ASUS UX31A-DH51 13.3-Inch Zenbook ( Silver Aluminum )

I've had this laptop for two days so far and it's a pleasure to use as well as gorgeous to look at!

It cold boots in six seconds and wakes up from suspend-to-RAM in two; the IPS screen is excellent and the i5 CPU, 4 GB RAM, and SSD give the system incredible speed. There are some downsides: I'm still getting used to the trackpad (no distinct buttons a first for me), and it isn't quite as thin as the marketing pictures would suggest (though the listed product dimensions are accurate), but I think this laptop is a great deal for $800.

After it arrived, I booted into Windows 8 to make sure all the hardware was working. After specifically testing the function keys and the speed of restarts, I updated to the latest BIOS, disabled UEFI Secure Boot, and then installed Ubuntu 13.04 Desktop 64-bit from a USB flash drive. Another reviewer lamented the space lost to the pre-existing partitions (I found boot, efi, Windows recovery, Windows OS, and factory recovery), but I opted to let Ubuntu have the entire disk (minus a couple hundred MB for two boot partitions). After formatting, it gave me 117.3 GB total, with 4.5 GB used by the OS after installing.

Once I was running Ubuntu 13.04, almost all of the top-row function keys (e.g. sleep, keyboard backlight adjust, screen brightness adjust) worked out-of-the-box. The exceptions are that wireless enable/disable doesn't always seem to work and I haven't had a chance to test the video output selector. The screen auto brightness doesn't work, nor do the function keys attached to C, V, and Space (in the factory configuration those last three were attached to software bundled by Asus within Windows, so I suspect that I could configure apps in Ubuntu to respond in a similar fashion, but I have not tested this).

The Bluetooth, USB-to-Ethernet (using the included adapter), web cam, built-in mic, and SD card reader components have all also been tested and they all work well without any configuration.

If you're looking for a sleek, portable, Ubuntu-ready laptop which doesn't sacrifice power or break the bank, I would recommend giving this laptop a chance.

Slim, solidly built machine. Uni-body construction. Fewer ports built in, but a VGA and Ethernet dongles are included in their own matching case. #1 feature: the MATTE Full HD screen. Feels like I'm working on 15"+ screen. I thought it would make texts too fine to read comfortably, but the default setting for text is set at 125% at full HD and is very easy on the eyes. And yes, its matte, not glossy (THANK YOU ASUS!!!). Check out notebookcheck.net review of this and other machines.

As mentioned, there's a couple caveats to owning this puppy. If you video chat a lot, either invest in an add-on digital camera as the built in camera on this harks back to the 90' cell phone camera 0.3 MP and painfully slow. I can't put it any other way: the camera sucks. Its deliberate, as the thinness of the lid at that point limits the camera. If you cannot live with this nor be bothered to buy a separate digi-cam, this ain't your fix. Look elsewhere.

The other concern is more important. Though its listed as a 128 Gig SSD, only 66 Gigs are actually useable, as the rest are defined for Windows, backup, etc. I haven't had time to investigate all the software that comes along with it from ASUS. While I abhor bloatware, the few programmes that I did check out so far are essential add-ons for the full Win 8 experience, such as the ASUS Touchpad software for example. Some others may choose to reduce these partitions for more usable room but I don't need to go there just yet. having a flash drive or cloud adds lots of extra storage for files, which is what I'm planning on doing anyway. I know that 2 gig out of the 4 total are permanently on the board, so that the RAM can be upgraded in future. I'm not yet sure about the SSD, though it would seem highly unlikely that it cannot be upgraded.

While others cannot overlook the poor excuse of a digi-cam in 21st century, nor the actual 66 gigs of useable space on the SSD out of the gates, for my intents and purposes, it fits the bill, which is why I'd give it 4.5 stars (if I could...).

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I like the Zenbook. Very fast, light and portable. Great design, with two USB3 ports and accessories for projector and LAN connection.

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So far, so good. Was able to load with Ubuntu 12.10 (but wireless didn't work out of the box), so loaded 13.04 and wireless works well. I also tried Fedora 18 and 19a, but no luck even booting with either. Windows 8 was different, but not what I want.

The zenbook is fast and keyboard is very usable. Screen is sharp and nice to work with.

I've only been using it for a few days, I may add more comments later...

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I have ms2010 office in the apps. When I click on it, it says I need the 25 character key to open it. No key in the packaging. Called asus, they said call ms. Called them and they said it was probably a trial copy. That is not what office says when you try to open it, it has a checkmark by the run the program and when I click on that it then asks for the key code Anybody experience this? Thanks.

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