ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

We can buy it from Amazon, Adorama etc. (Online shops)

What about stores like Bestbuy, does anybody know? Will it be available in stores at release date? (As same as release date at Amazon) (if yes, which ones)

 

Just placed a pre-order using Amazon Prime.

Just hoping that I get the laptop during late August. Or better yet if they release a 1080p LN model for $100 less.

EDIT:

For those that do have the UX303LN, what's the battery life with web browsing and youtube?

Also, what's the core and memory clock rates of the GT 840M? I know Nividia has their list of the clockrates, but those are only guidelines and manufacturers can change the clock rates.

 

I just got an Email from Amazon. My UX303LA has shipped! Delivery expected on August 7. :hi2:

Jim

 

Anyone know the 256GB msata SSD model number?

I have a spare SATA 2.5" 240GB Crucial M500 SSD. I intend on installing a fresh OS, but I prefer to use the SSD with the better performance-per-watt.

 

Which 256 GB mSATA are you referring to?

Jim

 

Never mind, I figured out that the mSATA SSD in the laptop review photo is a Sandisk x110, which is an OEM rebrand of SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD.

 

I don't know anything about SSDs. Is that a good model?

 

Yeah, but it is not mSATA it is a m.2 form factor.

Jim

 

Any news about ux303ln release in UK? So far i can only find ux303la ....

 

Yes, 2.5" 7mm bay, so that EVO SSD will fit fine.

Just to be clear. The unit I got for a review used that Sandisck M.2 SSD stick, put in a special adapter and placed inside the 2.5" 7mm bay. That's the same stick Asus used on the UX301LA and they might have a big stock of these and decided to place them on the UX303LN as well. Or that might be just something limited to the pre-production model I tested.

HOWEVER, regular 2.5" 7mm drives will work perfectly fine on this laptop, and that includes the Samsung 840.

 

Looks like the QHD version suffers from the mustard yellow problem, at least in the pre-production model. Anyone know if Asus has ever had this same problem in the past and issued a firmware update to lessen the problem, like Samsung has done with the 9?



Full review here.

 

Lenovo ran into this issue, though they mostly fixed it with a firmware update. Not sure if the update had any side effects though, such as reducing battery life.

 

Asus haven't used this panel before. Lenovo and Samsung did and mostly fixed it with later BIOS updates. Not entirely though. So I sure hope Asus can do at least what they did.

 

I don't even mind waiting for it to ship, but it's driving me nuts that ASUS doesn't announce models or release dates. I'd just like to be able to order the damn thing and forget about it until it gets here. Still waiting on the 1080p LN model, because glossy screens and QHD are a deal breaker. Not sure what to do since they provide us with no information I could be waiting for something that never comes. Pretty frustrating way to treat potential customers. Not like this thing is hitting in a year, ASUS can't even tell me when the QHD model will hit even though it's slated for this month.

 

Greetings Mike,

First, thanks for the very insightful reviews of all the equipment you review. Nice to see a very thoughtful unbiased opinion/review of the early releases of these products.

When you were working with the prerelease of the UX303 series, did you happen to notice in the UFEI interface any Raid configuration specs? i.e. might we be able to enable Raid 0 or 1 on these systems?

 

You would need a half-length mSATA card to fit in that spare mSATA port, and not only their capacities are limited to 64-128GB, but they also cost nearly $1 per GB, twice as much as ~$0.50 per GB for a 2.5" SSD.

EDIT: Hm... If they only used mSATA or M.2 and removed the empty half-mSATA port, the extra space could've been used for a bigger heatsink+cooling fan on the GPU side, which would've possibly allowed a GTX 850M.

They might have to downclock the 850M, but according to notebookcheck, it's far ahead of the 840M by a large margin. I'm not even sure why Nividia didn't release the 845M to fill the gap between the two GPUs.

 

Lenovo never fixed the problem with the Yoga 2 Pro. All the machines I see at Best Buy still have the horrible yellow color. Unfortunately, I doubt Asus will have this problem fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

 

I wonder if this would help fix the problem:

 

Cyberport in Germany now delayed all the UX303 to 04.09 - 18.09. Looks like ASUS has massive problems with their deliveries ....

 

The Yoga 2 Pro I played with a few months ago displayed proper yellows on all but the most Power efficient Power Mode, can't remember exactly how it's called. That with the latest BIOS and Power Manager at that time. The mustardy yellows remained a problem on the lowest power setting though. Maybe those machines at BestBuy don't have the updates or are set on this Power Mode? Anyway, Asus should be able to do at least what Lenovo did on the UX303.

