Ultrabook with 1920x1080

[Brian Stirling]

I'm starting to look at picking up a 13"ish Ultrabook but it has to have a 1920x1080 screen as the main minimum feature. I don't need i7 so i5 is OK. It either has an SSD or can be modified to take an SSD so that means I need to be able to open it up. USB3.0 of course and a battery that lasts at least 5 hours of actual use. It would be nice if Win7 were an option...

Most of the mid priced Ultras with SSD are 128GB or thereabouts, but I want to put a 250GB-512GB SSD...


So, any recommendations...


Brian

 

[corkyg]

The new Toshiba Kirabook meets or exceeds all your druthers - that is, all except mid-range price. It is definitely high end.

 

[GusSmed]

Cheapest laptop that meets those specs on Newegg is the Asus Zenbook UX31A at $850.

 

[Brian Stirling]

The new Toshiba Kirabook meets or exceeds all your druthers - that is, all except mid-range price. It is definitely high end.

Very nice, the display at 2560x1440 looks great but, as you said, it is definitely not a mid priced Ultra. It also appears to be Win8 only and I'm just not interested in Win8.

8GB is about right but I wonder if the RAM is soldered in or if it is a plug in module -- I'm guessing soldered...

I'd like to get a chance to see one so I can look at that display...


Brian

 

[Brian Stirling]

Cheapest laptop that meets those specs on Newegg is the Asus Zenbook UX31A at $850.

This is pretty close to what I'm looking for but I'm not sure 4GB is gonna do it for me. I like that it's Win7 and 1920x1080 and the price is a whole lot more to my liking than the Toshiba corkyg mentioned.


Brian

 

[Brian Stirling]

Well I ordered the Asus UX31A on Monday and received it yesterday -- so far it looks pretty close to what I wanted.

I do wish it had more than 4GB or RAM, 8GB would be about right, and the worst thing is the 4GB is shared with video.

Still, for what I want it for it's about right and the HD display (1920x1080) is very nice.


Brian

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Well I ordered the Asus UX31A on Monday and received it yesterday -- so far it looks pretty close to what I wanted.

I do wish it had more than 4GB or RAM, 8GB would be about right, and the worst thing is the 4GB is shared with video.

Still, for what I want it for it's about right and the HD display (1920x1080) is very nice.


Brian

You can't just pop in an 8GB stick? I have the bigger brother, the UX32VD. I've got an 8GB stick in there (total of 12GB) and an SSD drive. The upgradability was why I bought it in the first place. Plus 1920x1080. It was $1300 though.

 

[Brian Stirling]

You can't just pop in an 8GB stick? I have the bigger brother, the UX32VD. I've got an 8GB stick in there (total of 12GB) and an SSD drive. The upgradability was why I bought it in the first place. Plus 1920x1080. It was $1300 though.

I haven't opened it up yet -- looks like I need a really small Torx bit (size ?), but if I can I will upgrade to 8GB or 12GB if there's an unused slot.

Upping the RAM should help but having the system RAM shared with video isn't the hot setup for performance...


Brian

 

[GusSmed]

According to Crucial, the UX31A doesn't have slots. All the memory is soldered.

I wouldn't sweat the shared video memory, since it's a Intel HD 4000. But if memory is really that critical, you should return it and look for something similar. I linked to that model because it was the cheapest and it has a decent reputation. It's not that much more expensive to get a model with 8 GB.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ehhhh.... in that case if you can, return it and spend more money on a UX32VD.

4GB RAM soldered in, but a free slot with which you can put in 8GB.

You can put in an off the shelf SSD.

Discrete nVidia graphics.

1920x1080 IPS matte screen.

Still an ultrabook.

i7 ultramobile processor

Loud speakers.

Only problem is that the touchpad is retarded. The buttons are part of the touchpad which means when you touch the buttons the pointer also moves.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Ehhhh.... in that case if you can, return it and spend more money on a UX32VD.

4GB RAM soldered in, but a free slot with which you can put in 8GB.

You can put in an off the shelf SSD.

Discrete nVidia graphics.

