ASUS U500vz/UX51vz Owners' Lounge!

Please report the problem to Asus in any way you can think of... They don't seem to have it in their ticket system that the problem exist, at all, or I wouldn't keep getting the same canned answer.

Can't you use a USB stick or something?

 

Not right now. Actually, come to think of it, drivers SHOULD be installed, it's a preinstalled OS after all

Which is not really cool, given the wake-up/boot display driver problems

 

1. I did have that touchpad issue like once or twice on my first sample, but since I installed latest SmartGesture driver from ASUS homepage I havent had the problem since.

2. This is because of the ambient light sensor that is located next to the webcam on top of the screen. Some users say u can disable it by pressing fn+a, but I have disabled it completely by going into the advanced power settings and disable adaptive brightness. (Win+X, click O, "Change plan settings" on the plan you want to change this on, go into "change advanced power settings", go into "Display" and there you have "Enable adaptive brightness". Disable that.)

 

I am in the U.S. and got my UX51VZ-XH71 from DataVision Computer yesterday.

Some specs:
• 2 x ADATA XM11 256GB Drives, Revision 5.0.2a, SATA 6Gb/s, RAID 0
• Serial Number starts with CAN – this mean it’s Canadian?
• WIN8 Pro 64bit without any Product Key

Accessories included
• External subwoofer
• Mini VGA – VGA adaptor cable
• Mini something to USB adaptor cable – what is this for?
• DVD with WIN8 drivers. Not very useful in a machine without a DVD drive

Bloatware:
• McAfee
• Microsoft Office 10 Starter
• MS Store

As Shipped (stock):
• Drive C: Capacity 183GB, Used: 32GB, Free: 151GB
• Drive D: Capacity 254GB, Used: 124MB, Free: 254GB
• Hibernate and Swapfiles take about 10GB of Drive C:

Positives so far:
• Beautiful design, fit and finish
• So light and thin
• Very little bloatware so flattening might be unnecessary
• Keyboard and screen are perfect
• Trackpad works pretty well.
• WiFi works great.
• No keyboard flex and no hot spots

Negatives so far:
• The fans do run continuously. They are not loud and cannot be heard except in perfectly quiet room. They do not change frequency and so sound like a very quiet white noise generator. They are quieter than the fan in my Dell XPS 15 but that one does not run continuously.
• The status lights are cool but misplaced under your hands in front of the trackpad.
• driver_power_state_failure on resume from sleep so disabled sleep completely – this never worked in Win7 either.
• WIN8 is so ugly compared to WIN7.
• WIN8 is currently pretty buggy – random crashes and non-responsive programs/input controls.
• The power supply is big and clunky and has no easy way to wrap the cables – really Asus.
• Ugly stickers on palm rest.

 

Do you guys think its better to wait for the touch screen version or just buy the normal one? I have to buy a laptop within the next week and wasnt sure when the touch version was coming out.

Also to anyone who already has the laptop, are there any really big problems with this laptop? For example does it crash a lot and how good is the trackpad?

 

On your desktop should be a link to "eManual". Pressing Fn + Spacebar launches ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid app.

I uninstalled the app. I use Windows native power management instead.

 

I don't see anything like that in the device manager.

 

Oh, thank you! I found the information but where did you get the information about 45mb/s? For example the SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC 64GB supports up to 95mb/s read and write. That would be a nice way to add space as soon as the prices drop. 120€ is "a bit" expensive right now for 64GB. But if you just care about space the Transcend SDXC 128GB, Class 10 for 110€ is not that bad. I will definitely use this option later on to expand my storage.

 

45mb/s was the fastest ones I found when I took a quick look. Yes I agree, this would be the option for me to expand the space aswell. Damn, I didnt even think of how big and fast the SD-cards have become nowadays, I did not have in mind that I could use one as big as 128GB so increase storage. This is very welcome for us who have the 128x2-version!

