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

Not many options that come with a full-voltage processor, 15" 1080p IPS matte screen, and aren't bulky/heavy. It's unfortunate, but my other requirements keep my option list short. The screen of the x1 carbon is what keeps me away, otherwise it was a very promising notebook.

 

Yeah, I know how that feels. Buying a laptop these days is infuriating. Almost all of them are cheap hunks of crap. In my case, I don't need displayport so this is looking like the perfect laptop for me. The price is quite high, but I guess that's the price you pay... literally.

 

Exactly. In the end, I would only be looking to connect the laptop to my high resolution display maybe 10% of the time, so I may have to end up settling for this. While not optimal, I think it definitely checks more boxes for me than anything else.

 

The HDMI port might support the resolution you need, but it's just not guaranteed I think. But the nice thing about DisplayPort is that the minimum spec is enough for 2560x1600 whereas with HDMI you have to be sure you have the right version with enough bandwidth. For me I'm not sure if I can do with a usb graphics card thingy because I use Linux primarily and graphics drivers are all kinds of dumb on Linux so I have no doubt that usb 3.0 + graphics chip would be a pain to get working. If you do get this laptop (assuming Asus doesn't decide to just can it altogether because they seem to want to pretend this doesn't exist) I'd really appreciate it if you could report back about high resolution support. At this point that's the deciding factor between this and another laptop for me, since my current laptop does support it via DisplayPort. Might just end up sticking with it for a while longer, it's not like it's a bad laptop by any means.

 

I've looked around and Adorama seems to have the lowest price for the dual 128 GB SSD version at $1860.

I bet Asus thinks the money put into advertising the UX51VZ will be a waste, as the general public prefers the Retina MacBook Pro anyway. They are planning on making and selling a small quantity of these ultra-premium laptops to people who want Asus for whatever strange reason, maybe to those who want Microsoft over Apple. In any case, I am confident the UX51VZ will not be as good as the Retina. Apple has always remained a step ahead of the competition, and Asus is just trying to get their small cut of the market share with a quick release. Regardless, even though they are catering to a small group of consumers, I think Asus is still going to sell far less than they are anticipating. A lot of these Zenbooks are going to sit on shelves until the price gets lowered.

 

Don't worry the HDMI port has version 1.4. So you are good to go.
The link here Zenbook Touch shows the specifications of UX31 touchscreen, but the HDMI specification would be the same for UX51.

 

Many of the sources you cite list the graphics card as having 2GB DDR3. So how are you so confident it is GDDR5?

 

ASUS confirmed the GDDR5 in the press release, as well as MikeTLB who had a pre-production unit.

I personally called XoticPC myself and was told that the current specs are a generic list that was provided from Asus.

 

Yes, but it's written

 

There listing them in European vendors as €1699, why do they jack the price up so much more in the american sites they have 'em listed at $2000 which is about €1550, a €150 increase for no reason

 

That's 1920x1200 at 60FPS and 48bit/px.
You get upto 4K resolution and definitely 2560x1600 at 60 FPS
(source: Wikipedia)

 

Hopefully we'll see more details this week? Really keen to grab one, especially if it ends up being under $2k.

The simple fact of the matter is most PC monitors can't take resolutions higher than 1920x1200@60hz via HDMI, hence displayport or DVI-DL.

I swear by my U2711s, DVI-DL is just the way to go.

 

Not so sure. That's theoretical. As implemented in any Intel chipset, HDMI 1.4 and 1.4a seem to output only 1920x1200, not 2560x1600. I've just spent days looking into this because I would have loved to get 2560x1600 out of HDMI, too.

In fact, if you look at Intel's own specs on their desktop motherboards (H77 / Q77 / Z77 chipsets for IB CPUs), you'll see the max. resolution of HDMI always capped at 1920x1200 and only DisplayPort capable of 2560x1600. And Googling for 'hdmi 2560x1440' doesn't reveal any success.

Maybe a software update is possible in the future. I would be thrilled though if you were able to find someone who has driven 2560x1600 off their HDMI...

 

Upon doing more research, it seems like laptop manufacturers might be giving us the shaft when it comes to implementing the HDMI specification.
If this is case with UX51 as well, then that would certainly be a pity. The retina MBP can support a total of 3 external monitors, with 2 of them running at 2560x1440

 

It's not like vendors/manufacturers do on-the-fly currency conversions. So they set something that makes sense to them in each region and hedges their bets probably. And manufacturers can always choose to lower it if they want.

 

Who says that HDMI is connected to HD4000?
For example on XPS15 L521x HDMI is connected to Nvidia card this is proved by thermal shut down that many users have experienced using an external monitor (that laptop has many problem to handle simultaneously cpu and gpu).

