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I took a look at the ZenBook range. The range looks decent, but the 15'' has a hard drive (!) (no option to choose SSD only, apparently), a numeric keypad (!!)

I took a look at the ZenBook range. The range looks decent, but the 15'' has a hard drive (!) (no option to choose SSD only, apparently), a numeric keypad (!!) and the highest-performing model is a dual-core i7 with 16GB RAM — so aside from the price, not a good alternative to a MBP. (I find the shiny brushed aluminium look to be embarrassingly tacky, though not quite as bad as the rose gold model.)

sydd 10y ago
Not true, you can find them with SSDs. For example heres a revieew for one: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW-Notebook-Review.158762.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW-Notebo... Also unlike in Macs you can buy extra RAM to go above 16GB.
- lobster_johnson 10y ago
  Thanks. Weird, I didn't find that model on Asus' site. Shame about the keyboard not coming in different variants, though. I am sure that some people like numeric keypads, but ever since my first PC cirka 1992 I've always hated them. It's the last thing I need on a small laptop.
temac 10y ago
Sadly, most recent 15", of all brands, have a numeric keypad. IIRC I only found one non-MBP beside the XPS15 that still have no keypad, but it has way worse issues (very bad heat issues). So you pretty much only have the choice between an MBP and an XPS if you don't want a numeric keypad(and an off centered touchpad, beurk!) on a recent 15"
- lobster_johnson 10y ago
  Really? The Asus and some ThinkPad models are the only ones I have seen this in. For example, none of the models offered in this Verge article [1] have a keypad. The 14'' Razer Blade [2] also has a normal keyboard, and comes close to being a MBP replacement, though it's not perfect. Apparently a lot of these laptops have issues with heat and noisy fans. Some articles say i7 laptops (the quad-core ones) tend to have low battery life. I'm getting about 4 hours from my MBP 2015 using only Safari, Terminal and VSCode, and I can't imagine these other laptops would be worse than that. [1] http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/11/2/13497094/best-macbook-pro-alternative-windows-laptops http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/11/2/13497094/be... [2] http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade
  - temac 10y ago
    Actually I just found that some Samsung Notebook 9 "pro" 15" have keypad-less keyboard. However, they seems to be limited to 8GB, and I don't want to be sent 6 years in the past. I also don't exactly know what the "pro" in their name is for, given they ship with Win10 home...
hedora 10y ago
I bought one of the first gen zenbooks. The trackpad was completely unusable due to terrible windows drivers (dragging didn't work right). I vaguely remember failing to install linux on it. They had two models of ssd, but one laptop sku. One model went to review websites, the other's performance degraded to actually be noticably slower than a hard disk. You could replace the ssd, but it was a non-standard form factor, so you needed to buy an expensive m.2 converter. The keyboard dropped keystrokes. The screen was meh for the time. This was their flagship laptop that year. After it has been a full decade, I might consider buying another asus laptop.

sydd 10y ago

Not true, you can find them with SSDs. For example heres a revieew for one: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW-Notebook-Review.158762.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW-Notebo... Also unlike in Macs you can buy extra RAM to go above 16GB.

lobster_johnson 10y ago
Thanks. Weird, I didn't find that model on Asus' site. Shame about the keyboard not coming in different variants, though. I am sure that some people like numeric keypads, but ever since my first PC cirka 1992 I've always hated them. It's the last thing I need on a small laptop.

temac 10y ago

Sadly, most recent 15", of all brands, have a numeric keypad. IIRC I only found one non-MBP beside the XPS15 that still have no keypad, but it has way worse issues (very bad heat issues). So you pretty much only have the choice between an MBP and an XPS if you don't want a numeric keypad(and an off centered touchpad, beurk!) on a recent 15"

lobster_johnson 10y ago
Really? The Asus and some ThinkPad models are the only ones I have seen this in. For example, none of the models offered in this Verge article [1] have a keypad. The 14'' Razer Blade [2] also has a normal keyboard, and comes close to being a MBP replacement, though it's not perfect. Apparently a lot of these laptops have issues with heat and noisy fans. Some articles say i7 laptops (the quad-core ones) tend to have low battery life. I'm getting about 4 hours from my MBP 2015 using only Safari, Terminal and VSCode, and I can't imagine these other laptops would be worse than that. [1] http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/11/2/13497094/best-macbook-pro-alternative-windows-laptops http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/11/2/13497094/be... [2] http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade
- temac 10y ago
  Actually I just found that some Samsung Notebook 9 "pro" 15" have keypad-less keyboard. However, they seems to be limited to 8GB, and I don't want to be sent 6 years in the past. I also don't exactly know what the "pro" in their name is for, given they ship with Win10 home...

hedora 10y ago

I bought one of the first gen zenbooks. The trackpad was completely unusable due to terrible windows drivers (dragging didn't work right). I vaguely remember failing to install linux on it. They had two models of ssd, but one laptop sku. One model went to review websites, the other's performance degraded to actually be noticably slower than a hard disk. You could replace the ssd, but it was a non-standard form factor, so you needed to buy an expensive m.2 converter. The keyboard dropped keystrokes. The screen was meh for the time. This was their flagship laptop that year. After it has been a full decade, I might consider buying another asus laptop.