ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

When you get your UX303LA please let us know how it is.

After endless amounts of research I've decided that I'm going to give it a month and if the 1080p model doesn't hit I'm buying the UX303LN QHD. If the glossy screen, scaling issues, or yellow color reproduction bother me too much, or if a 1080p model comes out, Amazon has a 30-day return window that I'll utilize. If a 1080p model doesn't hit and the issues don't bother me, then I'll just stick with the QHD model.

Overall this is the best laptop for my needs and seems to have almost no competition in the light gaming Ultrabook sector which made it impossible to find a viable alternative. Every other laptop had much bigger deal breakers.

 

That's why I'm here too, narrowed it down to one.

 

How will you get the OS on to the new SSD?

 

You could clone the HDD onto the SSD with the help of an USB to SATA adapter and some cloning software (last time I did it I used something from Acronis) . Those adapters sell for under $10. Or you can use an external HDD that allows you to get to the drive and put the SSD in its place.

 

Doesn't Amazon charge restocking fee if you return an opened box? Or am I confusing Newegg's return policy with Amazon's policy?

 

I checked with Amazon and the policy is no re-stocking fee, return for any reason. Nothing about not open. I think that is a New Egg policy.

Jim

 

Amazon has a 30 day return policy for laptops but you need the box, everything that was in the box, etc and have it sealed in the laptop's box.

My ux303la will be arriving tomorrow. Kiiiinda hope I can handle the jump from 1600x900 at 14.5" to 1920x1080 at 13.3".

 

Mine is on the truck for delivery today. You are going to love the 1920x1080, 13.3 inch display. I have had a couple and the displays have been stunning for color, clarity and detail.

Jim

 

I have my eye on this unit but the reviews regarding battery life are extremely disappointing. . I might as well keep my Lenovo Y50 if it only gets 1 hour less battery life.. 5 hours on an ultrabook is hilarious this time of the year.

 

Hm. Notebookcheck stated that the UX32LN gets more than 10 hours of idle time on battery, and about 6 hours on WiFi or 1080p movie. I'm assuming there aren't much differences between the UX32LN and the UX303LN other than the different motherboard and cooling assembly layout.

Asus Zenbook UX32LN-R4053H Ultrabook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

I think it depends on how you use it. The UX302LG has the same battery and nearly the same specs. I got over 6 hours on it and I kept it at full brightness. With the same settings on my Y50, I barely get 2.5 hours. Just the U processor alone makes all the difference. The NX500 will probably get the same battery life as the UX303LN even though the battery is more than 50% bigger - That MQ processor is why.

 

Over 6 at full brightness I can definately deal with.. I travel a bit and tend to deal with layovers a lot in Airports and don't want to be forced to be plugged in (typically hard to find available power recepticles that aren't occupied already at the airport).. I had a Macbook Air and that was obviously an insane machine for true all day business use (I just need to be remoted into machines, email, VPN stuff for the most part). I guess I should fill out a "What notebook should I buy" questionaire. But I want something that is light to carry, thin, good battery life and has enough power to play games on lowest settings at 60 fps but at 1080p if possible. . However, I mostly play League of Legends when I travel because it's usually an easy game to play a round in 30 minues and not get consumed with. I had a Macbook Pro retina 13 with iris graphics and it couldn't really handle LoL unless most graphics were turned down.. I just feel like I want something more along the lines of the Iris Pro or stronger would be good enough for me.

 

There were two major business laptop purchase thread where several people were debating over which 14" business laptops would be ideal. Most of the mentioned laptop models have a dedicated GPU:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...y/757352-need-14-business-class-notebook.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...gaming-something-around-low-midrange-gpu.html

 

Honestly I'm looking for something just like you, and after endless amounts of research, I haven't found anything better than the UX303LG, and other than it currently lacking the 1080p matte screen option, it meets all of my needs 100%. I'd say go with this, especially for the price.

