ASUS Zenbook Infinity UX301LA - just announced at Computex

Hi guys

I have asked this question before but I just want to be sure. I am undecided between this laptop, Ativ 9 Plus and Aspire S7. Weight is really important for me, even 0.5 of pounds. Adorama says 3.08 but B&H says it's 2.6lb. Which one is really correct? From those that have already bought the laptop, can you give me an exact weight?

Thanks,

 

A quick reply to a few questions I've seen here. I had a UX31A (silver, non-touch version) and I'm basing my responses off that. I bought this UX301LA-DH71T from Amazon and received it on the 13th. I use it daily and tend to be very critical of the hardware I buy - especially those that cost this much.

1) Weight: It's definitely heavier than the UX31A, so it's >3 lbs. It's not a dealbreaker for me; I guess it's the price to pay for all that Gorilla Glass.
2) The lid is definitely flimsier than the UX31A. I'm able to cause ripples in the LCD if I flex the back of the lid. Same thing if I tap "firmly" on the touchscreen. Picking it up by the lid doesn't feel quite as confidence-inspiring compared to the UX31A.
3) The screen has great sharpness and colour. Except it has really poor viewing angles. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this: The horizontal (side-to-side) viewing angle blows. The screen quickly becomes washed out if you're not viewing it head-on. The vertical viewing angle isn't quite as bad, but certainly not as good as the 1080p panel used in the UX31A. I would be less harsh on the display if the laptop didn't cost almost $2000 USD. The screen is quite viewable in bright sunlight, although the it only seems to have about four levels of brightness.
4) The fan does get to be noisy (in a whooshing kind of way) in a quiet room; not annoying, but certainly noticeable. Any other room noise (TV, music, etc) would certainly drown it out.
5) I also have the random Windows 8.1 display scaling issue where resuming from sleep sometimes results in a 100% scaling reset (I personally use 150%). It would seem that unchecking the "use the same scaling factor on all my displays" checkbox fixes the issue (i.e. using the new Windows 8.1 display-independent scaling). At the very least, that new slider doesn't require me to log out when changing the setting.
6) The clickpad is much improved from last year: It's a lot less noisy now. The default drivers feels like they implement Windows 8.1's new Direct Manipulation API, which makes zooming and scrolling feel as if you're actually doing it with the touchscreen. I've reverted to an older Elan build of the drivers because the out-of-box ones don't support three-finger tap for middle-click.

 

The DH71T model I have is definitely heavier than the ATIV Book 9+, not sure about the S7. The 9+ is slightly thinner and I agree with you when it comes to weight being extremely important. However the trade off for being slightly lighter is that you don't get the more powerful Core i7-4558U. In my case, the slight gain in weight and thickness is worth the gain in performance.

But if weight and thinness are more important to you than the performance gain then I'd go for the 9+ (or S7 if that's lighter/thinner). For me, a Windows laptop with better specs than a 13 inch MBP in a thinner, sleeker body (with a touch screen!) was just too good to pass up. I think the Infinity is the closest thing to a Sony Vaio Z that the premium notebook market will be seeing for a while.

 

one other annoying thing I did not consider prior to buying is the short sd card slot. with 128gb modules getting affordable these would be great data storage options. but they protrude from the card slot. there is a shorter card available for Macs:
PNY
has anyone tried that for PCs or even better for the ux301?

 

Thanks phil917 for you reply.
About the performance, how much do you think is the difference between the CPUs of these two laptops? because price wise the S7 with 256gb SSD, 8GB RAM and i7-4500u CPU is available for $1519 at amazon. The Asus has the same specification with the only difference in CPU but it's $450-500 more expensive. It is worth this much?

Thanks

 

Thanks for the thoughts, Phil.

I'm a Vaio Z2 owner looking for an upgrade too... is the Infinity significantly better?

Wish Sony had announced a Z successor.

 

Looks like B&H has the DH71T in stock
ASUS Zenbook UX301LA-DH71T 13.3" Touchscreen UX301LA-DH71T

 

Can anyone speak to the battery life on the i7? I've only used the i5, so I'm curious the difference in battery life under "normal" usage.

