battery.

Don’t know if its some sort of internal short circuit.

I have stopped using it, lets see what asus can do about it.

Rating

I’ve been using laptops for the past 15 years. While the Asus UL80vt-A1 is sleek and stylish, the mouse and touchpad is the worst I’ve ever used. HONEST! The left and right mouse buttons take a very strong thumb to press and click… to the point where it feels like I’m going to break the button. I’ve never seen a touchpad like this and it just doesn’t work. To use the keyboard and mouse together, you actually have to stop typing and concentrate just on using the touchpad. They should work harmoniously together.

Plus, when I received the computer, the battery didn’t hold a charge. When I called Asus customer support, they were friendly, but the only option I had was to ship the computer to them, have them determine and fix the problem, and then send it back. Sorry… but I rely on my computer for work and just can’t live without a computer for a week or more while they figure things out. I also asked them if they would ship me a new laptop and I would return the “1-day old” defective laptop I received… but that wasn’t an option.

All I can say is… I’m glad I bought this through Amazon because of their amazing customer support and return policy. They gave me the option to get my money back OR order a replacement laptop. Due to the terrible touchpad, I opted for a refund! Their return shipping options are the best too and don’t make you do all the work. Thank you Amazon for supporting your customers!

Rating

The UL30VT is a stellar machine…especially with an OCZ Vertex SSD.

The ONLY issue I have with this machine is the touchpad. As a Mac user, I’ve become spolied by the fantastic touchpads Macbooks use. With that said, I find the touchpad response to be jerky and inconsistent. I am disappointed that multitouch and design was chosen over quality singletouch and function. I find the multitouch functions to be useless because of the inaccuracy of the touchpad. I also don’t think the surface itself is practical for a touchpad, as it is so glossy that you have to use more effort than usual to glide your finger around.

It suprises me that I haven’t seen more talk about this…

Apart from that, a great machine…almost perfect.

Rating

The bad

- Track pad is truly horrible, there are two different drivers for the unit, and results vary. The track pad will loose where my finger is even if I stay within the dimpled area. This could be due to a scroll section built in but it’s annoying. Using the track pad regularly eventually results in highlighted text, unintended of course. Track pad placement is not centered on the keyboard layout; it’s centered on the chassis. When resting my palms to type the right thumb will hit the track pad making the cursor do unpredictable things.

I spent two hours trying to ‘get used’ to this broken horrible hardware implementation. Eventually I was wondering if my hand eye coordination was to blame so I ended up doing my own `controlled’ experiments and still witnessed the cursor do odd things. I couldn’t take it any longer and plugged in a Logitech Bluetooth mouse. To my dismay, unlike my 2.5-year-old Asus M50 laptop this one didn’t shut off the track pad automatically when a mouse was plugged in. I had to find that setting and change it myself by going into Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > ELAN (tab) and check the box “Disable when external USB mouse plug in”. Now the track pad will disable when another pointer is detected.

Asus user forums suggest that this is a driver issue and the track pad can be fixed with this work around: Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager > Mice and Other Pointing Devices right click and select Properties then press the button > Update Driver > Browse my computer for driver software > Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer > Select “Standard PS/2 Port Mouse” from the list and click Next. The track pad worked much better, but the placement of the pad isn’t optimal and I still hit it with my right thumb causing loss of cursor placement when typing fast.

ELAN hardware driver is a major failure in my opinion. The work around is to use a generic device driver until they get their act together. Also the physical location of the track pad is a failure on the design team. Removing one point for this bad implementation.

- The Nvidia G210M is no longer supported. I purchased a new laptop with a graphics chip that’s not only obsolete, but retired. Drivers from Nvidia’s site will NOT work to update this chip. Drivers from Asus own web site are out of date when compared with the latest WHQL driver release for the G210M chip. There is no fix for this issue. Asus will have to work to release specialized functional drivers, the likelihood of that is low. Removing half a point for this issue.

The Good:

- Served the purpose I purchased this device for. I wanted to build an HTPC (Home Theater PC), but it was going to cost just as much as this laptop for one self-built `set-top’ device. Instead of needing a device at every TV now I have this slick laptop I can plug in via HDMI to any of my HDTVs. I run SnapStream BeyondTV Link to connect to my BeyondTV server in my house. I plug in an HDMI cable from my UL30VT to any of my flat screen TVs and it’s like having a mobile TIVO unit. High definition video even works wirelessly, something that is mostly due to SnapStream’s software, but also due to the robust processing power of this mighty little laptop.

- SILENCE! This laptop is quieter than any HTPC I’ve ever heard, built, or read about and it’s the quietest laptop with discrete graphics I’ve ever used. Even water-cooled PCs are going to be louder than the UL30Vt. The only way I can imagine a more silent unit would require 100% passively cooled system with a solid state hard drive.

- Lightweight and compact. There was some internet chatter about the top cover being specially treated plastic; as far as I can tell it is not plastic. The cover is metal, likely aluminum but I’m not testing the alloy to find out the molecular composition. The cover looks slick and professional. It sucks up fingerprints like crazy and getting them out will require cleaner. The laptop is very light and easily held. However the screen flexes a bit too much for my tastes. There’s no way to lock the lid closed. Not a huge issue for me, but might be for some.

- The screen is nice but the color reproduction isn’t very accurate. Response time is more than enough for games and video viewing. The brightness should be turned down from 100% unless you are using it in direct sunlight. Off axis viewing is horrible. Don’t try and huddle around this screen with more than 2 people. The LED screen uses very little power, so that’s the trade off.

- After installing the high definition sound drivers from Windows Update, under optional updates, I was able to get sound via the HDMI cable. To do this the laptop must be in video output mode to only output video via HDMI. If the laptop screen is being used at all the audio device for the laptop speakers will be used and sound will come through those instead of the HDMI-connected screen.

- Keyboard is great. I didn’t think I’d like this style keyboard but the key action is plenty for a good tactile response and the layout is close enough to a standard keyboard that the only key I’ve flubbed is `delete’.

- Speakers are much better than expected. There’s no way to get super lows out of laptop speakers, but these are very clear and not horribly tinny. This is a huge feat to do in such a small form factor. The speakers fire out the angled front underside of the hand rest area. Sound will get muffled if you have the device on a soft surface or your lap, but bounce very well off a desk or table.

- Power consumption is wonderful so far. I’ll have to report back on how much high definition viewing I can get on a full battery charge at a later time. If the battery power meter is an accurate indication it would appear that I might be able to get 3 hours of viewing via HDMI from a full charge.

The Odd:

- Partition D: is senseless. Why not just one large partition? I changed that with Windows 7 Disk Management easily enough, but still kind of annoying to have one 116 GB partition and one 335 GB partition.

