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ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook Reviews Full of Functionality
ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook Most Helpful Reviews
At long last, PC users finally have a strong alternative to the Macbook Air in the ultrathin, ultralight category. The ASUS UX31 meets or exceeds the technical specifications of the base model 13" Macbook Air, while starting many hundreds of dollars less expensive. Kudos to ASUS for throwing in the VGA and ethernet dongles rather than nickel-and-dime-ing you like Apple with extra charges for these standard accessories. The included sleeve will do a fine job protecting the laptop, but it seems like rather cheap synthetic materials to me- can't complain at this price, though.In particular, I was happy to see ASUS put a high-resolution 1600x900 13" display, unlike the recently announced Acer ultrabook which has a standard 1366x768 resolution. More time with Adobe Creative Suite will be needed for a final verdict, but the display seems high-quality enough for most consumers.I found the keyboard to require a bit more pressure on keys to type with than the Macbook Air, resulting in some missed keystrokes, but that will probably change over time. Also, the trackpad does not have a high-quality feel to it- the front is split into two "clickable" regions, but the touchpad layer itself feels like a brittle, thin film of plastic that FEELS like it will break after a while- only time will tell.Thank goodness for the other reviewer who mentioned downloading new drivers for the trackpad- the "Sentelic Finger Sensing Pad" has HORRIBLE response out of the box- often not recognizing taps and gestures, jumpy tracking, and choppy scrolling. I wouldn't have noticed since the Asus LiveUpdate utility did not report any new software. It turns out that the drivers on the support site are labeled as "Beta" and won't be automatically downloaded until they are considered "final". Do yourself a favor, though, and download them anyway. Still not as smooth and accurate as on the Macbook Air, but a big improvement.To answer a comment on the previous review, this laptop uses WiFi/Bluetooth hardware from Atheros, not Intel, so WiDi is not supported. I've had some flakiness with the WiFi- not sure how good the reception is, as I'm very close (i.e. at the same desk) to the base station and often not getting more than 3/5 bars in the indicator.Thankfully, the laptop comes without too much additional software. Trend Micro antivirus software is included, but I didn't activate it and simply downloaded the free Microsoft Security Essentials instead so it will be easily updated with Windows Update- oh, and be prepared for the usual many waves of Windows Updates to install, with one batch causing the laptop to freeze and hang after reboot for me, forcing a hard reset. Not a great first experience, but one I'll blame Microsoft for rather than ASUS. Finally, ASUS and Intel have a bunch of annoying gadgets installed to show you various battery and CPU status, but they seem easily uninstalled.The one thing I'm confused about is the so-called "ASUS Instant On" feature. Honestly, I don't know what turning "Instant On" ON does other than change the default Start menu button from "Shutdown" to "Sleep". Sleep mode with automatic Hibernation when the battery gets low has already been part of Windows 7, so is it really doing something different that requires me to keep yet ANOTHER utility open and running all the time? Seems like just marketing- except if so, this marketing spin adds yet another cr@plet running on the desktop...?
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ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook
Ultrabooks are the new Intel-configured "standard" to compete with the Apple MacBook Air. I had been watching this space for a few months, anxious to replace my elderly XP Windows mini-tower. I finally bit when I saw all that Asus is offering for $1,099. I had a number of must-haves and like-to-haves.Must:Minimum of 1600x900 screen resolution. Asus is the only one I know of at this time that offers > 1366x768. And the screen is 450 nits (meaning it is very clear and easy to read).Solid state drive with at least 128GB.i5 or better processorFast wakeup from sleep. The UX31 is amazingly fast. Wakes up about as fast as my iPad! Unbelievable.> 6 hours of battery life. This will definitely vary based on what you're doing (e.g. watching a movie will drain the battery in < 4 hours). I am a professional software developer, so I do some heavy-duty processing at times and I usually get around 5.5 hours before the UX31 warns me that I've reached 10%.Bluetooth. I'd recommend a BT mouse in addition to the trackpad. The pad isn't bad, but if you're doing a lot of typing you will occasionally move the cursor unintentionally.< $1200. Intel said that Ultrabooks should be < $1000, but the only ones that are so far are poor in some quality and performance areas (I won't name names, but don't confuse Asus and Acer).4GB+ of memory.Like to have:Nice looking. The UX31 is very beautiful inside and out - even the bottom! Yet is very solidly built.Quiet. This system is very quiet and doesn't get hot. The venting is in front of the speaker behind the keyboard and out the bottom.Lightweight. The UX31 is < 3 lbs.What's not so good? All systems have drawbacks - here's my list for the UX31:- The keyboard isn't as good as I'd like. It's not bad, but you definitely have to type more deliberately than a "regular" keyboard.- The battery isn't user-changeable. You have to send it to Asus to service.Bottom line: I did all the research across all the companies (you should see my spreadsheet :P ) and the UX31 is the hands-down winner for this category of system.---As a side note, if you really want more than this, my larger laptop choice is the Dell XPS 15z. It is really a MacBook Pro competitor and costs a lot more than the UX31. I'd recommend the Plugable USB docking station and the Build laptop and accessories cases to go along with the UX31. All purchasable on Amazon of course!And by the way, the UX31 is in short supply. Don't give up - just keep looking. I thought I'd have to wait weeks, but I found a place with it in stock and free shipping (I had it in two days!!).
