ASUS UL30Vt-A1 Thin and Light 13.3-Inch Silver Laptop (12 Hours of Battery Life)

Full Description

5 Reviews

1. After reading the reviews and buying one, it’s what I expected. I’ve had this laptop for about a month and so far have only installed VPN and Winamp. Shutdown and initial load from hibernation isn’t too great but not unreasonable. I haven’t used Windows 7 too extensively so not sure if this where that lag is coming from. Since I don’t have an optical drive included with this model, I catch myself thinking about how it would be great to play some CDs (nevermind that I used my old laptop’s optical drive maybe 5x in it’s entire 4 year life). It had some software that I didn’t care for but not annoying enough that I felt like I had to wipe the laptop OS immediately. I agree with some of the other comments that the partitioned C: drive for programs is a little excessive at over 100 gigs.

   Despite the little complaints, my experience so far has been positive and I would recommend this laptop. The weight and battery life are my favorite things about this product.

2. I just wanted to ‘cast my vote’ for this laptop, because I bought this laptop because of the ‘votes’ from happy customers on amazon.
   I bought this one after having too many problems with “Toshiba Satellite T135-S1330 TruBrite 13.3-Inch Ultrathin Laptop” (will write a review about that later).
   I did not face any problems with this one. I think most of the reviews have said enough about the positives, i don’t have much to add. It lives up to its promises.

   Th only minor irritant is that the screen with switch off and then turns on with the different graphics card when you connect/disconnect the power supply . But this is part of its design (uses more powerful graphics card when connected to power supply), and you can also change settings to remain with same graphics card in both cases.

3. This laptop has great battery life, stays cool on your lap and
   boots up quickly. Before researching Asus I never heard of
   this brand. I am impressed and really like it. I have told others
   and seems like this brand is a well kept secret. Very light weight too.

4. In its battery saving mode I can simply walk around with it all day without worrying about it, it really does deliver on the battery life claims. In performance mode it can play 1080p video with a plenty of chrome tabs up, or run relatively graphics intensive games without problem.

   The monitor has rather bad contrast when in battery saving mode, but for functionality it’s fine as long as you’re not looking at detailed images.

   The chiclet keyboard types well, although the keys feel very plasticy and tend to wobble. The multitouch keypad takes a little getting used to and has trouble recognizing three finger gestures from me, but the two finger touch and scroll functions have become indispensable.

   Webcam is adequate and speakers sound good for their size.

   A few minor kinks, none of which I notice with daily use. If you don’t need the status symbol of a mac (and you’re not a sound/film/photography editor) then this is the computer for you.

5. The Asus UL30VT-X1 is probably the best notebook Ive owned. Its main strength is battery life. A huge difference compared to my last notebook, an Asus V6VA which had about 2 hours of usage before a charge was required. I get roughly 8-10 hours with the UL30VT, less than advertised but still amazing.

   So many other good points about this laptop, where to start? Build quality is very tight. I would’ve preferred an all brushed aluminum design like the V6VA but at least the lid is. The rest of the laptop is mostly plastic but feels very solid. No creak, bend or flex anywhere – definitely does not feel plasticky and is very well built.

   Love the chiclet style keyboard, very good feedback and the keys are spaced just far enough to be comfortable. Usually I cant stand typing for more than an hour on most laptops. Long typing sessions on this ultraportable is no problem at all. The trackpad is also a pleasure to use, better than most of that synaptics garbage Ive used in the past. It has very good feedback and only requires remembering three things – tap once for a left click, hold with two fingers to scroll and tap with three fingers for a right click. I especially like the two finger scrolling, eliminates having to use the page down key.

   I guess the main selling point about the UL30VT is the switchable graphics. It was a must have feature for me at first but honestly, now I just leave it on the integrated graphics to max out battery life. My gaming desktop consists of a 24″ LCD and GTX 260, needless to say gaming on a tiny 13″ laptop is well just.. lacking. Having the option to switch from an integrated to a discrete GPU is still a very cool feature though. I did try a few games like Team Fortress 2 etc. which ran very good, everything maxed out and average of about 60fps.

   Now here comes the cons. Like most of the people that own the laptop have mentioned, the vertical viewing angle is horrible. But when viewed straight on or in the sweet spot the display is perfectly fine and very bright. Fortunately we are talking about a laptop display and not a 42″ HDTV so it is acceptable. Definitely not a deal breaker and passable. I also would’ve preferred a matte finish instead of glossy. Personally, I find the glossy finish a bit distracting at times. And whats up with the 1 year warranty Asus? I dont get why the silver model A1 and most Asus laptops get 2 years global warranty but not the UL30VT-X1. Oh well, all these are just minor complaints. Overall, the UL30VT-X1 is a sleek looking, thin and light notebook. Excellent battery life, performance and features make it a very good buy at its price point.