ASUS Zenbook UX303 (Nvidia GT 840M)

The LN version has a dedicated graphics card (Nvidia Geforce 840m) but is either very low in supply or has not been released yet.

 

Amazon.de has the UX303LN listed again. I recently pre-ordered the FHD non-touch matte model with i7, 256 GB SSD and 12 GB RAM:

Asus UX303LN-R4142H 33,8 cm Notebook braun: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör

 

I just noticed that Device Manager reports the SSD is a SanDisk SD6SB1M128G1002, which is a 2.5 inch SSD. So, I guess the m.2 piggy back configuration didn't make it to production models.

Jim

 

Pretty sure that applied to the 256gb on model, not the la.

 

How much would that cost in USD if I wanted it shipped to the USA?

I'm also trying to get the Student Prime setup, but I don't know any German so I'm completely trusting Google Translate.

 

Sadly, I've just been told by an ASUS rep that the dedicated graphics versions of the UX303 will NOT be coming to the UK. Also he doubts the 1080p will be coming to the USA either, or if it does not for a while. Is Germany the only country where the 1080p version is available, nowhere else sells it with a QWERTY keyboard?

 

Yeah, I think you are right. The photos in the review were of the LN.

Jim

 

I tried to place a pre-order for the 1080p laptop on Amazon.de, though an error message told me that they can't ship to my USA address.

Sent an email to their customer support.

 

Why is ASUS doing this nonsense release format that seems to be pissing a lot of people off. I'm endlessly frustrated with the experience I'm having.

 

Probably because they underestimated how much laptops they would need to manufacture and thus decide to restrict certain product models to certain regions.

I'm not sure if Amazon.de has any of the 3K resolution UX303LNs in stock.

On a side note, there's an online store that had like 63 stocks of a certain HP Elitebook model. Imagine if it ordered 63 UX-303LNs instead.

 

I'm mainly referring to their choice to frustrate customers in all countries by only releasing certain models in certain countries. I may just wait at this point until new laptops are released in January or something since someone has confirmed the mustard yellow is still an issue despite Lenovo and Samsung solving the issue mostly eight months ago. But ASUS didn't bother with that.

 

They could've taken AMD's approach of releasing stuff to reviewers in January... And then waiting until late July to release the stuff (A8-7600) to the general public.

Paper launch or chronically-short-in-supply launch.

 

It's not just Asus. This happens with all manufacturers with every laptop. I see this kind of frustration in every thread. Part of being an early adopter is learning to accept it and move on. Releases are always delayed and there are always bugs. There are also minimal units ordered for each unit at launch. They do this because they would be throwing money away otherwise. Asus's goal is to make units as fast as possible so they can sell them as early as possible and get feedback. If they wen't all in with every country, they risk losing a LOT. As for bugs, that comes with releasing things too fast. Sure they could slow it down a little but we'd be paying for it in price. Apple does a different approach: keep things secret until your demand is in stock and release it all at once. But they do a lot of research and make sure there are no bugs before launch. You certainly pay the price for it though. I prefer Asus's approach because you get more for the money and they tend to be ahead of the game in technology.

 

At the moment the only seen one review on here from the guy who got his hands on a demo model. We already know they've changed the HDD since then, so perhaps they fixed it before release. I assume come Aug 25th, well know for sure. Even though I really don't want a glossy QHD, there just isn't anything else on the market.

 

I know the review done with the demo/pre-release UX303LN had issues with the color calibration. But since they it seems Asus have changed the HDD, so perhaps they managed to fix the color as well before it went into production? I guess we will know come the end of August.

 

Someone who just received a production model (already shipping in some countries) confirmed the color issues remain.

 

To early owners -- is the battery life really that poor? I'm very interested in buying this laptop, but if the battery is that bad I'll have to re-consider.

Also, the 840M model is already available in Scandinavia, for those who wanted to know.

 

Interesting, does anyone know a reputable seller for a Scandinavian model? They don't appear to have Amazon or anything similar?

 

It's worth noting that Scandinavia is extremely expensive.

From what I can tell, it's only available at a handful of online stores, such as this one.

 

Where did you find out the hdd changed? I was kind of hoping for the m.2 drive.

 

So, did anyone manage to place a pre-order for the 1080p UX303LN from the Amazon.de to a USA shipping address? Amazon.de is telling me that they can't ship to my address in the USA.

 

Anyone interested in a UX303LA check Amazon. Price decrease to $876.99.

Jim

 

I thought the change in HDD was mentioned in this thread recently, maybe I misread or misunderstood if that is not the case?

 

The UX303LN has the dedicated 840M GPU, while the UX303LA does not.

 

An authorized merchant is selling the laptop for $1450 and promised that it will be in stock on August 21st: Amazon.com : ASUS Zenbook UX303LN-DB71T 13.3" Quad-HD Display Touchscreen Laptop : Computers & Accessories

I think any prospective buyers are better off pre-ordering elsewhere.

 

Yeah..that price seems a bit high considering Memory Express is selling the same model for $1399 CAD.

 

dlaurent,


Do you live in Germany or the EU? The website was not letting me order from the US. If you are in the US, how did you do it and what happened with regard to the VAT?

 

XoticPC has it for $1260. I think there were other retailers that were only charging pre-orders for $1299.

 

For those who are interested in this shop in France there are some models available and as i can see they ship also overseas (but it is not mentioned the US..)

http://www.ldlc.com/navigation/ux303/

 

I picked up an ux303LN in Hong Kong early last week (I think, I'd have to check the reciept).

Honestly, didn't know what it was, until I saw the specs, realised it was exactly what I was looking for and bought it pretty much on the spot. (Salesman said it was the last one they had left, but who knows). I didn't see another one in Hong Kong on my short stay there however.

