ASUS UL80Vt-A1 Review

[Charles P. Jefferies]

The ASUS UL80Vt is a 14” thin-and-light laptop with 10 hours of battery life, an overclocked processor, and switchable Nvidia graphics. Read on to find out if this battery-friendly powerhouse is worth your money.

Our ASUS UL80Vt-A1 has the following specifications:

• 14-inch 720p (1366x768) display with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Ultra Low Voltage processor (1.3GHz/3MB L2/800MHz FSB) overclocked to 1.73GHz/1066MHz FSB
• Switchable graphics: Nvidia GeForce G210M w/ 512MB GDDR3 dedicated and Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated
• 4GB DDR3-1066 RAM
• 320GB 5400RPM hard drive (Seagate Momentus 5400.6/ST9320325AS)
• 802.11n wireless (Atheros AR9285)
• DVD Super Multi drive
• Two-year warranty w/ one year accidental damage coverage
• 8-cell Li-ion battery (5600mAh)
• Weight: 4.8 lbs
• Dimensions: 13.5” x 9.6” x 1.1”
• MSRP: $849.99

It's also worth mentioning that ASUS informed us that Amazon.com has a rather attractive promotion going on after November 1, 2009. Anyone who purchases the UL80Vt-A1 from Amazon gets a $100 Amazon gift card.

The same promotion also applies to the ASUS UL50Ag-A2. Additionally, if you purchase an ASUS UL20A-A1 Amazon will include a $75 gift card. Details regarding this promotion were not available at the time of this writing, but you might want to check out Amazon.com for more information.

Build and Design
The UL80Vt has a classy design. With a height of only 1.1 inches it is certainly a thin machine, and the inward chiseled sides make it look even thinner. The lid is the most visually attractive part of the notebook with its brushed aluminum back and angled hinge design. The island-style keyboard also adds to the visual appeal; it sits flush with the surface of the notebook. Although the UL80Vt's 8-cell battery is large the designers cleverly integrated it between the display hinges for a flush appearance. The UL80Vt has an understated look and fits in both home and work environments.

The UL80Vt has a plastic construction with the exception of the aluminum-backed lid. All visible surfaces are glossy which means dust and fingerprints show up easily; keeping this notebook clean is a chore. The plastics themselves are of reasonable quality.

Unfortunately the good news ends here. The UL80Vt's build quality and construction are subpar. I was able to visibly twist the chassis using only modest pressure, and pushing down on the touchpad literally causes the chassis to sag and touch the surface it is resting on.

This unusually high amount of flex indicates that the notebook's internal frame is not strong enough. The lid also twists easily despite the aluminum back. Furthermore, the plastic screen benzel below the lid is very flimsy and can easily be pulled away from the screen about a half centimeter. Pushing on this area causes the screen to bend outward uncomfortably far. Lastly, the plastic trim above the keyboard is unsecured and has a few millimeters of up-and-down play. Overall while the build materials themselves are of reasonable quality the strength and construction of the UL80Vt are disappointing.

Screen and Speakers
The UL80Vt has a 14-inch display with LED backlighting, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a 1366x768 resolution. Its glossy coating makes images look clearer at the expense of glare. The display has plenty of brightness but the contrast is low, making pictures look slightly washed out. Side-to-side viewing angles are adequate however are limited vertically; the display needs to be tilted just right to get an accurate picture. A better quality display would have been appreciated on a multimedia notebook like the UL80Vt.

The speakers are poor despite the Altec Lansing branding. They do not get loud enough and are very tinny. The headphone jack is fortunately static-free and the best way to get audio out of the notebook.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The UL80Vt has a chiclet/island style keyboard with extra space between keys. The keyboard is unfortunately mediocre and does not do anything well. While typing the keyboard feels loose as if it were merely resting on the chassis rather than being secured and has a cheap rattling sound, especially on the left side. Flex is also a problem on the left side. The tactile feedback is limited at best; there is not enough of it and key travel is too short. Moreover the keys are noisier than we prefer. As a result of these deficiencies typing is uncomfortable especially for extended periods.

The touchpad is also below average. Its glossy surface is difficult to track on and the single-piece button is somewhat noisy and difficult to press. I had to apply pressure at the far left and right edges of the button to get clicks to register.

Ports and Features
The UL80Vt has an adequate selection of ports, including HDMI. The notebook strangely does not have a Kensington lock slot or built-in Bluetooth. All picture descriptions are left to right.