 

Has anyone had any luck repartitioning the hard drives? I toasted my new UX51VZ by trying to change the size of the partitions (make the OS one bigger, and "data" smaller). I purchased and am downloading W8 Pro as I post.

There seems to be a good deal of "wasted space" on the setup. There is 20gb dedicated to "recovery" with only half of that being used and an unknown 16.13gb of "unallocated" space on "Disk 2".

Seems we have a few folks here who have a fresh Windows 8 install-- are you guys running it off one large partition?

 

@sockfish: Yeah I am running off a single large partition now. The unallocated space at the end of the disk I could not reclaim with the Windows (7) disk management tool, nor the setup program.

In any case it is supposed to have a function to maintain the SSDs speed in RAID mode by acting as an 'undisturbed playground' for the drives to park data on temporarily or so.

I'm still debating whether to try to get rid of it anyway. And on whether I should disable RAID...

 

@ ipkryss
We still have to find out how fast the card reader in the UX51 is ;-)

@ Terpen Tijn
Maybe they made the space unavailable to expand the life of the SSD. Might be possible.

 

As far as I know, the normal factory SSD space allowance for this purpose is never actually visible to the user. So if they added this for longevity, it is probably over and above the SSD's internal margins... Probably good to be on the safe side, but I'd hate to see it getting "eaten" as it is used to replace bad sectors elsewhere...

 

Indeed.

I just got into the steam linux beta and I am eager to get Ubuntu running on this monster. It's a shame that the whole hard drive setup is so complicated..

 

Got my u500vz from Currys/PC World couple of weeks ago, and the CPU is different from what they advertise on the webpage. It is i7-3612QM and not 3517U

here is the dmidecode info

Processor Information
Socket Designation: SOCKET 0
Type: Central Processor
Family: Core i7
Manufacturer: Intel(R) Corporation
ID: A9 06 03 00 FF FB EB BF
Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 58, Stepping 9
Flags:
FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
VME (Virtual mode extension)
DE (Debugging extension)
PSE (Page size extension)
TSC (Time stamp counter)
MSR (Model specific registers)
PAE (Physical address extension)
MCE (Machine check exception)
CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
SEP (Fast system call)
MTRR (Memory type range registers)
PGE (Page global enable)
MCA (Machine check architecture)
CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
PAT (Page attribute table)
PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
DS (Debug store)
ACPI (ACPI supported)
MMX (MMX technology supported)
FXSR (FXSAVE and FXSTOR instructions supported)
SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
SS (Self-snoop)
HTT (Multi-threading)
TM (Thermal monitor supported)
PBE (Pending break enabled)
Version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3612QM CPU @ 2.10GHz
Voltage: 5.0 V 3.3 V
External Clock: 100 MHz
Max Speed: 3800 MHz
Current Speed: 2100 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: Socket rPGA988B
L1 Cache Handle: 0x0009
L2 Cache Handle: 0x0008
L3 Cache Handle: 0x000A
Serial Number: Not Specified
Asset Tag: Fill By OEM
Part Number: Fill By OEM
Core Count: 4
Core Enabled: 4
Thread Count: 8
Characteristics:
64-bit capable

It came with the latest 203 bios
BIOS Information
Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
Version: UX51VZA.203
Release Date: 09/13/2012
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 6144 kB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
BIOS ROM is socketed
EDD is supported
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
Smart battery is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
UEFI is supported
BIOS Revision: 4.6

the idle running temp is very good at 22C ambient

root@dynomob:/# sensors
acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +40.0°C (crit = +108.0°C)

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +41.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +32.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +33.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 2: +41.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 3: +35.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

 

Which *nix are you running, and how well is the hardware supported?

 

kubuntu 12.10

From what I can see everything is working apart from:

- F5 and F6 buttons - seems to be fixed in latest kernels
- ambient light sensor, fan speed not detected
- subwoofer, still have to get my hands around it but so far only right channel gets outputed to the sub

 

Does the subwoofer expect mono or stereo ( unsure why it would use 2 channels for bass, but one never knows )?
Does the audio sub system (presumably Pulse) send the signal to the subwoofer as mono or stereo?

