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- 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor
- 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 2 Slots, 4GB Max
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM), No Optical Drive
- 12.1″ WXGA LED LCD Display, Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn, 0.3M Webcam
- Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System (64 bit), *7.5 Hours of Battery Life
Product Description
The new ASUS UL20A is a harmonious blend of form and function. Powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo ultra-low voltage processor, it boasts an impressive 7.5-hour battery life for all-day computing. It also sports user-centric features such as a multi-gesture touchpad and provides an impressive multimedia entertainment experience with Altec Lansing speakers and SRS Premium Sound. All of these features and more are shrouded in a robust brushed aluminum lid that not only loo… More >>
ASUS UL20A-A1 Thin and Light 12.1-Inch Silver Laptop – 7.5 Hours of Battery Life
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I got this on Nov. 16th. At the first time, I really loved it.
It doesn’t look cheap at all, keyboard layout is good.
I planned to get an extra 2G RAM, but I don’t need it anymore because it is so fast.
That night, this little thing had a problem.
I couldn’t change is power plan.
So, I asked to Amazon.com for a replacement. I got it in two days.(Amazon rocks!)
I dropped by UPS center to return one laptop, and went to library.
There was another problem.
When I pointed the battery icon on the right bottom side, it showed a message(plugged in, not charging)
WTF?
It supposed to show me (fully charged) or (plugged in, charging).
I mailed to Amazon.com customer center, and also Asus.
All of them happened only in five days.
I don’t have time to argue on this thing since I’m taking five classes in a college.
Think once more before you order.
Rating: 2 / 5
The battery life on this machine is far from the promised 7.5 hrs. In fact it only lasts about 3 hrs. I will be contacting Asus to find out why.
Rating: 2 / 5
Got this laptop yesterday. When I’m close to the router, I connect over wifi fine. When I move to 20ft away, connection is very limited to non-existent. An old sony laptop sitting right next to it connects just fine, and it only has a BG card. Not sure what’s wrong. I can only seem the Intel BGN 1000 wireless card sucks – in either case, that’s a deal breaker for an ultraPORTABLE laptop. I plan to call ASUS, if I can’t get anywhere with them, I will return the laptop – to me lack of connectivity is a deal breaker.
I’ll post any updates.
Other than that, it’s a nice looking light laptop with 6 hours of battery life on 50% screen brightness/wifi on. I like te brightness at about 75%.,
UPDATE: I’m not sure what happened. I played around with a few settings, installed firefox, and my connection is almost as good as the Sony laptop (2.4 Mbps down on [...] – as compared to 0.7 Mbps I was getting previously). Hopefully, whatever I did/didn’t do stays and the connection keeps. If not, I’ll either buy a new card or return the laptop. It’s very nice though…I’d hate to return it).
The other thing is the Synaptics touchpad driver included doesn’t support two-finger scrolling. Some people have downloaded a more generic Synaptics driver and have gotten the 2 finger scrolling to work).
UPDATE 2: I returned the original laptop I received and purchased another. I have had no problems with WiFi connectivity (may main issue with the original), indicating I likely just had a bum card. This lappie does have the Intel Wireless 1000 bgn card seen in many other laptops (vs. the atheros card – the ethernet card is atheros).
The loose keyboard panel is still in issue. I think it’s just way they’re manufactured. If you accept that, the keyboard is great. It is not backlit like the U20a.
It’s otherwise a very nice laptop, relatively light and sleek. I downloaded the synaptics driver from the synaptics site and now have 2 finger scrolling working without problem.
I’m giving this laptop 3.5 stars due to:
-5-6 hrs of battery life (wifi on, screen 50%) vs. 7-8 hours
-loose keyboard panel
-slightly sticky touchpad (too much friction)
UPDATE 3:
I’ve been using this lappie for a few days nows, and here are my thoughts:
1. I’m relieved that the wifi card is working fantastically, and that I probably just had a bum one in the first go arond
2. I’m consistently getting about 5-6 hours of battery life with wifi on, screen around 75%, 4-5 hours watching videos. I do wish the battery life was better. If there was a battery with a 55 wHr rating for $100, I’d buy it in heart beat.
3. The loose keyboard panel doesn’t bug me (though I should really call ASUS and have it fixed under their warrantY). Keyboard is otherwise great to type on.
4. The laptop is very attractive, relatively light, and I love the non-finger print magnet brushed aluminum finish on the lid.
Rating: 4 / 5
I bought the UL20A as a replacement for my wife’s eeePC netbook. As a dual-core CPU ultra portable, it was a step up on the performance scale. She was doing more than the eeePC’s ATOM processor was designed to do, and IE8 with several tabs open was overwhelming the eeePC. The UL20A seems to be a good compromise on size and performance, and she is no longer complaining of a swamped processor.
She has only had it a week, and is still dialing in the touch pad and getting used to Windows 7 but she seems to like it. It is about the same weight as her previous model, and has a slightly larger screen.
One thing this model doesn’t do is open a flat 180 degrees like the eeePC. That was an issue for my wife because she likes to read books on her notebook, and the less-than-flat screen was an issue for her reading posture.
Otherwise, she seems happy with it. So far I have not added any RAM, but did confirm there is one free RAM memory slot available if I need to add some. It came with a 2 GB chip, and Windows 7 is reporting only about 50% RAM usage.
Rating: 4 / 5
I was worried that the UL20A would not have the power or be fast enough but it has been great.I have it attached to a monitor when not traveling and it powers it fine. It is every bit as fast as the larger laptop I had and much more convenient to travel with. The service I received from Mobile Advance who shipped this computer was fantastic. They were very supportive in helping me decide which of the Asus computers to purchase and responded to my requests.
Rating: 5 / 5