I like the specs and design with the exception of USB port placement. It strikes me as a bit strange to see the USB ports will move as the screen is opened, closed, or adjusted. It'd take a little adjustment time. Barring any problems that'd only come out in benchmark testing such as thermal throttling or whatnot, this looks like a decent laptop for the price.
USB-C can output video just fine. The days of having a separate serial, patella, VGA, etc. are long gone and I'm very thankful for that. USB-C is the future and that's a beautiful thing.
Touch screens don't belong on a work laptop and 1080p is not adequate for work. I started buying my own laptop for work several years ago when my employer decided we should all use toys. (I know I'm an old curmudgeon. No need to point out that opinions and usage may vary.)
This is a nice unit but without the proper ports it is pretty much useless to most people. I could see it if they included the docking station with the laptops but to pay extra for something that should have been included is a no go for sure. It was stated that this is the way most companies are gonna do thing in the future. Here is a thought don't buy these products and vote with your wallet yes going thin is all cool and all but if it means giving up all of your connection options then it is not worth it.
Microsoft excluded the keyboard cover from the Surface and the New Nintendo 3DS didn't come with a battery charger. It's tough to quantify what impact those omissions had on overall sales numbers, but excluding things in the initial purchase package is pretty common.
Yes they did exclude the keyboard cover but when they were marketing it they almost always showed it with the keyboard cover implying it came with the Surface and a lot of people would assume they were together as a unit. As for Nintendo not including the power charger with the 3DS I guess they were thinking that most people had more than one or they had the power brick from the older unit already. Either way it was a shiat move on Nintendo's part to not include the part that actually kept the 3DS charged and working but it was up to the consumer to let them know by not buying a product that was not complete. I know back in the day we always seen the "Batteries not included" on anything that required them but at least the end user was able to install batteries and the product worked as it was designed to. As you said excluding things are pretty common now days. These companies doing this are only doing it because they know they can get away with it because the consumers are allowing it to happen if we the consumer stopped buying incomplete products like this it would send a message that we don't want incomplete products and that if the company does not include something as simple as the charger it will sit on the store shelves collecting dust.
Is the docking station a big deal for you? I'm genuinely curious. I like having an hdmi port on the side and network ports and whatnot but I could live with a docking station at my desk when I actually need those things.
Other than connecting to a projector when I'm in a conference room or wherever I'm probably ok. And some meeting software just does screen mirroring (skype for business, webex, etc) so even that isn't necessarily an issue. I did a presentation at my kids school where I used hdmi on my laptop, but I could have brought the dock for that.
Actually no the docking station is not important to me at all because I would never buy a product that is lacking the most important features for connections but hey I can go and buy the docking station to make it complete...yay. Something as simple as HDMI and USB ports would not have changed these laptops all that much other than giving the consumer a complete and more useful product.
Like I said in a post above if we keep allowing the companies to get away with removing important features from their products and then putting those features in a extra piece of hardware like a docking station all it does is send a signal that we are ok with that and it will happen a lot more down the road. If I pay 1k or more for a laptop I expect it to be a complete unit and that I do not have to go out and buy a extra box just so I can use that laptop in the way I need or want to.
All Asus had to do was put a thin port on the side of the laptop that allowed a cable to plug into it with the break out box that had the extra ports on it. Companies have been doing that for ages on the Ultra thins and it works fine and is not a added cost to the consumer. I actually like to use the HDMI port for my projectors I also like to have a wireless mouse and keyboard I am not going to buy a product that does not include the ports needed to make me owning a laptop like this happy.
So any laptop maker that uses these tactics will not get my money and they will be crossed off my list when I do go out and spend the hard earned cash all they are doing is closing the doors on plenty of people like myself that do not like feeling like they just got shafted up the butt hole.
Hooking up ethernet, two monitors, keyboard and mouse does require a docking station. Those ports would break quite quickly if I had to connect and disconnect each and every one of those each day. Not to mention the non-tech savvy would never go for it.
What are you talking about people have been doing it on laptops for many years with little to no problems with the ports on laptops why would it all of a sudden become a problem. Also like I said if they did not want to actually put the ports on the laptop just make a special port like many companies have done in the past on the ultra thins that has the breakout box and the needed ports for the end user.
