Asus Zenbook Prime UX32VD DEFECTS?

I wanted to like this Asus Zenbook UX32VD notebook, but after reading and seeing the following problems with it, am I the only one surprised it's still being sold to the public with these problems?:

1. Atrocious Display Screen BACKLIGHT BLEED
Source: ASUS UX32VD Backlight Bleeding - YouTube

2. Inadequate Cooling System that results in the CPU decreasing speed (performance) so the computer does not overheat.
Source: notebookcheck.net's review


3. Unstable Keyboard that DEFORMS and sinks in when normally using the center area keys:
Source: Fast Forward to 11:25 mark of this video: Asus Zenbook UX32VD - Unboxing - YouTube

4. Glare/Sheen from the Display under most common lighting conditions
Source: Fast Forward to 10:40 mark of this video: Asus Zenbook UX32VD - Unboxing - YouTube

5. HORRIBLE VIDEO TEARING during playback or even when scrolling down a list of images at a fast speed. It appears as if the video is "lagging" behind.
Source: personal hands-on test + youtube videos like this one --> ASUS Zenbook UX32VD - verzögertes Scrollen - YouTube

Example of Video Tear:

 

I read that review before. I was quite concerned about the temperature and the CPU throttling down (for obvious reasons).

We need to see if the Youtube video is a one-off. Reviews/comments from existing owners would be helpful.

Temperature and reduced CPU are the trade-offs in these books. I am sure other ultrabooks suffer from the same problem.

 

It just turned out that they've change Sandisk SSD to AData so other problems are irrelevant for a next couple of days ;-)

 

1. I think the head on impression looks really good for being a laptop. Indeed it is not fun to be able to see the backlight through gaps in the bezel, but the light is only hair-thin and only visible from extreme angles. DO have in mind that this is an IPS-screen, and they all suffer from IPS-glow/shimmmer when displaying dark images, although that is only visible from narrow angles as well. The light upper right corner doesn't look that bad - and I've heard from another forum user that has the UX31A that it righted itself after some use.

2. In the real world you will never hit those temperatures. They ran P95 and Furmark at the same time, heck even my heavily cooled stationary computer can barely handle that sort of stress. It basically pushes every last transistor to the breaking point, and effectively loads it close to it's theoretical max. Since they did that to BOTH the CPU and GPU at the same time, the warm air from the graphics worsened the cooling for the CPU and vice versa. I can't think of anything that will load both the processor and graphics like that at the same time.
I'd say about 30% lower temperatures than that can be expected during games/encoding/other heavy processing.

3. I wouldn't say that was normal use. He purposely tried to push it down by pressing down several keys at the same time. I agree that there seems to be some unnecessary give, but I wouldn't care if it flexes slightly while writing intensively. When normally typing I'm not even sure if the flex would be noticeable.

4. I don't think you would annoy yourself too much about the diffuse reflections as soon as the display is turned on. Even in bright environments it should look really good since it goes up to a very high brightness of 400 cd/m2. It certainly looks way better than any glare screen, and if it was too matt it could worsen the image quality. I'd say that looks to be a pretty good balance between the both.

All in all, I wouldn't blow those things out of proportion. During everyday use, you probably wouldn't notice any of those issues. If there's backlight bleeding it can be a bit distracting in dark environments, but my bet is that most units don't have it or will lose it in the first days of use.

The screen is still leaps and bounds ahead of everything else. It seems like an awesome photo/video editing laptop. To think that it can easily best my Dell M90 professional workstation in both processing and graphics, while weighing a third of it and having a screen in a whole other dimension is just wicked.

 

I don't see problems. Are you planning to stress test this notebook for 1+ hours?

This is just normal due to the nature of technology at the moment. You can google this and the best solution is to exchange it and "hope" for one that doesn't have this issue.

You just bolded the negatives, check the sentence afterwards. "...In everyday use, we could not duplicate any such limitations...."

Also Stress Testing desktops will yield the same results in terms of fans being loud etc. Even with a good amount of air cooling will still be loud and get hot.

Run OCCT a PC with a dedicated graphics card. You'll be dissapointed with the heat and noise guaranteed (Unless you run a watercooled system)

I can see this might be a problem, but if it doesn't affect typing then I doubt it would be a major issue.

Show me a similar display that doesn't have glare in "common" lighting conditions. Even my dekstop IPS monitors have glare in "common" lighting conditions when it's off like what is shown in the video.

