Damn that's a sexy computer!

 very nice i wish had the $$$ 

 Nice laptop and great video :) but for the price of the thing I'd rather go for a Macbook Pro 13.3"

I do 'hardcore' gaming on my desktop PC, so a laptop for gaming is no big deal for me.

Do you have to do anything to discharge/ground the machine before swapping out parts? I read on a forum that it's important to disconnect the battery fully and then press the power button to discharge before installing a new hard drive - is there any merit to this?

 One question, does it have an extra msata port to put in an msata SSD

 Hello, is there any chance you can use samsung 830 series SSD because that one is only 7 mm thick

and which ram would you guys go with? :)

seems like an awesome upgrade.

Great review, thanks! At around 9:00, you talk about replacing the HDD with an SSD. Would I still have to do your special modifications if the SSD was about 7.11 mm, like this http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7PC256B-WW/dp/B0077CR66A ? If not, exactly how do I replace it? Do I have to unscrew any part of the SSD case? Also, why won't Norton Ghost work, and do you guys have a guide for Clonezilla? Sorry about my confusion. 

 Hi guys,

May I know which model no did you use for the OCZ vertex 3?

 Great review and teardown (ish). So I got all excited and went off and ordered a OCZ Vertex 4 and the connection seems to be completely different that the one shown in your video. Does this even work with UX32VD? Or is a post on eBay in order and another visit to Amazon....:)

thanks guys!

 I was wondering if it would be possible to upgrade the 24/32gig cache SSD rather than the HDD.

 Hey guys, I thought the video was really useful and I'm actually about to buy this laptop if I find out that it can run two external monitors (one out of the mini VGA and one out of the HDMI?) The laptop can be closed, I just wanted to know if I could have two externals. 

Thanks!

 Is there any hope of upgrading the stock NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M to something a little more hefty? Is the GPU easy to access at all once you break open the shell? It really seems to be the limiting factor when it comes to playing games nicely; I really wish ASUS had dished out some more dough for a better one.. 

On another note, I hear there are issues with backlight bleeding in this model? Is the same true for the other Zenbook Prime models? And what are the differences in case material between the UX32VD and the other models? I hear the VD isn't completely aluminum? It seems like ASUS didn't put as much love into the VD's case and screen as his siblings :-(

Thanks guys, and great work with the dissection. This badboy's on the top of my wishlist.

-Z

 Im not sure i need full 10gb ram would you be able to reccomend a 4gb replacement (so i can total 6GB)

Cheers

 Also i read somewhere:"If you get the CL10 ram , the UX32VD will underclock the ram to 1333 CL9. If you want 1600mhz, you will need a ram stick with a latency that matches the soldered 2GB, which is CL11"

and i think the ram you reccomnded was CL10..?

thanks again :)

Does this ssd / ram update work with model: UX32VD-R4002V .. Iam not sure cuz title says only UX32VD. What does R4002V mean? is this video tut that model?  Iam ordering this pc soon thanks 

Hey,

How are the temperatures on the UX32VD while gaming on maximum and low settings? While casually browsing what are the temperatures in key spots such as the bottom (if placed on the lap), the keyboard, the touchpad, palm rests. And how is the fan noise during casual use, gaming, etc.?

I'm concerned because the UX32VD uses rebranded Fermi chips with a TDP of 35 watts versus newer chips such as the GT 640M-LE, which uses Kepler architecture and has a TDP of only 17 watts.

Thanks!

 Great Video

Im buing a UX32VD R4002V and want to do the upgrade.

Question How did you clone the standard HD to the SSD or did you do something else 

Thanks for making my choise easier 

 Nice video!

I just received my own UX32VD R4002V and I've been trying to update it with a SSD. The only problem I encouter is that I cant seem to install a clean Windows 7, since the bootable USB isn't showing in the boot options. None of the USB port are showing in the BIOS boot options, even with the native HDD in place. 

So my question is: did you instal a clean Windows 7 on the SSD, and if so, how?

Thanks!

I don't remember exactly where it was, but it was right in the bios. you can boot directly from the usb without any problem. Wendell has the laptop now. I'll take a look when I get a chance. Just keep looking in the bios. There is an option. 

 There! It is decided! I am getting one at next paycheck!

with:

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=658133

and

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=657921

Can't wait. : )

Oh and.. Question:

Does the Ethernet-USB Adapter support PXE Booting ? I'll most likely just install w7 that way at work with MDT.

Hi Guys, do you have an opinion why Asus choose an old, hot running Fermi GPU with a needlessly high TDP like the GT 620, incurring heat problems and throttling under load as noted in various reviews?

Details:

Asus chose a FERMI based GeForce GT 620M with a 30 Watt TDP and a 3DMark 11 score of 916 points.

