Ivy Bridge Zenbook with FHD IPS screen UX21A UX31A UX32A UX32VD

Thanks! It is scheduled for delivery today! I will analyze and report after getting my hands on that!

 

If you look on the Best Buy page for the UX32vd and go to questions and answers, Asus answered that it is indeed the exact same as the db71, just different model because best buy has there own numbering system. That's great news, it's $100 less than everywhere else, oooo I hope my local store gets it in time for tax free weekend!!!

Asus - 13.3" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Radiant Silver - UX32VD-R7504F

 

1. Some apparently do, mine doesn't

2. GPUz says it's 128bit. It also says 40nm which is a bummer since there's supposed to be a 32mn version under the same name.

 

Tax free weekend is it in the US?

 

Yes. That is something that many states do on an individual basis to help people that are purchasing school supplies and the like. They just won't charge sales tax on certain items. In my home state (Georgia) they are having the weekend in August, however it does not cover computers that are more than $1,000, so someone like myself that wants to get a UX32VD, is out of luck.

 

Damn that's BS, especially with a lot of students getting MBP nowadays. My state, NC, has no tax for laptops up to 2,500 (so if you wanted the new retina MBP that's the time to get it) and is the first weekend in August (so hurry up BB!!).

 

I live in California, so there is no tax weekend.

 

Apparently there are different 620M's in these things. I have GPU-Z installed and I definitely have the 620M selected at the bottom. It is showing 64-bit width.

 

It's setup to help people that are not doing well enough to purchase 2500.00 computers...

 

This doesn't surprise me much... asus seems to play with parts alot and isn't too consistent on all machines of a certain model really having the same specs.

Doing this, they count on people looking at the specs, buying the computer and going home and using it. But once people notice a problem they start wondering what else is odd and we end up discovering all kinds of little inconsistencies.

Bottom line, if a 5 computers of the same model sitting right next to each other don't have the same parts and aren't identified differently so you know its a different version its in a way false advertising IMO.

 

Does anyone know how best buy works... If i bought a computer at one store in town can I take it in and exchange it at a different store?

 

I'm convinced these are made with whatever they can buy cheap at auction on a day to day basis.

 

yes...........

 

You definitely can. I exchanged mine at different Best Buys each time (when I bought or exchanged - store went out of stock).

 

Exactly why I returned three of the original UX31s to bestbuy..every store had a demo which had the adata ssd and a 1.7ghz processor in it and every one I brought home had sandisk and a 1.6 cpu.

 

That makes no sense. You should have probably checked to see if it was the UX31A instead of trusting the employee. I find MicroCenter employees to usually be pretty good. Opposite with BB.

 

I got my UX32VD about two weeks ago, and right now I'm loving it.

Out of the box, it was painfully slow, and the software\drivers were awful. half the fn keys didn't work, and the touchpad would forget it's settings anytime the computer restarted or went to sleep. I've since done a clean reload on a Crucial M4 256, and it's working much better.

I've only ever seen backlight bleeding during startup. I watched "The Immortals" (aka random black and grey screen pattern generator) on netflix, and didn't notice any light bleeding. This issue is probably the single greatest variable from one unit to another, so my fortune is probably of no comfort to anyone.

The computer feels sturdy overall, but there is some flex in the upper right side of the keyboard, especially the zero key, but I can type just fine on it. There are also some rough edges where the bottom cover tray fits into the chassis or more accurately, doesn't fit...

I haven't had any luck getting a Linux boot loader to work with the iSSD. The BIOS doesn't recognize it as a boot drive with linux on it, but it is selectable with Windows on it?

Performance is very good. Premier Elements 10, Gimp, and StarCraft 2 all work very well. I play Starcrap with mostly high settings except for shaders. I use low shaders because I'm a zerg player, and I find the shiny creep effect to be distracting, but the performance is fine with them on.

The VD is actually more quiet than my last laptop (Summer 2011 Sony Vaio SA2), and it doesn't get that hot either.

The screen is great, but I wish I had proper tools to calibrate it. A 13" 1080p in plane switching display deserves better than a piece of paper with a picture of a rainbow. I've set the DPI scaling to 100%, as LibreOffice, Gimp, and just about any web browser have their own zoom feature that works much better.

Overall, I like the computer very much, but I think it's priced too high. At ~$1300, an SSD should be standard, and the build quality could use a bit more attention to detail.

