ASUS U41JF: Arrandale's Not Dead Yet
by Jarred Walton on March 28, 2011 7:35 PM ESTASUS U41JF: Granting Arrandale a Stay of Execution
We’ve given ASUS’ U-series of laptops/notebooks plenty of praise since we first looked at the UL80VT back in late 2009. As one of the forerunners for switchable graphics, and sporting a large 8-cell battery that managed to last over 14 hours in ideal circumstances (or “only” about 10 hours for moderate Internet use), it had plenty of good ideas. When NVIDIA launched their Optimus Technology a few months later, seeing ASUS as the first major OEM to support the feature was hardly a surprise.
Time passes quickly in the computer world, and devices that were once cutting edge start to look dated and slow. Overclocked CULV processors and G 210M/310M graphics were fine in 2009, less so in 2010. These days you can’t swing a power brick without hitting an Optimus enabled laptop, and while we liked a lot of the updates to the core platform in ASUS’ U30JC, we had two chief complaints: the LCD and the GPU.
Roughly 18 months after the first “modern” U-series laptop, ASUS is finally addressing at least one of our complaints. We’ve seen faster GPUs with Optimus in their N-series laptops (i.e. the N61JV, N82JV, and N53JF), but those all cut the battery to a mere 48Wh capacity instead of the 84Wh we’ve come to know and love. Now we finally get two new parts, the U41JF and U31JG, where we get a midrange GPU with a large battery, with a reasonable price as a bonus.
Ah, but there’s always a catch, and in this case the catch is Arrandale. Sandy Bridge launched in January, was delayed in February thanks to the Cougar Point chipset bug, but is now rolling out to the four corners of the world; however, the new U-series laptops are still using the older Arrandale dual-core processors. How much of a difference will that make in performance? Can overclocking, battery capacity, and other features improve the situation? Here’s how the U41JF we received for review specs out.
| ASUS U41JF-A1 Specifications | |
| Processor |
Intel Core i3-380M (2x2.53GHz + HTT, 32nm, 3MB L3, 35W) Overclockable to 19x153 (2.91GHz) |
| Chipset | Intel HM55 |
| Memory | 2x2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 (Max 8GB) |
| Graphics |
Intel HD Graphics (Arrandale) NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M 1GB GDDR3 Optimus 96 SPs, 560/1120/1600MHz Core/Shader/RAM clocks |
| Display |
14" WLED Glossy 16:9 768p (1366x768) (AU Optronics B140XW02 v1) |
| Hard Drive(s) |
500GB 7200RPM HDD (Western Digital WD5000BEVT-80A0RT1) |
| Optical Drive | DVDRW (Matshita UJ892AS) |
| Networking |
Gigabit Ethernet (JMicron JMC250) 802.11n (Atheros AR9285 – 150Mbps) Bluetooth (Broadcom BC-270) |
| Audio |
2.0 Altec Lansing Speakers Microphone and headphone jacks Capable of 5.1 digital output (HDMI/SPDIF) |
| Battery | 8-Cell, 14.4V, 5.8Ah, 83Wh |
| Front Side | Memory Card Reader |
| Left Side |
2 x USB 2.0 HDMI 1.4 Gigabit Ethernet VGA (D-SUB) Exhaust vent AC Power Connection |
| Right Side |
Headphone/S-PDIF Jack Microphone Jack 1 x USB 2.0 Optical Drive Kensington Lock |
| Back Side | N/A |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Dimensions | 13.31" x 9.84" x 1.0-1.06" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 4.78 lbs (with 8-cell battery) |
| Extras |
0.3MP Webcam 86-Key keyboard Flash reader (MMC, SD, MS/Pro) Office 2010 Starter |
| Warranty | 2-year standard warranty |
| Pricing |
MSRP: $899 Online: Starting at $819 |
We’ve seen nearly every item on this list at some point, and all of the major features are present and accounted for. Let’s focus on the areas where the U41JF isn’t just another run-of-the-mill laptop. The HDD, DVDR, audio, and networking are all common items. As far as missing features, there are no USB 3.0 ports, no eSATA, no FireWire, and no ExpressCard. I’ll be honest: out of all those, I only sort of miss eSATA and USB 3.0; I’ve never used 1394 or EC on a modern PC, though if you need any of these ports you’ll have to look elsewhere. Let’s move on to the extras.
