Asus ZenBook Pro UX501 Owner's Lounge

Well, what's the point of animations if I'm just going to turn them off? I really like them and they portray a fluency in the computers actions. My only problem is that certain animations that have no reason to be so choppy are very choppy.

My graphics are up to date. The link you provided is for the 6th generation. I have the 4th generation.

So, do you ever notice this issue? Or is your full screen window maximize animation completely smooth?

 

Oh, sorry. I thought you had the latest version for some reason.
I do not have this issue with any of the animations that I left on, but I do have minimize/maximize animations turned off.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

I have been reading some pages here. The new VW has vents on the bottom? I thought it was the same as JW with vents in the back under the screen?

 

Yes, the VW has vents both at the back of the bottom of the laptop and running along the back edge under the screen.

 

Damn... i guess its not perfect to have it on the couch then ? Even if its just web browsing?

 

Not really, no. They do sell laptop mats on Amazon, but I just made my own out of a sturdy piece of wood, for when I use it on my lap in my reclining chair at night. It allows a nice gap for airflow, and my legs don't get warm.
To be honest though, a magazine or larger hardcover book might do the trick as well.
I just think that not smothering the laptop adds to it's reliability and longevity.

 

Ok. Thanks for the info

 

If you're working in Word or web browsing there's no problem if you leave the laptop in the couch. Just keep it ventilated (do not put something above it like a jacket or your laptop bag while it's running). It will not burn your laptop but it will get a bit hot and your battery will drain faster than how much drains normally...

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I noticed that my laptop suddenly turns on while it's in sleep mode, just like the infamous Surface Pro 4/Book bug. I've reinstalled Windows and switched to Pro and the problem seems gone (by now). Anyone experienced this before?

 

Does anyone know if the hdmi port or DisplayPort on the ux501vw is connected directly to the graphics or not? If not i guess any monitor i will use will be limited to 60hz?

 

the connectors are directly linked to the onboard graphics apapter, but It's not limited to 60, it will run 144hz at 1080p quite fine, if you use Dp of course.

I'm experiencing the same, don't know why yet.

Yes, the JW model is limited to having vents along the screen henge only and it has no real heat problems, they are throttled away. For web browsing, word processing or basicly anything else than heavy gaming will not require hard surfaces just like any other modern laptop, of course don't suffocate your laptop and be vary of temps

I really don't have this problem at all and i'm usually very picky about stuff like that, did you try formatting ?

 

@ SpQg yeah, it's there. You can do the test: Open Microsoft edge. Maximize it (to cover the full screen), minimize it and then click the icon in the taskbar to restore it. That animation will be "choppy" or laggy. Put your laptop in Tablet mode, and then open the Start Menu, it will lag too. Seems to happen in 4K resolution only. If I set it to 1080p it's smooth and fluid.

 

Very long thread. no search capability, haven't found this answered, but my apologies in advance, if these are repeat questsions:

1) Does anybody have the NON-touch UHD screen? Is it Matte? Several retailers list a matte UHD (non-touch) option, but I'm not sure it's true, or just a copy/paste error. I don't want touch and hate glossy displays (can't stand glare).

2) If you are having nvidia BSOD issues with Pro software (Adobe, Autodesk, etc) - is your model 2 GB VRAM or 4GB VRAM? Is nVidia Optimus ON or OFF?

3) Is the Thunderbolt 3 on the UX501VW (not VX) model full bi-directional 40 Gb/s thunderbolt 3? Or something capped in terms of speed or capabilities?

4) Is the RAM soldered on the motherboard? What is the maximum amount of RAM (some pages claim 2x8GB, some claim more)?

Thanks for any and all help.

I'm battling between this an another model from another manufacturer, but it's almost twice the price....

 

Did anybody successfully install and run Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD on their UX501VW?

Models available to me locally only offer the 25GB SSD option and it's not enough.

 

I can only answer your 2nd question. If your model is the VW Skylake processor variant then this is a known issue with all Skylake laptops and there are driver fixes available for both the Intel and Nvidia video cards;

Intel Driver:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...cs-Driver-for-Windows-7-8-1-10-15-40-6th-Gen-

Nvidia hotfix driver;
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832

I had numerous BSODs when I first got the laptop. After installing these I haven't had one since. Ever.

