ASUS U31SD-XA1 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)
ASUS U31SD-XA1 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)
- Intel Core i3-2310M (2.1 GHz)
- 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz DRAM, 2 slots
- 8GB Max;500GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM);No Optical Drive
- 13.3-Inch HD LED Display (1366 x 768), NVidia GT 520 1GB VRAM Graphics
- Windows 7 Home Premium. 9 Hour Battery Life
13.3″ HD (1366 x768) / Intel Core i3-2310M / 4G DDR3 / 500G 5400 HDD / NVidia GT 520 1GB Dedicated Graphics / Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit) / 802.11BGN / 3-in-1 Card Reader / 3x USB 2.0 / 0.3M Pixel / 8-cell battery (Up to 9* Hrs) / HDMI and VGA out / 1yr Global Warranty / 1yr Accidental Damage ProtectionStunningly Light, Powerfully Beautiful
The ultra-stylish compact 13.3-inch U31SD-XA1 notebook delivers impressive multitasking performance and long-lasting battery life for up to
List Price: $ 749.99
Price: $ 629.99
Solid little laptop, perfect for traveling and graphics work,
I did a lot of research prior to buying the U31SD. We have an i7 desktop, so this is just for on the road. That being said, we were interested in something that had power and battery life and the ability to run Adobe and CAD programs for work on the go. DVD drive was not necessary, but thin and light was. Our options were the Asus U36 (1st or 2nd gen Intel), the U41 (with optical drive) or the U31. Sony at over $1k was out and I prefer Nvidia, so the Toshiba’s were out. I still hadn’t seen any reviews here, but I took the chance.
I didn’t want to spend a lot seeing as we just bought a desktop, but going too cheap is always bad. The U36SD was our first choice because of the all metal casing and 2nd gen i5, but to spend a grand on a laptop we won’t be using a whole lot seemed foolish – aside from the fact that it still didn’t have a back-lit keyboard and possibly had heat problems. The U41 had the DVD drive and great battery life, but just to get a lighter and thinner laptop, I opted for the U31.
Pretty good build quality. The aluminum on the lid is nice, very little flex, feels sturdy. The palm rest is not aluminum, but plastic, and a bad attempt made to look like brushed aluminum, but even though I’m a little disappointed in the look, no flex. I feel its thin enough that there is little gap between parts and the case. Definitely will last a long time. Another reason to get the U31 is the ease of upgrade (hard drive, RAM, etc). The U36 underside panel seemed to be pain to take apart and it kind of turned me off. Under body feels solid too.
I notice no flex in the keyboard and it’s easy to type on. I came from a 16″ Dell and the island style keyboard is definitely appreciated. Again, if Asus can put out an all metal laptop with back-lit keyboard, I’d totally buy.
Ports are good, feel solid when inserting a USB or headphones, not flimsy like my last laptop.
Trackpad has the fake brushed aluminum texture, but it works great. Single, chrome mouse buttons work fine too, but collect finger prints. As an added bonus, Asus includes a screen wipe cloth, takes off anything. I’ve only run the laptop for easy tasks, browsing, removing crapware, etc but the palm rest doesn’t heat up. This thing efficiently and quietly pumps heat out the left side, very appreciated.
Second-gen Intel i3. Nvidia Optimus on top of 1GB of dedicated graphics. Very pleased with the specs. Started up slow, but after removing crapware and resetting the ATK Package (hot-key utility), laptop runs quick and all Fn (function key) work.
Expressgate – highly disappointed. It’s supposed to be based off Splashtop OS (which is linux) and an easy and quick way to get to email, browsing, etc. SLOW. Man they butchered this one – stick to your Android or iPhone for quick updates. I hope someone soon figures out how to set that power button to boot to Ubuntu or a better instant-on OS. In the meantime, I don’t touch it, but wouldn’t mind using it to boot to an SD card to run Android or Linux.
Asus did something I didn’t think most companies do – they put the OS on one partition and created a second partition on the rest named DATA. Great, but they didn’t point the MyDocs, Vid, etc folders to the DATA partition. Just an annoyance. Actual hard drive only shows 465GB available (take into account recovery partitions as well and that number drops) – you still have over 400GB of usable space.
Rates 4.7 on Windows experience index, could use a faster HDD, but that would affect battery. Speaking of battery – holy crap! Best thing I’ve ever seen. I used it for a good 5.5/6 hrs uninstalling crapware, browsing online and when I went to shut it off it still had an 1 1/2 hrs left. If I’m just doing code work offline – this will last all day. Have yet to try out online streaming like Pandora, offline music libraries or movies, but will update on that. Btw – I did remove pretty much everything Asus installed – even Power4Gear. You can manage all the same stuff via windows.
