Asus UL30JT review – 13 incher with extra-muscles and good autonomy

A post written by Andrew | 42 Comments »

I consider the 13 inch series of mini-laptops from Asus perhaps the best if you’re looking for a portable computer with more power than a netbook, but also with an affordable price tag. So no wonder the various versions of the Asus UL30A have become so popular all around the globe (in the US they are some of the bet sold laptops).

What we have here right now is the Asus UL30JT, the next step from Asus in terms of mobile computing. Shortly, this laptop merges the looks and build quality of the previous generation with a new hardware platform, meant to offer better performance and increased autonomy in the same time. Read the review below to see how exactly is that possible and to find out if the product leaves up to its expectations.

Specifications

  • Intel Core i5-520UM 1.07 Ghz processor with Intel Boost technology (boosts frequency when needed)
  • 4 GB of RAM DDR3 1067 MHz
  • 2.5″ 640 GB hard-drive 5400 rpm + Online Storage
  • X4500M graphics + Nvidia GT310M + Optimus
  • Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 2.1, Gigabit LAN
  • 3xUSB ports, card-reader, webcam, VGA+HDMI output, speakers
  • 8 Cell battery 5600 mAh 84 Wh
  • Windows 7 (Ultimate on this particular version, but it will probably ship with Home)
  • weighs 3.7 pounds (1.75 kg)

Design and build quality

On the outside, nothing much has changed from the previous generation. I remember back when i first got my hands on the Asus UL30A, I considered it one of the best looking laptops ever-made. And I still do. The UL30JT is almost identical to that one, in fact there’s only one thing different: the entire palm rest and the area around the keyboard are no longer made out of a glossy plastic, but a matte one which feels better and catches smudges harder.

While the casing of this device is made out of matte plastic, the lid is covered in a brushed aluminum finish. This gives a more elitist aspect and while better than a plastic case when dealing with scratches, it still catches smudges and fingerprints. They shouldn’t be so easy to spot on the silver finish though, so I would get that instead of this black one, if given the choice.

A looker

A looker - the 13 inch Asus UL30JT

Build quality is solid, very solid i must say. And based on reviews received by the previous UL30s, the entire computer is very reliable. So you shouldn’t have problems with it on the long run (although that’s something for the future to prove).

Ports and features

Back - only the battery, a big 8 Cell one

Back side

Back side

Left side – card-reader, headphones and mic, 2xUSB slots, Ethernet, DC-IN

Left Side

Left Side

Right side – big heating vent, VGA, HDMI and 1xUSb slot

Right side

Right side

Front – nothing but the system LEDs

Front side

Front side

Bottom – big battery and the dedicated bays for upgrading RAM and HDD

Bottom side

Front side

Also, see my hands-on clip below:

Keyboard and trackpad

They keyboard on the Asus UL30JT is a chiclet-styled one with independent keys, also 100% Full-size, thus those of you with bigger fingers won’t have any problems with it. Good overall, although the plastic used for the keys doesn’t quite feel right and the flex is a little bit too obvious.

If the keyboard kept from the previous generation is a good one, i would have hoped the trackpad with that dimpled texture to have been replaced. It’s not matte anymore, which is a plus, but still responsiveness and overall touch-feeling are not as they should be. Don’t get me wrong, this touchpad does its job, but sometimes won’t be as quick and precise as you would want it to be.

Chiclet keyboard and dimpled trackpad

Chiclet keyboard and dimpled trackpad

Display

The Asus UL30JT comes with a 13.3 inch LED backlit display with 1366 x 768 px resolution (perfect for a screen this big). Very good overall and with nice colors, brightness and viewing angles, as long as you use it inside on in poor light conditions. When taken outside or used in direct light, it turns into a mirror, because it’s glossy. The clips in this post stand as proof for that too. So too bad, i wished Asus had a matte display for this device, at least as an option you’d have to pay extra for.d

