Asus Ultrabooks: lets talk quality and customer service

I've had an UX32VD pretty much since it was originally released. Short time after the warranty expired I was greeted with the blue screen of death, the error message
BSOD DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
that quite a few people had reported, and from that moment on the computer would only boot extremely slowly, not shut down fully anymore (only way to switch off was to hold the start key for several seconds), and the blue screen would greet me every time the computer went to sleep, on standby, screen off, or when it crashed. Thus it's basically always on the loader and the screen is permanently on when it's running. The 15 minute booting is extremely inconvenient when I'm asked to switch on my computer at an airport. Tried everything to fix the problem with no success. Asus also could not help, and at that time I lived in a country without Asus service. And then there's still the issue with the touchpad that only works when I use a little programme that basically disables everything but moving the mouse pointer and clicking. And there's also the wifi adaptor that constantly stops working and gets signals extremely poorly.

Right. So I'm not to keen to ever get another Asus Ultrabook as you could imagine. Only... the only two 13" books that I would consider are not quite what I'm looking for either: Dell XPS 13 might have a keyboard that I don't like* and I'm not sure about the smaller casing size and almost edgeless screen, and the Lenovo 13 has a not so bright screen. Only alternative within my price range seems to be an Asus again. Lets be honest: if I didn't have this very bad experience I'd buy the UX303 or 305 as I love the size, the keyboard is brilliant; it's well balanced sitting on my lap or side of my thigh, and the colour scheme of the casing is non-reflective and unintrusive. I love the whole exterior experience, while I had such bad luck with the interior.

Thus I'm basically looking for your opinions on this.

Thanks.

*I could only test the keyboard on another Dell notebook: there was a big resistance when pressing the keys, which I absolutely don't like.

 

My family has been using ASUS stuff since forever, and I can tell you this: buying ASUS is a gamble. It's a gamble of 90% it will work very well, or the 10% that it will meet a catastrophic failure after exactly 1 year. All of our ASUS systems have their motherboards die exactly 1 year (I blame my father with his ****ty luck), but since my family is in Taiwan we got 2 years of warranty. After getting them fixed, 2 of the system have been running well for 6 years, and the other finally meeting its fate after 9 years.

Side note: From my observation Asus has horrible phone support, but being in Taiwan we had easy access to amazing support centers, which the people there are so much more professional.

I personally own the UX32VD and I do think there are some design flaws in it. After getting the motherboard replaced the first year, it's been serving me well for the past 4 years. However, recently the internal SSD died, causing the motherboard to panic and take forever to boot up.

I bought an XPS 15, and I can tell you the keyboard travel is way shallower (it has the same keyboard as the XPS 13). It's not as satisfying as the ASUS, but despite telling myself there's no way I'm gonna like it I'm actually used to it now. It has a similar pressure as the Asus, but the shorter travel distance makes it feel rather awkward to press. I like the bezeless design, and the trackpad is so much more amazing than my old ASUS (it's actually fairly close to a mac in responsiveness imo). Only downside is the coil whine issue for me, and I'm looking to get a replacement. I'd expect you to like the XPS 13 assuming you get one without issues and get use to the keyboard.

As for the UX305, my friend owns the old version and I gotta say it's not bad for the price. But the non-backlit keyboard was a dealbreaker, plus I wanted a larger laptop and better performance for my engineering classes.

I have no experience with Lenovo so I can't comment on it.

 

Thanks a lot for your experience. That sounds pretty much like my experience: computer is just over 1 year old and then it has some catastrophic failure. Mind you, I've been using it like this ever since I figured out is running fairly ok as long as the screen stays on. I guess that's three years then. I can't take it off the loader as the battery might run empty in the meantime and it will certainly crash and give me the blue screen of death again and require a system restore... but then I lived in a country where I could only get big and even bigger all shiny and blinking lights notebooks, thus I didn't have much of a choice than to continue using it.