 

You'll probably like this one. I really liked the UX302LG and kind of regretted selling it. I sold it and jumped on the Razer Blade too quickly. I was disappointed in the overall cost of the Blade and then tried the Y50. The Y50 has too many issues and is just a little too big for me so it's probably going back. I'm on a business trip now and while I like the GPU and sound, the typing experience is frusterating and the screen has issues. The only gripe I had with the UX302LG was the glass lid made the screen really prone to backlight bleed. Other than that, I was happy with it and considered it a well rounded laptop. The UX303LN looks like it solved my issue with the aluminum lid. My only caution point is it uses the same Pentile screen as the Y50, which I am already not liking. Hopefully it doesn't suffer from the same issues because that will be a deal breaker for me.

One thing that makes me laugh is those Iris graphics computers... They aren't all that great at gaming, yet cost an arm and a leg. To this day, the UX301LA is still $400 more than the opening price of the UX303LN and it's inferior in almost every category.

 

The UX301LA is seriously a ripoff. I've heard it's the glass they used, and some overpriced components (like as you said, Iris).

However I'll warn you the Pentile screen in the UX303LN has yellow color reproduction issues just like the Yoga and some other devices. Hopefully they mostly fix it with a firmware update like Lenovo/Samsung did, but honestly this is one of the many reasons I'm pining for the 1080p model, it has none of these issues. QHD is only really for early adopters and doesn't make much sense, I don't get why they're pushing this model so hard with no alternatives.

 

Notebookcheck also stated that the Iris IGP in the UX301LA consumed a significant amount of power. Under full load, the laptop has a little less than 1 hour of battery life, compared to 2 hours for the UX32LN with the same battery. Review Asus Zenbook Infinity UX301LA Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

They also noted that the UX301LA had major throttling and thermal issues when hit with Prime95 and Furmark. The UX32LN did not have this problem, including the i7-4500U model: Asus Zenbook UX32LN-R4029H Ultrabook Review Update - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

Yeah, that's another huge positive mark for this laptop. Throttling issues are a huge deal breaker.

 

It's interesting how Nividia 840M + i7 config is faster, consumes less power under load, and has less thermal issues than a more expensive Iris CPU config (which had a GPU performance comparable to the GT 620M).

 

Looks like the UX303LN has been completely removed from Amazon...did anyone get an order cancellation or anything? That doesn't bode well...I have to get it from Amazon I sure hope they start carrying it again and it's just some temporary glitch...

 

My August 3rd UX303LN preorder hasn't been affected yet. Still at $1240.

 

I wish I'd have placed my order then. I've probably missed out now.

 

Noticed the same thing... I hope our orders are processed. Amazon needs to contact ASUS and get them shipped from China! I'm a Prime member!

 

My UX303LA just arrived. It's a very pretty notebook but the battery came with almost no charge or something. It's charging right now.

 

Let us know how it goes. I want the UX303LN but the LA is pretty much exactly the same other than the discrete video card so your thoughts will be very applicable.

 

Will say this much, there's a magnet or something that keeps the lid shut. Didn't expect that.

edit: Trackpad by default is a little floaty (probably acceleration is on) but feels nice.

Also I managed to crash windows 8.1 by right clicking on the desktop. YAAAAAAAY!

Well I crashed explorer so the only thing running was the task manager and file manager which I'm not sure how I opened up.

edit 2: DPI Scaling defaults at 150%. Let's see how tiny 100% is.

edit 3: Whoa 100% is pretty damn tiny. I can read it but it will take some getting used to.

Touchscreen works well enough, mi some things on the control panel several times. Can't find a touchpad control panel/settings panel. There's an icon on the taskbar for asus smart gesture but you can't do anything with it. spacebar is very sensitive. I've hit it a few times by accident while typing.

