ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DH71 Battery Life?

KDM

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Aug 15, 2011
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18,510
Intel Core i7-3517U 1.9GHz
4GB DDR3 (Upgradable)
500GB + 24GB SSD (Upgradeable)
NVIDIA Geforce GT 620M 1GB
12.8" x 8.79" x 0.72"
3.2 lbs.
1920 x 1080 FULL HD IPS

I think the laptop is amazing for what it offers, and only comes to around $1000.
Light, thin, but powerful. I don't think there's another laptop on the market currently that can offer these specs at this price.

However, my brother said he read that the battery life on this computer is awful.

Can someone here confirm?
 
Solution
I'm running exactly that computer, with 6GB RAM and I upgraded the hard drive to a 256GB Samsung 840 PRO.

The battery life is 5 hours of use, at least. I never tested it, but I am quite pleased with the battery life. However, the 840 PRO SSD probably draws less power than the original HDD, so that may skew the results...

If you have any more questions on this laptop, please don't hesitate.

quicksand10

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I'm running exactly that computer, with 6GB RAM and I upgraded the hard drive to a 256GB Samsung 840 PRO.

The battery life is 5 hours of use, at least. I never tested it, but I am quite pleased with the battery life. However, the 840 PRO SSD probably draws less power than the original HDD, so that may skew the results...

If you have any more questions on this laptop, please don't hesitate.
 
Solution

KDM

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Aug 15, 2011
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So for the hard drive replacement you used the Samsung 840 Pro, was the install difficult? I've seen a youtube video where drilling holes was a requirement.

And could you recommend RAM brands that would be easy to install as well?

Thanks for the input!
 

quicksand10

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Mine came with 6GB RAM, as such, I can't really suggest any specific memory sticks to buy. Personally, I would have been OK with 4GB, so I wouldn't have added the extra two. Try running with 4 GB RAM and see if you need some more before deciding to buy some.

As for the SSD, I can confirm you do not need to drill any holes. The install was pretty straightforward. Here's some more info:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Asus+Zenbook+UX32VD+Teardown/10120/1

To change the SSD, I had to unscrew all of the battery's screws and move the battery (and attached speaker) out of the way slightly, in order to reach two of the the HDD mount's screws. The other two are accessible on the other side.
Then, I had to pull delicately on the hard drive, it slides out.
Final step was to remove the hard drive mount and put it on the 840 PRO. Then, follow the instructions backwards :)
 

KDM

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Thanks for the reply!
One last question/s! Was your GPU the GT 620M? And if so did it run games well? If you played games at all.
I'm not expecting amazing capabilities, but maybe "enough" capability!

 

quicksand10

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Never tried games on my laptop. I have a gaming desktop plus a Playstation 3, so I game on those. Besides, gaming on a trackpad... bleh :p

Sorry! If you have a free, relatively light game you would like to know about, I suppose I could test it out for you and let you know!
 

KDM

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No worries! Thanks for the info!