Asus UL30Vt

The ultra-portable UL30Vt gives "unlimited possibilities" according to Asus. With its dual core processor and Turbo 33 technology and a dedicated graphics card that can be activated/disactivated according to your needs, you get a good compromise between multimedia performance and battery life.

Hardware, design and build: a nice mix of brushed aluminium and grey plastics

In contrast to the other models in the UL series, this UL30Vt is a sensible grey. This makes finger marks and dust far less visible. The inside works very well with the brushed aluminium hood, creating a nice effect. It is however a shame that the plastics surrounding the screen are in glossy black (micro-scratches are quickly visible).
For the rest, this machine seems robust, with sturdy screen hinges and a pretty good finish.

The keyboard has small keys (15 x 15 mm), separated and flat. It is comfortable to use and keying is supple and quiet. The keys are well-positioned and retain the same proportions as on a traditional keyboard.

The multitouch touchpad is perfectly built into the casing and is only visible by the small holes that stop your fingers from sticking to the glossy plastic. In practice, the glide is nice and precision good. Although covering a decent area (just 76 x 43 mm), we would have liked to see it extended, like with the MacBook of the same size.

The webcam is ok, but no more than. Colours are a little too warm, contrast sufficient. In contrast, the very light areas of the image tend to be overexposed.

In terms of noise, we are pleased to report you can hardly hear the fan. It is discreet when processing office documents and when browsing and only accelerates when carrying out heavy tasks (photo retouching, video encoding/editing, gaming and so on). Thankfully, noise levels remain under control.

Connectivity is placed on the sides of the machine. There are VGA and HDMI video outs on the left along with a USB 2.0 port. On the right there are 2 other USB 2.0 ports as well as a memory card reader an RJ45 and microphone and headphones sockets.

Under the laptop, two panels give access to the RAM and the hard drive.

Asus UL30Vt from above	5-in1 memory card reader, headphones, microphone, 2 USB 2.0s, RJ45, power supply, antitheft
VGA, HDMI, USB 2.0	Touchpad and click bar

Processing: comfortable thanks to the low energy dual-core processor
Windows 7 index: 4.9. Detail: CPU 4.9 - Memory 5.4 - Graphics 4.9 - Gaming graphics 5.9 - Main hard drive 5.8.

Already used on the Asus UL30A, the ultra low energy consumption (ULV) Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor is still very much worth a look due to its great performance/energy consumption ratio. Dual core, it scores 67 on our index ("performance" mode) after being run through our test protocol. In this mode, Turbo33 is activated and this increases the processor clock from 1.3 to 1.7 GHz. Turbo 33 gives an extra 15 points on the index. This low energy processor therefore has something in reserve though it is still down on our reference machine (100 on the index), the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi3650 (equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo T9400). It's sufficient for allround use, as long as you're not in too much of a hurry when it comes to heavy processing such as video encoding or editing.

1080p HD video (Blu-Ray equivalent) can be handled by the processor alone, or with the integrated Intel graphics solution, or alternatively with the dedicated NVIDIA graphics card! It works well whichever component is used. We advise you to leave this task to the graphics solutions however, so as to free up the CPU. Our preference is then for the Intel chipset, which offers the best battery life (NVIDIA graphics card disactivated). CPU occupation then falls from 75% to 10%. The NVIDIA graphics card does even better (5%) but uses a little more energy.

3D gaming: a few undemanding games with low graphics settings

Equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce G210M, the Asus UL30Vt can handle some 3D gaming... in moderation. Although performance is then a good deal better than with the Intel graphics solution, this entry level GPU doesn't allow gaming with recent 3D titles. Crysis is for example unplayable at native resolution, even with settings at a minimum. You can do some gaming with older/less demanding titles such as Race Driver GRID or games that use the Source graphics engine: Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead are all playable with mid to high settings.

Audio: don't trust the brand

We were hoping for better from the built in Altec Lansing speakers. Unfortunately, brand name isn't everything and the audio was poor. Results are sketchy, lacking detail. SRS mode should be disactivated as it only makes the sound more confusing. Thankfully the headphones out is very clean.

Mobility, battery life: excellent battery life on a par with a good netbook!

Good news, the Asus UL30Vt's dedicated graphics card hardly affects battery life! This little "miracle" results from the "GraphiX Boost" technology that allows you to automatically switch between the NVIDIA graphics and the integrated Intel graphics. The G210M can therefore be deactivated when you don't need it, which is most of the time (office doc work, video playback and so on). The UL30Vt then gives 6h33 video playback (Wi-Fi deactivated, headphones plugged in, brightness at 100 cd/m²)! This corresponds to what you get with the Asus UL30A. If you activate the graphics card for video playback, you get 5h56, which is still very good.

These excellent results are down to the 8 cell 5600 mAh battery. Check when you buy, as there is a UL30Vt model that comes with a 4 cell battery.

The Asus UL30Vt is just 25mm thick. Not really a featherweight as it does weigh 1.7 Kg. This is still fairly light given the size of the screen and battery. Note that the charger is fairly small, although bigger than a netbook charger.