Screen is glossy

Screen is glossy

Hardware

The UL30JT proves its superiority over the previous UL30 series when it comes to hardware. First of all, this device packs the Intel new generation ULV processor built on Arrandale platform (32 nm), the Core i5-520UM. Clocked at 1.06 GHz, this processor comes with 3 MB of L3 cache, HyperThreading and 800 MHz FSB, while bringing Intel’s Turbo Boost technology which automatically increases frequency (by increasing the multiplier) in case extra performance is needed. Theoretically the increase is up to 1.86 GHz, although CPUz presented numbers up to 2.4 GHz on this system (but it might be some kind of mistake)

The device is based on the HM55 Express Chipset and comes with a hybrid graphic solution (managed by the Nvidia Optimus technology). The two graphic chips used are the GMA X4500 and the Nvidia GT310M. Optimus is the link between the two and seamlessly changes between them based on the operation the computer is performing (and its requirement for graphic power). Thus, when browsing, listening to music, writing, the system uses the integrated chip in order to offer better autonomy, but when watching HD content or playing games, the dedicated Nvidia GT310M chips jumps immediately in action, in order to cope with the requirements.

Good hardware

Good hardware

Also in terms of hardware, the Ul30JT brings 4 GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8) and 640 GB storage. Wi-Fi N, Ethernet (Gigabit Lan) and Bluetooth are present as connectivity options, but there’s no sign of even optional 3G (at least not on this test version I have on my desk – there’s usually a slot behind the battery on in the left-side, but this one lacks it).

Performances and Software

When speaking of performances, this laptop is perhaps right now one of the lords in the 13 inch class. While still using an ULV platform in order to also offer decent battery life, it can run nearly all kind of software and applications.

1080P - Flash

1080P - Flash

This test version came with Windows 7 Ultimate, but it will probably ship with Home Premium or Professional. Anyway, Asus loads it with quite a lot of bloatware (at least 10 applications you’ll hardly ever going to need) which has some effects over the snappiness of the entire system, thus, if you get this laptop, installing a fresh Windows should be your main priority.

Self stored 1080P on Power Saver

Self stored 1080P on Power Saver

Still, even with the bloatware installed, this notebook is fast. It can run any type of software, including power hungry ones like Photoshop, Corel, etc. Still, don’t expect them to load as fast as on your desktop. What the UL30JT is meant for is multimedia on the go, thus it can face 1080P content both self-stored and Flash, even on battery-more with Power balance profile selected. The screens below prove it.

It scores a 3.0 Windows 7 rating, with the poorest mark received for graphics.

Windows 7 rating

Windows 7 rating

But even so, this laptop can handle games. I for one tried Anno 1404 which is a RTS launched late last year and it can run from 20-25 fps (on native resolution with details on medium) to 50-80 fps (on 1024 x 768) with details also on medium. So more than playable. Other games like Counter-strike, Call of Duty, Sims, all should run decently on this laptop as long as you don’t expect to play them on full-details.

So overall the UL30JT performs amazingly well for a 13 incher ULV laptop. Better than i was expecting actually.

Stay tuned, I’ll get back with some tests later on (if you want me to run a particular test, please post a comment and I’ll see what i can do). Here you can see the results for the benchmarks conducted on this laptop.

Also, see this video below for more details on performances in clips and games.

Battery life

Like I said before, this laptop packs an 8 Cell 5600 mAh 84 Wh 15V battery. A pretty big one, but the hardware is needy too. So, expect to get:

  • around 7-8 hours of life on light browsing on Wi-fi with Screen dimmed to 50% (and no music)
  • around 5 hours on regular DivX movies
  • around 3 hours on HD playing and gaming
  • anywhere in between for a mix of these

All in all, you get good performance and battery life of around 5-7 hours on average, which is more than excellent. And the battery charges from 10 to 100% in around 2.5 hours, so pretty fast.

Sound, webcam, noise, heat and others

The UL30JT comes with a webcam, like all modern netbooks, placed on the upper part of the display. It’s only a 0.3 MPx one, so don’t expect much, but for chatting and Skype is more than enough.

Sound quality on the other hand is top notch. The speakers in this notebook are not only loud, but also very good. I reckon there’s some Altec Lansing technology inside, like I’ve seen on other Asus devices.

