ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

Mine came with a sleeve and two adapters. It's of course nice to get these but I really doubt that I will use any of them much. The sleeve doesn't have a handle so if I take my laptop somewhere I'd rather carry it in a proper bag.

I had a HP Envy 13 with no ethernet port and an included USB adapter. During the 4 years that I had it I used the adapter once to set up my router and once in a hotel that didn't have Wi-Fi. You can get similar adapters from eBay for 10 euros.

 

I don't even have the machine (not out in my country yet). I'm just seeing whats in-store to play with when I do get it. However, zaczac has done this successfully.

 

Which region did you buy yours from?

 

Where did you find the Splendid Utility for the UX303LN? I searched the Asus support pages but couldn't find the utility. I only found another Splendid app that only gave me 2 options: remove, or repair. That was it... =/

EDIT: Found the utility, but switching to Manual and changing the color temp from 0 to 2 doesn't do anything noticeable. The change in yellow is almost negligible.

 

I got mine from Amazon and it came with neither. I'm not too pleased about it either, but whatever I guess... I figured I wouldn't get the dongles because of what others said, but I was expecting the sleeve at least.

After half a day with the machine I kind of like it. The screen is the toughest thing to get over. The yellows are messed up and stayed that way even after I calibrated it. Calibration results were sRGB 99%, NTSC 70%, aRGB 74%. These results are good, but keep in mind that colorimeters calibrate RBG only and "assume" the other colors will fall in line. That obviously isn't the case with the QHD panel. So yellows look dark and murky and oranges also have a different tone. I tried adjusting the color settings in Intel but I couldn't get the yellows to look right without sacrificing another color. The closest I got was after adjusting red but then all my whites had a red tint. I'm pretty sure Lenovo already did the bios fix for the Y50 because this panel is the same technology but looks significantly worse. I could tolerate the Y50's 4k screen long term, but I don't think I'll ever get over this one unless they fix it. I think if this was the only computer someone used, the screen would be fine. But if you swap between a desktop and this or if you use an external display next to the laptop, it's going to be blatantly obvious the color difference you will see. Examples I can describe: Chrome's icon looks like the yellow is light brown. The yellows on Amazon's buttons are dull and boring. The orange highlights on this website look darker. Newegg just looks plain gross. Some pluses to the screen are it's very sharp, has incredible viewing angles and is very bright. I do have some backlight bleed on the bottom edge though. It looks like the exact same bleed I had on the UX302LG - it's basically 4 spots n the bottom edge. I also saw this on the Transformer Book early last year. This seems to be a thing for Asus...

I like the keyboard - it's a huge improvement over last year. Good response, keys feel sturdy and there is little or no flex. The backlighting is perfect and the contrasting colors on the keys are ideal. The trackpad is nice and big. It responds very well. The only thing I wish is it could be a little smoother. Maybe my fingers were a little dirty but I had a couple instances where it felt rougher than my Q550LF. I'd still call it above average.

Build quality is excellent. I liked the glass lid last year but it felt a little flimsy. This machine feels solid. It opens with one finger and is well balanced. I'm very satisfied with the design. My lid had a small sunken in portion which I'm not too fond of. I think I will be exchanging it because of that. The only gribe I have with the build is the sharp edge on the front edge of the pal rest. It's pretty sharp, especially in the rounded corners. They chamfered the edges on their thicker notebooks, so I don't see why they couldn't here. Not a deal breaker but it sucks for people who use it on their lap in bed.

I had an unboxing video but I have to edit out my serial number. It's not very eventful at all though. It's basically like any other Zenbook except they didn't include a sleeve or the dongles. Outer box->inner box->laptop + charger. The charger is the same as the UX301/302 except it doesn't have the orange/green led indicator on the connector. I liked that feature.

 

I have the UX303LA, not the LN. Simple color calibration will not work on the QHD screen.

Good luck, Jim

 

can you LN users comment on the battery life? I have been getting around 5-6 hours MAX with browsing and watching some HD web videos on tech sites here and there

 

That's probably the most any of us are going to get. It's so hard to gauge battery life by hours since there are so many factors that affect the draw. If you're getting 5-6 hours on an Ultrabook, I saw that's great. There aren't many other Ultrabooks out there that get more than that.

 

That's strange, I've seen one or two unboxing videos of the UX303LN and they all seem to come with a sleeve and adapters. Considering how this is the top tier model I don't see why those shipped by amazon would be any different. Unless Amazon themselves have removed them to sell on?

 

Amazon doesn't remove anything. The outer box is sealed and contains the inner box and usually a separate pouch with the sleeve. The inner box is shrink wrapped and contains the laptop+accessories.

