ASUS UL80Jt: Overclocked i3 ULV
by Vivek Gowri on November 17, 2010 1:15 PM EST
Back when ASUS released the UL80Vt last year, we gave it a glowing review, praising its balance of performance and battery life without breaking the bank. The UL80Vt had an overclocked Core 2 Duo SU7300, an NVIDIA G 210M with a manually switchable option, and ASUS’ now standard (for the U/UL series) 84Wh battery. This gave it pretty solid performance, on par with larger mainstream notebooks, and close to 13 hours of ideal-case battery life, even with Turbo33 mode enabled. Today, we’ve got the UL80Jt, an updated version running the new Core i3-330UM processor and NVIDIA’s Optimus-enabled G 310M graphics.
| ASUS UL80Jt-A1 Specifications | |
| Processor |
Intel Core i3-330UM (1.20GHz, 32nm, 3MB L2 cache, 18W) Overclockable to 1.60GHz |
| Chipset | Intel HM55 |
| Memory | 2x2GB DDR3-1066 |
| Graphics |
NVIDIA GeForce G 310M 1024MB (16SPs, 608/1468/1240 Core/Shader/RAM clocks) Intel HD Graphics (Optimus Switchable) |
| Display | 14.0" LED Glossy 16:9 768p (1366x768) |
| Hard Drive(s) | 500GB 5400RPM HDD (Seagate ST9500325AS) |
| Optical Drive | 8x DVDR SuperMulti |
| Networking |
Atheros AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet Atheros AR9285 BGN 56K Modem |
| Audio | HD Audio (2 stereo speakers with two audio jacks) |
| Battery | 8-Cell, 15V, 5600mAh, 84Wh battery |
| Front Side | None |
| Left Side |
Headphone/Microphone jacks 2 x USB HDMI VGA Cooling Exhaust AC Power connection |
| Right Side |
Optical Drive (DVDRW) Flash reader (MMC/MS/MS Pro/SD/xD) 1 x USB 2.0 Gigabit Ethernet |
| Back Side | None |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Dimensions | 13.5" x 9.6" x 1.1" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 4.8 lbs (with 8-cell battery) |
| Extras |
Webcam 86-Key keyboard Flash reader (MMC/MS/MSPro/SD/xD) Multi-touch touchpad ExpressGate OS (8-second boot) |
| Warranty |
2-year global warranty 1-year battery pack warranty 1-year accidental damage 30-day zero bright dot LCD |
| Pricing | ASUS UL80Jt-A1 starting at $869 |
Like its predecessor, the UL80Jt is a thin and light 14” notebook, sharing the same dimensions and form factor. Not much has changed on the outside, as we’ll get to in a moment, but the insides are pretty different. The Core i3-330UM has a default clock speed of 1.20 GHz, and ASUS’ Turbo33 utility gives it a 33% overclock, raising the total to a much livelier 1.60 GHz. The i3, unlike its more expensive i5 and i7 brethen, does not benefit from Intel’s Turbo Boost technology, which will automatically adjusts clock speed for single or multi-threaded applications. The other change here is the not-so-new G 310M and the Optimus graphics switching technology. We’ve extensively covered both of these in the past, so I’ll just gloss over them in the intro and go more in-depth in the graphics performance section.
As for the rest of the specs, we’ve got a 1366x768 resolution 14” screen, 4GB memory, 500GB hard drive, 2.4 GHz wireless-G, and that glorious 84Wh 8-cell battery. What’s interesting to note is that there is no Bluetooth to be found here, even with an $869 pricetag. We'll have to see if the revised UL80 can top the equally well rounded and more powerful U30Jc that also earned our Bronze Editor’s Choice award.
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yzkbug - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
glossy screen? ... neeeext!B3an - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
Why have you not included the recently reviewed Dell XPS L501x ? Especially in the LCD tests. Without it, and other reviewed laptops with good or better LCD's, it's makes them tests seem bias towards Apple. As if they are the only ones using a decent LCD.JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
Different markets... that's a mainstream laptop with a decent GPU. Plus, this review was started before the XPS ever arrived (shame on Vivek for taking so long).VivekGowri - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
*sigh*.....my bad.setzer - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the chipset noted in the hardware table wrong?As far as I know (and I also checked ARK) the GS45 only applies to the old Core2duo cpus no?
JarredWalton - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
Fixed.VivekGowri - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
Yeap, my bad - I ripped off the UL80Vt table and simply forgot to change the chipset. Thanks for catching that :)MikeMurphy - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - link
I have been waiting anxiously for this review but was disappointed that the UL80VT or UL30VT numbers weren't included for comparison.Also re 210 v 310 above, you'll notice many of the 310 Optimus setups have reduced memory clocks compared to the 210 in the UL30/80VT. I suspect this is for battery savings considering the continuous memory copying going on in the background.
Thermogenic - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
I still haven't seen anything more appealing than the Alienware M11x R1. It has the Core2Duo CULV and gets great battery life, as well as a 335M graphics card that powers almost all games at it's native 720p resolution with 30fps. It's screen is terrible, but that seems par for the course in the sub $800 systems. The only thing close I've seen is the $999 Macbook.StrangerGuy - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - link
Simply put: No offering as potent, as small, and as cheap as a Acer 3820TG. C'mon, ULV and 310m on a 12" may have been nice...but on a 14" incher that is a total joke. Lately they are just flooding the market with unappealing netbooks/laptops that are underpowered for the price.