As for noise and heat. I have to say this device is a little bit noisier than the other 13 inch laptops I’ve tested. Having the powerful hardware comes with a price, and especially when playing or watching HD clips, the fan will get quite loud. Not disturbingly loud, but still, you’ll hear it. Also, the bottom-left part of this Asus gets a little bit hot and there’s a lot of warm air dispersed through that vent on that side. Yes, i know, “a little bit hot” it’s not really scientific, but I lack a method or tool to properly measure temperature on the surface, although I’ve been looking for one (suggestions would be appreciated :) ).

So for now, you’ll just have to take my word for it: this laptop gets somewhat hot on the left-bottom side. But is it “Burn my legs hot”? Definitely not, at least for me, and I have low heat tolerance :P

Where you can get it

You can’t get it yet. This device is not available on the market yet and what I have on my desk is an early sample. However, we should see it in stores soon, probably in the next weeks.

I’d reckon prices will get to around 700-800 bucks, but we’ll just have to wait and see what Asus plans. I’ll update this part once i know more.

Update: This device is now available in the States for $849 , from Amazon.com . Check this link for more details, pics, reviews and the option to get one.

Asus UL30JT - a winner

Asus UL30JT - a winner

Final thoughts

If you’ll read some of my other posts on this site, you’ll see i almost never rate a device “top notch”. The UL30A was one of the exceptions and now the Asus UL30JT is another.

I i were to rate it, i would give it 9 out of 10. I like the looks, the design and the construction quality. I like the powerful hardware in this light body and the fact that it comes with Optimus, so you get a mix between performance and battery life. Overall, I like it, although I would have given it a 10 if Asus changed the screen with a matte one and the trackpad with a better option (like we saw they’re preparing for the EEE PC 1218 for instance).

Still, if Asus manages to get the UL30JT for a fair price, which should be around 700-800 bucks, I’m sure it will quickly become very popular. Because it’s good, bringing portability, power and hopefully a nice price tag under a single roof. And this doesn’t happen too often.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • sleek aspect and solid build quality
  • light and compact for a 13 incher
  • bright display, very good inside or in poor light conditions
  • latest generations ULV hardware from Intel
  • top performances: can run nearly all kind of applications, clips and even most of the modern games
  • good full-size keyboard, although with a little bit too much flex for my taste
  • big battery which translates in good autonomy: up to 8 hours
  • very good speakers
  • good connectivity, but no 3G option

Cons:

  • Glossy display (so unusable outside)
  • trackpad with the dimpled finish and single-click button will do its job, but is not the best
  • aluminum exterior still catches smudges and fingerprints and they are noticeable on this black finish
  • gets noisy and hot on its upper left-side when used in intense applications
  • there’s a lot of bloatware preinstalled with the OS

All the pictures

Related posts:

  1. Asus EEE PC 1001P review – perhaps the best netbook under $300
  2. Asus EEE PC 1015PE – matte 10 incher for every pocket
  3. Asus UL20FT – powerful mini laptop in the 12 inch class
  4. Asus EEE PC 1015P – popular mate 10 inch netbook
  5. Asus EEE PC 1001PX – cheap netbook dressed in carbon fiber

42 Responses to “Asus UL30JT review – 13 incher with extra-muscles and good autonomy”

  1. magicmoof said:

    May 12, 10 at 7:33 am

    Nice review. I’ve been looking for more info on this. I’m looking for a laptop to use for casual stuff plus playing starcraft 2. Do you think it will run SC2? The UL30 VT can apparently run it ok. I wonder if this will be better.

  2. Howard said:

    May 12, 10 at 8:09 am

    Thanks for the review, it is outstanding!!

    http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

    Try this for monitoring temperature for CPU, RAM and Video card, works like a charm. I was waiting and waiting and waiting for this one, but couldn’t wait anymore so I shell out extra money for Asus 60-JX gaming laptop + a small asus EEE 1001p netbook..

  3. Nirav said:

    May 12, 10 at 8:28 am

    when do you think the release date for this will be? I really in need for a laptop and I’ve been waiting far too long and might just get the UL30VT instead.