- 13.3" (1600x900) LED / i-5 2557M Dual Core (1.7GHz) / .78" Thin and Only 2.86ilbs Light
- 4GB DDR3 RAM / 128GB SSD / Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit) / 802.11BGN
- 0.3M Pixel / Bluetooth 4.0 / 1 USB 3.0 Port / 1 USB 2.0 Port / Micro HDMI Port
- 1YR Global Warranty / 1YR Accidental Damage Protection / 30-Day Zero Bright Dot / 24-7 Tech Support
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This ultra notebook outperforms others in its class, hands down.Comparing the cost to a MacBook Air 13.3", if you add up the peripherals and warranty that come with this computer versus what Apple charges for the comparable items, this computer is $310 cheaper than a MacBook Air.Great machine. Loving it.
ASUS Zenbook UX31E-DH52 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook Real Reviews
{I was looking forward to getting this laptop for a very long time because I really liked the Air form factor but really dislike the closed nature of the Apple ecosystem. The Asus is definitely a beautiful laptop and I liked its design a lot, but I think they got the basics wrong, which is shocking: wireless, touchpad, keyboard, and customer service. First and foremost the wireless did not function correctly. At first I noticed that it went in and out even though I was sitting right in front of the router and none of the other people in the room with laptops experienced the same problem. Alone, I could live with this, but if you plan to stream a lot of content, be forewarned. Second, when I opened up my laptop after closing it for a bit, it couldn't find ANY wireless networks. I had to troubleshoot, at which point it told me that the network adapter had been turned off and asked me if I wanted to turn it back on again. This happened EVERY time I opened the lid - so, so much for your instant connect. I really just can't imagine any good reason for why any computer manufacturer would ever default the computer to disable the wireless without the user asking for that. I updated the WLAN driver, updated the BIOS, and also changed the power settings so that wireless would never be turned off to conserve power. I did everything, and nothing fixed these issues for me. I should add that I have a very nice, relatively new $160 router - it's not the router!Second, even though I updated the driver for the touchpad, I kept experiencing problems with it. Scroll worked ok, but not as smoothly as on an Air. However, the special gestures just didn't work properly. I'd try to zoom in or out and it would zoom too much or too little and when I tried to rein it back, it just kept overshooting and it just wasn't usable. Likewise, every zoom in or out took a while to actually update, so you'd just be sitting in front of a frozen page while it tried to change the size of the page - it wasn't an instant experience like on the iPhone or the Air. I ended up disabling those features. Likewise, the touchpad insisted on zooming even when all I was trying to do was scroll. So....it's livable, but it's no improvement on the standard touch pad if the gestures are basically unusable. Third, the keyboard just wasn't great. I'd type and it would miss every 5th key or so. I'd have to go back and retype everything. I feel like this is something I could probably get used to after a while and train myself to type harder, but it just seemed strange to be having such a basic issue on a very expensive, top of the line laptop, when even the cheapest netbooks had better keyboards.Fourth, I called Asus customer support. I had registered my laptop and had become a member with the support stuff, but they insisted on taking my name and email and machine number, making me respell everything three or four times. I'm really not kidding - it took them 10 minutes just to get that info down and I don't know what the point of registering with the site was if I was going to be asked all this stuff again. I told them I had wireless issues and they didn't suggest changing power saver settings or getting the new WLAN driver (I read about that online), instead they suggested updating the BIOS. They sent me a link to their updates page and that was it. So, first of all, I feel like they didn't offer all available fixes. Second, when I went to the page there were three BIOS options and I had no idea which one I needed. I got all three, but then I couldn't open and install them! My friend figured out you had to go to a utility on the computer to get them updated. NOWHERE did it say how to implement these updates. We did use the utility, but then there was no feedback to say that anything had been updated, so who knows if it even worked. I called support back and they insisted that I give them all of that personal info again, even though I had a service number from the last time I called. So I had to repeat my name 5 times yet again! Don't they have all that info on file from the last call?? Why give a service number if you're going to spend 10 minutes asking me basic info