How does the subwoofer attach to the notebook? e.g USB, audiojack.

 

Sub is attached via audiojack.

I followed this post here
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/871808

following settings make it work
echo 0x16 0x99130111 > /sys/class/sound/hwC0D0/user_pin_configs
echo 0x1e 0x99130112 > /sys/class/sound/hwC0D0/user_pin_configs
echo 1 > /sys/class/sound/hwC0D0/reconfig

the audio module loads with asus-mode8 fine or without any option at all, but not with asus-mode4

options snd-hda-intel model=asus-mode8

 

Are the low frequencies filtered through?

I see that there was some active work on the subwoofer until the end of October. Finally someone found something to use with SPDIF on notebooks.

When I see the 512Gb Touch version released in the Netherlands (which I shall buy) I shall be able to test.

 

I plan to look into fixing it over the weekend, and will post the results of the progress.

 

Yesterday I completed my 'retrofit' of the laptop with the clean installation of Windows 7 Pro. Everything appears to be working, including the function keys, and all devices in the device manager are installed properly.

I've omitted the installation of some Asus crapware, but all apps that I did want installed just fine. Driver-wise I only needed to source a couple of alternatives to the Windows 8 offerings on the Asus support site.

I also got rid of the partition mess, only leaving the unallocated 'spare' partition for the time being.

If there is any interest I could compose a small how-to guide. Just let me know.

 

I am certainly interested as I intend to nuke the notebook upon receipt, and install Windows 7 and perhaps Lubuntu. I still do not know whether Windows or Linux wll be used as the primary O/S.

For the past 8 years I have only used either BSD SystemV or Linux, but a recent installation of Windows 7 on my work notebook has made me realise how great the Windows 7 UI is, coupled with an essential install of Cygwin of course I should be content to have the Windows 7 UI on Linux

 

back on topic:

I see the 512Gb is available on Amazon.Com (US).
Amazon.com: ASUS UX51Vz 15.6" Core i7 512GB SSD Laptop: Computers & Accessories
I did not read any reference to a touch screen. Does anyone know for certain whether this model has the touchscreen or not?

 

It is not the product number for the touch version. That is also strange because both specs about the screen are just wrong: "full HD 1080p IPS panel that brings visuals to breathtaking life with 350cd/m2 brightness and 800:1 contrast"

@ ALL owners
Would you mind sending Asus a reminder for the fan speed problem? I will do that myself but eventually they feel like they can just wait until everybody "forgets" to complain about the issue? I think we definitely should work together to get our update THX guys!

 

I'm really interested at this guide, please make it!

 

I am also very much interested in such a guide! Hopefully it will include backup of the recovery partitions and of the Win8 key?

 

Now the brightness I don't know if it's right but the contrast is at least a bit over 500:1 (determined by eye only - I do have some experience with LCDs though). How do you know the specs are wrong?

I personally have absolutely no problem with the fan. Yes it is always working however that's IMHO better than machines that spin the fan up/down all the time. Not even when playing some Stalker does the fan irritate me.
Now after that's said I'll try to send Asus some complaints.

 

Because he has used a calibration tool Spyder 4, also this IPS panel has a lot of reviews on others notebooks and even Asus U500VZ notebookcheck review confirms that the specs: 350cd/m2 brightness and 800:1 contrast are completely wrong.

Real display specs are: 265.3 cd/m² brightness and 500:1 contrast, obviously they can change a little even on two identical laptop.

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

 

Below I describe the steps I took to do a clean installation of Windows 7 x64 (professional). On my laptop it replaces the pre-installed Windows 8 Home OS. This OS does not allow downgrading, and indeed I used a new license for Windows 7, rather than attempting to re-use that of the original OS. I imagine that the procedure I followed is virtually identical for Win 8 Pro versions, but if you have that OS, you may want to investigate official downgrade options to reuse your factory license (I don't think Asus offers them at the moment, although other OEMs do). Either way, if you choose to follow in my footsteps, you do so at your own risk!