 

Cool. After confirming yesterday that not all ux31a's have the fan issue and confirming that updating to the latest asus drivers didn't address the fan issue on the unit I have I'm thinking of doing one last (fourth go around) exchange before writing it off.

I hate the issues this machine has that are so widespread. I hate the bleed but if its minimal I can live with it... I can't live with the fan speed issue though.

The only reason I keep circling this thing is the 1080p screen. Its just so handy for the type of work I do to have that resolution available.

 

Makes pefect sense... last go around (not the A series) the demos at best buy were 1.7ghz adata... these were likely the first units shipped to the stores and they became demos. All subsequent best buy versions had 1.6ghz and sandisk. So the display model was better spec'ed than any of the units on their shelf.

 

I have a 1.7ghz with Sandisk (WEI 7.5) from Best Buy.

 

Are you talking about a ux31a? I think hes talking about his experience with the E series.

 

I was implying that Don1 should CHECK THE BOX. Always know what you're getting. I would never go to BestBuy and point out a computer and rely on the employee to give me the correct model

 

Ya, the UX31A. I assumed since the post is about Primes that he would not be talking about that, haha.

Zenerik: I completely agree with you. The only problem is they are sealed in an outer box and once they are out of that they have to sell them as open box for a discounted price, from what I know of the process.

 

This was almost a year ago..the UX31A hadn't even been dreamed of yet.

 

Then what does this have to do with the UX31A, UX31A, UX32A, UX32VD thread?

BestBuy sold you the wrong computer multiple times a year ago. Got it. Sooo... Huh?

 

I'm about to order my 4th from Amazon too..I purposely waited until it was too late to get it tomorrow so I can be sure I don't want the S9 instead..I think the aquamarine backlighted keyboard on that may make me ill.

 

It wasn't even the "E"..it was the original UX31..no letter following. The one they are currently selling as refurbed.

 

Now thats odd... Last night I ran the asus live update in an attempt to get rid of the fan cycling problem. I thought it fixed it for a bit... then it started cycling again. Today I looked at it again and it does seem that the new drivers did something.

Now instead of the fan cycling to max RPMs right after a restore then every minute therafter... now it waits about 5-7 minutes before its first spinup... then goes into the same old minute long pattern.

This at least suggests that software could eventually fix it... but since its not on all units it also may be software fixes working around a bad sensor or some other component.

 

Anybody with the UX31A has trouble with the yellowish tint on the screen? I played around with the Splendid Utility but I couldn't find a setting to make the white look whiter. There is definitely a weird yellowish tint when you look at the white areas of the screen.

I have read several users comment on this but there is no solution to it.

 

I think I remember reading somewhere in a comparison of the ux31 and the s9 that the ux31 looked yellow by comparison. The white on mine is white... other problems but not that so I might consider exchanging it if you can.

 

I had a problem with this on the X220 IPS, and I've seen people complain about yellowish whites on other LED-edgelit thin IPS panels (notebooks/tablets/phones). The quick-and-dirty solution I did with the X220 is use Windows 7's built-in color calibration utility. Go to Control Panel -> Display -> Calibrate Color (in the list on the upper left). It will take you through adjustments on a few things, including Gamma and Color. Color is the last adjustment.

 

And if you go to the S9 thread they will say that the S9 is much more yellowish than the UX31A. One reason I am still thinking of trying my 4th UX31A.

 

Your 4th? really?

What were the reasons that you returned 3 of them? Just curious.

 

I'm thinking about going for my 4th too...

1st: Bad light bleed
2nd: Much worse light bleed.
3rd: Fan issues, then days later light bleed appeared.

At this point i think ive come to accept light bleed as an evil of getting the only 1080p ultrabook screen out there right now. The fan issue I can't live with though.

 

Umm... I think I did via the fn+f3 or fn+f4? Is there another way to turn it on? /noob

Thanks for the response.

 

1st had a bad bleed and a bad network adapter that constantly dropped.

2nd had a bad vga adapter out of the box

3rd wasn't that bad but I figured it would become bad over time

I keep coming back to the realization though that even with all of its flaws it is still the best ultrabook out there for the money.

 

That should do it..there are various levels of brightness and there is also fn+A(I think) that turns on/off the sensor that decides if it should be on at all..it says "auto" on whichever key it is.

 

Yeah I kinda agree with you. I don't think I'm going to replace mine for something like that since I have a good desktop for gaming. My UX32VD doesn't suffer from any backlight bleed, fan issues, anything odd. If that means I have to stick with 64bit 620m then so be it.

