ASUS U80V-A1 Review

[Sorrix]

So I have finally had a chance to sit down and play with this new laptop. The ASUS U80V-A1 is remarkably light,sleek and just a sexy beast.

I am going to try and keep this review as objective as possible so i don't sound like some over the hill fan boy.

Specs:
Core 2 duo t6500
4GB Ram
ATI 5470 512vram
B/G/N + bluetooth
DVD super-multi
back-lit keyboard
multi-touch Touch pad
HDMI x1
USB x3
VGA x1
express slot
Flash card reader


Alright so first things first, The packaging.





It came packaged like no other laptop i have come across before. It was very elegant all the way through.

Contents:
Laptop
Battery
Data discs
cable tie
mini mouse
Bag
Ac cord and adapter
Windows 7 upgrade
2 year warranty registration form.
Screen cloth.

*Note, I was impressed with the quality of the bag, above your normal little laptop sleeve you might get with other companies. The bag was a good size and had extra compartments to hold accessories.

Now onto the appearance.





It has a very shiny finish to it, with little tiny specs of blue if you look closely enough. A neat little finish. Only downside, is that it does pickup your finger prints. Not as bad as some of you may think, but still annoying.

The keyboard is very slick no complaints here. The back light is a good idea, which can be controlled either by the laptops sensors or manual function buttons.





As you can see, it is relatively small and slim. The DVD drive i thought might be a problem, but it seems relatively sturdy.



The screen is exceptionally bright, which again can be controlled by sensors depending on your current environment or the manual function buttons. As you can see in the picture the back-lit keyboard can be handy in darker rooms.

I also tested video playback with regular dvd rips and bluray quality material. The laptop had no problem reproducing the content. Also hooked it up to my HDTV via the HDMI port and had video play back on the TV. Once again no problems here as the quality was premium.

On a down note, the speakers did seem to be a little lacking in bass reproduction. The SRS Premium Sound does help when turned on but overall felt lacking (maybe because i'm use to my expensive sennheiser headset.) Other then the bass the sound reproduction was quiet clear.

In terms of speed, the laptop boots into windows very fast and is exceptional at handling multiple process consuming task at the same time.



Another cool feature was the "Smart Log in" You setup prior by allowing the laptop to take a snapshot of your face. So every time you wish to log in all you need to do is click smart log in, and it recognizes your face and logs you in automatically. Good security feature.

*Down Note
It did come with alot of bloat wear that i had to spend alot of time removing. I know every laptop does come with this junk but its a pain in the butt.

3D Mark 06.
i ran this last night and scored a 3157, No wear near my beefy desktop but a still an admiral performance for a notebook.

Did not get a chance to test any games. I will be testing Fear 2, prototype, TF2 and the sims 3 this week.

Conclusion.

Overall a very solidly built machine, elegant from start to finish. ASUS has done a great job creating a sexy slim laptop while keeping it fairly powerful. The chaise it self seems strong and solid and not just "cheap plastic" I couldn't be happier with my decision to stick it out for this bad boy.

[messyrimjob]

good job man. great review. one question though, the empty space in the middle... now is this how it is or is there u80's with the middle piece?? or is it removable,? because i have usually seen them with no empty gap.

[messyrimjob]

also wat about W7 on this lappy?

[Sorrix]

the empty gap is when u have no battery in. When you put the battery in it fills the gap and looks completly normal.

[Sorrix]

as for windows 7, i downloaded the final retail version of ultimate but im a little weary of driver issues. So not sure what im going to do at the moment.

[messyrimjob]

Sweeeeeeet!

[jaydee101]

what about screen quality. That is where I heard the laptop really fails. Can you check the blacks, and if possible watch some HD video and see how that works out. Thanks in advance

[tcee-]

great job sorrix. tis what i've been waiting for for a good like 2 weeks =P

[Melody]

Nice review Sorrix!

Looking forward to see the rest of the benchmarks this week ^_^

If possible, could you also post the temps of the notebook after your fiddle around a bit with games? One can only wonder at the heat produced by something so slim

[Sorrix]

I will monitor the heat while i stress test it during the games I'm going to run.

*update

The battery lasted just over 5 and a half hours under light use and battery saving settings. I am impressed. I was thinking id get 4 hours best.

** Tcee- did this review help sway you decision