Preparation
You will lose all data on the partitions that you will use for the new OS, so make sure to back up all files you want to save first. I saw no need to worry about any of the apps provided by Asus, and the majority if not all of these can be downloaded from Asus anyway. But don't forget the cute Asus Zenbook wallpaper! ...actually you can as the wallpaper is on the Asus driver DVD.

If you are worried about losing your Windows 8 Home license, the Belarc Advisor tool ( here) will show your key to you, so you can save it. The key should allow a clean install of Windows 8 Home. However, do note that Windows 8 Home is not (yet?) freely available as an ISO, and I expect Windows 8 Pro to reject the key.

You will also lose the factory recovery option, which allows you to restore the original OS as well as the Asus add-on software in case of need. In order to make a backup of this somewhat helpful feature, Asus provides a program called AI Recovery. However, it will fail to find the recovery partition on your laptop, and is therefore useless. Fortunately, Windows 8 itself has the ability to make a backup of the main (20GB) recovery partition as well. I got this tip from another user here: Using the Search function, first select to search for Settings, and then enter "recovery". It will produce a wizard that can make a bootable USB stick with the contents of the recovery partition (other media like DVDs do not work). You will again lose all data on the USB stick you use, and it must be at least 20GB to work.

Note: Next to the 20GB recovery partition, there is also a 600MB one. It is somewhat unclear what this one contains, but my guess is that it contains a Windows 8 Pre-Installation Environment, possibly slightly customized by Asus. At the moment, I suspect this is what the BIOS will load if you press F9, and offer you the regular restore options by activating the 20GB partition, as well as some standard Windows tools. In any case I have deleted it without ill effects. Pressing F9 on my laptop now does nothing, which is fine, and there is no error message or crash either.

Once the USB stick is made (will take some time), it will allow you to boot from it in EFI mode and restore the original Windows 8 OS etc, using the matching license key that is already stored in the BIOS from the factory. In order to do so, press F2 as you boot, go to the Force Boot menu on the last page in the BIOS, and select the EFI boot option from the chosen USB stick. For the purpose of this guide, we will just lay the USB stick aside and continue with the installation of Windows 7 instead.

Setting up the BIOS to allow booting from Windows 7 installation media
The BIOS normally wants to boot in the dreaded EFI mode. Windows 7 does have the ability to boot in EFI mode as well, but it turned out to be problematic for me. What happened was that it would boot from a production Windows 7 DVD in EFI mode, but then the installer would hang as it does not natively support USB3, which is how my DVD drive (and USB sticks) are connected... So I needed to slipstream a USB 3 driver for the installation to work (more on this below), but then none of the DVDs or USB sticks that I made would be recognized as EFI-bootable by the BIOS! Even moving around certain EFI-critical files did not help.

Long story short: I cut through this hassle by booting the old-fashioned way, without EFI. I have personally not seen any drawbacks to this approach. In order to do this, you need to enable this type of boot in the BIOS. It is called CSM, Compatibility Support Mode:



Once this is enabled you can boot from any Windows 7 installation media. It allowed me to boot from my USB3-slipstreamed DVD and proceed with the installation without any further hangups.

Creating a working Windows 7 installer
As I mentioned above, a USB3 driver has to be added to the Windows 7 installer for it to work on our laptop. I followed the procedure from this source.