1920x1080 IPS matte screen.

Still an ultrabook.

i7 ultramobile processor

Loud speakers.

Only problem is that the touchpad is retarded. The buttons are part of the touchpad which means when you touch the buttons the pointer also moves.

Mine comes with a 256GB SSD so that isn't needed...

I'll see if I can open it up and confirm the RAM setup ... if it has a free slot I'll just add an 8GB module...


Brian

 

[Brian Stirling]

Well I picked up a Torx T5 and opened the bottom cover but there doesn't appear to be an spare slot for RAM and the one RAM module that is installed has a tape that if you remove it the warrant is void. It's hard to tell without removing the tape if the module is soldered or plugged in.

So, it is what it is...


Brian

 

[Bootleg Betty]

I had very annoying problem with UX32VD which eventually led to me returning it -- it has broken thermal setup or something. It combines two factors:

1) When you're using the computer for light tasks (but not when it's completely idle), the CPU will warm up to about 55 degrees C. That's not bad temperature for CPU, but the problem is that the fan is set up to start at 50 degrees C.

2) The firmware is broken, and due to bad feedback loop or something, refuses to run the fan at any other setting than zero or full.

This means, that whenever you do anything with the computer, it warms up to 55 degrees, then it starts the fan, then it cools down and stops the fan, then it warms up ... web browsing on my UX32VD was like this: WHEEEEEEEEEE UUUUUU <ten seconds of silence> WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE <fifteen seconds of silence> WEEEEEEEEEE <five seconds of silence>, ad infinitum.

ASUS knows about the bug, but won't fix it. Now, some units don't have this problem, or start experiencing it after some time, but ASUS won't do anything about that, because "all computers run fans sometimes, right?". So unless you really need that RAM, I would stick to UX31A, because according to forums, about every UX32VD has this problem, but only some UX31A do, probably because of the dGPU.

Of course, ASUS promised updated version with Haswell, that should have 8 GB RAM by standard, but know know when that will arrive. Also, there was loss of display quality from Zenbook to Zenbook Touch, and thanks to Intel, every ultrabook will be touch now, so if you like that screen, you might be better of with UX31A.

 

[TheStu]

Ehhhh.... in that case if you can, return it and spend more money on a UX32VD.

4GB RAM soldered in, but a free slot with which you can put in 8GB.

You can put in an off the shelf SSD.

Discrete nVidia graphics.

1920x1080 IPS matte screen.

Still an ultrabook.

i7 ultramobile processor

Loud speakers.

Only problem is that the touchpad is retarded. The buttons are part of the touchpad which means when you touch the buttons the pointer also moves.

The whole trackpad is hinged at the top, the point is that it gives you an actual click, and increased tracking area for gestures.

 

[mooncancook]

How about Sony Duo 13? 13" 1920x1080 IPS touch screen, Haswell i5 or i7, 4GB or 8GB ram, 128GB or 256GB or 512GB SSD, 9 hrs of battery life of light use (tested by Engaget), pressure sensitive stylus, 2.9 lb. The base model with i5, 4GB ram, and 128GB SSD starts at about $1400, so not sure if it's within your budget. I got the mid-spec i7 with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD and Win8 Pro for close to 2 grands and I'm in love with it. Boot up in under 5 sec is mind blowing.

 

[Sweepr]

I had very annoying problem with UX32VD which eventually led to me returning it -- it has broken thermal setup or something. It combines two factors:

1) When you're using the computer for light tasks (but not when it's completely idle), the CPU will warm up to about 55 degrees C. That's not bad temperature for CPU, but the problem is that the fan is set up to start at 50 degrees C.

2) The firmware is broken, and due to bad feedback loop or something, refuses to run the fan at any other setting than zero or full.

I have my UX32VD for 8 months now and didnt experienced that. Seems like there is a bit of luck involved. Shame on ASUS, I'm surprised they havent done anything about it. Other than that, great ultrabook.

 

[Bootleg Betty]

I have my UX32VD for 8 months now and didnt experienced that. Seems like there is a bit of luck involved. Shame on ASUS, I'm surprised they havent done anything about it. Other than that, great ultrabook.

