*** ASUS ZenBook Pro UX550 Owner's Lounge ***

I have the 1050ti model but I still haven't opened it because I'm wondering if I should send it back because of the coil whine.
Anyone else has problems with it or its my lucky model?

Btw I can confirm that it does not charge over typeC.

 

so they're probably have different cooling layout on the same chassis model right ? i mean extra heatpipes on the GTX 1050 Ti model. i hope asus didn't mistake on this one LOL

 

Yes, this happens with models based on the same chassis providing higher and higher thermal load GPU's / CPU's, cooling elements are added - maybe some slight changes in height of laptop to accommodate thicker cooling parts.

It's really odd that Asus would make a miscount, but they have in the past used the "best" parts of each model to mention in line ad copy - you have to figure out which features your specific model has.

When the VE model comes out and people review it and pull it apart we will know, but that could be a while as you really gotta pull the skins off - maybe the screen too - to get at that side of the motherboard.

 

It looks like pulling off the bottom cover won't expose the heat pipes, they are on the other side, so it will take more aggressive disassembly

 

ah its like story from siblings GL502VM and GL502VS same chassis and different dimension to compensate more heat from GTX 1070. lol

 

wouldn't it make it more difficult to pack in a thin chassis if heatpipes were on both sides of the mobo?

The msi gs63vr has heatpipes on the hidden side of the mobo

 

Wanted to talk a bit about that.
I saw the review but some things must vary from model to model because mine is totally silent during basic surfing/office/programming.
The fans only ramp up when there is a serious load and gaming.

Actually the machine is great, only if it wasn't for that whining noise form time to time(sorry for mentioning it so many times but its probably the only thing that I dont like about the laptop) and one thing I haven't complained about is the lack of numpad(my favorite keyboard so far is the N56VZ that I had, sadly it's not better than that one).

--------------------------
ux550
i7 7700
1050Ti
8gb RAM
512 M.2

 

Damn nice. TWOPOD. As well for both silicon. I wounder when everything will be two and not 4 screws. Or next will be soldered on Heatsink. No screws needed. More profits.

 

I got UX-550VE 3 days ago. It comes with GTX-1050ti. and it working great.

Offical price: HK$12,988 @hong Kong & (free external DVD ROM) (around US $1,662)

 

Nice to hear someone got it finally

Tell us how is this pesky coil whine in your unit?

 

I don't hear any pesky coil whine in my unit. But I hear the SSD sound when Loading. it's very low sound like HDD when it's loading big data. but only happens around 1 second or less. I feel funny that SSD have very small "gi gi'" sound (only can hear that in the very quiet area.)

I

 

I am in United States where can I find online to buy ux550 that ship to me? I also trying to find ux530 haven't decided which one I want.

 

ux530 usinng 7500U 'that's a dual core CPU. ( for light weight low power laptop) and UX550 using 7700HQ, it's QUAD Core CPU. with 1050ti. ( use more power and heavier than 530 )

I use UX550VE for open 8 VM at the same time as LAB for testing. ( desktop replacement)

 

Hi can you tell me where you bought ux550 in hong kong? Is there online hong kong shop that ship to united states?

I know the difference between the ux530 and ux550 but I am not interested in the cpu or gpu. I want good multimedia laptop with good screen and good sound. The ux550 has two upward firing speakers so maybe better than ux530 which only has downfiring. Also the ux550 may have better screen but I don't know.

Do you have experience with both ux530 and ux550 and can tell me which have better screen and better sound? Or they both about the same? If about the same I will probably get ux530.

Is your ux550 touchscreen or matte?

 

http://www.price.com.hk/product.php?p=270840

None of them will ship internationally I bet. I contacted one of them directly while I was in Taiwan if they could ship it to me (they had the black model and it was cheaper in HK by a few hundred bucks) and they said no.

 

Hi guys,
does anyone know if we can do a Fn lock on this laptop.
In other words to make the multimedia keys default and Fn+F5=F5

Cheers!

 

is there a release date in US??

 

Some serious throttling issues with the CPU and GPU under load with the tested unit with 1050, not the Ti.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-...-GTX-1050-Full-HD-Laptop-Review.244290.0.html

 

What did you expect from this awful HS design? Twopod. What's next? Glued on? Because One screw will never ever work! Or maybe I'm wrong? @hmscott @Phoenix

 

What comes next in digression after IIpod?

ipod, of course

 

Oh my. What a poop-a-licious treat! Tie me up and spank me, that's just too awesome.

Glue might be more effective and then nobody could void the warranty by changing thermal paste.

 

Solder would work. You could probably get better temp as well win win See... Intel used solder under IHS before. Worked brilliant. Intel's new paste instead of solder under the lid is trash.

 

That review is awful.

I looked at the chassis, and they went back to the ux501jw design without underside vents. So where is it sucking in cool air? from the warm exhaust in the back?

I'm glad I didn't wait for the ux550.

the chassis cripples the 7700hq so much, even my 6700hq outperforms it. Not being able to use stock clock of 2.8ghz is terrible.

