Asus UX31 Ultrabook

no usb 2.0 port using a regular flash drive. There are issue with trying to install windows 7 with the usb 3.0 port cause of missing drivers.

 

hello guys,

I also received my asus ux31 few days ago, which i bought on amazon.de
Great gadget BUT im really dissappointed that I have that suck ssd (Sandisk).
Its a shame when you bought this lapotop with the best configuration but you receive a slow ssd. all those advertisment was full of "fast ssd" and finally they just hide the slower ones in the topmodel.

Wifi: Yeah its a bit slow as you mentioned here already but constantly working

i really confused because maybe i will send it back.

what do you think? Asus should really get in contact with us and we also should give them a sign

 

Hello,

Is there a way to perform a middle mouse click with the Elan touchpad? I found nothing related to this in the control panel and I really miss this possibility. Thanks.

 

Hi all,

I'm a new user to this thread, and a proud owner of UX31E.
However, I seem to run into an issue with the micro HDMI connectivity. I have connected two separate micro HDMI cables to my Zenbook to Toshiba HDTV. In both instances, I could not get any output on my TV. All I get is the blue screen, although the Zenbook indicated the connectivity is fine, and is even able to recognise the Toshiba TV.

Just wanna check if anyone else is facing this problem as well?
I have done a google on this in the web, and problems could range from HDMI handshaking issues, to Intel HD Graphic 3000, and faulty chipset, etc.

Can any owner confirm if this is an isolated case - due to my luck - or a common problem with all zenbook lappies?

Thanks~

 

i had a problem that the driver didn't stay installed after restart. Try installing the driver, in device manager search for display adapters uninstall, then install from the asus site your vga intel graphics, (VGA_Intel_HD_Graphics_Win7_64_Z815102476 that's mine on ux21e), don't restart or log of and try to connect the cable.
Didn't had blue screens but it was not recognized by the tv and didn't saw it in dev.manager.
Good luck, i send mine back, also had other issues.

 

Good question, but I've got the reverse: somehow my touchpad is triggering middle mouse clicks when I don't want them, usually when I attempt a two-finger scroll. I can't see where that's coming from.

 

Received mine from Amazon.ca on December 1st:
UX31E DH52, i5-2557M processor, 128 GB Sandisk, Elantech touchpad.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the Elantech touch pad, I didn't even know they had sourced a better one.

But I got the 128 GB Sandisk drive. My WEI comes in at 6.5 for the drive (a little higher than others have posted), but the Crystaldisk numbers are on par with what's been posted for the 256 GB Sandisk drive.

I am a little pissed that I got a slower drive. That was one of the main selling points for this product (along with the higher resolution, 450 nit display).

That said, according to the Asus testing, the sandisk is actually on par with the adata:
AnandTech - ASUS Zenbook (UX21) Review

Maybe they're currently shipping the Sandisk because of the bug with the adata? (SF-2281 firmware prior to 3.3.2 ).

I'll probably leave well-enough alone and keep this one... according to crystaldisk, the SSD is still quicker than the Toshiba Portege Z830.

 

UX31E-DH52

Reformatted & fresh W7x64 Pro install. I pulled the latest driver from respective manufacturers if a newer one was available versus what you find on the Asus download site. Finishing that, I flashed from BIOS V206->207.

-Elantech Touchpad
This pad, unlike the Sentellic unit on occasion, is a joy to use consistently
-SanDisk U100
Solid speeds, 560/330's on initial Crystalmark x64-sequential

No missed keys after the first two days, coming from never having used a chiclet keyboard before. Wireless performance has been surprisingly better than I expected at various hot spots around the country (no drops, high streams). Overall, very satisfied.

 

I wonder if anyone with the 256GB SSD in the UX31 is getting as good a performance numbers as this (above 7.0)? If so, which brand & model SSD did they get with their UX31?

 

And a WEI subscore of 7.5 for the transfer rates is impressive... but what were your 4K read & write speeds? That's where this drive seems to be lacking.

My WEI graphics subscore is 5.6 (presumably due to the slower drive speed).

