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

PS: I'm going now, to spend 15 days...

 

Where can I buy an extra AC adapter? I'd like to have a second one for my home office.

 

Now that I have W8 Pro installed successfully, I'm going to report that I'm the first person with a dead UX51VZ. The 650M on mine seems to have died. Even on a fresh install, with the only other things installed being SC2 (just to test) and updated Nvidia graphics, it crashes.

BL2 crashes as well. Within about one minute of using the 650M, I get the BSOD, or artifacts, or random restarts. My fans seem to be noisy too. I know there are lemons in every bunch, shame I have one of them.

 

Or Hong Kong ? Cuz I live in Shenzhen ;p

 

Which NVIDIA drivers did you use? I noticed that Windows will offer an optional update, but it may be that the Asus-supplied driver works better with our hardware (even if it is slightly "older").

 

For those who are waiting for the touch screen version, here is a first mention of info from a French review site:
Zenbook Touch U500VZ : nos impressions sur l'Ultrabook de 15,6" d'ASUS

Apparently this should be available in the next few days.

 

Hi guys,

just for the ones who are interested in the Bananas RainSuit Neopren Sleeve. I discoverd the following clip on youtube

Asus UX51VZ VS. Cool Bananas RainSuit Neopren Sleeve 15,4" - YouTube

This might help someone to pick the right sleeve

 

Updated list:

UX51VZ-CN021H - 3612, 500 HDD - china
U500VZ-CN012H - 3612, 500 HDD + 24 SSD - balkans
U500VZ-CN038H - 3612, 500 HDD + 128 SSD - ukraine

UX51VZ-CN023H - 3612, 256 - switzerland
UX51VZ-CN024P - 3612, 256 - italy
UX51VZ-CN025H - 3612, 256 - poland
U500VZ-CN032H - 3612, 256 - uk
UX51VZ-CN035H - 3612, 256 - germany
U500VZ-CN046H - 3612, 256 - north europe
U500VZ-DH71 ----- 3612, 256 - usa
UX51VZ-CN026P - 3612, 512 - italy
UX51VZ-CN036H - 3612, 512 - germany
U500VZ-XH71 ----- 3612, 512 - usa

UX51VZ-CM061P - 3612, 256, Touch - italy
UX51VZ-CM062P - 3612, 512, Touch - italy

UX51VZ-CN056H - 3632, 500 HDD + 128 SSD - japan
UX51VZ-CN066H - 3632, 500 HDD + 128 SSD - romania

UX51VZ-CM054H - 3632, 256 - china
UX51VZ-CM043H - 3632, 512 - japan
U500VZ-CM064H - 3632, 512 - spain

UX51VZ-CM039P - 3632, 256, Touch - south africa
UX51VZ-CM042P - 3632, 512, Touch - czech rep.
U500VZ-CM055H - 3632, 512, Touch - hungary
U500VZ-CM055P - 3632, 512, Touch - portugal

 

Looks very pretty with the edge-to-edge glass but I am sure that I would not be happy with a glossy screen again. I remember how much I had to pump up brightness when I had no matte display which relsulted in very bad battery life time and still it was not that great to watch a movie in the train/airplane for example.

 

I totally agree. I wanted the touch screen version early on, but as soon as I realized it was going to be a glossy screen I stopped looking for it. Touch is a bonus but not something I would use every day anyways.

 

Hi there! First post because of this awesome machine. I'm based in the UK and thought I was being extremely sneaky when I bought the CN036H from Germany. I only realised my mistake when it arrived and it had a German keyboard! Well done me! I've RMA'd that machine and was wondering if any of you extremely knowledgeable people would know if the UK will be getting the 512GB non-touch version? I've only managed to find the 256GB version and that doesn't really do it for me. That or does anyone know of a European country I could buy from that does a UK keyboard? I had considered buying US but I don't want to get stung at customs (has happened before).

I've been tracking this post for some time now and I registered because the community here seems so damn helpful so thanks in advance for any advice!

 

I emailed Asus about the fans. Terrible response.

My email:

The response:

Huh?

 

Does anybody know how much ram will HM76 motherboard support. I want to install an 8gb stick of ram in it, but the Slovenian importer (who is most likely clueless) says that it will not be supported.

 

You can access a single RAM slot and it will support an 8GB stick.

 

@ bamaster
Which country? I would call them. Make sure that they understand that EVERYONE is suffering from this issue. I just sent a follow-up question also to the German support asking for news about the bios update. Lets see :-/

 

As mentioned, you can upgrade one 4GB memory stick to 8GB. I did.

I'm in the U.S. but my email seemed to get lost in the translation. I replied asking for a better response. We'll see what happens.

