Zenbook U500 Announced: 15.6" HD IPS, GT650M, Quad-Core i7...

Anyone have a line on whether or not there will be a version of this without the discrete GPU? I'm thinking this would be a fun computer to program on and I couldn't care less about graphics for my work. Also, configuring UNIX systems with GPUs can be a nightmare.

Thanks

 

Cooling design comes first-- the XPS 15 has only one fan and the CPU heat pipe passes directly over the GPU before the exhaust outlet. We don't know much about fan quality and heat dissipation but we do know that there are two fans spaced far apart and the exhaust is at the top between the hinges.

As Pakii said, the 7750M is supposedly near the level of the 650M GDDR5, which is hardly inadequate and has decent cooling as well.

The Envy compares to the Macbook Pro non-retina in size, and the U500 is comparable to the Macbook Retina. And if we had to choose between the two we would pick..

 

I also hope they have a version with no (or weaker) discrete GPU, it'll probably produce less heat and hopefully be a lot cheaper.

 

hmmm...i dont think this will come without a gpu. this one fills in the spot of thin+light+ powerful which previously was the mbp/envy

im hoping hp follows rmbp and u500 with the next envy design .

wow i thought the xps 15 had 2 fans... what was dell thinking obviously it was gonna overheat. and yeah the envy has excellent cooling if only the bios was unlocked.

as for choosing b/w envy and mbp i went envy with u500 and retina i would choose the u500. i hate mac os and too expensive for me.

 

This is great, I was just thinking about how awesome a bigger, more powerful Zenbook would be. I will quite likely get one of these, providing they don't have horrible throttling or Wi-Fi issues.

 

Well looks like Hp announced their retina equivalent:

HP announces 15-inch Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, Envy 4 Ultrabook with touch -- Engadget

though don't know yet what GPU, but it's got a thunderbolt (eGPU possible then).

 

Just as a side note, I think I read the CPU is configurable, so if the quad core i^7 were an issue, an i5 could be configured I think? I think that would be fine for me.

 

oops, didn't notice that, my bad...

argh... no numpad... *discard from list*

iirc engadget video says "optional discrete graphics"...

 

That's actually my favorite layout ... no numpad, but a row of HOME/END/PGUP/PGDN on the right. Only HP seems to do it now

 

I read in several reports that the 650M is "optional". Whether that means the base model will have a weaker GPU (630M, like the difference between the N56VM/VZ?) or none at all remains to be seen.

 

That HP is going to cost a ton. I'm sure it will be $1700ish+.

 

The HP will start at $1400 but I have seen no indication that it has a dGPU. It's a bigger, touch-enabled version of the Spectre XT. It's a completely different type of notebook than the U500. Furthermore the Spectre XT has ULV processors, so I can only assume the 15" model will as well. The HP vs. U500 is sort of like Macbook Air vs. Macbook Pro.

It does have Thunderbolt, which might enable the use of an external GPU in the future, but that will add additional cost to its already fairly high price tag.

 

Ah, I guess without a dgpu it would be more in that range. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

oh my.

The Zenbook UX32VD was my original love at first sight ultrabook, but I figured the entry level 620M graphics and good, but not great battery life wouldn't suit me. So I'd been waiting for the Gigabyte U2442V to become available in the US, and in the meantime had half convinced myself to get a Samsung Series 7 15" instead rather than wait - better processor, better graphics, better battery - but it meant a bit more bulk and a good deal more weight so I wasn't sure.

Now Asus announces this and now I don't know what to do - it might be priced out of reach, but I'd hate to go ahead with the Samsung or Gigabyte and then have it turn out I could have gotten this for just a little bit more.

What should I do???

 

A Preview that includes a closeup shot of one of the four speakers: Asus Zenbook U500 preview - Laptop - Trusted Reviews



I noticed that on that preview and other articles that they mention it has an HD4000 (for Optimus with the 650M, like the N56VZ I expect) and Bang & Olufsen speakers - and may have a subwoofer option just like the N56 series it looks like.

One thing I'm wondering about is the review mentions it has a Microphone port but not a Headphone one - I sure hope they include inputs for both at 3.5mm - it's pretty important to me and I'd rather not have to deal with some kind of dongle to have both (I use Skype quite often).



Edit: Looking at the closeup image myself it looks more like a combination of Headphone and Microphone symbols next to the one 3.5mm port - it's gotta be a Audio-in Combo port like the other Zenbooks... hmmm... does anyone know what sort of adapter we'd need to use both the Mic and Headphone/Speaker out at the same time?


Wish one of these review sites would bring a scale in their pocket and weigh the darn thing though - that and 20 minutes to install some benches a give it a run over with an IR thermometer and decibel counter too - depending on the results, I'm so sold

Peter

 

Wow, after reading this review I'm even more excited than before (didn't think it could be possible)

 

Depends how long you're willing or able to wait, I guess. If you need something right away there's the Vaio S15 too - 1080p IPS display, GT 640M LE and so on. It's quite light for a 15" and can be had with a quad-core CPU for about $1250.