I am sorry but this type of design that Asus and most likely others will copy is just lazy designing and also the greed factor. If they find that people will still by this type of product and then spend more for the required ports of coarse all will follow and do the same it makes them more money. Why is it now days people are like sheep and will swallow pretty much anything a company throws at them. I blame Apple a bit for this they have cut corners or not put features on a product just for the sake of design. A laptop is not a work of art it is a tool to be used but if that tool does not have the required features it may as well sit and collect dust and in some way be considered art because it is just as useless as a piece of art and can be only looked at. Thanks Have a Nice Day
What am I talking about? Do you read? I am talking about a couple hundred thousand users having to connect multiple monitors, ethernet, a keyboard, and a mouse. That is not something most regular folk will put up with. Yes you are this super special amazing guy that everyone should design their laptops around, but for the real world your ideas are daft.
And another design with a sharp bottom edge of the screen digging into your thighs when it's sitting on your lap. I don't know where all the HCI pros have gone these days, but they sure seem to have left the building.
If these were USB C 3.1 ports, they could support HDMI out via a dongle (wonder if the "docking" port might support that?).
I don't know about other business users, but walking into a conference room and connecting to a flatscreen or projector is a common scenario for me. I'd be fine with a dongle, but not carrying around a docking station.
I was going to post the exact same thing. For the 400 people on my site, this is useless without the ability to connect to a conference room screen or projector. The lack of SmartCard reader will also be a deal-breaker for a lot of businesses. Dell/HP/Lenovo has nothing to worry about.
I'm sure it's a fine machine that would be good for a lot of people, but it seems to miss the mark if they're trying to promote it as a Latitude/ProBook/Thinkpad competitor.
I associate true business laptops with serviceability and access to the internals as well as docking (preferably port replication).
Think Latitude or EliteBook Pro. I don't consider the XPS series business laptops (and don't get me started on the Dell M3800).
Did you happen to see if this was easy to work on? My old company made the decision to buy Vostros years ago (they buy all Latitude now) and it was a serious regret that wasted so much of the Helpdesk time that it actually affected other services.
you know your laptop is too thin when the screen hinge props the whole machine up like that. Just make it .1 inch thicker and put a bigger battery in it FFS.
I have grown weary of products being sold at a fictional price when their intended use case requires the purchase of additional peripherals. I think most business users expect to need a dock but at $999 they would also expect it to be included. Nice device, nice specs, others have already pointed out the flaws but this would have been killer had the dock been included at that price. I have a similarly specced work laptop without the military grade toughness but does have the 10+ hours of battery life (I have been experiencing a little over 8 hours not 10 but I'm still pretty satisfied) and it was a little over half this cost. It didn't come with a docking station either but at $600 that's far more forgivable.
1080p is not useful for any thing other than making things look a bit sharper in 13+ inch screens. It is too wide for any web or document window, at the same time it is too narrow to be able to have 2 windows side by side, which you need if you need to get any usability boost for work. When will manufacturers get the point that the only screen resolution that makes sense in laptops is 1440p, if that is too much then you can as well have 900p and save even more battery. 1080p is a useless neither here or there resolution. 4k in a laptop should only be there as an option for those who want it for video/photo editing, as 4k is too power hungry and unusable for productivity. So what is the point of offering 1080p(useless) or 4k(mostly useless, too power hungry) resolutions? it either should be 1440P as standard and provide 4k as an option.
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BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
I like the specs and design with the exception of USB port placement. It strikes me as a bit strange to see the USB ports will move as the screen is opened, closed, or adjusted. It'd take a little adjustment time. Barring any problems that'd only come out in benchmark testing such as thermal throttling or whatnot, this looks like a decent laptop for the price.ToTTenTranz - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Asus hates video outputs now?Lots of people use external monitors nowadays.
