Asus Zenbook UX550VE review (i7-7700HQ, GTX 1050 Ti) and how it compares to the Zenbook UX550VD

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Specs Sheet
Design and exterior
Keyboard and trackpad
Screen
Hardware and performance
Noise, heat and speakers
Battery life
Price and availability
Final thoughts
Comments

By Andrei GirbeaAsus Zenbook Pro UX550VE, last updated on October 16, 2018

Asus Zenbook Pro UX550VE

Summary: The Zenbook UX550VE is a solid option if you're after a premium thin-and-light laptop with a full-size 15-inch screen. Its main selling point is the GTX 1050 Ti graphics inside though, which didn't perform as expected on our unit and that's the main reason the UX550VE gets a lower score than the more basic UX550VD we tested a while ago. Make sure to read the article below to understand what causes the performance hiccups and what can be done to improve the laptop's behavior before drawing conclusions .

Our score: 3.75 / 5
Price when reviewed: $1699 and up

THE GOOD

compact build with very nice aesthetics
excellent clickpad
good IO, including x4 TB3 ports
multiple configurations available
runs flawlessly and coolly with everyday use
long battery life
punchy and loud speakers

THE BAD

some flex in the chassis and finishing imperfections
spongy keyboard with an unusual layout
a fair amount of screen bleeding on this sample
fans active all the time with daily use
GPU performance issues with games and other demanding loads
no full-size card reader and mediocre VGA camera

Table of Contents

Specs as reviewed
Design and looks
Screen
Hardware and performance
Noise and Heat
Battery life
Price and availability
Final thoughts

A few weeks ago I published an article about the Asus Zenbook UX550VD, a much awaited addition to the premium 15-inch laptop segment and alternative to the Dell XPS 15, the Lenovo Yoga 720 15 and the newer Yoga 730 and ThinkPad X1 Extreme.

However, the UX550VE variant is that one that actually makes this Zenbook different than the competition, as it comes with an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti graphics chip, while the UX550VD and the options from Dell and Lenovo only get GTX 1050 graphics.

We finally got to spend time with the VE variant as well and gathered the impressions below. We’re not going to reiterate on all the other aspects already covered in the UX550VD review, because the graphics chip is the only important difference between the VE and VD configurations. That’s why we’ll mostly cover below the performance of the VE model, which came with a Core i7-7700HQ processor, 16 GB of RAM and the Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB graphics, in comparison to the lower end VD model we already posted about, with the Core i5-7300HQ processor, 8 GB of RAM and Nvidia GTX 1050 4 GB graphics.

We’ll still add a few words about the looks and the screen though, as we got the Royal Blue variant this time with a FHD IPS touchscreen, while the VD came in Matte Black with the FHD IPS matte screen.

Anyway, here’s what to expect from the top-end Zenbook UX550VE and how it compares to the base-level Zenbook UX550VD.

Specs as reviewed

	Asus Zenbook Pro UX550VE
Screen	15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080 px, IPS, glossy, touch
Processor	Intel Kaby Lake Core i7-7700HQ CPU
Video	Intel HD 620 + Nividia GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB GDDR5
Memory	16 GB DDR4 (soldered)
Storage	256 M.2 NVMe SSD (80 mm)
Connectivity	Wireless AC (tri-band Intel AC 8265), Bluetooth 4.2
Ports	2x USB 3.0 Type-A, 2x USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, mic/headphone, microSD card reader
Battery	73 Wh, 120 Wh charger
OS	Windows 10
Size	365 mm or 14.37” (w) x 251 mm or 9.88” (d) x 18.9 mm or 0.74” (h)
Weight	4.05 lbs (1.84 kg) + 1.19 lbs (.54 kg) for the charger
Extras	backlit keyboard, VGA camera, quad-speakers, available in Royal Blue and Matte Black

Design and looks

To get this out of the way, you’ll find all my impressions about the laptop’s build quality and finishing over here. In very few words, it’s a compact, light and great looking computer, but the build could be sturdier, as there’s more flex than I’d want in the main chassis and lid cover.

The UX550VE we got here comes in Royal Blue, which looks really nice and is also unique, as no other manufacturer offers a similar laptop with this kind of color scheme. It doesn’t get the gold accents that Asus puts on their other Royal Blue Zenbooks (UX390, UX490 or UX370 Flip), which is actually a good thing for someone who hates bling, like I do. Still, the practical person in me would probably still pick the dark gray version we’ve illustrated on the UX550VD model, as smudges and fingerprints are somehow more obvious on this Blue variant. Probably, it’s a tough call, but at least both color schemes are nice, so there’s no wrong choice here.