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Because in Europe we have something called VAT (in my country it's called IVA).
This tax usually is around 20% of the value of thing that you are buying.

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1920x1200 is the max resolution for single link HDMI and DVI (which are nearly the same, HDMI just has audio in addition to the DVI video signal). You need dual-link for higher resolutions.

 

But you can't fullscreen an app on but one screen. A great feature in the OSX

 

We don't know but that's generally the standard configuration. And I think that's how Asus has done it in the past.

 

It's always put on the intel graphics bus with optimus setups. It's not really a problem, though. As far as I understand it, it's only the final framebuffer that's actually stored on the "intel graphics card". So basically the nvidia card can take care of the decoding through the driver, etc., before it's put on the final buffer. No different than if the hdmi port was stuck directly on the nvidia card internally, or next to it on the bus, etc.

 

If you had read the last few pages you would have seen us discussing how the Intel card doesn't support outputting dual-link signals over HDMI, which limits resolution support. It's still running through the Intel chip's outputs. Performance, it takes a very small hit, but that's not what we were talking about.

And yes, some Optimus laptops have video ports that bypass Optimus entirely.

 

Had a bit of a chat with one of the Asus sales guys on the phone. He said because it's all come out so quickly they haven't gotten any updated price guides etc, so at the moment retailers are just guessing. His best guess is ~$1199-1899AUD for the entire zenbook range, but they should find out when their price guides come on Thursday. Models should be arriving in the next 2 weeks or so, 'sometime in november' is when they were told.

He also told me that (for Australia, at least), they are only getting the U500VZ, which doesn't have touch, and the touch based models have the suffix 'A' attached to them (so U500VZA, UX52VSA etc).

 

Too bad. I was really into the touch U500

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Keep in mind I was talking to an Australian sales rep, so he was talking specifically out our region....

Probably different for europe/USA

 

Yea, however, I need windows over OSX, yes I do know that OSX is superior in certain aspects, but aspects I do not care about. The MBP is popular of course, but it seems like this asus notebook will be under 2k. Same specs, similar aluminum unibody, but of course the screen is amazing on the mbp, But I would not want to sacrifice microsoft for a screen on a 15 inch monitor, the IPS FHD is definitely good enough. I had a asus laptop in the past which lasted me 5 and a half years without any issues and handled all sorts of games I threw at it (The asus M51SN) and as well with external monitor connected. So... I am an asus fan now because I have not had a negative experience with them.

Apple products are premium from the start, can't argue with that.

I just don't want to be a part of a SEA of macbooks opened all at once in a lecture room or outside in the public haha. it gets pretty horrific (or beautiful in some perspectives)

I would get a MBP but If VMing the Windows 7 or 8 onto the MBP will dramatically reduce the battery life as usual, thats not something I want.

I'd rather get this, also the $1999 price tag doesn't seem to be fixed, I see them going down to $1800, maybe different options will come out, id be happy with a SDD+HDD. but I don't see that coming out.


Sigh. w.e

 

bunch of bull. You dont do that without a market research first, to determine the price, size of the market share for the product and a lot of other things. the rep didnt knew the price, just that.

 

Eh?

All it is, is an issue of the sales rep didn't have any more information than what was in the press release. He said he will know more when they get the sales guide on Thursday.

 

I am currently living in Australia...

 

Well, now I am worried. This U500 does have a touch screen which I like. I think that's a nice addition. But on that page, I can't seem to find any info (on any computer) the details about the graphics situation. If they added a touch screen to the U500VZ have they removed the GT650M - or changed it ? I really would like the whole spec sheet and a release date. At this point I am about to be willing to pay almost anything.

 

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but a news post on the asus page reveils this information. I found it on the asus.dk page but it should be global. It was posted 5 days ago, and includes info on the whole Zenbook family.

Here it says it still has the 2GB GT650M and 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB onboard on the zenbook page. It also says the 15.6" FHD comes with "optional capacitive multi-touch", so I guess it all comes down to availability in your region.

For me, I sure hope that Denmark will order the touch screen ones.

 

Damn now it looks like the retailers in Denmark are all updating to show they will have stock around November 15th
My current laptop needs replacing badly and this kind of seems like exactly the laptop I have been waiting for.

 

Same in Sweden (at least Komplett and their partner changed to 14/11). However there are still some shops that show preliminary date 29/10 (today), 31/10 and one still at 26/10. I am curious if any of these shops will get any this week or if its all delayed...

EDIT: One of the biggest resalers just changed from 29/10 to 31/10. Now there's two stores that say 31/10, and the rest either dont have a date or have a date at 6/11, 14/11 or 15/11.

