Ivy Bridge Zenbook with FHD IPS screen UX21A UX31A UX32A UX32VD

Installing Windows 7 on the 24 GB cache chip... are there any cons to this?

Say I run something like Photoshop or SQL server or Visual Studio on this thing.

Would I be better off to let the Express Cache program utilize that drive for working swap space rather than put the OS there?

 

Don't you need to reserve that 24GB cache for the 2 second resume feature? I wouldn't install windows on it -- its too small.

 

Only con is that it requires some guts to do it, as you have to Secure Erase it (possibly making it hard to restore it to GPT partition table). It's possible that the warranty doesn't cover such activities as well - at least the software warranty. The hardware warranty should be fine regardless I think.

The SSD is actually 32GB of which 30GB is useable and shows up in my computer. Perfectly reasonable as a system disk. After installing Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and all the usual programs (like skype, firefox, vlc, reader etc.) I've still only used 15GB - thus have half the disk left to allow Windows some headroom. Remember to disable the hibernation file and lower the pagefile to 1024MB or so, that will free a lot of space.


I don't put much trust in assigned cache disks, and with the room left after the OS install you could still fit a Photoshop/SQL install no problems.

Here's a CrystalDiskMark bench of the Sandisk i100 as a system disk:


Haven't looked into how good that score is, but it sure beats a regular HDD by miles. The system feels proper quick.

EDIT: Ok, 4k speeds are poor Still, way better than a mechanical HDD.

Good luck all, I'll try to answer questions

PS. Look up me and jedighosts previous posts if any of you would like to try to use the SSD chace disk as an OS disk. Only try this if you know what you're doing, as missteps could be no fun

 

You could still allow hibernation, just assign it to your standard 500 GB drive, so that need not be sacrificed I would think?

 

So I'll just ask this here as a general question. In regard to SSD, I've always been more put off by the life of the drive, even more than the price (which has been too high). Anyone know how long these are rated for now? I assume lifespan gets better the longer they make them and the better the tech becomes. But as quick as they are, I'm always scared about how long they'll LAST more. Even as often as we all tend to upgrade anymore.

 

I know this is a Asus forum and I am posting for the first time because I am trying to get as much info and feedback on the UX31A. I am not a tech guy and would not be able to do some of the replacements and changes that are mentioned on this forum. I need to replace my old Vaio and am looking into the UX31A for a few months. I am starting to get a little concerned with some of the compalins especially on the touchpad. I have a question on the Vizio. I just looked at the Vizio site and an Ivy Bridge i7 with 256 SSD, Full HD at a great price of $1199. Am I missing something? Any comments on the Vizios?

 

When are you planning to update your guide? I'm not extremely technical but I'm definitely planning to use the SSD to run the OS. Any possibility you can simple it down as much as possible? I get my ux32vd on tuesdsay and I'm way excited. Many thanks in advance!

 

I see that with a 5400RPM hybrid HDD, not a 256SSD..do you have a link? It's also 5 1/2 pounds so not really a true comparison to any ultrabook.

VIZIO 15.6” Notebook | CN15-A2 | VIZIO

 

Any word on whether the UX31A SSD actually got changed before shipping? I'm a little put off by the U100 in the original spec...

 

This is the one I saw. it is a 14"

14” Thin + Light | CT14-A2 | VIZIO

 

Yeah. I just saw that now too..don't know what site I was looking at before. That seems like a deal.

 

Look someone already asked AND answered that question... this thread is ONLY 102 pages long, stop wasting people's time and just read the thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...ux21a-ux31a-ux32a-ux32vd-100.html#post8637848

From what people have posted, you could get either one, no way to know

[EDIT just be clear, I was being facetious ]

 

i think someone should make a sticky and guide to move windows into the ssd partition for the ux32vd, thats a great idea, now i am really leaning towards the ux32vd but then theres another concern. people have been saying about the machine heating up, how true is this?

 

Is this standard protocol in the tech industry?
I mean, it's "normal" that end users play "component roulette"- maybe they get a good drive and maybe the get crap?
That seems pretty unethical to me as well as horrendous business practice.

 

Haha. If only the search function on this forum was working. Or I wish there was a way to 'pin' up certain FAQ or key facts.

To everyone:
If you're looking for a piece of content in this thread that's over a day old, Google is your friend. Try this search term and specify from there:

Code:

site:forum.notebookreview.com asus chart

 

Been lurking this thread and it has been great getting all the information in one place.

Good news, well for me anyways I literally just got my UX31A-AB71 from Amazon and cracked it open.