Left Side: Power jack, exhaust vent, VGA out, HDMI, 2x USB, microphone and headphone jacks

Right Side: DVD Super Multi drive, media card reader (MMC/MS/MS-Pro/SD/xD), USB, 1000Mbps Ethernet

Front: Speakers

Back: Battery

Performance and Benchmarks
The UL80Vt has a unique ability to overclock its Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Core 2 Duo processor from 1.3GHz to 1.73GHz, giving it a significant performance advantage over competitors with ULV processors. Coupled with 4GB of RAM and a quick 320GB hard drive, the UL80Vt is more than capable of handling everyday tasks and more intensive applications, and the Nvidia graphics card allows for casual gaming. All benchmarks were run with the processor overclocked to 1.73GHz.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

Crysis gaming benchmark (1024x768 resolution and high settings):

HDTune storage drive performance test:

The Nvidia GeForce G210M is a mainstream graphics card and unable to play newer games like Crysis well. I tested an older game, Counter-Strike: Source, informally and it ran at all high settings without difficulty. The reality is that there is only so much that can be done with just 16 shader units and a 64-bit memory interface. For older games (~2005) the G210M will suffice but for newer games look for a notebook with a more powerful graphics card.

Heat and Noise
At idle the UL80Vt is essentially silent for all intents and purposes. Under full load the fan speeds up but is still muted; there is no fan whine or annoying tone. The fan exhaust is located on the left side of the notebook and does not expel a lot of heat unless under full load – this system simply does not produce much heat to begin with. The chassis manages heat well; the palm rests stay near room temperature and only on the left side does the notebook get slightly warm.

Battery Life
The UL80Vt lasted an extremely impressive nine hours and fifty minutes while surfing the web in power saving mode with low screen brightness. The large eight-cell battery is certainly a welcome feature. The switchable graphics and ULV processor greatly helped power efficiency.

Operating System and Software
The UL80Vt-A1 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and too many pre-loaded utilities. Several of these pre-loaded "bloatware" utilities (shown in the image to the right) are startup items which increase log on time whenever you turn on the laptop. If ASUS could consolidate all of these utilities into a central control panel then this would not be such an issue. The sheer number of them at present is unnecessary.

Since one of the key benefits to using Windows 7 is faster system startup, there's really no reason to slow down the computer with this much bloatware.

Conclusion
The ASUS UL80Vt is a notebook we really want to like but has too many drawbacks to overwhelmingly recommend. While it has a stellar ten-hour battery life, sleek design, and good overall performance, its weak build quality, abysmal keyboard, and unfriendly touchpad prevent us from signing its praises.

Pros:

• Sleek design (see cons)
• Stellar battery life
• Switchable graphics
• Good overall performance
• Runs cool and quiet
• Good warranty coverage

Cons:

• Subpar build quality
• Abysmal keyboard
• Unfriendly touchpad
• Screen needs more contrast
• No built-in Bluetooth
• Too many pre-loaded utilities

Related Articles:

• ASUS UL30 Review

[kingyubbo]

Great review Charles. Very disppointed on the keyboard and touchpad. Is a killer on the deal no matter how much battery life it has. If you can't use the thing properly, then stuff it!

[Serg]

WOW! That is terrible from Asus!
I mean, this laptop could be a win easily, but the BQ is too low...

THanks for the review Chaz!

[Skyshade]

Wow...Kevin gave very high marks on the keyboard for the UL30 in his review and the entire UL line seems to share the same keyboard, how come there is such a sharp constrast in your review? Are they produced by different suppliers or someting?

[Charles P. Jefferies]

Wow...Kevin gave very high marks on the keyboard for the UL30 in his review and the entire UL line seems to share the same keyboard, how come there is such a sharp constrast in your review? Are they produced by different suppliers or someting?

That could be the case, but based on Kevin's review I can only conclude that ASUS did not engineer the UL80 the same way; the UL30 by contrast:

. . . but besides that there is very little flex anywhere on this notebook. The aluminum screen cover does a good job of protecting the screen from impacts, showing little or no color distortion as you press firmly on the back of the screen. Inside, the palmrest and keyboard have excellent support, having no flex at all. Even though the front profile is very thin, ASUS still manages to provide a well-built internal structure for a solid typing platform.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5263
And if Kevin said that, as a ThinkPad user, then that says something. He's probably more of a stickler than me when it comes to build quality/keyboard feel.

I am no stranger to notebook keyboards; this is one of the worst I have used to date. It sounds horrible to type on since it rattles. Key travel is simply too short; it is about half of what a normal notebook keyboard has and I found it difficult to touch-type quickly on. I found myself making an unusual amount of errors at my normal typing speed. The keyboard has a vague and cheap feel. It is out of place on a modern notebook.

Additionally, the reason I hit so hard on the build quality front is because with a chassis and screen that exhibit significant amounts of flex, that is likely to weaken the internal circuit boards and could case stress fractures and weakened solder joints. Take a look at the ThinkPad T42 flex issues to see a real-world example.

Quite frankly I am surprised none of the other review sites mentioned any of the flaws I found.

The concept of the UL80 is great but it did not pan out IRL. Like I said in the conclusion I really wanted to like and recommend this notebook but I can't be honest and recommend a notebook that lacks competence in fundamental areas.