I should also add a few more things about the Thunderbolt 3 implementation. While I don’t have an external eGPU to test this out, HWInfo shows that the Thunderbolt 3 port is hooked up to the motherboard through 4x PCIe lanes. However, there are two TB3 ports, and from what I understand there’s a single connection for the two, which means you can either use just one of the ports at 4x, or the lanes split between them when using both ports at the same time. I wish I’d have the right tools to properly test this, but unfortunately I don’t for now, so I’ll leave it at this. If Thunderbolt 3 is a decisive factor for you, and it might be given both the XPS 15 9560 and the Yoga 720 only get 2x PCIe TB3, I’d suggest to further look into the matter.

Screen

Asus offers the Zenbook UX550 series with a bunch of different touch and non-touch panel options.

We tested the better IPS panel in a matte version on the UX550VD and we got the same panel, but with touch on top, on this VE. The matte finishing gets a slight amount of graininess, while the touch one does not. But the glass layer on top also adds glare in bright environments and actually takes a pretty big toll on the perceived brightness.

Despite the fact that the VD and VE got the same panel, our Spyder 4 Sensor measured lower maximum brightness for the touch variant, as you can see below.

Panel HardwareID: Chi Mei CMN15E8 (N156HCE-EN1);
Coverage: 97% sRGB, 71% NTSC, 75% AdobeRGB;
Measured gamma: 2.3;
Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 260 cd/m2 on power;
Contrast at max brightness: 810:1;
White point: 6900 K;
Black on max brightness: 0.32 cd/m2.

The calibrated color profile is available here, if you want to use it.

Our sample also shows a fair amount of light bleeding in the lower half, with a significant brightness reduction as well, as you can see in the pictures above. This is a manufacturing issue, as the glass presses on the panel in the lower corners, but hopefully it’s isolated to this sample. Asus usually knows how to make proper touchscreens and hopefully the retail versions you’ll find in stores won’t suffer from this issue. Still, make sure to properly check this out on your laptop if you decide to go for this touch variant.

Hardware and performance

We’re not going to talk about the keyboard or trackpad, they’re covered in depth here, so we’ll jump right to the main topic: hardware and performance.

This is the highest end configuration you can get on a Zenbook UX550 right now, with the Core i7-7700HQ processor, Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti graphics with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB NVMe SSD.

The CPU, GPU and RAM are all soldered on the motherboard, so the only thing that’s upgradeable inside is the M.2 80 mm SSD, in case you decide to opt for a smaller one and replace it yourself. Asus puts fairly good options on their units though and the i7s usually come paired with large capacity SSDs, so there’s a fair chance you’ll have (or opt) to buy the configuration you want out of the box. I did notice a performance drop on the included SSD with larger files, but I can’t tell for sure why. Could be due to overheating though.

As far as performance goes, everything runs perfectly smooth with everyday use and multitasking, with no glitches and no performance losses, as shown in the pictures below.

Still, people are going to want to put that quad-core processor and especially the Nvidia graphics to good work, and here’s where things get a little shady. From the beginning you should know that our test unit came from Asus and it’s still not a final retail version, so you should take all our findings with a grain of salt. Knowing that though, I’m not surprised it performs the way it does.

There’s very little to complain about as long as the dGPU is not in use. The i7 CPU is not able to maintain the maximum quad-core Turbo frequency of 3.4 GHz in continuous 100% loads and it clocks down a little bit once it reaches high temperatures of above 92 Celsius. That happens quite fast, after a few seconds of running Cinebench.

A 100% CPU load can be realistic in certain applications, but the good news is the behavior can be improved with undervolting (and probably even more with repasting as well). This guide explains how to undervolt, it’s simple and safe (yet we can’t be hold liable for any of your actions, so make sure you understand what it is and what it implies). I was able to undervolt my sample to -110mV, as it got unstable and crashed at -120mV, and here’s how the Cinebench run looks in this case: the CPU runs a little cooler and maintains the 3.4 GHz Turbo Speed for the entirety of the first two runs, but at the third run the speeds still drop a little, yet not as aggressively as with the standard voltage. Details below.

As a result, multi-core CPU benchmarks improve after undervolting, but only in those tests that put a constant high stress on the CPU and normally push it to reach its thermal limitations. I’ve also added the i5-7300HQ in the table, just to show that the i7 offers a significant improvement in multi-core performance.

