Asus 13.3” Full HD Core i5 Zenbook Touch

Deal Chatter Clearance
21

[QUOTE=lorenzodemedici, post:13, topic:404162]

With no optical drive, how do you install a program from a CD? I’m thinking I could make the computer part of my home network and give it access to the desktop, which would allow it to read the desktop’s optical drive. Any comments on that?

[/quote]

I did that for a laptop (actually shared only the DVD tray, not hte entire computer) and it worked fine. It kind of felt like magic. :slight_smile:

External CD/DVD players are pretty cheap these days if you can’t get the network setup working to your liking.

22

You need to think about technical, customer, and warranty support for refurb products.
I’ve bought two Asus woot computers and both had bios issues. One was doa and even with contacting them less than two weeks after purchase I started to get a run around when I told them I got it from Woot until I said I was going to contact Woot and then they relented a little.
The other refurb was a tablet and its bios will not update so I’m stuck at Android 4.1. Again even though I contacted their tech support I got no help to fix the problem.
I’ve bought a ton of refurb stuff from Woot, Microcenter, and off ebay that were both other manufacturers and have not had the problems that Asus has given me.
Buyer beware.

23

NO OPTICAL DRIVE. Good luck installing software.

24

[QUOTE=lorenzodemedici, post:13, topic:404162]
I have some questions for people who have owned this or something similar. The only laptops I’ve ever had have been the traditional kind with HDDs, optical drives, etc.

My vision is not very good. Sometimes I have trouble reading small print. Isn’t the print very small on a 13.3 inch screen running at that resolution? I know that Windows will let you adjust the display text size and some other features to make things easier to see, but I’m wondering about crowding that much detail onto such a small screen. Any comments or advice?

With no optical drive, how do you install a program from a CD? I’m thinking I could make the computer part of my home network and give it access to the desktop, which would allow it to read the desktop’s optical drive. Any comments on that?

128GB isn’t enough storage for me. I would need to use the SSD for installed programs and keep the data somewhere else. I have some 128GB flash drives, but they’re pretty slow even in a USB3 port. How about a Class 10 64GB SD card for storage? That would be very convenient. Any thoughts on if it would be fast enough? I know the SD cards vary a lot in speed and I would make sure to get a fast one.

That’s three questions - display, installing programs, and data storage. I will very much appreciate any helpful responses about those questions, and thank you.
[/quote]

You should be able to zoom in on the display, you can simply hold down the ctrl button and hit either plus or minus or use your mouse scroll wheel to make websites etc larger (at least in chrome).

you dont really need CDs to install programs anymore, as most installations are also available digitally. If you really need a CD drive, amazon has some external usb cd roms for under 20 bucks.

For storage you probably could use SD cards etc, or just get an external hard drive. If this has a sata port, it will run fairly quickly with data transfer.

25

[QUOTE=jtfaulks, post:23, topic:404162]
NO OPTICAL DRIVE. Good luck installing software.
[/quote]

for starters most software, if not all is available digitally from any manufacturer you buy a product from. Secondly you can either share your cdrom drive on your desktop, or buy an external cd rom drive for under 20 dollars.

26

[QUOTE=gak0090, post:20, topic:404162]
A couple months ago I bought this for $499 from Microsoft Store:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Acer-Aspire-V5-573P-6896-Touchscreen-Laptop-Intel-Core-i5/productID.288024500- but no longer on sale. Acer Aspire V5-573P-6896 -full HD 15.6 inch, 4gb ram (but able to upgrade- I currently have 8gb in there now),I5. Upgraded it to 8.1 with no problems. No SSD but at this much cheaper, I rather add my own. Very compact and light form factor. That’s why today’s offering is decent, but not awe inspiring.
[/quote]

I think the 100 dollars (even though this is no longer on sale) is worth having the ssd already there as most good 128’s go for 70-80 bucks on a good deal, plus I’d prefer a 13 inch over a 15 inch. Plus I’d prefer asus to acer. I was just in the market for a laptop this size but just sold out and bought a macbook pro

27

I have the first release of the zenbook and while it is a fantastic performer and has the great form factor, there are some things to watch out for. Since the memory and HDD are soldered to the mainboard, if either go bad, you have to send it in for repair rather than simply replace a ram stick or drive! If this model has them removeable, then you can ignore this warning.