 

Touch version is not listed at all on the German Zenbook page :-(

 

The touch version is not listed anywhere as far as I can see. By announcing the touch version Asus have, in a feat of brilliance, undermined sales of the non-touch laptop they still haven't released by promising a better one just around the corner. I expect there will be a wait before we see any touch ones, even after the non-touch one comes out.

 

I think we can say for sure that if touch version exists then it costs more than actual prices listed in several sites for European market, in specific more than 1700€ for 2X128GB and more than 2000€ for 2X256GB.

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Asus have a problem. The new laptop will hit market just before the Christmas and soon after they will have to start work on Haswell/Shark Bay/GF7xx which will be released spring/summer 2013. I think they are six months behind with this laptop and it will be sad to spend £1500 on a laptop which will be outdated after short time.

 

That is a fair point, but given the length of time between the initial showing of a new product and it hitting the market I don't expect to see many Haswell-based products widely available until late summer or fall next year. Right now there is very little on offer for the market niche that the UX51 occupies. Unfortunately, Asus seem unable to capitalize on that by bringing it to market quickly, and by the time it does emerge there may be competition.

Personally, I don't see other manufacturers rushing into the luxury laptop market that the UX51 occupies (Sony, the closest competitor, seems to be backing out of that market if anything), and it could be almost a year before Asus is ready to sell any Haswell-based alternative. So there is still some life in the UX51, if they can release it within the next month or so.

I agree that if they had released it a few months ago, and if the laptop is well cooled, they would have had several months to enjoy being way ahead of the competition. But perhaps there are logistical reasons why they are unable to produce it more quickly. Or perhaps they are just preoccupied with producing 1001 gimmicky tablets.

 

I bet if Nvidia will release new GPUs they will be only a rebranding of actual GPUs, maybe slightly overclocked.
The Haswell big improvement is specially for dual core solution, it will have even chipset on the same CPU chip, but this will not happen for quad core chip.

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For me the timing of this laptop's release is perfect! I just sent back the last HP envy 17 3210eo to the store after they fried their motherboards for the fourth time (4 times in 2 hours of actual operation!!)

I like win8 but it really needs touch screen so if possible i will go for one with it - is there any cons with touch - except for fungerprints

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^ @Mac
i agreed, still expecting a improvement of 20 to 30% of cpu power, better multicore support and battery life plus a 10 to 20% gpu power if re-branded, is still quite a bit to look for, specially on the battery life, integrated chipset or not, ivi bridge battery life sucks.

 

I love how for so much discussion there is in this thread, not even one person has said to have placed an order. Apple was running out of Retinas during initial release due to overwhelming demand. The Zenbooks are out there and ready to buy in the United States. But no one has, and the price is going to remain the same for quite a while. You might all be waiting for more information or reviews, but by now, I can say this laptop is something most of us are going to be dreaming about instead of owning.

 

And that will be outdated when Broadwell launches in Spring 2014. C'mon, if you wait for the next big thing, you'll wait forever. Tech is advancing at such a rapid pace that something new will arrive every few months.

 

One or two people did say they had placed preorders. But yes, the rest of us are waiting for reviews and a clear statement of the specs for each model. And now that Asus have mentioned a touchscreen version some of us are waiting for evidence of that. Apple are good at getting press coverage for their products, including reviews. I don't know why Asus have not given any of these to reviewers yet. They seem to be in a mess over the whole thing.

Besides, it is not even available for preorder in my country. As soon as I see a good review and a store with stock I'll be ready to place an order.

 

Why dont you show us a US place where it is actually in stock? If you have been keeping track of it like the rest of us have, most retail sites do not have correct specs, so we wouldn't even know which model numbers we would be getting.

Right, because you can't even order it.

 

We have already seen a review just a month ago.
I almost sure that the only things that could change respect the unit reviewed are just bios or better drivers.
Who wants a touch screen must consider a price increasing by this option.

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Still, I would feel more confident if I had seen a review of a production model. And I want to know about the internals, particularly the SSD configuration. Asus didn't allow the reviewer of the pre-production model to open it up.

 

Regarding SSDs: according to first press release there are 2X2.5" bay.
For sure we don't know if these bays are for 5mm or 7mm hard disk (for me it's not possible Asus uses bigger solution than those).
I don't believe that Asus will use any mSata connection in U500VZ because in others smaller zenbook it had not used it, also Asus will need a specific motherboard with double msata connector.

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You can find it here:
ZENBOOK

But if you switch to the German version of the website...the touch version is gone :-(

 

That is probably just because Asus are not good (to say the least) at keeping their websites consistent. In fact, when I switch to the German version of the site I don't see the UX51VZ/U500VZ at all, just the UX21A and UX31A.