 

Does anyone know how the battey on the UX303LA model compare to that on the UX303LN? I believe the LA model will have much better battery life since it doesn't have a touchscreen, is only FHD and has integrated graphics. Also, is the color reproduction on the FHD model better than the QHD one?

 

Speaking of Amazon. I just received an email from them telling me that due to a problem out of their control, the 303LN I ordered on the 28th of August, will not arrive till the 8th of October! What confuses me is they still show it as in stock on the page.

 

The LA model has a touchscreen. Honestly, it will probably be similar battery life. The processors draw about the same power and most of the components are the same except the dGPU. If the dGPU is used, then the battery of the LN is way less.

 

One thing I'm not liking about the QHD+ screen on the LN is the CPU's ability to process webpages in native resolution. My friend noticed this right away when doing a Google image search. Once you let the images load, scrolling through them is very clunky when compared to a quad core. Switch to 1080p and it's much smoother. Another reason to not like this screen... Once I get my replacement I think I will definitely be swapping screens, granted I can find someone to but the LA model with the QHD+ screen

For those wondering about scaling issues, this is the kind of stuff you have to tolerate when operating above 1080p. If you open this image in fullscreen on your 13" laptop, it will be the same as what I am seeing except the text will be sharper to read. You need to have good eyes to see things this small.

 

That's right, I thought there was a model without the touchscreen. Apparently, the newer UX305 will have this option ( Notebooks & Ultrabooks - ASUS ZenBook UX305 - ASUS) for the FHD configuration. Doesn't the extra pixel count draw a lot more power? Also, if you do enter the Asus website I linked, can you explain me those resolutions? Is it a mistake that 3200x1800 is 16:9 but 1920x1200 isn't? I assume it's going to be 1920x1080 for the lower resolution.

 

My i-5 LA, which has touch screen, gets 7 - 7.5 hours of battery life with my use profile. I use it mostly for Email, Web, card games, Angry Birds, upgrades and updates, some video, etc. I know nothing about LN battery life.

Jim

 

The 1920x1200 looks like a miss-print. That would be a very odd resolution.

Jim

 

I think all regions except North America has the sleeve and cables.

 

Try using Firefox instead of Chrome Canary. The scaling method in Firefox is way faster. I've experienced Canary sometimes clunking when scrolling pages.

I'm still a bit on the edge about which one I'll pick as my main browser.

 

Finland.

Here's the sleeve: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8gkia0a27r20tqc/2014-09-06 01.48.54.jpg?dl=0 No handle so it's not that practical for transportation. I'll use a proper bag instead.

 

You can simply change the access settings to USER and all of the options linked to that title will be unlocked in the bios.


Example if you change CPU Configuration to USER under Advanced then all the options under CPU Configuration become available in the bios.

 

The image I showed was the Blizzard launcher. It has nothing to do with Chrome. Origin is the same way. No fix as of yet.

 

Ah, right. Thanks for tip.

 

They seem to have changed the bag back to the one that came with the UX32VD.

 

My ux303ln just arrived today.

I was paranoid about the yellow thing after reading through this thread, but I barely notice it (even when I am looking hard for it). I'm not doing prints or anything more than minor photo editing on this machine so perfect color correctness is not a requirement of mine. That being said, I do appreciate a good screen and this one is pretty amazing.

I also didn't get the sleeve or ethernet adapter :/. I ordered mine from Amazon on Aug 26th @ $1164 ($1288 if you include tax).

FWIW, mine is running fairly cool under medium load @ ~40 Celsius and is not audible at all in my fairly quiet house.

 

I was seriously considering the Lenovo Yoga 2 pro and was about to pull the trigger until I saw this. Was going to pick up a UX32 earlier this year but decided to was till fall to get an ultrabook and recently seen the Lenovo Yoga 2 pro and now the UX303LN. I will mostly be doing normal web-browsing and Rails development through Ubuntu and Virtualbox. I played with the lenovo today at best buy I really do like the tablet mode as I travel quite a bit and this makes it great for Kindle app and web browsing while on the road, It has an amazing screen, and some great specs! But have been reading about the horror of the wifi issues, and this could possibly be a deal breaker.
On the UX303LN, I dont do any gaming so the dedicated graphics card to me is of little use, the yellow color issue is no big deal since I dont watch movies on my laptops. I really do like Asus products as my last 3 laptops have been Asus and loved them all. I really like the specs of the 303ln and the i7 processor.
I would like to know those which of these two would you guys recommend? Is there any other issues with the 303ln other than the color issue? Would one or the other handle Ubuntu through virtualbox better than the other?

 

Are you going to return it to Amazon? I emailed them and they said that if I didn't like it I could return it for a full refund with no fees or anything. If you carefully read their return policy it says they wont charge a restocking fee if its unopened and may if its opened but I guess that more for if its damaged.

