asus ux31la release date/other info

You're too late you won't be able to find one to buy now.

 

ncix still has a couple of unit in stock.

 

You better grab one fast......

 

it is around 1500 with i5 processor, 8gb ram and 256gb ssd. i can get an acer s7-392 with a better processor and same memory and storage. not really sure how both of these ultrabook runs in real life.

 

This Swedish review is very informative. It's mostly understandable if you put it through Google translate. It basically says that build quality, battery life (~7.5 hrs), etc are all great. The only issue is backlight bleeding, which seems to be a problem on both the current and last gen Zenbooks.
There's a few other European reviews too if you look online.

However, I don't think I'd go for the $1500 UX31LA-XH51T model because of the steep price.

 

thanks SInC for the link to the swedish review. it was very informative. you are right, $1500 seems a little steep. if the price was down by about $200, i would get it right away.

 

I have the UX31LA and I think it's a pretty good ultrabook. I'm debating about selling it however and going with a Surface Pro so we'll see. I thought I saw some of UX31LA on display at the Costa Mesa store so perhaps try that store? Maybe I'll end up selling it in a week b/c I'm outside the return window haha.

 

Been watching this thread for a while and finally joined.
I would have done so sooner but I was being lazy and didnt know how easy it actually is to join this forum! xD
Anyway, I got a UX31LA from the Microsoft store a while back and I'm really liking it other than the crashing to BIOS when you close it sometimes. I really hope Asus puts out a BIOS that this doesnt happen to.
Hopefully someone from Asus' Zenbook division sees this thread.
My only other issues are more minor such as not being able to middle mouse click by taping the touchpad with two fingers like i did on my Asus Eee PC Netbook.
I wish the SD wasnt a half slot, but oh well, not a huge deal I guess. I just wont be able to keep an SD card in all the time.
Would have been nice they had done F* keys as the secondary and the functions as the primary action of the F* keys.
(with F4 having the window close function and F5 having the refresh function.)
And since Im a programmer the insert, home, and end keys being function keys is a little annoying but I dont really see a way to have them as individual keys and it's not that big a deal.
(If I really want to get some serious coding done I can use my desktop.)
Also I noticed someone asked if this Zenbook has a 2nd SSD slot as some of the advertisements said. I too would like to know this.
If I ever get around to getting the right screwdriver bit ill open it up and take a look at the inside.

 

I don't know if you have resolved your problem, but I think i know the solution. You need to reinstall Intel Managment Engine to the older version, i had the same trouble on my ux31a when after sleep i founf myself in bios. I installed the latest version or IME and catched this proble, but when reinstalled the older ver of IME, the problem has disappeared.

 

Yeah I gave up because I had no idea what was causing it. But this worked so thank you!

I ended up updating IME and the problem went away.

 

I am having the same issue whereby my Asus ux31la will sometimes boot up to bios when waking up from sleep

Where can I find the old version of Intel Management Engine

the one I currently have installed is 09/05/13 - 9.5.15.1730

the option to roll back the driver to an old version is greyed out in its properties

 

Well, the UX31LA is back in stock on the Microsoft store. When the UX301LA Zenbook Infinity showed up in the Microsoft Store, I thought the $999 UX31LA would be gone for good, but apparently not.

Buy ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31LA-US51T Touchscreen Ultrabook - Microsoft Store

 

it says "Out of Stock

 

Oh weird, it says in stock for me.

 

now its back in stock...

 

What is the difference between these?

ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31LA-UH51T Touchscreen
and
ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31LA-US51T Touchscreen Ultrabook

Do you think that one comes with Windows 8.1 installed?

 

I am deeply sorry, I mean DPTF (Dynamic Platform), and not Intel Management Engine.

I have UX31LA now, and my version is 7.1.0.2105, and I don't have this issue at all. same is with my UX31A.

Sorry for the delay with answer

all version can be found here ASUS Service | North America
just type DPTF in the search bar

before changing versions on your laptop firstly uninstall the version on you laptop, then install the new (old ) version from downloaded on asus website

 

Their respective product pages on the MS Store site could be wrong, but according to the listed specs on there it appears that's the main difference (with the US51T coming with 8.1):

Buy ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31LA-UH51T Touchscreen Ultrabook - Microsoft Store Canada Online Store

Buy ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31LA-US51T Touchscreen Ultrabook - Microsoft Store

 

Here are the differences that I could find:

UH51T
- Windows 8
- 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz
- Intel HD Iris Graphics 5000 with shared graphics memory
- 2 USB 3.0 • Mini HDMI via included adapter • Mini DisplayPort • Headphone output/Microphone input combo • RJ-45 (10/100/1000)
- 6-cell lithium-polymer (up to 5 hours)*
- 720p HD webcam
- 802.11AC
- 3.10 lbs (1.40 kg)
- Backlit keyboard?