    What do you think?

  4. Andrew said:

    May 12, 10 at 9:08 am

    @Nirav: Not sure, but I would say 3-4 weeks… That’s usually the term before Asus sending these tests versions

    @Howard: will try those tests

  5. Jason said:

    May 12, 10 at 7:51 pm

    Andrew — I’d really appreciate the HWMonitor tests too :)

    Temperature means a lot to me!

  6. Andrew said:

    May 12, 10 at 8:17 pm

    Jason, sry mate, I tried that too but it just doesn’t work. It freezes the system and then in turn into “Not responding” . I’ve tried the Instaled version and also the other one that does not require installation. That’s why i haven’t posted the results from it.

  7. Andrew said:

    May 12, 10 at 8:50 pm

    BTW, I added the test results. You can see them in this post, in case you missed the links inside the review: http://www.netbooklive.net/intel-core-i5-520um-benchmarked-on-asus-ul30jt-3493/

  8. PSP Hacks said:

    May 12, 10 at 10:25 pm

    Hi can you please test 3Dmark 2006 and PCmark06 and post the results please. It should be faster than a UL30vt but some people same they are almost the same!

  9. Howard said:

    May 12, 10 at 11:46 pm

    SO in your opinion, would you get the UL30VT-A1 with lower power cpu and cooler and longer battery life? or would u still ope for the new JT? and how much louder is it ?

  10. Andrew said:

    May 13, 10 at 12:13 am

    @PSP Hacks: that’s the last comment I’m going to accept with such a name. I did ran 3Dmark06, see the link in the comment above.

    @Howard: Frankly, I don’t know. It really depends on how much will the JT cost. I can’t say how much louder it is compared to the VT, but i can say it is louder than the standard UL30A. I have a problem with noise, because I tend to use the computer late into the night when every sound is so easy to spot. But once again, I’m not sure what would i get. Still, the VT is way superior in terms of performance, and if given a proper pricing, I would lean towards it.

  11. Nirav said:

    May 13, 10 at 2:23 am

    wouldn’t the UL30JT have a lower battery life than the 30VT? I mean its using a faster processor?

  12. Andrew said:

    May 13, 10 at 8:39 am

    Nirav, actually, the new platform comes with 18W TDP (for cpu and integrated GPU), which is better than what the older platform offered. So, i would say battery life should be more or less the same.

  13. Rob said:

    May 14, 10 at 3:45 am

    Thanks for the good review. Any idea what’s up with the core i7 model of this guy? Think it will be released at the same time?

  14. Howard said:

    May 14, 10 at 7:35 am

    Thanks for the reply, however if I were to guess, I would say UL30VT-A1 may still yield better battery life cause SU7300 is 10W vs 520UM’s 18W. with video card engaged, 512mb will use less power than 1 GB on JT. ALso unless you manually disable the optimus in Nvidia control panel, the auto switching kicking on and off will kill battery faster than UL30’s 1 button push and override any auto switching….which will mandate the system to stay on integrated 4500 video…..just my guess.

  15. NilsB said:

    May 14, 10 at 4:08 pm

    I’m not sure it quite makes sense. My Acer Revo 3600 shows Winindex 4.2 on the Nvidia 9400M. According to notebookcheck.com the 9400M scores 3002 in 3dmark05, where the 310m scores 7045. So maybe the measure in winindex only runs on the buildin graphics and not on the 310m.

  16. Andrew said:

    May 14, 10 at 7:36 pm

    @Rob No, i know nothing about that one for now

    @Howard I don’t know what’s the battery life for the VT< but like i said, on the JT you will get around 5-6 hours on daily tasks. Considering the extra power, that's enough for me. If i were to need autonomy, i would go for the Asus 1005PE or the Toshiba NB305. But what i need (and most users probably) is a good balance between performance and autonomy. As for the Optimus considering battery life, I think that won't be a major problem when proper drivers will be available :P

    @NilsB I don't think i get what you mean there…

  17. Howard said:

    May 15, 10 at 7:37 am

    Hey thanks for the reply, I was eagerly awaiting the JT, now I’m not so sure, might just keep my UL30-VT. Mine with wireless on, screen at 50%, taking note, surfing with some youtube video give me a solid 10 hours real life usage (on integrated video). I used it and measured it many times while at school and work all day, solid 10 hours which is crazy. I would looooove the power of JT but battery life is a bit more important for me.

