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Asus U30Jc Notebook  (Source: Asus)
New notebook sports NVIDIA Optimus tech for long battery life

ASUS is a monster in the netbook market and started the entire segment with its Eee PC netbooks back in late 2007. Today the netbook market is one of the most robust segments in the computer industry. ASUS has a vast array of netbooks, but the company hasn’t forsaken the notebook market altogether.

ASUS has today announced a new notebook that is available on Newegg and other online sellers for under $900. The machine is called the ASUS U30Jc and sports a 13.3-inch screen. The machine has NVIDIA Optimus tech inside and uses an Intel Core i3-350M processor.

Graphics include an NVIDIA discrete GPU matched with Intel integrated GPU that change depending on the user workload and needs of the machine at the time. The NVIDIA discrete GPU is the GeForce GT310M.

Like many of ASUS' recent computers, the new notebook is optimized for battery life. ASUS claims that the machine has up to 9.5 hours of run time per charge. Other features include HDMI out, HD screen resolution, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and HD audio with Altec Lansing speakers. 802.11n WiFi is integrated along with a web cam and mic for video calls.

The notebook has an aluminum enclosure and uses the widely-spaced chicklet keyboard many manufacturers are turning to today. ASUS states that the machine is capable of playing popular games like World of Warcraft and The Sims 3.

ASUS was the first notebook maker to offer the new ATI Mobility 5870 GPU in February.

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Resolution
By Goty on 4/5/2010 10:59:17 AM , Rating: 2
1366x768 display resolution = a no-buy for me. 768 pixels is just not enough vertical resolution to make web browsing comfortable.




RE: Resolution
By Brainonska511 on 4/5/10, Rating: 0
RE: Resolution
By GaryJohnson on 4/5/2010 11:15:30 AM , Rating: 2
That's not accurate. The Egg currently has 9 notebook models in stock with 13.3" or smaller screens and more than 768 lines of vertical resolution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...


RE: Resolution
By gralex on 4/6/2010 11:27:39 AM , Rating: 2
I'm sorry but I can't see these as comparable to the ASUS.
They haven't got a GPU...


RE: Resolution
By corduroygt on 4/5/2010 11:20:58 AM , Rating: 4
Most 13" screens are 1280x800. Those extra 32 vertical pixels are much more needed than the missing 86 horizontal pixels when doing work.


RE: Resolution
By corduroygt on 4/5/2010 11:20:58 AM , Rating: 2
Most 13" screens are 1280x800. Those extra 32 vertical pixels are much more needed than the missing 86 horizontal pixels when doing work.


RE: Resolution
By tim851 on 4/5/2010 11:47:56 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Those extra 32 vertical pixels are much more needed than the missing 86 horizontal pixels when doing work.


Yeah, that's 4% more vertical scrolling, what an outrage!


RE: Resolution
By yomamafor1 on 4/5/2010 11:24:41 AM , Rating: 2
yep, 1366 x 768 is the standard resolution for 13".


RE: Resolution
By jvillaro on 4/5/2010 2:44:16 PM , Rating: 2
Well that actually depends if it's a 16x9 or 16x10 screen


RE: Resolution
By Goty on 4/5/2010 1:44:09 PM , Rating: 2
Besides the fact that you're wrong, you'll notice the fact that I didn't mention anything about the size of the notebook itself, just the resolution. If I had been dissatisfied with the resolution at that size, I'd have titled the thread "Resolution and Size".


RE: Resolution
By murphyslabrat on 4/5/2010 11:23:14 AM , Rating: 2
That's stupid. I've got a 17" screen with 1440x900 as a max resolution. Sure, 1920x1200 would be nice, but it's good enough. Now, reduce the physical space by 22%, with a 20% reduction in dpi, and you're not really losing anything.

Besides, you are talking about a 13.3" screen. If you're gonna be browsing for 10 hours at a time, you're gonna want a larger display anyway. If you're gonna use it for portable web-browsing, with heavy word-usage and light gaming, it'd do wonderfully.


RE: Resolution
By Mumrik on 4/5/2010 1:28:41 PM , Rating: 2
The 1440x900 resolution on my moms X200s Thinkpad (12.1") is just right in my opinion.

Small laptops need the high DPI - you're close to the display and no matter the size of the screen you really need a desktop of a certain size. I'd never be able to live with a 1024x600/576 netbook. anything less that the 1920x1200 I'm used to is annoying enough.


RE: Resolution
By Goty on 4/5/2010 1:45:03 PM , Rating: 4
Well good for you, but I'd appreciate it if you'd be intelligent and respectful enough not to call someone's opinion "stupid".