My memory went bad shortly after the warranty expired. Only solution is to ship it in to them for repair - at my own cost. This would be the last time I buy any machine with soldered ram/SSD

28

I can’t wait to carry a bag of accessories around with me!

29

About buying software as downloads. It’s not always a great experience. Sometimes putting it on a new computer is a problem. I hear millions of credit cards were hacked from Adobe’s software download site. I feel better having the software on a hard copy that will always be there.

30

[QUOTE=ajw101, post:18, topic:404162]
The lack of a micro-HDMI adapter is a deal-breaker? They are < $3 on eBay (Buy it Now, US Seller). Am I missing something?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_sop=15&_nkw=micro+hdmi+adapter&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1
[/quote]

thanks! i didn’t even look, my wife has a mac and i had to pay $40 for an HDMI adapter :confused:
if they’re only a few bucks for this then i’ll go for it, with the square trade warranty

31

[QUOTE=lorenzodemedici, post:29, topic:404162]
About buying software as downloads. It’s not always a great experience. Sometimes putting it on a new computer is a problem.
[/quote]

Hate to break it to you, but if there’s DRM on the software you download, it’s probably on the CD copy, too. In other words, you’re going to have the same problems installing it on multiple machines no matter which format it comes from.

If you’re worried about purchasing things online, this is probably not the best site for you…

32

Does anyone know if the SSD can be upgraded? I really want to pull the trigger on this as it hits almost everything I want in a laptop, but if the memory AND hard drive aren’t upgradeable AND you can’t get a spare battery I may have to pass. But it looks like such a great deal…

As a follow-up to the software installation questions, you can always copy the contents of your CDs to USB drives. Better yet, get a 16GB USB3 thumb drive and copy all of your software onto it. Once you realize how slow it is to install software from CDs you won’t want to go back.

33

Man, I wish I had the dough for this. This exactly meets the needs I have for my travels and portable usage.

34

[QUOTE=zolttt, post:25, topic:404162]
for starters most software, if not all is available digitally from any manufacturer you buy a product from. Secondly you can either share your cdrom drive on your desktop, or buy an external cd rom drive for under 20 dollars.
[/quote]

Or use the optical drive from another computer and burn an ISO, then put it on a USB flash drive.

35

Great, Discover declined the purchase thinking it was fraud, their website won’t take my response, I call them and get it cleared, then come back to it being sold out. Thanks Discover…

36

[QUOTE=jtfaulks, post:23, topic:404162]
NO OPTICAL DRIVE. Good luck installing software.
[/quote]

Physical drives are a thing of the past. Almost everything is digital download.

You can use software like Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists virtually. All you need is an ISO image.

If you need a physical CD/DVD drive get a slim USB external.

37

Anyone’s ship yet? Mine disappeared from the “Stuff I Bought” page. Weird…

38

[QUOTE=vslee, post:37, topic:404162]
Anyone’s ship yet? Mine disappeared from the “Stuff I Bought” page. Weird…
[/quote]

I’m sorry, it looks like your order didn’t pass our security checks and was canceled.

39

Ugh. Finally got it. But the touchpad is DOA (drags everything it touches… making the windows 8 tiles impossible to work with - it just constantly shuffles them). On the phone for the second time with ASUS support - over 30 minutes on this call so far. First call had me reinstall Windows, which I questioned, but did. Their solution will be to send it back for repair, of course. This is the second ASUS refurb I’ve bought. The first was a tablet that immediately had to be sent in for service. Now this. My LAST ASUS REFURB PURCHACE EVER. Wooters, you have been warned.

40

Oh. Forgot to mention that none of the adapters or the adapter pouch that were listed as “In the box” were actually in the box. Still waiting to hear back from Woot on that… Pretty disappointed all around for a big ticket item.