What an EXCELLENT review - I have just purchased the latest touch screen version 6  Aug 2013 and was looking for a peer comparison to justify my purchase!  The only disappointment is the battery life which is the nature of the beast.  It was a relief and hence my searching the net to find my only other choice Apple having the same battery life in work mode.
Many Thanks Paul.

This Asus is great, however it has a major flaw, and is not in your review. The prblem is it doesn't have a security hole to lock it at the office.

This notebook has a major flaw in design - the power hole on the laptop is EXTREMELY faulty/loose. As a result, several people reported that it broke inside, destroying the motherboard with it and ASUS denied the repairs. $2000 wasted. DO NOT BUY THIS.

This is a great laptop for a developer.  The fan noise isn't a problem with mine, purchased in March 2013.  The BIOS update must have already been applied.  See my expanded review for actual usage from a developer.

http://candordeveloper.com/2013/05/07/asus-zenbook-ux51-developer-review/

I heard that Asus delivers a new BIOS-Update to reduce the fan noise. Could you please review the noise emissions now?

Will You update the review with the new BIOS when possible?

Quote from: Ashish on December 06, 2012, 09:24:10

3. The battery is also soldered on the board.. as i have experienced in the past the batteries dont last max 1.5-2 years.. so what options do i have for a replacement of the battery dies out.. paid support from asus is also fine... but it should be possible as i dont plan to throw this notebook away say 2 years from now.. atleast 4 years i am planning to use this one.

Looks like the battery is removable/replaceable, see the end of this review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF4RYrjLD50

1. You can use bumblebee to use the nvidia-gpu for specific programs. Having said that, the integrated HD4000 is fast enough for 60fps unity en gpu accelerated Google Chrome.
2. I've upgraded the 4GB stick to a 8GB model for a total of 12GB, working great!
3. My precious Dell XPS 16 had about 75% battery capacity left after 3 years. Modern batteries last way longer than previous models did.

Quote from: Ashish on December 06, 2012, 09:24:10
Few Doubts/Questions:

1. What is the support of the GeForce GT 650M GPU for ubuntu.. i have researched and found that if this notebook's bios doesnt support any option to use nvdia GPU by default.. there is no way that nvdia gpu can be used from ubuntu or for that matter any of the linux distros.. due to the optimus functionality by nvdia which is nothing but auto switchover of the intel/nvdia gpus to optimize performance.Any clarification on this?
2. The ram is 4gb soldered on to the board.. fine but there is one slot on the board that supports removable ram.. so how much ram this notebook suppots? 4+8(pluggable) =12GB ??
3. The battery is also soldered on the board.. as i have experienced in the past the batteries dont last max 1.5-2 years.. so what options do i have for a replacement of the battery dies out.. paid support from asus is also fine... but it should be possible as i dont plan to throw this notebook away say 2 years from now.. atleast 4 years i am planning to use this one.
4. What about the warranaty?? is it 2 years international one?? as its not available in india.. i might be buying from the US for use in india.. so will i get warranty support here in india??

Great test! can't wait to see it available in France!

According to the support of Asus Germany, a BIOS update will be release soon and will resolve the fan issue.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/685796-zenbook-u500-announced-15-6-hd-ips-gt650m-quad-core-i7-251.html

It could be interesting to update the review when this BIOS update is available.

Few Doubts/Questions:

1. What is the support of the GeForce GT 650M GPU for ubuntu.. i have researched and found that if this notebook's bios doesnt support any option to use nvdia GPU by default.. there is no way that nvdia gpu can be used from ubuntu or for that matter any of the linux distros.. due to the optimus functionality by nvdia which is nothing but auto switchover of the intel/nvdia gpus to optimize performance.Any clarification on this?
2. The ram is 4gb soldered on to the board.. fine but there is one slot on the board that supports removable ram.. so how much ram this notebook suppots? 4+8(pluggable) =12GB ??
3. The battery is also soldered on the board.. as i have experienced in the past the batteries dont last max 1.5-2 years.. so what options do i have for a replacement of the battery dies out.. paid support from asus is also fine... but it should be possible as i dont plan to throw this notebook away say 2 years from now.. atleast 4 years i am planning to use this one.
4. What about the warranaty?? is it 2 years international one?? as its not available in india.. i might be buying from the US for use in india.. so will i get warranty support here in india??

Something you guy's need to start doing is calibrating the screens to see how much of an improvement there is and if its worth doing. This screen might turn out to be wonderful after it is calibrated

Can someone confirm this laptop's BIOS has an Intel OROM with ATA TRIM passthrough support in RAID (i.e. v11.5 or higher)? This has major speed and SSD lifespan implications. Also if switching to AHCI mode is possible so you can break up the array and do SSD firmware updates/Secure Erase - or run the laptop in single device mode and choose which one you want to boot from (should also be helpful in case one of them fails, at least you can still use the laptop).

I would also like to know how well this laptop supports XP (which has issues with some newer UEFI implementations and controllers).

Shame about the fan noise and proprietary SSD setup, otherwise this would be my perfect laptop. I'm especially underwhelmed by the choice for SandForce controllers, which are rather buggy (especially the first generation, irreparable bricking on power loss and the like). On the flip side, if you get Sandisk instead, your storage speed will drop quite a bit. mSATA connectors would have fixed these issues.

Given the lack of upgrade options (SSD), restriction on RAM (4Gb soldered) and the lack of eSATA, then the Gigbyte P2542G looks like a very good dead: mSATA SSD, eSATA connector, RAM upgradable fully, and an nVidia GTX 660 to boot.  And 500 Euros cheaper.  Only serious downside is the fan noise.  Now, when will they release this in the Netherlands?

Hi,
Regarding my post #3 and your reply as #4, I do think that Win8 is the "culprit" behind a noisy fan. To make sure, Win7 should be tried with the subject Zen book. I think Win8 is doing some extra background work and heats up the processor (real high, too).
On my web site I get stats about visitor's OS and Win8 is below 2% (end of Nov 2012). With problems you and I describe, Win8 is getting noticed by a different kind of fans.
Mike I.

Quote from: Kristos on November 22, 2012, 15:34:21
Is it possible to upgrade the memory? 8GB seems well.. a bit 2011  :-)
So far I've seen inconclusive reports/statements of this.

4GB RAM is integrated and cannot be removed. You can add an 8GB RAM module onto the one available RAM slot for a total of 12GB (4 + 8). This particular review unit has a 4GB module for a total of 8GB (4 + 4)