ASUS U41JF-A1 Review

Asus U41JF-A1

Review Summary:

Despite fantastic performance and battery life, this notebook fails to deliver in terms of build quality.

Pros

• Great graphics performance
• Excellent battery life (7.5 hours)

Cons

• Subpar build quality
• Poor keyboard
• Inaccurate touchpad
• Fingerprint magnet
• Not enough ports

ASUS U41JF-A1 Full Review

 

The ASUS U41JF is a thin-and-light 14-inch notebook with powerful Nvidia graphics and excellent battery life. Combine that with a good Intel Core i3 processor and a price tag of less than $900. What’s not to like? Keep reading to find out.

Our ASUS U41JF-A1 review unit has the following specifications:

• 14-inch 720p (1366x768) glossy panel with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core i3-380M dual-core processor (2.53GHz, 3MB L3, 4.8GT/s QPI, 35W TDP)
• Intel HM55 chipset
• Switchable graphics via Nvidia Optimus technology:
• Nvidia GeForce GT 425M w/ 1GB DDR3 memory
• Integrated Intel HD graphics
• 4GB DDR3-1066 dual-channel RAM (2x 2GB)
• 500GB 5400RPM Western Digital hard drive (WD5000BEVT)
• Atheros AR9285 802.11n wireless LAN
• DVD burner (MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ892AS)
• 2-year global limited warranty with 1 year accidental damage coverage
• 8-cell battery (14.4V, 5800mAh, 85Wh)
• Weight: 4.8 lbs.
• Dimensions: 13.5 x 10 x 1.1 inches
• MSRP: $849

The U41JF-A1 has respectable specifications for the money, especially considering all this is packed into a 14-inch laptop that measures just 1.1 inches thin. The Nvidia GT 425M graphics card is more than powerful enough to run the latest games. The two-year warranty coverage is notable and it includes one year of accidental damage protection; similar coverage is extra on competing notebooks.

Build and Design
The ASUS U41JF's silver and black chassis is unlikely to turn heads though it still looks good in its own right. The silver brushed aluminum lid is especially attractive and feels cool to the touch. As mentioned earlier, the chassis is just 1.1” thin; the lid is one of the thinnest I have seen on a notebook in any size range. The U41JF feels a bit heavier than expected due to its large 8-cell battery; it came in at 4.8 lbs. on my digital scale.

Something I like about the U41JF's appearance is the relative lack of LED status lights; there is just the power button on the top right and four small lights below the touchpad buttons. However, the power button is too bright in a dark room (as is the light on the power adapter). On a related note, the U41JF lacks physical buttons; volume up and down buttons would have been appreciated.

Aside from the aluminum-backed lid, the rest of the U41JC is constructed of plastic. ASUS made the unfortunate decision to use black glossy plastic for the screen surround and keyboard area. Dust and fingerprints show up no matter what; keeping this notebook clean is a challenge. Durability is not one of the U41JF's fortes either; despite my careful use of a microfiber cloth, fine scratches appeared in the glossy plastic surface.

The U41JF has below average build quality for a notebook in this price range; it is apparent some compromises were made in order to make it this thin. The chassis suffers from an abnormal amount of flex; for example, pressing down on the surfaces around the keyboard with even slightly more than normal pressure makes the entire chassis bend inward. The chassis is also easy to twist by grabbing the front two corners, which is not good; the chassis should be a lot stiffer to prevent any motion transferring to the circuit boards inside. Circuit boards that are allowed to bend have a higher risk of failure in the long term.

Fit and finish is inconsistent. The silver plastics used in the palm rest seem to be of better quality than the black glossy plastic. Tapping on the surface of the notebook with my fingernail produced cheap sounds and some rattling noises depending on where I tapped.

The lid also has some quality issues. Pressing in on the back of the lid creates ripples on the screen, meaning that protection isn't as good as it could be. The lid is also fairly easy to flex back and forth. Something else I noticed about the lid is that the hinge is not stiff enough, so picking up the notebook quickly when the lid is open can cause it to open further.

Those looking to upgrade the RAM or hard drive are in luck though; gain access to both by removing the two screws from the access panel on the bottom of the notebook.

The U41JF has disappointing build quality on the whole; the chassis feels cheap and echoes some of the same build quality issues I see in other ASUS notebooks.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the U41JF is limited; HDMI is the only notable inclusion. It lacks an ExpressCard slot, eSATA port, or a single USB 3.0 port.

Front: 4-in-1 card reader, speakers	Rear: Battery pack
Left: AC power, cooling exhaust vent, VGA, Ethernet, HDMI, 2x USB 2.0	Right: Headphone and microphone jacks, USB 2.0, DVD burner, lock slot

Keyboard and Touchpad
ASUS uses the same keyboard on the U41JF that it uses on most of its 13.3” and 14” notebooks. The full-size Chiclet/island-style keyboard has flat keys with more-than-usual spacing between them. It may take some adjustment coming from a standard notebook keyboard; I was able to type quickly and accurately after a few hours of use despite the issues. Ah yes – let's talk about the issues.