 

Wow, that's... disappointing, to say the least. I hope you are going to insist, because no company should be allowed to get away with that kind of replies. "virus killer"??

 

Were you able to get a response or answer regarding this? I would like to buy another AC adapter also.

 

I received a response recommending that I update the BIOS. I have the latest BIOS (203) so I can't do anything. They are pretty responsive so I'm sure I'll hear back from them soon.

Re: the adapter, they said, "there are no adapters for this notebook in ASUS Estore, so you should call local service center for help to get one. The telephone number is 888-678-3688(24/7 support) for Notebook/EEE PC Technical Support"

I'll call later.

 

Typical signs: denial, obfuscation, buying time etc.
I hope this does not become ASUS's Fangate

 

Well at least you guys have working graphics cards. I just placed a replacement order and am sending the original computer back.

My fans seem to be going at full blast most of the time but my machine has all sorts of weird things happening.

Terpin Tijn-- I tried using the Asus factory Nvidia drivers, 306, and 310 beta. No avail.

 

Hi guys,

thought I share with you that there's nice promo on GenTech PC (USA) while buying this laptop. This is what you can choose from:

Free Microsoft Wireless Mouse 4000
Free Laptop Carrying Case
Free External USB DVDRW
Free Upgrade to 12GB of RAM
Free 750GB 5400rpm USB 3.0 Hard Drive

I'm going to take RAM upgrade, which I planned to pay for : )

Anyone has better offer? If not, tonight I buy it from them.

Best regards,
Piotr

PS. The prices are $1,939.00 and $2,419.00 for UX51VZ-DH71 and UX51VZ-XH71, respectively. And one may get 3% discount if they pay with check, wire transfer, etc.

 

Also in addition to my earlier question, can someone tell me the speed of the DDR3 memory this laptop has, or does it not matter (so I can upgrade the second slot)?

 

I had a similar response asking me what version of BIOS firmware I was running. Sigh... I wonder what they expect given that there is just one version available, i.e., the one that shipped with it. I've tried to explain my request for new BIOS firmware to them again. I hope this will do anything, the tech support has not made a very favorable impression on me so far, I'm afraid.

 

This is what I bought
Amazon.com: Kingston ValueRAM 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (PC3-12800) Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Notebook Memory (KVR16S11/8): Computers & Accessories

 

Thank you that was brilliant. I'd still appreciate a reply from anyone regarding post 2361! Thanks folks.

 

Better than NO timeframe I guess?

 

Is the U500z the UX51?
How are you guys liking your?
When is the touch screeen going to be released? How's the screen? What's the PPI on the 10 version? Better then a 13 air?

 

You're lucky, in Italy we don't even know if we'll see the non-touch version before January! :banghead:

Sent from HTC HD2 with Tapatalk

 

I'm interested in buying this Laptop in Germany through a German online retailer. I'm a bit concerned about using the German QWERTZ keyboard layout, however. Does anyone know if some German online retailers stock the u500 with QWERTY keyboards?

Any help appreciated!

 

[QUOTE REMOVED BY MOD]

It does have two fans indeed

 

I think that's a spambot or something.. seen ALOT of posts in this and other threads where some random user with 1-10 posts comes in and says something very obvious and also links two or three picture links that are broken...

 

That's true. Please report such posts if we happen to miss them.
Thank you.

 

Is the U500z the UX51?
How are you guys liking your?
When is the touch screeen going to be released? How's the screen? What's the PPI on the 10 version? Better then a 13 air?

 

If you hear anything, let me know too. Visiting HK in january!

 

You can work out the PPI of the screen using the size and resolution.

 

Does anyone know when the Touch version is likely to be release. I have been holding back on buying the non-touch version but don't know how much longer I can wait. I've contacted Asus several times but haven't received one reply to date.

 

Well if you touch type anyway you can set it to think it's a US keyboard and ignore the printing.

 

That is true but I can't touch type with symbols yet, and those become massively confusing and more of a guessing game with the wrong keyboard layout.

It won't be an absolute deal breaker, but I'd love to know if the possibility of ordering a QWERTY from a German retailer exists. I could import from Britain, but the U500 is much more expensive there.

Cyberport.de told me they only have the QWERTZ layout in stock, sadly.

 

HI,
do anyone know the little tool "notebook fan control"?. This program is able to manage the fanspeed of the ux31 and ux32d. Maybe it will work with the ux51vz too? Unfortunately I do not have the skills to create a config file by myself although there is an operating instruction included. Maybe someone is able to create a config file to stop the fans in indle.

There is an fEnglisch translation of the Introduction in the first post. The tool itself is in Englisch.

http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1070494

mfg

edit: I was already able to set the speed of the two fans to 0%. They stopped as they should. Maybe I will try to create a config file by myself. (I think the Registers to control the two fans are 151 and 152)

 

Does anyone anticipate the price on this laptop to go down within the next 6 months?

