Asus UX31 Ultrabook

Thanks. Hopefully that will fix the wifi issues.

 

Guys, when I started following this thread it was only 7 pages. Now there are 131, and I'm more doubtful than ever. I plan to buy in late January. Really hope most issues will be corrected. It is way too stupid you develop such an awesome machine and lack in the most basic stuff, like keyboard, wifi and trackpad.
Be sure that Asus are aware of all these problems but I really dont know how fast they will be to correct that.
What seems to be now is that buying a Zenbook today in kinda Lottery, no one knows how many and witch issues they will get...

 

Asus Zenbook screensaver. Non-essential and can be uninstalled safely.

 

256gb sandisk SSD is very slow in 4k/4kqd32 read/write and 512k write. Windows index of only 5,9. Not really impressive. Maybe a firmware update could help ?

 

Blimey - I really want a 256Gb version, but not at the expense of a massive speed loss!

In the real world, do you think there would be a noticeable difference between the 2?

 

Did you try to reran the test?

I haven't seen any kind of nowadays ssd's with 5.9 score - maybe one time, but it changed after I reran the test.

 

Then I think you're looking at the wrong laptop. IF performance is king go buy an Alienware

I bought this ASUS for:
Ultralight (3 lbs)
Superfast resume, 2 second on (works awesome)
Looks great
It'll get the same things done my 18lb Aliewware M17x-R2 will.. without being a pain to lug around

As for the issues people are having, every product has some lemons come through, so what.

Mine works great so far, no issues at all, haven't had to update any drivers, just removed some bloatware, loaded up Office 2010 and Visio 2010 and it's working great

 

I also found a review that ran Crystal on the SSD

Review Asus Zenbook UX21E Ultrabook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Make sure you at least get near these numbers

 

Nope these numbers are for the 128GB SSD, which obtains good numbers. The bad one is the 256GB Sandisk U100 (actually it seems there are two types of 256 GB disks in UX31, but mostly the Sandisk one which is very bad).

For the AS SSD benchmark, the 128 Gb disk gets a score of 157 for reading, 181 for writing, 450 overall. While my 256GB SSD got somthing like 150 as total score. Even worse, the good scores of the 256GB disk are obtained for sequential writing (which you don't really need) and very bad for the rest ...

I have a UX31 i7 256GB with wifi problem (a signal strength of -75dbm with my wifi router 5 meters away ... my 6yo HP gets -55dbm and that makes a huge difference), and AES instruction disabled in the processor (apparently like in every ASUS notebook) ... no issue with the touchpad on my side, but dissapointed overall, it seems to me that the hardware they put in is not that great, even if the laptop looks good indeed.

 

Real world,no....sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerious thing

 

Hi

I got the UX31 (i7, 256 SSD) a few days ago in Germany. I am very happy with the notebook, but now I have a Problem and I hope that someone here can help me.

The problem is the USB 3.0 port. If I connect a USB 3.0 device (bluray or harddisk) to the Port and want to copy a file to the external disk, after a few minutes the connecton is interrupted. If I wait for some Minutes the device reconnect to the notebook. I have no Problems with uUSB 2.0 devices!

Did anybody here have the same Problems? I am very happy wih the UX31 and I only want to send it back, if this Problem is a harware Problem.

Thank for your help and sorry for my bad english ;-)

 

Does anyone know if ASUS (North America) issues a shipping label to cover shipping in case of mechanical failure/defect (under warranty)? I am about to bite the bullet and purchase UX31 DH52 but just curious.

WiFi problem really really bothers me but everything else is ok (and can live with such as keyboard/touchpad issues).

Newegg has 1 year parts/labor warranty but some say 2 years...anyone knows this for sure?

 

Don't count on it. I sent in a RMA request and never heard back from them.
So I decided to return my laptop to Amazon. Bought a second one and still have the same problem! FAIL

 

I really am better off getting U36SD...right? Why do I hear more and more complaints about this laptop? Man...

 

Anyone successfully replaced the wireless card?

