Ivy Bridge Zenbook with FHD IPS screen UX21A UX31A UX32A UX32VD

You'll have room to prop your feet up, no problem.

 

I use a 1920x1080 desktop at work and home (2 screens actually in both the environments). I can easily run 2 vim windows with 40x100 (lines, columns) on each screen. In addition I have plenty of spare horizontal and vertical space on the desktop.

I would expect the same on any 1920x1080 screen - but I undertand what you mean by usability. The dpi changes based on the screen size. In other words you'd need to adjust the font size to make the text more readable on smaller screen sizes.

I'm getting my UX32VD next week, I'll let you know how comfortable it is for coding and some comparison pics too may be

 

Awesome...thanks. Would love to hear if it fits your needs.

 

Just got my UX32VD in the mail not long ago and I have to say... On my unit, the backlight bleed is completely unnoticable in the OS. I can turn on the brightness to the max and watch a movie with black bars and I don't notice any bleed. I can only notice it during the bootup.

Also, I don't seem to have any Wi-fi issues and no dead pixels , so I guess I lucked out with a good unit.

Can't wait to upgrade my RAM and the hard drive Very happy with my UX32VD.

 

I also installed Smart Gestures. It seems to have resolved the touchpad issues.

 

Ok I installed the new Smart Gestures driver and the function that disables the touchpad while typing works great now. Two finger scroll also continued working for me, but seemed to be recalibrated and not as smooth as before with the Elantech driver.

Other annoyance is that with the Elantech driver, we were able to go to the registry (run regedit -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Elantech -> SmartPad) and change Tap_Three_Finger_ShowItem to 1, and then enable 3-finger tap in the device settings. It does not appear that the Asus Smart Gestures driver/software allows this, nor does there appear to be a place in the corresponding registry settings to tweak this manually. So I've gained one bit of functionality and lost another. Kind of annoying.

If we could keep the old Elantech driver (which also is now missing from the Asus UX32VD driver page) and just tack on the disable-trackpad-while-typing ability, that would be my preference. Anyone else experience these issues once installing the new Smart Gestures driver?

 

Any linux users with the newer UX31A or UX32VD ? OpenSuse, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora or any other distro ? Please post your experience.

I'll solely be using Linux on my UX32VD. I'll mostly be wiping out the 32GB SSD, and install my OS's / partition there. I'll install Win7 just as a last-minute resort for running some Windows-only program may be and can't be run over VMWare For example some programs in my work require USB and serial port access to embedded devices - which don't work that great on VMs unfortunately :|

 

Downlad TouchFreeze

 

I've looked through the thread but haven't been able to find a mention of this...

Looking at the UX32VD specs on the asus sites ( Link) it's now listed as having 128/256gb SSD rather than the 500GB SATA?

So I'm guessing there will be a new batch of SSD UX32VDs coming out sometime soon?

EDIT: Actually I'm not sure what's going on, the description still implies that it has HDD/SSD, and in the specs there's no mention of the gfx card

 

Any ideas why Synaptics drivers are showing up on the ASUS site - i tried to install them and an error was thrown, "no synaptics device found". Weird they would have the wrong drivers on the site?

 

So my wifi download speed on my ux31a is very slow. Is that one of the known issues?

 

What size and type of screwdriver do you need to open up the ux32vd?

 

Torx T4 screwdriver

 

Are you sure? Ive been hearing about t5 and I don't want to get the wrong one.

 

I'm looking at buying the Zenbook UX32A as it has a nice price and decent specs for my needs. I'm buying it for school, and I expect it to last 2-4 years before I (or if I) swap it with something else, like a Retina Air.

I've been investigating this immensely, and there are two versions of the UX32A:
The UX32A-DB31 and UX32A-DB51 (Has an i5 and 500GB instead of i3/320GB). The DB51 is $200 more and I don't think it's worth it for just an increased processor.