 

True.

Its sad though, buying a premium laptop should never be an experience in 'what problems am i willing to live with'. If there was a viable alternate for a 1080p ultrabook this thread would probably have about 200 less pages of messages and everyone would be using something else. Unfortunately the only choices for greater than 1366x768 are the overpriced S9 and the short battery life vizio, or the massively over priced sony. So here we are.

 

Yeah, the screen is certainly very yellow in comparison. I purchased a Spyder4, hoping that it will help.

 

FYI to those still looking. UX32vd 71s are now in stock at bhphoto.com.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

Well I exchanged for #4 today... figured Id give it one more shot. lol.

Exchange process went easy, didnt have any problems. You never know how things will go at best buy so thought id give them credit for a smooth experience.

This time out I got the san disk drive so thats a minor strike against it from the start.

The last one was from batch B192xxx while this one is from batch B201xxx so hopefully its a bit newer build. (The batch numbers are on the brown box, yellow label)

So far i've booted it up and done the startup questions. It definitely has some bleed. It looks like a little less on the bottom and more on the right side than the last one.

Its charging a bit now... I'll test it out and let folks know what I find later tonight.

 

so im having an issue with the cursor/pointer moving when im typing by me resting my hands on the touchpad while im typing, from reading the forum it seems like one of the touchpad updates may fix my problem, could someone tell me how to install it?..do i just click on one of the links (btw which one do i click on, global dlm, global, or p2p)

 

Prediction: you will find faults, beginning with the San Disk and light bleed and going downhill from there.

I guess it's easy to obsess over this little piece of technology. Just face it, a perfect unit does not exist.

I love mine. Minor IPS bleeding (a trait with ALL IPS displays) and a noisy fan. Oh well, I just know there isn't an ultrabook that beats it despite the minor flaws.

My X230 went back ASAP once I saw the terrible screen (it was IPS also). The resolution looked like it was from 2006.

Although I will say watching your obsessive posts (put in box, take out of box, update, put in box, exchange) is comical.

Best of luck with your search.

 

Actually when I decided to go for one more shot at the ux31 I knew it wasn't going to be perfect. After three its pretty clear that all of this series have issues of one kind or another. Its just a matter of finding one with issues you can live with.

Btw, I go through notebooks at a rate of one every 12-18 months over the past 20+ years. So ive been through alot of them, sony, hp, asus, toshiba, acer, ibm (not lenovo yet though) etc. So ive bought alot of PCs. Of all of them, I returned one dell because the lcd arrived broken but otherwise this asus is the only other notebook ive ever exchanged.

It really sucks that its that way with the ux31a but if I want a 1080p screen ultrabook its about the only game in town. Theres a 15.6 vizio but its got short battery life and a couple 1600x900 overpriced choices then gobs of 1366x768 dregs.

One thing I couldn't live with is the fan malfunctioning the way mine was... so it had to go back.

ON the new one, This screen has bleed, i wish it didnt but its something thats possible to tolerate in exchange for how good the screen is when its not overly dark.

Jury is out on the ssd. If i don't notice it being noticeably slower im not going to get hung up on the spec differences. If i do It may become an issue.

I have yet to test this one for fan problems. To me thats the show stopper now.

 

I have a favor to ask of those of you who have been graced with little to no backlight bleed.

CPUID has a piece of software called PC Wizard 2012. No installation is required if you download the zip file: PC Wizard 2012.

Click on the video section on the left, then click "Monitor Type" in the center, and down below it should list off some information, including model, manufacturer, manufacturing date, and some brief specifications, like I have attached.

My main curiosity is whether there is a difference in the manufacturing date between the low-bleed displays, and the ones with significant bleed (my current UX31A). The display used in the UX32VD is the same as that of the UX31A, so that should be comparable as well. If some of you could post either a screenshot of this, or just the date of manufacture on the display, this might help indicate if there is just a bad batch, and if we might be best off waiting a little while for new stock to show up.

My display with significant bleed was manufactured in week 52 of 2011.

 

Are you guys exchanging through ASUS or through Amazon? Has anyone tried getting the screen replaced by ASUS?

 

I have the exact same information as you.

When I first booted my UX32VD, it had very little bleed. About a month in, I seem to have even less (or no noticeable) bleed at all.

 

how is the fan supposed to function? My fan spins up every minute or so, but it spins at 3200 RPM, not the max which is near 5000 I believe.

 

I, too have the same information; no noticeable light bleed even a month down the road.