AGAIN? So I gave him all that info and he started doing something and I was on hold for a while and we got disconnected. I called a third time, and they asked me for all of my info AGAIN. I told the person that I had already given info twice in the last hour and I didn't want to do it again, since clearly it was in front of him now that I had provided a service number and the info twice before. He insisted three times that he couldn't help me without me "verifying" that the info was correct. So, I gave up and hung up. So, be forewarned, trying to get service is both unhelpful and frustrating. In the end, I decided to send this back and I'm typing this review from an Air. Trust me, I waited for over a year to replace my laptop just so that I wouldn't have to buy an Apple, but dealing with the Asus truly drove me into Apple's arms. With the Air, none of those issues are a problem. If you ever need tech support, you show up at an Apple store and someone helps you instantly - no calls to Bangalore with people who are just reading from a script. Everything just works. There's no bloatware. In the Asus, you had both Asus and Windows utilities that seemed to conflict- like more than one manager for power and wireless. You might have fixed a problem in one and not the other. Plus, you get a nice backlit keyboard and pretty amazing gestures. Sure, it's more expensive, but if you're going to shell out over $1000 for a laptop anyway, don't you expect the most fundamental things to work?As an aside for Asus's benefit, since you guys read this site, I think you sunk not just the Zenbook, but the entire ultrabook campaign. People really thought they'd finally get an Air alternative and then were sorely disappointed. Guess what? They did what I did - returned your computer and got an Air. Guess who won't be buying another laptop for another 2 years or so? All of the people who were disappointed with yours! But, that's not just bad news for the Zenbook, it's bad news for you because those of us whose first intro to Asus was the Zenbook now believe that you make half baked products. Likewise, you've proven yet again that no one can do it as well as Apple. This is all very unfortunate because many of us were rooting for an Apple competitor and many of us truly do believe that the more open approach to software development and platforms is the right way to go. But, by creating yet another crappy product, I think you're driving many people to believe otherwise. Problem is that once Apple gets you into their ecosystem with one product, they really make it appealing to then add other products or services to that ecosystem and the more people do that, the harder it will be for you to ever get them out of it. I think you missed a real opportunity to turn things around for yourselves.|I'm not as tech savvy as most of the other reviewers, and most of their comments are spot on. I purchased mine from BB. It has a different part number [UX31-RSL8]. Not sure if there is any difference. BB listed the color as Radiant Silver. I wish they would state what it is: Dark gray. As for the Asus updates, it does sound like they rushed this unit out the door. On the Asus site there are 27 updates available. Everything from trackpad to bios. I have no clue which ones to download,[Any tips?] so I only did the ones that were in the popup from Asus when the computer is first used. One was the track pad update and this has helped somewhat, but there are others on the Asus site. Now the pad is too sensitive. Attempted scrolling often becomes an unintentional tap. I see no provision for any adjustment of pad sensitivity. Adding a mouse does not help when I use it on my lap. The screen is very sharp, but my last netbook, [Asus S-101] had a matt screen. I miss the matt screen a lot. This screen is like a mirror and detracts from the viewing experience. To use this laptop on a desk is fine. However,I usually use it on my lap, like when sitting on a couch. The sharp edges and corners of the deck are sharp enough to cut my palms. Why couldn't they bevel these edges? For me, this is a serious flaw. The SD card slot only allows the card to go in half way. The S-101 hid the entire card. WiFi performance is fine, but I did go into the advanced settings in Power 4 Gear and change the wireless card setting to full power. It had a desktop display gadget for P 4 gear, but I somehow lost it and can't find a way to retrieve it. I miss it because sometimes it goes into battery saving mode for no reason. I worry about the life of the tiny AC plug. It looks too fragile. Even with all these gripes, this is a great computer with top notch performance.