ASUS U31SD-AH31 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Laptop (Black)
- 2.2 GHz Intel Core i3-2330M
- 4 GB DIMM
- 500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
- 13.3-Inch Screen, Nvidia GT 520 1GB
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Stunningly Light . Powerfully Beautiful
The ultra-stylish compact 13.3-inch U31SD-AH31 notebook delivers impressive multitasking performance and long-lasting battery life for up to 8 hours1 of unplugged freedom. From Web browsing to more intensive tasks like gaming, the U31SD-AH31, powered by the second generation Intel® Core™ i3-2330M processor and DirectX® 11-compatible NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 520M graphics with 1GB video memory and 4GB of system RAM, and you get a notebook that fields serious power for every application.
Featuring NVIDIA Optimus Technology, the U31SD-AH31 works like a hybrid car delivering performance and battery conservation depending on your task at hand. Under an inch thick and very light but totally durable for everything you want to use it in. That’s the wonder of the design that has gone into the U31SD-AH31, a notebook that doesn’t sacrifice performance in the name of style and mobility – it gives you all the best of every world.
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Best performance for the dollar in a 13.3″ notebook,
This is a 13.3 inch laptop with a separate graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 1GB DDR3 VRAM). It comes with all variations of Windows, several different configurations of hard drives and the new Sandy Bridge second generation i3 (2330M) or i5 processors (2430M). The ASUS U31SD is a super powerful desktop replacement and an incredible value in the AH31 version. You simply cannot find a better more powerful 13.3 inch portable. The U31SD is sexy, svelte, lightweight, and gets the job done better. Dollar for dollar, pound for pound I would challenge you to find a better deal out there for a 13.3 inch ultra portable.
The Window Experience Index scored the same as my desktop.
Rated from 1.0 (worst) to 7.9 (best)
Processor: 6.8 (i3 2330M)
Memory (RAM): 7.3 (Kingston PC-10300 8GB)
Aero: 5.0
Gaming Graphics: 6.4 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 520)
Primary hard disk: 7.2 (Kingston V200 SSD)
I upgraded the hard drive to a Solid State Drive and the RAM to 8GB but even with those upgrades my cost was still under 750$.
I’ll break down my review to different areas.
SCREEN:
Bright, warm tone. On such a small portable I am not concerned about viewing angle as I typically sit right in front and am not sharing it with others (unlike a tablet). But for those who want to know, ideal viewing angle is about 15 degrees, anything outside this and there will be slight variations to color, brightness and sharpness. It is still viewable up to about 45 degrees (approx). ASUS does not publish the nit-brightness of their screen but I did manage to find it. The brightness is 250-nit. In retrospect average laptops like the Acer timelineX is 200-nit while the super expensive Samsung 9 Series is 400-nit.
KEYBOARD/TRACKPAD:
Chiclet style with no flex and good tactile feedback. However, the ‘Z’ and ‘X’ keys stuck a few times but seem to be ‘warn’ in now. Still not a full size and no substitute for hyper typists. The track pad is multi gesture and works okay; smaller than I would like but works well enough.
GRAPHICS:
This is where the Asus outshines it all. There is a desktop Widget that lets you manually switch between the NVIDIA card and built in INTEL. The Asus will also automatically switch based on needs analyses if you don’t override it with the Widget. I am not a PC gamer so have not put this machine thru its paces with the latest games but would bet money it can keep pace with the Alienware M11X. I can tell you with video and photo editors it flies. I use Adobe CS5 and have not been slowed down at all.
RAM:
The RAM in the Asus U31SD can be upgraded to 8GB total. A panel on the bottom removed by a single screw reveals access to the RAM and HDD. The U31SD uses DDR3 PC-10600 (1333MHz) 204-pin SDRAM SO-DIMM in 2 sockets (4GB x 4GB). The nice thing in the AH31 is it comes with 4GB but instead of loading 2GB sticks in both slots they put one 4GB stick leaving the second slot open so that upgrading to 8GB is as simple as installing a second 4GB stick. I ended up putting in a full 8GB because the cost was the same as buying a single 4GB stick and I wanted a matched set.
HDD:
Removing the panel on the bottom give you access to the HDD. Asus uses a 2.5 inch SATA III (Serial ATA 300) 3GB/s connection drive with a max height of 9.5mm. In the AH31 it is a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB 5400 RPM. I removed this drive before boot up so have not used it but have used WD 500GB 5400 RPM drives before. In my experience with the new Sandy Bridge processors and DDR3 1333MHz RAM, 5400 RPM drives are the Achilles heel in a notebook. I installed a Kingston SSDnow V200 128GB Solid State Drive. I removed and cloned the WD before boot up and installed the SSD. Asus partitions the drive into 3 sectors. One partition has the OS, the other is for DATA and the third is a hidden recover partition. The problem with this is when I reduced the drive size to 128GB it partitions the OS at 45GB only leaving me 11GB for adding my own programs. The DATA partition is at 61GB with 61GB free (on a 128GB drive) If you use a 256GB SSD you won’t be so crunched on space.
BATTERY:
Asus packages the U31SD with two versions of batteries so be careful when buying. The AH31 comes with the more powerful 8cell 5600mAh 83Whrs battery. I have not had time to fully condition the battery and put it thru the paces but Asus claims 8 hours unplugged. I would say if you ran the PC under light loads and used all the battery saving resources then yes you probably could get pretty close to 8 hours.
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The Asus U31SD-AH31 is probably more overlooked by prospective buyers than other brands with similar offerings. If you are looking for a 13.3″ that is fast, reliable, and offers a nice design and durability, look no more.
I have owned the Asus for about a week. Setup was easy (not much ‘fluff-ware’), boosting the RAM to 8GB was as easy as could be, sound is more than adequate, and overall performance and speed are all I had anticipated. Watchng HD on its bright and clear LCD is really a pleasure. Battery life is better than most at about seven hours. Keyboard and trackpad are both very responsive and feel very nice to the touch.
One can easily spend much more, but this Asus offers a great bang-for-the-buck. Well worth considering.
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