ASUS U30Jc review
By Joanna Stern 
posted April 13th 2010 10:47AM
posted April 13th 2010 10:47AM
Look and feel
We don't want to spoil too much of the rest of the review, but you know those sacrifices we were taking about? The biggest one comes with the size of this machine. The 1.2-inch thick laptop is heftier than most of its class, and though it does have a DVD drive, both the 13-inch Sony Z Series and Apple MacBook Pro are substantially thinner at .95-inches tall. The extra girth does provide space for three USB, VGA, HDMI, Ethernet ports and a mic and headphone jack. Maybe with the recent flood of thin and light ULV laptops we just expect this sort of system to weigh less than four pounds, but no matter how you look at it, the 4.8-pound U30Jc is on the heavy side and more comfortably held with two hands when open.
Keyboard, touchpad and screen
We have to admit we miss the grid of raised dots that usually adorn ASUS touchpads, but the brushed aluminum coating on the U30Jc is smooth and similar in feel to that on MacBook Pros. Remarkably the pad was incredibly responsive to multitouch gestures – two finger scrolling wasn't jumpy at all like most others. We do wish that ASUS would take a knife and cut the single mouse bar in half to just give us separated right and left buttons, but it's still usable.
When, oh when, ASUS will you start using some decent LCDs? The 1366 x 768-resolution, 13.3-inch screen is incredibly glossy and kicks back reflections at most angles. And speaking of those angles, the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are, well, just crappy – tilting the screen back just to about 110-degrees washes out colors and viewing from the sides is also harrowing experience. The Altec Lansing speakers that live on the front lip of the system aren't overly tinny, but they aren't as loud as we expected. They're still good enough for personal listening.
Performance, graphics and battery life
| PCMarkVantage |
3DMark06 | Battery Life |
|
| ASUS U30Jc (2.26 Core i3, NVIDIA CT 310M) | 4841 | 1739/3686 | 4:10 |
| Sony VAIO Z (2.53GHz Core i5, NVIDIA GT 330M) | 9949 |
6193 |
4:25 |
| Toshiba Satellite E205 (2.2GHz Core i5, GMA HD) | 5187 |
1920 | 3:30 |
| Gateway NV5933u (2.13GHz Core i3, GMA HD) | 4784 |
1725 | 2:35 |
| ASUS UL50Vf | 3724 | 827/3438 | 6:10 |
While the Core i3 CPU and its integrated GMA HD can handle 720p HD video and light gaming, it's the U30Jc's NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU with 512MB of VRAM that gives the system some decent graphics muscle. Thanks to NVIDIA's new Optimus technology the GPU automatically kicked in when we fired up Batman: Arkham Asylum, and within minutes we were throwing punches at 30 fps. Similarly after we downloaded Flash 10.1 Beta 3, the 310M card automatically turned on when we watched a 1080p trailer on YouTube without any pauses or breaks. While most of the graphics switching is completely automatic, NVIDIA's control panel does allow for manually turning on and off the GPU.
Not having to flick a switch or manually adjust the system's graphics makes Optimus awesome, but it also majorly pays off in battery life. The GPU stayed off when we ran our standard definition video rundown test, and in turn the U30Jc's 84Wh eight-cell battery lasted for 4 hours and 10 minutes with brightness set to 65 percent. That's not quite as long as ASUS' predicted 9.5 hours, but that's about double the time of recent i3 laptops we've reviewed. With the GPU on it ran a loop of HD videos for 3 hours. Both of those numbers are, of course, on the extreme end of the battery spectrum – when we used the laptop to write this review, listen to music and intermittently watch some YouTube clips we stayed cord-free for about 5 hours and 30 minutes. The Sony Z Series lasted just around the same time and ASUS' ULV UL50Vf for over six hours, but we're still quite content with that runtime from a Core i3 laptop.
We were less than thrilled when we booted the U30Jc for the first time to find its desktop covered with preloaded ASUS programs and crapware – there's an eBay shortcut and Boingo installer to name a few. But we're not above saying some of those preloaded ASUS utilities are actually pretty useful – the FastBoot app, for instance, lets you decide what programs launch at startup and lets you delay the launch of others.
Wrap-up
"Eight-cell battery lasted for 4 hours and 10 minutes with brightness set to 65 percent. That's not quite as long as ASUS' predicted 9.5 hours"
Ya think?!!
@Ops,
Are you for real??
Think I'll wait a bit and see what the UL30Jc does.