 

Hi all,

Loving my new UX501VW. Does anyone know if it charges over the USB Type-C port in addition to the AC plug? I tend to acquire an extra charger or two and leave in various areas of the house, bag, etc. Buying a type-c charger seems a wiser investment even if it may charge slower (100w max).

Cheers,
Doug

 

sorry mine doesn't have any choppy animations, unless a lot of applications are running or the power options are set low..

1. I have the none touch UHD matte version - and yes it is matte and nice Not quite sure about the VW model, but I would guess they exist as well. They have been known to be available mainly in scandinavia.
2. answered above - otherwise make sure you never have an upgraded version of windows 10 - have a clean install instead - solves a lot of problems
3. dunno - haven't seen any limitations on mine, but I have the JW model
4. yes, half of the ram is soldered and yes 16GB is the standard model, it could properly handle twice that.

The NVME and Vnand disks are not easy to install into the zenbook, it would require modding the bios to accept them. I have not yet heard of any successfully doing so.

 

[Edited, tried to clarify somethings]

I received my UX501VW-FY104T yesterday, but I'm going to return it, anyhow.

1) Yes it is
2) Have not tested, but I have the 2Gb version, all UX501vw seems to be that, only the G501vw has 4 Gb.
3) Not sure.
4) 8Gb soldered on the motherboard, with the option of upgrading with (up to) 16Gb of ram in the free slot.

Now to the reason of my return.
The screen panel of the laptop has the model nr: 156HL01-104, the G501JW has the screen panel 156HL01-102, which was rather terrible when it comes to PWM see here.
When using the UX501VW (with the FHD panel), my eyes feel fatigued/hurts when viewing the screen (after a short while), I used this PWM test to determine the frequency, I tested it to 200Hz to 230 Hz for 0% and 25% brightness [I might be totally wrong since I have no professional equipment an no experience doing such tests... but atleast it is something ]

Thought it might be some good info to get on the the web...

Asus UX501VW FHD screen panel 156HL01-104 pwm

 

interesting - but I do believe the UX501JW had a different panel than the g501 - the UHD screen which has been widely used in many platforms all wearing the same symptons of poor yellow reproduction. That's the SDC434B screen also known as FL156FL02-101, which by my knowledge, does not have PWM problems.

 

I was not referring to the UX501JW in the review I linked to, but to the G501 since it had a screen panel with almost the same model no (as the FHD panel in the UX501VW), there might of course be some (major) changes to it, but then again that would most likely lead to a change in model no altogether, anyhow...
Regarding the UHD panel (FL156FL02-101), it does not have the same problem regarding pwm, according to the review I linked it, it only uses pwm at 25% brightness and below, but at a high frequency, which makes it less irritating.

Hope that clarified it some more

 

Arghhh! I have an emergency. I accidentally spilled milk on my keyboard. I immediately shut the laptop down and tried to soak as much up as possible from the outside.

Now to the inside problem.

I saw that the components are all protected in the back with a plastic part. So I think they are fine. (Hopefully) however I am not 100% sure. I am also not sure how to look that up. I don't think I am able to remove the plastic case. Does anyone have an idea?

 

Hi everybody!

I have one strange problem - from the laptop is a strange noise, like the old hard drive sound, although it SSD drive is installed. I've already read about this in some forums....

The sound grows on medium load (for example, when many tabs in the browser), and when working with power plan "maximum performance".
If you run a processor at 100% (eg archivating video) the noise disappears completely. It is VERY similar to sound of an old HDD!

Also, the noise is only in his native OS windows 10, it is not in the BIOS or if you the boot from the virtual disk - also no clatter.

I think that the case in the driver power management firmware or BIOS, voltage which is changing and relays emit a sound ..

Should I carry a laptop to guarantee (it does not have two weeks ) or is it normal? Before this laptop Samsung did not produce such sounds

The sound is CLEARLY heared in a silent room and disturbs me greatly....

