Asus UX31 Ultrabook

I received my UX31 i5 128GB about 2 weeks ago for use at a large university. I absolutely love it... except the WIFI is HORRIBLE. I've updated the BIOS to 206, the wireless driver to V9.2.1.459, and changed all the power settings for the wireless adapter for max performance, and I still can't get a connection that stays for more than a few minutes in one (not all) of my classes. Windows can troubleshoot the problem, disable the wireless adapter and re-enable it which fixes the connection for a short while, before I lose it once again. I really hate to return it, as the laptop I had been using was one of the earlier EEE Pc's and is incredibly cramped in comparison, but even though it's several years old, it's wifi beats the pants off the brand new UX31e! What's the point of having an ultra portable laptop if you can't connect to the internet??

I'm really hoping that I somehow managed to get an earlier batch with a defective wifi card. Any suggestions? I saved the log file of the troubleshooting if anyone knows where I can send it for evaluation.

Note: there are other people in the same class with other laptops that appear to have no problems whatsoever. In other classes the connection seems to hover around 3 to 4 bars, and in my home if I move to the living room the connection can be intermittent. Lastly, it isn't just this one classroom, I've lost connection in my web programming course during an introduction to mySQL and had to keep restarting Putty.

I'm curious about the people who don't seem to be having any wireless issues. Where are you using your laptop? home? office? university??

 

Apennyworth
I have returned my second UX31 because the wireless is unusable, even if I am next to my router. Doing all upgrades and changing wireless power settings did not help. Asus support was of no help.
Edit: now going to try the U300s, there are some interesting reviews on Amazon on both of these

 

I've used it at home, at the office and at Starbucks with normal reception. I have to think some must have a defective wireless card or poorly attached internal antenna.

 

So like I've said in the previous post, my Asus UX31 ordered from Amazon (seller: J&R) arrived yesterday. It came with the latet BIOS 206 and I only had to let Asus Live Update updates all the remaining drivers.

Instead of listing the usual pros and cons, I'm gonna use a different approach. I'll list all the known problems that I've read here and elsewhere and post my thoughts about them. First of all, I'm gonna say that I've never used a Mac before so I will not make any comparison to them.

1. Keys don't register - This definitely exists but wasn't that big of a deal for me like I thought it would (I'll see as time goes on). Yes, I do get missed keys sometimes but not to the point that it would affect what I'm doing. Also, weirdly, when I press Ctrl+S (saving a document), the blinking cursor almost always moves to another position.

2. Touchpad erratic jumps - Also does occur even after the driver updates but is not to the point where it's not usable. I find it usually happens when you try to left-click or right-click on the bottom of the pad. Also, pinch zoom sucks, and the side scrolling doesn't work even after you enable it. The cursor movement is also kinda slow for me and their is no way to adjust the speed like the mouse. On the positive side, two-finger scrolling is GOOD and I'm a mouse guy, so I could care less for the touchpad.

3. Wifi keeps disconnecting/slow problem - No problem here: I've set the performance to max and MIMO was also disabled automatically. My wifi is as fast as my desktop and other laptops. (I haven't tested the USB-to-Ethernet adapter or the network transfer speed yet.) One weird thing I did encounter was that the wifi would automatically be disable after the laptop woke up from sleep. I uninstalled the Wireless Console 3 and this problem was solved.

4. Hinge problem - Also occurs but unless you place your laptop on a rough/shaky surface or hold it against gravity, you won't notice this problem. Not a big deal.

5. Sharp edge on the bottom near the touchpad can cause discomfort - Yes, it does after prolong use. It'd be perfect if Asus made it a little rounder. But of course, nothing is perfect in this world.

Not a problem, but I'd like to point out that you will only get around 75GB remaining out of a max 103GB. That's not counting the 8GB that Asus reserved in another partition for the factory restored.

I definitely will keep this because I LOVE it despite some of the shortcomings!

 

Got my UX31 from BH,
First impression: Impressive!
Keyboard: Very nice however I am used to keyboards where the keys travel more, hope to get used to it very soon.
Trackpad (sentelic): no erratic cursor movement, very easy to control, nice scrolling.(updated drivers)
Screen: adorable, good angles, very bright, good colors.
Wireless: updated drivers, throughput and connection very good but it was loosing internet connection from time to time, until i completely removed the old driver, been using it for one hour after the update and it stays connected. Hope it says on.

