ASUS U32VJ ?! Any info?

Hi everyone,

I was looking to buy the Asus Zenbook UX32vd... when during my Amazon search I noticed the following:

Asus Zenbook U32VJ 13.3-inch Ultrabook (Aluminium) - (Intel Core i5 3210M 2.5GHz Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, No ODD, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Nvidia Graphics, Windows 8): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

According to Amazon and many other retailers, it does look exactly like a Zenbook... in fact it weighs like a Zenbook, and generally speaking the specs are very very similar to a Zenbook. But.... it does not appear to have an integrated SSD (the 24GB version soldered on mobo), and it has the GT 635m for graphics. Almost forgot... it comes with Win 8 x64!!!

Problem is that I cannot confirm any of the details with Asus! Asus does not list this model! I am trying to find details (backlit keyb?, full aluminum housing? type of display? etc....)

Does anybody, knows anything about it?

Thanx,
John

 

I'm in the market for a powerful ultrabook with a nice screen so I've just asked Amazon support about it and they said they'd do a physical check to determine the panel type. I'll let you know.

 

Cool find, but I very much doubt it's an IPS panel though. It's 13.3" (ASUS Color-Shine, 1366x768 HD, LED Backlit) according to Asus U32VJ-RO014H Laptop - Multimedia Entertainment - Asus Notebooks - Asus laptops - Laptopmania - Laptop Deal and Offer.

It's the same model number both there and on the amazon page. Very nice price on it otherwise.

 

I also sent out to Amazon an email, requesting confirmation about the produt specs/chassis... It looks like a good deal.

Regarding the panel... I think only the high end Zenbooks with a resolution above HD, are treated with IPS panel. I think the UX32VD with the low HD panel, is not an IPS...

 

Hey all...

Thought I would chip in as I've been monitoring this laptop for a couple of weeks now and waiting for a thread to start on here

I emailed Asus and they confirmed the specs for me.... it is exactly as presented on the Amazon site... so no SSD unfortunately. There were a few sites advertising this with a 256GB SSD, but these have all changed to show 500GB HDD which is a bummer.

I did also ask about the IPS panel vs TN... they did not confirm this unfortunately... just said "13.3 inch LED-backlit slim TFT LCD 1366x768". Interestingly, it does come with Bang & Olufsen sound, so maybe theres hope for the panel yet!

If you hear back on this, please do post on!!

Cheers
Steve

 

In case anyone is interested, here is the email I got back from Asus. Interestingly, they say only 8GB ram is supported... this is not a CPU limitation, so I wonder if it is due to version of Windows 8 (or simply untested....)

Processor: Intel Core i5 3210M 2.5 GHz
OS: Windows 8 64 bit
Display: 13.3 inch LED-backlit slim TFT LCD 1366x768
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 635M
Graphics Memory: 2 Gb DDR3 VRAM
HDD: 500 Gb HDD
Memory: 4 Gb DDR3 1600 MHz
Wireless: 802.11 BGN (WIDI)
Webcam: HD web camera
Bluetooth: Bluetooth v4.0
Battery: 8 Cell, Li-Ion
Warranty: 2 year global
Interface: Headphone-out/Audio-in combo, 3x USB 3.0, HDMI, Mini VGA, SD card reader
Audio: Built-in speaker, built-in microphone, Bang & Olufsen ICEpower, Sonic Master
LED Status Indicator: HDD, Power-on/Suspend, Capital Lock, Wireless status, Bluetooth status
Software: Asus SmartLogon, Asus Life Frame III, Virtual Camera, Asus Live Update, Power4Gear Hybrid, GamePark Console (JPN image not installed), Asus WebStorage, Asus Wireless Console, Windows Live (package and toolbar), eManual, E-Driver, Asus Super Hybrid Engine, Asus Video Magic, Asus Secure Delete, Asus Vibe, Asus AIRecovery, Asus Color Enhancement (Asus Splendid), Instant on, USB Charger+, Power Wiz, PWR Option/Power Key
Dimensions (WxDxH): 326 x 223 x 18-55 mm
Weight: 1.45 Kg

- Hard drives are removable, memory suggest upgrade memory we have test. CPU can’t be swap.

- Main Memory:

Standard 2G, 4G 1600 MHz DDRIII SDRAM; 2 x SODIMM slots support
Maximum Upgradeable to 8G maximum
1600-2G 03A02-00030200 DDR3 1600 SO-DIM 2GB 204P HYNIX/HMT325S6CFR8C-PB
03A02-00030400 DDRIII 1600 SO-DIM 2GB 204P ASINT/SSZ302G08-GGNED
1600-4G 03A02-00020400 DDR3 1600 SO-DIM 4GB 204P HYNIX/HMT351S6CFR8C-PB
03A02-00020500 DDR3 1600 SO-DIMM 4GB 204P ELPIDA/EBJ40UG8BBU0-GN-F

 

yet... a basic question remains to be answered! Does it uses the Zenbook chassis series? (as it appears on photos) or it is the bulky plastic as can be found on U32u or U32vd?