 

Well, I believe I have this same sound as you, although it doesn't really bother me. From what I've read, this is "coil whine" coming from the video card. This is also not specific to ASUS, but is a design of the internal card itself. Bottom line is nothing is "wrong" or going to fail due to this. It's just a product of the high-end card's cooling infrastructure.

 

I have no noice under any conditions, besides normal fans ofc. I would return it, it shouldn't be making such sounds.

 

I have the same sound coming from my new UX501VW Skylake and assumed it was voltage throttling on either the CPU or GPU. I suspect CPU as it happens regardless of whether the 960M is engaged. Under all but silent room conditions I don't hear it, and it's so similar in nature to the faint whir of a hard drive that I have no issue ignoring it. The way I see it, why risk a warranty or return if it's a) likely to happen on a replacement; b) opening the possibility to get a replacement with some other fault such as stuck pixels or whatnot.

If I worked as hard as laptop I'd make a few noises too.

 

Got my UX501VW (UHD, 512Gb SSD) today, yay

Unfortunately, I have this problem as well on my unit, but I cant really decide how botherd I am with it tough...
However, I had a XPS 15 9550 FHD for a short while, which I think emitted the same noise, the UX501VW FHD (which I owned for a few days...) made this noise as well. So I guess it is a common problem for the skylake generation....

 

I see - it is a common "problem". Several days ago they made a BIOS update on ASUS website but there was no solution to this problem.

I think it is connected with power management in Windows 10 or some drivers somehow, because when i start from virtual disc or go in BIOS these sounds are never produced.

Anyway if someone ever has a solution - please post it here!

 

So I have the Zenbook Ux501 1080p model (mirror finish - touch screen - non SSD) and have noticed a weird blue botch beginning to appear on the screen after about 6 months of use.

It is very mild and visible only on lighter colours (esp on white pages), it is almost impossible to capture on camera unless exposure settings are adjusted. However it is irritatingly visible to the naked eye under light colours.

I'm very disappointed by such an issue occurring so quickly, the laptop has undergone only very light desktop use and I've never moved it anywhere.

I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software issue, I've never seen such a phenomenon on any other screen I've owned. It looks a bit similar to the blotches you might get when applying pressure on a LCD screen, but this one is glass and has never been in a bag and never have used its touchscreen etc so have no idea what's causing it.

I also reside outside its warranty zone so a replacement is not an option as of now, anyway there is no guarantee that it might happen again. I've attached a few photos to explain what I'm talking about (the blotch is at the centre) , again they are very faint and might be easily missed, I could only capture it on camera on very low exposure.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Could this be a bios issue? Ideas on quick fixes?

Album of the images here:
https://imgur.com/a/F5wpb

Post on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/49zcns/please_help_with_strange_screen_issue_with_new/

 

Hi all, I'm currently in need of a new laptop to replace my 9 year old HP Pavilion dv4. I do a lot of programming and web development work, graphic design, watch movies and play the occasional game. I've been researching for weeks and I stumbled upon the UX501VW... it looks incredible and seems to meet all of my requirements! But after having read this entire thread and others around the net (which are mainly talking about the 2015 model) I have mixed feelings and I'm not sure if I should go for the latest UX501 or keep looking. I really want something reliable and I'm hesitant to "pull the trigger" on this system because of the horror stories I've read (both about the system itself, and Asus support).

Those of you who have (or have had) a UX501, would you still recommend it? Would you still recommend Asus as a company to buy from?

 

I dont know what these other guys are smoking.

Ive been using this machine since April 2015. And I havent seen a better laptop (non-mac) build. With SSD and FHD resolution, this machine is almost perfect! I would hate to have 4k on a 15 inch. Its overkill and too small for my eyes.

I havent had any yellow issue, nor any issue with windows animations on this model (the ones having are 4k I believe), nor any overheating. If available, I'd say go for it.