 

@ holzi
Thank you VERY (!!!) much. I will try it asap.

EDIT:
COOL!!! I can deactivate the fans completely with use of the UX32 config. Does anybody know a tool to automatically run a browsing test to see how the temps look after some hours of browsing to set the thresholds properly? Thank you very much! ITs ABSOLUTELY SILENT NOW Lets see which fan speeds we do need.

@ ALL
The quest to find the right bag is finally complete. I chose the "be.ez LA robe for MacBook Pro 43,2 cm (17 Zoll)". It is slightly too big in terms of width (again other than the specs said) but it fits quite nicely in terms of length and overall the size is ok for me. It fits well into my backpack and the material is really cool and build quality is extraordinary. Of course the price is also quite high but the notebook was not that cheap either ;-) I like it!
Product:
be.ez LA robe Tasche für MacBook Pro 43,2 cm Marine: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/DickVa...&authkey=Gv1sRgCMar0NyvhIjQWA&feat=directlink

About touchscreen version:
As I said before I was not sure if I should wait for the touch version either but the matte display convinced me that I made the right choice. I definitely need less brightness and have more fun watching movies or something like this because of the (very) low reflections. Battery life would be less good if you have a glare display and you still the visual impressions would be worse if the ambient light is not perfect. Additionally the new test of notebook check convinced me that my decision was the right one: "Asus VivoBook S200E". Sadly you can only read it in German so far:

"Touchscreen
Zugegebenermaßen: Wir hatten bereits im Vorfeld so unsere Zweifel, welchen Nutzen ein Touchscreen bei einem normalen Notebook haben soll. Das diese Bedenken nicht unberechtigt waren, zeigt sich in der Praxis. Auch wenn die Bedienung per Finger durchaus Freude bereitet – insbesondere in Verbindung mit der neuen Kacheloberfläche von Windows 8 –, ermöglichen klassische Eingabegeräte wie Maus und Tastatur einfach eine höhere Produktivität. Anders als bei einem Convertible oder Tablet stehen diese ohnehin dauerhaft zur Verfügung, was das Touch-Feature für uns zu einem netten, aber eigentlich überflüssigen Gimmick abwertet. Diese Einschätzung ist natürlich auch etwas subjektiv und kann von Anwender zu Anwender differieren."

Bottom line:
The touchscreen is a nice gimmick but not that easy to use with a classic notebook and far from perfect for productive systems. On another report I also read that your arm will definitely hurt after some minutes if you cannot put the display flat on the table. The only question is: Will there be prime apps for Win8 which do need touch? May be, but still the tochscreen use on a normal notebook will be far from great to handle.

 

This is very exciting indeed! Are you also able to set a threshold for them to turn back on? i.e. if it reaches a certain temp, reactivate?

I'm not sure of an automated browsing test, but why not just open 20 browser tabs, open photoshop, open an email client, open an Excel and Word document, and then stream a video on YouTube and see what happens after a while?

 

I spent about an hour looking at the EC-registers. There are 2 which control the fans. (on my machine - how about yours)?
Are you sure that both fans are completely deactivated? The UX32 cfg affects the 151 register. This is the left fan. The right one is still running on my machine (very slow and silent)
As mentioned the right one is controlled by the 152 register.

 

@ Gigante
Yes, if the temp exceeds 60° I let the fan switch to "normal auto mode" again.

@ holzi
I am pretty sure they are both off. Maybe they are that silent that I cannot hear anything....which would be ok either. Sadly I have a problem saving this config :-/

 

wait did u guys get this to happen with software or is this asus specific cause my fans run constantly too and with win8 they seem louder its annoying

 

@ PaKii94
Check post on last page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...-ips-gt650m-quad-core-i7-239.html#post8963895

@ holzi
Contacted you directly in CB

It is definitely possible to deactivate the fans completely with use of this software WHICH is great if I use the notebook for longer downloading tasks. It would just collect too much dust if it pumps unnecessarily air through the vents over many hours.

Update:
Looks like CPU temp with fans off will be 42-55°C while idle or browsing the web.
"Passive cooling" while watching a movie will not be possible. 60°C are exceeded pretty quickly.

 

This sounds awesome, will test some tonight. Is it possible to set the fans to a lower value than they currently spin in, for example if it's between 60-70c it should spin at 50% of the current idle speeds?

 

Fan speeds are very ok as soon as they have to run. We just have to set the fans to off when they are not needed. Still need to check how I an create a profile which works fine and automatically in the background.

 

nice ill look into it thanks! crap i gotta spread rep before i can rep u dvp