 

So what's the overall consensus on:

* Keyboard usability
* Wifi reliability

Any major flaws here? I keep finding myself coming back to this ultrabook.

 

I wouldn't want to type on the keyboard all day, but it's almost full size so it's a heck of a lot better than a netbook. I consider the zen as more of an ultra-portable than a workstation, but then I'm generally not happy with laptop keyboards in general. I only wish the arrow keys were bigger, otherwise the layout is great. With the 2-finger scrolling, you don't really need a page up & down. The large elantech trackpad is awesome.

Wifi works fine in my home, but I haven't ventured out. As you probably know, it's limited to 2.4 GHz and no smart connect.

Some info on the wireless:
AnandTech - ASUS Zenbook (UX21) Review

 

Hey everyone, new member here.

I had bought the UX31E-DH72 ecstatic about a macbook air-like windows-based laptop! I have followed this forum since the day I purchased it while I awaited the month long wait for Asus to ship it to the store, then from the store to my house. When the day came that it arrived and opened the box, I thought I couldn't be happier. This thing is sexy! Well, I checked everything that I have been hearing have been wrong with other's UX31E, and everything checked out.
Then... out came the WiFi issue. Connectivity would randomly drop completely and then kick back on. Then it started to not even turn the adapter on whenever the computer was turned back on from a full bootup including everything else already mentioned.
Well, I decided to matters into my own hand and try to resolve the problems myself with all the possible solutions I could think of and that I have been hearing of on this forum. Nothing worked, so I did some delving and here are some results I have to share:
Wireless Adapter
While everyone is correct that the wireless adapter is an Atheros, it's incorrect that we use just use an Atheros AR9485. The card is actually an Atheros AR9004WB-1NG, combining the wireless AR9485 and bluetooth AR3012 chips onto one. The card is supposedly a PCIe Half-Mini Card.
Finding this information out, I tried updating any possible drivers, etc. with no luck to positive results. I then e-mailed Asus Tech support via Asus Member website on 11/28/2011.
...9 days later I FINALLY received an e-mail back. Mind you, in my e-mail I included very specific procedures I used letting them know so we can skip the run-around easy "well did you do this..." stuff (including updating all drivers, firmware, BIOS, etc.). Here's what "Lily Yang" told me:

"Dear valued customer,

Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.

Please download and update BIOS for a try. Please make sure of the power supply during the process, and you cann't revert back to older version of BIOS, thank you for understanding!
Here is the lastest BIOS version.
BIOS 209

Please refer to the attachment about how to update BIOS and BIOS 209.

Then load BIOS default as follows for a try. Please turn on the laptop. Press F2 as soon as you see ASUS logo to enter BIOS. Then press F9 to load BIOS default. Then save and exit and then reboot the laptop.
The BIOS flash procedure is now complete.

If still, please contact your dealer or the local service center for help. Our engineers will help you have a detail check for your laptop and then fix the problem. Here's the contact information.
+1-888-678-3688 (24 hours)
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Service Center

If you have another problem, please get contact with us ASAP.

Best Regards,
Lily
ASUS Customer Service"

In that e-mail, "Lily Yang" including attatchments to the BIOS to download with instructions on how to do it. Now, there are a couple of obvious problems here with this...
1. I had to wait 9 days for a response. Not the biggest problem.
2. I had clearly stated in my e-mail that I had updated * EVERYTHING*. This is pretty big irk. It's one thing to wait 9 days for a response, but to wait 9 days and get a half-a$$ed response to something I clearly stated I already did (so, obviously, my e-mail was not read thoroughly as it should have been).
3. Had I not done my research and been a common person that's not technically savvy, I would have taken her response as "Oh hey! That's what I need, thanks Lily!" and continued to attempt to download that BIOS. Hello bricked, brand new, $1400 laptop.

 

Actually, if they included bios version 209, that's something completely NEW. The newest BIOS version on their web site is 207. If they included 209, that could explain the delay!