SSD is a SanDisk SD6SB1M128G1002 128GB, 98.1GB total space, 67.5GB free when you turn the computer on. I'll probably want to replace it with a 840/850 Evo

As I go along I think 100% is too tiny. Strains my eyes. This kinda sucks. I'll play with it more later (probably will need to do scaling after all)

 

Yeah, I would recommend using at least 125% scaling.

And I have no interest in replacing the SSD so this secures my decision to purchase a model with a 256GB drive... only 67GB being free out of the box is absolutely insane. They must have a lot of garbage loaded on there by default because Windows 8.1 definitely doesn't take up that much space.

 

Lot of Asus stuff, a 90 day trial of mcafee (almost froze windows a couple times) and other stuff. Did only need 42 + 1 updates from windows update (the +1 being some 890MB cumulative update thing).

It keeps asking me to register my free Asus Storage trial (16gb of cloud storage). I'm going to have to go remove stuff after I setup classic shell. Still pretty happy with the touchpad so that's good but no touchpad settings control panel is annoying.

 

How's the backlight bleed and keyboard quality? Can you open the lid with one hand or does it take two?

 

Don't worry. I had the same thing happen to me a year ago with the TX300. They took down the listing because there were almost no units being sent to them. Turned out I got mine about a month before they put the listing back up.

 

Well that's terrifying since I didn't get a chance to order mine.

 

What's the big deal? There are five other places selling it as well. Three of which are really reliable(Adorama, Xotic and B&H)

 

I have a no interest credit card with Amazon and I know/trust their return policy/customer service.

 

Xotic charges +$20 shipping.

 

check the box and use code FREESHIP.

 

I bought a phone that advertised as having 16GB of internal storage. The actual storage is only like 5 GB.

On a plus side, I have a spare Windows 8 activation key, so I guess I can just nuke the SSD and do a fresh install.

I had bad experiences with removing bloatware from a laptop. I recall there was one bloatware 90-day trial game that breaks Windows 7 registry if you try to uninstall it. Not cool.

 

There's an ASUS bloatware guide on this forum that tells you what is safe to install (most of it) but there are a few weird things like you describe. As much as I'd prefer a clean install I doubt I'll do it.

Also that phone must have an insane amount of bloat too! My Moto X is 16GB (almost no non-stock software came with it) and it had about 12GB free out of the box, not bad!

 

Can anyone that has received their UX303LA please post some close-up pictures of the keyboard. It's because with last years UX302LA/LG many many people had keyboard warping on their units and it would be great if it could be confirmed whether Asus have fixed this issue or not. Earlier this year i bought a UX302LG which had keyboard warping and had bad backlight bleed. I exchanged it and the replacement one had even worse keyboard warp and backlight bleed but also came with a dead pixel. I returned that and have been waiting for this ever since.
Also the screen on the UX303LA must be identical to the ones used on the UX32VD/UX302LA/LG. These always had backlight bleeding issues as everyone knows, but how is the back light bleeding on this new model? Does it look just as bad as on previous models? Anyone found dead pixels on their unit yet?

 

Does not appear to be much/any backlight bleed. I can't tell that there is any.

Computer drains (according to battery bar) 4,500 to 5,000 mW at the lowest brightness. Comes with a 50,103 mWh battery that had 6.2% wear (so 47,000 mWh is what I get). at max brightness with auto-brightness off it gets pretty bright and drains like 7,500 to 8,00 mW. Still it's a very glossy, reflective screen. I can see the overhead light behind me. These values are all batterybar so how accurate they are *shrug*

With respect to the keyboard. Typing normally it does not flex. The keyboard backlight bleeds some around the keys while it is in your lap.

If you push down hard it doesn't seem to flex much. Definitely flex less than my Envy 14.

You can open the lid with one hand. The magnet isn't that strong.

Biggest issue I'm having right now is that you need to hit fn + directional arrow to use home, end, pgup, or pgdn. kiiinda awkward when you're used to just using your right hand for ctrl + end.

 

keyboard toucj typing js wekrd Nx wow.