Enjoy this laptop for what it is...this much power in such a small unit I am very impressed. Especially with the VD on cooling..since the cooling is more "better" due to the dedicated graphics majority of the time the unit will be quiet and have much better cooling because it is not going to be used when you're browsing the web or doing light tasks.

 

Do you have any actual solid proof of this though? I mean Ive definitely heard of people who have accquired the UX31A models and all of them have found ADATA SSD's in them, but is this the definite case for all of them? Or will it be a lotto-draw like the UX31E models...

 

No, I don't have any proof and knowledge that AData will be used in all of UX31A - I wrote it based on what people are getting now.

 

No, I'm planning to USE it for more than 1 hour. If the Asus quality control is so poor that actually using a notebook for its intended purpose will cause problems, then maybe it needs these problems fixed before selling to the public.

False. It's not a "nature" of a product to have problems or perform badly. The backlight bleed is quite severe and is being reported by several users now. Some, even returned their Asus UX32VD notebooks.

It still does NOT ERASE THE REPORTED PROBLEMS OF THESE ASUS UX32VD notebooks. More UX32VD owners are complaining of the fan noise being very annoying too.

Stress testing my desktops have never had this problem because I installed a PROPER COOLING SYSTEM in them .

It's very obvious the Large flat panel display in the youtube videos I linked does NOT have the same shine/sheen/glare as the Asus UX32VD. Even my lower-end Dell 2209wa IPS display also does not have as annoying a glare and overall is comfortable for eyes. I've seen other older IPS notebooks that also are NOT reflective like the display in the UX32VD too.

All in all, Asus (& all product manufacturers) should deliver what it advertises and be consistent. Screaming fans trying to compensate for an undersized heatsink system is not an optimal solution. Putting slower SSD drives (from different manufacturers) in some models, like Apple has done in the past, is not fair to the customer; just like having inconsistent Display quality.
The Asus UX32VD is a great concept and I'd be more inclined to buy it IF the above mentioned problems were fixed.

 

I'm dying to investigate how prevelent the light bleed is. If the devices screen really manufactured this way...I sadly have to get a MacBook air. The
UX32VD was suppose to be my saving grace

 

You're comparing a Desktop cooling system to that of Ultrabook, results will differ? Also are you planning on stress testing the laptop for a hour?

Then buy another laptop

 

You mean laptops get hot when you run CPU and GPU intensive benchmarks on them? OHMIGAWD.

The only complaint I really see here that seems like a legit concern is the keyboard flex. And I've seen just as many reviews saying the keyboard is fine.

 

Some throttling is actually normal for ULV, if you haven't heard of it, there is configurable TDP on Ivy Bridge ( read, read). Also, the cooling system is shared between the GPU and CPU, so throttling with both stressed is no surprise on any system with this configuration, especially an ultrabook.

In terms of the backlight bleed, it's probably unavoidable on an LCD with such brightness; the tradeoff might be worse, but it does seem to be on the extreme side.

Long story short, these are design tradeoffs, not flaws, and they are well known.

 

I have been reading of bleeding and keyboard issues.

As we stuff powerful cpu and/or gpu into an ultrathin case, we cannot avoid heat and fan noise. Let's face it.

Ultrathin books are not meant for intensive applications, at least for the time being. They are to be used for light applications/uses. Period.

 

You CAN reduce fan noise with a more efficient heat-sink design. Even if it adds some weight to the ultrabook, I'd rather have a fully optimized heatsink design than a subpar one that relies on screaming fans to compensate for an undersized heatsink.

 

As technology gets better, we would see an efficient cooling/heat sink/fan/noise reduction in the ultra think books.

 

Every ultrabook and laptop will have their issues. If you don't like it, go buy another different laptop. Heat, keyboard flex, and backlight bleeding are the 3 most complained about issues in ANY laptops. Nothing is perfect. Deal with it.

 

It seems like most owners are report minimal to now keyboard flex. I know my UX31VD doesn't have any. While there is a small amount of backlight bleed, it's fairly small and not as atrocious as shown in that video and not even noticeable unless you have an all black screen. I haven't noticed any glare on the screen from "normal" lighting conditions. I'm not sure if these were issues that were due to preproduction models but most owners that have posted in this forum so far seem to agree that their computer have issues that are more minimal than the ones shown in the original post.

 

Let's not forget to add wireless network and wireless video problems now being reported to the list .