CPU Benchmarks	i7-7700HQ Default	Undervolted -110 mV	i5-7300HQ on UX550VD
3DMark – FireStrike Physics	9232	9461	6665
Cinebench R15 CPU	686 cb	737 cb	510 cb
Geekbench 4.0 – Multi Core	13816	14063	11587
x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 – Pass 2	42.70 fps	42.89 fps	34.31 fps

A longer list of benchmark results (of the default configuration) is available below:

3DMark 11: P8567 (Graphics – 8609, Physics – 8666);
3DMark 13: Sky Driver – 17471, Fire Strike – 5997, Time Spy – 2159;
3DMark 13 Graphics: Sky Driver – 21133, Fire Strike – 6773, Time Spy – 2008;
PCMark 08: Home Conventional – 3466;
PCMark 10: 4378;
GeekBench 3 32-bit: Single-Core: 3866, Multi-core: 13953;
GeekBench 4 64-bit: Single-Core: 4589, Multi-core: 13816;
CineBench 11.5: OpenGL – fps, CPU 7.60 pts, CPU Single Core 1.84 pts;
CineBench R15: OpenGL – fps, CPU 686 cb, CPU Single Core 162 cb;
x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 32-bit: Pass 1 – 168.96 fps, Pass 2 – 42.70 fps.

All in all, despite its thinness and poor cooling design (that we’ll talk about in the next section), this laptop performs very well in CPU loads and should be a solid pick for programming, engineering and even graphics software, albeit in this latter case the GPU kicks in as well and here’s where thing go South.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the Zenbook UX550VE gets an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti dGPU, but the thermal design doesn’t allow it to squeeze what the chip is actually capable of from it. Below I’ve added some GPU benchmarks, and I’ll also explain the findings afterwards.

CPU Benchmarks	GTX 1050 Ti – UX550VE	GTX 1050 Ti – Average	GTX 1050 – UX550VD	GTX 1050 – Average
3DMark – FireStrike Graphics	6773	7806	5484	6022
3DMark – TimeSpy Graphics	2008	2330	1538	1583
3DMark 11 – Graphics	8609	9768	7451	7697

What the numbers above tell us is that the GTX 1050 Ti on this Zenbook UX550VE ran at roughly 80-85% of its standard potential. For the sake of comparison, the GTX 1050 on the Zenbook UX550VD ran at 90-95% of the chip’s average.

The reason is pretty simple: the GPU cannot maintain its designed clock speeds due to reaching thermal limitations.

Of course, as far as the VE vs VD results go, the former clearly wins in benchmarks, but unfortunately these gains do not translate in real-life performance as well. Here’s what we got in a few different games on our sample:

	UX550VE – FHD High	UX550VE – FHD Ultra	UX550VD – FHD High	UX550VD – FHD Ultra
Bioshock Infinite	94 fps	60 fps	86 fps	56 fps
FarCry 4	52 fps	36 fps	48 fps	35 fps
Grid: Autosport	103 fps	60 fps	117 fps	62 fps
Shadow of Mordor	55 fps	44 fps	56 fps	43 fps
Tomb Raider	89 fps	47 fps	89 fps	49 fps
Total War – Atilla	25 fps	17 fps	–	–

The GTX 1050 Ti is designed to run at 1493 MHz, with Turbo up to 1620 MHz, yet our sample only averaged about 1200-1250 MHz in games, with the latest drivers available as of Mid September 2017. By analyzing the HWInfo logs below you’ll notice that the GPU quickly jumps to 80 degrees Celsius in games and once that happens, the frequency starts dropping.

The following scenario better illustrates this: I ran the standard graphics Benchmark in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor for 10 times in a row and it returned the following results: 61, 57, 51, 48, 45, 44 fps and finally stabilizes around 44 fps. In other words, the performance decreases as the GPU’s frequency drops. The same results can be reiterated in other benchmarks, so while initially the UX550VE might get you quite good fps results, 15 minutes later things change, and as a result the fps numbers included in the table above are recorded after at least 15 minutes of running each game and is an average of 5-10 runs of each test.

MUST READ: You should take these findings with a grain of salt, as our sample is not a retail version. Doug has a very similar configuration of a final unit and told me that it scores about 6600 points in 3DMark and the GPU speeds only drop to around 1400 MHz in demanding games. However, his is unit is tweaked with CLU on the CPU and IC Diamond on the GPU, which is pretty much a best case scenario you could get repasting the components on a normal unit. In fact, it’s actually more than you could get, as CLU-ing a CPU is not something the average user can do, so I’m inclined to consider the results we got on our sample closer to what you should expect from the final versions. Regardless, don’t jump to any conclusions yet and make sure to read other opinions and reviews of this laptop. There’s no in-depth review of the UX550VE that I can link to right now, but I’d reckon Doug will have his on Notebookcheck at some point, and I’d also keep an eye on Reddit and the forums over on Notebookreview.com .

BTW, I didn’t run any stress tests on this laptop. I really don’t see the point of those with real-life use and I’ll probably stop running them from now on, unless someone can explain why they matter and why I should keep doing them.

