ASUS UL80JT spotted with automatic switchable graphics, brags 12 hour battery life

How we missed this at the ASUS booth is beyond us, but leave it to the eagle-eyes at Ars to hone in on the ASUS UL80JT with an overclockable Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 310 graphics. So it's just a run-of-the-mill gaming rig, right? Wrong. The 14-inch laptop has switchable graphics like we have never seen before; the laptop automatically switches, "second-by-second" between the NVIDIA card and the integrated Intel one, instead of the "standard" switchable graphics we've seen on laptops like the MacBook Pro 15 or ASUS UL80Vt which require users to switch manually. The major foreseeable benefit of this is longer battery life even when the system is using the discrete card, and ASUS touts 12 hours with the automatic solution turned on. No word on price or availability, but we're guessing ASUS will have more details soon and that we'll start seeing this this in more and more laptops as NVIDIA spreads the love around to the rest of the industry.

Update: We jumped the gun here, we've actually seen this new automatic switching technology in the recently announced Sony Vaio Z.

[Joanna Stern Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:04PM]

@Caricature of Intamacy Resend your tip to me at [e-mail]

[nemein Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:00PM]

Great to see a bump in the UL80 series... although the Nvidia 310m is by no means a "high end" card as claimed by the report. It is the successor to the 210m, and should bench similarly. Entry level.

Will probably pick one up if the price is below 1k.

[Daliminator Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:29PM]

And with this, I move even further into ASUS fanboy territory...

[deepen03 Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:47PM]

damn this is crazy! gotta love ASUS.. Just bought the UL30A-X5 off amazon back in november and couldn't be happier. GO ASUS!!

[Cyrs Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:58PM]

Yes, I've been waiting for this to show up.
Arrandale CULV Core i7 CPU + Nvidia 300 series GPU + switchable graphics solution = pure win. Seems like my new laptop is set, now Asus hurry up and release it. You want my money right, then do it, do it now!

[Peytral Posted Jan 11th 2010 10:07PM]

That pic is of a UL30Jt. Note the lack of an optical drive and less space on the sides of the keyboard. Ars Technica FAIL

[thatsme Posted Jan 12th 2010 10:45AM]

@Peytral

My UL80VT does have an optical drive, so if you want the optical, go with the UL80 not the 30 :)

[Ducman69 Posted Jan 11th 2010 11:12PM]

@fel - Yep, the G310 here is actually the G210 rebadged, which itself was a minor update.

With Nvidias arbitrary and constantly changing naming convention (310 designation only on OEMs), its near impossible to keep track of whats what.

Nvidia shenanigans aside, this is still an AMAZING machine and the hybrid graphics do enhance performance and battery life. Well done Asus! Would be a 10/10 if it had a matte screen.

[iPaul Posted Jan 12th 2010 12:20AM]

my klaptop ran for 2hrs once.

[mrkk Posted Jan 12th 2010 1:46AM]

Doesn't Lenovo T500 already have a switchable display adapter ? (ATI & Intel)

[ShSaurabhSh Posted Jan 12th 2010 3:55AM]

I am pretty satisfied with the battery life and cooling of my UL80Vt.I havent switched it off ever since i bought it!! (about 45 days uptime now)

[Richierich Posted Jan 12th 2010 10:31AM]

I have a UL80vt. Battery perf is as advertised, and the switchable graphics works well. I can play most games at a decent framerate. Remarkable.

The chicklet keyboard is decent and I've learned to like the track pad. The screen is below avg and washed out. The glossy finish in annoying.