 

So finally got my UX32VD-DB71 since Monday and I have not experienced any issues with wifi (using 5GHz band). My speeds were fine too (140/50 mbps) (I have FIOS 150/65) it's fine. I have not tried WiDi as I don't have any devices to support it at the moment.

I do not have the flex on my keyboard like what was shown in the youtube video that has been going around.

This laptop has the best sounding speakers I have ever heard on a laptop. I don't hear the fan noise issue powering up and down..I can feel it revving up but it's not really audible.

I don't seen backlight bleeding when I did a test in a very dark room. Though I didn't max out the brightness...not sure why anyone would want it that bright in a dim lighted area. I do not notice glare from normal lighting conditions.

The only issue I have with this laptop is I do have 1 dead pixel in the top left corner which is not noticeable unless you are actually looking for it...in a dark background. Other than that this Ultrabook is A+ in my book.

 

I bought the version with 500 GB HDD (UX32VD 4002V). The only real problem I have is the noise from the fan. Without any heavy load - just browsing, or watching Youtube, it is on and off very frequently; with video it is always on and it is loud. I don't know is it my one is faulty but seems that it is a common problem.

 

The UX32VD I've been testing showed HORRIBLE VIDEO TEARING when playing any videos on the UX32VD ips display. It's more noticeable when more movement occurs during the video. Does anyone else notice video tear during playback?:

 

i got the UX32VD a few days ago, and other than the lightbleed on the screen on a black screen (such as windows startp screen) i have none of the other issues and even so the lightbleed isnt as bad as the youtube video.

- lightbleed is minimal even if i turn off all the lights in the room, doesnt bother me as i rarely reboot my computer (i use sleep/standby instead)
- i still havent done any crazy cpu intensive stuff but did some really light gaming but no issues with cpu, at least fan is more or less silent unless put the unit right next to my ear. my sony VPC-Z1 is much worse
- keyboard is fine though i need to press harder on the keys to register the input, just need time to practice and getting used to
- i just played a 1080p iron man mkv movie using media player classic, both full screen and windows, no tearing at all
- wifi is fine

my only complaints on this unit, besides price:
- heavier than my VPC-Z1 (under 2.8lbs)
- the enclosed usb ethernet thingy is not gigabit or usb3.0, instead i got this: ASIX AX88772B - Low-Power USB 2.0 to 10/100M Fast Ethernet Controller why would i use this when my wireless speeds is much faster thn 100mbps
- the upgradeable parts that asus came with - ram and HDD - suck and very slow, and definitely need an upgrade to better ram and a ssd

 

I recently returned my UX32VD to Newegg because of a couple of issues that I was experiencing. Let me address your concerns with examples from my experience:

1) I had TERRIBLE light bleed on my device. Easily 5 or 6 spikes coming from the bottom of the panel about 2-4 inches up the screen. To me, that was unacceptable.

2) I didn't really have any issues with the fans or anything like that, but I didn't have it long enough to stress test it thoroughly or run any lengthy CPU-intensive operations. I did, however, play some Diablo 3 at 1600x900 on low settings and, while it did get a bit warm, didn't run into any throttling or loud fan issues.

3) Keyboard didn't have a ton of flex. Yes, it did have some, but not enough to merit calling it an "issue." Did have an occasional non-register of the keys (maybe 1 every 500 presses?).

4) No tearing of video during playback. I did have a few issues with backlight "flicker," for lack of a better term, when the brightness would sort of flicker to a lower setting and then back up. To me, that was a red flag, as it indicated a possible backlight or IPS panel issue.

5) Wifi worked without a hitch.

I loved this machine and really just wish the IPS panel had been in better working condition. SOME backlight bleed I can deal with, but having 15% of my screen suffering from the bleed just did not cut it with me. Unfortunately, the machine is now out of stock, seemingly everywhere, so I can't pick up another one and hope for a good panel... Fingers crossed they come back soon!

 

Krasher, I too have been curious why this machine has been out of stock on Amazon for at least the past two weeks among other places. I'm wondering if I'm just missing it in stock, there is a shortage, or if Asus is pulling back a good portion of stock due to quality control? Newegg says they will no longer carry it which seems strangely odd. Been curious about this UB for a while but can't seem to find one.