The much more efficient KEPLER based GeForce GT 640M LE with its 17 Watt TDP and 3DMark 11 score of 1371 points, gives 45% more performance while generating less heat, drawing only half the power to do its job.

This would give longer battery life, less heat and more performance in one shot!

Its hard to imagine Asus would gimp its strong Ultrabook foray voluntarily just to save a couple of bucks.

The only plausible sounding explanation for the needless and egregrious gimping of this machine, I could find on SemiAccurate, where it is claimed that Nvidia would only ship new Kepler parts to manufacturers in relation to how much of last year's Fermi crap they were willing to buy ...and foist on unsuspecting customers.

eey guys im just wondering if you got the complete dimensions of the biggest SSD that would fit in there (looking at a 480gb version from corsair) but it's 7mm (H) but also 9,5mm x 100mm will that be too wide/long to fit inside there?

Hi Guys,

I am planning to buy this machine with 8GB ram as suggested. However, I would like to use Intel SSD 520 series. Would you recommend those? And, are they compatible?

Thanks.

Hi guys, thank you for the informative review and tips on the ultrabook. Unfortunately my budget constrains me to the lower spec version of Asus Zenbook™ UX32VD-R3001V Ultrabook PC with Intel Core i5-3317U Processor & nVidia GT620 1GB VRAM. Will I still be able to play games like Diablo 3 on this one? And what upgrades can I do? Does the upgrade using the Corsair 8GB RAM also apply on this model? Thank you.

 Hi, I bought the Asus UX32VD and I would like to upgrade the HDD by a SSD (Samsung 830).

I had a look in "Windows Computer management" and realized there is a EFI partition, should I recreate this partition in my new SSD?

Did someone upgrade the HDD by SSD without EFI partition?

Thank in advance

 Hi Logan, I saw your video for the ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

Now im worried cause I bought the ssd: 

OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4 Series

Is this compatible with the asus UX32VD?

let me know buddy

 Awesome post, hadn't heard of this site til I ran across this.  I think I'll do this... but... in swapping the hard drive, do you have to cut any warranty voiding stickers?  If not I would just keep the old HD around to swap back in if I need to warranty it.  That's the only think that is making me hessitant

 Tell you a good news, I found a very good Copy entire Hard Drive to a new HDD or SSD, Totally migrate OS & Data!If you would like to know more about Hard Drive Copy, please refer to its official website: http://www.applexsoft.com/

 Hey Logan you are @mazing!

You guys should make about the same video about the "Sony Vaio 13P", it costs about 1200$ and carrys a HD+ Display and insane Hardware Specs (TPM,Fingerprint, Carbon Fibre Cae).

It destroys the Zenbook and every other device out there and only weights about 3,7pounds!

 Um the zenbook has a better screen, is lighter, is thiner, longer battery life, more usb ports although the sony does have a thunderbolt port. I would rather have the zenbook because the 13p is a normal laptop and there are cheaper options for what it offers

 Have you already tested the zenbook with Osx ? I heard that it wouldn't fit but i can' belive that ...can you maybe try it ? 

.

 Couple of weeks ago I bought Asus Zenbook UX32VD and just as you I wanted to install 8GB of ram to have 10GB and some SSD drive ,well I bought the 8GB  Corsair VENGEANCE 1600MHZ DDR3 installed it and it works just fine ... but the SSD that i bought doesn't work on this laptop .I have the Transcend SSD720 256gb , it works fine on other laptops and pc , and doesnt boot at all on UX32VD, when I got it installed inside of the laptop it does shows it in BIOS , but it doesnt boot anything , just black screen , when I try to boot to some usb or cd it doesnt boot them also (it does boot the usbs and cds with hitachi hdd installed inside)

Any suggestions guys?

 I also just bought the UX32VD and did the upgrades, to an Intel 520 240GB SSD.

I can't figure out how to move onto the new SSD?  I have a USB enclosure to try and use the SSD as a drive to save an image of the stock HDD, but it won't show up as a drive, only device.

How can I connect the SSD to the computer to copy windows over?

Thanks for the help!

 Excuse me, Logan. Does it give more performance on seeing videos? My friend said stock ux32vd-r4002v can play 10 bit++ 1080p videos but maximum at bilinear. Will changing with SSD affects the performance of seeing them (include having the 1080p 10bit++ video in the SSD) ? I want to watch it using madVR renderer, thanks.

 Hey everyone, 

I'm thinking about buying this laptop and performing the upgrades but wanted to double check if these are the right parts.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1088&item_id=058266

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233264

In addition, is there any possible way to upgrade the Graphics Card?  Not sure if anyone has tried but I was just curious as to whether or not it was possible.