Personally I dont find the TN panel as a drawback if it's of a good quality...

 

I wish retailers/shops would hire an IT person onboard to specifically correct/post the correct specs, pics and information. It's absolutely frustrating to see many variants of X Laptop and some of the specs are probably wrong.

In the UK, the main culprit is basically... well, everyone, nearly. Even Dell has it wrong from time to time.

EDIT:

As for this laptop, whether it has a SSD or not, does it matter this time? I haven't used Windows 8 first hand but from what I hear it boots up "fast enough" anyway. So I wondered if the performance gains with a SSD can be mitigated by this fact.

Unless you planned to load up some intensive data games (i.e. MMOs) on it, but I do agree not having a SSD seems like a bummer.

 

But one thing that is strange to me is that the price of asus zenbook ux32a(windows 7 and does not have Nvidia GeForce) is £699.99 on amazon as compared ASUS U32VJ (£646.61) which runs windows 8 and has Nvidia GeForce GTX635M. Features are added to asus U32VJ and price is reduced.??

 

The one on Amazon for that cheaper price dispatches in 1-3 months. I don't know if it's the reason for that cheap price. But I'm unsure why it would take 1-3 months either.

 

about 3-4 hours ago.... it was available from Amazon itself!!!

 

Ouch that must have sold out quick.... there were 7 available direct through amazon earlier this today.... maybe people found this thread and got excited!

If anyone has bought it or heard from Amazon, do let us know what its like.

With regard to SSD... completely agree it may be less necessary for Windows 8, although for sure would have been a nice addition. My main thought is whether its worth holding out for a touchscreen laptop, given that W8 is no doubt going to be all the rage. Annoyingly, most of the touchscreen laptops announced (e.g. those by Asus) are ultrabooks so have some weaker 'U' processors.

 

Hey guys

Been confused about the specs and suspiciously reasonable pricing of the U32VJ. Thanks in particular to st3v3 for clarifying.

Have been looking at it for the last few weeks not finding any info on the asus website or elsewhere. Anyway, finally took the plunge on sat (before Amazon perhaps realized they've under priced it!)

Should receive it tomorrow so will be sure to confirm whether it has the same chassis as the UX Zenbook series and try to confirm the specifications.

I particularly want to know whether it has a back-lit keyboard. Time will tell

 

Ah that would be awesome, thanks Aron. If you don't mind me asking, the main things I would like to know are: the screen type (i.e. TN or IPS... or simply what are the viewing angles like?), is there a backlit keyboard, removable or unremovable battery, asus warranty length (should be 2 years according to them), are there volume keys on the keyboard (or do they require pressing the FN button to access). All being well will maybe order one tomorrow....!

 

Will do. No worries.

I doubt it is IPS purely because of the price point, but you never know.

I'm eager to get it now. amazon still haven't confirmed delivery so there's a chance it may not come tomorrow. Either way, I will keep you all posted

 

There is some stock back on the site by the way.

It states

"Keep the fun going - in addition to the full HD wide-view and anti-glare IPS panel, Zenbook upgrades your video chats with an HD camera, and boosts sound enjoyment through Bang & Olufsen ICEpower speakers"

If it isnt an IPS panel... Then I guess it's false advertising?

 

I just purchased the last one...

Edit: Apologies... I double posted in excitement.

 

no you didnt... there is stock left!

 

It appears I jumped the gun haha. Anyway, I'll be sure to update on it once I get it!

 

There was 7.

Samukami (an acquaintance) told me he brought it. It dropped to 6, then 1. Then I checked again sometime shortly and it jumped back up to 6. I'm really unsure why.

Can try to screen shot, or take a photo, or something, and then use it as a basis for a refund if it doesn't come with an IPS screen.

 

Of course u can! U bought it as advertised! U expect to receive the advertised product. Screenshots will do more than just fine... as well as this topic itself...

 

Hah this was exactly my plan but now that you guys have bought it, I can just wait and see now...

 

Hi Gents,

I spotted this one on Amazon too and then googled the code and found this post
Has anyone received the laptop from Amazon yet to confirm the spec? i very much doubt its IPS and there are a few other sites also showing the part code now too, including scan (£700) and laptopdirect (who are actually beating Amazon at £639.97!) Asus U32 Windows 8 Laptop U32VJ-RO014H - Laptops Direct

The actual model number seems to be U32VJ-RO014H, no where else is listing it has having an IPS screen apart from that original Amazon listing.

Waiting to hear!!!

Cheers.

