Review Asus Zenbook UX51VZ (U500VZ) Notebook

[Redaktion]

Zen Master. Upscale looks, slim build, and extremely powerful: until now, it was Apple's MacBook series which has managed best to combine these characteristics. With the UX51VZ (IPS display, quad-core CPU, SSD RAID, and a host of other high-end features), Asus sets out to dethrone the master.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Zenbook-UX51VZ-U500VZ-Notebook.84246.0.html

[I K]

I was planning on swapping out one of the SSDs for my current 500 GB HDD.

I'm guessing I won't be able to do that with this laptop, right?

[John]

What about the touch-screen version? You could have at least mentioned it...

[MikeI]

You do not say what OS this laptop came with. I "upgraded" my Sony L with Win 8, and was very unpleasantly surprised when the fan went high during idle when no programs were running.

[Hræsvelgr]

You do not say what OS this laptop came with. I "upgraded" my Sony L with Win 8, and was very unpleasantly surprised when the fan went high during idle when no programs were running.

right side:
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 64 Bit

[enyan]

Indeed... What about the touch screen? (Great review btw).

[Till Schönborn]

We cannot provide any information about a possible touch version at the moment.

[gitram]

Loud fans that are always on? Proprietary SSD and WLAN card connections that prevent upgrades? "OK" screen? All that for a very hefty price?
No thank you ASUS.

[Kristos]

Is it possible to upgrade the memory? 8GB seems well.. a bit 2011  :-)
So far I've seen inconclusive reports/statements of this.

[Allen.Ngo]

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)

[MikeI]

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.

[Pieter]

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?

[Foo]

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.

[HopelesslyFaithful]

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

[Ashish]

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??