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    ASUS Zenbook UX303LB (Nvidia GT 940M)

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by electro_chef, Mar 26, 2015.

  1. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    electro_chef, Mar 26, 2015
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  2. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The 940M is not that interesting since it is just a rebrand.

    The broadwell CPU might help extend the battery a bit though.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 27, 2015
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  3. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    electro_chef, Mar 27, 2015
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  4. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    While the 960m is also a rebrand the 860m was never offered in this model so if true that would be a step up. It would be a new motherboard though.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 28, 2015
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  5. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    shooterboss, Apr 5, 2015
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  6. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    It's basically the same machine, just with 940m instead of 840m, and i7-5500u instead of i7-4510u. Performance should be nearly identical.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 5, 2015
    #6
  7. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    So you're telling me that both models have
    • the same performance
    • the same look
    • the same size and weight
    • the same price
    • and pretty much the same everything else
    Not much of an upgrade there. Still, the 940m is marginally faster than the 840m, and apparently its efficiency might be better.

    Anyway, I'm probably buying it. My only annoyances are the color (I prefer black) and the glossy screen (which I can easily fix with an anti-glare cover). I only wish there was a real review of this thing.
     
    shooterboss, Apr 5, 2015
    #7
  8. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    I prefer black color and matte (non-touch) screen also, and 1080p personally. But yes it is pretty much the same machine, size, weight. The 940m *IS* the 840m. Both are GM108 Maxwell with the same shader cores (384), same vRAM (2GB DDR3 64-bit). Only difference is the clock speed, which is 1029 for 840m and 1072 for 940m. 43MHz or 4% increase in clock speed won't amount to much.

    In any case I guess my point is that if you can get the UX303LN for cheaper than UX303LB, might as well save a few bucks and get the UX303LN. I picked up an "Open Box" UX303LN for < $1000, so I think it will be worth it to me. We'll see how it is when I get it. I wish Samsung made one of their Ativ Book 9 plus laptops with a dedicated GPU. I love my Samsung NP940X3G.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 6, 2015
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  9. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    One more thing about the screen resolution. I'm not sure why laptop manufacturers assume "higher resolution means better product." That might be true of desktops, but laptops with smaller monitors don't benefit much from 3K or 4K resolutions, and it drains battery life faster than necessary.

    I'm hoping that the UX303LB matches the 9 hours of unplugged time as its predecessor.
     
    shooterboss, Apr 6, 2015
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  10. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Asus website says there is a 1080p option, but it seems this is for EU only. I don't know why. I'll take a 1080p LCD any day. I might try to swap out the LCD myself if I can find a compatible one.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 6, 2015
    #10
  11. Support.3@XOTIC PC

    Support.3@XOTIC PC Company Representative

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    Yes its the refresh model of the UX303 line. As mentioned it has the new 940M and new 5th gen Intel Broadwell CPU, one of the first notebooks to have that. Thats the reason it was just added about a month ago, since its a new refreshed model.
     
    Support.3@XOTIC PC, Apr 6, 2015
    #11
  12. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Hey Hutsady, do you know when a 1080p option will be available for this model if ever? I just read on Amazon that the QHD version has a yellow color calibration issue that the FHD model doesn't have.
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2015
    shooterboss, Apr 6, 2015
    #12
  13. asonenine

    asonenine Newbie

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    Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, but is 3200x1800 panel the same one used in last years LN model? Having spent some time with a Yoga 2 Pro, I'm not sure the issues with yellows are within my tolerance range.

    Aside from that, this laptop basically ticks all the boxes for what I'm looking for.
     
    asonenine, Apr 6, 2015
    #13
  14. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Looks like it is using the same panel.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Apr 6, 2015
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  15. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    shooterboss, Apr 6, 2015
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  16. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Weird. It has a US keyboard. It would be easier and cheaper to just by a replacement LCD for $70-80 and replace it yourself than go through Germany. It seems the 1080p LCD is the same Chimei model in the Clevo W230ST/SS/SD models. I'm surprised nobody has tried this yet, at least I can't find any indication on the internets. I will be the first to check it out. :)
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 6, 2015
    #16
  17. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    I got mine shipped from Germany for cheaper than the US version.
    My only question is if whether or not I'd be able to send to it to ASUS and have them change the QWERTZ keyboard to a QWERTY one if I was willing to pay.
     
    electro_chef, Apr 6, 2015
    #17
  18. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Actually, any computer repair shop should be able to do that easily. Chiclet keys can be physically replaced easily, and tweaking the operating system to accept the new keyboard should be easy enough.

    Also, was changing the language to English easy enough?
     
    shooterboss, Apr 6, 2015
    #18
  19. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    You know, I've never thought about that. Do you think any local computer repair shops might help me do that for a short fee?
     
    shooterboss, Apr 6, 2015
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  20. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Do it yourself. Easy as pie. I've replaced LCD's on a multitude of laptops. Takes all of 20 minutes. A repair shop would probably charge you $100.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 7, 2015
    #20
  21. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    The xoticpc listing states it's upgradable to 16GB, is that an error?
     
    electro_chef, Apr 8, 2015
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  22. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    I believe there's 8GB soldered on and one RAM slot that you can add an 8GB module for a total of 16GB.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 8, 2015
    #22
  23. Support.3@XOTIC PC

    Support.3@XOTIC PC Company Representative

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    As HTWingNut mentioned it can be upgraded to 16GB.
     