BUT, The UX32A-DB31 comes with the 2nd gen. i3 with Intel HD 3000 graphics, and I was wondering how well this thing will perform? Basic web surfing/email/multimedia should be fine?

For now, I have a few questions for the UX32A- DB31:
-Backlit keyboard?
-All metal finish?
-Battery life?
-Does it pass the '1 finger lift test'? (able to open laptop with 1 finger like Macbooks)

If Anyone has this ultrabook or if anyone has comments please post!

 

Go to power plan settings and change the wireless radio power to a higher setting. By default it's at the lowest power setting and that = slow WiFi.

 

I first used a T4 and found that it was too small for screws that were on tight. T5 worked perfectly.

 

Nope, the pins on these two adapters are different and incompatible.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30288505/2012-07-12%2016.41.53.jpg

The one on the left is the 45W and the one on the right is the 65W. Oh well, I guess this thing gets to go back to Asus.

 

It will be powerful enough for all your school/web/media needs. Even old laptops with weak single-core Pentium processors (like the 11" netbook-style Acer 1410 I'm currently using) are powerful enough for modern computer needs (besides games, but who the hell cares about video games? LOL)

FYI there is also a DB71.

 

Two things, I've read on other forums that the Linux drivers are still in their infancy and it works, but battery life suffers significantly on the UX31A.

Additionally, I use a Dell Precision M4600 as my work laptop. It's a much higher end laptop but I run several VMs with Virtual PC and VMware Workstation. I haven't had any trouble with USB or serial device usage within these VMs. Kind of curious what issues you are having. I actually do embedded systems programming myself.

 

I'm back on the Elantech driver...The "Smart Gestures" driver completely broke scrolling for me by enabling some strange inertial scrolling feature that behaved erratically.

At least with the Elantech driver, the failures it had were predictable.

 

So... when can I snag one of these for cheap on sale some time?

When did mediocre laptops get this expensive? Just 'cuz Intel spun out a new buzzword?

 

Haha I like the way you think! Who cares about video games? There's a TV for that!

And I am aware of the DB71, which is the UX32VD - don't need the extra video card/weight (I think it's a little bigger?) and I wouldn't pay $1,299 - I would rather go for the UX31A at that point.

However like I said, I'm trying to spend less this time and just buy an ultrabook for a good price to last a couple of years.

 

Does anyone know how to disable the hotkey animations without disabling the hotkeys themselves?

 

Same. I'd rather deal with the broken touchpad-disabling functionality of the Elantech driver than the uneven behavior of the Asus Smart Gestures driver. At least with the Elantech driver I can use a stopgap 3rd party solution to disable the touchpad while typing. I'd rather not have to install additional software just to get what should be basic features though. Still waiting for Asus to fix their touchpad drivers.

 

Running Ubuntu 12.04 on a UX32VD here. There's an issue that appears to be in the default 3.2 kernel that causes the thing to lock-up on a daily basis (as far as my personal experience goes, it appears to be a combo of Ivy Bridge & 3.2 kernel). Upgrade to a newer kernel and (touch wood) it seems to be solid.

There's a patch out there to get most of the function hot keys working. Have to adjust screen brightness through the system settings or command line for now though.

I did what you're considering... OS & swap on the mini-SSD, home & other data on the 500GB. Works like a charm. Added an 8GB DIMM (not quite as necessary as with Windows... Ubuntu uses less than 1GB at start whereas Windows seems to need 2.5GB just standing there doing nothing) and it's a beast.

 

I get to work with custom designed boards (a common Digital home entertainment device ), which usually just have USB adapters to connect to the PC. They usually use FTDI USB-serial converter chips on those boards to interface with the SoC. Although they get detected fine in linux, on the VM though sometimes the drivers do not seem to be happy. It usually gets fixed - if I unplug the cable from my PC, and plug it back in (I guess some device reset sequence).

