Asus UX31 Ultrabook

The battery life definitely takes a hit, I'll give you that. However, I have a friend with this same setup, and he specifically said that it wakes up from sleeping (windows) when he opens the lid in 3 or 4 seconds.
FedEx says my MBA is arriving this afternoon, so I'll try to post some feedback when I get Win7 loaded.
I'm not holding my breath, but I'm sincerely hoping that now that Jobs has passed away that Apple management will start looking at some of their core strengths a little differently and not be so closed minded. I would love to see them branch out and start making Windows laptops (with the normal keyboard layout). Let's face it, they are the kings of making small things with great quality.

 

I'm pretty sure Apple will never make a Windows machine.

 

Imagine how they could dominate this Ultrabook and ultra-portable market if they did though! I would snap one up...

 

Didn't have issues you are mentiong.

But if you're saying installing windows from pendrive is the trouble, that doesn't surprise me.

 

Ahaha in your deepest dream maybe...

 

Hey, as pissed off as Jobs was at Michael Dell, it is definitely possible....
I just read a bit today where Jobs was so furious at Michael Dell that he said " Michael Dell!".

 

Please do post your impressions of win7 on the MBA when you get it. I am still fluctuating between the MBA and ux31...

 

Heck, I'll even post a video, so there will be no question about exactly how long it takes to wake up once I open the lid. Probably tomorrow, though.

 

@smckenna, I think I'm with you, and I'll be going for the Air.
However, I'll probably stick with OSX, mainly because:
1) when i had my MBA running win7 there were definite sound driver issues - playing any sound would constantly stutter/skip
2) Boot times for win7 were ordinary. I know you can just sleep and instant on, but I can't shake the feeling that leaving your laptop on sleep the whole time will be detrimental to its battery life
3) Keyboard remapping support for OSX is fantastic, but for win7 it is non existent. I've got keyremap4macbook running now in OSX, and I've got all my keys and shortcuts just as I'm used to on a pc laptop... HEAVEN! If I'd found this program before I'd probably never have bought the UX. No more stuffing around with incorrect shortcuts or having to recondition fingers. Definitely recommended.


Anyway, so I'm on the lookout for a refurb 2011 air, or at least one that is sub $1200... any tips? Apple store's refurbs are limited to 09/10 models at the moment and are so pricey I'm wondering if they're just holding any refurb 2011 models in stock until they can shift the older models.

 

eBay is where I snagged mine. I wouldn't call mine a fantastic deal, but when you add on the savings because of no sales tax or shipping, I got a pretty good deal, and you should be able to snag one too.
I should have some "boots on the ground" feedback posted by tomorrow afternoon for my MBA / Win7 journey.

 

in UK:

ASUS UX31E-RY012V 13.3? Laptop - Silver buy online | Currys

i7,128GB costs 1200 GBP ~ 1900 USD

that's a joke. it is cheaper to buy in states and import.

even with declaring the full amount of 1450 USD (which buys you i7 and 256GB SSD) the shipping is about 65 USD, forwarding fee 9 USD and 20% VAT is 290. sometimes you get charged by parcelforce a fee for going through customs for you. I started using DHL.

all in all 1450 + 65 + 9 + 290 + 15 = 1829 USD.

so 256GB shipped is cheaper than walking in store and getting 128GB.

but remember, that's declaring the full value and having it shipped.

imagine going to US on holiday, having a friend taking it for you or let's say declaring half the value...

 

Or not declaring it at all. As long as the box is open it's not a new product/merchandise, so there's no need for import duty. I do this often with guitars, but to Australia, and make 400% profit!

Wonder how much the UX will market for there, should just sell mine in Oz

 

there's no duty on laptops from US to EU. you only pay VAT, based on declared value.

 

Windows 7 on MBA is running good but not great.

Problems for me:

pretty slow boot ( ~ 45-50 seconds )

not great multitouch - only two finger scrolling and two finger tap

keyboard layout might be a problem

and the freaking backlight keyboard turning on the max brightness when booting !

 

Another review:

ASUS Zenbook UX31 review -- Engadget

Mentions a trackpad driver update next week.

 

You might want to look into the 3rd party drivers for trackpad and power management here: Welcome to powerplan7.com!
If have not tried them -not owning a macbook- that I usually see them pointed out as being better than the originals (oh and if you decide to do so, please report back).