I will be waiting because I need fairly good color reproduction for my work, and the S15 doesn't provide that. Going by the UX series, this ASUS probably will.

 

I was literally seconds away from ordering a VAIO S15, so this throws a wrench in the works.

All I need to know is price and weight.

Weight I am guessing 4, though maybe they is optimistic? Little heavier than the SS9 15 is what I am thinking.

Price wise, I am a little concerned. It could well be argued that this blows the SS9 out of the water, and therefore might warrant say a 1699 price tag. If it is 1399-1499 I can swing it, but past that it gets cost prohibitive. This is definitely the laptop I want though.

 

4 lbs is extremely optimistic - the Vaio S15 is 4.4 lbs and it's one of the lightest 15" laptops on the market. The Samsung S9 doesn't have a GPU or 2 hard drives or 4 speakers or much of anything else, which explains its weight.

In this form factor the closest one I can think of is the VIZIO CN15-A2 (15" 1080P IPS, GT 640M LE, hybrid HDD, 0.86" thick) and it weighs 5.28 lbs. The Dell XPS15 L521x weighs 5.79 lbs, as does the Envy 15. Even the remarkably light Retina MBP is 4.46 lbs.

Going by those numbers I would be surprised if the U500 is under 5 lbs, let alone 4. I'm guessing around 5.1 - 5.2 lbs.

 

Is it just me or do any of you have issues with these latest laptops that have numeric keypad on the right? I can't get used to it. I would order this laptop in a heartbeat if it had centered trackpad and keyboard WITHOUT the numeric keypad. When it's hooked up to external keyboard/mouse/monitor, it's fine...but when I'm on the laptop for a long time, I hate the fact that my hands are off centered from my viewing angle. I find it really uncomfortable. Even on a bigger laptop like Alienware M17xR3, I couldn't get used to it. Same with Envy 17 3D.

I decided that I simply will not buy a computer with off-centered keyboard... so I've narrowed my choices down to Sony Z (when it goes on sale), UX32VD (when screen bleeding seems better), or the Dell XPS 15 (new one). Even the MacBook Pro 17's don't have the numeric keypad and I think Apple made the right decision on that one...

 

hmm i would say its around 4.5 lbs just cause its rivaling the s15 and the retina

 

If you do a lot of typing I can see how that would be an issue. For the record I think the Envy 15 doesn't have one either.

 

I think you make some good points. I just this sense that they wouldn't want it much more than 4, 4.5 at most, simply because they are putting the Zenbook name on it, and right now people have a pretty specific notion of what a Zenbook is. Could be wrong, and just placing my hopes for it into a good bit of over analysis.

 

I never have any issues with off centered touchpads. In fact, I'm opposite to you: I will hardly consider any 15" and above laptop without a numpad. As for the touchpad being off centered on laptops with numpad, it's not a problem to me since it is just under the spacebar and my thumbs know where to go. I feel that numpads are a necessity on laptops of this size, as the big screen and high resolution is very good for excel and datasheet work, and most of those involve keying in numbers, which will be very convenient with a numpad. However, to each his own

 

yeah same with me, i dont like that the trackpad has to be offcentered but i would rather have the num pad

 

I just returned an XPS 15 due to hardware issues...this looks like an excellent alternative. I hope it actually does get released near the end of October. I can wait 2 months, but much longer, ehh... Then again the current options for 15" higher performance notebooks are somewhat lacking...

 

I personally prefer a centered keyboard with larger keys to one with a number pad. It's just easier to type and I don't need my keys on there twice. It's not going to stop me from buying this if that's the one concession I have to make it's pretty minor.

How many other notebooks have anti-glare, 1080p IPS screens with 650M graphics? For that I would be willing to buy a notebook that was 1.4 inches thick and weighed 6 lbs. To get that and a quad-core i7 in an attractive and relatively light package I would put up with a lot.

 

Don't say that too loud..Asus might hear you.

 

This computer is exactly what I was looking for : an alternative to the Macbook Pro Retina
The HP Spectre XT could also be an alternative but apparently it doesn't have a dGpu...Too bad the touchscreen looks awesome (even if it looks a bit glossy).
Anyway this Asus U500 will definitely be my next laptop! Thanks Asus!

 

I wonder what raw gaming performance would be vs. U2442n in native resolutions?

I mean this things got a faster GPU, but it also has to push almost 50% more pixels thru. I'm not that familiar with difference 640m vs. 650m, or whether it is a linear function in performance/screensize.

 

They are very hard to compare based specs on paper alone. The manufacturer can set various clock speeds, and based on heat efficiency that might drop even further in some cases. On top of that, the type of memory and even the drivers can make a difference.

