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

Gosh, I so need this laptop with touch.. without dedicated GPU and RAID.

I love the sleekiness of this machine, but do not play games at all, so GPU is just a waste of money and battery life. RAID with SSDs is also something that I really do not see use for in real life, for myself at least.

But there's not too many options in this category (FHD and 15" are must), is there?

 

I'm in the same boat dogi. Limited options though. Anyone know where this is on display in the US?

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I'm long past any return period, unfortunately.

I've communicated to Asus TSD that the new BIOS is an improvement, but that I still consider the idle sound level to be annoying. The thing is cold as a rock when idling, so just turn those fans off already. Sigh.

 

I broke my Elitebook 8740W (nuclear power plant) and needed a decent laptop for my studies, like ASAP.
So, I got this laptop for a week now, & can say: complete care about the fan noise. It's noticeable, but ain't annoying.
It's like buying a Porsche and complaining about the sound. Really can't imagine this is too loud for some...

Anyway, most of the times I enjoy the music. The sound -even without woofer- is great. Build-quality and performance is outstanding. I've also noticed the webcam was too dark, so increased the brightness & decreased the contrast, that should work.

 

The HDD+SSD, non-touch version is still nowhere to be found, right? If it ever does come out, do you reckon its HDD as likely to have propietary connectors too (making its replacement unfeasible)?

I am thinking more and more that I will have to settle for ersatz. What alternatives are out there that sacrifice portability the least? I'd consider the N56vz to be just about the biggest/heaviest I'd like to handle.

 

This is also a crucial question for me. Can anyone clarify?


Sent from a generic electronic device.

 

So I'm curious to know, will this laptop be offered around the $1000 price range or are we looking at $1500+ easy?

 

LOL. More in the 1800+ USD range

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Yes with the IPS panel, quad and the nvidia GPU don't expect it to be cheap.

 

I paid £1500 GBP, so that's around $3000 USD, no?

 

You find it also for 1700+ €. Unfortunately in US it's much cheaper (as always)

 

Well this certainly isn't made for the college budget haha, back to my N56VZ!

 

I have followed this and the other u500 thread on the sidelines for a long time and have now decided to participate.

So, I applied the BIOS 204 for my ux51vza-model and it did not mess with the brightness or anything. I think it made the fan noise quieter but it is still there though Another thing I noticed was that my laptop boots alot faster from total shut down - about 10 seconds and I am on the desktop. But I am not sure it has anything to do with the BIOS, only an observation I did after the BIOS update, which I hadn't experienced before.

The minus with this BIOS update is that I cannot acess the BIOS anymore. Anybody experienced this, and has found any solution?

Note: I have posted this reply on the other thread aswell. Sorry for the copypasta.

 

Sadly I have to let the FHD requirement go.. I'm getting NP900X4D. Not (nearly?) as good as U500.. no touch, no FHD, no IPS etc.. but 899 EUR vs 1799 EUR :|

 

The BIOS thing happened to me as well. Turns out it was me being paranoid. The faster boot up means you get less chance to push F2. Just spam the thing as soon as you turn the laptop on and you'll get in eventually.

 

Thanks man. Crazy how much you have to spam that thing in order to get access to the BIOS.
So the faster startup was a (positive)consequence of the BIOS update after all?

 

I think I noticed that speed up too. 5 seconds from a shutdown state for me. That's just amazing.

 

The new BIOS now specifies something about fast booting. I have not played around with it however.

 

If you use Win8, try this: How To Access The BIOS On A Windows 8 Computer

 

Im gonna ask in here aswell because im desperate in finding a replacement charger for this laptop asap.

Did anyone find/buy a replacement adapter charger?

 

You are so right. I just do not know, how to tell this to my UX51VZ. It allways tells me that the Sandisk SSD are manufactured by A-Data! Any hints?

I know, you halfhearted tried to clarifiy your intention. But if you talk about customer satisfaction and reactions of manufacturers you should keep in mind that comments in an internet forum are quite not representative. Let me explain by using fictive numbers. Let's say 10.000 U500 are sold worldwide (only fictive, i know that it will be fewer because of the high price). from those 10.000 users perhaps 500 have ever heard about notebook review and its forum. From those 500 only 100 will be registered and writing in the forum. And how many of thos are complaining about noisy fans? You can count them on your own 10 fingers! the theme is hold up only by few users, but in comparison to the number of completely sold notebooks it is insignificant for ASUS.

