Asus Zenbook NX500

Everyone is capable of having delays. it happens all the time, you usually just don't hear about it since many companies don't announce their products until they are ready for release in the following weeks. I'm not saying is for sure, just that I've seen it happen over and over again.

Sent from my XT1058

 

OK, well that would be unfortunate and, as another poster already mentioned, it would also be stretching my time frame. That being said, I still cant really find anything with comparable bang for the buck. I just hope that my old rusty rig lasts that long. :/

You mentioned that nobody was allowed to do testing, however, I did notice in videos on YouTube that some people were allowed to interact with the computer. Do you know mean proper in-house testing?

This is exactly the impression I had. As I live in Europe, this is not really a major concern for me however I find it really unfortunate that companies do this. Over here, we have issues with availability of the Razer Blade for example. For the life of me I cant figure out why though - we are massive and very wealthy market.

In any case, its really rather frustrating...

 

Yes, I meant proper testing. They may still be waiting on proper cooling components for all we know. They know, which is why the date is where they set it. But my experience with them is their date is always a best case scenario. If they say Q2, expect July and if they say mid Aug to early September, expect late September. Who knows, it might release on time, but I would never recommend anyone count on it.

 

This laptop sounds great and I'm thinking about saving up and upgrading my several year old one.

Will the laptop be compatible with the new Intel p3500 pci ssds? I really want a 2tb ssd in there.

 

2tb ssd? Do those even exist?

 

mSATA: yes (2x1tb)
PCIe SSD no idea

 

Yes. There's an article on Anandtech about them, they're new families of Intel PCIe SSDs with capacities of up to 2Tb. I'd link you to it but Anandtech is currently down for maintenance.

I really want a minimum of 2Tb SSD in the laptop, but am not familiar with the different connectors/sizes and if it's possible or not.

 

Wow a minimum of 2TB SSD? Why don't you get say 256 SSD.and 1/2TB HDD? Much more practical and wouldn't cost you arm and leg, IMHO.

As for the Intel's new 2TB ssds, they are designed for servers/workstations in mind and wouldn't fit into ultrabooks. That's all I know.

 

This might be the shortest product page I've ever seen Asus have. Notebooks & Ultrabooks - Zenbook NX500 - ASUS

 

Ok, I haven't read through all the threads but if this going to be a late Oct mid November release (and it could be) shouldn't they release it with a Broadwell CPU?

Also, and I think someone mentioned something along these lines if they are going to show a new laptop or something they should release it within a month at the most or some people may lose interest. By the time Oct mid November rolls around they or another manufacturer will bring out a better looking and more powerful laptop. I am sure we will probably at least see another laptop that will be available a month or couple month's later.

I can see it now they are ready to release this and it will be old news because there will be some mention or pic of another laptop (s) that will be displayed at CES 2015 with a even better screen resolution and better specs.

 

Yup, that's what I said. Broadwell is too close for a november release, but they did it in the past (ASUS U500)

 

I want this so badly to come in August/September. Otherwise I have no idea what computer I'm going to get - this the only laptop that fits my requirements of 2.3 kg or under with an SSD, GTX 850M or better, quad-core, 5+ hour battery life and 3K/4K screen.

 

TBH, I don't care if it's Broadwell or not. It has a quad core NON-ultrabook CPU in an ultrabook body, so I'm more than satisfied with the CPU speed. There's not much out there that will be bottlenecked by the CPU with an 850M.

 

Well, an extra hour batterylife is quite nice, if I am paying 2000 premium, I want the lastest and best of the best

 

Yes, for that price I totally agree. The question is if it does become available in the late oct-mid november time frame will the specs that have been shown still be the latest and the best at that time? For one we do know the processor probably won't be the latest, not sure how it will compare to the Haswell processor that this computer apparently will have (unless something changes)

Although I guess most of the other specs that this has been shown to have will not be bested by any other specs in that time frame if so it probably won't be by much. However the 2 or 3 months that follow that I am sure will bring better specs and we will most likely see a laptop in that form.