 

I've not received mine yet, it was due to come tomorrow, but Amazon updated me with an email early this morning apologising for a delay which makes me think that there might be a stock issue with this laptop as the stocks were fluctuating considerably.

What exactly is an IPS display anyway, is it supposed to be full HD... Viewing angles... or what.. The resolution listed for it is 1366x768.. I think I'm more then happy with that for a 13.3

Also an interesting thing is, that some sites are listing the weight as 3kg+ hah...

 

Even though it says they are in stock, I ordered mine on Sunday and was supposed to receive it yesterday. Got an email today saying it wont be sent until next week now - not very happy about that seeing as I waited around for it yesterday.

 

meanwhile their stock went up from 6 to 9 units.... Its looks suspicious, hmmm...

 

Well, I was initially sent an email postponing it for next week (5th).

Was sent another email about an hour ago saying it was dispatched today to be delivered...today! Should have it by this afternoon so if I have time i'll send you guys the specs and a phew photos.

I'm doubting more and more as each day goes that it's FHD and IPS (IPS btw is to do with viewing angles for Samukami)

 

hah the tension is unbearable! IPS btw relates to viewing angles and often colour reproduction as well.

Never cared IPS before, but after buying a laptop a few months ago with the worst screen ever, I've been put off for life making a similarly expensive mistake again (thankfully, managed to recover costs on ebay )

And given that this model is lacking both SSD and only has 4GB ram, I'm hoping there is something extra to make up for it...

 

Samukami has received his laptop and I just spoke to him on the phone.

Laptop is same spec as listed. Brought from Amazon with the URLs mentioned in this topic.

It is NOT the same chassis, it's basically not an ultrabook. 2kg at least maybe.

Unsure about the IPS screen deal or whatnot. It's still 13.3 inches though.

He is taking some picture and I will be receiving them later and will host and put them here.

Quick Verdict from him "I think I'm keeping it. I rather like it!"

Now, I'm an ignorant person when it comes to screens, I personally don't care as I won't be viewing it from an odd angle. So how do I tell if it's an IPS screen?

 

Think this page summarises quite nicely!

Incidentally, have just received an email from Amazon, they "confirm" that it is indeed an IPS panel.

Look forward to the pics

 

4 pics has arrived. I believe he's busy with family so I'm not pushing him on being more detailed/specific:









My own verdict is that it definitely does not look thin, and/or I'm severely fooled by marketing pictures. Also, the box does not say Ultrabook.

st3v3: Jeez those sample pictures look scary lol... I closed the link. Will read them later when I've stopped raging (I hate baby pictures. Most if not all are disgusting haha. Sorry...)

 

Just got mine through the post. Not even going to break the asus seal on the box.

Its going straight back. Very annoyed! Zenbook is what I wanted, and Zenbook is definitely NOT what I got :-(

 

That's fair enough mate.

So if the zenbook is the ultrabook, what did we exactly get? It's 13.3, it's got i5 CPU, in its own right it's definitely in the ultrabook bracket... I'm semi confused.

I don't think Amazon would recharge the send back fee either, but in this case, it's very sloppy of them to have gotten it wrong.

 

Looks like U32VM but with Windows 8 and different Graphics Card...

ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS U32VM

Oh and thank you very much for the pics (and to your mate!!)

 

Thanks for the pics HyperonX - its obviously not a Zenbook and at £640 it doesnt look particularly good for the money to me!

 

Pleasure.

I'm unsure about its worth at the moment. I was also siding to the fact that £640 seems a bit too much for this.

Here's my "plus" factors:

+
13.3 inch notebook
i5 CPU
Dedicated GPU
I only know of the Toshiba Satellite models to be 13.3 but all of them contain a low end i3 or worst

-
This doesn't have a CD drive, so why isn't it thin?
Maybe the GPU bulked up the size but it's not a high end one ...

Just my personal thoughts, I've not physically touched the laptop.

 

Just as I expected.... it has the chassis of the U line... not the UX!

Definately a misleading listing! Other than that, specs look quite nice. I was hoping for a Zenbook chassis to be honest! I really wanted its lightweightness and thinness... I guess I'll be going for the UX32vd...

 

My thoughts exactly...

To be fair, I don't think its a bad laptop at all (RAM aside... easily upgradeable), and at this price its still fairly decent value for a 13 incher given the specs.

- I read a review saying the Bang & Olufson speakers on Asus laptops are really good
- Nvidia graphics (2GB not 1GB, according to Asus)
- Potentially a decent screen (if not a little low resolution for some folk... fine for me though!)
- Still less than an inch thick
- Proper processor, not some weak ultrabook ("u") processor!

As Hyperion says though.. just a little weird its this thick without a CD drive...