- There is a 14.65 GB recovery section on the hard drive that could only be recovered if the entire drive was formatted and an operating system was loaded from scratch. The included restore disc will NOT work for that purpose it’s not a full Windows 7 disc, so the user would have to buy another copy of Windows 7. If you do reclaim this ~15 GB of space the recovery feature won’t work on your unit ever again.

- There’s a lot of bloatware to uninstall. This is sadly normal for most pre-configured computers these days. Trend Micro was one of the first nag-ware items to be removed, stop the service from the taskbar and shut down the app from there too, then run the uninstall. Unless you want the games from Oberon Media uninstall anything from that publisher. After uninstalling all the games from Oberon, go and delete the folder that’s still at C:/ Program Files (x86) / Oberon Media. There are a lot of things in the taskbar, I’ll have to figure out what they’re all doing and remove some of them.

- Built in camera provides a laughable resolution. I didn’t even know they made cameras at 0.3 Megapixels still. I think maybe these were repurposed from used cell phones

- Battery life isn’t accurate. Like many other laptop manufacturers the battery life claims are blown WAY out of proportion. Using the UL30VT to surf the web, do some email, and a bit of web code will result in about 5 hours of continuous use at the maximum. There is no way I can see how anyone would get 10 hours or more out of this device unless it’s just in standby mode.

Conclusion:

The laptop serves the purpose I got it for. It is an HTPC in a multifunctional attractive shell. As a huge bonus it’s so portable I can bring it to work every day. It plays some games fine enough.

The switching graphics turned out to be a double-edged sword. It allows a fantastic power savings but the implementation is so specialized that there may not be a graphics driver update available for the entire UL##Vt line. That realization was very disappointing.

Price point is perhaps a bit high but I’m satisfied overall with the purchase. I would recommend this device to others looking for a portable yet reasonably powerful laptop.

I’d probably give this 3.5 stars if I could but I’ll rate it at a 4. Just make sure you factor in a mouse with this purchase and that you’re ok never being able to update your video drivers.

Rating

The UL30vt-X1 is the best “bang for the buck” laptop available right now. I did a ton of research before purchasing and believe me, if you’re looking for the best available thin, light and powerful notebook look no further. There are other ultra portables with similar specs but none offer the flexibility of switchable graphics and great gobs of battery life (6-8 hrs. with higher performance settings). Among the negatives are the screen with its limited viewing angle and a fingerprint-prone chassis. To me, these cons are minor so I’ll still rate it 5 stars. I actually purchased the 5600 mAh battery (ASUS 8-Cell Laptop Battery for UL30, UL80, and UL50) and will use it as the primary battery. I’ll use the included 4400 mAh for a spare. Later on this year ASUS plans to release the UL30jt which is basically the same chassis but with an Intel i5 or i7 processor and 1 gigabyte Geforce 310M switchable graphics for about $999. But the release date is still uncertain. However, if you keep waiting for the next latest-and-greatest you never buy a laptop as something new is coming out every six months or so.

RE: Battery life:

After reading a few posts about the battery life I’m concerned that people are spreading myths about Lithium Ion batteries. Some have said that if you feel your not getting the full battery capacity out of your notebook’s battery pack that you should let it discharge fully and charge it fully and repeat this process over several days. This is called “cycling”. Lithium Ion batteries (unlike Nickel Metal Hydride batteries) DO NOT NEED TO BE CONDITIONED OR CYCLED THROUGH CHARGING AND DISCHARGING. Because of the nature of the chemistry, a Lithium Ion battery’s capacity is available immediately and cannot be improved by cycling. Most Lithium Ion battery packs contain “smart circuitry” to prevent over-charging and excessive discharging. However, in some cases the cycling may improve the smart circuitry’s estimation of full and low levels only. The only thing you can do to make your battery last as long as the manufacturer’s stated figure is to run EVERYTHING at low settings. This particular model (UL30VT-X1) comes with the 8-cell 4400 mAh battery. If you need more then you can purchase the bigger battery from Amazon (it’s rated at 5600 mAh). Or, for an even better deal wait and hope for the UL30VT-A1 to come back in stock (this model comes with the high capacity battery for only $50 more). Cycling is only effective for older chemistries such as Nickel Cadmium and Nickel Metal Hydride. Most Lithium Ion packs can be charged and discharged 300-500 times depending on the quality of the battery.

Rating

great deal super light fast as hell and battery goes for 6hrs with graphics card on you cant beat it.

ended up buying a ul30a for the wife and she loves it too.

Rating

had it for a day and then harddrive went bad, would of given 5 stars, but defects will lower customer approval from manufacturer, not to mention it’s taking forever to get an replacement via amazon!!!

Rating

I love this laptop. My first Asus, and maybe not my last. Very solid build with great features and a good price.

Features: 5/5

I wanted a Core2Duo processor and DDR3 RAM, and I got that. As an added bonus, I have a discrete graphics processor that doesn’t add bulk, and can be bypassed for energy saving. I’ve seen 10 hours of battery life, although I think 8 hours would be average use for me. I ordered the 5600mah battery so the rated battery life should jump to 16 hours from the 12 hours listed here. The stock battery is 4400mah. The battery life clinches the perfect score here.

Build Quality: 4.5/5

VERY solid build. It feels as solid as the Macbook unibody. A very solid hinge with a very nice keyboard. It is a great size and gives nice tactile feedback. The trackpad is garbage, and very inaccurate. Likewise, the mouse button is one of those cheap unibrow buttons.

Conclusion: 4.5/5

A great, great product. I was interested in getting a netbook at first, then I waited for the Ion notebooks to come out. Just before jumping on one of those, Asus announced this and I am in awe. It is lightweight with phenomenal battery life. The 13.3″ is a great compromise size. I went from a 15″ Dell to a 14″ Gateway, and this 13.3″ is a great size for the footprint. There’s actually space for a 14″ screen on this bezel, but it would push the weight over 4lbs for sure. For the $800 I paid, this is an amazing laptop.

UPDATE: Giving it a 5/5. Read the comment about the trackpad. It’s a driver issue that has a fix that keeps multitouch gestures intact while remedying the jerky trackpad. This laptop is perfect now.

Negatives:

The trackpad is my only complaint, but it’s a big one. The dimpled surface with no borders makes it hard to use the pad without looking down to make sure you’re finger is on it. A simple raised outline would have helped tremendously. Besides that, it seems like the dimples make the pad inaccurate as the cursor jumps all over the place. Making precise clicks with this is a chore. It might be a deal-breaker for some if they never fix it with driver updates. I’m patient with it since all the other features are amazing. I just don’t understand how something like that slipped though QA.