I will not return it. I love it.
Previous laptop ASUS N53JN and Dell XPS 13"

 

Finally got see both the UX31 and UX21 in-person.

It really is a nice looking machine... if had a backlit keyboard I would have taken one home already but I don't want to repeat what I did with the MBA (the 2010 wasn't backlit and then the 2011 one, they added).

The screen is nice esp running 1600x900 and the hinge seemed sturdy.

I did notice the keyboard problem but I think if you hit the centers, you're okay... I hope Asus fixes that when they add the backlight (hint hint).

The UX21 seems a bit small to me and at that price ($999 i5/$1199 i7), I find it hard to justify buying it... esp with the UX31 only $100 more for the i5.

Fry's also had the Acer Aspire S3 nearby and comparing them makes the Acer look sad. It's a nice machine too, but seems cheap compared to the Asus. And with the Acer at $899, it seems worth the extra $200 to get the Asus UX31 with 1600x900 and a full SSD.

I didn't have any problems with the touchpad on the Asus but I didn't use it very long. I spend most of the time typing out sentences and paragraphs to test the keyboard issue.

I'm still waiting to see how the Toshiba z830 is... I like the Tosh keyboard better and the number of full-size ports... but it's running boo-1366 rez. Maybe I'll wait for either Asus to add a backlight or Toshiba to add a higher rez screen (1080p?).

 

Office depot is giving me 11/11/2011 delivery estimate at checkout! and next business day delivery free!
However, I am waiting for the laptop to be in stock in microsoft online store because they have 100$ promo card for orders more than 699$! plus the microsoft "signature" hopefully will take care of updating the drivers and such..

 

Hi, my BIOS is set to 204. I did download the 206 from the asus website but now how do I install it? I cannot open the file.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/174395-bios-update-guide-asus-notebooks.html

Someone mentioned in the previous page that he successfully updated the bios with WinFlash (it should already be installed on your UX31: Start Menu -> type "WinFlash").

 

Hi, the WinFlash does not work. I inserted the 206 BIOS file and it does nothing...

 

I received the i5 256gb version but it is showing bios 204. Everything seems to be operating ok. Should I still download 206 and install it?

Also anyway to change the brightness without going into the menus? My last Dell has a fn key that allowed me to change it. Very handy sometimes.

 

After unzipping, you may need to rename the BIOS image to have a .ROM extension if you are going to (go against advice and) use WinFlash.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/174395-bios-update-guide-asus-notebooks.html

 

apparently 206 supposed to fix the touchpad but i didnt notice any improvement when I flashed it from 204 to 206. For brightness just hit the FN button and f5 or f6 to adjust brightness just like your dell.

 

I bought this one: Fosmon HDMI to Micro HDMI Cable (6 Feet). It works perfectly. Using Fn+F8, you can toggle between LCD, HDMI (1080p), LCD+HDMI. But this is probably not what you wanted.

I think this is what you want? HDMI Female to Micro HDMI Male Adapter


------------------------------

I just tested transferring files over the network (wirelessly). I'm getting around 2.30-2.50MBps when xferring a 350MB video from the UX31 to my desktop. When xferring the same file back from the desktop to the UX31, I get around 3.30-3.50MBps. Just some info for anyone who's curious.

 

Thanks. On my Dell, I didn't have to hit the FN button; just the keys.

I'm confused about the bios. Are we supposed to have 204 or 206? I'm not experienced enough to mess with the bios without being sure of what i'm doing.

 

I haven't noticed any improvement when I flashed to 206. So you're fine at 204, just make sure to update to the latest Sentelic driver for the touchpad.

 

In order for me to get good transfer rate i had to set my Channel Width set to 40MHz. I have better results from 9.2.1.432 version then from the latest verison. My router is 8 feet away. First capture is from computer to UX31. Second is UX31 to desktop.

 

Just to let any UK readers know, Curry's, PC World & Dixons (all the same company) have dropped their prices for the UX31E i7 1.8Ghz 128GB from £1200 to £999. Seems pretty cheap to me!

ASUS UX31E Ultrabook - Silver at cheap prices | PC World

 

How is that possible? I just tried to set it in my router and it wouldn't let me. I can only change the Channel Width to 40Mhz for the 5Ghz. For 2.4 Ghz, I can only set it to "Auto (20Mhz or 40Mhz)" or "20Mhz". And the UX31 wireless card only uses 2.4Ghz.

