ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

Can the colors be calibrated to fix the mustard or are they because of the panel?

 

What about the DPI scaling? I'm guessing it's usable, or is it a total pain? I think I'm going to cave and buy one.

 

DPI scaling should be OK if on Win8. I read on ultrabookreview that the panel issue could be somewhat corrected through a bios update.
I may just order on amazon and try it out to see if I can adjust, at least there I have 30 days to return

 

On the Y50 I was able to use a colorimeter and adjust some settings to make the yellows look less mustard and just a darker version of what they should be. It certainly was tolerable but that panel had a couple other issues I couldn't get over. I'll try the same with this one and see how it looks. It's not possible to calibrate yellow since the subpixels are RGBW. A colorimeter runs through the RGB spectrum and adjusts those accordingly. Yellow is just assumed to be good after that .Something in the white subpixel messes everything up for yellow and makes it look bad though. I think the bios fix utilizes the lcd backlight more than the white subpixel, similar to traditional RGB panels. That could be why it uses more power. I'm only guessing though and basing this on my experiences with the Y50 which I suspect didn't need a bios fix because it already had one. On the Y50 at high brightness settings, the yellows could be made to look decent. Once you turned down the brightness below 60%, there is an obviosu color shift to where it looked like the screen was utilizing a totally different backlight. The yellows were crushed and the contrast ratio was shifted. I suspect that there was a threshold where it was using the white subpixel instead of the backlight or vice versa and that's why everything changed. I don't have the equipment to prove it though.

I can say this - I don't like these RGBW panels at all. This will be the last chance I give one and then I'm out for good. Maybe even out for all QHD panels. The 14" IGZO panel on the Razer Blade and Aorus X3+ is still the best QHD panel I've seen so far, and even it has color shifting issues at shallow viewing angles. GS60 3k panel has below average colors. I think the NX500/GX500 will have a nice screen but we won't know for a few months.

DPI scaling for normal stuff works ok but there will be some legacy applications and installers that will permanently have tiny or misplaced text. You will get used to it but it's ugly. Some things are plain unusable and you have to shift to a lower resolution to use it. I really hope windows 9 has a pixel multiplier built in as an option that can be isolated to an app or things are going to get ugly. We can't rely on developers to go back and fix all those old applications. Here's a short list of DPI issues I found frustrating.

-Fraps has misplaced text
-Windows media player media buttons are super small
-The latest Blizzard launcher got tiny and almost illegible
-Origin launcher is tiny and barely usable
-many DX11 games will play in a 1080p window in the center of the screen. Crysis for example. Only fix was to change the desktop resoltion to 1920x1080 and then launch the game.
-some installers had text that was native to the installer and not windows => was 4x smaller and hard to read.
-Chrome looks bad and there's no good fix yet. Chrome Canary is a must.

 

I hope not. Given their pricing on the UX303 line and the fact that they dumped the Gorilla Glass body, that UX305 should be more competitive. Still, it won't be coming until the end of this year, so it's way too soon to talk about it.

 

Yeah, you're right, probably not THAT expensive. I would guess prices close to the Acer S7-392 though

 

If you read Amazon's return policy closely, you will find that only computers in un-opened packages can be returned without re-stocking fees. I mis-read the policy earlier and thought I had 30 days to try one out.

Jim

 

Yeah, they charge a restocking fee. If there's a legitimate defect, they'll waive the fee. Even with the fee, I prefer buying from then simply because they even accept returns. Most online retailers don't accept computer returns at all.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, Amazon is always my first choice. Even a 15% re-stocking fee is better than no return, try to sell on Ebay or Amazon.

Jim

 

Screw it. I'm caving in and going for the UX303LN with the QHD. I've lost all hope the 1080p model is going to come out anytime soon, I can't wait till october only to find it gets delayed till November/December/2015. I'm hoping the DPI Scaling won't bother me too much. Such a shame they ruined what could have been a perfect laptop for me.

 

Really quick guys, how does the Intel Core M compare to today's Haswell?

The new UX305 has an Intel Core M is that basically a broadwell CPU?

Will it still be faster then the Haswell's right now?

On a video the Intel Core M was clocked at like .98MHZ or something like that

 

It's been a while since I deep-dived into processor tech, but my understanding is that Core M is Broadwell-Y, replacing Haswell-Y. In general, Broadwell parts should deliver slightly more performance than equivalent Haswell parts, while consuming much less power. Core M is mainly aimed at high-end tablets/hybirds, and super-light, super-thin laptops like the UX305.

