Ivy Bridge Zenbook with FHD IPS screen UX21A UX31A UX32A UX32VD

Aren't the ones from the Microsoft Store supposed to have the least bloatware?

 

Anyone having Trackpad problems? When ever I turn on my laptop from sleep the trackpad is frozen it won't move takes a few seconds. Just right it wouldn't move at all I had to restart my UX32VD. This problem just occurred when I updated to new ASUS software.

 

Dude, give it a minute before you start double posting.




So I just got off the phone with jr.com and they said they are out of stock and it would probably be 2-3 weeks until they got more in. They said the total order for them was 120, and I got one of the original handful. They had 6 more come in 3 Aug which are already gone, and they will let me know when more come in. I asked if they had a lot of returns for this unit and she said two including mine, so nothing unusual. I don't mind waiting a few weeks if I gt one from a new batch that is fixing some of these QC problems.

 

Hmmm, seems like there is no 256GB stock at any of the good retailers.

 

It looks like ASUS may be ramping production of the UX32VD-DB71 -- a couple of sites are quoting 8/17 delivery:

bestbuy.com: Asus - 13.3" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Radiant Silver - UX32VD-R7504F
(per Best Buy product Q&A, UX32VD-R7504F is the same as -DB71 minus the ASUS accidental damage warranty)

jittles.com: https://www.jittles.com/ProcutDetail.php?pid=1490

Hopefully they figured out the display bleed issue (bad batch?) and these will be all we've hoped -- time will tell...

 

This is not a bad price. Is jittles.com a reputable seller? Never heard about them before.

 

Anyone know a notice a little bit of a static, when downloading, loading a webpage while watching a video on VLC.?

 

Okay so i'm returning my UX32VD tomorrow. Can i run DBAN on it or does it mess up everything?

 

DBAN will wipe everything. So it won't be bootable. I would just create a new blank user and delete the old one.

 

That doesn't really remove the files though.
Does making it bootable matter when returning it?

 

edit: nevermind

 

Well, depends on who you are returning it to. They will just send it back to Asus probably and reimage it. I wouldn't count on anyone doing any data recovery methods on the deleted profile.

I would suggest leaving it in a bootable state. They might turn it on and check it out really quick.

 

Yeah, true. Well I'll try to erase all my files then.
Other people are going to use it, so i want to be sure nothing is left.

 

I use a program called bcwipe, first you would restore thr factory image, then set it to overwrite the empty space 3 - 7 times, pick 7. Takes about over an hour for 7, options up to 35 as well. This is what the military and government uses. Also I doubt you would meet someone who would recover files as it is expensive.

 

Wouldn't DBAN just do the same thing?

Also recovering files isn't hard at all.

 

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No dban will wipe the entire drive including the recovery partition, using a program such as bcwipe where it wipes the data by writing over it several times is much more convenient.

 

Did anyone else notice a decrease in battery life with the install of the new Smart Gesture touchpad? I used to get 5 hours now I'm getting around 4. Funny, was stated to get 7 haha! Gotta complain to ASUS.

 

Are you talking about the 256GB i7 UX31A? If so Microsoft Stores have them. That's where I got mine.

 

All the 256 drives are Sandisk, right? Has anybody seen Asus make any 256 version using Adata? I know Adata makes a 256 version of this drive.

 

Hi,
I'd like to know if the SSD upgrade improves the battery (a lot) on the UX32VD.
If you're using HD4000 and an SSD then the battery life should be more or less the same as in the UX31A, I suppose.
I know the battery is a bit smaller in the UX32VD but the battery life seems quite poor in comparison with the UX31A.
How much time do you get on your UX32VD?
Thanks for the answers!

PS: Does the jack works well on the UX32VD? I'd like to use my Bose headphones with it and the microphone is included.

 

I'm curious about the hinge quality of the latest zenbooks. I purchased the UX21E a while back but sold it for a number of reasons including that the hinge was weak when tilted at a 100 degree or greater angle. I believe it opens to 130 degrees max. I noticed that if opened to about 100 degrees, the lid would slowly "fall" open to the full 130 degrees if shaken or slightly wobbled. This was inevitable if typing on your lap.

 

Hey guys need some help. Have the UX32VD in hand and a new mini-SSD to replace the stock HD. Trying to figure out how to get windows on the SSD without a disk drive. Can someone give me some guidance or point me in the right direction? Thanks.