Noise and Heat

I’ve explained in the Zenbook UX550VD review why I think the cooling solution on this laptop is poorly designed, but I’m going to reiterate it here. In very few words, the intake and output grills are very limited and the internal design is weird, with two heatpipes that cover both the CPU and GPU, as well as two radiators/fans. However, only one of the heatpipes actually hooks to both radiators, while the other only hooks into one and I can’t understand why. Perhaps there’s a reason and I’m missing it?

In fact I actually find it mind bugling that Asus’s engineers weren’t able to design a better cooling for this laptop. The Dell XPS 15 has been around for nearly two years now and its heat-caused performance issues are well known and documented. Knowing that, many months later Asus actually decided to put a higher TDP graphics chip in a similarly thin chassis, but with a poorer heatpipe/radiator design and with pretty much no space for the air to get in and out. It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately it’s the harsh reality of this Zenbook UX550 line…

Even if the final retail versions end up peforming better than our test unit here, I still consider the cooling to be one of the laptop’s most important culprits.

Anyway, here’s what to expect in terms of temperatures from the i7 / GTX 1050 Ti model:

*Daily Use – 1080p Youtube clip in EDGE for 30 minutes
*Load – playing Far Cry 4 for 30 minutes

It runs a few degrees hotter under load than the i5 / GTX 1050 model.

The fans are active all the time, even when watching a movie or editing a document. They’re not loud though and you’ll probably not even hear them in a normal environment, as they’re barely audible in a quiet room. This time around I didn’t notice the same coil whining and electrical noise that I encountered on the UX550VD , but that’s no guarantee you won’t run into it on your unit. In fact, undervolting the CPU actually caused some very annoying and loud electrical noise in demanding loads, as a side effect.

Speaking of demanding loads, the fans get averagely loud with games, topping at about 45 dB at head-level (measured both with iPhone app and dB meter), which is not bad for this kind of hardware and construction. Doug says his unit runs quieter and this review also mentions lower noise levels of only 40 dB (for the UX550VD variant), so you’d better further look into this matter as again the final retail units might do a little different than my sample.

As far as the speakers, connectivity and webcam go, you can read all about them in the UX550VD article.

Battery life

Before we wrap this up I’ll also mention a few words about battery life on this higher-tier configuration. The laptop gets a fairly hefty 73 Wh battery and with the screen set at about 120 nits (40% brightness), here’s what you should expect:

12.2 W (~6 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;
8.9 W (~8 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Internet Explorer, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;
7.2 W (~10 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen .mkv video in the Movie app, Balanced Mode, screen at40%, Wi-Fi ON;
8.4 W (~8 h 30 min of use) – 4K fullscreen .mkv video in the Movie app, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;
15.2 W (~4 h 45 min of use) – browsing in Edge, Balanced Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON;
54 W (~1 h 20 min of use) – gaming on battery, High Performance Mode, screen at 40%, Wi-Fi ON.

The results are fairly similar to those of the i5 / GXT 1050 configuration, but browsing takes a slightly higher toll on the Core i7 CPU and of course gaming is more demanding too, given the higher TDP hardware.

The UX500VE comes with a fairly chunky and heavy 120 Wh power brick, that weighs .54 kg with the included cables (European version). The charger is able to quickly charge 60% of the battery in 50 minutes, and as a result a full charge takes about 1 h and 45 minutes.

Price and availability

The Zenbook UX550VE is still not widely available as of Mid September 2017, but should be from early October.

Around $1700 will get you in the US a configuration that comes very close to the one we tested here, with a Core i7-7700HQ processor, Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti graphics, 16 GB of RAM, a 512 GB NVMe SSD and the FHD IPS touchscreen. The same configuration, but with the matte screen, sells for around 1800 EUR in Europe.

Follow this link for updated configurations and prices at the time you’re reading the article.

Final thoughts

I talked about the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo Yoga 720 15-inch as the two main alternatives for the Zenbook UX550VD in here, but let’s have another go.

If you’re living in the US, $1700 will get you the Dell XPS 15 with the i7 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD and a FHD matte screen. It’s better built than the Zenbook, gets a brighter IPS panel and a larger 97 Wh battery, but on the other hand Dell only offers it with GTX 1050 graphics, and it’s not like you’re going to get flawless performance from it either, at least not without some tweaks that are explained in here or in here. The Zenbook has the interesting color schemes on its side, the Thunderbolt 4x connectivity and the speakers, and I’d expect it will also drop in price by the end of the year and sell for at least $100 less than a similarly specked XPS. The Zenbook is also already significantly cheaper than the XPS outside the US.

The main selling point remains the GTX 1050 Ti chip inside, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly how those final retail versions perform. Our sample didn’t do well, and although I expect final models to perform somewhat better, I’m pretty sure they won’t match the performance of a full-size 1050 Ti laptop with a proper cooling implementation. I’d blame that on physics, but the truth is I mostly blame it on the engineers who designed the cooling for the UX550 series.