To answer your question, Core M will probably only be faster than Haswell-Y. Laptops like the UX303 use U series Haswell processors that are in a much more powerful class than Y, but also consume more power. There will no doubt be other Broadwell chips by next year to upgrade the U series.

Further reading:
AnandTech | Short Bytes: Intel's Core M and Broadwell-Y SoC
AnandTech | ASUS' Zenbook UX305: Core M and QHD+

 

Thanks for the info ^

I hope they have broadwell i7U processors instead of the Intel Core M

 

Back to the UX303... How is everyone finding the keyboard on the LN/LA? I noticed a little center flex in the ultrabookreview.com video.

 

Might just be my old eyes, but I don't see any flex anywhere on the keyboard of my LA.

Jim

 

You have to push really hard on the bridge between the keys to get any flex. I am really, really impressed with the keyboard on my LN. I can even get used to the power button being where the delete key should be..... eventually.

 

Yeah you definitely have to give it some real force in the middle to see any flex. I just got my ux303ln today, so far am very satisfied. Instead of dealing with all the scaling issues I just simply turned the resolution down to 1920 x 1080 and turned the scaling to medium. I think it looks fine, haven't come across any problems so far. When you turn it on the screen looks really dark because of the auto ambient light sensor, turning it off made the screen look a lot better. Yes, there appears to problems with yellows but I think I can deal with that and it would be even better if they have an update or there are setting changes that can fix that. It is a very solid machine, just wish it came with the sleeve and the adapter accessories.

 

I got my UX303L A in the mail today and overall I am very impressed so far. No noticeable keyboard flex during normal use but if you try to press down hard enough between the keys you will notice it. I am very happy with the quality of the LA screen however I've found a single dead pixel on the left side of the screen. You can't see it unless you put your face up to the screen with a white background. It annoys me knowing it's there but I will manage to live with it assuming I don't encounter other problems. Colors look great and I haven't had any issues with the native resolution. I'm switching from a mechanical keyboard so the change is a little odd. I've made a few typos but the keyboard is quality with nice backlighting. My only gripe with the keyboard is the POWER button placement at the top right corner, right next to delete. Fortunately, you have to press the power button quite firmly so I haven't accidentally powered shut. The touchpad seems responsive and accurate however I use a mouse so my experience with the touchpad is limited. I will note the 2 buttons below the touch pad are quite "clicky" but I don't have to worry about using them that often. Boot time is great with the SSD and virtually no sound other except when I was really working the i5 with torrents, virus scan and League of Legends running at the same time. Not to cause alarm, but I've noticed that the heat is pushed up towards the bottom of the screen and it does get quite warm....I noticed this in the only review video I have seen of the ux303, but that was with the dGPU. I really hope this doesn't impact the quality of the screen life. Bottom of the laptop doesn't get warm at all because of the ventilation design. Overall great quality and solid build. I'm getting the the exact performance expected from i5, 8gb RAM, and HD 4400. As it stands my only concern is front bottom of the screen getting warm.

 

I am loving the keyboard.. IDK how hard you press your keys, but I type very softly. I have always typed softly. I also just tried to push really hard on the middle of the keyboard and there is no flex at all.

 

As a note, what are the temps like while gaming with the LN? I know ultrabookreview.com had them listed but that was a pre-prod unit (if it even makes any difference). I know it does slightly vary between units because when I had my UX302LG, my replacement had temps 4 degrees lower in the same conditions as the first unit. Temps use to max at 75 on the GPU and 83 on the CPU after about 1 hour of playing BF3/BF4.

 

Wow. Thanks for the tip. I turned off the light sensor and the screen got much brighter than it was before - even though I had it set to the highest setting earlier.

I am coming from a Sony Z116 which had a screen that could be seen in direct sunlight so this change brings me back closer to what I am used to.

 

840M is Maxwell, so it runs more efficiently thus cooler, and 730M is a Kepler.
However, the difference should be minor so 4 degrees seems reasonable.

 

The 4 degree difference was between the same model (UX302LG) but different units ( I got a replacement due to dead pixels and light-bleeding). Both units had their GPU temps max at 75 degrees but the first unit's CPU maxed at 87 degrees while the replacement did at 83 degrees.

 

Did they both had the same BIOS version?
Because if ASUS adjusted something in BIOS such as the way it handles power flow such as restriction to reduce temperature then it's possible.
Another thing is thermal paste and how secure the heatsink is being mounted onto the mainboard.

 

Yes both had the same BIOS. I suspected it was the thermal pasting because I did open it up to install an SSD and while I was at it made sure the screws everywhere were secure. Unfortunately I couldn't re-paste it myself because of the warranty void sticker.