 

This is on the first page man and might help you, you might also do a search as well.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...ow-install-windows-7-integrated-32gb-ssd.html

 

Thanks but that's for installing it on the 32GB cache SSD. I've scoured the internet. I'm trying the USB method, but I keep running into a bootsect.exe error. I've taken the bootsect.exe file and added it to the Win7 USB migration folder and it's still giving me the same error. Has anyone else run into this or know how to get passed this?

 

So I finally ordered the Zenbook prime ux31a from Future Shop Canada and I should get it by Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone could list me the things I should ideally do after I get the machine. I don't intend to do a fresh install so bear that in mind. Additionally what bloatware can I remove/keep? Would PC-decrappifier work? Thanks for the help and this thread convinced me to buy this laptop so really appreciate that

 

Try the USB ports on the right hand side of the device. Some users report the left hand USB port won't install Windows no matter what they try.

 

Try a product like Acronis True Image, pretty cheap and very flexible. Backup, create boot device (USB, CD...), boot to device and restore onto new drive (after you format it). Easy peasy.

I had to use a USB2 drive, my USB3 was not recognized.

 

Not one near me and their policy looks bad.

 

This might be a good alternative if people can wait another month or so.

Acer confirms Aspire S7 pricing and availability - SlashGear

Up to 8GB RAM, probably up to 256GB SSD, 1080p display, Thunderbolt. Hopefully a review models gets sent out in the next few weeks.

 

tommedema, can you help me out? I swapped the SSD and am using a USB to install Win7. When asked to pick a hard drive to install windows on I get an error "Setup was unable to create a new system..." A lot of forums are saying that you can't have windows detect any HDD to install to new SSDs and that 32GB internal SSD is showing up. I don't know how to deactivate it to install my SSD. How did you get yours to install? Did you partition the SSD or have Win7 install on it Raw? I've been reading conflicting reports and have yet to see a good english "how-to" on swapping the hybrid out for an SSD and doing a clean install.

 

Can someone compare the performance between the UX31a's SSD and the UX32A/UX32VD's hybrid setup?

Does the UX32VD come with a 5400 or 7200 rpm hard drive?

I am on my sixth UX31a. I am now thinking about going with the UX32a or just another company all together. The bleed is still there, but I have come to terms with that. On my other five units, the fan would barely come on and when it did I barely could hear it. On this unit I have heard it spin really fast during the boot process once and it constantly runs ( at which sounds like a normal speed), but it is running even now when I am just typing in this comment box. I only have Google open with this one tab.... so it seems odd that the fan is running for long duration. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks,

 

5400 RPM. In mine and a test site's UX32VD it was a Hitachi Z5K-500. The fan problems are a known defect on some (many?) units.

 

I think that very loud fan noises is the known defect but that low fan noise when fan runs for 1-2mins and then turns off for 10-20s even with very low cpu usage is a feature atm? Maybe they are fixing it in future. Is there actually anyone whose UX32VD stays silent like 5+ mins all the time (not like once a day or something)?

 

The hybrid setup is slow to start but the best thing you'll do to that PC is format everything and install windows + favorite apps on the SSD and use the HDD for storage. From the factory it is setup as a cache drive and those setups will never be as fast as dedicating your SSD for certain programs/windows.

Boot times came down from 27-30s to 14-15s. The entire PC feels snappy and quick like my home computer. Great thing about my UX32VD is I have the ability to add another 8gb ram (10total) and I can always swap the 5400RPM HDD to an SSD.

For now, I'm going to leave the HDD as windows, microsoft office, + all the apps I use still leave me 10gigs free space on my SSD. I used junction to move several gb of the windows files to the HDD. HDD is storing media and any files.

My UX32VD did not have this fan issue when I first got it. After doing a fresh install of windows, I still do not have the issue. My UX32VD stays silent 24/7 unless I am gaming. Before trying to game on the PC I was wondering if they even installed a fan on the PC it was that quiet. I can put my ear up to the keyboard, grated hinge area, and it is not making a single sound. Bios version: 206

 

Mine seems to be fine. The only time I notice the fan is when playing a game. I read in another thread that it may be related to the bios. The poster went back to the 203 bios and claims it solved his fan problems.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

From all research I did in this and other forums, all 256 drives on UX31A come as SanDisk but for 128 drive models you have a chance to get either SanDisk or ADATA. Since mid-July, it seems most users report SanDisk even for 128 drive....