 

mehdi.shahriari:
I can't really compare the performance to the 4500U except for the small amount of time I played with the Samsung ATIV Book 9+ at Best Buy. The floor model they had there seemed to freeze and hang a decent amount but that could be due to the Windows power options. I did initially notice some hanging and pauses on my UX301 but after changing the power profile under Power Options to balanced (It was initially set to some custom max battery profile that Asus included) that has completely gone away. You can also check this site for benchmarks of the i7 4558U vs the i7 4500U.

i7 4558u - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser

On average it looks like around a ~20% increase in that particular benchmark, take that for what you will. It's definitely debatable whether the performance increase is worth the money but if you're like me and are looking for a laptop to last around 2 - 3 years, every little extra bit of performance is important in the long run.

dariusnaz:
I agree, I was extremely disappointed when Sony killed the Z series. I wouldn't call the Infinity significantly better but it is better, a worthy upgrade to the Z. It has a CPU comparable to those found on desktop machines, like the Z, and it's thin, sleek, and nice looking like the Z (although I think the Z looks a little better).

joshmcx:
I haven't had the chance to go from fully charged to dead but the battery estimates from Windows while using the balanced power option range from 4 hours (programming while streaming video in background at medium-high brightness) to just shy of 8 hours (light web browsing at medium-high brightness). I haven't tried the max battery savings option yet but I'm pretty pleased with the current battery use and doubt I will change the settings any time soon.

 

Thanks, this sounds comparable to what I saw with the i5, which is good news.

This lines up with what I've read on the two CPUs as well, but I was concerned.

 

I have a few oddball questions about the UX301LA:

What is the maximum refresh rate of the LCD at native resolution?

How many millimeters does the SD card stick out when you plug it in?

Has anyone managed to put a nick or scratch anywhere on the Gorilla Glass 3 (and willing to admit it)? If so, how difficult was it to do?

 

60Hz.
Like 5mm.
No way!

 

Thanks for the blazing fast answers! So the SD card barely sticks out just a tiny bit -- I read elsewhere that most of the SD card juts out of the machine.

Another question: Can you drive two monitors simultaneously with both the mini-DisplayPort and the mini-HDMI ports? How about three displays, if you also count the machine's own panel?

 

I can't be 100% sure but I want to say yes because of one legacy and one mDP configuration.

 

Looks like you have to do more than this guy to get a scratch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ib-D2L0NWY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

Can anyone with the UX301LA tell me whether their brightness adjustment's bottom two "notches" have no difference? I feel like my display could go much darker than it is on the lowest setting.

 

Saw and played with this machine at my local Best Buy in NYC. Look and feel are great. Keyboard is sturdy and doesnt flex and typing is really fluid. The screen was also really nice. The machine was pretty light to my standards. It may not be as light as other ultrabooks but does it really matter that much to people?

Im very excited about the premium version XH72T now which I still have on backorder at B&H. SSD should make it lighter weight + the higher res screen will be interesting to see. I just wish ASUS would announce a firm release date for it already

 

That's what I got on mine... there are some interesting quirks for sure.

 

I love this laptop, but I have a few issues :

when light sensor is on :
- auto screen luminosity is not that good (too dark or not enough)
- sometimes the keyboard backlit is blinking (on/off/on/off/on/off/.....)
> light sensor de-activated (but Asus Instant On seems to be responsible for these issues)

when upscaling is activated in Windows 8.1 :
- sometimes screen ratio is back to 100% (instead of 150%) for no reason
> looking for a way to fix this

Did anyone try to reinstall Windows 8.1 from scratch ? I want a clean install without Asus crapware and multiple restauration partitions....
> if yes, are all the drivers provided by Asus working ? (fn keys, light sensor, etc)

 

Wondering if anybody is purchasing the additional protection plans. I'm on the fence between the ATIV Book 9+ and this one, but the SSDs in RAID make me a little nervous about failure.

 

there's nothing more 'premium' about the XH72T than the other models of the UX301LA. they all have SSD's and the same screen resolution. the XH72T just has a 512GB SSD, that's the only difference.

 

Absolutely. I paid $2000 for a piece of hardware that's supposed to last me for at least the next 2 years, so I figure an extra couple hundred for a full coverage protection plan is a smart investment.

 

Is there a teardown for this guy?

 

Certainly as you hit the more expensive systems it makes a lot of sense.

 

The place I want to get it from (Microcenter) offers 1 or 2 year plans, but they overlap with the 1 year ASUS warranty. Just curious what plan you used.

 

Actually what I saw was the UX302LA and that is what I was referring to. Either way, sadly you are VERY misinformed.

1. The XH72T is an i7 2.8 ghz as opposed to the DH51T which is an i5 1.6 ghz machine

2. The XH72T's integrated graphics use Intel Iris 5100 graphics as opposed to the DH51T using Intel HD 4400

 

I think his point was that the XH72T isn't some sort of special "premium" model as your wording implied. It is simply the highest specification model in the lineup. You made it sound as though the XH72T came with gold trim or something. The 51 is an i5 model, the 71 is an i7 model, and the 72 is simply a 71 with more hard drive space. The UX301LA could be said to be the "premium" model of the UX302LA. I think that would be a more appropriate use for that word.