Well.. the non-backlit keyboard is a non-issue for me. I had one period with this computer where the keyboard backlight switched itself on and I only got rid of it again after a system restore (something I'm doing an awful lot!). I never look at the keyboard when typing, thus I found the lights to be extremely distracting.

The XPS 13: I guess the keyboard is the most important thing for me on a notebook (after eliminating other models due to size, weight, specs of course). As I'm typing blindly with 10 fingers I need a keyboard with well defined key edges and a good, easy pressing feel to it. The keyboard I tested on a different Dell (Inspiron 13) might have been a different one as the travel distance felt ok, but there was a lot of dampening right after touching the keys. The second half of the move was easier.

Can I ask you two more things about the XPS 13? It's got a matte screen, right? I can't quite figure it out from the Dell website, and reviews talk about both matte and glossy.
Where is the ventilation and how hot does it get? As my computer mainly sits on my lap or the side of my thigh this is kind of important. The UX32VD is fine in that respect.

Something else I notice when looking at UX305 photos: the screen hinge design seems to have changed in that the farther end of the screen touches the table based on some photos. Does it give a sharp-edge-feel on the lap? I suppose it doesn't as if that was really the case you could not open the screen to more than 90 degrees without lifting up the notebook if it sat on a table to do so.

 

Right, I guess the Asus has lost the race. After lots of searching I found a shop that had it in store. Now I know how the lid works - and it makes this computer pretty useless as a laptop, or a computer you would want to place on a sensitive surface. Shame.

I guess, despite all the Dell is winning the race. I found another Dell in a shop and was more convinced by the keyboard. Thus they do come with different types of keyboards. CHJC, can I ask you one question? The first Dell keyboard I tested was from one of those 2in1 computers, I didn't like the typing feel, and the whole bit of plastic the keyboard was sitting on was bending downwards when typing. The other Dell, an Inspiron 15 had keys I could certainly live with, and the plastic around them was not bending downwards. I know it's vague but what do you think comes closer to your XLS?

 

I wouldn't say totally useless due to how light it is. It didn't bother me, granted it was my friend's and i didn't use it on my lap for a long time.

For the XPS 13, the touch display is glossy, and non-touch is matte. Make sure which screen version you want first.

I can't comment on the thermals on the XPS 13, as I have the 15 with very different internals, I expect it to be nowhere as hot as my current quad core, and I have no problem putting it on my lap. Not sure which model of inspiron you tested, but if it's the 5000 model the keyboard looks to be similar.

Here's a video I recorded of the XPS and the UX32VD keyboard:


After further comparison the Asus is a lot stiffer and a bit wider, while the XPS is a bit smaller, lighter and what some may say "mushier" (personally don't think it qualifies as "mushy"). XPS needs more accuracy, as on the asus I got the habit to slip my fingers around to type, the Dell actually required me to lift my finger and type accurately in order to press the right buttons due to it's shorter and lighter actualtion.

 

Thanks a lot CHJC.
I guess it will be the Dell then, unless I cannot justify the much higher price compared to the Lenovo (still a bit undecided). I almost exclusively use my computer on my legs as I don't have a desk, thus the lid of the two Asus ones is just too inconvenient in the long run.

Oh yes, I tried the Inspiron 5000. That keyboard certainly was ok: something to get used to but not something I'd hate.

 

I called my local computer shop to ask which brands they would recommend, based on what comes into the shop for repairs. The tech told me they favor Asus, and I said that was great because I'd been thinking about getting a Zenbook. He kind of paused, and then he said "... except for the Zenbooks."

He said they see a lot of them in for repairs, primarily because the hinges give out ...

 

The hinges are fine, but they overpower and break the cheap plastic they're attached to

 

I still have not decided what to do. It looks like I simply cannot get an ultrabook that looks great and with a great keyboard and matte display. The coming UX330 might be an option, but the screen can only be tilted to about 110 degrees *facepalm* I wish I could rip all hardware out of my current computer and put more up to date stuff in, really.