I have the i5, 128GB SSD, 8GB of RAM edition, and quite frankly, I really, really like it.

I've yet to take it off plugged in power, so I've yet to try it on battery mode.

I quickly wiped Windows off it, and installed Ubuntu 14.04 (which ends up being transformed into Ubuntu + Xmonad), and any issues I've had with it tend to be around Ubuntu support.

So far, Ubuntu hasn't recognised the trackpad. So while I can point and click, I'm not getting two finger scroll, or any multitouch gestures. This is probably my biggest gripe, but I'm hoping it will get fixed in the next Linux kernel.

The touchscreen works great, but within the limitations of Ubuntu (Chrome seems to have the best touch support).

Ubuntu's HiDPI support is... a bit hit and miss. But again, that's down to the OS and programs.

I've yet to decide if I'm going to install Bumblebee or Nvidia Prime to support the graphics card. I'm travelling at the moment, so bandwidth is somewhat limited, so downloading games may have to wait until I get home.

Happy to answer any questions if people have them.

 

Could please you post some pictures up of the front with the lid open and one with the lid closed?

 

Could you post some photos, markmandel?

 

Sure!

Unfortunately the light in this hotel room is far from ideal, so the images are quite grainy, but hopefully this gives you a sense of what it looks like.

If the light improves (basically if it stops raining), I'll take some more shots.

 

Thanks! By the way, just how 'brown' does it look in real life? Kinda bummed they didn't release the silver/white one from the early reviews.

 

@markmandel How do the colours appear on the screen in real life? The only thing really giving me hesitation from buying the Asus UX303LN is the reported problems with yellows.

 

I have been getting to know my UX303LA better the last couple of days. I am impressed with the touch pad. This is the first ultrabook, touch screen that I have been able to use the touch pad effectively. The tap and double tap work very well with out giving unwanted taps which has been the case on other units I have owned. I have always ended up disabling the touch pad tap feature because of unwanted taps.

Happy camper here

Jim.

 

@Zhaan Interestingly I didn't really notice that it was "brown". I actually have an original zenbook with me (silver), and realised they were different colours, but it wasn't until I read that the new units where brown did I go "Oh yeah! It's a brown shade". It's quite subtle.

@elusiveflip it looks like the yellow does come out quite mustard, which we all know is a problem with these screens. I took a picture of the yellow image from wikipedia for reference for you. Hopefully they can fix this with a Bios change, like they sorta have with the Yoga2. Doesn't look like the Linux Nvidia driver will let me software correct this either. Not a huge deal for me, as I'm primarily using this for mobile development.

 

When you get time, can you please use HWInfo or something and find out the screen model?

 

Just worth noting that the French stock comes with AZERTY keyboards, so even more confusing than the German QWERTZ.

 

Of course if you touch type you can just select your region layout.

 

Or use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to create your own custom layout and move a few physical keys around.

 

Lots of photos of the brown-ish model here (scroll down to bottom):

ASUS Zenbook UX303LN - review - Gadget.ro – Hi-Tech Lifestyle

 

I hear the Netherlands uses a QWERTY layout. Anyone see any sellers of the non-touch 1080 matte model from there?

Also anyone figure out the duties / VAT situation with importing from Germany, France, or other EU places?

 

Yeah, those photos look exactly like my UX303LA. The "brown" is just barely brown. I think the 1080p LA and LN are the same except for some internals, probably only the graphics and the SSD configuration.

Jim

 

That's disturbing to hear, wifi is a priority for me.

Can any owners confirm?

 

Go back a few pages and you'll find some complaints about the wifi being weak.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/746873-asus-zenbook-ux303-nvidia-gt-840m-25.html#post9742617

EDIT: Ah nvm, you were replying to a post from the same page.

 

My UX303LA with the dual band N/AC 7260 give excellent performance in my home network. I get the same up and down throughput as my wired desktop, about 28.8 Mbps down and 5.8 Mbps up. My ISP promises 25 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. And I get the same results 15 feet from my N AP or about 40 feet away through four walls. I also get the same performance from a Yoga 2 13 with a single band N 7260. I don't know what criteria anyone who reports poor wifi is using. It is certainly not true with my Zenbook.

Jim

 

Just picked up a UX303LA-DB51T from B&H Photo for $876.99 + tax. I won't be powering it on until tomorrow, but I unpacked it before I left it at home. I just got it to replace a heavy HP TX2Z that I use when I travel. My main laptop is an ASUS G73JW, but it has never left home as it weights a ton. I have a couple questions for those that already picked up their UX303LAs and for those with experience with ASUS Zenbook Ultrabooks.

The UX303LA did not include the following items in the box: USB to Ethernet adapter, the mini-DP to VGA adapter, a power adapter with the LED notification ring in the plug, a letherette laptop sleeve or a printed manual. All of these appeared to be included in the video reviews of some of the UX30Xs Zenbooks videos that I have seen. I understand that the UX303LA is the lower-end model, but I just want to make sure that I'm not missing anything. I searched around and found this adapter combo in Amazon and wondered if these are the same adapters that ship with the high-end UX30X Zenbook line? Are these adapters plug-n-play or do I need to get drivers? I searched, but I couldn't find the ASUS AC Power Adapter with the LED ring for sale. If I were to find it... would it work with the UX303LA? Also, does anyone have any recommendation for a lite, protective and inexpensive carrying sleeve?

 

Mine didn't have any of those items. There is a 4-5 page paper user guide.

Jim

 

I'm sure if you bought them 3rd party, they would work fine. Those items are pretty standard and work with many laptops, not just Asus.