Requirements
A) Windows 7 ISO (direct link to Windows 7 x64 Pro here)
B) Intel USB 3 drivers compatible with our chipset ( these)
C) DVD or USB stick to use as installation media (to make bootable DVDs I had good experiences with imgburn)

Procedure
1) Extract the ISO image somewhere on your main drive (SSD).
2) Create a directory called winpe somewhere else on your drive.
3) In your extracted ISO folder, find the \sources directory. Find the boot.wim file inside that directory, and copy it to the winpe folder you previously created.
4) In the winpe folder, create two subfolders, one named usb3, and one named mount.
5) From the zipped USB 3.0 driver file, grab the files in "Intel(R)_USB_3.0_eXtensible_Host_Controller_Driver.zip\Intel(R)_USB_3.0_eXtensible_Host_Controller_Driver\Drivers\Win7\x64" and put them in your usb3 folder.
6) Open an elevated command prompt (right click CMD, run as administrator) and navigate to the winpe folder.
7) Type in the following commands:

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:mount
dism /image:mount /add-driver:"usb3" /recurse
dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:mount /commit

8) Copy the now-modified boot.wim file back to the \sources directory in your extracted ISO folder, overwriting the original.
9) Make a bootable installer DVD or USB stick using the modified ISO file.

The Installation
The Windows 7 installer will have no problems seeing the Windows 8 GPT-type partitions, and it will happily remove all of them. I chose to maintain RAID-0 for the time being, but I deleted all but one of the factory partitions (2x recovery, OS, DATA, and system). The unallocated space at the end of the drives (~16GB) is probably meant to increase the reliability and/or maintain the speed of the SSDs over time, and so keeping it intact may be the wise choice. Also, the installer will not allow you to touch it (but other programs, such as the Intel Rapid Storage Driver tool might if you really want it gone). My partitions now:



Once Windows 7 is on your SSD, you will find the BIOS booting happily in oldschool style from it.

Drivers and Apps
You could use the supplied DVD to install the drivers and apps from there, but I chose to download them from the Asus support site (direct link to the U500VZ model here). It may be that the DVD contains one or two extra apps, but I did not check its contents in detail. On the support site, almost all of the drivers and apps are listed under "Windows 8", excluding only the WinFlash BIOS updater and the BIOS updates. Nonetheless, everything works just fine in Windows 7, with 2 exceptions:

1) The Intel Bluetooth driver
2) The Intel Wifi driver

I sourced these directly from Intel-- Wifi here and Bluetooth here. Choose the x64 versions.

There is also one driver missing that you will need for Windows 7; our old friend the USB3 driver (same link as above, here).

The remaining 13 drivers can all be used directly from the Asus support site (see link above), making for a total of 16:



With this set of drivers, all devices in the Device Manager are accounted for, and all functions (e.g., screen brightness, backlight, volume) work as they should from the keyboard, as far as I can tell. I also downloaded some of the Asus apps that seemed most useful, but have actually not seen fit to install them. Note that the Intel ExpressCache and/or Rapid Start apps requires fiddling with partitions again, only to gain some standby or caching function of dubious merit, so I'll probably leave them be. Here is what I downloaded; I would advise you to not bother downloading any of the other apps you might find on the Asus site, but that's just my preference.



Driver installation sequence
Sometimes conflicts between drivers or driver versions can arise if they are not installed in the 'proper' order. I followed the following sequence, rebooting every time it was asked for:

1) Intel Chipset
2) Intel Rapid Storage
3) Intel Graphics
4) NVIDIA Graphics
5) Intel Wifi, Intel Bluetooth
6) Atheros LAN
7) Realtek Audio
8) Alcor Cardreader
9) Asus ATK, Asus Smartgesture, and then Asus Keyboard filter
10) Intel Management Engine
11) Intel USB3
12) Intel Wireless Display
13) Asus USB Charger Plus

I'm sure some variations in this order will be fine. However, I think it may be wise to try to install mainboard- and core-type drivers first (chipset, storage), before the more frivolous and non-essential ones (e.g., WiDi, USB charger).

Only after all of these did I continue to Windows Update. My reasoning is that Windows will otherwise propose various generic drivers that may not be ideal matches to the laptop's hardware. It is also not always clear whether the Windows Update drivers are newer than the ones from Asus (especially since these are not on the machine if you were to update Windows first). Once all the drivers from Asus are already installed, Windows Update will only suggest an optional NVIDIA driver (which I did not install).