 

Thank you everyone. Basically, I only heard the fan really ramp up one time and it was during a boot out of the bios, that I was checking at the time. I do know that my other unit's fans barely turned on at all. This unit kept running at low speed for a while last night. I am not sure since I just got it that it was just overworking or what is going on. I just want to make sure that I get a good unit on this one since it is my sixth one...

I was looking at the UX32a to replace this one if this was an issue on the unit, but since I have had the UX31a I wanted to make sure that the hybrid drive and a i3 processor would not just drive me nuts since I have somewhat gotten use to the UX31a speed.

I really decided on the UX31a because of the size and the ssd because I start at a new college in two weeks. The campus is large and I will have to do a good deal of walking, so the size is perfect. I got the SSD because I have been told that it will hold up if my backpack is dropped or something compared to the standard hard drive.

 

Okay, so if someone gets a new UX31A and wants to test for the fan problem, what would be a good procedure for doing so?

 

Use the computer and listen for abnormal fan activity?

 

Ya, but abnormal fan activity is a relative term.

 

Is it just me in California, or is it the UX32VD SOLD OUT COUNTRY WIDE within the US?

 

I haven't been able to find any either.

 

you have to download the usb3 driver from asus download and put it in the usb stick with win7 os.

 

ive had about 2 weeks with my ux31a (256gb i7 from ms store). awesome machine. here are some comments.

1) it has the sandisk ssd but is still super fast. no complaints as its the fastest machine ive ever owned
2) i haven't gone out of my way to check backlight bleeding on a black screen, but for normal use i haven't noticed any, and thus it is of no concern to me. I haven't watched any movies but i have played games with the lights in the room out and i haven't noticed anything.
3) i dont know if this is the same fan issue that everyone is complaining about, but mine will do a quick burst when it is thinking (say loading a webpage or something) but then turn off almost as quickly, it seems very efficient. it stays on during heavy loads but is extremely quiet and i can only hear it in very quiet rooms. overall the machine is quieter and runs WAY cooler than the 2011 MBA that i owned briefly.
4) the trackpad is nearly as good as the MBA. it helps to speed up the scrolling speed, as doing a "flick" swipe doesn't work very well. my only regret is that you can't set custom gestures and that i can't set up a 3 finger drag to be the same as right click and drag. on the MBA i had gestures for easy browsing (such as open in new tab, previous/next tab, close tab). as a workaround on this, i mapped the right alt/ctrl/menu/shift buttons to these things, and it is almost as convenient.

overall, great laptop, highly recomended

 

Hi. Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, I don't know what abnormal behavior is comprised of, and I don't know what sorts of activities normally provoke such behavior. So, I'm not really sure where to start. If I am using the computer for something, such as web browsing or typing a document, how long does it ordinarily take for this behavior to crop up? Do I need to use a more demanding application (or set of applications) in order to provoke it? I just don't have a good sense of what an effective diagnostic procedure would be.

 

I've done that, but what's happening is I'm getting an error, "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition." and I can only guess it's because it's detecting that integrated SSD. I used diskpart from the cprompt and made the integrated drive offline, but I'm still getting the error.

 

damn this is hard to believe. So if u are surfing on the very quiet room (you cannot hear it in "normal" area) your fans won't turn on (for a few secs) at any point? Sound they are making is not loud as it seems it/they are spinning at minimum speed. Sorry to bug you (!) but gotta be absolutely certain so we know which is the normal behavior..

 

A couple of things about the Zenbook:

1) I rest my palm on the silver finish quite a lot (beside the touchpad), will the paint start to wear? I really hope they designed it to prevent this.

2) The rubber feet are not so rubbery, they glide on every surface, they're like a matte texture. What can be done?

 

It seems to be anodized aluminum, not paint, so unless your sweat is extremely alkaline (like a sodium hydroxide solution), you won't wear anything off.

 

I got m UX31A i7, 256GB, Sandisk SSD from the MS store and I concur with the above statements. I however have not noticed any ramping of the fan. Possibly it's so quiet I'm not hearing it under normal conditions?