|This is a thing of beauty, but laptops need a few key things to really work well and these things depend on how you use it. I touch type, and I need a keyboard that does not miss keystrokes. there is nothing more frustrating in the world than to have to shift focus to making sure you are doing something differently, especially like typing. I've almost never met a keyboard I didn't like, but this one has my fingers in spasms and convulsions. the thing is it sounds like you are typing but the keystroke can make a noise, but not register. this is especially apparent on the larger keys like the enter button, but it seemed to happen randomly throughout the keyboard on various words. writing any code, especially javascript with all it's {}[]'s was a nightmare. I think if you touch type you should really go look at one in the store and pull up a flash typing game to test how accurate your typing was. I gave it a day or two and really wanted to love it, because the screen is great with a nice pixel density.The trackpad, while not great isn't that bad. I got the elan one, and the sandisk ssd. I didn't notice any slowness on the ssd. I had a few other nitpicks like the lack of 5Ghz in wifi, the placement of the delete key right next to the power button, and the lack of backlight.The only other issue I had was with the thinness of the front, it just seemed to be pushed away with my wrists while in bed. The corners are also a bit sharp and uncomfortable.I ended up returning the ux31 and getting 25% off a series 9 at the microsoft store, and I bought it for the keyboard but the device is very nice in every other way, it also has a matte screen, it's lighter, and it has a backlight for the keyboard.|I purchased this speedy zenbook the day after it became available after much research and anticipation. I experienced the terrible WiFI and touchpad issues at first. Still not crazy about the touchpad even after some updates. However, the WiFI now works perfectly since the early Dec update. BUT why couldn't this update been performed automatically? Nonetheless, maybe I am a novice, but did expect to encounter some problems with a brand new ultralight model. I did not want a MAC but I needed something light. The keyboard is tricky but I find that the angle of placement of the laptop and my fingers makes a difference. This is a gorgeous, extremely fast, super lightweight laptop with great graphics and sound. There are few others at this weight (not considering a mac) and they certainly have a better keyboard BUT they cost twice as much. Bottom line--not perfect but works well for me for travel, watching movies, web/email, and work (documents, excel, remote connections, etc.).|I read most reviews for this model and I thought there were many chances for me to get a malfunctioning product, but as many reviewers say, as you open the box you instantly think this product is made for you... incredible design and very light.So as I started using it, I thought about the flaws I'd read such as the keyboard, the trackpad and wireless reception, and I found out there were none of them present on mine! Perhaps the keyboard is different, but it's not slightly difficult to type at, it's just that the average keyboard has no spacing between keys and this one gives you a new sensation, but not a hard time typing.The wireless reception is perfect and the only odd thing about the trackpad is that it stops working on the edges each time you type, so that you don't accidentally move the cursor. Asus call this a feature, and is something you have to get used to, but besides that the multitouch gestures you can do are awesome: scroll up, down and to the sides, rotate images, go back or forward on files and browser, show all running windows on a nice interface or go back to desktop.I have a lot of confidence in Asus and perhaps I got lucky this time, yet it's the most extraordinary experience I've had with a PC and it was worth every peso.|So I've never reviewed anything on Amazon before but I feel compelled to review this purchase given how apprehensive I was while reading the reviews on this site and the contrast when I actually got my Zenbook-UX31e and experienced none of the issues people described. Here's what I ended up purchasingUX31E with 128GB SSD. I was hoping for the ADATA SSD since I thought they were the only ones supplying 128GB but I ended up with SanDisk. Obviously I can only comment on what I have but the SanDisk is blazing fast enough. Maybe the ADATA is faster, but I don't care. I got the Elan touchpad - had no issues with it before or after updating the drivers. However, I don't like using touchpads, not matter the laptop so I use a mouse instead. Touchpad is good enough when space is tight. Wireless - THe wireless did drop a couple of times in the first hour - and I was concerned. I switched from Wireless N network to Wireless B/G and have had no problems. I'll try the N again when I get back. Not a deal breaker since I'm mostly using this at cafe's and very few have Wireless N.Keyboard - Ok - everyone complained about the keyboard. How hard it is to type etc. I had 0 problems from the very beggining. Yes they have less travel than the macbook air's. Did not matter to me. Maybe my finger strength is ridiculous - I don't think so. Sometimes people exaggerate the problems they