 

ASUS and MSI and other manufacturers share the same legal restriction that they cannot enforce consumers from upgrading, therefore changing out HDD/SSD/RAM are acceptable and cannot void your warranty (US/Canada).
Unless your country agrees and complies with such restriction.

 

The sales rep told me people were swapping out the HDD for an SSD so i knew i could do that, but that warranty void sticker was stuck on one of the heatsink screws so that's why i couldn't re-paste it.

 

My temps were also pretty high on the CPU, So I opened it up, re-pasted, installed some custom thermal pads to attach the top of the heat pipes to the aluminum casing for better dissipation. On top of that I flashed a custom bios to disable hyper threading and dropped the voltage for the cpu using throttlestop. MUCH better temps now, 69C max on the GPU and 70C max on the CPU. Not sure if it was worth the trouble but I love having lower temps on my notebooks Now I just pray nothing goes wrong with the notebook because I did have to break the warranty seal to do it, stock paste was pretty crap and glopped all over

 

Mine shipped from Adorama today! Can't wait, should be here Monday.

 

This is with the UX303? Nice temps after your custom mods, sounds definitely worth doing. What temps were you getting before doing this?
And also would you mind sharing where you got the custom BIOS from?

 

Is anyone here in the UK with this laptop? the ux303LN
Also, I've read some post before someone asking for the 1080p screen. It means it's not touchscreen, correct?

If I understood correctly we can get:
IPS 1920 x 1080 px non-glare
or
IGZO IPS 3200 x 1800 PX touchscreen
( Asus Zenbook UX303LA vs UX303LN - which one to get?)

is there any difference on the phisical monitor?
let me see If I can explain myself... if you have the IPS screen you'll have that plastic frame arround the screen. While if you get the touchscreen it's like the macbook, all glass, no plastic frame, is it?

 

Yes, there are no 1080p touchscreen models, they are matte only. The UX303LA has a 1080p touchscreen but lacks the graphics card. The touchscreen models are edge to edge glass while the 1080p matte model has a bezel.

 

Thank you for the reply.
and would it be possible to use that LA screen on the LN laptop model?

and about the hot air going out of the laptop directly to the bottom part of the screen...? would it be a problem? or it would not affect the screen in anyway?
Well, if they designed it like that, it theory there should not be an issue... but is there any other information saying otherwise? (couldn't find nothing so far... which is good I guess)

 

I think so but I haven't verified it yet. I'm having trouble getting my hands on an LA model to try it out. Hopefully either Amazon or Newegg will have them in stock soon.

As for the hot air, don't worry about it. The Razer Blade and Macbook Air have had this feature for years and there are no issues. The RB is cooling an 870M too which is super hot!

 

UX303LN, I made the bios myself. Temps before were reaching upwards of 90 on the cpu and around 75 on the gpu.

 

Impressive. Were you able to address any of the issues with color accuracy using your custom BIOS?

 

No, I basically just unlocked all the hidden menus, pretty sure only Asus would be able to fix that.

 

Just a heads up for you guys. I messaged the ASUS Germany and asked for a date when the UX303 series will be available in Germany. The answer I got was that they are expecting them to be available at the beginning of november.

 

also make sure to turn off the Adaptive Brightness setting in Windows Power Options!

 

Thanks Raged, glad I ordered the UX303 QHD now. Arrives tomorrow.

 

I take it you dumped the BIOS and used AMIBCP? In which case you should have access to the voltages too. Look forward to doing this on mine when I get it

 

UX303LN-C4100H

13,3" FullHD WV (IPS) GL LED Touch,
Intel i7 4510U,
8GB (4GB OB + 4GB, Max.12GB),
1TB HDD + 16GB SSD,
nVidia GT 840M

This is the 1080p model I find here in Portugal, and it says in every store it is touch? :S

 

Yup, No voltages are listed under the bios but you can change them using throttle stop.

 

does anybody know how to lower the UX303LN brightness even more? My old UL30A used to go down to almost not visible. I feel like this QHD screen has limitations? I have disabled adaptive brightness and manually lowered it down, but it feels pretty bright in a dark, slightly lit room

 

I want to have a play around with the this thing a bit, the latest AMIBCP I could find was V4.53. Is that the one you used?

I'll probably make the fan spool up at a lower temp so these values here are what I play with right?



And I'll also turn off the hyper-threading like you did, so that's this?

 

Did the settings work after you flashed the modified BIOS?

 

Can anyone who has received their ux303ln from Amazon comment as to whether the travel sleeve/ethernet adapter are included?

 

The only included "accessory" is a cable tie.

 

That's frustrating since the Asus website, as well as the review on ultrabookreview.com, mention additional accessories.