/nitpicking because I'm tired of people arguing over a misunderstanding

 

I've spent several days using this laptop at this point and I'm ready to give some more detailed impressions for the Infinity. I've broken up my impressions by the various components of the machine.

Screen: The resolution, colors, and brightness this display pushes is very impressive. I have absolutely no complaints with the hardware here. That being said, Windows 8.1 holds back the full potential of this screen. The scaling just doesn't work the way I wish it would, especially on certain third party applications, like Chrome for example. I actually am running this display at 1920 X 1080 with no scaling because the overall experience feels better and more consistent across the entire OS. But again this is more of a Windows issue, it's just a shame that I can't really take advantage of the full resolution without getting a crappy experience in certain areas. This is something that I wish Windows would take a lesson from Apple in. However they handle scaling on their retina screens blows Window's method out of the water. Lastly, the touch screen is awesome, love being able to use the Metro UI to browse the web in bed

Keyboard: The backlit keyboard is good, but not amazing. I'm able to type quickly with minimal errors. It also looks fantastic with the back light, which by the way is uniformly lit and not brighter or darker in certain areas of the keyboard. It looks like what you would expect from a premium laptop but the feel of it leaves a little to be desired in my opinion. The keys don't depress quite as much as I'd like and there is a little too much flex/flimsiness for my liking. The keyboard is probably the least favorite part of this machine.

Trackpad: Best trackpad experience I've had on a Windows machine. It's big, has a nice feel to it with the right amount of friction, and gestures work extremely well for the most part. I say for the most part because some 3rd party applications don't handle gestures as well as 1st party applications, but overall still a great experience.

Battery: This is probably the longest lasting battery I've personally experienced on a laptop but I can't really compare it to other current ultrabooks. Windows often estimates around 4+ hours with moderate to heavy usage and 7+ hours when doing things like light web browsing. And this is on the balanced battery setting at medium-high brightness so I'm fairly impressed. No complaints here.

Performance: Great performance and exactly what I wanted from this machine. No issues or lag when multitasking, doing things like streaming video, programming using a memory intensive integrated development environment, and browsing. The fact that I get all this power in a machine slimmer and lighter (with a touchscreen) than the new Macbook Pro is just icing on the cake.

Speakers: Surprisingly good. They're not too loud but the quality is definitely above what I would expect from a laptop of this size.

This laptop has almost completely lived up to my expectations. Great performance, good battery life, beautiful design, thin and light chassis, and a touch screen. It doesn't get much better than that. However I'm not so thrilled about the keyboard. Perhaps I'm just spoiled coming from my old HP Probook 5310m and my work MacBook Pro, but the keyboard on the Infinity just feels a little too flimsy for me (especially the space key). It's not bad but it's not top quality premium either which is definitely disappointing considering the price tag on this machine.

The fact is though, right now there is nothing else on the market that packs the same performance and feature set into a chassis this thin and light. So dealing with a "just good" keyboard is more than fair trade off at the moment. Overall, I'd call the Zenbook Infinity a fantastic machine with a few minor issues.

Is it worth the huge price tag? I'm afraid I'm going to need a little bit more time to definitively answer that question but right now I'm leaning towards no, unless you're going to be doing things like programming, multimedia editing, and light 3D gaming. I think that's all for now...

 

Thanks for the awesome review... can you comment on the wireless? How's the signal and speed?

 

Is the iris pro powerful enough to handle CAD softwares for creating and manipulating small assemblies? I don't do any gaming so Thts not an issue for me

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It should be, considering I've managed to use Autodesk Inventor to create small assemblies on my X120e... though it's not like I was getting 60 FPS the entire time, lol.

 

I'd call it perfectly capable. I haven't had any issues with speed or connection in my house. It gets a slightly better connection than my old laptop and is on par with my work Macbook Pro.

Ajcn, I rarely use 3d modeling/design programs but considering my 3 year old laptop was able to handle applications like that I'd bet that the Zenbook is definitely able to as well. There's a YouTube video that does some gaming benchmarks with the Infinity that you might want to check out.

 

I am seriously considering getting the top configuration ux301 but at the same time debating with myself to wait for a 15 inch version of zenbook. However I don't think Asus is going to announce a 15 inch version very soon and once announced it will take months to be released after that. I am really confused.

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Don't hold your breath. Been waiting nearly 4 months for them to release the i7 for christ's sake. Still no firm release date.

 

As I said in my last post, what I saw at Best Buy was the UX302 when I said "Premium".