 

720p resolution is acceptable on a 13.3 inch (and in fact it's rather common). Any more and the price will be blown out of proportion (Sony has one at £2000, 12inch or 13inch)

At 15.6 I would prefer 1080p or 1600x900. My alienware in 2004 which was 15.6 had a 1680x1050, which was very nice.

4gb of RAM should be sufficient for this laptop. Samukami says there is an extra RAM slot. I'll need to verify how he saw that and/or if he already pried it open, because I cannot understand how he knows otherwise. I don't think I taught him to install CPU-Z to check haha

 

So this is not the new VivoBook?

I saw the 11.6" one at the Microsoft Store last weekend... pretty nice, Win8, touchscreen and only $500 US.

 

CPU-Z (in SPD tab) shows 4 Ram slots, only slot 3 contains something. I'm not sure if it means this laptop has 4 ram slots (seems unusual, most only have 2).

I'm not too familiar with CPU-Z so I'm not sure if this is normal. I've never really had to check my ram slots, haha.

 

Double post.

 

I found this thread a few days ago when researching the U32VJ after discovering what I thought was an absolute bargain on Amazon.co.uk

I would be interested to learn the exact weight of the device received please?

Also, are you guys all opting on going for the £699 Zenbook UX32a on Amazon instead, waiting out for something else to be released, or perhaps opting for another Ultrabook?

I saw one of these in PC World for €899 (Rep. of Ireland) £799 (UK). it's was much lighter than the HDD Zenbook next to it and not a bad looking machine at all. It costs the same price as fitting a SSD to the UX32a manually, but I am not sure exactly which would be lighter after the install? The Toshiba is 1.12kg.

Toshiba Satellite Z930 - 13N 13.3-inch Ultrabook (Intel Core i5 - 3317U 1.7/2.6GHz, 6GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Windows 8, Bluetooth)

Toshiba Satellite Z930 Ultrabook Unboxing - YouTube

Skip to about 2 minutes in the video.

 

The exact weight of this device is 1.89kg as specified on the products page. ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS U32VM

Samukami is keeping it after discussing with me, and I don't blame him. Sending it back would probably cost £30-50 (not sure, it's been a while since I shopped something quite large and expensive). 400~ grams over an ultrabook is really not that big of a deal. And this laptop in particular has a dedicated GPU (GT635M), although it's not the Kepler type, it's still a massively powerful card (not the top bracket, but second top. maybe top bracket in 2010/2011) for a 13.3. 400g won't matter that incredibly that much, and in exchange it can pack a punch if required. Personally there is little to no difference between 1.5kg (average ultrabook weight) and 1.9kg to me.

I'm unable to determine if it has the Optimus technology in it. I believe it doesn't, since that tech only existed in Kepler cards (I'm quite unsure though) but regardless, he said he is able to choose between HD4000/GT635m when launching apps that require a GPU. I'll be looking at it soon when I go visit him, so we'll see.

 

I'm sending mine back and getting a samsung series 9 13.3 inch (£200 more, but has decent screen and very small form factor). It's not necessarily a bad laptop in terms of hardware, but the zenbook chassis was the main selling point for me - which it doesn't have.

 

I am new to this web site. Receiving y ASUA u32VJ etc by Monday, Please explain what difference will the chassis make? I am in South Africa, and quite uninformed - just wanted a good notebook, ligth and portable for work and travel, doing a lot of presentations and like to put photobooks together. Do not play games or watch movies on my computer. I thought this was the best I could afford!

 

The zenbook chassis is just ... really thin.

As this Asus is not the zenbook, meaning it's slightly thicker and heavier. That's all really.

 

A few points to be made about this falsely advertised laptop:

• This is not a Zenbook Chasis, this is a U32 chasis.
• This laptop does not have an IPS screen, the colours and viewing angles vary a lot compared to the videos of the IPS ones I've seen. This may have thrown my image editing ideas out the water...
• All internals of the laptop advertised on the amazon website are correct though, it's the same spec, no difference.
• There is in fact 2 ram slots, so that is easily upgradable, as with the HDD.
• It is a lightweight laptop, it's just about 2kg.
• It's been bundled with Windows 8, which to me after a little use, feels like a disadvantage, as it seems painfully hard to switch back to Windows 7 easily. (This is my personal opinion, I'm not a fan of Windows 8 after a days usage)

I hope this helps... Over the weekend, my mind has become incredibly split on this laptop over the weekend.

 

I have received my Asus U32Vj today. It looks very sturdy, screen looks fine to me, fast as hell in comparison to my old Compaq 615. I played a bit with Windows 8, which requires a new mindset ... but I also really like the keyboard. Listen to Susan Boyle on You Tube, adjusted the speaker control full-out, great! Will be taking it tomorrow to our local IT guys to load Microsoft from my old computer, will report what they say. Guess I will be keeping it.