[landale]

That could be the case, but based on Kevin's review I can only conclude that ASUS did not engineer the UL80 the same way; the UL30 by contrast:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5263

I am no stranger to notebook keyboards; this is one of the worst I have used to date. It sounds horrible to type on since it rattles. Key travel is simply too short; it is about half of what a normal notebook keyboard has and I found it difficult to touch-type quickly on. I found myself making an unusual amount of errors at my normal typing speed. The keyboard has a vague and cheap feel. It is out of place on a modern notebook.

Additionally, the reason I hit so hard on the build quality front is because with a chassis and screen that exhibit significant amounts of flex, that is likely to weaken the internal circuit boards and could case stress fractures and weakened solder joints. Take a look at the ThinkPad T42 flex issues to see a real-world example.

Quite frankly I am surprised none of the other review sites mentioned any of the flaws I found.

The concept of the UL80 is great but it did not pan out IRL. Like I said in the conclusion I really wanted to like and recommend this notebook but I can't be honest and recommend a notebook that lacks competence in fundamental areas.

I truly believe you got a bad model from Asus for this review. My keyboard as well as the ones of many others has zero flex. Also I have not had any of the same build quality issues you had. There is no give in the wrist rest or touchpad on mine and I am sure there wasn't in any of the others reviewed which is why it wasn't mentioned. Honestly I find it most shocking that after having seen the other review from Laptopmag and users on this site you would have posted this review without at least asking Asus for a replacement. I don't disagree with you on everything, the screen isn't great especially vertical viewing angles but the contrast can be helped a bit by lowering the gamma in the windows color adjustment menu and then lowering the brightness in the video card drivers.

[Jerry Jackson]

Honestly I find it most shocking that after having seen the other review from Laptopmag and users on this site you would have posted this review without at least asking Asus for a replacement.

We give all manufacturers the opportunity to send us review units that have been "cherry picked" to meet their highest possible standards. This review unit of the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 was a retail production-level unit supplied by ASUS and had been opened and checked by representatives from ASUS prior to being shipped to our office.

There was no reason for us to believe that this system wasn't up to the standards that ASUS establishes for their production-level notebooks.

While we're on the subject, this wouldn't be the first time that a laptop manufacturer suffers from "sample variation" on the production line. When Kevin reviewed the ASUS G51VX-A1 he noticed that the keyboard didn't fit properly into the tray area of the chassis (it wiggled around and was easy to pop out). Two months later, Kevin reviewed the ASUS G51J (which uses the same chassis and keyboard) but the keyboard in that notebook fit absolutely perfect.

If our review unit of the UL80Vt-A1 had an "obvious" production flaw (such as a crack in the chassis, bent components, or unusual benchmark numbers) then we certainly would have contacted ASUS about sending us a replacement review unit. That's something we do for all manufacturers that send us review units.

[landale]

We give all manufacturers the opportunity to send us review units that have been "cherry picked" to meet their highest possible standards. This review unit of the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 was a retail production-level unit supplied by ASUS and had been opened and checked by representatives from ASUS prior to being shipped to our office.

There was no reason for us to believe that this system wasn't up to the standards that ASUS establishes for their production-level notebooks.

While we're on the subject, this wouldn't be the first time that a laptop manufacturer suffers from "sample variation" on the production line. When Kevin reviewed the ASUS G51VX-A1 he noticed that the keyboard didn't fit properly into the tray area of the chassis (it wiggled around and was easy to pop out). Two months later, Kevin reviewed the ASUS G51J (which uses the same chassis and keyboard) but the keyboard in that notebook fit absolutely perfect.

If our review unit of the UL80Vt-A1 had an "obvious" production flaw (such as a crack in the chassis, bent components, or unusual benchmark numbers) then we certainly would have contacted ASUS about sending us a replacement review unit. That's something we do for all manufacturers that send us review units.

Understood and I figured that might be case. To me it looks like Asus really dropped the ball on this one. Not on the unit itself but on not checking it before sending it out to you. Makes me wonder about their quality control as mine (which I am sending back for exchange on Monday) has a dead pixel right near the middle of the screen. I hope after reading this review Asus will realize their mistake and offer to send you another unit for review because I truly don't believe Asus sent you a good example of the UL80VT.

[GashPrex]

Well I think I am still going to give this laptop a shot - there doesn't seem to be any other options out there for this mobility/graphics combo/price point in the US right now. I need a laptop now so I really can't wait around (though I am going to wait for the amazon deal).

[Charles P. Jefferies]

To fix the keyboard I believe putting a couple of pieces of double-sided tape under it would get rid of the rattle and also get rid of the flex. I am not about to try that with a review unit however.
Apparently it is risky to remove the keyboard since it is held down by plastic clips, which may not go back correctly. It's up to you. If this was my notebook I would do it since the rattle is annoying.