Still, it’s clearly not enough for me to dock it too many points. I don’t think there’s a better 13.3″ laptop on the market right now. That’s not hyperbole. Battery life is paramount to me, and this has it in spades. The weight is also a huge improvement for me, at just under 4lbs. I can carry this all day. The features are amazing. I’m gonna drop in an SSD and 8GB of RAM to go with the bigger battery, then this will be a real beast of a notebook. Good job, Asus.

Rating

I love my new laptop! I was concerned about the comments regarding the angle of viewing on the screen, but I did not notice anything unusually bad about it. Just tilt, baby, tilt. Also, the issues related to “fingerprints” are over stated, IMHO, as well. Computer is incredibly lightweight and handy — but I am coming from a Sony Viao with the attached “brick.” Everything in the box; and it performed flawlessly. Very pleased with the quality and price.

Rating

[I have lowered the review to 4 stars due to the lack of a true installer for Windows 7. This means that I am unable to use the Windows 7 Recovery Media since one of the files on the my Drivers & Utility CD seems to be corrupt. The recovery media requires the Utility CD, forcing me to abort the reinstall of the OS in a bad state. If I didn't have an unused upgrade license to Win 7 Professional, my machine would have been left in limbo

If the Driver CD works, I imagine it is a very simple process to restore the OS.

Still a very nice machine. It is unlikely that many of the Driver CDs will have the same problem, so this likely won't affect many. Nevertheless, there would have been an easy workaround if there were a real Win 7 installer disk.]

My UL30Vt-X1 arrived on Friday, December 4. I have used it quite a bit since then. I give it 5 stars because it delivers a lot for the price in a nice package.

My wireless has been great. I know some were concerned about this. I have had no problems whatsoever. The screen looks good, though the viewing angle vertically is extremely small.

There is less 3rd party software on the laptop than came with my HP and Dell laptops, which is a good thing. Most of what comes preinstalled are ASUS utilities. These utilities tend to have no documentation. I Googled some to find out what they were. I went ahead and registered the Trend Micro antivirus that came with it and will use that for the free 60 days before installing Avast.

I like the Fastboot utility. It allows you to manage what starts immediately at startup for quicker booting. I assume that everything still starts up eventually, but some are delayed to allow you to get control of the OS first.

It is light and feels good when I carry it. It stays cool on my lap. The speakers also do a good job compared to what I expected. I haven’t carried it around outside yet, so I can’t yet vouch for its ultraportable-ness.

I’m still trying to figure out the implications of the warranty card. It says that you get another year of the accident warranty if you submit the card within 60 days. Does this mean my warranty for hardware failure would end in a year, but if hardware fails and then I decide you pour water on the machine, I could then get warranty coverage during the second year?

The video mode button is very convenient. Turning the turbo on and off is not as easily done. It requires going into an applet and clicking on a button (and then rebooting). I would like to see a one click method of overclocking (though rebooting would still be required). Perhaps something in the system tray could offer this.

I was sad when I found out that only black would be available for the UL30Vt at first. I thought the silver version had an incredible profile and black is so business world. The machine looks quite nice, but is a bit drab. The blue function labels on the keyboard help some, as does the subtle speckles in the palm rest. Finger prints are as bad as you can imagine.

I am not yet comfortable with the keyboard. I feel I have to hammer the keys to get them to register at times. Especially the space bar. The spacing is good — I have had no problems touch typing, apart from the 40 unregistered space bar hits in this review. Regarding key placement, my only complaint is that it is not easy to increase the volume with one hand due to the distance between the F12/volume increase button and the Fn key that needs to be pressed with it. My hand spans that distance uncomfortably.

The tracking device is a mixed bag. The stickiness is good for letting you know your finger is in the correct location, but it takes practice to get two finger scrolling down pat. I am improving, but it still can be a chore. I modified my 2 and 3 finger clicks to be right click and maximize respectively. I was disappointed that the maximize would only maximize. Doing it for a maximized window would not un-maximize it. Hopefully a driver upgrade could fix that if I complain to the maker. I do not like the trackpad button. It seems a blatant example of compromising function for form. Even that doesn’t work well as it has a gift for collecting fingerprints that look even worse then the fingerprints on the chassis. I find myself wiping down the palm rest and mouse pad a lot, but it does look nice wiped down.

I haven’t had a chance to test the battery because I have been indexing around 230GB of PDFs that I copied to my hard disk and want to get that done as soon as possible.

This grade may be inflated because of how much I hate my most recent portable laptop before this from HP.

Rating

Adding the following on December 12: I decided to purchase an Intel 80 gigabyte X25 SSD Drive.

Removing the original hard drive and inserting the SSD was a breeze.

Asus includes a DVD with an image of the hard drive for restoration purposes. I hooked up a USB DVD drive. Pressed Escape after powering up and the BIOS instantly recognized my DVD drive and allowed me to boot to the DVD.

Sadly, the recovery process to the SSD stopped at 28%. I tried it multiple times from all 3 USB ports. I am guessing the Recovery DVD is flawed. So, I had no choice but to do a clean install using a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Retail DVD. (I had one with a 3-license deal that a family member purchased.)

The installation was blazing fast on the SSD.

I then used the Driver CD Asus includes to install all the drivers.

Let me tell you, the SSD is fabulous. The computer boots up so fast. Shuts down fast. Runs fast. (Please know that I upgraded the SSD’s firmware immediately prior to the install. The firmware restores Windows 7 Trim support to the SSD.)

I paid $250 total for the SSD. I am very happy I made the drive switch.

The original 500 GB hard drive was fine. But I had a little extra $$ and always wanted to try an SSD. Seriously, the wake up from sleep mode and boot up truly rocks.

It is now time for my original ASUS UL30VT-X1 review.

I hope to address what most people would want to know.

Speakers: Surprisingly good sound. Volume is loud. Better than most small laptops. I think you will be happy with the sound. I am.

Touchpad: Asus, what were you thinking? Why try to be different if the difference won’t be better? While the Touchpad is usable and in time I suspect most will get used to it, I myself dislike it a lot. I dislike it so much I just had to attach an external mouse. After I put in a Logitech mouse with the tiny transmitter I was so much happier. I don’t like the feel of the Touchpad. It has these tiny dots. You truly feel the dots. It feels odd under my finger. I really hate it. The multi-finger gesture thing just doesn’t work well. Just not smooth. The glidepad is also just not smooth. I don’t like the feel at all. In my opinion, there will be many like me who just don’t like the Touchpad. And if you don’t mind either a bluetooth or standard wireless mouse, you will easily choose to go that route like I did.

I am upset at Asus for this stupid Touchpad design. So unnecessary. Not upset enough for me to return the laptop. (Again, I’ll just mostly use a mouse.)

