Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 Owner's Lounge

Do we know if this laptop will be upgraded to Skylake? I would also like to see Asus add a USB C port. Overall, I am very happy with this laptop. My only complaint is the audio. My Galaxy S6 is actually more enjoyable playing aloud.

 

Some reviewers of the UX501 say that the touchscreen of this laptop is covered by the glass.
Previously, I did not see this information in technical specifications.

So, what do you think: is it a glass of some type or a plastic film?

 

I hear that it has a glossy display, how is it outside on a sunny day?
Also with some laptops, when the screen brightness is set to full on battery power and on wall power, even then, when you unplug the laptop, the screen brightness goes down a bit. Is that true for this laptop?
Throttling issues at full utilization of CPU @ GPU?
Anybody know of a fan upgrade for more airflow? Unlikely but worth a shot.
Differences in cooling, chassis rigidity/heatsinking/weight of UX501 vs G051 (black colored gaming laptop equivalent). (doesn't appear to be any difference).
This is a good article on the diffferences; http://laptopmedia.com/review/asus-...mparison-battle-of-the-thin-and-light-beasts/
-Looks like a touchscreen for the UX but not the G.
-red backlit keyboard for the G, white for the UX.
-it's weird the G has a matte screen (with bad PWM) but the UX has a glossy, hmph. I want matte & touchscreen! Glossy sucks

From that review, it seems like the throttling is occurring before temperatures go to 90C so it's not temperature necessarily unless they don't want the temps to go anywhere near the rated maximum safe temp of 100C or so. That's too bad it wimps out like that.
Maybe the problem is the power consumption has reached 120 watts and the laptop refuses to draw more power than that, since that is the rating on the AC adapter?



Also, how the heck do you search a thread on this site... I thought I could before the site update. Thanks

 

Not nice, unless you will enjoy your face reflection. ;-) Better to find place in shadow.

It will depend on your energy profile, which settings you make. It is possible to keep the brightness constantly high.

Yes. The laptop is slim, not many place for the heat transfer.

 

Thanks, Probably better outdoors than my crappy CCFL backlit Asus G50VT laptop glossy display. Glad the brightness can be as bright on shore power and battery power. How far back can the lid go, towards parallel hopefully?

 

Anyone know if Asus will be announcing a refresh of UX501 with skylake processor? I need a new laptop and debating between new xps 15 by dell or the Asus zen book ux501. However, Asus haven't yet updated to the latest chipset and wondering if they will do so.

 

Their Microsoft device day was Friday and they said nothing. They have released info on other models they are updating, so it looks like it won't be updated right now.

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

 

Ehrmm... I wanna know if this laptop actually has a thuderbolt port?

 

Indeed, the UX501 has Thunderbolt 2.0, but in order to use it, you actually have to download the driver from Intel. I found that odd and annoying. I've never used a laptop that required me to install a driver to use a port before. If you buy a Mac, Thunderbolt works immediately. I initially feared my port was broken.

 

That's because macs have a closed economic system. The early days of usb3 were the same.

 

Not all models have a glossy display, 4k and 1080p matte screens exist - but without touch.

That's ussually due to adaptive light settings in the power manager - and no it's not a problem on this laptop.

Asus has been very conservative in its heat management, thus introducing very low thermal throttle limits, 78c for the GPU and 85c for the cpu, both limits reprecent the lowest posible levels allowed by OEM's. These limits are currently coded into the bios, and are proving to be quite difficult to remove, mainly due to asus' annoying bios setups, where specific parts are coded together without possibility to single out fx nvidia bios. It's not power throttling only thermal limits are activated.

None I know of or could even imagine - however thermal paste replacements might be worth it.

Basicly it's the same computer, it even comes with the same screen in some iterations.





Not

 

I've heard that UX501 FHD version comes with different displays (depends on region), can someone confirm that?

Description in every internet shop in my country (Poland) says it has led backlit emv screen (AUO or something). Also I've seen post somewhere on that forum about G501 FHD with bad TN ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-tn-panel-and-how-can-i-get-rid-of-it.778105/).

 

It's quite typical for several panel types to be used if available to reduce the chance of stock shortage.

 

hm..actually the cores do get hotter than 85C. my cores heated to 87C when plugged in at almost idle state,



and the SSD heat up to 55C and consistantly stays above 50C with max at 58 celsius when plugged in and set at high performance settings, although practically no programms are running.




-_- Should i send it back to Asus? the core temps are prolly not ''too high'' but whenever im plugged in and with only 1 youtube tab open, the cores are already around 80C and things arent fast at all.

 

why arent my images showing..

 

Did you click the little picture and put a web hosted address into the box it showed up? You could always attach them to your post.