Even if some of you are disappointed, why should ASUS accept a risk of damaged and returned notebooks with heatproblems only to satisfy a fistful of users with misunderstood expectations? You must not let out of sight the equipement of the u500 series. First you have a very slim case with very small possibilities of heat transport.. On other hand you have very powerfull components like Core i7 CPU with four cores, 8 GB RAM, additional nVidia GPU, two SSD, and so on. Each of them are heat producers that in combination with the case require a constant and well designed cooling system. Even if you may run this notebook without any fan speed by use of tools, this will not be an option to ASUS (or any other manufacturer) because if you burn you U500 it is you fault and you have to pay. If ASUS would shut up the fans and any U500 will burn off, it would be ASUS fault and they would have to pay. I really can imagine that this is not an option for ASUS, caus why should they do? Only because of one or two hand ful of users at notebook reviews forum are of that opinion without knowing the real technical bachrounds? To me this demand sound ridiculous...

One word to a comparison to Apple. Someone posted that Apple engineers have the ability to design sound optimized fans. This may be right. But you should not compare apples and oranges. Just remember what you have to pay for a MBP with a similar equipment and what you pay for the U500. If you want this, you will have to pay for it. And this will be more than 2k€...

My UX51VZ was nerly perfect with BIOS 203, the fan noise was noticable but really not annoying. With BIOS 204 it is only noticable in a completely quite environment at night. Even the tictoc of a wall clock seems to be louder. There are only to points: First of all i cannot understand that ASUS has not build in an UMTS modem to such a mobile notebook. The second point is a stange behaviour since the BIOS update to 204. The wireless connect stops after some time of not using network. I noticed it tomorrow.as the notebook was in idle over night. I had to deactivate and reactivate the wireless module to reconnect. Same happened later after about 30 minutes idle. I will keep this under supervision...

 

Any adapter with the right connector and voltage with high enough amps should work.

 

Why the hostile tone?

Do you have the 512GB model? If so, that would explain the ADATA drives. If you have the 256GB model, then yours is the first case I've heard of someone not having the Sandisks. New information, then.

I only ask for Asus' attention about this needless noise. I do know now that the laptop actually runs fine with the fans completely off, as long as no intensive tasks are being run. How? Because I have disabled them using Notebook Fan Control (a small program) and it runs fine, no overheating, everything at most slightly lukewarm to the touch and CPU temperatures below 55C.

But even if it did not, even it were to get too hot, your suggestion that it will "burn" is completely misguided. What will happen is that the fans will start turning as the temperature rises. That is all. They will do so long before any possibly damaging temperature is reached. What we are looking for here is the reduction of needless noise caused by airflow at temperature levels that are not harmful. As soon as cooling is needed, fans will have to do their job. Nobody is saying they should stay off at ALL times.

As I see it, there is a chance Asus may realize this too, and set the fans in the same way: off at temperature levels typically seen at idle.

 

Call it ironical but be sure, if i will be hostile, you will recognize it..

Yes i have two 256 GB SSD. Maybe i misunderstood your post, but if you read several tests you will see that ASUS delivered even the UX51VZ-CN036H with Sandisk SSD not only with the faster A-Data. Maybe the OEM of the SSD differs by country?

Anyway, you can be sure that ASUS has contracts not only with one OEM concerning especially smaller parts like fans or so. Even more than one type of FHD-display has been reported. And yes naturally this is not given for CPU and GPU...

Yes, i read this. But this is only your personal experience at this moment so far. And i believe, that you can react, if it goes too hot and i am quite really sure that i could and would too. But i don't believe that you or me are the typical ASUS notebook customer worldwide!

You have one weak point in your argumentation: You trust on windows software! On one hand, it es recommended here (eventualy by you?) to use only the EasyFlash function to flash a new BIOS because otherwise there could be a buggy windows software, on the other hand you take a peace of windows software that has to use reengineering and estimations to regulate so essential functions as the cooling system of your 2000€ notebook? Your welcom to do so, but i can understand ASUS that they don't want to take any risk in this question.

Perhaps they do so. But i would have full understanding if they won't. And again: I do not doubt in your silent running U500. Feel happy with it. I for myself feel ok with this light sighing of the fans. And i am sure, most of the users do so too. If ASUS will implement a complete cut off in BIOS, i will update, sure. But i will not use NBFC, except for short tests of the software.

 

Hey guys looking at this laptop to replace my newly bought hp sectre xt touchsmart. Question before I buy on the audio system. The fan noise doesn't bother me I got used to it with this machine. But Is this computer like any other Asus I have used and the speakers crackle while listening to music? Can anyone try listening to a high pitched song and and see if it crackles? thanks there are no stores around me who sell this or I would do it myself

 

Adapter from the ux21/31/51's gumball SSD format to regular SATA format; Asus UX31 UX21 ADATA XM11 XM11ZZB5 SSD to 2 5" SATA Adapter Card | eBay

 

There is the Cooler Master NA 120 that should work.