I don't think they would have been able to cool a GT 850 on this device. From this pic http://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/internals.jpg you can see where the spare half-size slot in placed, there's no way they could have used that space for a larger heatpipe without completely redesigning the internals. And besides that, have you seen how hot the GT 850 gets inside the Asus NX500. That's an OCed version paired with the i7-4712HQ processor, but there's also a massive heatpipe trying to keep it cool (and mostly failing).

@DrPacman Can't remember much about the RAID capabilities of the UX303. I'll try to find something in my pictures and notes and get back to you if I do.

 

After Amazon.de removed the price tags I feared that, but hoped it would just be 1-2 weeks and not a month or maybe more. It's exactly what happened to the UX32LN - first Amazon removed the price tags, later Cyberport corrects release dates. As the UX32LN was never really in stock here in germany and now there is the delay for the UX303LN I'm really curious what Asus probem is. Unfortunately there is no good alternative on the market for me, otherwise I would already have bought another notebook. Asus, I'm tired of waiting, really (sorry for the little rant).

About the GTX850m it's maybe also a question of battery life. Of course a GTX850m or GTX860m are much better for gaming, but they also generate more heat and need more power. More heat means more noise and cooling problems, more power means less battery life and a bigger power supply. I believe the GT840m is a good trade-off here.

 

Amazon US has just emailed us, estimating our shipping date for a preordered UX303LN to be August 29 to Sept. 4.

 

The UX32LN released in May (in a limited fashion) with the same specs, now it looks like we're not getting this until September. Are we better off getting the LN, or waiting for the next successor in line? I'm not necessarily attached to ASUS but can't find a competitor that has a laptop in this range. This will be my first laptop but I know PC parts generally move quickly, 1/3 of a year is a long time.

 

How would you do RAID with two different form factors?

 

Xentar, exactly which 2 different form factors do you refer?

Please let me explain my understanding of this interface. I would estimate that similarly to the UX301 Asus has utilized a Raid 0 configuration of both the 256GB, and 512GB models. What you have to look at is not the M.2 storage stick, but the fact that both of the interfaces on the board are SATA, granted one is mSATA and the other standard SATA, both utilize the same mechanism to interface to the board.

The M.2 stick is interfaced with an adapter to the standard SATA connector. Looking at the picture provided by MikeTLB on his review site the open mSATA connecter on the right-hand side looks like it should facilitate a standard 50mm length card. So if one was say to install a standard 2.5” Samsung SSD 840 EVO drive in the bay, and a Samsung SSD 840 EVO mSATA stick in the spare connecter Utilize Raid 0 and span the drives, that would explain how Asus achieved the configurations in the very similar UX301 systems….

 

Does the UX301 have a full or half-length mSATA port?

Half-length mSATA SSDs are absurdly expensive and are limited to 128GB, because there's only enough room for a controller chip and a flash die chips, maybe two.

 

That is indeed the question... Looking at the pictures of the UX303, it does indeed look like we may have enough room for a 50mm mSATA stick in the spare slot. However, until someone tries all the upgrade possibilities it's all speculation at this point....



View attachment 114596

 

That space doesn't look like 50mm, because that large, black cable connection is in the way.

Compare the space to the WiFi card on the other side of the laptop.

 

Yeah, I agree. The distance from the pins to the screw posts is about the same as the width of the pins. That makes it a half length mSATA.

Most likely only useful for a SSD cache on HDD models.

Regards, Jim

 

This laptop would be perfect in 1080p matte but so far ASUS US refuses to say they're releasing one so they may lose my business to a competitor. I don't mind waiting for a laptop if they tell me it's coming, but I do mine waiting for a laptop that may never come out. Any recommendations on what I could get as an alternative?

 

Hm. Amazon seems to have disabled the pre-orders for UX303LN today, and said a 3rd-party is selling it for $1375.

I placed a pre-order back on August 2nd for $1240. What's going to happen to my pre-order?

 

Check again:

Intel Core i5-4210U, Nvidia 840M, 1TB 2.5 5400R SATA+16G MSSD, 6 GB RAM, 1920 x 1080 px IPS Anti-glare non-touch display, Windows 8.1

Intel Core i7-4510U, Nvidia 840M, 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, 1920 x 1080 px IPS Anti-glare non-touch display, Windows 8.1 - Asus Zenbook UX303LA vs UX303LN - which one to get?