RE: Resolution
By ajfink on 4/6/2010 2:50:36 AM , Rating: 2
While opinions of preference are much harder to nail down as "stupid," and I agree with you in this case, there are many opinions in this world that truly are moronic and deserve to be called out as such.

Debating screen size, however, is not one of those situations.


RE: Resolution
By EasyC on 4/5/2010 12:11:35 PM , Rating: 2
I completely agree. I ended up buying a Sony laptop with a 14" screen and 1600x900 resolution because that was the best I could find at the price/size.


RE: Resolution
By ImSpartacus on 4/5/2010 1:22:03 PM , Rating: 2
I agree.

We need more 900p 13.3" laptops.


RE: Resolution
By thelostjs on 4/5/2010 5:47:03 PM , Rating: 2
if it was that bad having only 768 everyone in starbucks would have their mac stood on the table like an open book!

im typing on a desktop using a 15" 1024 768 . i browse sometimes for hours . on my gaming computer i use 2 20" crts i have done this so long hardly even notice


RE: Resolution
By tpurves on 4/5/2010 9:58:17 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed, 768px is garbage. Should be 800. Or higher.


World of Warcraft? seriously?
By Mumrik on 4/5/2010 11:40:02 AM , Rating: 3
"ASUS states that the machine is capable of playing popular games like World of Warcraft and The Sims 3."

They REALLY felt the need to point out that their 900 dollar notebook could play a game from 2004? I know a lot of people play WoW, but that feat says little to nothing about the machines technical prowess. Picking WoW and Sims 3 says a lot about who they think they're reaching here...




RE: World of Warcraft? seriously?
By cherrycoke on 4/5/2010 1:23:33 PM , Rating: 2
You are right in that a lot of machines can play WoW, but with all of the expansions since the 2004 introduction the system requirements have gone up considerably. My old laptop(2003) will not play WoW with the expansions but I could play it on the vanilla version.

It does seem to be a funny thing to tout but I bet there are people that play WoW that are thinking about getting a laptop. ASUS might have thrown that statement in there to confirm anyone's suspicions. The discrete graphics should help with framerates, the processor and RAM are sufficient.


By kilkennycat on 4/5/2010 1:48:06 PM , Rating: 2
... works great with HL2 and other full-3D action-games. Great balance between the GPU and the CPU. Google for the reviews.

Also, the GPU accelerated version of Flash runs like butter on the U30JC. Just a couple of percent CPU loading. Has integrated DVD-drive, unlike many of the other junk offerings in this class. Sleek aluminum Mac-Book style.

Give me this product any day over the hardware-crippled iPad. You know why the iPad doesn't run Flash and won't ever (in its current form) run GPU accelerated Flash - just look closely at the antique-technology hardware. Jobs' "I don't like Flash" is a purely political cover up of technology deficiencies in his products. Thanks to Apple's "in-house-only" hardware development strategy, their hardware is beginning to seriously lag in performance. If you want a decent-performing tablet without hardware-crippling, wait for the Tegra2-based versions - dual A9 ARM processors and GPU-acceleration.


RE: World of Warcraft? seriously?
By Mumrik on 4/5/2010 2:32:14 PM , Rating: 2
Hehe. By that logic it is also noteworthy that they didn't mention the expansions at all.

Of course it will play them, but still... they only advertise the ability to play the vanilla version.


By Reclaimer77 on 4/5/2010 4:39:32 PM , Rating: 3
World of Warcraft is VERY resource heavy on a PC/Laptop in a raiding environment. Games are not just about the GPU you know. WoW taxes the CPU and memory fairly heavily when grouped with 10 or 25 people in a raid or PVP setting.

I know lots of people who raid from a laptop on trips etc etc, some exclusively. So I don't see your point. It's a very smart move by Asus to point out that their product CAN handle WoW. All you are doing is pointing out your ignorance by implying a game engine that was coded in 2004 and has had several heavy modifications and expansions since, should always run smoothly on a modern PC.

Besides, who plays Crysis on a laptop ??


Still waiting for UL30JT
By jmunjr on 4/5/2010 2:39:07 PM , Rating: 2
This one seems to be a bit bulkier than the UL series... The UL30jt offers the same specs minus the optical drive(which is available in the barely bigger 14" version)...




RE: Still waiting for UL30JT
By superflex on 4/6/2010 1:46:08 PM , Rating: 2
The UL30VT is not the same. It uses a Core2Duo ULV processor running at 1.3 or 1.7 GHz depending on whether the OC feature is enabled. The i3 runs at 2.26 GHz.
The UL30VT also uses a 13.3" screen, not 14".
As they would say on SportsCenter....."c'mon man!"


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