Another issue is with parallel ports. Unfortunately few SoC manufacturers still tend to use them, and bit-banging using USB-parallel converters doesnt work with those boards. But this is more of an issue with PCs not having parallel ports at all.

Yes I guessed Ivy bridge support would be more stable in the recent kernels. I'm not sure what is the latest openSUSE provides, if not either I'll have to pull in the kernel from the factory repo, or build one of my own. Could you give me the exact kernel version that you find it to be stable ?

Yeah I remember long time ago reading about some ASUS NMI module which enables Fn keys - is that the one you're talking about ? I believe it is more of a standard driver across all ASUS laptops ?

I got my 8GB Patriot RAM module already - just need to wait for the Zenbook a few more days

Yeah I use a 5-year old Core 2 duo laptop with 2GB RAM, and still find the speed to be acceptable in openSUSE 11.4 I should say 4GB should be enough.

I'm starting with few Android projects, Eclipse, Android Emulator. In addition I might run a VM for OSX. The extra RAM should come in quite handy for all of these - considering it costs less than $50 for 8GB SODIMMs.

 

Hi there. I really like the UX32VD model. But I am bothered with, seemingly poor battery life. What time do you guys with UX32VD get? Considering internet surfing and low backlight? Some Youtube occasionally? No games, no 620M stuff Just work and internet... Every review seems to have different times, even 1 hour differences. Thanks a LOT

 

I received my Samsung 830 series. I wanted to clone the original installation, but when I plug it in using the included USB adapter, it is only showing up as "Disk Name USB Device". Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong, or do I just have a bum SSD?

 

You would need to format the hard drive to start using it. I think Windows Partition tool should help you create the partitions. Open source tools like gparted are good as well - you might need to create a bootable media to use gparted.

 

installed the new Touchpad drivers - however it seems we lost the capability for settings - for example on scroll, you can't control the amount of 2 finger scroll anymore, just turn it off or on? weird..

 

i see amazon is down to $1080 for the UX31A..pretty much now the same price as BB plus tax.

 

Don't get the free xbox though, if you have the ability to and it is much more difficult to return or exchange.

 

yeah I know. I had it and returned it because I really didn't want to pay for this thing and instead wanted to use AMEX reward points. I can't do that at BB and while you can do it on the AMEX site and buy it and pick it up from BB they charge a premium exchange rate compared to Amazon. 20% discount vs. 30% discount.

 

Can any owners of the UX31A comment on how comfortable it is to type on the computer? I've read in several articles/reviews (this one in particular: ZenBook Prime flunks blogging torture test, gets replaced by a MacBook Air | ZDNet) that the edges of the computer are so sharp that resting your wrists on the computer in a normal fashion while typing for an extended period results in severe wrist pain/discomfort.

I'm considering the UX31A but I'll be typing extensively on it and so experiencing pain in a normal typing position would be a dealbreaker.

Also, how have people found the UX31A battery life to be with the 1080P screen? I'm wondering how much of an impact the high-res screen has on battery life.

 

first lets talk bout battery life wifi on brightness about 80 % it lasts 4-5 hours,
for typing experience is good not bad u get used to it eventually, no pain, i think u should go and try it first if u are concerned about pain

 

Considering purchasing the UX32A.

 

Ok so is there a xbox deal if I buy the $999 ux31A at best buy? Unless Amazon shoots it price down to $999 no tax.

 

I see that on the UX32VD support/download page they only list the Asus driver and not the Elantech.

If you go to the following link you will find the original elantech driver 10.5.9.0 and an updated one 10.5.10.0 (which I havent tested yet as my UX32VD is only 24 hours old).

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download Touchpad

Good luck.

 

Typing is fine if you are sitting at a desk typing on it. Typing with the computer on your lap at certain angles is moderately annoying because of the edge. If you feel "pain" from this you are a p***y like the writer of that article hahaha

 

Bought the UX31A-DB51.
Very happy with it!
Decided to do a clean install of Windows 7 HP.
Ran into A LOT of issues such as getting the USB3.0 drivers in the installation.
Managed to deal with all of those and finally had windows installed.
Got all of the drivers installed correctly except for two!