The screen: If on battery and using the “save battery video mode,” the brightness of the screen changes greatly. This lack of brightness really bothered me, so I will almost always use the enhanced graphics mode. (Thanks for the comments about how one can increase the screen brightness while in power save mode. I knew that and tried that, but for some reason on my unit the brightness will not increase. Maybe I got a lemon on that respect alone?)

The quality of the screen is fine. No disappointment here. I like the screen. Very clear and a nice positive. The 13″ screen is a good size.

Battery: Started it on a full charge. Ran just Internet and email (nothing else) on WiFi connection. I got 5 hours. Better than most laptops. Yes, I know I’d get better battery life if I ran it with the decreased screen brightness on the power-save video card. But again, the lack of brightness bothered my eyes.

When you first boot up the laptop out of the box, be patient. Might take 20 minutes till first full boot.

I spent a lot of time uninstalling the crapware. Why do they think I want their lame games? They also put in a trial antivirus and trial Office 2007 with SQL Server. There is also a ton of Asus system software.

My laptop unit weighs a smidge under 4 pounds…basically it is 4 pounds. It’s light, but if you have it resting bare on your legs for hours you are going to feel a bit uncomfortable from the 4 pounds. On the positive, after hours on my bare legs, the unit never got too warm. Temp was nice.

I wish the laptop weighed 3 pounds or less, but the 4 pounds total is not a deal-breaker. I make this particular comment because Asus calls it “Thin and light.” It’s thin. And I guess it’s light compared to a full-size laptop. But when I think “light” for a laptop I think 2 to 3 pounds…not 4 pounds. (I agree with the comments that this laptop is not really heavy. I didn’t mean to make it sound like it is heavy.)

The laptop boots up fast. Runs as fast as you’d expect from the specs…and I am happy with the speed.

Body: Fingerprint and body oils magnet. Again, Asus, what were you thinking? Just plain dumb. The black looks nice, but your prints will be all over the thing.

Keyboard is fine. Most will be OK with the keyboard. I like it.

Value: You know the price on this model will drop to $500 in 2010. If it was $500, I’d be more forgiving on its Touchpad fiasco. But for $800, I have to reduce stars because it was so unnecessary, as was the decision to make it a fingerprint magnet. Stars off for that too. Again, some won’t mind the Touchpad as much, but a lot will agree with me.

I am also reducing it 1/2 star because of the crapware and the fact they call it “light” when it weighs 4 pounds. How about “Thin and comparatively light”? (OK, commenters. Go ahead and tell me I just shouldn’t keep it on my lap for so many hours straight. I know.)

I am keeping this laptop. It’s a great start by Asus. But if they released a similar model that corrected some of the disappointments, I’d sell it in a second and buy the newer model. If one is not in need of a new laptop now, maybe wait until Asus gets the next model right(redesigned touchpad, no-fingerprint magnet body, maybe a pound lighter but not necessarily).

Rating

I got to use this laptop for a few days and it’s brought me dangerously close to buying one for myself. If you are looking for a thin-and-light notebook with great battery life and a little gaming life under the hood this is (in my opinion) the best choice on the market today. What sets this notebook apart is two things:

1. At the push of a button you can switch from a low power Intel 4500HD graphics processor to a higher power NVidia G210M with 512MB DDR3 RAM (this defaults on when plugged in and defaults off when unplugged).

2. At the push of a button you can enable the “Turbo 33″ mode which uses a mix of hardware (such as overclocking the cpu) and software to boost performance by up to 33%. I ran some basic benchmarks and it seemed to work pretty well.

CPU – The 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor 3MB Cache 800MHz FSB is a great fit. Some of the thin-and-lights in this class ship with either a Core Solo (i.e. single core) or Celeron CPU. I tend to avoid both because the single core CPUs tend to choke on all the Internet Security software you need these days and the Celerons come with cut-down cache and now power saving modes.

RAM – The included 4GB of DDR3 is just the right amount to really start taking advantage of a 64 bit O.S. I also like that Asus used DDR3 which uses less power than DDR2.

HDD – It comes with a 500GB hard disk drive which is more than most users need today. The 5400RPM speed is slower than the 7200RPM drive you will find on some models but I prefer the reliability and power savings that come with a 5400RPM drive.

DISPLAY – The 13.3 inch widescreen is glossy and reasonably bright. Outdoor use will suffer from some glare but the backlit screen helps. I found the vertical viewing angles are a little tight but it wasn’t a big deal.

GRAPHICS – As mentioned above it switches between a low power Intel 4500HD graphics chip on the motherboard (fine for most non-gaming tasks) and a more power hungry NVidia G210M that will actually let you do a some 3D gaming (though newer games will still run best at reduced settings). This simple and clever innovation really sets Asus apart. Oh and either chipset can do 1080P HD video.

Battery – It’s rare to get a battery this good in a notebook this thin: 8 cell 5600mAh. I couldn’t get the claimed 12 hours of battery life but I got very close (doing a normal mix of MS Office tasks and web browsing I got just shy of 11 hours). Even doing very compute intensive tasks like gaming or playing back video I went over 6 hours. Most notebooks can’t run Word that long.

Touchpad – At first I hated the touchpad but as I got used to it I really liked it. It two-finger scrolling and three-finger right click which may trip you up at first but after a few days you won’t want to go back.

It comes with most of the usual stuff: HDMI port (for an external monitor or compatible TV), Ethernet port, wireless b/g/n, 3 USB ports, headphone jack, microphone jack, and a vga (for an external monitor). It does lack any kind of optical drive, so no playing CDs or DVDs without an external drive. For this you would need the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop. It’s a “thin-and-light” which as you would guess means it is thin (1″) and light (3.75lbs). I also found it to be very quiet. It comes with a facial recognition feature that allows you to login without a password but this was disabled by our IT department so I wasn’t able to try it out.

I see a lot of notebooks and I’ve generally been impressed with the build quality of Asus notebooks. The build on this model looks great and it’s helped by the sleek and simple design: no fancy little bits that fall off in a year. In my opinion this is the thin-and-light to have if you need great battery life but don’t want to give up all the fun. If you don’t do any 3D gaming you don’t need the Nvidia chipset and you probably should save a little money on a notebook without it such as the nearly identical ASUS UL30A-A2 Thin and Light 13-3-Inch Silver Laptop. Otherwise this is a great choice for a student or business traveler who likes to do a little gaming.

Rating

I’ve been searching for the perfect, best, finest, fastest, coolest small notebook for almost 5 months, believe it or not, and here it is the Asus UL30Vt-X1. It could have reached out and bit me, it was so close at hand, so easy to find, but you almost never look right under your nose do you? Well, so much for finding it…let’s tell the nice Amazon.com readers what it does, and how well it does it, and a whole slew of TIPS and TRICKS this user knows in and out!

