question about Asus UL80vt screen

[LongTimePCUser]

I am really tempted to get an Asus UL80vt. Great battery life, over clock, dedicated video.

But, I have read mixed reviews about the screen quality. Mostly about the low contrast level of the screen. Some people seem to like it. But, others don't.

I don't know a local store where I can see the UL80vt.

But, I went to Staples and saw the 14" Asus U80A.
The screen on this notebook definitely looked washed out. Blacks were dull and not really black.
The chicklet keyboard seemed OK. Not great. But OK.
The trackpad felt good.

The form factor of the U80a looked exactly like the pictures I see of the UL80vt.
Does the UL80v use the same screen as the U80a?

If you have the ul80vt, do you like the screen? How does it compare with other notbooks you have used?

It looked like there were controls to adjust the screen colors and contrast.
Does adjustment help?

What about the 13.3" UL30vt? Is the screen better or the same as the 14" UL80vt?
I would prefer the 14" with the dvd drive. But it the 13.3" had a better screen, I would go with that one.

 

[Alienwho]

I ordered the UL30VT. From what I hear the screen is pretty much the same, but might be a little better than the UL80VT. It's probably not enough to change your mind if you need a DVD drive.

Check out this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428368

Certain people seem to bash the screen as terrible at first, but as you get further along into the thread people start to say it isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Got my UL30vt today. The screen is certainly not Vaio Z/Macbook Pro quality. To me it seems about par with most sub-$1000 notebooks you see at the stores. It's fine for me..certainly as good or better than my old Dell Inspiron 4100, and I survived well with that.

 

[Jdioutkast]

I have a ul80vt, I have no problems with the screen, its much better then the inspiron e1505 i had previously. When I am playing games like Left 4 Dead 2 sometimes I can see what they mean though, Blacks arent as black as they could be, but i think if I bothered to adjust the settings it would be fine.

 

[Gooberlx2]

n/m I'm an idiot. Thought the display was matte, but must be anti-glare glossy because unless a spotlight is behind you, you can't really tell.

 

[LongTimePCUser]

Alienwho,
Thanks. The thread on notebookreview.com is very informative. 50+ pages. 500+ posts.
I am reading it now.

Check out this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=428368

Certain people seem to bash the screen as terrible at first, but as you get further along into the thread people start to say it isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[Thor86]

Have no issues with my UL80VT screen. Yes, it's glossy finish, but for office/internet/mild gaming use, I have no issues with it. I have not tried watching videos on it yet, so will comment on that a bit later.

I use a Dell 2707 for my main rig, and honestly, for everything above, I really cannot tell the difference. Maybe if you do heavy colour reproduction work, this screen might not be adequate, but luving the battery life, size, and hybrid graphics (switch between Nvidia and Intel on the fly). Also, with Asus Turbo, this laptop is running at 2.1Ghz (SU3700 default clocks are 1.3Ghz), and uses no more power - 0.87v).

 

[Gooberlx2]

Have no issues with my UL80VT screen. Yes, it's glossy finish, but for office/internet/mild gaming use, I have no issues with it. I have not tried watching videos on it yet, so will comment on that a bit later.

I use a Dell 2707 for my main rig, and honestly, for everything above, I really cannot tell the difference. Maybe if you do heavy colour reproduction work, this screen might not be adequate, but luving the battery life, size, and hybrid graphics (switch between Nvidia and Intel on the fly). Also, with Asus Turbo, this laptop is running at 2.1Ghz (SU3700 default clocks are 1.3Ghz), and uses no more power - 0.87v).

I was pretty sure it's a 33% (Turbo33)overclock to 1.73Ghz. Still very decent.

...unless you pushed the overclock further (which is probably possible).

 

[citan x]

Have no issues with my UL80VT screen. Yes, it's glossy finish, but for office/internet/mild gaming use, I have no issues with it. I have not tried watching videos on it yet, so will comment on that a bit later.

I use a Dell 2707 for my main rig, and honestly, for everything above, I really cannot tell the difference. Maybe if you do heavy colour reproduction work, this screen might not be adequate, but luving the battery life, size, and hybrid graphics (switch between Nvidia and Intel on the fly). Also, with Asus Turbo, this laptop is running at 2.1Ghz (SU3700 default clocks are 1.3Ghz), and uses no more power - 0.87v).

How did you overclock your laptop? Does it lower your battery time by much?


