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

Does anyone know where you can actually buy this thing?

 

I will

 

It highy depends on where you live..

 

ComputerBase test is out (German): Test: Asus Zenbook UX51VZ - ComputerBase

 

They measured a much higher contrast (800:1) than notebookcheck found (500:1) which would clearly indicate that another panel is used in this machine!? Sadly I did not get any response so far which hardware ID they can read out :-(

 

Can anyone tell me what the experience is like for a 15.6 in screen with 1080p resolution? I tried an Acer 13 inch 1080p touchscreen in a store, and the text was waayyyyy to small for extended use, both in the new Windows Apps, and on the desktop. My test was to open a mostly-text multi-column article in either the News app or the Travel app where the text is roughly the same size as the standard font on desktop apps.

So I tried a few things I thought might help, on the Acer and on my 24 inch desktop, as well as the Visual Studio emulator (all set to 1080p)... First, I tried changing the Display options in Control Panel in the desktop to 125% and 150%, but those settings only seem to affect the desktop (these are problematic for desktop applications anyway, so hoping not to have to use those). I also tried changing the Ease of Access in the (Metro) PC Settings to Make everything on your screen bigger - and that blew things up way too much - it changed the start screen from 6 tiles vertically to only show 3 tiles vertically.

I looked at several of the "marketing" shots U500/ux51, and some showed only 4 tiles vertically, while other shots showed 5 tiles vertically, compared to my tests at home where I see 6 tiles vertically on 1080p. I'm thinking they might not be using "real" screenshots from the U500/ux51.

So can anyone who has one (or has seen one) say what the experience is like for high-res on 15.6 inch screen? I'm really hoping the 15.6 at 1080p is more reasonable.

Thanks!

 

No, It show only the one review is wrong, or they are using different tools to test it, so you can't compare directly reviews from different sources,
Even the max temp on external chassis is much different only 40°C, but the point of max temp its neither that near of the out of exhaust air, this is a little strange.
For me Notebookcheck and is more reliable than ComputerBase, but the best reviews usually come from Anandtech.

I have already said that Krayziehustler was referring to panel of his HP ENVY 15 DV6 72XX, that is not an IPS panel, but a good TN one.

 

I decided to read Anandtech's latest review on the 13" rMBP, posted on the 13th. That SKU doesn't have a dGPU and is smaller. Somewhat a compromise for me in case I don't like the Zenbook, and would opt for a developr only / no gaming laptop.

This is something that I have discussed with others and we agree, that the CPU's and GPU's aren't quite ready for retina. But in the next iteration of the rMBP or even the one after that it will be amazing.

This quote from anandtech, solidifed my stance that I would not want the rMBP's, even though I would go for the 15" one.

So the question remains. For gaming + developing, is there something that is better than this Zenbook (regardless of price) ?

 

1080p is perfect size for 15 incher. I have the scaling down to 100% and the test is crisp.. I dont understand the point of retina noone is ever going to stare at their screen from a cm away to check for pixels. at 1080p I dont spot pixels unless I put my face to the screen. As for windows 8. I am running it right now with no enlargements and im getting 5 down and 5.25 Long across (10.5 short across). 1080p would be small for 13 in but if there was good scaling i could see it being useful. and remember u can always go from high res to low res (zoom in) but not low res to high

 

with this form and performance.....no not until CES probably when every company heads this direction. the s15 might be worth considering but build quality is far less so still not as good as this

 

Sorry, does anyone know about availability/pricing in the US?

 

Zenbook Touch added to Asus.com . No touchscreen mentioned

 

15.0" 16:9 HD with EWV (1366 x 768) /IPS FHD (1920x1080) LED Backlight anti-glare.

Even if EWV means Enhanced Wide Viewing, I think that is very probable that this is the panel for touch screen version.

Touch screen is mentioned in dimensions:
•380 * 254.5 * 6 ~ 19.7mm(w/o touch screen)
•380 * 254.5 * 6 ~ 20.0mm(w/ touch screen)

Maybe if there is a version with 3632QM + HDD in my country with reasonable price I could consider a purchase.

 

Display 15.0" 16:9 HD with EWV (1366 x 768) /IPS FHD (1920x1080) LED Backlight anti-glare

If the EWV panel is the touchscreen version, would it mean that the touchscreen version would only have a support for 1366 x 768 resoulution

 

I already seen something like that for XPS15 L502X, the touch screen version was only available with a 1366X768 screen.