As far as the Yoga 720 goes, it’s an option if you want the convertible form-factor and don’t care much about the graphics performance, as it’s only bundled with a GTX 1050 with 2 GB of memory. It’s $200 cheaper than the Zenbook UX550VE and the Dell XPS 15 though, with a configuration similar to the ones mentioned above selling for around $1500 at this point.

All in all this article this article might sound a little too harsh, and that’s because I was actually hoping Asus would make a product that could outmatch the XPS 15 across the board if they took such a long time to finally update the Zenbook Pro line. That’s not the case though, the Zenbook UX550 has its fair share of culprits and its fair share of merely average traits, but it can still be a solid pick in its niche IF the final retail versions do better in games.

That’s why I’d say potential buyers should ask what do they want from the laptop? If it’s not primarily gaming and if the XPS 15 is not a lot more expensive in your region, go for the XPS, it’s a nicer and better balanced product with fewer flaws. If it’s still not primarily gaming, but the XPS 15 sells for a lot more where you live (pretty much everywhere except the US), then go for the Zenbook, but preferably for an i7 + GTX 1050 configuration if available, that way you’re not going to pay extra for something that you won’t use. If it’s gaming though, then the Zenbook could be for you, as the only 15-inch premium thin-and-light with a 1050 Ti inside, but you’ll have to accept its performance limitations. In fact, if you truly are into gaming, I’d advise you to consider sacrificing a bit on size, construction and weight and go with something like the Gigabyte Aero 15 or some of the other thin and lights with GTX 1060 graphics inside.

Anyway, that’s how we’ll wrap this review of the Asus Zenbook UX550VE up, but the comments section is open for your feedback, opinions and questions, and we’re around to help out if we can.

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Review by: Andrei Girbea
Andrei Girbea is a Writer and Editor-in-Chief here at Ultrabookreview.com. I write about mobile technology, laptops and computers in general. I've been doing it for more than 15 years now. I'm a techie with a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering. I mostly write reviews and thorough guides here on the site, with some occasional columns and first-impression articles.

42 Comments

Jonah

September 24, 2017 at 5:26 pm

Nice! Btw let's not forget the cheaper Gigabyte Aero 14 with the GTX 1050Ti/1060!

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 25, 2017 at 3:46 am
  
  Yep, that's an option as well, but I only considered 15 inchers in the conclusion.
  
  Reply
Serhio

September 25, 2017 at 5:31 am

Hi Andrei! Thanks for the review, now I am convinced to take Yoga 720. I'll think only in cases of confirmation of the presence of the port x4 TB3.

I can tell you that the entire UX550 line is available in Ukraine. The configuration price from the review is $ 2358 or € 1,980. Absolutely all the customers I contacted could complain about having a coil whine (a squeak or a crack). They also talk about overheating, due to the absence of banal holes for the cooling system.

P.S. Strange, but in Ukraine, as in all Europe, versions of Yoga 720 with 4 GB of video memory are available, which is an excellent alternative for the UX550VD or XPS15 (UX550VE I would not take because the 1050Ti does not reveal potential), and "transformer" + touch screen is a nice bonus for this money.

Sorry for my english :)

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 25, 2017 at 7:12 am
  
  How much does the Yoga 720 cost over there, compared to the Zenbook UX550VD?
  
  Reply
  - Serhio
    
    September 25, 2017 at 7:58 am
    
    I compare the same configuration:
    ASUS UX550VD (BN071T) i7/FHD(no touch)/16gb/512gb/1050 4gb/24m warranty – $1,787 or €1,503.
    
    Lenovo Yoga720-15 (80X70071PB) i7/FHD(touch)/8gb/512gb/1050 4gb/24m warranty + Lenovo Active Pen 2 and transformer function – $1,635 or €1,375. The price of the RAM bracket 8 GB DDR4 2400 is 75 dollars. Universal adapter for HDMI+VGA+RJ-45+Type-C+2xUSB3.0 (AliEx) is another $60.
    
    Total: $1,787 vs. $1,770. But it is worth considering that I can take Lenovo with 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD for 1500 dollars, whereas an ASUS with a processor of i7 is sold exclusively in the top complete sets with 16gb+512gb.
    
    In cases with Yoga 720 we get a touch screen (+ professional pen in configuration for $1,635), a function of the transformer and holes for the cooling system, and with the UX550VD we have a lack of holes (ASUS engineers are you serious?), electronic noise, but the same time, possibly a full port TB3.
    