 

It almost certainly won't come with broadwell. The new (october) mbp might come with it (considering apple always gets the new chips first).

 

I think you can count on the new MBP having it. They have nothing else to update so it would be stupid for it not to. Considering the broadwell chips for mobile devices are still slated for early 2015, I really doubt Apple will get them that early though.

 

The thing you have to realize is that if you're paying this premium, you're going to be on the bleeding edge, and you should expect your purchase to depreciate quickly and no longer be premium within a half year. In that respect, a Haswell NX500 is "the best of the best." In other words, if you try to adopt the attitude that since you're paying the premium you should be getting the next best thing that's due out 6 months down the road... Well, a half year later there will be another next best thing due out in another 6 months. And you will end up never buying anything.

If you're not prepared to accept that the laptop will no longer be "the best of the best" in 6 months, then you should just drop the idea of spending $2000+ on a laptop. There are lots of nice $1000-$1500 models, and you won't be kicking yourself (as much) 6 months later when they're eclipsed by newer releases with better features. Buy the laptop because it has the features you want at a price you can afford. Not because of where it places you on the totem pole of who has the best laptop / biggest p***s.

Do note that the NX500 specs list the i7-4712MQ, a 37W TDP CPU. Rather than the 47W TDP 4700MQ or 4702MQ used in most notebooks in this class. So even if mobile Broadwell does make it out this year (which I highly doubt since Intel's literature says 1Q or even 2Q 2015), you're not going to see as much of an improvement vs what the 47W TDP processors will see. At least not until mid- or late-2015 when they've had the chance to tweak manufacturing a bit and can consistently produce a lower power version of Broadwell. And since Broadwell is just a die shrink of Haswell, there will be little to no CPU performance improvement.

 

I wonder how it will support both sata III and pci ssds. Nobody has been able to do it in the past through one slot. If not a universal slot, I guess there would be either different motherboard models or both slots. Would be hard to believe they would make 2 motherboards just for that option. I would certainly welcome a second or even third slot

 

Any word on release date/availability? Will this be coming to Europe first as some articles say?

 

Well amazon UK had this listed for pre order. However, I highly recommend people to wait and jump ship to the gx500 instead

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00...=1404898084&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1#productDetails

See that? 850m DDR3. Makes my eyes bleed.

 

Their model at computex was gddr5 so I'm not worried. Amazon gets specs wrong more often than not. I like the release date but not the price. UK prices are usually inflated though

 

ASUS Zenbook NX500JK DR013H - 1... | NX500JK-DR013H | £1,306.99 | Insight UK

So it looks like the NX500JK-DR013H definitely has 2GB GDDR5

Prob incorrect specs on Amazon as Xentar712 mentioned.

EDIT: Yeah the DR013H on Amazon states DDR3 too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NX500JK-DR013H-15-6-inch-Notebook-i7-4702HQ-Bluetooth/dp/B00KG6F2PG

 

Amazon gets specs wrong. It says that the computer ways 5 kg but the shipping weight is 3 kg, and it's 8.5 cm thick and has a 37 watt-hour battery. Like what?!

Also, wasn't the computer supposed to be 2.2 kg, not 2.4?

 

I think on some spec sheets it was even 2.0kg. The processor is also wrong as it is supposed to be a 4712HQ and not a 4702HQ. The most interesting part on amazons product page is the release date: July 28th. Judging by the accuracy of all other specs I think one cannot count on that or what do you think? Perhaps somebody from the UK could give them a call and ask if that's real or not?!

 

Usually Amazon puts "typical projected" release dates until they get confirmation from the vendor. So it will say July 28th until July 29th and all who preordered will get an email saying there is a delay and no ETA. Once they get notification of stock incoming, they'll update the date. I really doubt they have a reliable date up there but I could be wrong. The last 3 Asus laptops/tablets I bought on Amazon all had a projected release date about a month too early.