After attempting to install the Rapid Start Technology drivers I get the error:
"this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software"
Which is absurd considering it was installed before I wiped the laptop.

Installing the Trusted Platform Module Application driver I get the following

"Trusted Platform Module could not be found"

In device manager under other devices, there is an unknown device to the computer - PCI Simple Communications Controller. Any ideas how this could be resolved?

Also after the clean install major Aero features in Windows seem to be disabled and I've tried changing the theme but nothing works. (Features like aero peek of open windows or pressing the windows key+Tab to switch between windows and having transparent windows)

Thanks

 

@USlava77:

I believe only the UX32s support TPM.

 

But on ASUS' website it's listed as one of the drivers for the UX31A?

 

The higher models of the ux31a do have it... just not the db51

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Now all I need to figure out is Intel's Rapid Start and Aero.

 

I had a macbook pro for 18 months and can attest that it definitely cuts into your wrists while you are typing. most unproductive computer I ever had for that reason and its lack of some keys i use frequently. But on to the ux31a.

The front edge is sharp, its machined aluminum after all, that said the notebook a wedge design so the front is angled down. I had no problems doing DTP work on it for about 2-3 hours, it never missed a beat speed wise and it never cut into my wrists. I also type somewhere between 70-100wpm and the keyboard is very typable. Not nearly as unsteady feeling as the E series.

I haven't formerly tested battery life but i can easily get through a work day with it, closing the lid to suspend when im not using it. I also set it up so that it logs in automatically so when you open the lid you are right where you left off and don't have to go thru the login process each time. Not as secure I know, but much more instant for use when you need it. This may replace my ipad for alot of instant things Ive been using it for.

 

My bad... I looked it up and according to the ExcaliberPC chart only the UX3x-XBxx models have TPM.

 

I found out the difference between the db51 and the identical spec version that best buy sells. The best buy model does not include the 1yr accidental damage warranty, and it doesn't have the sticker/card stuck to the screen that talks about its features.

Yesterday i noticed that a local best buy had the unit in stock, and im still waiting on microcenter to get a replacement so i can swap out my unit with bad screen bleed. So I went to see if they had one on display, they didn't but said they would open one up for me.

They opened it up, charged it and went got it to windows and let me play a bit. The screen was 100% perfect, not a single light bleed issue anywhere on the unit... next I checked the P key which has problems on mine and it worked perfectly as well. So i ran it through its paces a bit, did dead pixel checks got a wifi connection and did a couple speed tests to see if it would drop. All good.

End result, I bought it and plan to take my microcenter unit back since they still haven't got them and this one has no issues. I set it up last night, and did a comparison this morning to see where they are different... both have 1080p IPS screens, both have 7.9 windows experience index fast ssd drives (not pokey intels here) but the best buy version lacks the 1 year accidental damage... probably so best buy can sell their plan.

Now Im a little torn, i got a flaw free unit but spent the same as a unit with better warranty if i could have found one without the screen bleed.

 

Just don't do anything stupid with it? heh

As an aside, it appears that Best Buy removed the 256GB SSD models from their website. Only have the one for $999 on there now.

 

I have a UX32VD installed with Ubuntu 12.10 dev, and its working great.

Only thing missing is essentially the brightness up/down (can be done in a terminal easily though), suspend/resume and just about anything else works fine.

There's a patch for the asus_wmi module you need for to support the Fn-keys.

Please look at this thread: [ubuntu] Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A and UX32VD - Page 3 - Ubuntu Forums

I get roughly 5 hours of battery life, and even more should be possible with this:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagementASPM

Generally a 3.5.x kernel will work best. I just swapped to 12.10 because of the other subsystems were updated (touchpad/Xorg, and usbmodems).