    Most of all, I'm angry with the Coil Whine and lack of a grid for the cooling system of a powerful video card. ASUS is a failure! :(
Echinops

September 25, 2017 at 11:53 am

That's right. In Europe we can buy a Yoga 720-15 with 4gb 1050. Funny enough, the maxed out Yoga (i7, 16 ram, 512 ssd, 4gb GPU) cost only €150 more than the most basic UX550VD (i5, 8 ram, 512 ssd). I'm a bit torn because Asus easily wins in terms of design and weight but Yoga has so much better specs for so little more money. Plus better cooling solutions, no reports of excessive coil whine, better build quality and the "transformer" option (although I couldn't care less about it but well, it's there). Guess I'll go with Yoga.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 25, 2017 at 12:31 pm
  
  You should also consider the fact the the Zenbook is brand new, while the Yoga has been available for a while. I know it doesn't make much sense, but OEMs tend to have higher prices at launch and offer discounts later on. So while what you're saying is true right now, I'd expect the price gap to change in a few months. Doesn't make any difference for someone who plans to buy one of them right now, but it could for someone who's able to wait a bit.
  
  As for the build quality, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's better. The Lenovo is perhaps a little sturdier, but the materials don't feel as nice imo. So it's not nicer built than the Zenbook, it's just different. Can't argue with the other aspects you mentioned though.
  
  Reply
  - Echinops
    
    September 25, 2017 at 12:47 pm
    
    I’m planning to buy one of these two (probably, as XPS is far out of my budget) in a 3-4 months time. I’ll keep an eye on how the prices develop but honestly I don’t expect any significant drops in such a short period. I’d like to be wrong though :)
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    September 25, 2017 at 1:29 pm
    
    If you don't mind, please come back after you buy it and let us know whether the priced dropped or not. I'd expect the UX550s to drop by at least 100 EUR by December.
  - Echinops
    
    September 25, 2017 at 2:59 pm
    
    Sure, I'll try to keep that in mind.
  - Faewing
    
    October 15, 2017 at 2:41 pm
    
    I recently saw that in Germany the Zenbook 3 was 13% off, and that one has not been released long ago either, so maybe we can expect something alike with the Zenbook Pro.
Chris

September 27, 2017 at 11:34 am

What would be your best pick + config for a new laptop?
What I am after:
– A PC for work (heavy software running)
– 15" and lightweight
– Good battery life
– Price is not a factor

Many thanks

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 28, 2017 at 3:37 am
  
  Depends on what "heavy software" means. I'd look at something like the DEll XPS 9560 or the Gigabyte Aero 15, they're both compact, lightweight and powerful.
  
  Reply
  - Chris
    
    September 28, 2017 at 3:51 am
    
    Thanks for the tip Andrei.
    So you wouldn't recommend the Zenbook Pro?
    I have been waiting for its release thinking it would beat the XPS, but it is apparently not the case :-)
    I really like the slick design of the Zenbook, but it feel a bit fragile.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    September 28, 2017 at 3:57 am
    
    If budget is not a concern, no, I'd rather get the XPS 15. I've explained why in the Conclusion of this post. In few words, the reasons are: bigger battery, brighter FHD screen, nicer build, in this order, and of course that fact that the 1050 Ti in the Zenbook doesn't seem to work that well. I'd wait for more reviews, but based on this sample it's very close to a 1050.
    
    I'd buy the XPS from a physical store where you could check out for defects, you'll find plenty on the issues online. I'd also be prepared to undervolt and perform the tweaks explained in this article: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/14875-fix-throttling-xps-15/ , but at the end of the day, that's what I'd get, again, if budget would not be a concern.
  - Chris
    
    September 28, 2017 at 4:14 am
    
    Very much appreciated.
    The camera looking up your nose has been of concern to me, which is why I did not buy the XPS months ago, but I suppose I will have to live with it.
    Is the XPS your prime choice or would you rather suggest another bulkier 15" laptop? I'd rather get a lightweight laptop, but if you say there is something much better out there, I would consider it. Battery life if still very important though.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    September 28, 2017 at 4:26 am
    
    There are a lot of good full-size laptops out there, I can't really make a recommendation, as each have their own particularities, pros, cons etc. That Aero 15 is a solid option though, but not the only one. If you can narrow down your options to a few, I could comment on them. Full-size laptops aren't necessarily better than the XPS, but some work cooler and offer more consistent performance (as a result). They're also cheaper for the same specs and might get features that the XPS lacks, like a RGB keyboard, higher refresh rate screens, etc.
Chris

September 28, 2017 at 4:42 am

Ok, I guess I will have to choose between the Aero and the XPS then :-)
Thank you very much for your precious advice.
You mentioned the brighter FHD screen that comes with the XPS. Is it not a battery killer though? Not sure it makes sense to have such a screen on a laptop.I guess I can get a lower spec to save some battery time.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 28, 2017 at 5:38 am
  
  You can adjust the brightness to what you need, don't have to keep it at max. But with the higher brightness you get improved visibility in bright places or outside.
  