 

They keep speaking about ssd+hdd configuration, but now that we've seen the internal, do you think that a 2,5" hdd would really fit in there together with one of these SSDs?

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

The sku list a few pages back shows a touch version from Italy. I did a search on the Italy sku, and it came up with a couple sites. there were four versions of the ux51, two with touch and two without. Each of the touch versions added about 130 euros more than the non touch versions. Both touch versions are listed with 1080p resolutions.

I doubt 1080p touch would be exclusive to Italy. so at this point it feels like it's just a matter of time........

 

Thanks for the reply - definitely encouraged me about it. I called around today and found an Asus N56 15" with 1080p, and went to see it tonight. You were right - it's perfect. The N56 doesn't have an IPS display, so comparing it to a 13.3" Zenbook Prime it looked washed out. So I'm really anticipating that the U500 with ISP and touch will be *amazing*.... I can hardly wait, and am thinking I might have to sell something to afford it.......

 

haha yeah if only the u500 came along during august and not now i was looking for something around 1500 but I could have raised my budget a bit for to accommodate touchscreen and ssds

 

Does it also mean the touch screen is Anti Glare, no gloss? That would be sweet. I was eyeing the new HP Spectre Touchsmart XT with the 15.6" IPS 1080p Touchscreen display. Just went up for sale for $1399 on HP's site:

HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook 15t-4000 | HP® Official Store

It also has a Thunderbolt port, but no dedicated graphics or SSD that comes with it. RAM is limited to 4GB at the moment too... not sure if any of that changes soon... Also, the 15.6" will be glossy.

 

Hmmmmmmm... I just noticed in this quote from a couple posts up, and at the U500VZ product site specs tab, it says 15-dot-"zero", instead of 15-dot-"six".....

anybody know at this point if that's just a typo??? There's always that legal footnote in fine print that specs are subject to change, but this is a bigger (er, smaller?) change than I'd expect.

From the product site, specs tab:
15.0" 16:9 HD with EWV (1366 x 768) /IPS FHD (1920x1080) LED Backlight anti-glare
ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS ASUS ZENBOOK Touch U500VZ

From the Zenbook family site, specs tab:
300nits 15.6” 16:9 FHD IPS (1920 x 1080) with multi-touch screen
ZENBOOK Touch U500VZ

I'm crossing my fingers it's a typo. I'm already sold on it as a 15.6 inch IPS touch screen.

 

Hi guys,

Most of you know that I am quite critical about the UX51vz and I have to make a "final" statement here after some days of use: I just love my U500 and there is no way that I will return it. No matter what spyder will tell me on the weekend (if the results are similar to the reviews). So ASUS, just fix the fans in idle and I am really happy!

Update:
I do have to recommend to install the latest WiFi driver from the support website. I had some mini-disconnects before while playing a LAN game and that kicked me out of the session regularily. After installing the driver from the website the problem is solved. Sadly I did not check the version of the pre-installed driver before updating but I definitely get better results now. Wifi transfer rate as >10mb/s now

Update2:
I still would ask you all who purchased the UX51 to inform Asus about the fan issue. The more feedback they will get the faster they will work on it. Thank you!

Update3:
Just ordered this bag to carry the UX51 in my backpack. I can update you how well it fits if you guys are interrested:
http://www.amazon.de/Cool-Bananas-S...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353076578&sr=1-1

 

Just got my second unit. The display is the same LGD0323. Also the fans are as noisy as the first one I got.

Cool bananas, DvP!

 

I just got an update from Asus support about how the recovery partitions might be backed up to external media (optical, USB, etc). This is important because the recovery partitions might be lost at some point, and then you are without a Windows 8 license as there is no product key, and since a Win 8 Home ISO file is not available for download from MS or its resellers. Furthermore, the recovery partitions take up almost 21GB of space; about 10% of the usable space with the "256Gb" SSDs.

The official Asus support answer was: It cannot be done.

I consider this to be quite disappointing. I've never seen customers forced to reserve such amounts of space only to retain their OS license, nor being forced to rely on a source that is without duplicate. At this point I am not sure whether this is due to Windows 8 / Microsoft, or due to Asus dropping the ball on their recovery software. Either way, this is bad news for customers IMO.

 

I could download the ISO of the "normal" Windows 8 (former home, not enterprise, not pro) from MS technet database. As long as I do find my key/serial.