I’ve put together some sections where I am going to describe settings and specific control panel functions that work optimally for my uses, and I tell you what to expect when using them…this is a User’s Review as much as it is a Review for pre-sales questions and general interest. Hope you like it!

**13.3″ 1366 x 768 pixels HD LED Backlit LCD Display-nVidia G210-M 512MB Video+ Intel GMA-4500 Integrated Graphics, SWITCHABLE GRAPHICS ENGINES! RealTek HD Audio! nVidia HD HDMI Audio!

It’s not the brightest display(200 Nits by measurement) nor the most defined by contrast, unless you get into the nVidia CP and adjust things…so go to nVidia Control Panel (right click, on the desktop), Adjust Video Color Settings, check “Dynamic Contrast Enhancement”, and “Color Enhancement”, then hit ‘Apply’ and BAM! Your LCD will become very, very nice, with deep blacks, browns and blues, while the bright colors themselves will ‘Jump Out At You’–you’ll think you are looking at a much more expensive computer’s display. That’s something that anybody can do to enhance the graphic power of the nVidia G210-M 512MB discrete video card output, and it does make a HUGE difference…try it, you’ll like it!

The native HD display is capable of rendering virtually any type of content with either of the video settings, as the GMA-4500 Intel Graphics (integrated video, that uses up to 4095MB of system RAM if the computer has 8GB RAM…with 4GB of RAM the video uses up to 1795MB RAM) are capable with HD content. It’s just the nVidia card, however, that you want to use (whenever possible, ie not on battery) that fetches up 30-40FPS+ with Call of Duty: World at War for example! Yes, this notebook is a gamer’s delight, to a point…don’t expect 70+FPS in deep battle scenes with heavy, hard detail settings, but it is adequate for playing virtually any of the current crop of 1st-person shooter games…Crysis, literally any game available right now. It’s that good!

When on AC Power, PowerGear4 Hybrid set on High Performance and Turbo Boost, fire up any game you want and the UL30Vt-X1 springs to life, loads the game rapidly, enter your control panel Option settings and you’re off and running, full screen if you want…this is a fantastic nVidia graphics engine, and it will do the job. I also have had xlnt results playing HD video/audio content.

Do you like Hulu content, the online TV that displays programs/movies in HD? This is one notebook that will not disappoint Hulu fans, so let’s get cranking! Open up “The Dresden Files”, for example, the Canadian Sci-Fi/Suspense Thriller from 2004-2007 that Hulu has all the archives of, choose Full-Screen Mode in the controls on screen, and WHAM! You’re watching full HD video at 1366 x 768, and the UL30Vt-X1 will come through stutter-free, without any problems at all. The CULV CPU, the 1066mhz DDR3 RAM, and either of the graphics engines will do the job. You can count on this computer 100% with any type of video content, either online, HD movies from DVD’s, or even BluRay discs can be played (with a player, of course) at full screen resolution. This video Rocks!

It helps if you have the latest, and greatest Flash Player Beta 10.1.55.xx installed, but that’s optional as is a browser other than IExplorer (I’ve been using Google Chrome). The sound is xlnt also, coming from Altec Lansing speakers which are positioned in the chassis front edge, left and right, for true SRS Surround Sound action via the RealTek HD Sound Manager. You can access the manager’s controls by clicking on the System Tray’s hidden icons, RealTek HD Sound Manager, double-click on it and choose from 30-or more different sound effects! Here’s a couple I found to be optimal:

RealTek HD Sound Manager: Set it to Stereo for headphones, then check “Headphone Virtualization” if you use headphones like I do 90% of the time. In Sound Effects, click on “Rock” which will enhance the sound just enough to put a slight EDGE on the drums, cymbals, bass is enhanced, and mids are subdued with voices accentuated perfectly. Click on “Living Room” for the Environment which stops any acoustic ‘echo-effect’ which many of the other choices will do. Then go to the last panel there, Default Format, and choose the Hz: I found that 24-bit 96,000Hz are perfect for this system, which is set OEM @ 24-bit 48,000Hz, just not enough Hz for my ears! TRY THOSE OUT! You will thank me a bunch, those are great settings for headphones every time!

As for the speakers, they sound great with the same settings turned up to at least 70%… That’s right, they will NOT distort at those settings I’ve listed above, which is what you want every time not a bunch of unnecessary sound effects. Experiment all you like, I did, but you’ll come back to those settings I just listed as they are pretty pure, nicely enhanced music settings without bringing too many special effects to the party.

**Keyboard, Special Fn Controls, PowerGear4 Hybrid (Power and Energy Saver Settings), GraphiX Boost Button (Switchable graphics!), HDMI Port Viewing!

This is a fantastic chiclet-style keyboard with about a 1.5mm reach per keystroke, so it’s TIGHT and nice, just like your best girlfriend is, right? I mean who wants a weak pulse that doesn’t squeeze, not I! The keyboard does not flex, as it’s structured over a metal frame, that has a couple fans and some acoustic things underneath it when you take it off to check it out (don’t tell Asus, but we got the take-apart directions!), so if you like chiclet-style you’ll love this one 110%! There are some special functions, so let’s get into them and let’s see how she performs and works for us.

The Function Key, just below the Shift Key of course, performs a bunch of nice things for us, and here they are:

Fn – F1 = Computer Put To Sleep

Fn – F2 = Computer WiFi and BT Controls (Bluetooth)

Fn – F5/F6 = LCD Brightness UP and DOWN

Fn – F7 = Turn Off LCD Display (!)

Fn – F8 = Turn On, Off, External Display, or Projector

Fn – F9 = Turn Off/On Trackpad (VERY IMPORTANT!!–YOU’ll use it a lot!)

Fn – F10 = Audio Defeat (all audio, speakers, headphones all of it!)

Fn – F11/F12 = Speakers/Headphones Volume UP or DOWN

Fn – Space Bar = PowerGear4 Hybrid Energy Saver Settings, Power Settings

Fn – Pause, Break = For Use In BIOS

Fn – Prt SC/SysRq = Print Screen, System Rq

Fn – Insert/NumLk = Insert and Number Lock

Fn – Delete/ScrLk = Delete and Screen Lock

Why did I just list all of those? Because nobody else has who has done a review yet, that’s why, and people want to know these things! People who don’t own the computer yet..! And there’s no owner’s manual to speak of either with the UL30Vt-X1/A1, it’s a pathetic thing that’s a generic “Notebook PC User Manual”. That’s why I listed everything of importance that the Fn Key strokes will accomplish, and besides, it’s my review, and I get to write what I Want!