  Reply
Chris

September 28, 2017 at 6:13 am

Ah ok, still worth having then, thanks!
Thought it would chew more power in all cases.

Reply
Serhio

September 29, 2017 at 10:41 am

Hi Andrei! I wrote in the comments under the reviews Yoga720 and UX550, if you remember… Now I have already decidedly decided to take Yoga 720, but there are doubts when choosing video memory 2GB or 4GB. The price of the matter is 200 dollars (I will also get a more capacious SSD, but I do not need it), but how much is it justified? I looked at the reviews and tests for the GTX1050 with 4GB and 2GB, but did not find much difference. Even if you compare specifically Yoga 720 and UX550VD in the games The Witcher 3 (2015) and Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) (the reviews from notebookcheck.net), you can find that Lenovo demonstrates 1-3 frames more than Asus. I'm not a very gamer and I'm not chasing the maximum graphics settings, but I plan to use this laptop for several years to come. Tell me, please, how critical will the difference in frames between VRAM 4GB and 2GB? For me it would be acceptable to 10% subsidence in FPS.

P.S. In this review, you mentioned the moment with 2GB of video memory, maybe you can convince me to overpay $ 200 for the version with 4GB. Thank you.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  September 29, 2017 at 11:11 am
  
  I probably wouldn't pay that if you don't need the extra storage space. You might have issues with certain games that would require more than 2 GB of VRAM in the future, but other than that, performance wise differences are minimal between the 2 and 4 GB versions.
  
  Reply
Louise

October 2, 2017 at 12:25 am

This is a really in depth and mindfully critical review… So I'm curious and in need of an easier to digest conclusion.

I'm a graphic design student that likes to play some video games as a hobby. I have to take my laptop to school with me everyday so I want something portable, but with a healthy dose of power. I'm being drawn to these zenbooks especially because of the pressure sensitive pen/screen they come with and their portability. Sometimes I need to be able to draw digitally, and I really like this feature because I don't have to use a tablet or bring my tablet with me!

So far I am looking at either this laptop or the higher end Zenbook Flip S (Asus website says Flip S has intel HD card, but I think I saw somewhere that it can have an Nvidia 940?).

My uses for it would include:
Adobe illustrator, photoshop, indesign, camera raw, and lightroom. I often run 2 or 3 Adobe programs at one time.

As for games, the most hardware intensive game that I want to be able to play on it would be the Witcher 3 (My minimum is Overwatch as I may just get Witcher 3 for PS4).

So basically would the UX550VE, UX550VD, higher end Flip S, or some other comparable model be best for me? I'm a fan of Asus and have been using a old ROG for the past 5+ years, so I don't really know anything about Dell or Lenovo anymore.

And just because someone here may be able to answer my question too:
Would there be any advantage to buying a ROG over one of these Zenbooks? After checking out these Zenbooks I can't figure out why anyone would ever want to buy a ROG anymore other than having a num pad and better cooling.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  October 3, 2017 at 3:30 am
  
  Hi. A few things.
  
  1. I don't think you'll get a very good experience using a pen on a regular clamshell laptop with a non-convertible screen. The pen makes sense on a laptop that can somehow convert into a tablet form factor, but not that much otherwise imo.
  2. The Zenbook Flip is a different kind of laptop, much more portable, but also far less powerful. WE have a review here, but I wouldn't get it for Ilustrator, Lightroom and the other software you mentioned.
  3. Witcher 3 is demanding, it would require at least a mid-range graphics chip to run well with higher details.
  
  Those being said, the UX550VE makes most sense for your needs, but you should be aware it might not always run at the best of its abilities, as documented in the article.
  
  An ROG laptop (and even the Vivobook Pro N580) or other full-size laptops should be more affordable for a given set of hardware features, and they should also be able to run better in demanding tasks, because they're thicker and there's more room inside for proper cooling. With this Zenbook UX550 line you're somewhat sacrificing performance for portability.
  
  At the end of the day, I'd probably go for a full-size laptop for your needs. The Asus ViVobook Pro N580 or Gigabyte Aero 15 make sense, but also the cheaper Dell Inspiron Gaming with the FHD IPS screen and 1050 ti graphics.
  
  Reply
Alex

October 16, 2017 at 5:15 pm

Hey. Andrei, did you find out the details of the Thunderbolt3 work? Is it full or only x2? Maybe you can share some more information on UX550, which was received after the review?

Reply
Kyamil

November 2, 2017 at 10:06 am

Asus states it's a Thunderbolt 2 port, not 3. Any ideas if it's a typo or?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  November 2, 2017 at 1:57 pm
  
  Where? There's TB3 on this laptop.
  