 

I've tried it.

Touchpad driver actually only makes scrolling laggy - it doesn't add multitouch gestures or anything. It might add some features like false tap detection, but scrolling was more important to me.

And the powerplan7 is not so great too - it disables light sensor, but still the backlight of the keyboard at boot just setss itself to the lowest level.

And you got to reinstall it every week if you doesn't donate. I was considering donating, but I tried contacting the author so he would at least disable the keyboard backlight at boot.

 

Was just about to post Engadget's lengthy review. The updated trackpad driver comment from Asus reps caught my attention as well. Hopefully that will alleviate 100% of the trackpad issues. Engadget has very favorable opinions on the UX31, and say it surpasses expectation even. Things are looking up.

 

Glad to hear the trackpad issue is being pursued. Surprised that the reviewer was impressed with the viewing angle... maybe I'm just expecting too much from this class of laptop, but vertical viewing angle is particularly troublesome for me- I shouldn't have to re-angle the laptop screen to be able to make out the clock in the taskbar.

The engadget reviewer did confirm that the keyboard is a bit hard to type with... I'm going to have to play with it more to see if its something I can adjust to.

 

indeed, engadget's review seemed pretty thorough. But for me, it pains me to hear everyone's similar issues with the keyboard. I constantly write articles and a keyboard that requires constant thought on how much pressure you should be applying, could be a deal breaker.. which is a bit regretful because the design seems to get so many things right.. high res screen, good build, good battery life, light weight, good sound for its class..(ok so the touch pad isn't the greatest either),

I'm going to wait and see how the other ultrabooks fare and see which areas I can compromise on.

 

do these zenbooks allow you add memory by youself? If yes, how easy the job gonna be?

 

Keyboard is a deal breaker for me. I've been spoiled by the the thinkpad x series keyboard.

 

Nice. Thats why i love about Asus they are always sending us updates on issues. Typing on my UX31 right now loving it so far.

 

Not sure if this has been posted. ASUS ZENBOOK UX21E Ultrabook Hands-On Video Review - HotHardware - YouTube

Great review of the ux21e.

 

You can't, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard, under the SSD.

 

I purchased the UX21E yesterday but refused to open it until more reviews came out. I was particularly worried about the keyboard/trackpad complaints.

Opened it a couple hours ago. I am very impressed so far. Not having any problems missing keystrokes. Although getting used to the chiclet style keys will take some time. Seems like my pinky is never on the key I think it is.

I was having some issues with the trackpad not recognizing right clicks but then realized I didn't have the latest driver. Apparently, the ASUS update utility either did not detect an outdated driver, or downloaded a new driver but did not install it. The updater also failed to detect one of the power utilities. I'd advise that you go to ASUS' website to make sure you have the latest drivers.

It gets fairly toasty when gaming. Temps hover between 80-90C. The fan is quite loud when the temps are in this range. This was expected though. My x220 produces similar temps and noises. I don't intend to do much gaming anyway.

 

Finally a review that isn't talking all about how the MBA would beat this thing. I guess Engadget finally is more fair when it comes to reviewing. Sounds like the track pad issue would be solved very quickly. Perhaps a little tweaking can also solve the keyboard! I can doubt the Keyboard is that bad. As for backlight, I've never had it on any computer, so I wouldn't know the difference anyways.

BTW anyone have the UX31E-DH72 model? What are your thoughts? Regrets for going with 256gb ssd? Thanks for input!

The laptop isn't made for gaming.
So my last question to you would be, do you regret the purchase of the computer? Keeping it?

 

Definitely keeping unless I run into some other issue. I didn't intend to use it for gaming.

 

Yeah, this thing is looking better and better. If they can get that trackpad working well with the next update, I think I can deal with the keyboard.

Plus I just realised that this has mini-hdmi and mini-vga ports, while the MBA has no ports for external display at all except for the thunderbolt one which only has one compatible device. Correct me if I'm wrong please, but isn't this a huge deal?

 

I'm not having any issues with the trackpad. I think some of the reviewers mistakenly assumed that the ASUS update utility downloaded and installed the latest driver.

 

Awesome machine, but the 4 gig limit is a showstopper for me. I guess I'll wait for a refresh on the series.

 

That will be the "issue" with all the ultrabooks. They got pretty small heatsink and the Sandy Bridge CPU's are getting very hot when doing something stressing in 3d - but that's because the GPU is inside CPU.