I had the UL80VT for a week now. The screen does look a bit washed out. This is more evident with videos. However, it is not the deal breaker some people say it is. The screen is acceptable. Then again, this is from someone who has a Dell WFP3007-HC, a 24" cheap PVA, and this laptop and I don't really have a preference for any one. (Well, I prefer the Dell, but only because of its resolution.) They all get the job done. Unless your picky with video or need accurate color reproduction, the screen is fine.

I would however like the screen to have a higher resolution.

 

[Imyourzero]

Alienwho,
Thanks. The thread on notebookreview.com is very informative. 50+ pages. 500+ posts.
I am reading it now.

I just got finished reading it.

It's only 20 pages if you set your options to 30 posts per page, btw.

I am debating between the UL80Vt and the UL50Vt. No other notebook seems to offer this combination of performance and stellar battery life. It's a bit worrisome that some people are having minor build quality issues with the UL80Vt, but for the price I'm not expecting perfection. I'm typing on my GF's Inspiron 15 right now, and would expect the Asus to be equivalent or better in terms of build quality.

From what I gathered, the display only looks washed out when running the integrated Intel video due to a driver issue. Supposedly it looks much better when using the nVidia G210M, so I'm hoping a driver update will fix this issue when running the Intel integrated chipset.

 

[JayBlay77]

I am debating between the UL80Vt and the UL50Vt.

My issue with going with the UL50VT is that it still keeps the 1366x768 resolution that both the 14" UL80VT and 13" UL30VT have despite being the bigger 15". I'm a sucker for extra desk space so if I move up to a bigger screen like a 15" I expect the higher res. But that's just me.

 

[Zap]

How did you overclock your laptop? Does it lower your battery time by much?

Anandtech "first look" gives some technical info on how the hardware handles the overclock:

One of the more interesting aspects of the ASUS UL series is that they allow overclocking of the ULV processors -- typically 1.73GHz instead of the default 1.30GHz, though in low-power states it's also overclocked from 800MHz to 1066MHz. The overclocking is achieved by simply raising the FSB from 800MHz to 1066MHz; since the chipset and other components can all run a 1066FSB already, the only component that's truly overclocked is the CPU, and it has no difficulty running at 1.73GHz.

The Tech Report gives some more interesting details:

a turbo button in Asus' Power4Gear Hybrid software pushes the FSB to 1066MHz, yielding a CPU clock speed of 1.73GHz. This turbo mode also kicks the memory bus from 800 to 1066MHz.

At the other end of the spectrum, the UL80Vt's battery-saving power scheme takes advantage of the SU7300's second P-state, which caps the processor speed at 800MHz.

So, you have to use the Asus software to do the turbo mode. Battery life probably will remain almost unchanged if you allow the CPU to throttle to the low power mode and aren't doing anything demanding. I think the overclock keeps the stock voltage, so even running at full overclocked speeds it will probably not use a whole lot more juice. Maybe someone can come up with a link of actual before/after battery rundown tests?

 

[Imyourzero]

My issue with going with the UL50VT is that it still keeps the 1366x768 resolution that both the 14" UL80VT and 13" UL30VT have despite being the bigger 15". I'm a sucker for extra desk space so if I move up to a bigger screen like a 15" I expect the higher res. But that's just me.

I agree that a higher resolution would be nice. However, some compromises had to me made I guess. And with the 15" you do get a numpad and a larger hard drive (500GB vs. 320GB in the 14").

 

[Thor86]

How did you overclock your laptop? Does it lower your battery time by much?

Just uses the Asus Power4Gear Utility and with Turbo option enabled (default settings).

My cpu says it uses the 8x multiplier, so with Turbo off, it is at 1.6Ghz. Weird.

Turbo enabled at 8x 266 = 2.133Ghz.

I'd post an image of CPU-Z if I could.

 

[frodrick]

Just uses the Asus Power4Gear Utility and with Turbo option enabled (default settings).

My cpu says it uses the 8x multiplier, so with Turbo off, it is at 1.6Ghz. Weird.

Turbo enabled at 8x 266 = 2.133Ghz.

I'd post an image of CPU-Z if I could.

CPU-Z displays incorrect multipliers for this CPU.

non-turbo is 6.5 x 200 = 1300
turbo is 6.5 x 266 = 1729

 

[Thor86]

CPU-Z displays incorrect multipliers for this CPU.

non-turbo is 6.5 x 200 = 1300
turbo is 6.5 x 266 = 1729

Interesting. Even Coretemp displays an 8x multi. What program/utility displays correct info?

 

[MinXun]

Hi frodrick, so which software should I get to check my actual CPU speed? My Asus UL30VT running at 2.13Ghz when i check w CPUid. Thanks!