 

I bought a complete set of Ukrainian Asus U500VZ-CN014H . DVD +128 SSD +500 Gb with 6gb RAM + Mouse and Bag = 1650 $

Includes bag and wired mouse Asus. Rather than bag and cover with handles.Counted for more capacious bag.
Bag more glamorous than ample. Small. Only wear at the presentation, fashion

Glamorous bag and mouse

 

:thumbsup:

 

Sexy

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Cool I wish I'd bought it from Ukraine a bag, a mouse, a DVD and 200$ less

 

It's the same part number:
90w ASUS EXA1202YH ADP-90YD B charger ac adapter

 

Has anyone calibrated their screen with Spyder 3 or 4? I'm a photographer/retoucher and I'm curious to see how well the IPS screen calibrates and what % does it get for SRGB, Adobe RGB and Ntsc.

Please post a screen shot of your result in thanks!

 

I'm trying to decide between getting this or the Vaio S15. This laptop has a better gpu and battery life, but on the flip-side its also $600 more.

 

Congratulation, now open the bottom cover and show us what's inside, how the drives are connected.

 

From what I have seen so far all 256GB models have the Sandisks, and the 512GB models have the ADATAs, but all screens are the same. In any case, possible deviations in parts were only brought up as an explanation for the different experiences people have with the fans; perhaps some owners have a louder type of fan. I still consider this to be unlikely within the current set of U500s, but it's currently not a critical issue either way. Well, if there IS a fan difference, maybe one day people will be able to identify the good and bad models, and their sound output, so that any 'unlucky' owners may switch theirs for the better model. I'm not holding my breath on this one, though.

There is no doubt I would be happier if the fans ran as I would like them to, straight from the BIOS thermal table. However, I perceive the risks associated with the fan control as relatively minor. I will repeat here that actual heat-induced damage to the laptop is quite unlikely, because a rise in temperature to a level that are still far off being harmful is still met with the fans turning on. NBFC also has a panic mode, in which it yields to the BIOS control before things get ugly (at that point the fans jump to 100% immediately). However, if you're saying that NBFC may be wrongly configured, or may crash/malfunction in a weird way, theoretically speaking, then I won't argue that point. Indeed, hence I would like to have control straight from the BIOS. Not to mention the advantage of shaving another Windows start-up & stay resident program from the list.

Edit: I just read that a user found that Asus' engineers use a threshold of <=20C for the fans to turn off completely. That's kind of funny considering that it means that according to Asus, the fans of the notebook should be running in summer, even when the notebook is actually switched off.

 

Interesting, but didn't users here determine that there was no physical room to fit a fullsize SATA drive?

 

The other day and I will reveal

 

Thank you very much! I hope that your configuration will be available in my country too! I think you're the first owner of a 128+500 GB version here on NBR! Looking forward to reading something more about it!

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This machine is very easy to open, the only complications are two screws hidden under the rear rubber feets and a strip of double sided tape along the bottom rear. Just don't use too much force

 

Hi,
I measured it once and posted the results but I cannot search that right now - @ work. It is pretty similar to the results which have been posted on notebookcheck. Black levels have been a bit better and the contrast was higher (600:1). Calibration is highly recommended if you are a photographer as the profile changes quite a lot. For serious photography I would still recommend an external screen but "it will do"

@ ALL
I have been on a LAN party last weekend with some "longer" gaming runs up to ~8 hours. My UX51 did really really well. It was possibly the most silent notebook on this lan party and I did not notice any obvious throttling. But I did not measure anything. Very happy!

 

Cool. What games did you play at the LAN?

 

Did you use Notebook Fan Control during the LAN?

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Hi all, I joined this forum to ask a few questions about getting my hands on this Asus in the UK. I have found a few online retailers selling the device but none of them allow me to configure any options, and they all come with the dual 128Gb SSD's. Can anyone tell me if there is anywhere in the UK or Europe that I can buy the model with the dual 256Gb SSD's?

Also, the model number ASUS UX51Vz-XH71 comes with a 512Gb SSD - is this the same thing (dual 256Gb) or does it actually have a single 512Gb drive?

Thanks!!

 

I can't be bothered linking any retailers right now (its 2:10am here), but if you search for the "asus ux51vz-cn036h" you should find retailers for the europe 2x256gb model. The ux51vz-xh71 is the american 2x256gb model. There are no 1x512gb ssd models that i know of, though some countries have 128gb ssd + 500gb hdd models, which may be user upgradeble.

 

Brilliant, you're a star. Thanks a million!!!

 

It seems that Samsung is ready for the launch of the new Series 7 Chronos with new AMD8870m and new display FHD (finally), JBL speakers and RAM accelerator 1X faster app loading what is it???
More info at CES 2013.

 

I would rather buy the Sony Vaio s15. even though it has a 640m, you can modify the BIOS to reach 650 speeds.

 

Not for versions born with windows 8, and it has a GT640LE instead of GT640.

 

And if I remember correctly there's no way to modify BIOS in Win8 versions

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