xthetenth - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Docking station. Docking stations are really cool and no less portable than the external monitors.solipsism - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
USB-C can output video just fine. The days of having a separate serial, patella, VGA, etc. are long gone and I'm very thankful for that. USB-C is the future and that's a beautiful thing.Jon Tseng - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Is it just me or does that hinge design give nasty flashbacks to the Dell Adamo?mooninite - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Finally! A feasible upgrade for the UX301-LAA!! Looks good except for the downgrade from 1440p to 1080p.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
There's also the loss of touch-screen. I'm not sure if I can go back to a non-TS enabled laptop.woggs - Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - link
Touch screens don't belong on a work laptop and 1080p is not adequate for work. I started buying my own laptop for work several years ago when my employer decided we should all use toys. (I know I'm an old curmudgeon. No need to point out that opinions and usage may vary.)rocky12345 - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
This is a nice unit but without the proper ports it is pretty much useless to most people. I could see it if they included the docking station with the laptops but to pay extra for something that should have been included is a no go for sure. It was stated that this is the way most companies are gonna do thing in the future. Here is a thought don't buy these products and vote with your wallet yes going thin is all cool and all but if it means giving up all of your connection options then it is not worth it.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Microsoft excluded the keyboard cover from the Surface and the New Nintendo 3DS didn't come with a battery charger. It's tough to quantify what impact those omissions had on overall sales numbers, but excluding things in the initial purchase package is pretty common.rocky12345 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Yes they did exclude the keyboard cover but when they were marketing it they almost always showed it with the keyboard cover implying it came with the Surface and a lot of people would assume they were together as a unit. As for Nintendo not including the power charger with the 3DS I guess they were thinking that most people had more than one or they had the power brick from the older unit already. Either way it was a shiat move on Nintendo's part to not include the part that actually kept the 3DS charged and working but it was up to the consumer to let them know by not buying a product that was not complete. I know back in the day we always seen the "Batteries not included" on anything that required them but at least the end user was able to install batteries and the product worked as it was designed to. As you said excluding things are pretty common now days. These companies doing this are only doing it because they know they can get away with it because the consumers are allowing it to happen if we the consumer stopped buying incomplete products like this it would send a message that we don't want incomplete products and that if the company does not include something as simple as the charger it will sit on the store shelves collecting dust.andrewaggb - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Is the docking station a big deal for you? I'm genuinely curious. I like having an hdmi port on the side and network ports and whatnot but I could live with a docking station at my desk when I actually need those things.Other than connecting to a projector when I'm in a conference room or wherever I'm probably ok. And some meeting software just does screen mirroring (skype for business, webex, etc) so even that isn't necessarily an issue. I did a presentation at my kids school where I used hdmi on my laptop, but I could have brought the dock for that.
rocky12345 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Actually no the docking station is not important to me at all because I would never buy a product that is lacking the most important features for connections but hey I can go and buy the docking station to make it complete...yay. Something as simple as HDMI and USB ports would not have changed these laptops all that much other than giving the consumer a complete and more useful product.Like I said in a post above if we keep allowing the companies to get away with removing important features from their products and then putting those features in a extra piece of hardware like a docking station all it does is send a signal that we are ok with that and it will happen a lot more down the road. If I pay 1k or more for a laptop I expect it to be a complete unit and that I do not have to go out and buy a extra box just so I can use that laptop in the way I need or want to.
All Asus had to do was put a thin port on the side of the laptop that allowed a cable to plug into it with the break out box that had the extra ports on it. Companies have been doing that for ages on the Ultra thins and it works fine and is not a added cost to the consumer. I actually like to use the HDMI port for my projectors I also like to have a wireless mouse and keyboard I am not going to buy a product that does not include the ports needed to make me owning a laptop like this happy.
So any laptop maker that uses these tactics will not get my money and they will be crossed off my list when I do go out and spend the hard earned cash all they are doing is closing the doors on plenty of people like myself that do not like feeling like they just got shafted up the butt hole.