 

yeah i did, i uploaded those 2 first on imgur and copy pasted the link..

 

Does this have a TPM chip and/or "HDD password" in bios?

 

Yes, Asus list TPM in their specs:

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/specifications/

I think there is also a bios password lock.

 

I'm a mechanical engineering grad student, and I've had this laptop for about a month and half. I can't seem to solve the native scaling problems (icons almost microscopically small, dialog boxes don't scale so text runs off box itself without ability to make box bigger, etc.) with certain programs. Anybody know of a fix for this? Some programs that are almost unusable because of scaling include SolidWorks (my bread and butter...), GIMP, Excel, etc. Really hoping there's a way to solve this problem - I've learned that it's due to the 4K monitor, but I want to avoid reselling the laptop at all costs. If there's no fix, I may have to try and sell it...

Any help would be very much appreciated! I'm new here, so sorry if I've violated some forum rules or something. Cheers!

Edit: Running Windows 10

 

it says 6 hours battery but i use it with firefox and it went from 99% to 75% in 20 mins and it says it has 1 hour left when i have it on 95%....i just got this laptop a month ago

 

I don't have your problems but you can try lowering your resolution to 2k then restarting your computer to rescale everything.

 

Just bought my UX501 Ultrabook this month, My initial impression on the model I bought was "OK" as this may be the lowest priced UX501 at only $1,011 (P45,500 here in Manila). The price compared to other models such as Dell 15's 7000 series (priced at P64,000 is already low), considering the specs and build quality are if not the same better in my opinon. My UX501 Specs are as listed below:

UX501JW-DM122H
15.6 FHD USlim Matte Monitor non Touch
Nvidia 960GTX 4GB
1TB HDD 2.5 5400R SATA
8GB RAM (4GB on board)

After using this model for a week with programs such as AutoCAD, PS and Sketchup, here are some of the PRO's and CON's I noticed so far.

1. Monitor - Although its not the 4K display model, a slight tinge of the yellow - bright green issue is evident but forgivable. Viewing angles are not great either, but OK for my use. Glare is not an issue. Reference image of googled homer simpson is attached.

2. Keyboard - Satisfactory but could get a better keyboard from other High-end Models from other brands. However, for the price, this is already a great keyboard.

3. Battery - I was expecting a solid 5-6 hour battery life, but unfortunately I'm only getting a 4 hour maximum continues work life. One important thing to note for first time ASUS users is that, while plugged in for the first time, the battery wont start charging unless you drain it below 95%.

4. Major Video Card issue - as this model both have dedicated and on board video cards operating at the same time, most programs are using the default Intel graphics card. I tried using the NVIDIA for rendering a software, and find that the on board card performed better in terms of speed (1-2 min. difference). I also noticed a crash during the first few windows update I did, perhaps this was resolved automatically after all updates were complete. Unfortunately the Nvidia driver wont update any more, perhaps this is a website issue, hoping the update will work after sometime.

5. Disappointing Sound - Although the ICE power Bang & Olufsen Audio Softeware installed helped keeping the sound quality fine, I find the volume to be very low when playing music and movies. I had to use a different player to attain an acceptable volume level.

6. Hardisk - Such a disappointment with the use of a SATA HDD (although you get a 1TB already partitioned out of the box). Perhaps ASUS should have built all variants with an SSD.

7. Lastly, over all experience and build quality - Great, solid and Practical. (7.5 out of 10)

Monitor Reference Image:

 

I'm also in Manila and wondering where you were able to buy the FHD UX501 model?

 

Hi! It is available in all SM appliance centers. Mine came from SM megamall. It was the last one though. As per the nice staff more are availale in Fair view.

 

Great, thanks! Fairview is far but I will contact SM and see if any other locations have it.

 

You know you can add an SSD to your model without getting rid of the HDD. Mine came with 1 TB HDD and a SSD empty slot. I bought one drive off the market and installed all my applications on it. The HDD is now being used to store Documents and pictures. Speed + space. Its the perfect Combination.

Secondly, HDD models come with 4 cell battery. The advertised model on the website has 6 cell Battery. but no HDD. Therefore we get lower battery life. 4 Hr with these specs is still good enough for me.

 

I was wondering about this. Can I use an M2 ssd like the samsung evo 850, or does it have to be one of the newer PCIe x4 ssd drives?

 

Im using M2 SATA ssd but the port also supports PCIE ssd drive.

 

On the FHD version with HDD, the M2 port only supports SATA. It will not work with a PCIE drive.

 

Hello, People.

Does somebody use WiDi to connect to wireless display?
I have the following problem.