  Reply
  - Alex
    
    November 2, 2017 at 2:23 pm
    
    Andrei, can you answer the message above?
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    November 2, 2017 at 4:33 pm
    
    Sry, I somehow missed that comment. I've covered the topic in this article. It's a TB3 x4 port while you hook one peripheral, and the connection is split between the two ports when you have peripheral hooked to both of them at the same time.
  - Alex
    
    November 5, 2017 at 7:09 pm
    
    Thanks for the answer! Just for clarity: is it checked on eGPU or some other device? Unfortunately I can not find sources of reliable information, except for your blog.
  - Andrei Girbea
    
    November 6, 2017 at 4:08 am
    
    No, only with Hwinfo. I don't have an eGPU to test it with at the time of the review.
Alex

November 6, 2017 at 4:39 pm

Oh, okay. I may look obtrusive, but let me ask you a few more questions :)
1) Why does this model come with x2 on your list of laptops with TB3 (https://www.ultrabookreview.com/10579-laptops-thunderbolt-3/), this can be misleading if there really is a x4?
2) I first time choose a laptop in the ultrabook class, so I'm wondering how bad the UX550VD (1050 not Ti) copes with the loads. I understand that it can be used for games ~1 hour, but I'm curious how it will show itself in the mode "weekend for video games". If I play 5 hours in a row, will I get even more throttling than shown in your tests? Can I damage this "gentle" device using it in this mode?

P.S. Thank you very much Andrei, you are helping me a lot. Sorry for my English :)

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  November 7, 2017 at 5:10 am
  
  1. There's an error there, I fixed it now. Sry for the confusion.
  2. You should read the article about the ux550vd, there's some throttling with very demanding loads, but not that much and the issues I ran into should be improved with undervolting and even repasting the CPU/GPU. I don't think you should worry about problems caused by heat on the long term, but there's always the possibility something might happen
  
  Reply
Dave

November 13, 2017 at 12:18 pm

Which of these laptops do you think would be best for video editing (4k, etc). XPS 15, ux550, or gigabyte aero 15? I'm not a gamer, and need to replace my old mbp 17 inch

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  November 15, 2017 at 4:32 am
  
  Hey, I replied above. Sry for the delay
  
  Reply
Dave

November 14, 2017 at 7:43 pm

For editing HD and 4K, which laptop would you recommend, between XPS 15 HD, the ASUS, and Gigabyte Aero 15. I'm coming from a 2011 MBP, which I have loved, for the most part.

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  November 15, 2017 at 4:27 am
  
  All of them should do fine for video editing if you undervolt them, despite the fact that both the Zenbook and the XPS throttle to some extent under heavy CPU+GPU loads. I'd get the Aero 15 if you also want to play games and value that 1060, otherwise look at the 1050 models of both the XPS and the Zenbook.
  
  Reply
Razvan Porojan

June 20, 2019 at 8:50 pm

Big disappointment. Bad quality (coil whine), low reliability: loudspeaker broken after 6 months, USB problems.
Warranty service process horrible. I don't recommend this product or Asus as a brand anymore.

Reply
Zach

October 17, 2019 at 7:49 am

Andrei Girbea,

I love the in depth work you do here! Helped me decide to go with the zenbook pro 550 a year back (based on this review I would have gone with the 550vd instead of the 550ve but at the time the ve was selling for less – go figure.)

Anyways last week my friend ran halfway over my zenbook with his truck. (I know right!?) Long story short the screen and upper lid is messed up but I was able to plug it into an external display and the motherboard seems unharmed after some light diagnostics! (The darn thing stood up to a truck!)

So here's where you might be the perfect person to ask my question seeing that you took a close look at both these models: I'm trying to buy a new screen and upper lid for my 550vE but the only seller I can find online with anything similar has a display/lid for a 550vD. Do you happen to know if the 550vd and the 550ve have the same case/upper lid?

Reply
- Andrei Girbea
  
  October 17, 2019 at 12:06 pm
  
  As far as I know, the two are identical, with the GPU being the only difference between the two. You should ask the seller to confirm that though.
  
  Reply
jakie

June 23, 2020 at 5:57 pm

It's been almost 2 years since I bought a zenbook pro ux550ve model. the device's cpu has been damaged twice so far, and I have had to replace the entire motherboard. any idea why this is happening? and is there any fix to it? Do you recommend using a vaccum cooler or creating a gap in the cover under the laptop? should i replace thermal past to a better one or even liquid metal?

Reply
Maloy

May 3, 2021 at 7:56 pm

Why there is a delete button just beside the power button?

Reply

Asus Zenbook UX550VE review (i7-7700HQ, GTX 1050 Ti) and how it compares to the Zenbook UX550VD

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