US51T
- Windows 8.1
- 8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz
- Intel HD Graphics 4400 with shared graphics memory
- 2 USB 3.0 (1 charge) • Micro HDMI • Mini DisplayPort • VGA via included USB dongle • Headphone output/Microphone input combo • LAN via included USB dongle
- 6-cell lithium-polymer (up to 8 hours)*
- HD webcam
- 802.11ac/a/b/g/n (Miracast enabled)
- 3.23 lbs (1.46 kg)
- Backlit keyboard

 

I would expect the UH51T and US51T to have identical hardware.

Canada's Microsoft Store listing has some incorrect specs. E.g. the United State's Msft Store originally listed 5 hours for the UH51T then changed it to 7 hours (and battery life tests from reviewers state 7~8 hrs). Likewise, the UX31LA does not have a RJ-45 port, and the i5-4200U doesn't have the HD 5000.

I think a few months ago, the US site's UH51T listing had the same mistakes, but it seems Canada's Microsoft site never fixed the mistakes.

 

Well, I picked up the UX31LA-US51T from a retail Microsoft Store today. It shipped with Windows 8.1, and everything seems to be great.
I haven't had any problems with suspend, build quality is great, battery life seems to be in the 7~8hr range, etc. Only problem I've noticed is backlight bleeding on the bottom of the screen, but it's something I'm fine with ignoring. I'll update with more information as I use this laptop more.

 

Did you get the extended warranty?

 

I did not, though it wouldn't be a bad idea to.

edit: quick update, I uninstalled the Asus Smart Gesture touchpad drivers and installed Elantech 11.7.8.5 drivers, and it is a huge improvement for scrolling. The scrolling is actually now comparable to scrolling in Mac OS X with a MBP.

 

Question for UX31LA owners, do you guys hear a hissing noise when using headphones? It should be more noticeable if you're using earbuds or lower impedance headphones.

 

I don't have the pv yet.
Does it do it when on battery only or plugged in or both?

 

Both. To clarify the hissing should be noticeable when other audio is playing and not when the "digital silence"/power saving kicks in.
The hissing is loud enough to be something to seriously consider, but other people not mentioning this issue does make me think I may have a lemon.

edit: well, I tried with some higher impedance headphones, and the noise wasn't noticeable at all... so I guess this is just a warning to those who use sensitive (<15Ω impedance) IEM's.

Some additional updates:
I was able to boot a Xubuntu 14.04 beta 2 live USB with Secure Boot enabled, and it seems to work fine. I'll be seeing if I can add a second SSD to this laptop.
By default, the "Balanced" power plan has "Minimum processor state" set to 100%, which keeps the CPU frequency at 1.6ghz or higher. I changed that to 5% to allow the CPU frequency to drop to .8ghz on battery.

 

Just brought a UX31LA home from the Microsoft Store, the $1000 i5-4200U, 8GB, 128GB model. I was comparing this with the more expensive Ativ Book 9 Plus, Aspire S7-392, and Kirabook 13. The UX31LA had the lowest resolution display amongst the ultrabooks at the Microsoft Store. But it was also $500 cheaper than the 1440p and 1800p displays and with DPI scaling still funky in many desktop apps, I figure the 1080p isn't all that bad.

Sadly what I pulled out of the box didn't make me happy. Usually I wouldn't complain about backlight bleeding, it's something pretty much every display has it seems. I'm used to some degree of this. However this UX31LA has the worst case of backlight bleeding I've seen... well since my ASUS TF100 tablet ironically. Something it really wrong, it's so bad I can see it in a lit room on a blue background. And booting the tablet up on the black background caused me to go screaming from the room in terror.

The second issue is the keyboard has not one, but two defective keys. The "A" key is stuck in the upper left corner. I think something might be stick under to key preventing me from pushing it down. And the Spacebar is also messed up, I can push it down, but it's super mushy and soft. I can't really tell if I've even pushed it, there is no click feel like the other keys have. I think that's a defect too because I tested the store keyboard and didn't notice that.

I have to return this UX31LA. I'm now struggling with the decision to do a swap for another UX31LA or just spend another $450 and get the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus.