 

The 3rd picture on the amazon link is very deceiving. I got excited seeing the subwoofer jack until I realized it was an n550lf

 

This item will be released on July 28, 2014

 

I won't order until it's in stock.

If it's July 28th, then that's great.

 

Based on what? The UK Amazon site, which appears to be wrong about everything else?

 

It's best not to count on pre order dates.

 

Hi everyone. I have a NX500 around for tests for a week or so. I'll post an early impressions post and the review on the site in the next days, but in the meantime, if you have any specific requests, questions or just want me to test anything in particular on this laptop, shoot.

Keep in mind this is a pre-production model and I cannot overclock it, in case you were thinking of that

 

O wow - that's awesome, Mike. I have a few questions:

1. What SSD drive does it have, and how fast is it?
2. How's it in terms of sound? And how would you compare speakers on this one to UX301LA?
3. System noise. How loud does it get when performing intensive tasks?
4. Release date/pricing.

Thanks in advance!

 

Can you send it to me when you're finished

1) Screen quality - black levels, brightness, viewing angles, backlight bleed etc
2) Build quality
3) Thoughts on the trackpad

Cheers Mike!

 

Please also confirm GDDR5 memory. Thanks!

 

What's the battery life on it?

Thanks Mike!

 

Thanks for chiming in, Mike!

1. How hot does the surface get under full load?
2. Is the pitch of the fans unobtrusive?
3. If you have a pair of sensitive/low resistance canalphones, earphones, or headphones, can you test if the aux output is free of hissing or other distortions that would come from poor shielding?

Like the rest, I'm also interested to hear about the screen and build quality, even though the latter is likely to change before its release.

 

OK, my initial impressions are here: Asus Zenbook NX500 - initial impressions

Now to answer the questions.

@Convel , I haven't yet played games on it, so can't say anything about gaming temperatures yet. With everyday use, the back gets merely warm and the fans are barely audible. But they never switch completely off and you'll hear them when working in a very quiet room.

I have a pair of Nokia BH 905i headphones and a couple of Sonys, but I don't know how sensitive they are. I'll check for hissing nonetheless.

From what I'm seeing here, the build quality is solid and the product is more or less a final unit. My only concerns would be graphics performance due to poor drivers, but we'll see if that's the case or not.

@uditagrawal can't say much about the battery life yet

@Xentar712 The 850M is the 2GB GDDR5 version, with a 128 bit bus

@iaTa I'll get in depth about the screen in the review. My bare eye says that it's a good panel, a bit dim though. The trackpad is smooth and looks like the one on the UX303. It's not jumpy or clunky, so nothing to complain for now.

@scorpio187 It's a Samsung MZHPU512HCGL 512 GB SSD . Haven't yet tested how fast it is. I've answered the noise question above. Haven't yet tested the speakers, but I did watch some movies and they seem loud and punchy. No details on prices/availability yet.

 

How would you compare this with the MBP and XPS 15 in terms of quality/performance/trackpad?

Does the keyboard still have the same flex the 303 did in your review?

Thanks

 

Mike have you turned adaptive brightness off in Windows power management advanced settings?

Just wondered if that might be contributing to the low brightness as I thought this panel was a nice and bright 400 nits.

Could you also take a photo of the screen showing a full screen solid black picture - just search for dead pixel test on youtube.

 

@TardTardian

Hmmm, i'd say the build quality is comparable to that of the MBP. Haven't checked out the 2014 XPS 15 yet, so can't say anything about it.

The keyboard on the MBP has somewhat better feedback and the keys feel nicer to touch. The trackpad is a bit small on the NX500 for a 15 incher, but that aside, it works fine so far.

@iaTa

for sure, Auto brightness is one of the first things I turn OFF on a laptop. I haven't yet tested the brightness levels, will do that soon.

That aside, the panel seems really nice. Absolutely no light bleeding on black backgrounds and no dead/stuck pixels at all, plus the colors look accurate to my eye. Will have to see what the tools have to say about that though, I'll include the details in the review.

