Got a new laptop

[Jackolantern]

I just got the Asus Zenbook Touch a little earlier this evening. It is still charging up, but I can say at least for the form factor it is quite nice. You pay a little chunk of change for it due to its extremely thin and light body as well as a touchscreen, but that is really what I needed (mostly something lighter). Trying to lug around a nearly 9 pound laptop with a 17" screen is just hard when you walk several miles a day on college campus. This one is 2.8 pounds total, so that is a huge weight off my back (literally). I thought long and hard about getting one of the new Intel-based Windows 8 tablets or convertibles, but decided against it since I already have an Android tablet, and I was buying the laptop to...well...be a laptop.

I will let you know how it turns out

[Sharlenwar]

Definitely nice! I can't wait to see your review.

[Elvar]

It's great to have such a weight weight portable computer, i can't describe how happy i was when i switched my 15" CMBP with a 13" RMBP, it weight absolutely nothing, and it's a delight to take around. Congratz on the computer mate, it is a very beautiful pc, i would definitely want one, so i could install Arch linux on it ! Need more money! Maybe i will consider, when i've read your review!

[Jackolantern]

Thank you! I will probably hold off on a review for a week or bit more so I can put it through its paces, and test battery life, usage, etc.

[hallsofvallhalla]

Very nice! I am jealous!

[srachit]

Heya! Jack could you provide a little review about your experience with this laptop? Like you know from my other thread, I will be a freshman starting this fall and as a computer engineering major, I guess I will need a computer I was thinking of getting an ultra book so I dont have to carry something heavy around the campus(I hear UCSD is HUGE) also because I will be mainly doing programming not much 3D nor gaming so dont see the need of a full blown laptop. But I am so lost on which ultrabook to get, everytime I feel I've found the best, I find a better one Any help?

[Jackolantern]

Yeah, definitely. I forgot to write-up a review on this thing! lol

I love this ultrabook so much. It has been a life-saver on campus! My previous laptop was a 17" monster I got without really considering how heavy it was going to be. I still like that one (I am typing on it right now), but it has become stationary, and is now my primary desktop, because lugging around its nearly 9 pound (4kg) form just isn't working lol.

Anyway, it is really great. It powers up and is ready to use from a cold boot in under 3 seconds, thanks both to Windows 8 and its SSD. This is extremely convenient in college, since you can show up to class, and within just a handful of seconds you can be ready to take notes on it. My older Windows 7 laptop would take sometimes up to 2 minutes to be ready to take notes, pull up a browser, or turn off to head to my next class. It really slowed me down. I have since updated it to Windows 8, but it still takes over a minute to do any of those, which shows how much of a difference that SandForce SSD makes.

The shell feels extremely sturdy and well-made. Some of the others I looked at were kind of flimsy and cheap feeling, either being made of plastic or something. I honestly couldn't tell you what the shell of mine is made of, but it feels like metal. It may be some kind of aluminum or something, because it is still extremely light (it is under 3.3 pounds, or under 1.5kg). It has 2 USB 3.0 ports, which is better than a lot of the others that only have 1 and then 1 2.0 (3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0, so you aren't out anything). One of my only gripes thus far is that the USB on the left side has stopped working, or works intermittently. I need to contact Asus about that. It could be a driver issue, as I think some other people have mentioned that.

The keyboard feels great, and pretty much right away I was able to type at nearly full speed on it. It also has a backlit keyboard, which is awesome since very few other ultrabooks have that. I also love the touch screen. The 13" screen is just the right size where I can get away about 90% of the time with using the touch screen instead of having to use the track pad or a mouse (although the track pad works great for that 10% where you do need it). It can take a bit of time to get used to using the touch screen with the desktop (the legacy part of Win8 that most users spend the majority of their time in), but once you do you can be surprisingly accurate.

The screen is also excellent, being full 1080p if I remember right, and the colors are awesome. The other ultrabook I was really considering was the Lenovo Yoga, and it had a lower resolution. I was also worried the Yoga's screen hinge mechanism may not hold up after being opened and closer thousands of times.

Aside from the side USB, which I do need to look into to see if it is a driver issue, the only other issue is that every once in a while when I turn it on it won't immediately be able to connect to Wi-Fi. However, if I just switch the Wi-Fi off for a moment and turn it back on, its fine. It just takes me an extra 10 seconds or so. I have heard there is a driver update to fix this, but just haven't gotten around to it.

If you have not had a full SSD computer before, it can be an adjustment to the lower amount of space. 128gb is a fraction of what I have on my other computers (usually around 1tb). However, you probably won't be loading it up with movies, and Windows 8 also interfaces very well to cloud services, so you can keep a lot of your files and stuff on another computer with a larger HDD. I would not give up the SSD for anything, though. I have heard people say it is probably the best upgrade a computer can get today, and I believe it. Its modest specs (by other non-ultrabook standards) fly like a bullet on that SSD. I have heard that some of the Asus Zenbook Touch actually came with a poor SSD. It should say "SandForce" on a sticker on the box when opened. If it doesn't, look up the SSD online and see if it is the bad one. If it is, return it immediately. However, I did hear that those models are all gone, and have not been sold since December, so that should not be an issue.

If there is anything else you want to know about it, let me know! I have been extremely happy with it. The other day in my Java class the teacher actually stopped lecturing just to tell me how awesome it looked, how thin it was (It is as thin or thinner than a Macbook Air, with better specs), etc.

EDIT: Oh, and if you do order one online, be careful not to get the previous generation of Zenbook. Those are completely different, and do not have a ton of great reviews (unlike the Zenbook Touch). I believe the full model name for mine is "Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T". They are a little pricey, but less than a Macbook Air, and more than worth it.