 

What is the resolution on both of these screens?

 

They're both 1080p.
There's also a 1600x900 model available in some European countries, but I don't think that's available in the US.

---

I opened up my UX31LA and can confirm that there is an empty 2260/60mm M.2 slot. The problem is that M.2 SSD's in the 2260/60mm size are not easily available (atm only 80mm and 42mm drives are available in retail, as far as I know). I'm tempted to buy a 42mm M.2 SSD and secure it with electrical tape... seems like a bad idea, but I'm somewhat desperate to dual boot a Linux distro haha.

 

That is good news! Just to be sure, it's definitely M.2, not mSATA only? Will it accept M.2 PCIe drives when they become more available?

I'm hoping to avoid any need to dual-boot, but I'm very interested in experimenting with self-healing volumes in ZFS or btrfs. Setting up a pool with multiple physical media seems much more sensible and robust than trying to have redundant copies on a single SSD (although if there were some way to ensure they lived on separate chips, it might be a reasonable compromise...still, I'd rather not have the drive controller as a single point of failure).

 

Yep, both slots are definitely M.2. From what I understand, an M.2 PCIe (w/ M&B connector) might physically fit in the slot, but Asus probably has not wired the PCIe lanes so that only SATA will work. Not too sure about this though, but this seems to be the case with some other laptops.
Self-healing volumes sounds pretty cool. Linux works pretty well on this machine, so you probably won't need to keep Windows around.

Anyway, I actually installed a 42mm 128gb MyDigitalSSD M.2 SSD into the second slot and secured it with some electrical tape. It seems to hold up pretty well, and I'll be checking on it again in a couple of weeks to make sure.
I've also installed Xubuntu 14.04 (which has the 3.13 kernel) to the second drive, and basically everything is working nicely. Touchpad, touchscreen, suspend, etc all work out of the box. Screen backlight keys didn't work out of the box, so I'm just using xbacklight bound to keys instead. Likewise I was able adjust keyboard backlighting with a short script to modify "/sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight"
The only issue I've come accross is that the laptop will resume immediately after closing the lid/suspending, but manually suspending then closing the lid doesn't have this issue. Since suspend does work properly, I'm guessing this is something that can be fixed. I'll be looking into this soon.

 

Cool. Thanks for sharing what you've found so far. Ars Technica ran a couple good overview articles on ZFS and btrfs earlier this year if you're interested:
Bitrot and atomic COWs: Inside “next-gen” filesystems
Ars walkthrough: Using the ZFS next-gen filesystem on Linux

I just discovered Adorama has the UX31LA-XH51T (256 GB, Win8 Pro) in stock for $1500. Asus Zenbook 13.3" Full HD Touch Screen Ultrabook Notebook, 256GB SSD, Gray UX31LA-XH51T

 

Here's the inside of my UX31LA-XH51T

 

dangermond,

THis has 256 GB correct?
Does it have two ssd's or one?

 

Slnc,

So you now have to SSD in you UX31LA?
I understand that you are using them for dual-boot.
If I wanted to double the storage could I just add one more 128 SSD like you did and it would be recognized with the current installed SSD were the OS is installed?

 

It has one 256GB SSD partitioned into two 128GB drives. It appears there's a second M.2 slot empty.

 

Thanks for the articles. I may look more into it in the future.

Yep, I have two SSD's now. The second SSD would be recognized in Windows.

 

This is great!
Why would anyone want to get the UX302LA if you can just add another 128 SSD drive to the UX31LA?

 

Where di you get the other SSD?

 

I bought this drive:
Amazon.com: MyDigitalSSD SC2 Super Cache 2 42mm SATA III 6G M.2 NGFF M2 SSD Solid State Drive (128GB): Computers & Accessories
To reiterate, this is a 42mm drive and does not line up with the screw hole in the UX31LA's 60mm slot, so I had to use some electrical tape to secure it.
Here's a picture: imgur: the simple image sharer

The slot by itself actually holds the drive in place, so I just added some tape underneath the drive to keep it elevated and some tape on top to better secure it.

I think the UX302LA has both an msata and a 2.5" drive slot, so you could add a laptop hard drive or a larger SSD in there.

 

Oh I see so they aren't stacked they are in different areas of the case.

 

Thanks for posting the photos, both of you. Interesting that both the 128 GB and 256 GB models have a single SanDisk SSD. My UX31A (Ivy Bridge) came with an ADATA drive (according to Windows, anyway).