 

@steelkerr

thats why I said, we have to set ASUS a sign. that is not a good service, they will react maybe not now but for sure when they miss clients like us.

 

I don't think there is such a thing as a "consensus." I can say that I have zero issues with the one I bought--I didn't experience any of the issues that others have with theirs.

With regards to the keyboard--many complain about it. Is it the best ever chicklet keyboard? No. Is is usable? Absolutely. Depending on your typing habits, you may or may not miss keystrokes. Why is it not backlit? I may be wrong, but the keys feel like some sort of metal or aluminium to me. And if it is metal, that would explain the lack of backlighting. There are small pinhole LEDs on the caps lock, F2/wi-fi FN key, and the power key. And besides, when you're working in the dark, the screen should light up the keyboard enough in almost all circumstances.

 

I just can't trust it being there is no BIOS 208 and usually they would do updates in numerical sequential order without skipping. I don't see why they would have a new BIOS update that they are able to provide me, but not put onto their website or the asus downloader as being available. I'm still too skeptical to download it, even though the file is labeled as "UX31EAS.BIOS209.zip". For all I know though, it's the wrong BIOS that's needed, and then my laptop will be bricked.

I agree that Asus needs to provide some sort of feedback on this problem that a lot (maybe not majority, but a lot) of people are having, at least to acknowledge that there is a problem and whether or not they are working on a solution, etc. Does anyone else know about BIOS 209 for UX31? If so, what does it fix/update?

I think it's interesting though that our WLAN adapter is an Atheros AR9004WB-1NG.

*EDIT*
It appears as though BIOS update is available for Germany, although I have not found any concrete results indicating how stable 209 is or what BIOS 209 does yet. I will keep searching and looking for answers.

 

I've been wondering about this myself. Check out the support page for the UX31E on asus.com. Notice on the second screenshot, there is possible to do 1-finger tapping, 2-finger tapping and most importantly, 3-finger tapping. It's the latter I would like to use for "Middle Button". As you've seen, this option doesn't exist in the settings. I've tried the older driver, but it wasn't there either.

So.. I sent an e-mail to ASUS asking why the support page shows 3-finger tapping when this isn't an option. The reply I received was to reset my computer to factory settings. Really? How intelligent! Where do they find these hopeless employees?! I imagine the support guys are given a small booklet that describes how to solve the basic tasks that nobody with an IQ above 50 would ever ask about, and if somebody asks about anything else, just RESET TO FACTORY SETTINGS!

Anyways, I sent an email to Elantech urging them to
1) Add 3-finger tapping
2) Make the actions for various gestures configurable.

I told them to look at Microsoft and Logitech as they usually let you configure the buttons to do just about anything. A keypress-combination like Ctrl+W would be nice. Or maybe write or record a macro to run when you perform a gesture. Another option would be to run an application of your choice. I would love to swipe three fingers to open the calculator.

My email was forwarded and replied to within a few hours. There was mainly one interesting part of the reply.

As I read this, ASUS told Elantech to remove 3-finger tapping from the driver. Why?? I really hope this feature was somewhat bugged, and that's why it was removed. I can't see any other reason for why they would remove this feature. It's like giving birth to a healthy baby and then ask the doctor if he can chop off the baby's left arm. Why would anyone want to gimp their child? Why would ASUS want to gimp their laptop?

I have 3-finger tapping on my ASUS Eee-something from 2008 with a touchpad from Elan. This feature is by no means perfect as it sometimes yields a 2-finger tap, but it's so much better than not having the option at all.

 

Why don't you just park the zip file on a server, and post a link to it here on this forum. Surely there will be at least 2 or 3 brave souls that are willing to give it a try, particularly if it fixes the WiFi instability issues.

 

I got the i7 256GB Sandisk SSD version about 2 weeks ago in Europe and I have no problems with it at all.

About the SSD, yes it is slower than the Adata drive, but it is not actually SLOW. I did some real world tests and it is just as fast, if not a bit faster than my Intel X25-M G2 120GB when reading data, which has 4 times higher Crystal Disk Mark 4k QD32 score.