 

I don't understand why ASUS offers the HDD+SDD combo option in some countries and not in others. This company's marketing dept. is really messed up. So frustrating.

 

I think they have just too much stuff going on as a company. There are just so many models that are on the horizon (by ASUS). They're doing as much as, or more than, Samsung and all the other bigger dogs -- with much less resources.

 

I saw a lot of posts about u500 with i7u, how u think it's true? I don't need 4 core procesor and I prefer better battery life. There is ZENBOOK UX52VS with IPS screen, i7u and GT450 but it got soo much smaller battery than u500 and optical drive that i don't need. I am from Poland .

 

there are tons of thin/light i7u laptops. there aren't any like these, which are the only real Windows counterparts to the MBPr. - ux500 has 15.6 in screen, 1080p, quad-core AND touch. ux51 doesn't have touch. The ux52 is similar to u500/ux51, but no touch option but with built-in dvd.

if you only need i7u, there are many other (much less expensive) options. If you need battery life and i7u, Asus has the Zenbook ux31 (including touch option) at 7+ hours. Plus there is the Asus Transformer Book, which will be available with i7u on 11.6”, 13” or 14” Full HD IPS display and at least 10+ hours. The Vivo Tab is best battery life I've seen at up to 19 hours, has smaller 11.6 in screen, and uses the new Intel Atom chips which are said to be very good if you don't need lots of processing power. These last two have *detachable* touch screens to convert to tablets.

for me the u500 will be "perfect" as I need all its pro-level components. I'd actually have any of the i7u from the new Asus Win8 line of PCs and tablets - they all look great. I just need pro power.

 

Just got mine, I have the US model DH71 and purchased it from XoticPC with an external Blu-ray reader.

First impressions:

No optical drive, no carrying bag. What the f!!!!
External Blu ray (purchased from Xotic separately) is an ASUS model that has the logo on it, pretty nice!
Auto brightness is annoying, disable it with fn + A
Screen is very nice, obviously the color gamut isn't terrific but reds are red and the matt screen is worth a premium alone.
The sound is VERY good on this machine. I thought the Lenovo Y470 JBL speakers were good, these are better and they are loud. The subwoofer really makes a difference but the computer has internal bass too.
Fans are exactly as everyone said. They are audible and they are annoying. Where can I submit something to ASUS to complain?

Am installing SC2 and Borderlands 2 now for some game testing.

Some pictures:

 

@sockfish, how long time you waited to get this beast from XoticPC? I see there's option to use check, getting a cash discount but also waiting for more time.

Also, I owned a ideapad Y device as well. Since you mentioned the fan noise, how would you say the noise if compared to Y470?

Thanks for your time and answering! Have fun with new device!

 

I waited 7 days for processing before it shipped. Quite a long time to process and ship in my opinion.

The Y470 has awful fan noise. When playing games, the Y470 gets very loud. The UX51VZ doesnt get nearly as loud when in games, but at idle it doesn't seem to quiet down enough.

 

Not true, Windows Recovery utility was able to copy the 20GB partition to a usb drive and offered to delete the partition on SSD.

What is more interesting that even after switching to AHCI and running the full reset\recovery from the usb drive the system wouldn't boot unless RAID0 is switched back on. Since windows key is not retrivable, I can't think of a relatively safe way to get rid of RAID, any suggestions?

 

Yeah I'm also wondering how to get more space out of this thing without bricking it.

The partitions are strange, here is what Ease US Partition shows:



I wonder why there is 16GB unallocated? I want to try to get rid of it and add to my primary disk but I don't want to screw anything up.

 

Hey DvP,

first of all i wanted to thank you for your Advice of the 10% Voucher in Germany, i have my Notebook (for just 1550€) since Thursday and I LOVE IT!! My only concern is the problem with the fan noise but im sure, that Asus (or the Users) will find a solution for that. Another thing is that i that i just have to get used to 15,6" Notebooks in general. (I used a 13,3" Notebook the last 5 years, so the Asus Notebook seems to be huge like hell for the moment)

I just have a question to the bag, which you ordered..did you order a 13,3" Bag on purpose or did you just send the wrong link ?
I was also looking for a Bag on amazon on thursday and finally i ordered this one:

Belkin Plissee Notebook Schutzhülle 39,6 cm schwarz: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör

the bag is home now, but i couldnt test it until now, because i had to work all the time. My only concern is, that the most 15,6" Bags on market should be to big for the Asus Notebook because of the flat architecture..

