What is wrong with ASUS? (New Zenbooks)

[GTaudiophile]

I am interested in either the new UX301 or 302. Go to their website and click the "Where to buy" links and of course only the UX301 is sort of out there and those who carry it are usually out of stock on only one configuration. This laptop was announced two months ago. Why can't they get their act right in terms of distribution?

 

[paperwastage]

it's the same for Asus T100

blame them producing too many variations of the same/different computer models... which one should they manufacture? which one should the store have for the customers? what cryptic name should the customer buy? ABC1025 or ABC1026?


usually I use shopping.google.com to help narrow down the merchants selling the product. looks like at least 5 merchants are selling it, dunno if oos or what

 

[gorcorps]

I don't know

I remember them announcing the Transformer Book when windows 8 was first announced, and I thought it looked great. Their transformer android tablets were pretty slick and getting that in a windows machine would be great. Of course every single other manufacturer came out with some sort of tranforming variant, but after months of zero news I eventually just moved on. They had the chance to be first to market with such a form factor and they blew it.

Long story short, I don't follow Asus releases anymore. Actually if I go to asus.com right now I get a "page cannot be found" error... on their MAIN page. I can't even check to see if the transformer exists as they originally announced it.

 

[ez2l3rn]

I've been looking at that one too. Doesn't look like it's available yet.

Curious why did you choose this model?

 

[Infohawk]

Other manufacturers are guilty too. A lot of the flagship haswell machines are not out despite what web pages say. For example, the new XPS 13 shows up on dells site but it says it will ship by Dec. 17. The HP spectre is also only going to be able to ship in December as well. These models were announced around the same time.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I've been looking at that one too. Doesn't look like it's available yet.

Curious why did you choose this model?

I'm looking for a 13.3" (non-Apple) ultrabook with an i7 Haswell, IPS screen, AC WLAN, USB3, and minimum HD5000 Iris graphics. And weighs around 3 lbs. or less.

I would grab a Sony Vaio Pro 13 if it offered Iris.

 

[Enigmoid]

I'm looking for a 13.3" (non-Apple) ultrabook with an i7 Haswell, IPS screen, AC WLAN, USB3, and minimum HD5000 Iris graphics. And weighs around 3 lbs. or less.

I would grab a Sony Vaio Pro 13 if it offered Iris.

You realize that HD 5000 is about 10% faster than HD 4400 and that the OEM boost/bios configuration and throttling factors are going to make a much larger difference.

HD 5000 in a 15W tdp isn't worth it over HD 4400.

 

[GTaudiophile]

You realize that HD 5000 is about 10% faster than HD 4400 and that the OEM boost/bios configuration and throttling factors are going to make a much larger difference.

HD 5000 in a 15W tdp isn't worth it over HD 4400.

Hmmm.

 

[Infohawk]

You realize that HD 5000 is about 10% faster than HD 4400 and that the OEM boost/bios configuration and throttling factors are going to make a much larger difference.

HD 5000 in a 15W tdp isn't worth it over HD 4400.

What are the boost/bios configurationi and throttling factors?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Does anyone else think that 2560 x 1440 is a little insane on a 13.3"? Or 3200 x 1800 in the case of something like the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro?

 

[Infohawk]

Does anyone else think that 2560 x 1440 is a little insane on a 13.3"? Or 3200 x 1800 in the case of something like the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro?

3200 x 1800 is definitely ridiculous given that Windows/legacy applications don't properly support such high resolutions. I am on the fence about 2560 x 1440 but it seems like it could still be a headache for a lot of applications.

 

[Enigmoid]

What are the boost/bios configurationi and throttling factors?

On mobile its not the chip that matters so much as whether or not the system uses good quality dual channel RAM, has sufficient cooling so that boost clocks can be maintained, and the OEM has configured boost to be fairly aggressive. A HD 5000 that throttles due to heat is inferior to a HD 4400 that can run at max boost. AT looked at the HD 5000 in the MBA and the HD 4400 in the acer and found a small difference (around 10%) in performance. Between ULV notebooks you can easily see 10% difference in gpu performance based on cooling.