Luckily I got the ADATA SSD, if you guys want any more information please let me know.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00863L3K4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

 

This can be somewhat standard. The manufacturer specifies the end product with have a certain feature. If they themselves do no manufactor it then they must source it. Sometimes they need more than they can get from a single source and sometimes they change suppliers mid production maybe due to cost or problems.

Remember the component just needs to meet thier performance specification which may not be th same as yours. Many times different suppliers of a common component do indeed have different performance levels that's one of the things that make them different.

I have seen examples of this with regards to memory, hd, sdd, and screens.

 

I just wonder as UX31A has all SSD and ram soldered on the board, if they are broken after 1-year warranty, will it be very pricey to fix them? Any way to fix them?

 

I believe my VD had a 3 year warranty with a 1 year spills warranty standard.

However, after 3 years and a day... yeah you're SOL.

You either try to solder yourself or order a whole new board... which often costs MORE than the entire cost of the brand new laptop (OEMs have a way of pricing parts that way... wonder why )

Someone asked about overheating.

On my VD I have been running it for about 4 hours, various browsers, lots of remote desktop windows (so not a lot of local HDD work) and it is warmer than the surrounding air but not "hot" by any stretch.

If I was working the video card and HDD then maybe that would be different.

I also have yet to notice any fan ever turn on.

 

I would really like to see what kind of memory bandwidth hit is taken by installing unpaired ram in this thing. Would someone who has installed the 8GB RAM stick mind running memtest86 or a similar app to see what memory bandwidth is being achieved with the asynchronous dual channel?

 

What's the warranty on this thing? Is it 1 year manufacturer? Are there options to get >1 year? For all these irreplaceable parts that really worries me. I'm slowly convincing myself to go with the Lenovo X1 Carbon if it ever comes out.

How's the display in sunlight? Could I use this outdoors?

 

How many GBs of HDD (500GB) does it use if it's installed with win7 & all other Asus' crapware? I'm will clone my future 32VD's HDD onto SSD either on 256 or 512GB.

 

You could probably buy 2 of these for what that will cost and have a spare in case it breaks.

It annoys me to no end that Amazon is still keeping this at their inflated price but I guess that's what you get when none of the other big boys have it yet.

 

Just a note that, if you buy it with a Visa card they usually add an extra year to your warranty. You'll have to check the specific terms of your card, but it's an awesome perk. For example, mine says:

You double or extend, by up to one year, the manufacturer's written warranty on most items you purchase when you use your Visa card.​

 

Hey Dunces, good to see your Zenbook SSD install doing well! It's been requested here, with good reason, that a Win7 to i100 SSD install guide is created and stickied. Right now you are the senior of this field, as I don't have the machine at hand (it's back at the owner).

A few things: you were brave and tried MBR partition for the i100, and it worked! I did not dare (short time) to change the GPT partition table of the i100. MBR success makes me suspect the BIOS/UEFI of Zenbook can boot both ways, can boot MBR as BIOS, or can boot GPT as UEFI. Probably this is why it has a quite complex Boot Device Setup menu in the BIOS, with details I've never seen before.

Your system boots in 8 seconds?? WOW! Mine had dual boot, boot managing was on the HDD, and it had antivirus (MSE) installed. Maybe that is why I measured 35 secs, until the HDD/SSD led was out. That is a full boot in my opinion.

The simplest guide for newbies would look like this, please review it and make corrections if needed:

0., go to disk management in win7, delete all partitions from i100 and convert it to MBR right there
1., go to BIOS and setup boot order to start with i100 (I hope BIOS allows it while it's empty)
2., start win7 install from external DVD or USB drive, for this use ESC key right after switch on, and select your boot media (DVD or USB)
3., at the start of installation, at selecting target partition: choose empty unallocated space on i100 (~30GB on disk1, I guess)
4., let win7 install do its job
5., install all drivers from HDD OS partition "eDrive" folder(a list should be created what is need and what is bloatware)

DONE! Now they can boot the original HDD win7 and the new SSD win7, they are safe. If all is great, they can delete the OS and DATA partitions on the HDD, and make 1 big user partition for themselves, leaving the first System Reserved and the last Recovery partition intact.

Risk: win7 install might realize there is another win7 installation already on the HDD and make a dual boot system.... confusing everybody. If the dual boot's boot manager resides on the HDD, then deleting C: will make the SSD unbootable, people will need to fix this with the win7 install DVD again. I don't know...

I left out the Secure Erase on purpose, it's not for newbies.

What is your opinion?

 

48GB is used in factory state.

 

I'd buy two of these but thats still only 1 year of warranty.

 

What model are you looking at specifically?