Next we’ve got Switchable Graphics, and the Asus P4G Hybrid Switch/GRAPHIX BOOST BUTTON, which is at the left, top corner of the keyboard surface, not on the keyboard of course…Click it once, and click it again, and you cycle through the three possible choices therein:

1) Auto Detect Mode – The computer detects whether you are on Battery Power or AC Power, and adjusts the video output accordingly…battery gets Integrated Intel GMA-4500 graphics, AC Power gets nVidia Graphics, every time!

2) Power Saving Integrated Graphics – The computer detects nothing! You are on Integrated Graphics no matter if you have it on Battery or AC Power, you are stuck with it!

3) High Performance – For you performance phreaks, here you go! It’s the setting which gets you nVidia Discrete Graphics on battery or AC Power, it doesn’t matter you get HIGH PERFORMANCE!

***Now there’s been discussions about the P4G Hybrid Switch/Switchable Graphics button in the various forums that support this computer, and I’m going to explain a couple things that you need to know, and how to avoid thinking your computer is broke to boot! This is a discrete switch, and it does NOT work all the time. Along with Turbo Boost, there are caveats to operation, which I will get into real quick-like for owners, and for prospective buyers both.***

I’ll try and make this clean, clear, short, and sweet, but I may have to repeat myself a couple times, so don’t mind the dialog…If you notice that the switchable graphics switch is OFF, and is not working it’s probably because you have selected Energy Saver preferences that are not allowing nVidia Graphics to load, so here’s how you solve this issue if you want nVidia back! Restart the computer, and immediately begin tapping F2 fully, every 1/2 a second or so, not stacatto-like, but 1/2-second intervals…That will get you into BIOS, which is where we need to go!

Once into BIOS use the arrow keys to cycle over to the Final Screen, (rigtht side of the choices, all the way RIGHT!) the DEFAULT Screen as it is known, where you set User or Manufacturer Values to use. SELECT “LOAD MANUFACTURER DEFAULTS!” After you do that, exit BIOS and SAVE the Values… Hit F10 once, Return, and WHAM! You’re out of BIOS and the computer will load Defaults from Asus Gods! (not kidding!) It will take awhile for the computer to return to the desktop, don’t think it’s broken, it’s NOT! Log on normally, and once the desktop stabilizes, it will take a few seconds as opposed to the normal Fast Boot Routine…then Right Click on the Desktop!

Voila! nVidia Control Panel Returns! It should be in the selections that keystroke generates, and THAT is HOW you get back the MISSING SWITCH, and the nVidia Control Panel if it ever happens to you, so that is down, dirty, done.

Next time you restart the computer, or shut down then restart, go back into BIOS again, ie hit F2 as above while the computer is offline, after Restart or Power Command is given, until BIOS Screen shows. Go back to the Default screen, the last BIOS Screen you can load, this time use the arrow key to select “Load User Defaults”, then Exit BIOS…then F10 again, Return again, and KABAM! You’re out of BIOS, and the computer will start up normally, Fast Boot is again enabled (if you have enabled it or it’s at Default), and the desktop quickly appears. CHECK AGAIN… Right Click on the Desktop! Does the nVidia Control Panel appear as one of the choices? Yes? Good! All is Well in Asus Land now!

That is how you reset Power4Gear Hybrid Controls and nVidia Control Panel! Got IT!? Good, now let’s get onto some more interesting topics, but that is how we get things back to Square No. 1 with the Control Panels.

**Next topic, the HDMI Port, which is on the left side of the computer, next to the USB Port there. All you have to do to enable HDMI is insert an HDMI Cable, select the correct HDMI port setting on your HD TV, insert the HDMI Cable into the HDTV’s HDMI Port, and WHACK! The Asus UL30Vt’X1 Desktop is on the TV! If necessary hit Fn F8 to dismiss the desktop altogether on the computer, just remember to hit Fn F8 again when you dismiss the HDTV and take the HDMI cable out of the computer/HDTV! Easy!**

***Now some folks have complained about the computer’s Trackpad, and I for one don’t have any problems with it. There is NEW SOFTWARE out for the trackpad, which was released the week of February 28, 2010 at Asus Central, so go to Support at the Asus web site, enter the UL30VT as your Support Model Choice, select “All” to select software, firmware, and utilities, and hit Return! That will transport you to the software web pages for this computer, where you can download the new Trackpad Drivers if you want them, if you need them, or if you just have to have the latest of everything with this computer. I don’t need the new software, but some do, so there you go.***

As for the trackpad being a pain, and dragging or erasing letters and numbers when you are typing fast, like I do: TURN IT OFF! That’s what I do, when I am typing madly, and that ends the problems of the “Trackpad Blues”!! So hit Fn – F9 and SLAM! Done Deal, trackpad is disabled so you won’t be bothered with it, and that’s the end of the story. When you want it back, Fn – F9 =RETURN OF THE TRACKPAD! Simple In, Simple Out!***

***That’s the story there, so let’s get into a look at the Energy Saver Control Panel, and how that works, that is P4G Hybrid all over again, sorry about that, it’s redundant in the computer too!***

P4G Hybrid is chosen by the keystroke Fn – Space Bar = 4 Modes of Energy Saver, preferences that are OPTIONAL, you don’t have to use these settings, or you can MODIFY THEM in the Control Panels area of the operating system! That is what I have done with ALL of them, because the arbitrary controls didn’t suit me, but nonetheless I am going to pretend I didn’t for this review, and I’ll tell you what the controls do, and what to expect…

**Battery Saving Mode: The processor will cycle to no more than 60% full power, down to as little as 5% available power. The screen will dim to approximately 60% brightness. The hard drive will go to sleep quickly, as quickly as in 5 minutes of non-use. The display will DIM to 30% if not used. Now, the freaky part, the Desktop Will VANISH, the one you were looking at before you selected this mode will! If you have been using Gadgets, they will VANISH! A new Desktop Wallpaper will appear and your custom or normal wallpaper will disappear also! WHY does it do all this? To save POWER, that is why!

Battery Saving Mode is one I use often, and I’ve customized it to my way of looking at the control panel now, but other than my customization it’s still selectable by Fn – Space Bar=Battery Saving. I’ve also customized the settings in the control panel itself, apart from the operating system control panels! That is correct, the OS Control Panels can be customized, just like the Control Panel itself can have certain settings changed, just make certain that they do NOT conflict with what you have set in the OS Control Panels!! ****IMPORTANT!!****

**Entertainment & Quiet Office Mode: The Processor will be set about about 1000Mhz, and the normal settings will be Moderate. Display will dim, etc…these two settings I don’t use much, so will let the user discover more about them, but they are available by Fn – Space Bar selection…take it from there.