fanofanand - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
Hooking up ethernet, two monitors, keyboard and mouse does require a docking station. Those ports would break quite quickly if I had to connect and disconnect each and every one of those each day. Not to mention the non-tech savvy would never go for it.rocky12345 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
What are you talking about people have been doing it on laptops for many years with little to no problems with the ports on laptops why would it all of a sudden become a problem. Also like I said if they did not want to actually put the ports on the laptop just make a special port like many companies have done in the past on the ultra thins that has the breakout box and the needed ports for the end user.I am sorry but this type of design that Asus and most likely others will copy is just lazy designing and also the greed factor. If they find that people will still by this type of product and then spend more for the required ports of coarse all will follow and do the same it makes them more money. Why is it now days people are like sheep and will swallow pretty much anything a company throws at them. I blame Apple a bit for this they have cut corners or not put features on a product just for the sake of design. A laptop is not a work of art it is a tool to be used but if that tool does not have the required features it may as well sit and collect dust and in some way be considered art because it is just as useless as a piece of art and can be only looked at. Thanks Have a Nice Day
fanofanand - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
What am I talking about? Do you read? I am talking about a couple hundred thousand users having to connect multiple monitors, ethernet, a keyboard, and a mouse. That is not something most regular folk will put up with. Yes you are this super special amazing guy that everyone should design their laptops around, but for the real world your ideas are daft.NicolasQC - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
Full HD? Next!(Really sad because it sound really good otherwise)
jsntech - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
And another design with a sharp bottom edge of the screen digging into your thighs when it's sitting on your lap. I don't know where all the HCI pros have gone these days, but they sure seem to have left the building.Murloc - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
in those use cases you can sit it on your laptop bag or second skin, problem solved.90% of the time laptops aren't on a lap anyway.
nafhan - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
If these were USB C 3.1 ports, they could support HDMI out via a dongle (wonder if the "docking" port might support that?).I don't know about other business users, but walking into a conference room and connecting to a flatscreen or projector is a common scenario for me. I'd be fine with a dongle, but not carrying around a docking station.
jaydee - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
I was going to post the exact same thing. For the 400 people on my site, this is useless without the ability to connect to a conference room screen or projector. The lack of SmartCard reader will also be a deal-breaker for a lot of businesses. Dell/HP/Lenovo has nothing to worry about.I'm sure it's a fine machine that would be good for a lot of people, but it seems to miss the mark if they're trying to promote it as a Latitude/ProBook/Thinkpad competitor.
Murloc - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
I guess someone will sell that...Danvelopment - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
I associate true business laptops with serviceability and access to the internals as well as docking (preferably port replication).Think Latitude or EliteBook Pro. I don't consider the XPS series business laptops (and don't get me started on the Dell M3800).
Did you happen to see if this was easy to work on? My old company made the decision to buy Vostros years ago (they buy all Latitude now) and it was a serious regret that wasted so much of the Helpdesk time that it actually affected other services.
Danvelopment - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
The Latitude 7000 series are a dreamboat for getting a user running again quickly.Murloc - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
how can it have such a low price?prateekprakash - Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - link
How do I search laptops which have 99Wh batteries?TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - link
you know your laptop is too thin when the screen hinge props the whole machine up like that. Just make it .1 inch thicker and put a bigger battery in it FFS.thetuna - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
> First, the company eliminated the webcam ... (and will also please corporate IT security personnel)It will also immediately exclude it from the running for many organizations.
fanofanand - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I have grown weary of products being sold at a fictional price when their intended use case requires the purchase of additional peripherals. I think most business users expect to need a dock but at $999 they would also expect it to be included. Nice device, nice specs, others have already pointed out the flaws but this would have been killer had the dock been included at that price. I have a similarly specced work laptop without the military grade toughness but does have the 10+ hours of battery life (I have been experiencing a little over 8 hours not 10 but I'm still pretty satisfied) and it was a little over half this cost. It didn't come with a docking station either but at $600 that's far more forgivable.sharath.naik - Saturday, February 11, 2017 - link
1080p is not useful for any thing other than making things look a bit sharper in 13+ inch screens. It is too wide for any web or document window, at the same time it is too narrow to be able to have 2 windows side by side, which you need if you need to get any usability boost for work. When will manufacturers get the point that the only screen resolution that makes sense in laptops is 1440p, if that is too much then you can as well have 900p and save even more battery.1080p is a useless neither here or there resolution. 4k in a laptop should only be there as an option for those who want it for video/photo editing, as 4k is too power hungry and unusable for productivity. So what is the point of offering 1080p(useless) or 4k(mostly useless, too power hungry) resolutions? it either should be 1440P as standard and provide 4k as an option.
ngakakguling2 - Sunday, April 2, 2017 - link
can i play dota 2 in high setting here?