Input data: have FHD Sony TV with WiDi compatibility,

1. Laptop Asus UX31A with Core i7 3-d gen.
It connects with TV by WiDi perfectly, no problem in FHD resolution, sound OK, response time ~0.5sec, wifi bitrate ~10Mbps

2. Laptop Asus UX501 (USA UHD configuration) with Core i7 4-th gen.
It connects with TV by WiDi, but only low-resolution (max 720p), sound OK, response time ~8sec, wifi bitrate ~2Mbps. Impossible to work in such mode. Installed latest drivers, did not help at all.

Questions about laptop UX501:
1. How (if possible) to solve resolution issue for connection with TV?
2. How (if possible) to improve the response time and bitrate of the connection?
3. Both laptops have 100% same drivers. One connects well, the other (newer) badly, what is the main problem: settings or the hardware?
Thanks in advance.

p.s. The only solution for now is to use the long HDMI cable, but it’s not very nice, especially for the laptop in 2015.

 

That sounds way off. As I see it there are two posibilities. 1) a lemon battery 2) excessive drain due to overload of processes. Make sure your laptop is not filled with malware, bloatware or what not. track cpu, gpu, ram and harddrive usage too see which processes eat up your system. I easely get 4+ hours of youtube watching....

What are your actual usage times, are they that low? you can't really trust the power manager's predictives alone, as they can be way of so if your laptop does fine in real life, then it doesn't really matter what the power manager says

 

Can't see your pics, but nonetheless your temperatures are way too high if you're almost idle, I reach mine when gaming at all other times i'm no way near them. the 87c vs 85c could be due to the programs used to measure - the thermal throttle limit is software coded to be at 85c, it can go above that though but it will throttle and try to keep the temps below 85c.
I would send it back - it might be a poor paste job or something. It's for sure shouldn't be so hot with close to no activity it would render it useless when used for harder tasks...

 

hit the windows button and write "make text " in the search field. open the screen settings and set your text dpi at 200% either manually or via the recomended settings - that solves most of the problems...

alot of programs have not yet adopted the 4k resolution, which is a shame tbh. but excel and gimp should work - they do for me if you're facing scaling problems with a specific important program just set your screen resolution at 1980 * 1080 and you're back to normal full HD and shouldn't face any problems...

 

3. Make sure your settings are not set at the highest - balenced lower in the power manager, screens brightness below 70% and so on, then it will do better. but remember you opted to by the model with a way smaller battery option - 4 cell vs 6 cell - so remember your experience will differ from others.

4. that's not a video card error, the nvidia 960m is way faster than the integrated intel. Did you even have the drivers installed - you know you have to update them manually (from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us) if you don't want old windows standard drivers... are you sure it was a crash and not just the standard video card update flicker If your laptop actually performed a complete crash (uncontroled reboot) durring the update, which btw runs in the background processes of win 10, then you might want to make sure all your hardware drivers are properly installed.

5. Check your settings in the audio manager (right click the volume indicator in the taskbar and select playing units) set the quality higher (around 44100hz if you want) and check the loudness-equalizer option - that should help quite a alot.

6. What did you expect you basicly bought the only model with a 5400rpm hdd, which you knew on before hand? besides on you easily upgrade with a m2 ssd as others have mentioned.

regards..

 

It can but it requires opening the bios options for it... which of course cannot be recomended unless one knows what he is doing

 

Hi, recently I have experienced 2 BSOD in my UX501, namely Driver_power_state_failure (fixed through driver update) and currently video_dxgkrnl_fatal_error. I notice that it happens when:

1. I just opened my computer. Display seem to shift video cards.

2. When I open an application using Nvidia, then switch and open another application using integrated graphics. The application is autocad 2015 and 2010 respectively.

I found solutions from microsoft, however im not sure if i should use the fix as they clearly stated it was for AMD conflicts.

What do you think? Any fix in mind?

Thanks!

 

you have the wrong drivers for the nvidia card. Make sure you download either from nvidia's own website http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us (remember to select the correct card 960m not any other) or via Asus webpage https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/HelpDesk_Download/.

Before you reinstall the nvidia drivers, purge all driver related files with DDU http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

By the way it can be advised to unpack the nvidia driver before installing, and delete some of the unnecessary folders (shadowplay, shield, experience ect) so they wont be installed blindly as bloatware

/hope it helps

 

Thanks SpQg, I was able to fix the Nvidia Geforce experience program to automatically assist in updating my drivers.
I'm using GeForce Experience to update my drivers, it is downloading v358.87, just checked the links you sent and verified that these are correct.