But either way, I would say an i7 with Iris graphics would be "Premium" over the lower spec'd models who have basic integrated graphics. It doesnt need "gold trim". If thats what makes a pc premium to you, go buy the Sony Vaio Ferrari Red notebooks.

 

Also waiting for the XH72T model, as double the SSD capacity is worth a few hundred $ IMO. FWIW I have seen the DH71T in stock at MicroCenter outside Philly if anyone's interested.

It's going to hurt paying over $1000 more for it than my last laptop, but since the 302LG isn't available in America, I'm willing to make the investment. My only concern is the Gorilla Glass; I don't expect it to survive unscathed from a desktop-high fall onto a hard floor, but how resistant will it be to cracking?

Any input much appreciated!

 

Please see above quote.

 

fyi, ux31la (31!) i7 haswell/8gb/900p matte/128gb @1100 eur rare model in eastern europe

see http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...-bridge-np900x3e-np900x3f-21.html#post9463697

 

I just pre-ordered the UX301LA-XH72T available @ amazon.com. But i wish it had in white!!! The whites are not coming to USA?

 

How does it work with IE11? It was, after all, built for Windows 8.

Have you tried Chrome Canary? I'm using it on my Surface Pro 2 with good results. One thing it does that regular Chrome can't do is pinch to zoom, like IE11 can do easily. Canary is pretty solid and you can install it alongside regular Chrome.

Removing Interferences: How To Pinch Zoom on Chrome!

I actually prefer IE11 as a browser but it falls short on plugins and Android integration, so I use Chrome Canary.

 

Does anyone else think the pricing is odd with this notebook? Less than $80 to upgrade from 256Gb to 512GB? I think I might return my DH71T to Amazon and get the XH72T.

 

Thanks for this, this is definitely a step in the right direction although it's still not as smooth as the latest IE. I use both on a daily basis at this point, when I'm actually doing work I like to use Chrome but if I'm just browsing reddit in bed I like IE for it's superior touch support.

Plastus, where are you seeing the 512 model for just an $80 bump? If the price difference is really that small I'd be very tempted myself to return the DH71T and get a XH72T.

 

For the ones who have the ux301 how good is it... im considering getting a 16gb ram since i already have my sony z i5 8gb ram 128 gb ssd is 3 years old now but running well, not sure if its worth the change or should i just wait to jump to a 16 gb ram laptop. I think it should have 16gb ram version of this!

For the price i thought it was odd too and i did pre-order one, but im still considering it.

Phil, I pre-ordered mine at amazon for the nice price.

 

Amazon.com: ASUS Zenbook UX301LA-XH72T 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Blue): Computers & Accessories

Amazon has the XH72T for $1983. I got the DH71T for $1866. So it's actually $117, but I still think that's pretty inexpensive. I just got my DH71T configured exactly the way I want though; scaling quirks seem to have gone away, the LCD's color temperature is perfect (no yellowing like on some laptops). While it's always nice to have more space, I'm not entirely sure I would make use of the extra 256GB. The risks of getting a laptop with imperfections may outweigh the benefits.

 

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask after-purchase questions!
I bought the DH71T from B&H but the LED on the charger plug never turns on. I suppose it should be orange while charging and green when the charge is full? (It is in fact charging, LED indicator is the only matter)
And the plug is kinda loose, is that normal?

PS: That's embarrassing, i wasn't fully plugging it in So weird that can still charge..

 

How were you able to adjust the scaling on the Infinity? I barely got mines yesterday and have been trying to find a way to get around it and make it more convenient for me.

 

I suggest you upgrade to Windows 8.1 and scale it to 175 - 200%.

 

If you get Ubuntu dual boot working, let me know. I am developing for a TI DM8148 design and need this as well. -pnefos

 

I'm actually running it at 100% scaling at the native 2560x1440 resolution. I had an issue where the Modern UI would automatically scale to 200% regardless of the desktop DPI settings. I had to create my own monitor INF file with modified EDID information (specifically the monitor dimensions) and then force install it in unsigned driver mode.

If you're looking to actually make text/icons bigger in Windows with the use of either the new slider scaling or the DPI setting, I have to say it doesn't work as well as it does on Mac. Lots of issues with odd proportions for dialog boxes, etc. which is why I'm running it at 100%. I also use my notebook for programming and data analysis work which is one of the big reasons why I went with the Zenbook. 2560x1440 is the absolute limit for 100% scaling. That's why I didn't get the Ativ Book 9 Plus.

 

Why is zenbook suitable for data analysis? Just wondering as I need a laptop for same sort of work.

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