I really wish they'd have gone with a better GPU like the 330 or 335, though. The 310 is basically just a renamed 210, which was what the UL30Vt had in it last year.
@andysexton Agreed, If it had that I would have already clicked the buy button. Instead I'll wait for the Alienware M11x and hope they calm the case down to not be so god damn awful. I know I'm dreaming.
@Octantis I really want something a bit bigger than the M11x. I think 13 inches is about my sweet point here. (That sounds bad!)
But I hear rumors the M11x is likely getting a CULV version of the i3 this summer and that does raise interest again...
Good to know! Hope the UL80JC's just as good! That's where my money's going.
@Biotite Err UL80JT I mean.
Look at Best buy website, you find Sony 14", i5, 900x 1600 resolution, blue tooth and blue ray, under 1.000.00 . Take that Apple.
ugh no bluetooth?
Man, Asus has been putting out some really nice lappies lately. Still loving my UL30VT. Dunno why they kept the cheap plastic screen bezel though.
My questions is what happened to the "thin and light" market getting, well, "thinner and lighter"... 4.8 lbs for a 13", $900 computer isn't bad, but it isn't good either; compared to the Lenovo X line--which admittedly have smaller screens--but they are almost 2 pounds lighter (and no DVD).
Basically, I want more division in the market. If it is an ultra portable, I look for sub 3lbs, DVD not necessary, 6+ hour battery. (maybe in the case of a convertible tablet--you know, a real one, before the word got jacked to mean 'crappy slate without a keyboard'), or something "full featured", 5-6lbs range, 15", etc. I see products like this stuck hopelessly in between, at least for my uses.
@mrpenguin Similar questions posed towards netbook OEMs.
@mrpenguin This isn't the true thin and light from Asus at this size. That will be the UL30Jc. I think I read where the lower powered CPUs are in short supply so it's a little late to market. Probably other manufactures are also sitting on products if that's the case.
is there any info on the screen quality?
LCD quality is mostly the deal breaker on these laptops.
Ouh ouh - Just still HATE dose glossy screens!
What gives?
Looks good (when not used)?
Marketing Marketing... Sometimes I wander....
Hmmm...anyone know if this will support swapping in a blu-ray drive??
I am very tempted by this laptop. Good price, good looks, and seems like good specs.
I'm not too knowledgeable about laptop GPUs, so I'm not sure how the 310 stacks up. I would mostly be using this PC for media consumption, like watching HD video from both locally stored files and streaming websites like YouTube, Julie, and Netflix. Will this PC be up to spec for this?
Also, any word on Linux compatibility?
@DJ This is a bit of a step up from what's used in the Ion platforms that allow netbooks to do HD video, so yes, this should easily support HD video.
And the Ion is similar to the desktop 9300/9400 chipsets from a year or so ago. My HTPC runs that and easily handles any HD I throw at it.
@DJ
I don't think Optimus works on Linux yet, so you may have a few problems there.
@DJ
From a few sources I saw using Google, the 310M has a similar performance in games to a Radeon X700/Geforce 6600. Which is ok. I would take a look at Intel HD graphics, they will handle HD content fine.
@Sunweb These Nvidia chips will outperform anything Intel offers right now. The only advantage Intel's latest HD integrated graphics chipsets have is the ability to pass HD audio via protected path.
Am I the only one who doesn't use the right shift key? That's the largest complaint about the keyboard that I've seen in Asus' recent 13-inch notebooks.
kInda funny review, where you don't even say how much the thing weights, etc.
M.
@mschira Really? I am pretty sure it is under the look and feel section...."the 4.8-pound U30Jc is on the heavy side and more comfortably held with two hands when open."
Again don't buy a notebook let alone a netbook for gaming.
It's TOO HEAVY and the SCREEN IS HORRIBLE.
No thanks.
Why does nearly every notebook have to have that one deal-breaker? I thought this would have been "it," but no...
Low-quality LCD = Fail. :(
I'm waiting for ASUS to release a 10" with Optimus and without a optical drive.
I'm surprised no one pointed this out (that I noticed, at least), but...
...it's U30JC-A1, not 1A. :)
@Rollins
Oh good catch! Wow we are all blind.
WTF??? No one has this laptop in stock. I'm trying to get one for myself.
Anyone with suggestions how to get this laptop in Australia. I tried Amazon ( don't ship to AUS???), Provantage, BH Photovideo ...