 

I'm not sure. Might be a typo there.
There are supposed to be i5 + 128GB, i5 + 256GB and i7 + 256GB options. I've not seen an i7 + 128GB SSD.
In addition the cache size in the product description is 3MB, while on an actual i7 it should be 4MB.

 

Swedish NetOnNet seems to be the first Swedish reseller to have the UX31 in stock and does indeed sell the i7 + 128GB SDD version.

ASUS ZENBOOK UX31E-RY012V Supertunn designdator med unibody-konstruktion i aluminium!

Google translate: http://translate.google.com/transla...ptop/ultrabook/asus-ux31e-ry012v/162106.5923/

[edit: added google translate lnk]

 

The UX31 in Sweden is i7 + 128 GB SSD.

Example specs at:
ASUS ZENBOOK UX31E CI7 1.8 4GB/128 SSD 13.3" W7HP - Supertunn och kraftfull designdator med unibody-konstruktion i aluminium

 

Oh, that's pretty awesome. I wish it was also an option in the US market.

 

So basically I did a clean install on my UX31 and it got a dead pixel on the top of the screen. I did a full system restore today because I was planning on returning the laptop. Apparently I can't find the dead pixel anymore. ?

 

Dont know what type of Router you have but on my dlink dir 655 you could select 20, 40 or both.

 

Well the touchpad seems ok except that the 2 finger scrolling is a bit too fast for me (I'm sure I can change the setting), but the wifi is really slow. I did the updates, but the last one says critical Lan Driver needs updating. When I try to update, it says self update needed. I know how to go to device manager, but it says that it has the most recent driver.

Well it seems I really screwed something up. The wifi was really slow so I went to the Asus site and downloaded the newer driver. It wouldn't let me install it without uninstalling the previous driver, so I did that, and now I can't install the new driver. Any suggestions?

Wow. Never mind. I fixed it myself much to my surprise.

 

If you start the scroll from the top or bottom of the touchpad, then it will scroll very fast. But if you start the scroll from the middle, then you can scroll slow.

 

I don't notice any difference following your suggestion. Maybe i need to update the touchpad as well. I have to uninstall the current one, and then install the new one. You'd thing they'd have an easier way.

I'm using the i5 for photography and video editing. do you think I'd be happier with the i7?

 

I have BIOS 206 and Sentelic driver 9.1.7.7. Asus Live Update doesn't work for you?

 

to Av8r
to install the driver
Unpack the downloaded package and launch setup from the "Install CD" folder
Or manually update the driver from the Device manager.

 

So the Asus UX31 has an "instant on" wake from sleep and has a very long standby time (kinda like an iPad).....

I was wondering, does anyone bother shutting down anymore?

 

hey guys. I'm new on here. I was reading up on all the comments about the zenbook. My initial reaction to the ux31 was I'm definitely buying one. Now with all the problems people are encountering, I am going to have to pass and maybe look at the Toshiba's ultrabook. I love ASUS, maybe because I'm taiwanese lol, and my current laptop is a asus k52jr i-5 and I love it. Asus have a great warranty repair service. Luckily I have a local service center here in Denver, so my turn around time was less than a week. My sound board 3.5m jack was loose so they replaced that, upgraded my fan and new battery. I really want to stick with ASUS but this I am going to have to pass. Wifi is definitely a must for me. I hope ASUS address all of these issues because I absolutely love the look of this book.

 

There has to be a way to mod the keyboard. Any ideas?

 

i'm taiwanese too.. LL

 

Asus should fix it... unless they don't think it needs fixing.

twe90kid's videos don't really tell you what's going on because I don't think he has audio to describe it.

It's not like he's barely pressing on the corner and it's not registering... you actually can press the corner down, feel the register feedback of the key but it does nothing on screen. I had to test it in person to understand what he was showing on the video.

Now... I can also reproduce this on my 13" MBA (2010) but it takes much more finesse to do so and not as consistently. Maybe it's just a by-product of shallow chiclet/island keyboards and you just have to adjust your typing style to a harder, center of key press.

 

I have bios 204 and the live update does not appear to work. I'm able to work around by uninstalling and then reinstalling the new drivers.