 

Asus pays shipping both ways.

 

Because more and more people buy this laptop and complainers are louder than happy customer. What is the exact rates of bad/good?

 

I wish I knew the answer. My current UX31 is unuseable because of the wifi issues. i love everything else, and I desperately want to keep it, but have no choice. The question is whether to try another one. I have the i5 now because I thought the i7 might be a power and heat hog, so I may order the i7 and see if I have better luck.

edit; Please see my post next page. I figured out what I was doing wrong.

 

I had the same model and the same problem...
Returned it after one week...
Will give it another try with another model...

 

I have the UX31 256SSD with driver 9.2.1.459 and Power-Saving mode uncheck and I have no problem.

 

totally defeats the purpose of portable laptop (at least for me). sure if you are just documenting, you dont need internet access but is this really true nowadays? everyone needs an internet access at 1 point or the other.

 

I may have jumped to conclusions too fast. I thought I had changed a setting that some said would fix the issue. It turns out I had not made the change correctly. These laptops come with the wifi power setting set to conserve power too much, and that causes a lot of these problems. A couple of days ago I thought I changed it to maximum power, but after rechecking it a minute ago, I realized I set it to maximum power saving. (which made the problem even worse)

For the last hour I have had no problems at all. For those that don't know how to change it; just to to Control Panel-Hardware and Sound-Power Options. From there you can use any power package you want, but you have to go in to Change plan settings and then Change Advanced power settings. That will bring up a window that allows more specific power saving adjustments. Click on the Wireless adaptor settings, then Power saving mode, and then choose Maximum Performance.

I really think that will fix 90% of the wifi problems out there.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I am guessing that you aren't using this to do post-processing photos. haha. I do that for a hobby and I plan to use my next laptop to do that. Anyways, are you currently maxed out as far as power settings are concerned?

That's another thing because if you have to fully max out power settings to get the wifi problem solved, what's the point? It will drain the battery so fast...no? My current "portable" laptop only last couple hours so excuse my ignorance on 8+ hours portable laptop.

 

I have the UX31 (i7) with the Sandisk 128GB U100, and the WEI gives me just 5.9 on the SSD disc too. I have read that the Adata XM11 (which is incl in other X21 and X31) gives 7.9.
What's this about???
The 4k test in AS SSD gives me just about 15mb write and a bit over 30mb read. That's NOT good enough!

BTW: I have the latest WHQL Rapid Storage driver, and the write cache is enabled.
BTW2: The Seq. score is very good. About 350mb write and 450mb read.

Hope some of you will give an explanation or a fix for this.

 

So I want to know if anyone is having trackpad flex? The top left of my Elantech trackpad falls below the flush body line when my finger is on it. This doesn't happen on the right side. So basically the top left of the trackpad falls below like if i was making a full click. I'm going to upload a video of it now.

 

Dont know the Sandisk is low vs Adata drive. I have the Adata drive and below is my benchmark

 

Here's a video of what I was talking about!
Weird right?

ASUS Zenbook UX31-DH72 - Trackpad issue? - YouTube

 

thanks a lot!

 

True it's not good enough. Everyone with the 256gb Sandisk SSD have these mediocre speeds. Big disappointement.

 

Seems like a defective trackpad. I've never seen any trackpad that act like that. If I were you, I'd return it.

 

Yah... I'm definitely done with the zenbook series once this one goes back. Unless there's a revision next yr, I won't be touching any zenbook line for a while. Absolutely zero quality control. Also the first time in my life returning the same line of notebook from the same manufacturer twice.

 

Actually, I AM doing a lot of post processing of photos. I do a lot of traveling, and I bring a portable printer. I shoot in RAW format with my Nikon DSLR and make 8x10 prints for the local people I meet in South America and SouthEast Asia. When I max out the power for the wifi, that is only to stop the laptop from trying to save battery power. Nothing to do with the power of the processor. Usually I don't need wifi while processing photos. So far I've had great luck with processing photos and even hi def video.