Though the keys provide adequate feedback, the U41JF's keyboard suffers from a lot of flex. Just using normal typing pressure causes the keyboard to cave downward around the key that was pressed which does not instill a sense of confidence. Compounding the flex issue is the rattling; even using light typing pressure attracts annoying rattles from the right side of the keyboard. This is a quality issue and not the first time I have seen it on an ASUS notebook. One last note about the keyboard is that it is loud, partly because of the rattling; there is no masking it. All of these problems ruin the typing experience.

The U41JF has a full-size touchpad which unfortunately suffers from some debilitating usage issues. Only about 60% of my intended left-clicks registered, which was frustrating. I also had problems tracking; it was either too sensitive (causing me to unintentionally click) or not sensitive enough (missing finger strokes). The touchpad surface was pleasant, however; smooth and easy to track on. With some extensive tweaking the touchpad could probably become more usable; left at default settings, which most users will never change, it is clumsy at best.

Screen and Speakers
The U41JF has a 14-inch display with a 720p (1366 x 768) resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, and LED backlighting. Its glossy surface helps contrast but reflects like a mirror, sometimes making it tough to see if there are overhead lighting sources. The glossy surface is also difficult to keep clean.

The display has ample brightness at default settings; contrast is adequate but could use a boost. Pressing [FN] + [C] switches between built-in color profiles. I prefer the Gamma Correction mode; it fixes the display's naturally bluish hue by making the colors warmer.

Viewing angles are relatively narrow. There is significant color inversion after 30 degrees off-center on either side horizontally and 15 degrees off-center vertically. This could be a problem if two or more people want to watch a movie or view pictures on the screen at a time.

The 1366 x 768 screen resolution is low for a 14-inch screen; lots of scrolling is required while surfing the Internet or editing documents because there are simply not enough pixels to display information. To be fair, just about every consumer notebook on the market less than 17 inches is sold with this resolution. 1600 x 900 is the next resolution up and would be a nice improvement.

The U41JF has two speakers located below the palm rest. The speakers sound tinny and have no perceptible bass despite the Altec Lansing badge, making them no different than typical notebook speakers. The static-free headphone jack and the HDMI port are the best ways to get audio out of this notebook.

Performance and Benchmarks
The U41JF has a respectable suite of components; the Core i3-380M processor runs at a relatively high frequency of 2.53GHz and provides more than enough power for everyday tasks. 4GB of RAM allows multiple programs to be used at once. The 500GB 5400RPM Western Digital hard drive is on the slow side, but is whisper quiet and has tons of space for media.

The only real stand-out component is the Nvidia GeForce GT 425M 1GB graphics card, which performed very well in our benchmarks and is more than capable of playing the latest games.

The icing on the cake is Nvidia's Optimus technology, which allows the notebook to automatically switch between the powerful Nvidia graphics card and the power-saving integrated Intel HD graphics on the fly, depending on what the user is doing.

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

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

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (high scores mean better performance): 

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

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

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test: 

Heat and Noise
The U41JF has a single-fan cooling system with a heat exhaust on the left side of the chassis. At idle, the notebook feels lukewarm on the surface and is inaudible. During software benchmark runs, the fan spooled up and was relatively noisy, developing a higher-pitched whine. The fan noise is hard to ignore in a quiet room, but with the help of background noise, it is bearable. The chassis warmed up slightly but did not get hot in any particular area, even on the bottom. Unless the notebook is being stressed, chances are the fan will not be heard. Overall ASUS did a good job on the cooling system. It could have been quieter had they used a larger-diameter fan.

Battery Life
The U41JF has a beefy 8-cell, 85Wh battery; typical 14-inch consumer notebooks come with six-cell batteries half as powerful. With the Windows 7 Balanced power profile active, 70% screen brightness, wireless active, and refreshing a web page every 60 seconds, the U41JF lasted 7 hours and 25 minutes. This is an impressive time and not a number competing notebooks can match. The Nvidia Optimus graphics-switching technology certainly helped out; if the dedicated GT 425M graphics card was active all the time, power consumption would have been a lot higher.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
On paper the U41JF is a solid mid-range entertainment notebook; in real life it suffers from numerous issues that might steer away customers. The build quality is below average; the chassis has too much flex and feels cheap. The keyboard has an abnormal amount of flex and provides a mediocre typing experience. The touchpad has a pleasant surface but has poor tracking accuracy and the buttons missed a high percentage of my intended clicks.

The U41JF is not without its pluses, however; graphics performance is excellent and the seven and a half hours of battery life is fantastic. The chassis is also quite slim and the notebook itself looks respectable.

When all is said and done, however, the ASUS U41JF is not overwhelmingly recommendable for the above-stated reasons.

Pros:

• Great graphics performance
• Excellent battery life (7.5 hours)

Cons:

• Subpar build quality
• Poor keyboard
• Inaccurate touchpad
• Fingerprint magnet
• Not enough ports

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 

* Ratings averaged to produce final score