They should stop trying to copy Apple, and put some big fat fan grilles at the bottom.

 

I have a few questions for owners of the UX550VE model...

How is the battery life on this thing with the 1050Ti and does it charge over usb-c like with a MBP charger or Samsung S8 charger? Everyday usage and gaming numbers would be appreciated since I plan to go to uni with this laptop...

Is the TB3 ports pcie x4, like will it run at full speed if I plug in an eGPU? I'm a bit concerned because it has two TB3 ports, so I'm wondering how the lane distribution will be...

Is the plastic internal construction a concern? Because coming from a unibody rMBP, I'm wondering if it will flex or make creaking noises...

I'm interested in getting this since its $13k HKD ( around $1,660 USD) and the specs seems to be a lot more tempting than what you get from the XPS 15 (Except for the battery capacity) or the new rMBP which is expensive af... Thank you.

 

I'll try to tell you my experiences so far.
I couldn't charge it over my phone charger but it might be a bit weak, anyway there is no indication that is trying to charge.
The battery is great, if you leave at 1000% in the morning and all day you are using office/web/programming applications it will last until the night. The charger on the other hand is a bit bulky so you have to see for yourself what is more convenient. For gaming you will need it as it will last between 1-2 hours on demanding games. I imagine if you're playing heroes of might and magic 3 it will last the whole day
If you tell me how to test the pcie lanes I will do it, so far I haven't used eGPU with the laptop. Dirt 4 on high settings is running around 60fps on the 1050ti.
I'm not sire what plastic construction you're talking about but mine is quite sturdy overall.

 

Thanks for your reply. I pulled the trigger and bought it yesterday. I don't have a type-c Macbook Pro charger but I will try to test charging using my S8 charger. Overall, it is a solid construction but I do feel some keyboard flex compared to my old Retina Macbook Pro. The specs are nice but I feel the battery is consumed faster than my Macbook but that may be due to the bigger battery. I thing I hate the most is the charger for this thing, so bulky compared to what I am used to.

I don't have ways to test the pcie lanes myself but I do plan to get a eGPU in the future, so knowing the lanes would be a plus for me. From what I see online, sources say pcie x4 but just curious if that is shared between the two ports or each individual one has x4 pcie lanes.

 

Nice to hear that you have got one!
I personally got used to keyboard in a couple of days and the minor flex is not a huge issue for me.
The charger is indeed big but I guess it is because of the graphics card.

One question I have for you is if you have some coil whine noise? I have some in mine and I hear it in quiet environment only but I was wondering how is are the rest of the motherboards and if there is a point sending it to service.

 

I haven't been in an environment that is too quiet, but I don't seem to notice any coil whine.

I need to find a friend who owns a new MacBook Pro to try out their charger on our laptops. I wish it had an even bigger battery like the XPS 15.

EDIT: I think I notice coil whine when gaming. I played a few sections of Overwatch and I noticed a hissing sound that is like a HDD spinning. It is actually quite noticeable at times. I may see if I can exchange it if it annoys me too much.

 

Yes, I have the same when gaming but once the fans kick in I dont hear it very much, more importantly I get some buzzing when fanless and browsing in chrome for example, that is audiable.
I would appreciate if you have the time to check if you have it in your unit.
Afterall this place here is much better for exanging info than Asus customer service(the reply that I got after asking about the coil whine was to try and reinstall Windows and see if that helps ))))))

 

I do hear some buzzing noise, but I would have to but my ear next to the keyboard to hear it. I haven't noticed it while using it today, like going to classes and such. The buzzing noise is a lot more severe while gaming but then the fans ramping up helps to subdue most of it.

 

I bought this at official Asus Shop @ Hong Kong

 

coil whine is something we have to live with with these new gen intel cpus.

When I first got my gl502vm, it was dead silent. then after break in, so much coil whine. Chirping coil whine when idle, and persistent coil whine when cpu at load.
Basically non stop coil whine.

Then I used the windows registry to disable some C states, and the idle coil whine is 90% better, almost unnoticeable, but I know this is only a bandaid.
cpu at load (performance mode) still whines, but there's no point using high performance mode during idle.
When the cpu is really loaded, the fans drown out the coil whine.

Right now, with these workarounds, it's a lot more tolerable.

 

Do you know it as a fact? XPS 15 has a regular power jack, and I have always used with a USB-C charge. How it won't? this would be a deal breaker for me, why implemented a USB-C without power delivery?

 

Because USB C charging has a limit of 100W (20V, 5A) and most notebooks that have a dGPU don´t implement the charging feature. Although technically the USB C could charge the laptop battery when off, or when not using the dGPU, it could cause serious issues when the notebook is under load, and thus safer for all consumers if that feature is just disabled. The feature is mostly present in ultrabooks with ULV processors with no dGPU because certainly the 100W limit is more than enough.