If I can install a non-branded copy of Windows and load all the drivers separately without destroying the EG boot record, or at least be able to redo it for the ExpressGate button in the future, I would be happier. Looking into the whole EG thing. Customizing that would make this perfect.
Will be adding Adobe programs like Photoshop, Premiere, so will report back on performance there. I just got this and figured it would be nice to put one up for other people. All in all, a great thin and light laptop for someone on a budget.
Note: If you’re looking for a case, this thing is almost the exact size of a 13″ Macbook Pro (this is a bit thicker). I bought the Radtech Neocase. A work-in case, small zippered pockets and stow-away handles. It’s my second one owned, a must buy!
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|Bang for the buck,
I sat on this laptop for about 2 weeks. My main concern was battery life and portability. I believe that 15.6″ laptops are no longer a usable size for me at school; the desks are getting way too small! The fact that this little laptop doesn’t have an optical drive actually improved my willingness to buy it. CDs and DVDs are becoming a lost tech. Soon we will be getting our programs and apps via flash drives instead of discs.
This laptop was in the running with the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830TG-6431. The Acer offered better features than the U31 but because I believe in the rock solid build quality of ASUS I ended up going with the U31.
What to say about this laptop? simply amazing. It doesn’t have the world’s strongest processor or graphics card, but it has been able to play just about every game I throw at it at medium settings (Crysis, LoL, WoW, Starcraft 2, COD MW2, COD Black-Ops and Shattered Horizon just to name a few). Where I find this to be the weakness in ALL laptops, the cooling of this one is not acception; under heavy games like Crysis, the CPU temp can reach up to 80C if you’re not paying attention; luckily this is not my only computer and I have several other PCs built for that sort of stress.
Not only has this laptop been more than pleasing for games, it also runs programs like photoshop, illustrator, autoCAD and Maya. I find working with this laptop to be enjoyable.
The battery last very long. To stress test the battery I had 2 external HDD constantly copying data, screen on full brightness, Pandora streaming at full volume and YouTube videos constantly on. I did not allow the display to dim or the computer to go into a power saving mode: 6 solid hours before I fell asleep waiting for it to die!
I would’ve (like other people who have reviewed this laptop) enjoyed a backbit keyboard. The keyboard feel very solid and very comfortable. Seeing as I only payed $652ish for next day shipping I have been overlooking this lack of feature.
The number of USB ports and their placement is pretty standard. I find it hard sometimes to plug in two flash drives side to side. I have not yet phased into USB 3.0 but I am happy to know that my laptop has them (e-Peen).
For battery life the nVidia Optimums technology has been doing me well. However I have been finding problems when alt+tabbing while I am in a full screen game like Crysis or COD MW2. Game clients seem to be a bit unstable not due to lousy drivers but from lousy clients! I know that these problems will soon be fixed via newer drivers and patched game clients.
The case I use every day for this little monster is Case Logic QNS-113 13.3-Inch EVA Molded Laptop Macbook Air/Pro Sleeve (Black). IT fits great and the case promotes use without taking the laptop out. The stock charger doesn’t fit into the case all that great but I have found that the iGo Universal Slim AC Laptop Charger is something to invest into when buying small laptops; but with the monster 8-cell battery this thing comes with it is really unnecessary. As mentioned earlier this laptop went at least 6 hours under load before I fell asleep waiting for it to die.
If not mentioned already this laptop is light, the performance should be more than enough for even a hardcore gamer, and the battery on this thing is like that of a netbook. Great for a college student and travelers
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|Everything I expected !,
Shipped from Amazon and arrived on-time.
I got this laptop to use in class. So I was looking for something light and with a long battery life. Also the ability to play a game was a bonus so dedicated video card was a requirement.
Decided I did not need an ODD. When was the last time you used one?
Runs StarCraft 2 on medium setting dipped into the low 20 fps during large fights 300+ units. Other games run about the same.
Load times are a little high but with the 5400rpm drive it was expected. The faster drive would eat more power.
HDMI out works like a champ can stream movies onto a TV if you want.
Just poking around on the internet and what not you will get about 10 hours out of the battery. About 5-6 if your playing games or watching movies.
CON/annoying stuff
The power led light is bright and no adjustment
Lots of bloatware and odds took a while to uninstall it all.
The hard drive is partition in two. OS and Data
Hard to burn recovery discs without a disc drive. Hooked a DVD to the usb port to burn them. (knew this going into it)
Power supply seems to be a little big but I only have to charge it once a week.
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