  18. Rob said:

    May 15, 10 at 6:12 pm

    Hey again,
    Any idea how the speakers, screen and battery life rank vs. the Ul30VT? A lot of people really want to know how this ranks compared to the last gen UL30, so we can know whether or not to hold out for this or just buy.

    Thanks
    Rob

  19. Andrew said:

    May 16, 10 at 1:47 pm

    Rob, like i said, I haven’t tested the VT. However, i can compare them to the standard UL30A and I am pretty sure that one had similar display and speakers.

    So, display is identical on the JT to the one on the A. I don’t have a proper device to test brightness , so this is only based on what my eyes can tell. I hardly see any differences between the two and I’m pretty sure they haven’t changed the panel.

    As for speakers, I would say the ones on the JT are slightly louder, but not by much. Sound quality is good on both.

  20. Alex said:

    May 17, 10 at 5:29 pm

    Are they planing a model like this but that could be converted into a tablet by flipping the (multi-touch) screen and have a few sensors like accelerometer, digital compass and GPS as to get the best of the cell phone and laptop world? Add an SSD and it’d be the bomb.

  21. Pasya said:

    May 18, 10 at 2:26 am

    Why WEI for graphic is lower than UL30VT?
    are you changed to nvidia graphic when you rating?

  22. Andrew said:

    May 18, 10 at 3:45 pm

    @Alex I don’t know, but think about the price of such a device. I will be a bloody expensive bomb, that’s for sure :P

    @Pasya I’d reckon it’s because this is a test model and drivers are not yet finalized for the entire ION combo…

  23. Pontus said:

    May 20, 10 at 11:14 pm

    Would you also please post some superPI or cinebench 10 or 11.5 benchmarks on the cpu (in maximum speed mode).

  24. David said:

    May 27, 10 at 1:48 am

    Would love to see this finally for sale. I would buy one ASAP.

  25. Marcelo said:

    May 27, 10 at 6:51 am

    thanks for the review and shooting the video!

  26. Alan said:

    Jun 03, 10 at 9:23 am

    When the hell is this coming out?

    The first previews were in January.

    I’m guessing Asus failed to find a solution to the problem even Apple couldn’t: fitting an i5 + external graphics chip in a 13″

    I called them today and still no response as to when it will be out. Not holding my breath, buying the Asus U30Jc-1A or Lenovo Y460 instead. Both 8-900 bucks.

  27. Chris said:

    Jun 03, 10 at 7:20 pm

    Anyone know when the release date is going to be for NA?

    It has been released for about a month now in Europe…

  28. Aldrin said:

    Jun 05, 10 at 4:35 pm

    Are you sure? From what i know this one is not in stores in Europe either.

  29. Tonny said:

    Jun 06, 10 at 11:05 pm

    Actually it is available in Europe. Check this site for instance:
    http://www.dustinhome.dk/pd_5010442247.aspx?csref=Prisjamforelse_Prisjakt_5459

    The price is ~1200 USD (this includes the 25% sales tax…)

    (BTW I think that CPUz reports 2.4 GHz due to the FSB being overclocked)

  30. Aldrin said:

    Jun 08, 10 at 11:45 am

    I noticed that 2.4 GHz too, but according to the specs, the processor cannot run higher than 1.83 Ghz. Thus, in considered it some kind of reporting problem or something… As for the price, I hope it will cost $900 tops in the states. We should see pretty fast.

  31. Chris said:

    Jun 17, 10 at 9:04 pm

    I really hope this laptop is released before July but I just don’t see that happening.

  32. NilsB said:

    Jun 22, 10 at 9:54 am

    @Andrew.