So my question is if you ordered the 13,3" Bag on purpose to be expecting that it fits for the Asus Notebook ?!
If so, please tell. If you are happy with your bag, im thinking about canceling my order and get the same one!
By the way, i used a Cool Bananas Bag 5-years long with my old notebook and i was really happy with it!

Greets and thx in Advance!

 

Hey Flokator, which voucher are you talking about?

I'm very interested in buying this notebook but struggling with the price and the noise problems. For 1550€ I wouldn't second guess myself .
I searched around but didn't find anything.

 

Siehe hier: Notebookchat-Forum

 

@ Flokator
I posted the wrong link and odered the 15" version. It should fit quite well if you check the size.

@ cornz
I think the -10% voucher is not available any more. Check: Asus zeigt schnelles Zenbook U500 Ultrabook

@ All
I measured my display with Spyder 4 Pro and got better results than notebookcheck:

Contrast: 610:1
Blacklevel: 0,48
sRGB: 78%

Not that bad and definitely ok for me. I think the original profile has even better contrast (without calibration) but I forgot to measure that :-/ I could upload the calibrated profile for you but the forum does not accept the *.icm file as upload.

 

Thx again DvP,

so i guess you ordered the 15,4" Bag. I would appreciate if you can post your impressions. My bag has the size 15,6" and i'm concerned that the Asus Notebook might have to much space in there..

 

Yea, I order a 38x27x2cm bag.

 

Thanks for the tip, the well-hidden Windows recovery tool does indeed seem to copy the contents of the 20GB "restore" partition. Amusing that the Asus application as well as their support department fail at this task...

Any idea what to do with the other, 600MB "recovery" partition?

 

One important question to the owners:
is the discrete Nvidia GPU always on or is it sometimes on and sometimes off?

Thanks

 

No idea! How can I find it out and how can I permanetely deactivate the dedicated GPU? I played a game yesterday and I am 100% sure that the IGP could handle it. But I am sure that the NV GPU was running the game.

 

The UX51VZ uses Optimus so the dGPU is just used wenn needed.

 

Doesn't seem to do anything. I was able to do a full restore from the usb drive.

 

So, to reiterate:

* It is possible to backup all necessary recovery partitions by using Windows System Recovery to a USB drive
* Afterwards, it's possible to wipe both SSDs and start afresh with 256GB free
* If you have a win7/win8 license, it is possible to do the above, switch off RAID0 in BIOS and install Win7/Win8

Can you confirm the above is true?

p.s. for me, having been thru a harddisk loss, RAID0 is unnecessary risk, I wonder what would be the I/O performance hit upon disabling it, though

 

I don't need just good battery life I also need dedicated gpu, good 15' mat screen and ssd. I want to play some games like LoL.

 

I did not try to manually wipe the whole disk, but I chose a full wipe when I tried restoration. The way it works is weird because I did it in AHCI, thinking that it will allow me to create new partitions and get rid of RAID, but it didn't ask and restored an image that didn't work in AHCI, but worked in RAID (being installed still in AHCI). So it is not a proper windows installation.
I can only conclude that the recovery partition is tailored to restore a particular RAID partition. So if you want to get rid of RAID you will have to reinstall Windows from another source.
Another possibility is to try to wipe everything manually and repartition manually and try to run recovery. This would mean that recovery utility somehow saw RAID partitions even through AHCI, which I think shouldn't be even possible?

 

I believe that Nvidia uses a similar utility like amd catalyst control center for their devices, so if you right-click on your desktop you should see something. You should have nvidia-controlpanel somewhere in your system.

Or you could try to install ubuntu-linux alongside windows 8 and then try to deactivate the discrete gpu with help of the bumblebee-projekt, cuz I dont know if it is possible to completely deactivate the discrete gpu under windows.

Thank you

 

So, as I'm reading through this thread, one of the biggest complaints of this pc is the noise of the fans.
Could anyone possibly do a vid, in which you actually can hear the fan noise? So like starting the vid with the laptop shut off and then start it up so you can compare the noise level. Perhaps you could even use a noise measurement app besides (I know it has been officially tested by notebookcheck, but they claim 34db, while computerbase says that it's an absolut cool sound level at about 30db).
I would highly appreciate this, since I haven't got any retailer around me wherre I could have a look on this beauty!