 

thats a beauty

 

I got mine few days ago, here in the Philippines. So far, things are good. I can't say there is a flex on the keyboard at all. There is however a weaker part on the upper side of the keyboard, where the "Harman Kardon" is etched. If you purposely press HARD on that, it will flex a bit. But I don't think that will be a part of any laptop normal use Overall, chassis feels solid.

It is however annoying that only one version was released here officially - UX550VE-BO031T

i7 770HQ
FHD (1920 x 1080), Touch
1050Ti
16GB RAM
512GB SSD SATA (yep SATA)
NO finger print sensor

The SSD is what am worried about now. I want to know if my m.2 slot would be able to support PCIe NVME SSDs if and when I decide to upgrade to a bigger capacity SSD. I overlooked this because almost all sites say it should be PCIe (NVME). I also cant see any selection in the BIOS to choose from SATA to PCIe interface. Am wondering what other owners here see in their BIOS page.

 

Great to hear that more people are getting the laptop now. And I must say this is an interesting configuration you got there, how hard would be to put the fingerprint scanner on all of the models..?
It was the same in Bulgaria, only one model got released(i7, 8gb ram,512gb non-touch FHD).
I still haven't been in BIOS, actually restarted the pc only two times for a month for update. But the Windows startup time is blazing fast. I'll do it as soon as I get home tonight and will tell you if there is any option you can choose from.

I will ask you one question as I did with the other guys, have you tried the laptop in a quiet environment/room and if 'yes' is there noticeable coil whine?
Thanks

 

I haven't noticed any coil whine from the day I used it. I don't know if it is just because am not stressing it to a certain level.

Re the SSD, I have found my answer. I tried transferring a PCIE (nVME) to the UX550VE from my other laptop. It was detected and a menu "NVME Settings" appeared in the Advanced BIOS settings. So, I can now rest assured that what was released in the Philippines with SSD SATA only from factory, can accept PCIE nvME in the future.

 

I can't understand the configurations for this laptop. Only worse models in blue - no touch screen in asia... what the ****? I should be getting my UX550VE soon from HIDevolution which I will be comparing to a stock unit from ASUS as well as the non-touch 1050 variant.

 

Here are my very fresh impressions of the ux550ve:

• Looks way more premium than matte-screen model. It really does look fetching in person, more than I expected
• Asus trackpad is laggy and sucks compared to the xps 15's
• Tb3 is x4 but cannot charge
• Chassis very solid when lid is shut. No keyboard flex but a bit of flex under firm pressure in the above-keyboard area
• Fans don't seem to get fast enough to cool the machine down. My unit has CLU on the CPU and ICD on the gpu with a -120UV. CPU hits 80 in gaming and so does the gpu, meanwhile the fans are still quiet.
• Audio is poor
• Fingerprints and smudges
• Performance is decent for form factor --6600 total firestrike-- but it is still a bit short of other 1050ti laptops
• Overall I like it a lot more than I expected.

 

Has anyone bought a thunderbolt 3 hub/docking station for the UX550? Am planning to buy one, one that supports power delivery (PD) for my future devices supporting Thunderbolt 3 (&PD).

I understand that the UX550 DOES NOT charge via the USB-C ports. That is actually my worry. Would a Thunderbolt 3 station like this, not harm the UX550 if it sends power to the laptop via USB-C / Thunderbolt port while the laptop is also plugged via the original power adapter?

 

I use mine with a Mantiz Venus. Thunderbolt isn't that stupid; it won't send power in when the laptop doesn't ask for it.

 

Can the laptop be equiped with a PCIE and sata ssd at the same time ? What size is the sata disk ?
Thx

 

This laptop only has one m.2 ssd slot, which, based on different global variants, can come with either an nvme or sata m.2 ssd.
The thread for this laptop seems mostly dead, and the laptop has very limited availability, even in November. It's very disappointing. I wonder what Black Friday and beyond has in store, as a nice discount would be enticing, along with better availability, hopefully. What is going on with Asus? In the meantime, the Gigabyte Aero 15 has become my preferred choice in my search for a compact and powerful 15 inch laptop.

 

Hey Eason, great summary thanks.

I'm trying to decide between the Yoga 720 15 and the UX550

Seem to recall you have had both this year. Before you under-volted what was each like in terms of noise volume and pitch when gaming? Also, was there any irritating coil whine?

Thanks heaps.

 

I can't hear coil whine, but I'm not someone who has ever noticed it either. The noise levels are not much different.

 

notebookcheck new review of the 1050ti model shows severe throttling under heavy load.
cpu dips down to 1500mhz, way below the non-turbo factory speed.

that's bad.

This is not just bad for games, it's even worse for video encoding, when you use nvidia cuda.
In Premiere Pro, both the cpu and gpu are running full load, and when cpu dips down to 1500mhz, your encoding will take a lot more time to finish.

 

Are anyone else's fans extremely noisy under heavy load? I have the UX550VE with 1050ti.

 

How do you know that the laptop doesn't support the charging via thunderbolt? Because I haven't found anything about on the internet...
For example with a 100W tb adapter, is it sure that it wouldn't work? only 20W the difference...
I am just asking.... It would be great