    Support.3@XOTIC PC, Apr 8, 2015
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  24. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    XoticPC is a good choice to buy from too. ;)
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 8, 2015
    #24
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  25. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Hello again, guys. I've looked into the yellow color issue, and apparently it's been solved with a small tweak. But that thread is from the UX303LN model. Do you guys think the same fix will work on this model? Would the different CPU and GPU affect it?
     
    shooterboss, Apr 9, 2015
    #25
  26. play150

    play150 Newbie

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    Any word on the release date for the UX303lb?
     
    play150, Apr 28, 2015
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  27. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    shooterboss, Apr 29, 2015
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  28. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'd jump on board if that one had a 1080p matte non touch display.
    Sadly no US retailers have them, and instead I had to pre order from amazon.de
     
    electro_chef, Apr 29, 2015
    #28
  29. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Yes, sucks that they don't offer 1080p. Kinda dumb of Asus IMHO. Not everyone wants 3200x1800.
     
    HTWingNut, Apr 29, 2015
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  30. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Yeah, and not to mention the higher resolution model has a serious problem with displaying yellows. The FHD model doesn't have that issue.
     
    shooterboss, Apr 29, 2015
    #30
  31. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    I also indent on doing some light gaming, and scaling the game down from 3200x1800 to 1920x1080 will make it look a worse and blurrier than to simply have it run natively at 1080p.
    Not to mention the poor Windows scaling, and battery impact.
    There's no reason for anything above 1080p on a laptop, phone or tablet in my opinion. The tradeoffs are just not worth it.
     
    electro_chef, Apr 29, 2015
    #31
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  32. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    For gaming 1600x900 (which should look much better) is actually a better match for the GPU anyway.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Apr 30, 2015
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  33. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    1280x720 looks fine on a 1920x1080 screen, I had a 1080p hooked up for a bit, albeit no way to attach it to the laptop, and it ran it through some benchmarks and games an it looked good and 1280x720 will offer great performance. I don't like the scaling issues in Windows and the extra power consumption it draws. I never noticed the "yellow" issue of the LCD though.
     
    HTWingNut, May 2, 2015
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  34. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    The yellow issue only applies to the higher-resolution display. 1080p should have no problems.
     
    shooterboss, May 2, 2015
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  35. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    My iris pro handles 1080p older titles (dirt 3) at medium settings so the 980m should be fine at 900m mid to high on older titles and low-mid on the newer ones.
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 2, 2015
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  36. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    No, I know. My laptop came with the 3k screen and didn't/doesn't exhibit any yellowing. It matches the similar colors as the LCD on my Samsung Ativ Book 9.
     
    HTWingNut, May 2, 2015
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  37. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Woah, really? Huh. I have been misled, or possibly that issue only applies to only some models.
     
    shooterboss, May 2, 2015
    #37
  38. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    It will depend on a specific panel being used.
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 3, 2015
    #38
  39. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    It seems this one is still pending release. Wonder if they will skip Broadwell altogether and instead offer it with Skylake?
     
    HTWingNut, May 8, 2015
    #39
  40. shooterboss

    shooterboss Notebook Guru

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    Pending release? Isn't it already on XoticPC?
     
    shooterboss, May 8, 2015
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  41. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    It hasn't officially been released by Asus yet, it's only pre-order at XoticPC right now. Latest availability is just "June".

    And Amazon.de shows it as available in 1-2 months.
     
    HTWingNut, May 9, 2015
    #41
  42. shizzle

    shizzle Notebook Guru

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    Regarding the yellow issue. Is this fixed or still a problem? Will this new version have a better yellow?
     
    shizzle, May 20, 2015
    #42
  43. shizzle

    shizzle Notebook Guru

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    shizzle, May 20, 2015
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  44. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    The notebook from amazon.de shows a US QWERTY keyboard. Is that what ships with it?
     
    HTWingNut, May 20, 2015
    #44
  45. electro_chef

    electro_chef Notebook Enthusiast

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    The Amazon.de model will arrive on 5/26/2015 and I will post some impressions.
     
    electro_chef, May 25, 2015
    #45
  46. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Great! Looking forward to reading them! :) Can you please let me know if it comes with the US keyboard or German keyboard?

    I'm just afraid with Skylake and next Maxwell iteration out in a few months that this thing will be replaced by something quite a bit better, faster, stronger before end of 2015...
     
    HTWingNut, May 25, 2015
    #46
  47. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    I don't see the 940-960 class chips changing much on a graphics level.
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 25, 2015
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  48. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Well I hope it won't be another 840m rebrand with 5% clock increase. Sporting a 950m with even slow GDDR5 would be a definite boost. But I doubt it will happen.
     
    HTWingNut, May 26, 2015
    #48
  49. Luterin

    Luterin Notebook Evangelist

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    It's available here in Sweden, and yes, it's the rebranded 840m in it.
     
    Luterin, May 26, 2015
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  50. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    We know the 940m it's the chip after that we are talking about. The 940m at 64 bit is very pcb space light so i dont see a bigger 128bit chip being used instead.
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 26, 2015
    #50
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