Yeah, it's real shame. I understand if they don't want to spend money to fix it, especially if only some units have the problem, but I really hope they fix it in the Haswell version.

 

[xeledon20005]

at my work we use toshiba toughbooks, they are so nice but at 2500 a pop they better be.

 

[Sunburn74]

Honestly on my ux31a, the 4gb ram isn't the issue, but rather that fairly meek processor and slow storage (and thats with the ADATA drive, not the anemic sandisk variety). I wouldn't sweat it. I was still able to run a number of games on it (torchlight II was the most recent) quite smoothly.

Most of my apps that really need >4gb of ram at a time are very time consuming (audio video processing, etc), have high processor requirements and are just better served to be run on my home workstation.

 

[Bootleg Betty]

Most of my apps that really need >4gb of ram at a time are very time consuming (audio video processing, etc), have high processor requirements and are just better served to be run on my home workstation.

Not necessarily. You can do J2EE development on two-core, because build more often than not are not parallel, but you can't really do it with 4 GB RAM, because the application won't fit into memory with the IDE.

So you could do it on 8 GB ultrabook. It is still better served with workstation, though.

 

[KentState]

Just for comparisons, look at the Samsung Ativ 7. It has an extra slot for memory and uses a standard Samsung mSATA SSD. The biggest downside I've seen is the keyboard being silver with dark silver lettering. The trackpad software was also a little bugging when released.

 

[linster]

How about Sony Duo 13? 13" 1920x1080 IPS touch screen, Haswell i5 or i7, 4GB or 8GB ram, 128GB or 256GB or 512GB SSD, 9 hrs of battery life of light use (tested by Engaget), pressure sensitive stylus, 2.9 lb. The base model with i5, 4GB ram, and 128GB SSD starts at about $1400, so not sure if it's within your budget. I got the mid-spec i7 with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD and Win8 Pro for close to 2 grands and I'm in love with it. Boot up in under 5 sec is mind blowing.

I've been eyeing the Duo 13 for a while and just saw it in person at a Sony store and came away being more impressed. I'll probably put in an order online soon configured with the i7-4650u with the HD5000 graphics, 256 GB SSD, and 8 GB RAM. The only thing holding me back is the Broadcom WIFI issues that people have been experiencing. Any issues with your WIFI?

 

[AMDZen]

If you are having trackpad issues, install the new Elan touchpad drivers

Pointing is smooth and accurate and not nearly as many issues once you get the new ones

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=Touchpad&p=3&s=110

I think you made the right choice. The Zenbook is awesome

 

[mooncancook]

I've been eyeing the Duo 13 for a while and just saw it in person at a Sony store and came away being more impressed. I'll probably put in an order online soon configured with the i7-4650u with the HD5000 graphics, 256 GB SSD, and 8 GB RAM. The only thing holding me back is the Broadcom WIFI issues that people have been experiencing. Any issues with your WIFI?

I've used it for a few weeks and I haven't experienced any wifi issue. Though just now I checked its signal strength against my older Sony VGN-FW notebook, with router down-stair, using both notebooks up-stair in the room, the FW gets 5/5 bars of signal, while the Duo gets 2-3/5 bars. It is not a deal breaker for me because I wouldn't have noticed it if I have not heard about it.

 

[linster]

I've used it for a few weeks and I haven't experienced any wifi issue. Though just now I checked its signal strength against my older Sony VGN-FW notebook, with router down-stair, using both notebooks up-stair in the room, the FW gets 5/5 bars of signal, while the Duo gets 2-3/5 bars. It is not a deal breaker for me because I wouldn't have noticed it if I have not heard about it.

Well, I went ahead and ordered it. Estimated shipping is 2 weeks from now. Seems a bit of a long wait but I can endure it. I think there's some thought that the WIFI issues are Haswell related as some of the users for the new MacBook Airs are also having WIFI problems. I live in a one bedroom apartment so hopefully the short range to my router will render the problem moot for me.