Here is the final result, after having installed all of these (as well as the Windows Updates):



Done! At ~700MB installed size, this is clearly a nice reduction compared to the ~4GB of the Asus factory install (ok, including a benchmark program or two).

So there you have it. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. I hope this little walkthrough will be of use to some of you!

 

One shouldn't read too much into notebookcheck.net LCD tests as I personally have used 3 laptops with obvious better specs than that claimed from them, verified by reading the LCD panel datasheet.
Another thing to remember is that LCD panels are continuously improved and that panels with almost exactly the same product number can vary in many important specifications. One example a later version went from 70% to 90% sRGB coverage, 600:1 to 800:1 contrast and 250 cd/m to 400 cd/m backlight. How did the product number differ? One A was replaced by a C.
Now remember that this panel in previous versions have had problems showing pure red while the panel on my machine shows clear reds and clear orange at the same time. Thus it's not too far fetched to think that the panel is a later version than those affected by "orange gate" and that the panel id visible from device manager doesn't show the whole identifier including version.
Sorry for the ranting. :/

 

To all of you who are looking for a fitting sleeve, my order #4 was this one and it finally fits:

Asus UX51VZ VS. Cool Bananas RainSuit Neopren Sleeve 15,4" - YouTube

German Amazon:

Cool Bananas RainSuit Neopren Tasche für Apple MacBook: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör

 

Zii, got the subwoofer working in Linux for u500vz UX51VZA . Kubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.5.0-18-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP . Also had to use the latest alsa-daily modules

So the following steps need to be performed.

# apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/alsa-daily
# apt-get update
# apt-get install alsa-hda-dkms

add to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
options snd-hda-intel model=asus-mode4

add to /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/extra-hdmi.conf
[Mapping analog-surround-21]
device-strings = surround40:%f
channel-map = front-left,front-right,lfe,lfe
paths-output = analog-output analog-output-speaker
priority = 7
direction = output

make sure lfe-mixing is enabled in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf
enable-lfe-remixing = yes

# killall pulseaudio
# rmmod snd-hda-intel
# modprobe snd-hda-intel
# /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start --log-target=syslog

Open
# pavucontrol
and set Built-in audio profile to "Analogue Surround 2.1 Output + Analogue Stereo Input"

that's it. you can test it with
# speaker-test -c6 -t wav -D pulse

 

Thanks for trying these sleeves for their fitment. This one looks like it doesn't actually have a closing mechanism? Just a flap? Personally I'd prefer to have a zipper or something...

 

Jip, you are right. i would also prefer the zipper method. the problem is that all my previous orders (all with zip) have been to big (15,6" sleeves) or to small (because of the round corners)
so im actually happy, that i found one that fits..not easy.

 

Thanks, Terpen Tijn!

Extremely useful and helpful!
Two questions:

1. Someone mentioned (algen?) that it is possible to extract the Win8 key from the registry. Have you found this to be the case? I.e. is it possible to do a Win8 clean install using this key?
2. Is there only one recovery partition we need to backup or are there more of those?

 

Hello...

I understand that this is a uni-body machine. That said, is it difficult to get inside it to add RAM?

Best Buy now has their 512GB unit for sale for $2,279. An additional 8GB of RAM would be about $40. But can I get inside the machine to add the RAM?

Does anyone know...or have a schematic?

Thanks...
Aurachroma

 

One of the RAM plates is soldered to the board (and unupgradeable), the other you can swap for a 8GB for a total of 12GB max. According to reviews, opening the bottom requires a special type of screwdriver and removing two of the rubber legs and a bunch of tape.

 

Is it in the store? I checked Friday but didn't see it.

 

Marginal question: is the "ASUS" word on the back of the screen illuminated?

 

No. It's some kind of metal.

 

Is it really unibody? I thought it was like the UX32VD.

 

Thank you for reply :thumbsup:

 

Not a unibody machine. You can unscrew the bottom with torx screws to access that.