**High Performance Mode: Everything is optimized here. The CPU will be @ 100% power for minimum and maximum speed, maxxed out. The screen will be @ 100% brightness. The HD will be set at NEVER in terms of sleeping. The screen will dim during period of non-use, but not to 30%, just a little dimmer than 100%. Now, the tricky part…

****HIGH PERFORMANCE TURBO MODE****

Click on the word TURBO, and it turns RED, but only after a RESTART! That is correct, to enable Turbo function you must restart the computer, and after that it is enabled UNTIL YOU DISABLE IT MANUALLY in the control panel once again! TURBO MODE=+33% CPU or shall I say, it is overclocked to 1733Mhz! That is correct, the computer overclocks from 1.3Ghz to 1733Mhz upon being restarted and it will STAY THERE ONLY IN HIGH PERFORMANCE MODE–will stay there until it is deselected, the computer is restarted once again, and BAM! Back to 1.3Ghz.

Do not worry about the overclocking–it is a good thing! The computer is FASTER, it is capable of editing video, audio, etc…you can use it like it has a 2Ghz CPU in it at that point, because it is practically there. So that’s a nice surprise for owners of the UL30VT series. The performance is very adequate for a computer that is normally just saving energy @ 1.3Ghz or less, for long battery life and run time, low wear and tear on everything in general. Now a word about the CPU in general, and how this computer performs with a popular utility.

I used Everest Ultimate to do some comparison tests of the CPU, the memory, the video card, and this is a surprisingly adequate machine, especially using Turbo Mode and High Performance in P4G Hybrid Control Panel. I found that the computer was the equal or better than many faster machines, some with the word AMD before their Quad Core CPU’s and at speeds up to 3Ghz, so it was a surprising statement. Everest revealed a bunch of secrets of the computer so let’s look at some of them of interest:

Field Value

CPU Properties

CPU Type -Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo, 1733 MHz (6.5 x 267)

CPU Alias Penryn-3M

CPU Stepping R0

Instruction Set x86, x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1

Original Clock 1300 MHz

Min / Max CPU Multiplier 6.0x / 6.5x

Engineering Sample No

L1 Code Cache 32 KB per core

L1 Data Cache 32 KB per core

L2 Cache 3 MB (On-Die, ECC, ASC, Full-Speed)

Multi CPU

Motherboard ID ASUSTeK Montevina

CPU #1 IntelGenuine Intel(R) CPU U7300 @ 1.30GHz, 1733 MHz

CPU #2 IntelGenuine Intel(R) CPU U7300 @ 1.30GHz, 1733 MHz

THAT is my computer in overclocked mode, so you can see that for yourselves. It described the CPU as being a Penryn-3M, a most capable mobile C2Duo CPU, and the motherboard from Asus is called Montevina! You can see the CPU has 3MB of L3 Cache at full speed on die (whatever speed the computer is operating at), a good thing again! The more L3 Cache the more information the CPU can cache at speed!

This is more from Everest Ultimate, and I hope it translates into the format here, but if it does not I’ll edit it out…never tried it before! You can see here that the maximum memory amount is 8GB! And indeed I have installed 8GB of fast Crucial DDR3 1066Mhz SDRAM in my UL30Vt-X1, and it just flies…it’s a bird all by itself now, and is a very capable multi-tasking machine now with 8GB RAM! Here’s the readout on my computer in terms of the chipset:

North Bridge Properties

North Bridge Intel Cantiga GS45

Supported FSB Speeds FSB533, FSB667, FSB800, FSB1066

Supported Memory Types DDR2-667 SDRAM, DDR2-800 SDRAM, DDR3-667 SDRAM, DDR3-800 SDRAM, DDR3-1066 SDRAM

Maximum Memory Amount 8 GB

Revision / Stepping 07 / B3

Package Type 1363 Pin FC-BGA

Package Size 2.7 cm x 2.5 cm

Core Voltage 1.05 V

In-Order Queue Depth 12

Memory Controller

Type Dual Channel (128-bit)

Active Mode Dual Channel (128-bit)

Memory Timings

CAS Latency (CL) 7T

RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 7T

RAS Precharge (tRP) 7T

RAS Active Time (tRAS) 20T

Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 104T

RAS To RAS Delay (tRRD) 4T

Read To Precharge Delay (tRTP) 5T

Four Activate Window Delay (tFAW) 20T

Write CAS Latency (tWCL) 6T

Refresh Period (tREF) 7.8 us

Error Correction

Memory Slots

DRAM Slot #1 4 GB (DDR3-1066 DDR3 SDRAM)

DRAM Slot #2 4 GB (DDR3-1066 DDR3 SDRAM)

Integrated Graphics Controller

Graphics Controller Type -Intel GMA 4500MHD

Graphics Controller Status Enabled

Graphics Frame Buffer Size 32 MB

PCI Express Controller

PCI-E 1.0 x16 port #2 In Use @ x8 (High Definition Audio Controller [10DE-0BE3] [NoDB], NVIDIA GeForce G210M [10DE-0A74] [NoDB])

Here is one familiar quotient out of Everest, called PhotoWorxx, which compares the computer with a lot of very powerful machines, standards in their own class, and it came out surprisingly strong! You can see that the UL30VT came in 12th in this field of contestants, an amazing feat to me anyway…these are partial results, condensed to save space…more than 50 computers were ranked and this one came out 12th!

——–[ CPU PhotoWorxx ]———————————————————————————————-

4x Core i7 Extreme 965 HT 3333 MHz Asus P6T Deluxe X58 Triple DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 CR1 35393

8x Xeon E5462 2800 MHz Intel S5400SF i5400 Quad DDR2-640FB 5-5-5-15 25575

4x Phenom II X4 Black 940 3000 MHz Asus M3N78-EM GeForce8300 Int. Ganged Dual DDR2-800 5-5-5-18 CR2 19168

4x Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3000 MHz Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R P35 Dual DDR3-1066 8-8-8-20 CR2 17431

8x Opteron 2378 2400 MHz Tyan Thunder n3600R nForcePro-3600 Unganged Dual DDR2-667R 5-5-5-15 CR1 15896

2x Core 2 Duo E6700 2666 MHz Abit AB9 P965 Dual DDR2-800 5-5-5-18 CR2 11922

4x Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2666 MHz Intel D975XBX2 i975X Dual DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 11706

8x Xeon L5320 1866 MHz Intel S5000VCL i5000V Dual DDR2-533FB 4-4-4-12 9621

4x Xeon 5140 2333 MHz Intel S5000VSA i5000V Dual DDR2-667FB 5-5-5-15 8626

2x Athlon64 X2 Black 6400+ 3200 MHz MSI K9N SLI Platinum nForce570SLI Dual DDR2-800 4-4-4-11 CR1 7653

2x Core 2 Duo P8400 2266 MHz MSI MegaBook PR201 GM45 Int. Dual DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 7534