 

Just chiming in on all of that guys points:

1. My UX32VD has no visible backlight bleed at all except for under one single condition. If I'm watching a movie(with black bars along top and bottom) and I have the brightness set to MAX there is 2-3mm of light bleed in the right lower corner. As soon as brightness is down even one notch, the bleed goes away. I never keep my monitor on 100% brightness, nor do I really use the laptop to watch movies. For me, this is a productivity device, not a glorified movie watcher. If I wanted to watch something I can move to my 27" IPS or 47" TV.

2. Is this your first horse and pony show? Nearly 100% of laptops that are not specifically geared towards gaming experience this issue. Go read some other manufacturer forums and you'll see it all over the place, especially in thinner laptops. If you want a gaming laptop it will need to be a BEAST so they can fit a large enough cooling system inside. This is so beyond basic and known that I can't believe people actually still complain about this. Ultrabooks are not extensive gaming laptops period(yet).


3. I don't have this problem. I don't know what kind of meat mittens people are slamming their keyboards with but I really need to press with a fair amount of force to see any flex in the center of the keyboard. Do you guys stare at your fingers while mashing as hard as you can? No? Then this really isnt an issue.

4. I have not noticed this issue with my ultrabook other then when sitting in sunlight outside.

5. Zero video tearing here. NONE. Maybe that person has their screen set to 40hz? I know some people have had that fix it for them. I put my screen down to 40hz and played a bunch of 1080p videos...zero tear. Cannot reproduce.

 

Just purchased the UX32VD-R300IV and am relieved and delighted to write I have zero problems.

I did own the awful Asus prime tablet and dock and that went back. Bought the TF300T tablet and dock when it came out and that has light bleed. Transformer forums are full of horror stories. I had no idea Asus also had problems with their ultrabooks. It has been my uneducated understanding that Asus is amoung the top laptop producers in the world. I thought it was the transformer tablets that had problems? Reading these threads they are identicle to those over on the Asus transformer forums!
Is Asus truly a premium brand? I have not had problems with any of my Samsung, Sony or Toshiba techno, only Asus?

Ryland

I am not a fanboy of Asus, I had a lot of problems with the Transformer Prime, sent it back and now sadly own a Transformer TF300 with awful screen bleed.

I have to write this though. If you make ANY purchase of ANY thing you can think of by reading threads or articles taken from the web you would never purchase a single item.

We, the conumer, want small and light etc etc. There will be a pay off unless the item is made from kevlar and costs tens of thousands.

Taking just one item from that review I can say my keyboard does flex when I stand on it, appart from that the key board is fine.

Go to a store and check the item yourself before you decide not to make your purchase.

Ryland

I would forget any conspiracy theory. They are hard to find as they sell well!

Ryland

 

Asus admitted they had a bad batch of defective display screens in the UX32VD's, so they're probably trying to correct the issue. You can find that info in the huge asus prime thread.

 

sigh....my soldered sandisk 24gb ssd seems to have bad sectors already. after replacing the hard drive with a samsung ssd, i removed expresscache since the soldered ssd is slower than the samsung itself. but i couldnt secure wipe it, couldnt format it, hd tune spotted a few bad sectors and kinda freezes

not sure what to do now with that ssd....

ADD:
bleh, never mind, found the solution: had to wipe it using partedmagic first

 

Not exactly saying a conspiracy theory, I'm saying damage control. Amazon has not had them for weeks. Many sites who have had them and sold them now list this model as pre-order item as if they never had it before. If they are that hot of an item, it's a fail by Asus not to fill demand in a reasonable amount of time or even a timetable for shipment. Those in need of a laptop in reasonable amount of time would most likely buy an alternative. Lost sales for Asus.

 

It's not a conspiracy theory at all. The fact that every single online retailer currently lists the UX32VD as either "Out of Stock," "Deactivated," or "Pre-Order" is a huge red flag. Based on the feedback I've seen regarding the display panel problems and possible wifi issues, I have no doubt that they pulled stock until they could improve QC and product consistency.

EDIT: What would be amazing is if they discontinued the DB71 to release a new model that not only resolved all of the display and wifi issues but also included a 640M LE (or really, any chip better than a 620M) to enable (at least some) gaming at that awesome native resolution...

 

Thanks for the reply. I went through EXACTLY the same situation with the trasformer TF300. like gold dust. The forum was full of these theories about this and that.
I contacted the importer for this country and found for myself that each country is allocated a certain number of pads. some had been pre ordered and that left very liitle to see in any store. I had to visit at least 8-9 stores before I even saw one!