 

[Infohawk]

On mobile its not the chip that matters so much as whether or not the system uses good quality dual channel RAM, has sufficient cooling so that boost clocks can be maintained, and the OEM has configured boost to be fairly aggressive. A HD 5000 that throttles due to heat is inferior to a HD 4400 that can run at max boost. AT looked at the HD 5000 in the MBA and the HD 4400 in the acer and found a small difference (around 10%) in performance. Between ULV notebooks you can easily see 10% difference in gpu performance based on cooling.

Interesting. Like OP I was thinking about HD5XXX but it sounds like that's not a good idea. I suppose if Dell, HP and others are using the 4400 in the premium ultrabooks they think it gives the best results?

 

[GTRagnarok]

I want to clear something up here. Only HD 5100 and 5200 are considered Iris graphics. The HD 5100 is paired with 28W CPUs and is noticeably better than the HD 4400 found in most Haswell Ultrabooks.

The Haswell 13" rMBP is hard to beat if you're looking for an ultraportable laptop. Its closest competitor is the Asus UX301LA, the only other 13" laptop I know of that has HD 5100, not to mention the similarly high resolution screen. The UX301LA is thinner and lighter but its battery is quite a bit smaller (50.6 WHr vs 71.8WHr in the rMBP) and it's actually more expensive for a comparable figuration.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I realize that the 13" Retina MB Pro is the best laptop out there but I just don't prefer to mess with the OS X environment.

I'd like to see pricing on the UX301 or 302 with the lower-res 1920 x 1080 screen. I don't see this model out there anywhere.

 

[paperwastage]

I realize that the 13" Retina MB Pro is the best laptop out there but I just don't prefer to mess with the OS X environment.

um, you know you can install Windows on it? (but you lose a LOT of battery life, because things are more optimized in os x)

 

[you2]

Which processors have the HD5100 and HD-5200 (is there a table somewhere) ?
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While not relevant to myself; one difference between these books is that the non-apple product have touch screen support; apple does not. So you can run window on the apple but it won't be quite the same (i'm likely going to go with the macbook pro but maybe samsung 9+ or sony pro 13). Asus (so far) is not winning the battery life contest in their vaiorus configurations.

I want to clear something up here. Only HD 5100 and 5200 are considered Iris graphics. The HD 5100 is paired with 28W CPUs and is noticeably better than the HD 4400 found in most Haswell Ultrabooks.

The Haswell 13" rMBP is hard to beat if you're looking for an ultraportable laptop. Its closest competitor is the Asus UX301LA, the only other 13" laptop I know of that has HD 5100, not to mention the similarly high resolution screen. The UX301LA is thinner and lighter but its battery is quite a bit smaller (50.6 WHr vs 71.8WHr in the rMBP) and it's actually more expensive for a comparable figuration.

 

[Infohawk]

Also the keyboard is not the same on the Macs. They may be a good choice for a lot of people, but not everyone.

 

[GTRagnarok]

Which processors have the HD5100 and HD-5200 (is there a table somewhere) ?
-
While not relevant to myself; one difference between these books is that the non-apple product have touch screen support; apple does not. So you can run window on the apple but it won't be quite the same (i'm likely going to go with the macbook pro but maybe samsung 9+ or sony pro 13). Asus (so far) is not winning the battery life contest in their vaiorus configurations.

There's a table on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_(microarchitecture)#Mobile_processors

About the touchscreen, I found it to be useless on the Asus UX302 that I used for a week. It's just a gimmick on a normal laptop form factor, and I don't miss at all on the MBP. It makes sense on something like the Lenovo Yoga though.

Also the keyboard is not the same on the Macs. They may be a good choice for a lot of people, but not everyone.

Yeah, there's definitely a learning curve if you're used to a Windows layout. The biggest thing for me is the lack of a dedicated Delete key. My solution is to remap the Caps lock key to Delete since I never use Caps lock.

 

[GTaudiophile]

The Sony Vaio Pro has a "no touch" option for certain models.

I personally think I could do without Win8.1 and touch on a laptop.

That said, who here is using Win8.1 over 7 at the moment?