..so yeah those are some typos from touch typing with the keyboard osd. One finger scrolls the page, two finger spread is zoom in, two finger pinch is zoom out. (in chrome anyway)

edit: speakers are so so.

 

Just do a fresh install. The CD key is built into the bios so there's no risk. I do it with every machine I get and it never fails. The only time you need to worry is with refurbs because someone might have abused the registry key causing it to get blocked

 

Wifi connection is kind of weak (or well does not have as much range as my envy 14 whateverit had). I drop down to a weak a lot quicker. (Asus RT 16 wireless N, 2.4ghz wifi router)

edit: also putting the lid down to put the computer to sleep and waking up causes the wifi to take a few seconds to reconnect. It shuts the adapter down when the laptop goes to sleep.

 

According to notebookcheck, the UX32LN's Wifi card (Intel Wireless-AC 7260) drops to 3 bars of strength when the laptop is 4 meters + 1 wall away from the router.

And I just noticed there's also no Ethernet port.

Asus Zenbook UX32LN-R4053H Ultrabook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Also, a review about the UX303LN:

"Connectivity wise, this unit comes with Wi-Fi AC, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet via the included adapter, and the Intel Wi-Fi module (Intel Dual Band AC 7260) proved to be reliable and consistent. Getting a bit further away from the router will lead to poorer signal strength then on my ThinkPad X220, but that’s a given with metal laptops"

Asus Zenbook UX303LN / UX303 review - faster than ever


I wouldn't be surprised if the WiFi suffered due to the aluminum chassis.

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. Anyway looks like 20GB of the SSD is reserved for the recovery partition so that explains why I only have 98GB for the OS partition. Doesn't quite explain why I was down to 66ish on the 98GB partition.

Looks like there's 3.8GB worth of drivers and software in an esupport folder and windows 8.1 is 22.7GB for whatever reason. Both Program Files directories are only 2.9ish GB combined. Yeah definitely would have liked a 256GB ssd in this laptop

As for the ethernet port Asus says there's a usb to ethernet adapter for the laptop. I need to look in the box to see if that came with the computer (probably not).

 

Personally, I would delete the recovery partition if I installed a fresh OS, and then use an external hard drive (or external DVD drive + spare DVD) to store a backup of the system.

 

My UX303LA was delivered Thursday morning at about 10:00 AM. It is an excellent ultrabook! The build, fit and finish is excellent. The display is awesome. There is no flex in the keyboard and definitely no warp. The keyboard feels good, but I am not a touch typist. The touch pad is smooth although I haven't made any adjustments yet. The wifi is fantastic. I get the same down and up as my wired desktop which is about 15% higher than my ISP promises. And I get that same throughput at 15 feet from my AP or 40 feet away through four walls. Five bars show at both locations. The only thing I haven't checked yet is battery life.

But, I would like a bigger SSD. Has anyone with a UX303 upgraded the SSD? If so what approach did you use, replace the m.2 or replace the adapter in the 2.5 inch slot and install a 2.5 inch 7mm SATA?

Thanks for any thoughts, Jim

 

That's great! Looking forward to getting a UX303LN myself when they do arrive in New Zealand - hopefully it's soon
With the UX302 there were issues with the Crucial M500 drives but Asus seems to have solved it in their last bios update so i would assume they put this fix into the bios of the UX303 as well so that drive could be an option now. Or as others have been saying a fresh install always frees up space.

 

I don't even bother with that, I just delete it and never look back. There's really no future use for the recovery partition if you can do a fresh install. It doesn't prevent you from returning it and I have yet to see it affect the resell value.

 

I think he means he does the same and stores an image using a backup program on an external drive.

 

Does this have a dedicated graphics card?

ASUS Zenbook UX303LN-DB71T Amazon.com : ASUS Zenbook UX303LN-DB71T 13.3" Quad-HD Display Touchscreen Laptop : Computers & Accessories

If not which model has a dedicated graphics card?