I'm sure there are cases where a well cooled, overclocked 640M with GDDR5 would beat a throttled 650M with GDDR3.

 

This thing is putting a serious hitch in my original plans, it better be good... cause it sure does look it

As for the performance of the 650m, the macbook pro at 2880x1800 was able to do 25 fps on crysis 2 at ultra setting with just a tad bit of overclocking. In most cases it even beats out the GTX 660m. This having a 1080p display it should handle everything fine for years to come, assuming the cooling keeps up.

 

So how do people legally play games that require a disk to be in the drive? Get a no-cd crack? Do i need to buy Alcohol?

 

Buy from Steam? I don't think any new games have needed the CD in the drive for a few years. If you're playing old ones, daemon tools or alcohol. Or get a USB optical drive. Plus they do make other models of computer for people who really love discs.

bjammin, the 640m and 650m are the same silicon. The only performance difference is the clock difference of 100-200mhz depending on specific clocks. The GDDR5 models being better than the GDDR3 models.

 

However the 650 has a much higher memory bandwidth

 

Any information on dimensions of this laptop? Trying to assess the portability.

 

0.78" thick. 15.6" diagonal plus bezel (1" or so?)

 

Um, no. They're identical. The GDDR3 650 has the same memory bandwidth as the GDDR3 650 and the GDDR5 650 has the same memory bandwidth as the GDDR5 640.

AnandTech - NVIDIA's GeForce 600M Series: Mobile Kepler and Fermi Die Shrinks

 

You can always change the game's resolution to 900p if you notice too much lag. I think in almost every case the ASUS with its quad-core CPU and better GPU will perform better than the Gigabyte, unless the ASUS has some pretty severe overheating/throttling issues.

We only have the thickness and screen size for now, but it's a safe bet to look to the Retina MBP and the VIZIO CN15 for a comparable form factor. I'm expecting a weight of about 5 lbs.

 

Can anyone speculate on whether this beauty is likely to accept 16GB of ram? I assume if it only has one slot then we're doomed to a max of 8GB right?

 

Don't think they use one slot because in that way you lose advantages of dual-channel. Also MBP retina uses 2 slots (soldered, but they're 2)

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

I also agree this notebook would be better with a CENTERED KEYBOARD, NO KEYPAD (redundant imo), and dare I say a BETTER quality keyboard than the current Asus zenbook series. Macbook air keys have a more centered design that makes typing more comfortable and it should be easy to implement this ergonomic design.

If they can make it weigh no more than 5 pounds (preferably less), I will buy it.

 

Maybe he meant one open slot But yes, it would definitely have at least 2 RAM slots. The UX32 has one soldered and one open so we can assume the same for the U500. I would be very surprised if it had 4 RAM slots - the only somewhat comparable laptop I can think of that does have 4 is the Envy 15.

Entering large amounts of numbers without a numpad is pretty awkward.

 

If you're willing to put up with 1.6" and 6.8 lbs you could go buck wild and get a 1080p matte screen, a GTX680M, an i7-3920XM, 32GB ram, two HDD/SSDs plus an mSATA SSD and one of the best cooling systems on the planet in a 15" Clevo. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

 

Its only matter of habit - you already have ordinary numkeys. But centered keyboard with centered touchpad are matter of ergonomic. Which is more important than just habit...

 

I agree, the numpad seems unnecessary on a laptop. I'd rather have just a single column to the right of the keyboard with home/end/pgup/pgdn keys ... but nobody seems to do this layout except HP.

However the worst option of all to me is not having dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn at all ... CTRL-SHIFT-END (select to end of document) becomes CTRL-SHIFT-FN-DOWN ... and that's just plain nasty!

 

What do you guys think? Would this fit standard 9.5mm 2.5" SSD/HDD drives or only 7mm ones?

I found a good deal on a Vertex 4 9.5mm and I'm thinking to use it to upgrade my current laptop for now and get the cheaper U500 and put it in this guy when I get it.

Thanks,
Peter

 

IMO, The current zenbook keyboard is just as good as the MacBook air keyboard. They are both centered, chic let designs.

 

7mm are becoming standard in slim laptops.

 

No, the keys are not identically "centered" between the new Zenbook (Prime model included) and the Macbook Airs.

By "centered," I mean that each key on the macbook air's keyboard has a more concave shape and the edges of each key do not give to slight pushing from the fingers. Thus, your finger naturally becomes centered on each key and when pressing directly in the middle of each key gives way to the depression more (as it should) instead of being able to have the same "push" by pressing the keys off-center. And yes, I appreciate these small engineering ergonomics that most don't notice hehe.

The macbook air has superior keyboard ergonomic design (comfort) compared to the Zenbook Prime hands-down and I'm speaking from first hand experience of having owned both notebooks.