 

[QUOTE="Those of you who have (or have had) a UX501, would you still recommend it? Would you still recommend Asus as a company to buy from?[/QUOTE]

I can't comment on the company as you're likely in the USA and I'm in Canada, but I have the latest Skylake version and it was a sound purchase. For me it's exactly what I was looking for. Screen colour cast is fine on the new models and the 4K screen is great for Lightroom where I can fit 1/3 of my digital negatives onscreen at 1:1 pixel ratio. Glossy screen may be an issue if you use your laptop outdoors but that's not my use case.

 

My ux501vw is a 4k matte screen, depending on models and regions you might be able to sidestep the glary ones alltogether

 

So does everybody with skylake model have this issue with tickling sound (like old hdd sound)?

 

My VW has that sound sometimes, it isn't really loud enough to annoy me.

 

I braught mine to warranty service, i ll write here the result - whether these souns are normal.

Worked on Macbook Pro today - it was absolutely silent

 

Just out of curiosity what is the model number on your computer, is it the UX501VW-FI020T?
Regardless, could you check which screen panel is used? (I used hwinfo, under the tab monitor)
Thanks in advance

 

My model is UX501VW-FY111R
Part Number 90NB0AU2-M01560

Screen 1920x1080

 

It's UX501VW-FI099T, 512gb ssd.

LP156UD1-SPB1
LG Display 15.6" 3840×2160 (matte, non-touch)
LGD04D4

 

Concerning the "electrical buzzing" / "whirring old HDD" noise:
The sound disappears when the computer is in idle, but as soon as you move the mousepad the noise starts. The noise is worse when the ac-adapter is connected.

I think I am going to return my machine for warranty reasons aswell, the noise is rather annoying if you are in a silent enviorment...

Here is a clip on youtube, concering the problem, the comments were somewhat usefull.


And here is the guys post (on French however, I used google translate to understand it)...
http://romainsandt.blogspot.se/2016/02/fuir-lasus-ux501vw-2016.html

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, that is the noise that i have! OK, i'll see what they answer about it/

 

May be there is someone who has successfully solved the problem?

 

I have done quite some searching on the Internet and not found any solution, the closest thing is that people have returned the computer for a warranty exchange
But we can always hope!

However the problem can't be too common since very few people on let's say amazon complain about it, so there is most likely a good chance that a replacement won't have the same problem!

 

Hi all, I recently grabbed a UX501JW CN212H. It has a FHD screen, 4720HQ 12GB RAM and 1TB Hard drive. Most importantly, it only has a 60Wh battery. This has to be the lowest spec'ed UX501JW but it was on promotion at about 1k USD so I snagged it. So far it's been great with the performance and build quality of this computer! Have not found any of the quality control issues that have been mentioned here yet. So far so good, but I'm looking to add an M.2 SSD in and maybe switch out to a 96Wh battery ttoo. By any chance, does anyone have experience with switching the battery??

 

The noise issue is only in VW model, not JW

 

I'm interested in this laptop, so are there any people with the VW model that don't have those noise issues?

I have my eye on the 256GB 1080p touch model, does anyone know if it's possible to add a regular SATA SSD to this laptop? And would I need to buy a bracket for it?

 

Thanks all for your feedback! Where could I find a 4k matte, non-touch version here in the USA? I've only seen glossy touch models. Does such a configuration exist?

 

Well it seems to be a problem with the 6. gen skylake CPU, perhaps even some voltage throttling - sounds a bit odd to me that it would make that much noice But, if it can be traced back to the processor I wonder if a simple undervolting could do the trick ?

As far as I know the model only exists here in scandinavia, but not sure.

 

I have received my second UX501VW UHD, it has the same problem with the electrical/old hdd noise, is there anyone with the UX501VW that does not have this problem?

Posted the question on amazons page for the product, in hope of getting some more info.

I just spoke to Asus technical support in Sweden (for the second time), they said that the problem is not common to their knowledge, and that it sould be covered by warranty (provided you have not done anything to void the warranty).

 

Can you post the link to amazon here please

 

Sure , posted on both UK and US:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/forum/-/Tx3A4EVNWUNUFD7/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza?asin=B0190DG32G
https://www.amazon.com/forum/-/Tx15OGRU9A5822G/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza?asin=B018AX3OHO