 

I bought a second power adapter from NCIX. They only had the 65 watt not the smaller 45 watt that came with the laptop.


imgur: the simple image sharer

 

Mm, my UX31LA actually came with an updated version of the charging cable:
imgur: the simple image sharer

I'm also using this 15 ohm resistor adapter ( 15 Ohm 3 5mm Plug Resistor Adaptor for Low Impendance Headphone Used in S4 | eBay) to reduce the hiss headphone port, which was a bit annoying on my relatively sensative IEM's.

 

I like the updated style more. jealous.

 

Thanks very much for the info and the very informative pictures you've provided!! I'm gonna try upgrading mine the same way, using some PVC electrical tape from microcenter to secure it. That should be okay for the motherboard right?

Anyway, I've been lurking on these forums for a while and just wanted to say thank you. I spent a long time researching different laptops on the market and finally decided to go with the Asus UX31 Zenbook Prime. I feel that this is a really solid ultrabook and I got for an awesome price from the Microsoft Store-- $900 after an educational discount. The model I got was UX31LA-US51T (128 gb SSD, 8 gb RAM, i5 4200U). Contrary to what is listed on MS website it comes with the 802.11ac dual-band wireless card, as Mark mentioned earlier. I get 7+ hours fully surfing the internet, download, streaming stuff from youtube, etc. while running this beauty.

I'm not sure what's wrong with the customer reviews giving this notebook a low rating, to me the display is plenty bright (after you remove auto brightness, a Windows feature), the SSD is very fast and zippy (mine shows a Sandisk 128 gb SSD), wireless has been fast and reliable. There is some backlight bleed, it's noticeable on start-up. I just ignore it. To me this is a great IPS panel.

The other choices I looked at were the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus, Acer Aspire S7, and ASUS UX301. Honestly I liked the UX301 a lot but worried the glass back could get shattered somehow, and the overall price of the configuration I was most interested in was way too high (the premium i7 version with tax was gonna cost me like $1900). The S7's keyboard drove me crazy, I hate that the top row is the number keys and you are missing the function keys (also I don't like the power button on the side, very nitpicky I know). Samsung's keyboard layout is good but it has a slightly shallow key travel. The Zenbook Prime had the best typing experience out of all of them (albeit, on par with UX301, heh). Also I felt the ASUS trackpad was better than Sammy's and I actually like the aesthetics of the ASUS Zenbook Prime better.


At any rate, I feel like I got a really premium ultrabook here at a great price. If anyone else is looking into it and Microsoft still has them, go try it out! And use the 10% discount if you have an educational affiliation!

 

My UX31LA-X51T came with a Sandisk X110 M.2 SSD drive which uses the SATA III 6Gb/s interface. The M.2 form factor can support PCIe or SATA depending on whether it uses a B-key or an M-key as described here: LSI Blog | M.2: Is this the Prince of SSD form factors? - LSI Blog. When more M.2 cards become available through retail, its possible a purchased M.2 card will not be compatible with the socket on the motherboard even though its the correct 22mm by 60mm size.

 

Glad to help. The electrical tape should be fine, though if you're more patient than me I'd wait for 60mm drives to be released.

To clarify, the UX31LA has a 'B' key edge connector but will likely only work with SATA M.2 drives. The 'B' connector can support PCIe x2, but Asus probably has not wired in the PCIe lanes.
This M.2/computer compatibility list is a nice reference:
M.2 NGFF SSD Compatibility List | My Digital Discount (Page 3)

 

Does anyone know why the Zenbooks are in such short supply? I've been waiting to get a UX301LA-XH72T since they were announced last year. I waited patiently for them to come to Canada, checking websites every couple of days to make sure I was the first in line to get one. Finally on January 9th I saw NCIX had 5 in their suppliers warehouse, so I ordered one as fast as I could. NCIX took my money and didn't ship anything for two months at which point I got my money refunded. With that I went to a local store and bought the UX31LA-XH51T. Now those seem to be out of stock everywhere. What gives?

The Zenbook stock levels have never been higher than 10 units, including major websites like Amazon.com and Newegg.com. Why is the supply so small? I can go to any apple store and buy a Macbook Pro which has comparable hardware. What's going on?

 

I've wondered about the availability issues, too. Apple has possibly the world's most efficient supply chain, but it seems weird that Asus should have difficulty meeting demand, unless they're not really trying to with these models. (I could see how they might be worried the UX31LA will cannibalize sales of the UX301...but if so, why offer the UX31LA at all?)