 

Not a problem remember, if you had a video card driver problem, use the DDU program I linked to (it's quite perfect for the job), before you reinstall, as the error might not be corrected by simply reinstalling a new driver

 

service host local system has 567 mb on task manager and my cpu is always 100%...im new to pc laptops cuz ive been an avid macbook guy that decided to switch to windows. I just got this laptop too and i dont have much programs except for movies and games and med school books...i dont know what to do actually :|

 

Try to copy your data to an external drive and reset windows. Your problem sounds like a software issue. Resetting should solve it. Then start adding your programs one by one and see which one is causing the issue.

 

I agree with Kahnis12, Reformating (you do have windows 10 right?) would propably make the issue disapear, as it's sure to be a software problem. Use the windows download tool ( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=616936) to make a bootable USB flash drive and reinstall windows 10 - you can prompt for the option to keep your files, wouldn't make a huge difference, but ofcourse complety wiping your harddrive and reinstalling would as always be the best - your own choice

And when you're reconfigurating your laptop, be carefull. PC's have higher risk towards malware, bloatware and general crapware compared to macs - so be sure to pay attention when installing and only download from secure sites (such as https://ninite.com/).

 

Does anyone have a color profile for the 4K Display ? I tried the one from notebookcheck but there's no diffrence and my screen has a weird tint that's especially visual on the color yellow

 

unfortunately it's a known issue with the panel, there's not much to do about the yellow colour reproduction. I've not yet seen any solutions.

 

Just to clarify, can this model of the UX501 be expanded to 12 GB RAM (if I replaced the non-soldered 4GB to an 8GB) and can an SSD be added to it to mimic the hybrid SSD + HDD found in other models?

 

I need help with my UX501 FHD SSD+HDD.

I am having some really annoying problems recently.

I mostly use my laptop for work stuff. This includes 3D modeling and rendering. During the day I will mostly use Solidworks, Keyshot, Adobe programs and MS office programs.

Problem 1:

Sometimes when I turn off my computer there will be an error message.

"Instruction at 0x00007FFAB707CF8D referenced memory at 0x00007FFAA327A548 The memory could not be read."

I have no idea what that means.

Problem 2:
Sometimes when I want to use Adobe Illustrator it will crash on startup. (The program has stopped working...)

I then need to restart my computer between 1 and 3 times to get it working again.

Problem 3: (my biggest issue)
This error mostly happens when I use Solidworks or Keyshot. I don't know when exactly it happens - sometimes after a few minutes or hours.

The WiFi just turns off and I don't know why. When I go into settings the Wifi is 'on'.
But there are no networks to choose from. (The icon in the taskbar has the yellow '!')

To solve this problem I need to restart my computer between 1 and 3 times.


Is this happening because it's overheating?



I already stated this problem to the customer support without any big help other than 'please update your driver).

Which I already did a hundred times.

Any ideas?

 

Doesnt your SSD heat up above 50 celsius when lappy is charging and set at high performance? mine goes to 55 celsius if i dont change the set up to balanced or energy saving mode when charging. i bought mine while Asus had this action where Asus claims to give full refund plus reparation/replacement of the laptop, if a defect occurs within a year. ill contact them..>.>

btw when a laptop is set at high performance, the cores are at max clock constantly, im wondering if that itself counts as heavy use without any programs being running. is there such a thing as ''idle'' when lappy is on high performance mode?

i noticed also a black dot on the mid part of the screen that is bigger than a dead pixel (which i have on the higher left corner but is hardly noticable). this black lil dot definately looks being more sitting on the surface than the tiny dead pixel. it almost looks like its right under the glass surface and above the actual display panel. i wonder if Asus will count that as ''cosmetic flaw'' instead of a 'defect'.

 

Nope, doesn't go that high. and it makes no difference, wheither it's charging or not. I remember you said that your temps on the cores go up to throtteling point, even at near idelstate - are you sure nothing is running on the laptop, which could cause this - You might have cought something.

It doesn't quite work like that, your cores will, regardless of being on high perfomance or balanced, work within a range of multipliers that adjust arccording to the workload - makes no difference what their are on, if your laptop is ideling. If they were to run full speed all the time, it would only be because something is drawing their ressources, and it would quite hot very fast

Again, if you in doubt I would send it in, it sounds to me like you're have too many problems with it and you're experiencing things, the rest of us aren't

 

Usually support is worthless - but this time they might have a point, this error is most often asosiated with malfunctioning drivers Are you on windows 8.1 or have you upgraded to windows 10 ?

Make sure all your drivers are correct - namely the nvidia and intel ones - which ones did you update?. Download them from either intel downloadcentre or Asus' own website (linkes are on previous page).

Alternatively (which I would do), reset / reformat your laptop to make sure everything is installed correctly - also explained on the previous page.