There's however another thing that really bothers me, some sort of high-pitch noise. I'd have to investigate where it comes from, but looks like it's from the fans. Or maybe it's some sort of hardware whine. I don't think anything can be done about it. It's only audible in a perfectly quiet room, but I tend to use my laptops in these conditions quite often, and it's really annoying.

OF course, don't forget this is an pre-sale model, so all the potential problems COULD be fixed on the final retail units. There's no guarantee of course, but my impressions on this one should be taken with a grain of salt

 

Nice review! Looking forward to the full one and your results on the screen. I have to say that the keyboard looks pretty bad... Can you please tell let us know if the keys are at least legible with the blue backlight at night? I just don't understand why these companies can't understand how to use contrasting colors. Acer's S7 series has silver keys on silver chasis with a light blue backlighting. My Q550LF has silver keys with white backlighting. So at night, both keyboards were barely legible with the backlight on at night(which is the only time I would ever actually need it). Makes me wonder if their employees ever take these units home and actually use them.

 

Hardly legible. The backlightning is white/blueish just like on the N550 ( and he Q550 - btw, i wasn't aware of that model, just checked it out right now. How does it handle smudges on the palm-rest and lid cover with the black aluminum case?)

I ended up disabling the back-lightning when keeping the device on the desk and rely solely on the light coming from the screen. It works alright for browsing, typing, anything that has a bright background, etc. Otherwise, the backlighning is white/blueish.

 

Ugh, so it won't be a step up in keyboard like I hoped. I'm used to the Q550 now but I still don't like it. I turn my backlight off more often than not since the screen is bright enough to illuminate the keyboard. HOPEFULLY Hidevolution is watching and will figure out a way to change the backlight color to something better. They did this with the N550.

For your screen brightness, have you tried turning the resolution down to see if it's affected? I've read some reports that 4k dims the brightness a little, similar to how 120Hz settings will dim the screen over 60Hz on the same panel.

As for the Q550, the chasis is similar to all the competition when it comes to black => fingerprint city. That's why I'm trying my hardest to like this model over the GX500. I tried to fight the fingerprints at first, but I find that after a couple months of not cleaning it, there is enough of an equilibrium of my skin oils that it's not so bad. As a previous owner of the UX302LG(bought it after reading your thorough review btw), I'd say the Q550 is a little worse on fingerprints and smudges on the palm rest - but not by much. The lid is way worse though since it literally only sees my fingers from picking it up and never gets rubbed in any way. The glass lid on the UX302LG was pretty bad but at least it could be wiped easily. In short: If there's a viable alternative, I'm done with dark colored laptops.

 

I'm really hoping the M.2 port is SATA and PCI-e compatible. It looks like they have found a way, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. AnandTech | ASUS Z97-Pro WiFi AC Review

I would rather buy the base SATA model and upgrade to PCI-e later when prices come down to earth more.

 

Sounds like the coil whine that plagues the XPS15

 

Maybe they borrowed some parts from dell lol.

 

First US listing I've seen. Yikes at the price. If that's the cheapest model, I'll settle for something else. I don't need a $500 SSD. In one year, they'll be $250

ASUS Zenbook NX500JK-DR013H 15.6" 4K IPS Touchscreen Ultrabook - Computer Upgrade King

 

Lol, that price is absolutely hilarious. If one is prepared to spend so much money for top screen quality in a stylish body, just get the rMBP. At least that laptop has black keys that actually let the white backlight to be seen. Anyways, the coil whine completely dooms the whole machine, imo. It's the main reason I didn't get the Dell XPS 15, and it's looking more and more like Intel just goofed up their power saving i7-4702 and i7-4712 chips. I'd rather have my i7-4700 with no annoying whine, thanks, even at the expense of battery life.

But really, how can this machine cost so much with its flaws?

 

Lenovo Y50 for the win.