Now, back to this zenbook. I live in Europe. Only last night I googled NewEgg in the USA and bingo they had two models in stock.

The store I purchased mine was allocated only 5 and they lasted all of two hours.
I cannot now locate one in any of the well known stores I frequent. This is not due to recalls but the fact over here this brand sells very well indeed.

I, for one have zero of the problems some of our peers experience. I must add that when I use my Zenbook as bathroom scales, stand on them that keyboard DOES flex. lol

Seriously though. I also do wonder about Asus products. I keep being told in terms of computers they are at the top of the tree? I have to write I can't see it? In general I am finding Asus as poor as Acer in terms of reliability and finish. Acer in Europe are seen as the least expensive products available.

Last month I bought a large Samsung notebook and it leaves the zenbook dead in terms of quality and finish, yet the Asus is still very nice.

Regards,

Ryland

 

Next time, take a screenshot, because I find this VERY hard to believe.

How can you be so sure about this? I understand that they have been very popular and they went out of stock extremely quickly (when they were in stock), but it's been almost a month since I last saw one in stock here in the US.

And it's also possible that the EU/UK versions underwent more substantial QC than the ones in the US, and so experience fewer instances of the same issues.

Many of the complaints have stemmed from users in the US, so this may speak to my point above regarding the possibility that better QC existed in the EU/UK arenas.

To me, Acer's products are complete crap. In my experience, everything about the Acer line (from tablets to laptops to desktops) is of such poor quality (albeit, decent construction) that it's not worth the significant reduction in price.

Which model did you buy? Was it a Series 5 or 7 by any chance (both of which I'm considering and would love some input on)? Or was it something else entirely?

Because of all the stock issues of the UX32VD, I'm now looking at a Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3C-S02US (although, that screen and the GT 630M--yes, it's better than a 620M, but it's also not an ultrabook--are less than desirable) from the Microsoft Store and a custom Sony S13 Premium (although, what I've heard about the touchpad and screen are scary) from the Sony Store. Hoping to get a chance to play with the latter this week to compare to the UX32VD.

 

I also had to RMA a Zenbook UX32VD because of fan noise & heat issues a couple of weeks ago. I am eagerly awaiting a replacement and hopefully I just received a bad unit. If the replacement comes back with similar problems, I will simply RMA it for a credit & move on to something else....
Third chances are called bad design...

I will report back after I receive & test it out.

On the positive side...the screen was fantastic, I loved the trackpad, The sound was very good. Yes, the keyboard flex and lightbleed issues were there but really non-issues for me. I love all the ports but would really have liked a Thunderbolt port.

 

I am trying to find the UX32VD in stock somewhere, but like others have noted it seems to be gone from the market. I contacted one of the authorized dealers and they told me that there is a rumor that ASUS has recalled the units to fix the problems. I find that encouraging because it shows that ASUS does not want to pretend that nothing is happening and wants to rectify the situation. I am going to wait for others to get units from the new batches and see if they have any problems.

krasher134, regarding that Sony S13 that you are interested in - I saw one last week and managed to play with it for a few minutes. The built quality seems terrible - there is a ton of flex everywhere (some people claim that it was meant that way), the screen doesn't seem that good and it was running extremely hot even though it wasn't stressed in any way. I think that if ASUS comes up with a better batch of UX32VDs, that would be way better than the competition (Samsung S9 seems to be the only comparable one, but that comes with only 4Gb RAM).

 

Yet another supposed "conspiracy theorist," eh? Pretty much on par with what we expect to be the case.

Not to mention that the S9 only comes with integrated graphics, which while good for some, is not what I'm looking for.

And that's in line what I've heard regarding the S13, but I just feel like it's one of those machines I have to see in person so that I know and I can cross it off my list.

 

Hiya,

First the samsung. I purchased the NP700Z5C-SO1PT. Now take care there are numerous modles of the NP700Z. I was informed here on this forum that I had managed to buy the latest model.
Again I, for once, had luck, I was in the store the day Samsung had a one day exhibition and all samsung products had been drastically marked down. The normal price here was 1450.00€ And in Germany they are 1600€. I paid 930.00 euros! They are now on sale at 1330.00

In terms of quality the samsung is finished to a higher standard and is simply superb, THE best notebook I have ever owned.