About the middle click, it is really stupid that they removed that feature, but I managed to get it back. You need to modify some stuff in the registry so be careful if you try this

Start regedit and navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Elantech\Smartpad" Once there, you need to set Tap_Three_Finger_ShowItem to 1 and Tap_Three_Finger to 2. Restart your laptop and three finger middle click should work now. Also, the three finger tap option should appear in the configuration utility.

The three finger touch works perfectly so I have no idea why they did this.

 

...........

 

Just got an email from Bestbuy saying my Zenbook pick up date changed from Dec 24 ro Dec 14.
Looks like they are getting it back in stock after it was backordered. Hopefully this is a fixed version and that Asus solved the Wifi and touchpad issues.

 

Nice! Can't wait to try this!

 

I will see what I can do to put the file for BIOS209 for the UX31E on here asap. If anybody finds out any info, please share it with us! I still have yet to find anything about what exactly 209 does, and if it's actually official. As I said though, it appears it's German as of now, since when I google the file name "UX31EAS.BIOS209" all I get as results are german forums and an ASUS tech replied with the file for download.

 

The Asus new bios do tend to pop up before official release on german sites. However, it is always safer to wait for the official release from Asus. Ironically, 209 for the G73 also popped up on german sites before the official release, the germans must really like that number .

 

I bought the UX31E-DH52 from my local Best Buy yesterday afternoon. The one with the 128GB SSD. Got it home, tried it out, thought it was pretty great.

+screen is good, viewing angles are fine
+blacks looked fine
+audio was great
+wi-fi was great (downloaded a movie in like 20 minutes at 370kbps)
+keyboard was fine (I missed a few keys rarely at the start, but ppl who complain about it like it's terrible are absolutely delusional, and reviews who do the same I would call straight up liars)
+track pad was 100% fine, even without dl'ing the latest drivers (which I did)
+build quality is excellent
+AC adapter again is 100% fine. No loose fit that I read of. I dunno where these complaints come from, people must be smokin crack or something.

Now, the reason why I took it back, and unlike a lot of the crybaby complaints, this is LEGIT.

-the SSD on the Best Buy model that I got was NOT Adata, but the Sandisk U100 which is BALLS

I first noticed something wrong when I went online. Websites would load, but I couldn't scrolldown with my mouse until a few seconds later. I thought maybe it was something wrong with my Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX, but then I also noticed that after I downloaded my movie, I tried to Copy and paste it from one folder to another, and it froze when I would try to manipulate the 1+GB file. Then towards the evening I ran the Windows Experience test...

AND GOT 5.9 FOR MY SSD I WAS LIKE !!!

I went to device manager and checked the SSD and saw that it was a Sandisk U100.

Then I downloaded and ran Crystalmark and I was disgusted with what I saw. Started off good with 450MB/s reads, then dropped down to TWENTY point something writes. The Adata is supposed to have 400+. The rest of the read AND write scores (write was by far the worst) were pathetic.

Best Buy are scumbags. Why do they always try to cut corners with certain models by including neutered components?

BOTTOM LINE: MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING THE ADATA SSD IN THE UX31 128GB SSD MODELS. IF THEY DON'T ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, MAKE SURE YOU CAN TEST IT OUT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. DOWNLOAD CRYSTAL MARK AND TEST.

I really liked the laptop, but the sneaky replacement with Sandisk's horrid U100 was just too much.

 

<RANT>
I don't know where you are, but people like you who can simply walk into a BB and buy one of these ASUS UX31 laptops drive me NUTS! No BB in my entire state stocks this laptop. I had to order mine online from BB, and after 3 weeks I am STILL waiting for store delivery (Backordered)!
</RANT>

On another note, I see for the 128GB SSD model, the good one is the AData, and the bad one is the Sandisk U100.
Is there more than one SSD being installed on the 256GB models as well? If so, are they from these same two manufacturers, with the same results (AData good, Sandisk bad)?

 

Not lacking at all.