I don't understand - Thunderbolt is actually a mini DisplayPort - and you can get adapters for HDMI, DVI or VGA easily.

 

Sorry I didn't realise that. My bad.
Although I guess if you use it for a display port then you can't plug other things in..

 

Some more random questions on the UX31:

- Does the lid have any kind of locking mechanism or just tight joints?

- (How) Can you do middle mouse clicks with the touchpad? Sorry, if this seems like a dumb question but I have never worked with a multi-touchpad.

- Are the sharp edges on the palmrest really hurting during longer usage or did that one review exaggerate the problem?

- Some people experienced slow WiFi connection and mentioned that setting the power plan to maximum would resolve their problems. How does this chance affect battery life - and is the problem resolved fully, meaning full wifi speed?

 

The MBA's thunderbolt connector doubles as a mini-DisplayPort connector, and it is driving my Dell U2711 at it's native resolution of 2560x1440, something that the UX21 can't do.

 

Any idea when the UX31 will hit the skandinavien stores?

 

Sorry if this has been answered.. but as what I know, UX31 is using ULV processor. I'd like to know how much different in performance it is from the normal i5 processor. Can I use i5 UX31 for task like programming using Eclipse (Java/Android development).. or is it consider heavy for this kind of machine? I like the experience of using this kind of laptop (my wife using MBA) with the instant-on feature, very portable and having only SSD means I can handle it like a tablet due to no moving parts. Please advice.

 

I know I've been searching hard online and have only found the UX31 on Currys/PCWorld (i.e. the same site) for 1200 which is 200 more than the RRP I saw on UK reviews - what a complete scam.

Hopefully Amazon will list it soon at an actual reasonable price. I did find (what I believe is) the UX21 at RRP on Amazon UK in case anyone was interested in that, although it's out of stock:
Asus X21E-KX004V 11.6 inch Notebook (Intel Core i5 2467M 1.6 GHz, 4GB RAM, 128 GB Solid State Drive, LAN, WLAN, Webcam) - Silver: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

You can run Eclipse, no problem. But if you want wild performance, don't go for the UX31.

 

tight joints...

In linux you usually click both buttons to get the middle one when it's not there... So there may be a similar solution for other OS.

It's absolutely not a problem for me... But I also don't understand why people care about backlit keyboards as you should be able to type without looking!

 

Dustin here in Sweden has the date set to 2011-11-03, and they also have "shops" in Denmark and Norway.

For me it's not about looking at the keyboard when I normally type, but sometimes I do look down at it, especially when placing my hands. Not that I focus alot and think about it, but I have noticed that it takes a little more time if the keys are hard to see.

And ofcourse, it looks cool.

 

I haven't noticed the sharp edges at all. But, I am using the UX21. My palms might be resting differently.

The hinges are not as tight as the x220. If I hold the UX21 by its palmrest and shake lightly, the screen's angle will gradually increase.

Ok, this is really irritating. If the screen is at more than a 90 degree angle, it takes only slight shaking to cause the angle to increase. This tends to happen when typing on your lap or other soft surface.

 

GenTechPC has 3 versions of the UX31 for pre-order. Price starts at $1099 for the i5 and $1449 for the i7 CPU. I'll probably pick one up from them in the next couple weeks.

GenTech PC - Systems

 

Most swedish stores have nov17 set as delivery date.

 

Can anyone else confirm the hinge issue? I want to make sure I don't have a defective hinge. Also, please state whether you are using the UX21 or UX31.

 

Uhm, on UX31 if I shake it hard in order to move the screen I'll succeed but I don't think it's going to be a real issue if you just use it normally...

 

Well, the machine is more prone to shaking when its on a soft surface, like a lap. Isn't typing on your lap considered normal use?

 

How is Ubuntu treating you on the UX? Any issues or tweaks needed? How is your battery life?

 

Okay I have test out the transfer rate and I am about 6-7MB/s. At first I was only getting about 3MB/s then I went into the router setting and change the channel from 1 to 11. Wish I could get a little bit higher but Im okay with the rate.

shaking it hard with both hands and the screen does not move at all on my UX31

 

Thanks. I'm looking on the Danish Dustin site right now. Seems to be 8499 DKK ($1.576) for the i7-128 GB SSD, that is not too bad. Should be in stock 3. nov