To Asus. From a consumers POV I have to write I find them very VERY unreliable and quality control is so hit and miss its a joke. I know people love Asus until they buy one. So many Asus products suffer screen bleed and wifi problems etc.even the new Infinity tablet is having problems and that is after Asus got badly burned with the Prime. No way coud I believe Asus would continue to produce this sort of device with similar problems? QC is just not there.

I agree regarding Acer YET they appear to enjoy a better rep' here for reliability than Asus. I will not have Acer in the house BUT am starting to think Asus is similar in several ways?

AT PRESENT I have a flawless Zenbook, lets see what time brings.

I can recommend the samsung without reservation I cannot write the same for Asus, they are much to hit and miss.

Regards

Ryland

 

That's the problem - there doesn't seem to be an alternative to the UX32VD. I like the S9 a lot, but I really need at least 8Gb RAM and while the screen is good, it's not as good as the Zenbook's (plus the dGPU, which I don't need, but it doesn't hurt). If someone can think of any alternatives to the UX32VD, let me know.

Let me know what you think of the S13 when you see it - I was actually quite shocked despite reading a lot about it here...

I don't think that the comparisons across products are very fair - I have bad experience with Samsung TVs and phones, but I cannot say anything about their laptops. You had bad experience with ASUS tablets, but your laptop works flawlessly...

Every company has problems with some of their products, the fact that ASUS listened to the customer feedback from the first Zenbooks and then fixed everything, and now from the looks of it they recalled all the units from the market before they release a new batch, shows that they care about the quality of their products. I suggest waiting a bit before dismissing the whole company.

 

I can confirm many of the above statements. I'm currently checking out forums like this for info. My UX32VD is getting to hot, slows down, fan running "prematurely" and there are some wifi problems all of the sudden. Does anyone got anything new to add on this matter? How is ASUS responding to this issue? Answers would be much appreciated.

Ole

 

When you apply the Intel video driver update from windows update (shown as "recommended"), the UX32VD's display screen stops working .

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/695093-ux32vd-driver-corrupts-video-hardware.html

 

Thanks for the report guys

 

I have the same problem! The fan is running on, off, on, off constantly. I am eagerly awaiting a fix. What is the verdict, should I just return the laptop?

 

YES, Return it . I tried every driver uninstall / re-install and the display screen was still non-responsive (black), so I returned it and am waiting for my replacement..

 

My concern though is that this is a hardware problem affecting all UX32VDs and that a replacement won't solve the issue. Have you been able to confirm that a replacement will remedy this issue? Please keep us posted on your personal experience with your new laptop.

 

I have a major issue with the German UX32VD-R4002V (at the time the top Zenbook Prime with i7, 1920x1080 and 620M). I fell in love with this ultrabook and everything was great the first 3 months. Then the keyboard started suddenly behaving completely erratically, Zenbook was turning itself on and off randomly. I figured out that when I charge battery to the full and leave the power plugged in, I can boot into Windows 7 safe mode (but normal Win7 turned itself off always after 2 minutes), so I was able to backup all my work to an external HDD. I was also following advice of some people on the Internet that were thinking water might have condensed inside metal chassis and put it into a box full of desiccants.

However, it didn't end up there - as the Zenbook was living the life of its own will when unplugged, it happened that it started itself while it was in its envelope and put into a drawer without any airflow - as a consequence it got extremely hot and some keys bent! It was kinda funny trying to press the keys afterwards and seeing my fingerprints left on the keys I can't even imagine the risk of fire i was subject to at the time though if I didn't notice it before it got overly hot!

I called the customer service in Spain, as I was on a Spanish island at the time it happened, and nobody was able to understand English there! They couldn't give me any repair shop address and had to call German support that told me I need to ship it to Germany, which I could visit earliest in two months time (despite having international warranty).

And now I got an answer from ASUS that they rejected my warranty as the "Zenbook was operated outside its normal temperature range", and asked me to pay almost $950 for a repair. I find this outrageous; there were many reports on German websites pointing out at the same problems so I believe this was well known to ASUS. I am now planning to send the Zenbook to an independent technological institution in Cambridge that can figure out the root cause of the problem (which I believe is a manufacturing error) and mount a legal action against ASUS.

So, please be careful if you are planning to buy UX32VD. Maybe you will be lucky and it will be the best notebook of your life, but if you happen to run into problems, ASUS will gladly reject your warranty despite being the culprit of the problems and being well aware of the issues.