 

I was surprised to read this. Asustek, Acer reduce ultrabook orders by 40%

 

So I'm planning to buy a UX31 and went to my local fry's the other day to try it out. The keyboard for me wasn't all that much of a hassle since I normally type pretty hard but I did miss a key or two while typing but that's something I don't think will bother me and something I'd get accustomed to. The touch pad, even without bios 206 (was running 204 when I checked bios) wasn't terribly bad for me, it obviously is not the best, but not something I would get very annoyed with. I wasn't able to test out wifi since Fry's doesn't have wifi in their display area so I wouldn't know if it would be intermittent or not. So my question is, even if the UX31 I purchase has wifi problems, in which then I'd just buy a portable wifi adapter, is there really any issue with this ultrabook that's discouraging me from buying it?

 

I would never consider buying an external WIFI adapter an option if I were to buy one of the smallest and slimest notebooks out there. Kind of defeats part of its purpose...

 

I'd buy it. Unless you are going to have intensive typing usage (in which case, I'd probably buy a larger, more traditional laptop anyway) the UX31 is really nice. I just finished a short trip with the UX31 and it was perfect for me. I watched a movie I had been saving and it looked fabulous with the UX31 screen, and the battery power held out well for my transcontinental flight.

I find the wifi works every bit as well as my other laptops (an HP and two Macbooks). I've used it on my home wifi, work wifi, public coffee shops, hotel wifi, etc. Not a concern.

 

Well I would say that it's just a matter of time before ultrabooks becomes popular. I would also say that they have release them late this year. I think that most of the customer is buying a laptop just at the beginning of september.

 

Although that may be true, if a problem occurs where I get one of the units with a bad wifi card, an adapter would be the simple fix.

I won't be typing on it too much since most of my word processing is done on my desktop so that's good to hear.

I did hear some issues regarding the wifi being weak or intermittent but it seems to be a rarer problem than the consistent issue of keyboard and touch pad so I'm glad to hear someone having no issue with theirs.

Thanks for the replies!

 

In all honestly, I don't think Asus will fix the issue. I've been all over them the pass couple days trying to gt someone from Asus Corporate to respond to my message. I posted the youtube video all over Asus' fanpage on facebook from USA, to Corporate, to Asus Taiwan. The USA branches obviously didn't care, but Taiwan branch actually called me to verify the problem and said they will get back to me. No one has called back since 3 days ago. They also states that they will give my video to R&D to check out the problem and see if they can replicate it. As far as I know right now, ASUS in USA sucks pretty bad. Absolutely no customer service. I've submitted RMA request and got no response. I also PMed Chastity on this forum who is a CS rep and got no response.

The only person who responded to this issue was AMAZON. They let me return it! LOL

 

The big barrier right now is price.

When Intel decided to throw PCs into the ultrathin category, everyone thought because they were PCs, they would be significantly cheaper than the MacBook Airs. But just like tablets, we've found out that the margins are not very high when you get to below $1000.

I think the Asus and Tosh should do well based on their features... not sure how Acer will turn out unless they go even cheaper like the $700-800 range.

 

It's also the first version of the pc ultrabook. Things will get cheaper and better.

That's one thing I like about pcs, they are updated a soon as it possible. Just like android tablet. The new asus transformer prime will have tegra 3 quad core.

 

Did they waive the 15% restock fee like you wanted?

 

I also think it's a matter of time. Unlike Apple, who gets front page press coverage if they offer a new product color, most people outside of the tech blogs aren't even aware yet of the ultrabooks.

When I traveled with mine last week, my laptop created a lot of interest, but not many had previously known about ultrabooks, or the Asus specifically.

 

Agreed.

There are no commercials of someone pulling a UX31 out of a manila envelope.

Someone should do one of those PC vs. Mac commercials and put the MBA against the UX31 (or any other ultrabook).

 

Yep...
I chatted with customer service on Amazon.com and told them about the problem that I've been having with the laptop and they told me that I can return it. I asked 3 times asking if there is a 15% restocking fee. They told me that it would be waived. =)

Not sure if they actually test the laptop. But who cares, I saved the chat and the screenshot. If they charge me the 15% I will file the chargeback with my CC.

 

Bought the i7 UX21 today. The keyboard is difference from SONY, Lenovo, or MSI that I have been using over the years but I don't find any issue with it. I also don't have any issue with trackpad or wireless connection. I do wish it has dedicated pageup and pagedown keys.

Overall I am quite happy with this little gem so far. Extremely fast boot up time even faster than my desktop with Intel 2600K and Intel 510 SSD.