    The 9400M is rated much lower than the 310m. The claim that 310m has a winindex (3.0) score belov the 9400m (4.3) sound incorrect. My suggestion is that the measure is performed on the integrated graphic (Intel 4500) rather than the Nvidia310M

  33. Martin J said:

    Jul 02, 10 at 4:52 pm

    Andrew, thanx from me too for this great review. Anyway, there is one “hidden” issue in some laptops, so I’m really curious about this one (because I’m 99% decided to get it). And the issue is: DISPLAY BUZZING SOUND. Currently I have a Sony VAIO VGN-FE670G, a great machine (though pretty old by now) with a great display, only it produces some high-frequency noise, like some very old TV sets. The brighter the screen, the louder the sound. When it’s late at night, and there’s no city noise, it drives me crazy! Like drilling in my head. Some people told me this issue exists in some mobile phones. I’m guessing it’s some piezo-electric effect, but whatever it is it’s highly annoying.

    So PLEASE, can you just put your ear near the display, front, back, side, and listen to it carefully? Is it silent (in that sense), or does it have this buzz, hiss or whatever we can call it…? I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it really IS an issue if present. Can you please report on this?

    Thanx in advance,
    Martin

  34. Martin said:

    Jul 06, 10 at 4:37 pm

    This computer, as offered by XoticPC, does not have built in USB. I quote the e-mail from their salesperson:

    “Hello Martin, Thank you for your email reply
    The bluetooth option in our configuration menu will be a “USB Bluetooth Adapter” which is an external item that plugs into a USB port.
    Please let me know how i can be of further assistance
    Thanks, Justin W”

  35. Andrew said:

    Jul 06, 10 at 8:56 pm

    Hey Martin. Sry, i don’t have the unit anymore so i cannot check what you asked about the display :( I didn’t hear any bothering sound when i had it, but i did not pay any special attention to that aspect.

    As for the Bluetooth, the version i had on my desk came with integrated Bluetooth. Seems weird that they would sell it without. Yet again, that was an early pre-release so maybe Asus decided to skip Bluetooth for the final version? That would be quite stupid of them though.

    Perhaps you should wait a little bit till this laptop becomes available in more online shops..

  36. Martin said:

    Jul 07, 10 at 1:37 am

    I guess you’re right… thank you!

  37. jonas said:

    Jul 18, 10 at 11:02 pm

    Perhaps a stupid question, but when you are testing the 1080p flash are you using flashplayer 10.0 or 10.1? I.e. is this with hardware acceleration or is it running only on the CPU?

  38. Petr said:

    Jul 20, 10 at 5:41 pm

    How do you like the touchpad? I absolutely hate it. It is not correctly centered! Touchpad should be centered with respect to GH keys; instead, it is shifted almost 1 key right. As I type with all ten fingers, and thus have hands positioned on the notebook chassis, the cursor flies all around and buttons are randomly touched. It’s impossible to type anything with touchpad switched on. Oh, now I love touchpads with metallic frame!

    IMHO, the ventiled air is very hot. As I use mouse in the left hand, this makes both my mouse and my hand being grilled :-(

  39. Andrew said:

    Jul 21, 10 at 6:44 pm

    10.1 . It runs the Nvidia chip for sure

  40. Andrew said:

    Jul 21, 10 at 6:47 pm

    Petr, that’s actually a problem with 90%+ of the netbooks. Very few have the trackpad to the left, like the Vaios. I have the same problem as you do when typing, that’s why i most fo the time turn trackpad off when typing.

    As for the hot air, I’ve said in the review it gets pretty hot. Luckily I’m a righty and I could do OK with the vent on that left upper hand. Too bad for lefties like you though :(

  41. James said:

    Sep 01, 10 at 3:25 am

    So the ul30jt on amazon.com, is that the real deal or what? Where are the consumer reviews? I have suspicion that its just a promo by asus. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me its out. . .

  42. Andrew said:

    Sep 01, 10 at 5:30 pm

    I just noticed it too. It’s an early listing, no reviews for now. As you can see, it’s only available for pre-order and right now they say it will ship in 2-4 weeks.

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