 

I'm going to exchange it for sure. Not sure if I'll return it completely. I like it for the most part but the screen is a deal breaker for me. I'd like to swap the screens but I think I will have trouble finding someone who will buy the LA with the qhd screen. I don't want to get stuck with it and plus I'd be breaking two warranties

 

Xentar, if my email from Amazon is anything to go by, they likely don't have any to exchange with you for a while. It would certainly be worth asking them before you send it back.

 

I caved and bought one, coming in on Monday. The yellow issue is bothersome to read about but I have to judge for myself how much of an issue it'll really be, I know I'll have an issue with it when I'm doing some video edits on the go (maybe I'll have to stash a portable monitor). But spec and build quality wise I can't find anything comparable to it for the size.

 

The screen size is getting pretty standard. You may be able to find replacements.

 

I've never heard of replacing the screen on a touch panel. Have you heard of anyone doing it? I assume the digitizer is held on by glue or strong tape.

 

only thing is, i'm just usually web-browsing, and I see the battery go down 1pct every few minutes. I just fully charged 20 mins ago, and I have dropped 4 percent in the last 5 minutes. Is that normal? Nothing is running in the background, is Chrome a battery hog? I am using the 64bit version, latest build.

 

Has anyone noticed that their right click is significantly louder than their left click? Is this a feature to differentiate the two? Or do I have a defective unit?

 

Mine are indistinguishable from one another.

 

I can't tell any difference, both are on the loud side. But, this is the first laptop where I can use tap rather than click. I usually turn off tap because of unwanted target selection.

Jim

 

Interesting. My left click is fairly quiet, while my right click is much louder.

 

FWIW, I went through a pretty similar decision making process. Was sold on the Yoga 2 Pro until I read about the wi-fi issues. Ended up picking up an LA a couple of weeks back and touch wood its been rock solid so far.

I think there's some discussion earlier in this thread on the i5/i7 performance, I'd assume given your requirements that RAM is your best friend. I personally ended up spending what I saved on the LA vs the LN on upgrading the RAM and storage, could be an option for you.

 

what do you mean by exchange? All QHD units have the yellow problem

 

Well after more searching Best Buy's Yoga 2 pro now comes with AC network card and fixes the issues in the N only card version. The dealbreaker for me though is that the system RAM is not upgradeable, and 8gb is what you get. So the UX303LN it is. My concern is the glossy screen, from all the video reviews ive seen, the screen looks extremely reflective. Is there a matte option available?

 

There is a matte version on Aus/German/Scandinavian versions. But they are delayed till November.

 

A matte screen should be the least of your worries if you are getting the QHD+ screen. See an earlier post by Xentar712.

Good luck, Jim

 

Just a question to those with the QHD already, if you select an off native resolution like 1080p, can you comment on the quality? I know it won't be the sharpest being not the panels native res, but I'm wondering how bad the difference will be and if it's usable?

 

An extremely reflective screen is a bigger deal to me than colors being off. I don do any gaming, watch movies, or any photo or graphic editing to where colors needed to be spot on.
A reflective screen makes it very difficult and distracting to work on.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

Mine has a dent on the lid

 

It looks just like a 1080p screen. You just have to adjust the scaling accordingly. It looks really good.

 

Oh that's good news. So now, just the color issues

 

MooseJC - can you comment on how you did this? I've seen a few videos that walk through the RAM/SSD upgrade of a zenbook UX32, but I'm not sure if it would be the same for this zenbook 303. Also - what specs are necessary for the RAM upgrade that you buy? Was thinking of getting this: http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tech...d=1410111853&sr=1-1&keywords=8+GB+DDR3L+SDRAM but wanted to make sure that this RAM would function with the zenbook before buying. Would an 8 GB DDR3 (not DDR3L) also work?

 

I had a look through this review before opening it up. T5/T6 for the 9 screws on the bottom. Flat plastic pry tool to get underneath the back rubber feet, and then gently loosen and remove the bottom cover.

Replacing the RAM was a snap out/snap in. I was considering the Kingston stick you posted, ended up getting the crucial which I think has identical specs. The speed and voltage matched the stick being replaced, from what I understand the only difference between DDR3/L is the lower voltage, so either would work but I'd imagine there's some potential benefit to using the lower voltage spec in an ultrabook, someone with more knowledge would have to clarify that.

I'll post a picture on replacing the SSD since I couldn't find anyone else that had done it at the time. The 4 red screws need to be removed, 2 of them are hidden underneath sticky foam, but you still won't be able to remove the hd since its held down by the battery cover/plastic in the top left corner. I removed the 2 green ones as well, allowed me to gently lift it from one side and then disconnect and slide out the ssd.

Putting it back together was straight forward, here's the mini half sata ssd I threw in as well.

 

If it's like last year, you have to remove the battery to remove the caddy. Just a few more screws