 

Your pre-order will remain in place unless Amazon tells you via Email that the order has been cancelled or you cancel the order. The supply on LN models has most likely dried up and Amazon doesn't want to take any more pre-orders.

Jim

 

just placed my order this morning! and yes I also noticed that Amazon has made it unavailable from "Sold by Amazon" My order says estimated shipping on August 29th..

 

Hm. Amazon said: "Delivery estimate: We need a little more time to provide you with a good estimate."

 

I got that message when I placed my order for an LA. Then a few days later they sent me an Email with a preliminary delivery date, then a few days later they sent a message that it had been shipped with a new (sooner) expected delivery date. Now, UPS says it will be delivered August 7th. So don't worry yet. If they accepted your pre-order, chances are good that they will deliver.

Order date: July 26th.
Expected delivery date: August 7th.
Elapsed time, order to delivery: 12 days.

Jim

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say a full sized msata won't fit. I know on the Q501LA it barely fits, taped at an angle and on the Q550LF it fits perfectly when taped at an angle. This looks like the same interference problem as with the UX302LG/LA, with the fan getting in the way and the laptop being too thin to support being taped. I used a 128GB half msata on my UX302LG and it worked better than a spinning drive but it wasn't as fast as today's SSDs. Still it was better than nothing.

 

Yeah, you might be able to cram a full length mSATA in there, but that interface is definitely intended for a half length mSATA.

Jim

 

I tried really hard with the UX302LG but either the lid was going to bulge out or the msata was going to crack. Not worth it imo.

How goes it Jim? Haven't seen you around since the Transformer book over a year ago. What did you end up getting instead?

 

I don't remember which Transformer Book. But, I have had several laptops in the last year. UX302LA, Sony Vaio Pro 13, Asus T100, HP Spectre 13t-3000, Yoga 11s Haswell, Yoga 2 13 and I expect a UX303LA to be delivered tomorrow. I still have the 11s and the 2 13, the rest have been returned or sold. If the 303 turns out to be as good as I expect, one of the Yogas will have to go. I am also interested in the Asus T200 if it is ever released.

Regards, Jim

 

The question is, where is Asus selling them?

AMD released the A8-7600 desktop APU back during January. There were lots of reviews.

They JUST started shipping it to retailers a week ago.

 

So far it looks like they're giving each country one to four models each, US only has one right now. If they don't announce a 1080p model within a week or so I want to buy a competitor's product but the problem is they all suck too. I can't find a laptop I'm happy with. The Acer has a terrible keyboard, the Lenovo has a terrible screen, the Dell has a loud whining noise, the ASUS doesn't come without quad-HD, Samsung doesn't offer discrete video and is overpriced.

I don't understand how anyone finds a laptop they're happy with. I'm used to building PCs so I just get what I want even if it's a pain, this is a nightmare.

 

I am considering purchasing the ux303la, but I really want the 1080p screen / integrated graphics / i5 ... but with 12gb of memory and a 256gb ssd ... so would I be able to replace this myself? It seems that the ssd should work as there is a 2.5" drive, but do I need to match the memory brand with the one that is soldered on board?

 

I'm with you on the screen but I think the 1080p models will lack touch, which would be a bummer. I'd be willing to sacrifice it though to avoid the QHD panel. These Samsung pentile screens are a chore. I'm not enjoying the Y50 one at all and am probably going to return it if I can't figure out the issues I'm having. Seems like every laptop I'm interested in has a deal breaker attached to it.

 

You'll just need to match the speed and timings which isn't that hard. SSD would be easy to swap too.

 

Yeah, it's pretty nuts that nobody can get this right. I would hope the UX303LN would have more options announced at launch, but considering the UX303LA has started shipping and is still only available in a glossy model with no other configurations, I'm not counting on it.

 

Which Lenovo? The Pro 2 has the 3200x1800 with ugly yellow and a partial fix that kills battery life. The Yoga 2 13 is the latest Yoga and has everything the Pro 2 has except it has 1080p.

Jim

 

Go to the Crucial site. They will match the memory for the PC you have/want. But, the SSD they suggest has caused some people problems. I think everyone has had success with Samsung Evo SSDs.

Good luck, Jim

 

I was looking at the Y40. I need something with discrete graphics. They don't even need to be good (which is why I want the LN) I just don't want a quad-HD screen...but nor do I want a TN.

 

Yoga 2 Pro also lacks 5 ghz for wifi N and has some sort of disconnect issue.