have when the write reviews. Like people who complained they need to hold the FN key down to change brightness - really. Come on. Ok - Now to the fun part. Build Quality - Wow!!! Solid aluminum. Industrial Design - Holy crap!! - I'm not a big mac guy but they know how to make hardware. Finally, so does someone on the PC side. This thing will turn heads, be different etc. Beautiful piece of kit. Battery life - Will exceed 8 hrs the way I'm using it. Browsing, light photoshop, development. I'm at 81% with 6hrs and 51 mins to go as I type this review. Performance - Not a single hicccup. In fact, I had 3 different installs going at the same time - A game, Photoshop and 7zip and no stutters while browsing. Sound - Amazing. Can't wait to blow away my friends with Macbook Air's and Pro's.|The wireless adapter is the pits.Tried, downloading all the drivers,tried all the KB's and double checked all the settings.It turns on and off on its own, loses it's connection repeatedly.Asus support was no help.It loses its wireless connection even when it is only two feet from my wireless modem.Signal shows fine, They need to fix this!!!! a notebook needs to have a solid functioning wireless connection!! With only two USB ports. I use one for a mouse, and the other for my USB hub, to connect all the rest of my perpherals. Now I have to use both of my available USB's when away from my hub so I can use a USB external wireless adapter. It would have been better if they put two USB2's side by side, with the USB 3 on the opposite side because ASUS Blue Ray recorder needs to USB's (without a powered hub)to functionThe rest of the computer works just Great.It was a eye opener for me the difference between a ultrabook,and a notebook, you have to carry around so many extra things like a powered hub, memory sticks, flashcards, BD/DVD drive, mouse, hard drive backup etc. kinda defeats the purpose of ultra portability.PattyB|My household has about three laptops and two gaming rigs and a bunch of electronics. My wife's two laptops are about 2 to 3 years old and both were awfully heavy. Since my wife brings around at least one laptop back and forth to work I figured it was time for something new. After reading several reviews online I decided the Asus was the way to go.The build quality of the machine is just fantastic. The brushed metallic body looks great. The screen is very bright and the keyboard is the nice chiclet style keys reminiscent of the Macbook Air. At any rate I would say it's build quality is just as good as any other Ultrabook on the market.The first thing I noticed after I booted up is that it's fast. The 128GB SSD hard drive really shines as it only took me about 2 minutes to have it completly usable. I also noticed that Asus did not include a ton of extra bloatware which is a nice feauture. Asus really paid attention to detail, The hardware itself looks fantastic and even the Intel and Windows 7 logos are subdued to match the rest of the color scheme.In conclusion, I'm an IT guy at work and a gadget freak at home. With 2 gaming rigs (GTX570's and SSDs) and several high end LED Tvs this laptop was still very impressive and I am hard to impress.|I've had this ultrabook for almost 3 months now. This is the machine I've been dreaming of since the Macbook Air came out. It's tiny, super portable, and thanks to the Solid State Drive, it's very fast (especially during boot-up). It never gets hot like every other laptop I've owned (Macbook Pro and ThinkPad T61). The keyboard is great (no backlight but the screen is bright enough to illuminate the keys). The trackpad is the biggest weakness (even after updatng its drivers) but really who cares? If you're doing any serious computing you should be using a full fledged mouse anyway. Only other problem I've had is random disconnections from my home and school networks. It's happened only a handful of time but I've had to reboot each time. If you like Windows and are looking for something portable, fast, and capable this is the rights machine.Also, I've run League of Legends on this machine and it ran at ~20FPS and looked beautiful. The integrated graphics seems to be able to carry its own weight.|I'was really happy when I got my zenbook, it looks so thin, and the case is not that shining, I like its apparence. And it is so light, I can carry it easily. The system also stats pretty quickly, and the screen is friendly looking. The only thing I feel bad is when I get my computer, it have some problems. It always restarts, especially when I download something. Another problem is bluescreen, it appears sometimes. So finally I return it. And they return almost all of my money, although I still waste some of them. I believe it will be your best laptop if everything goes well. If you want to buy zenbook, I am sure it is a good choice for you. But be sure you know enough information about this, and good luck.}
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Post je objavljen 28.01.2012. u 07:40 sati.