2x Core 2 Duo 1733 MHz Asus Montevina GS45 Int. Dual DDR3-1066 7-7-7-20 6896

8x Opteron HE 2344 1700 MHz Tyan Thunder n3600R nForcePro-3600 Unganged Dual DDR2-667R 5-5-5-15 CR1 6622

4x Phenom X4 9500 2200 MHz Asus M3A AMD770 Ganged Dual DDR2-800 5-5-5-18 CR2 6532

2x Athlon64 X2 4000+ 2100 MHz ASRock ALiveNF7G-HDready nForce7050-630a Int. Dual DDR2-700 5-5-5-18 CR2 6419

2x Pentium EE 955 HT 3466 MHz Intel D955XBK i955X Dual DDR2-667 4-4-4-11 6058

****Battery Run Time, Theoretical and Practical****

The utility that I like to analyze batteries with is called EmBatPower Battery Utility, and it’s a legitimate contender for one of the most esoteric battery utilities that I know of, yet its accuracy is XLNT, so bear with me as I list some attributes of the OEM battery, how I describe it generally, and what kind of use I’ve been able to get out of it in the first 3 weeks of ownership, after Leveling the Battery, which is to discharge it down to its reserve status, then charge it fully.

The battery is made by Asus, and it’s called a UL50-44, Its design capacity for charge is 61,600mWh or 4400MAH converted to MAH. My particular battery will charge up to 60,732mWh, about 99% of full design capacity, a commendable figure considering battery science is inexact in general, but that’s very good! Fully charged, the voltage of the battery is quite high, @ 16,583mV, or 16.58V actual voltage. Asus tells us in advertising that we can expect up to “11 hours” of battery run time with this 4400Mah, 61,000mWh battery, which I find incredibly WRONG in actual use. I have used the battery extensively in the 3 weeks I’ve had the computer, discharging it no less than 15 times thus far, full discharges down to where the battery goes into Reserve Mode, and the computer Hibernates, this at about 4% of capacity to protect the computer and the battery.

During my tests I have had enabled typical things that most people would also have enabled, and I did not turn off key functions, so these are real world averages and they are quite different from Asus ’11 hour run time’ scenario. That just isn’t possible with normal use, and here that is graphically put:

Run time with BlueTooth & WiFi, ON, iTunes ON playing music constantly without break: Discharge down to 4% battery to Hibernation each run:

Run 1) 6 hours 14 minutes

Run 2) 5 hours 45 minutes

Run 3) 5 hours 57 minutes

Run 4) 6 hours 06 minutes

Run 12) 6 hours 11 minutes

Run 14) 5 hours 37 minutes

Run 15) 5 hours 58 minutes

Then for runs 7-10 I charted run time with iTunes OFF, BlueTooth Off, and WiFi On:

Run 7) 7 hours 05 minutes

Run 6 hours 58 minutes

Run 9) 7 hours 11 minutes

Run 10) 6 hours 45 minutes

Finally, I tried my best to eek the most battery run time possible, with WiFi Off, BlueTooth Off, and iTunes Off, with the computer virtually idling but a work script writing to disk in Microsoft Word until the computer went into Hibernation:

Run 5) 7 hours 45 minutes

Run 6) 7 hours 49 minutes

There you go, the average for all of that is in the mid 6-hour range, and that is where a user should expect to get out of this battery with normal things going on, nominal settings…not bare bones virtually everything turned off and the computer idling!

I haven’t addressed WiFi or BlueTooth, but those are XLNT also! Range is top-notch in both. It has “Intel 1000BGN” WIFI, note the “N” there, 2.4Ghz “N” mode for network Gurus. I’ve neglected some things, I know, but I also covered a lot of techno-stats and info, so I hope I didn’t lose anybody doing it!

With all of the positive things going for this notebook, plus it looks fantastic in black–don’t let anybody kid you it doesn’t because it does, this is a winner! It earns the Wavey Davey Ultimate Performance Gold Award, because it does things that a much faster, larger, more expensive notebook might do, but for a pittance. Get yours before they are all gone, and it will be soon enough! Black is indeed beautiful in the UL30Vt-X1!

“There is no substitute for quality,” Gottlieb Daimlier said around the turn of the 20th Century, and he founded Mercedes-Benz automobiles…I say the same thing about this super-performing machine. There is no substitute for this Asus, it’s the hands down winner in the small notebook class, bar none!

Rating

First, I have to say this is an amazing laptop! Very thin and light, comfortable and sleek. However the ‘propaganda’ provided that this is an 11hr laptop is VERY misleading if not openly deceptive. I read the reviews and everything written about this laptop before I placed my order probably 3 times. One thing that worried me was a review where someone said they would be lucky to get 5 – 6 hrs battery life out of it.. well even that is optimistic. This laptop comes with software that manages the power consumption with four different settings if you set it to the most efficient setting it even replaces the desktop background with a more efficient background, auto hides the taskbar, disables the widgets on the desktop, all in addition to the normal dimming the screen and throttling the CPU. I had hoped… that this extreme setting would provide the means for at least the 5 – 6 hrs that others said was doable… and it might but not very confidently. For a laptop that when I bought it said 12 hr battery life (later updated to say only 11) I would expect at least 8 – 10 hrs by choosing the most efficient settings with normal web use. That is not the case!! Oh and this is even using the integrated graphics not the more inefficient (but awesome) discrete graphics card. So I did some research on Amazon’s return policy because I was so intensely alarmed by the discrepancy of the real thing from the advertising.. it looks like I could return it for 85% of my money back. Considering I splurged to buy this over the HP DM3-1030-US (which easily goes on sale for the $500 – $550 range) primarily for what I thought would be 2 times the battery life I am thinking heavily about returning this and buying the HP.. and cutting my losses. However from Amazon’s policy I think I have 30 days from shipping date to do this return… and I do really like the laptop so I think I am going to use it for another week before I decide either way. Also I considered the Acer Timeline series… that may be a better route for a great battery life.

Rating

This arrived the other day on my doorstep. Great machine, solid build, and solid performance.

Easily handles 1080p HD video on both graphics cards. Good quality sound. Nice look with black gloss and black brushed cover.

Battery life is great, around 6 hours on normal use, and definitely more if you adjust your settings to lower screen light and etc.

Very thin, slips into a bag easily. Fairly light at around 3 1/2 pounds. Don’t let the lightness fool you, it’s built well.

I recommend swapping out the hard disk drive for a solid state drive, your performance will be incredible with 10-15 second boot times, instant program launches, longer battery life, and overall extremely fast system responsiveness. Windows 7 handles it all flawlessly.

Only downside is that the machine comes with an abundance of stickers on it upon unboxing it, and removing some can be annoying.

Otherwise for $750, this is a good buy. Windows 7 works great on it.