My theory is that this is related. U100's have the third iteration of this tech, quite ingenious as far as performance and write balancing. When the OS was fresh and I first ran Crystal and IOmeter, I caught that burst dump and a high 4K result. I haven't seen a similar result now that everything is embedded and active.

For some, it is easier to make a lot of noise rather than reading about what they're working with

 

Keep in mind I'm in Canada...and there were no Zenbooks on display. The guy didn't even know about them. I showed him how on their site, it showed "In stock" for our location, and he went to the back to check and found two of them.

I wasn't aware that they started using Sandisk for the 128GB versions. As for the 256GB question, I thought only Sandisk made that one. Hence why I avoided it like the plague.

And yes, Adata = great, Sandisk = horrid

And I assume you will def do this, but CHECK THE SSD WHEN THEY GET IT IN! The Sandisk is a piece of crap dude, I cannot state this enough...

 

Oh great, so since I ordered the UX31E-DH53 that has the 256GB SSD, I have absolutely ZERO chance of getting the good (AData) SSD, and will be stuck with the performance of the Sandisk one? Maybe I should cancel my order and re-order the DH52 (128GB) instead to give me at least a 50/50 chance of winning! I didn't really need the extra storage, I was just was trying to avoid having to perform a clean install to get rid of all the bloatware.
Any word on whether Sandisk is going to provide FW updates to ASUS to fix this?

 

I would cancel my order...

As I said, I really liked this laptop and was super pumped when I unboxed it and tested it out. But the Sandisk is a turd. I could have MAYBE (although I doubt it) accepted it's terrible raw performance if it had good real life performance. But for 4-5 hours I noticed it struggling with websites/large files/installing/uninstalling. Long before I realized how weak it was using this very thread/Windows Experience Index/CrystalDiskMark. So it's not like its crappy performance was in my head, and I started imagining these things AFTER I found out it was the U100.

Cancel your order, wait for them to get them instore, go make sure the 128GB version is using the Adata, test it out and buy if you like.

That's my honest and well intentioned advice.

PS. I feel your pain, I also waited FOREVER for BestBuy to get them in stock. It seems like Canada was a month behind the US, but based on what you're saying, it seems you guys are also having to wait.

 

So with the fresh OS you saw the WEI of 7.5... What do you get now for comparison?

If I understand this correctly, the Sandisk is caching data to improve the speed, but the Crystal & IOmeter tests do not recognize this new tech. When the drive is idle, the cache finally gets written to the drive, and this is the 'slow' write speed that is reported by the tests.

That explains why the 'real-world' performance appears similar:


But is there an explanation for the 'slow' 4k reads that Crystal reports?

 

Before I cancel and re-order the 128GB model, is there anyone else here on this forum that has the 256GB, and can confirm that:
a) They indeed have a Sandisk SSD, and
b) What their Windows Hard Disk performance index is?

Is there any chance at all that the 256GB SSD, since it is a different model from Sandisk, might have a completely different (and maybe much better) performance index than their 128GB SSD? Wishful thinking?

 

I have the UK version, core i7 with 128GB ssd, and its the ADATA version.

I get 400MB+ read and 140MB write consistently with very large files.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

I get 7.4 with 256GB Sandisk. Juxtapose, did you run WEI twice in a row? I got 5.9 the first time I ran it, but the second time I got 7.4. The drive does feel right for 7.4, my X25-M G2 120GB gets 7.7 and the Sandisk is faster in reads, but slower in writes (real world testing).

The fact this happens with WEI seems like a software (firmware) bug more than anything else. 5.9 is the WEI cap when the drive doesn't process random writes and flushes properly.

 

If the Sandisk wasn't deserving of its 5.9 score, then I wouldn't have felt and seen its weakness in regular daily tasks. My mom's laptop has a Vertex 2, and the laptop feels much faster. Why? Cause it doesn't have absolutely crap write performance.