 

Have you tried the bumblebee-projekt? If you have not done so can you please give it a try and then come back with a report?
Thank you

I'm very much interested to know if the discrete gpu can be turned off, since that could have a little impact on battery life and or heating/noise issues...

 

Thankfully NOT!

 

Thanks!

1: Yes, there is, you can extract it using BelArc Advisor tool. It should work with a clean install. However, Windows 8 Home is not (yet) freely available as an ISO, and Windows 8 Pro should reject the key.
2: Next to the 20GB recovery partition, there is also a 600MB one. It is somewhat unclear what this one contains, but my guess is that it contains a Windows 8 Pre-Installation Environment, possibly customized by Asus. At the moment, I suspect this is what the BIOS will load if you press F9, and offer you the regular restore options by activating the 20GB partition, as well as some Windows tools. In any case I have deleted it without ill effects. Pressing F9 on my laptop now does nothing, which is fine, and there is no error message or crash either.

I will update my original post with this info as well.

 

Yes, I have installed and configured it. The installation was very straightforward. By default everything is runing of inbuilt Intel4000, but you can enable a specific application to run of a GT650M.
Some performance comparison data, also I think that 60 frames of Intel are down to vertical refresh syncronisation.

gkos@dynomob:~$ glxspheres
Polygons in scene: 62464
Visual ID of window: 0xb5
Context is Direct
OpenGL Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
57.126606 frames/sec - 63.753293 Mpixels/sec
60.039203 frames/sec - 67.003751 Mpixels/sec
59.949117 frames/sec - 66.903215 Mpixels/sec
59.890843 frames/sec - 66.838181 Mpixels/sec
59.977113 frames/sec - 66.934459 Mpixels/sec


gkos@dynomob:~$ optirun glxspheres
Polygons in scene: 62464
Visual ID of window: 0x21
Context is Direct
OpenGL Renderer: GeForce GT 650M/PCIe/SSE2
174.158725 frames/sec - 194.361137 Mpixels/sec
183.124434 frames/sec - 204.366869 Mpixels/sec
177.828247 frames/sec - 198.456324 Mpixels/sec
177.984023 frames/sec - 198.630170 Mpixels/sec
184.078962 frames/sec - 205.432122 Mpixels/sec

Current X does not correctly calcuate DPIs, so had to manually set the size of the screen, like this
gkos@dynomob:~$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Internal - Asus Laptop"
DisplaySize 345 194
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Internal - Asus Laptop"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

 

Hey guys,

after a while only reading what`s happening here, I decided it is time to join the party.

I am also a proud owner of the UX51VZ, the 2 x 256gb version, and absolutely love it. It is so beautiful, so (literally) cool (especially in the morning before being turned on); it`s almost perfect;

however, the fan issue is actually something I am a little bit worried about. It`s not a deal breaker but it just keeps it from being the ultimate device. My six year old notebook was just as loud and it just rankles me that I spent that much money without having an improvement in this regard. I even thought about returning it but IMO there is no alternative . And as said, apart from that I think it is absolutely perfect. How are you dealing this?
At least there is also an upside: today it was turned on the whole day because I had to work; Word was open with about three windows, Firefox with 10-15 tabs, e-mail app and so on, and the CPU`s never became hotter than 50 °C. I am also wondering if ASUS can actually change anything about it as it is IMO not the loudness but rather the sound of the fans which is kind of annoying. Does anyone of you know at which temperature the fan normally would have to get activated?

One final question, just out of curiosity:
Did you buy the ux51 for gaming? Because I actually neither play any games on it nor use any other particularly demanding applications which is why I sometimes wonder I it was really necessary to get this beast. But then again, I enjoy that I do not have to worry about having to little power any time soon and I also expect to be well equipped and (for my purposes) up-to-date for quite a long time (i.e. 5 years or so).

Looking forward to hearing from you!
Steven

 

I'm wondering the same thing as I don't plan on doing any gaming. Just want the beast.....but probably could go cheaper but would lose that sexy form factor

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