 

I know you want numbers but real life perceived difference is less than 3%.

 

I'm pretty sure most, if not all Amazon's prices are $50 above retail.

 

Mine had 41 GB of stuff total installed. My 500 GB drive showed a total space of 440GB, then subtract 41 GB leaving 399 GB free.

That said, I'll blow it all away and install fresh Win7 this weekend. The bloatware is slowing things down a bit it feels.

 

It is 32GB, just ExpressCache uses a 24GB partition on it, not using the rest probably.

No you don't need it. You can use simple sleep or hibernate, it will wake from sleep in 2 secs.

With normal use, an SSD will outlast the machine. You should have regular backups (same with HDDs), in case of a disaster.

 

DB51 but they are all over list on Amazon.

 

I'm keeping an eye on the UX31A-DB71. Availability has been crap, but it was listed at MSP $1500 when it was up. The exception though, from what you tell me.

 

As soon as BestBuy gets them everybody's price will fall in line.

 

NCIX has stock of the ux32vd
ASUS UX32VD-DB71 Intel Core i7 3517 4GB 500GB 24GB SSD GeForce 620M 13.3IN IPS HDMI WIN7HP Ultrabook - ASUS - UX32VD-DB71

 

NCIX is wonderful and horrible. I often call or drop by to find out about availability, and they're just about as navigable and helpful as their website (not very). If you're willing to push a bit and look around yourself, it's okay...

(That being said, I may stop by after work to see if they had a display model to play with...)

 

Asus has the specs up on the US site
Only saw the UX21A on the global site though. Maybe it's not coming to the US?


UX31A:
ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS ASUS ZENBOOK Prime UX31A

UX32VD:
ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS ASUS ZENBOOK UX32VD

not sure if these have already been posted. been through about 60 pages but this discussion has 104!

 

If the UX32VD is has upgrade-able ram then what is meant by lost of "dual-channel" ? How does this impact performance and i there a way to have it where it doesn't lose "dual channel".

 

I can't see them withholding the UX21A from the north American market as they've released the 11" in the last generation. I think it's just a matter of less immediate demand and availability.

 

The US site did NOT have stock yesterday. Wonder if I'll get charged tax. Page is taking longer than usual to load, but if the have it at a reasonable price may order the laptop from them, then order the Corsair 8GB Vengeance RAM and the Corsair 7mm 256GB SSD drive from New Egg...

Ahhh. Maybe your from Canada, but the US site is STILL on backorder. Definitely frustrated with myself for not buying from New Egg yesterday when I had the chance.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/659073-ivy-bridge-zenbook-fhd-ips-screen-ux21a-ux31a-ux32a-ux32vd-104.html#post8638558

(Read 1 page back.)

 

Unfortunately that is ASUS. LOVE them for their overall reliability, warranty, etc. But product availability has been an issue on the stuff that would REALLY sell well if they could just get enough of it out and into the channel.

Unfortunately no. You have to go to the product page to see it, but they specifically tell you, you need to shop at us.ncix.com when buying from the US. And when you go to that site and lookup the same product... it shows backordered.

Must not be shipping available devices from Canada to the US.

UPDATE: No worries Laura. Without the table you provided, I wouldn't have really understood ASUS was selling a 13" i7 Tablet with a 1080p screen and dedicated video card. You keep posting!!!

 

Yeah, I just checked - sorry about that! (I reiterate, their site is terrible.)

 

Just for information...
If anyone had any doubt about Diablo 3 running on ASUS UX32VD it runs well.

Gonna try League of Legends when the download is done...

 

No worries. I understand and agree. I've wanted to buy something from them in the past, and had a similar problem... so it doesn't shock me at all anymore.

Too bad newegg is sold out. They are my preferred tax free vendor, for their customer service if NOTHING else. Guess I may have to wait.

I DID notice today ASUS has another slim looking unit with Blu-Ray and a 630 video card. But it's a 15.6" screen, so even ignoring the weight, it wouldn't be as small to carry. Definitely loving the sound of this thing with a few upgraded parts.

 

What price you guys think the difference from ux21a and ux31a will be? I am looking at a permanent pc as I am a college student. Also since its $1030 on androma will we expect that on amazon or from best buy? Or best we can expect is $1100 (ux31a)?

Thanks

 

And they are wrong unless you really believe it weighs 1.3pounds..they forgot to do the math when they went from kilos to pounds I think.

 

I had the audacity of searching for 'Zenbook' on their site. Of course none of these Ivy Bridge models show up. BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE.

(Okay, I'm done.)

 

It's only 1030 because they don't have it although if you are willing to wait you can buy it for that from them.