The much anticipated UX31A and UX32VD Ultrabooks from Asus are finally available from Amazon US and . The UX31A, which starts at a very reasonable price, is being marketed by Asus as the ‘Zenbook Prime’ which we’ve been hearing about over the last few months. According to Asus, a Zenbook achieves the ‘Prime’ denotation as long as it has the 1080p IPS display, SSD, and a backlit keyboard. The UX32VD is thus being marketed simply as a Zenbook because it lacks the SSD.
Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A
We’ve got to say that Asus appears to be leading the Ultrabook pack from a value perspective. The Zenbook Prime leverages Asus’ original Zenbook design while equipping premium features and Intel’s new Ivy Bridge platform, all for a surprisingly attractive price.
Starting at $1129 you can get your hands on a the UX31A-DB51 with the following:
13.3″ 1920×1080 IPS display- Ivy Bridge Core i5-3317U @ 1.7GHz
- 128GB SSD
- 4GB of fast 1600MHz RAM
- 2xUSB 3.0
- micro HDMI
- mini VGA
- full SD
- 3.5mm headphone/mic combo
- 50Wh battery
- 1.3kg
For detailed specifications see the UX31A tracking page in our Ultrabook database.
The biggest complaints about the original Sandy Bridge-based Zenbook UX31E were the keyboard and screen. Both of which have been reworked in this new model. The IPS display is leading the laptop market in contrast ratio, and AnandTech says that the (now backlit) keyboard “is worlds better to type on”.
- US — If you’re interested in the UX31A-DB51 as described above, take a look at it on Amazon’s page here [affiliate link].
- DE — UX31A-R4004V
If you’ve got a bigger budget, Amazon is offering a $1599 option which is currently listed as shipping in 3-6 weeks. This is the UX31A-DB72 [DE: UX31A-R4003V] and includes all of the above except it bumps the processor to the Core i7-3517U and the SSD up to 256GB. There’s also a middle ‘Amazon Exclusive‘ option which gives you the 256GB SSD with Core i5 for $1349 (it’s currently out of stock).
The Zenbook Prime UX31A has shaped up to be a very attractive device thanks to solid pricing. Our only reservation is the port set which uses micro HDMI and mini VGA where we’d prefer to see full-sized ports, and although both USB ports have been updated to USB 3.0 over the original, we still think that a third USB port would be very useful.
Continue Reading — UX32VD and UX31A
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Looking good. Can’t wait till its available in uk!
Looking good. Can’t wait till its available in 8GB!
According Asus UK, no plans to release in UK and the staggered release across Asia, Europe and US excluding UK is a embaressement.
…no plans for which of the 3 models?
ux32vd, apparently no plans to release it.
Maybe to do with the fact they have priced ux31a at disgraceful £1850.
Nice one Asus…
UX21A is available in Slovenija:
http://www.comshop.si/shop/RaCunalniStvo/Prenosni_raCunalniki/Prenosni_raCunalnikASUS_UX21A-K1010V-107505
;)
I wonder if that means that the Scandinavian version with a 128GB SSD might get an addition with 256GB SSD. One can always hope.
A bit of a warning when it comes to the ux31vd – it apparently has a problem when it comes to light bleed from the edge of the screen with a lot of customers.
http://forumbilder.se/images/7d82012103300b10c.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11934750/IMG_8334.jpg
Hmm, the rest of the Zenbooks might suffer the same light bleeding.
Yes, all with the same panel
video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=voXY9t3Rv0w#!
Not all of them have it though, and most report that it’s less visible after some usage.
MP, where are these photos from?
A Swedish tech site/forum called sweclockers.se
They have a few threads about the UX31/32:s and this was something that that was observed by several new owners.
Bought the 31A 2 weeks ago, got it about a week ago and love it. Wish it had more ssd though
Is the RAM, SDD/HDD replaceable?
£1850!!!…this -especially given my eligibility for the academic discount- makes apple macbook air a far cheaper alternative (you would ever even imagine the above statement would hold the slightest element of truth…)
I don’t even know what to say, but a “lol” seems in place. If it indeed is £1850 it’s plain ridiculous.
That’s mental
100% from Comet:
http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Laptops/buy-ASUS-UX31A-R4003V-Laptop/417401
Should mention this is the ux31a not ux32vd but still £1000 more than US price.
I assume since the original was a pc world exlusive in UK, Asus are using the same trick.
I would wait for street prices to settle. This looks like Comet just sweeping up some profit from the early adopters.
Really any ideas when the full retail release in UK is?
Asus won’t comment, and previous Asus UX31 was an exclusive to Dixons/Pcword chain so will other chains even be able to pick it up?
Newegg US and Canada have the UX 32a but they’re all shipping with last gen SandyBridge CPUs… a real shame.
Adam
same in Bulgaria, but they are at low cost. 750 Euro for UX32A. UX32VD (ivy) already avalible for 885Euro :)
I’m really, REALLY interested in the UX32a Ivybridge release but it doesn’t look like they’re going to release an i3 Ivybridge version of the 32a….
I’d really like to test out a UX32a with some sort of Ivybridge set to 13watt TDP to see what the battery life looks like. I’ve now got the ability to get some hands-on time with most ultrabooks and I’m going to see if i can just start running MobileMark on them to get some battery life comparisons with an without the 13 watt TDP setting enabled on a few Ivy Bridge models as they come in. -This is what I’ve been dying to see but as far as I know no one has tested this yet.
Adam