If people who are considering the Sandisk are naive enough to believe some marketing fluff on their website about caching is true and that you there is a glitch in Window Performance Index and that everything will go away if you reinstall Windows and run the benchmarks again and in a certain order and at a certain time of the day when the moon is aligned with Jupiter...

then go ahead and get it. I told you guys my experience with the laptop. It wasn't broken or abused. It's just that the Sandisk SSD's are TOTAL CRAP.

 

You wrote that. There was something wrong with your laptop, because if you check the thread, no one else experienced anything close to that. I'm copying a 12GB file while I'm writing this post and there's no freezing nor stuttering of any kind.

 

Uh no there was nothing wrong with it. The Sandisk is weak sauce. The place I found out it was crap (after my own conclusions, ie. terrible Windows score, terrible CrystalDiskMark score, stutters and slowness) was in this very thread (some guy had posted his CrystalDisk scores and some other guy told him they were really low).

But keep thinking your SSD doesn't suck...some people are amazing at living with their mistakes. Anyway, this is a waste of time arguing about this.

Have fun with your inferior product!

 

I've done it several times, same score every instance across the board. Latest below. That graph and my testing shows the U100 option to be slightly faster in real world dynamic use (I've had both 128gb drives, two systems), rather than the number from just one synthetic benchmark.

Calling real world users naive when you moan and complain about a few days use (if that) won't be making you any friends. Your system obviously had a problem somewhere. I just rendering 5GB of real time .aiff audio data (1 vox/1 instr. track), 23 tabs open in Firefox (Reddit, I have a problem), and streamed a podcast during the wait. Yet, your mouse wasn't scrolling properly and you had problems rendering webpages, but we're the birdbrains? Get a grip. Be a responsible user and lay off the easy out's.

 

My write Seq after uninstalling and installing a bunch of stuff, and after downloading a movie, was 20, not 200+ like the guy got. I have a feeling the Sandisk not only blows chunks out of the box, but it loses performance badly with use.

And...

^^^ from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/Zenbook-UX31E-DH52-13-3-Inch-Ultrabook-Aluminum/product-reviews/B005SY32Q2).

These are just two bits of information out of MANY. If people don't believe me, do some Google'ing and you will discover that unlike the lying Sandisk fanboys, unbiased ppl will tell you that the Adata SSD's are far superior drives.

 

Listen to this guy if you like your SSD's slow where they matter most.

Why don't you post your CrystalDisk Mark scores?

 

Calm down dude! Calm down! Stats is not everything in life. I would rather trust a "Real-Life" benchmarking than a stats testing.

 

just got the UX31E-DH71...ordered from best buy....can anyone give a list of useful asus software/utilities to install if i do a clean install?

 

i just got the ux31e-dh72 and i tried updating the elantech driver for my touchpad but i always get an error saying, "This driver version doesn't suit this Touch-Pad. Please check the device in system and install the suitable driver." i get the same message when trying to update the sentelic driver as well. can anyone help me? the jumpiness of the touchpad is not something i like..

 

Besides all the drivers, I installed just Power4Gear and ATKACPI.

 

I've got the UX31E-DH72, which I presume is the fastest Zenbook model available (apart from I have the slow SSD). A few people have posted their WEI scores and mine comes up short in the 2 graphics items. My install is just the stock install from ASUS, and I've run the driver update utility to upgrade a few drivers. I'm curious does the SSD somehow also cause the graphics benchmark to come in slower too?

Mine:

 

No, the SSD will have no influence on the graphic portion of the benchmark. All benchmarks have a certain margin of error. Just forget about it and enjoy your new laptop

 

Your drive got a 5.9 because it's a Sandisk. Bestbuy are ripping consumers off by using an inferior drive. I'm going to look into other local stores and see if I can find an Adata Zenbook cause I liked it quite a bit other than the SSD.

 

Do that (I have Windows in french, so I'm translating on the go):

Click Start
Right-click on Computer
Manage
Device Manager under System tools from the left list
Expand the Mouse ad other pointing devices
Right-click on Finger Sensing Pad (Or something like that)
Proprieties
Go in the Driver tab
Look for the manufacturer (Elentech or Sentellic)
And for the driver version.

Post back here.