 

Anybody there from Germany, who had the zenbook since a few days and only got the Sandisk SSD 256GB? I'm afraid that I'll get the zenbook next week with the slow one SSD built in ... just want an working system with a fast SSD!

Is the built in Sandisk device a reason for returning the ultrabook back to amazon?

 

When ordering from Amazon Germany (or any other German shop), you have 14 days Widerrufsrecht (BGB § 355) without the need to specify your reason. So, if you are unhappy with the model or speed of your SSD, just return the notebook.

 

Can I only get the money back or is it able to change the device! Return my zenbook with the sandisk u100 and hope for an other device with the faster SSD?

 

I had one with a sandisk ssd. Its a lot slower than the adata one. But i think most people wouldn't notice in real world usage...

Here is the rule:

256GB SSD --> sandisk (slow) --> elantech touchpad (better one)
128GB SSD --> adata (fast) --> sentelic touchpad (worse one)

Im going for the 128GB Adata drive because of performance. A lot of customers say they could get used to the sentelic touchpad ...
(The Elantech is great in my opinion)

 

I bought the UX31 in Norway, with the Intel i7, Elantech touchpad, and the 128GB Sandisk U100.
The disc is as I said really slow when testing 4k and 4k/64.
The computer also gets very warm. Almost 90 C when the CPU is working at highest performance. Is this just mine, or are your UX31 as hot?

 

you mean the 256 Sandisk right ?

No mine wasnt very hot... warm when under pressure but not hot...

 

not a typo.... they do have i7 w/ 128gb ssd

 

But not 128GB sandisk as far as i know...

 

It's a Sandisk U100 128gb.
My UX31 is about 45 degrees celsius at idle, and over 80 when for example I installed Football Manager (at High Performance - 2.9ghz)
How hot is yours? Do you have the Intel i7?

 

Well I have the sandisk 256 (slow) ssd and the
Sentelic touchpad (worse one)

Luckily Amazon is allowing those that bought these latops between Nov 1 and Dec 31 to return the as late as jan 31. I called and confirmed that I can return this one as late as Jan 31 even though i bought in on Nov 6. I think I will do that and hope for a better one a bit later.

 

Let's hope to hear some better news during CES.

 

So this means that Amazon (and ASUS?) admits that there's something wrong with the Sandisk SSD?
(BTW, I have the Elantech touchpad, and have no problem with the wi-fi...)

 

No sure, but I did not have a problem returning for a full refund as long as you say it's a defective unit with clear explanations.

 

Same, same, same, same here. WEI for the SSD is 7.4.

All-in-all I'm quite happy with my UX31E so far, but there are a couple of things that could be better.
The F7 key is not straight. It works fine, so it's no problem except that the light bounces off it differently, so it kinda sticks out.

The touchpad sometimes doesn't register that I've put my finger on it so nothing happens until I lift it off and put it back down again.

My biggest gripe so far is the lacking of features and configuration options for the touchpad. My 3 year old Asus Eee also has an Elantech touchpad but this will let me do three-finger-tap for "middel click". I've gotten so used to this feature that I'm shocked to see that I can't do it on this new laptop. And why can't we configure the actions for swipes? I'd like to use a swipe for opening Firefox.

 

I am really disappointed that the Sandisk U100 is so slow.
The UX31 is otherwise a real treat, and I want to keep it.
But... with the slow SSD speed with small files, it really dampens the enthusiasm.
I have a week to decide what to do...

 

Norwegian?
WEI SSD: 7.4? With the Sandisk U100 128GB?
Have you done something with any configurations?

Edit: What about temperatures/fan noise? (My temps are over 80c with High Performance (2.9ghz) and the machine working with for example an installation of sorts.)

 

I'm Norwegian here too and have i7/Elantech and 128GB SanDisk. Also a bit dissapointed it scores so much lower than the AData. WEI SSD at 7.4 here aswell.

 

If I recall correctly my previous UX31-DH52 has 7.9 in wei
I think they are swapping to lower performance chips because of Thai flood?