Starting with the CPU, while ASUS lists support for the i5-460M and i3-370M/380M, our test sample came with the i3-380M. Clocked at the same 2.53GHz base as the i5-460M, it lacks support for Turbo Boost. ASUS compensates for this by providing a 15% overclock (153MHz bus vs. 133MHz standard) when you enable their “Power4Gear High Performance” power profile. On the flipside, ASUS’ Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) also limits the bus speed to 100MHz when you choose the “Power4Gear Battery Saving” power profile, along with the locking the CPU multiplier at 7X to 9X. If you prefer to run at stock, you can disable SHE (along with the over/underclocking) in the BIOS. Speaking of the BIOS, ASUS also supports UEFI mode in the BIOS if you wish to enable it; we didn’t test compatibility with this mode, however.
About the only other noteworthy points are things we’ve already mentioned: GT 425M Optimus graphics and a large 8-cell battery are definitely appreciated. More impressive is that ASUS manages to fit all of this into a 4.8 lbs. chassis, making the U41JF 0.7 lbs. lighter than the discontinued Dell XPS L401x despite having a higher capacity battery.
One other tidbit I do want to point out is the inclusion of Office 2010 Starter. Yes, you have to put up with some advertisements and you only get "limited" versions of Excel and Word, but let’s be frank: Microsoft Works sucks, so being able to open and use standard Word and Excel files is a great improvement. Or you can just go the OpenOffice.org route if you choose, but I certainly won’t miss uninstalling Works.
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lexluthermiester - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
As opposed to HP and AMD? Or was that sarcasm?ajp_anton - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Have you ever considered flipping that graph and make a simple "Watts (lower is better)" instead?sleepeeg3 - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Appreciate your comments on the LCD. I had an different Acer, which probably was not much different from the one in your graphs and tried to switch to the ASUS - horrible. While the Acer was no gem, the ASUS was almost intolerable. I ended up returning it, because of trackpad skipping and partly for the horrible LCD.That said, would I be willing to pay for an IPS panel in a cheap laptop that I am going to use and abuse? Especially one in an Acer with a chafing, integrated LCD power cable that is causing some of the LED backlights to fail, requiring replacement of the panel. Maybe $100 more if I knew it was an IPS, but it's not critical for something I do work on, when I can go home and type on the fantastic 26" IPS I am typing on now. It is amazing to sit behind someone with an Apple laptop and see their gorgeous screen, but on the other hand I know they paid $2000-3000 for that battery sucking, incompatible brick so it's alot easier to tolerate.
Bottom line though, it would be nice to have more choices and for there to be a clear standard for LCD display technology.
mschira - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
save another 100g by ditching the DVD drive,give us a better (highres screen) - you have a buy.
So. Yea well.
M.
duploxxx - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
While this is a nice update / upgrade if you want it is nothing more then stretching the life cycle of an EOL platform.By adding the GT425M, sure the performance is a better then the UM but the playback already shows what will happen with battery in real life not to mention any gaming on battery.
SB will clearly have the lead in poweroptimization for the CPU while still the need is there for a dGPU, the HD series are just not strong enough gaming wise.
Liano on the other hand will provide the gaming performance in the same 35W package.
Watch the P520+5650 real close that is the performance it will have but with a more optimised CPU, when AMD is able to get the idle power under controll of the whole package (mainly needed for idle and surfing), the platform will be a much more balanced solution, the right one for this kind of notebook offers.
Chris Peredun - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
"DVD-RAM (Matshita UJ892AS)"Really? A DVD-RAM drive? Haven't seen one of those in years. ;)
Methinks you meant "DVDRW" instead.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
DVD-RAM is another standard, and that's the way the drive chose to identify itself. Technically, every DVD-RAM capable drive is also able to support DVD+/-RW as well, but I suppose just keeping the model number in there is sufficient.Chris Peredun - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
DVD-RAM isn't used very often these days, that's why I suggested the change to the more common "DVDRW" - but mea culpa, apparently this drive can in fact read *and* write to DVD-RAMs.geniekid - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
I'm still using my UL80VT from 1.5 years ago. When I'm away from home, I still use it to play semi-old-school games like TF2 and Torchlight. The battery life is amazing if you mode down to integrated graphics and watch movies or surf the internet. If the U41JF is two refreshes away from the UL80VT and still offers the same battery life for about the same price (I bought my UL80VT for $850) with the ability to run modern games, I have no problem recommending it to anyone who's on the fence.Alexo - Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - link
Are there any (current or upcoming) laptops that combine a good screen with long battery life?I understand that the Tnikpad X220 is available with an IPS panel (although it has a rather small screen and no discrete graphics).
Are there other options?