Zenbook UX501VW and Rog G501VW with UHD antiglare display + min 24gb ram

LawrenceB

Commendable
Dec 5, 2016
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Hi, I don’t know where I can inquire about this, so if this isn’t the place, can you point me in the right direction? I'd ask Asus, but can't find where to ask??
Anyways, I’m interested in these 2 ASUS laptops.
- Zenbook UX501VW-type
- Rog G501VW-type
Does anyone know which type of each model has an UHD anti glare/non glossy display plus also has a RAM maximum capacity of more than 16gb, (24gb or 32gb)? the zenbooks for e.g, i know the UX501VW-FI011T has the display I want, but i can't find info about memory max, although i see other UX501VW's with 16gb and some with 32gb max .

Cheers,
Larry
 
Solution
Don't buy the ASUS UX501. The ASUS UX501 uses a fake-UHD pentile display.

It advertises a screen resolution of 4K UHD 3840×2160, but that isn’t a complete truth. It’s using what’s called the RG/BW Pentile matrix, a cheap trick to achieve the ability to advertise as 3840×2160, without actually achieving the full detail of the resolution itself. A web search will tell you more about this, but that basically means even though the screen makes your computer render this resolution, your screen can’t display all of that detail, because it’s missing half of its pixels.

Lots of reviews talk about how nice the display is. Does it look nice? Sure. But here’s some context: Most people buying new laptops today will be coming from the previous...

edit1754

Distinguished
May 14, 2012
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Don't buy the ASUS UX501. The ASUS UX501 uses a fake-UHD pentile display.

It advertises a screen resolution of 4K UHD 3840×2160, but that isn’t a complete truth. It’s using what’s called the RG/BW Pentile matrix, a cheap trick to achieve the ability to advertise as 3840×2160, without actually achieving the full detail of the resolution itself. A web search will tell you more about this, but that basically means even though the screen makes your computer render this resolution, your screen can’t display all of that detail, because it’s missing half of its pixels.

Lots of reviews talk about how nice the display is. Does it look nice? Sure. But here’s some context: Most people buying new laptops today will be coming from the previous generations of laptops that almost all had very low quality 1366×768 TN displays. From those displays, yes, this is a huge upgrade, but so are all of the normal 1080p IPS displays you can get in just about any laptop half this price, many of which already score higher on color and contrast than this. Real 4K UHD 3840×2160 resolution is a huge upgrade from THIS display, and it is a disrespect to laptops that do truly achieve 4K (Dell XPS 15, Lenovo Yoga 710, Lenovo Y700, etc), that this one gets to advertise right along side them. It’s not close to the tier of real 4K displays, and it’s not even as good as the Macbook Pro Retina displays, or the 3K 2880×1620 displays available in some laptops, such as the ASUS UX51vz (an older version of this), Gigabyte P35x, and Lenovo Thinkpad T560.

You might compare this laptop to an alternative and think “Well, the display’s not as good, but this one has an i7, 16GB of RAM, and a bigger SSD! The other laptop for this price doesn’t have those, and if I want those in the other laptop I have to spend more. This one must be the better deal, right?” First, evaluate what you really need. Many of the CPUs that come with most of today’s laptops are more than enough for what most people do. Same with RAM, but the RAM as well as the SSD are easy to upgrade after-market, whereas you’re pretty much stuck with this display: a difference you’ll likely notice a lot more in the end.

If you want what this laptop is supposed to be, get the Dell XPS 15 or Lenovo Y700 UHD. Both offer the same GPU, but have honest true 3840×2160 displays (with the Dell having higher color gamut). The Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo Y700 UHD are truly worthy choices at this price point, whereas the ASUS UX501 thrives on deceptive advertising. Don’t buy it without fully knowing what it is and what it isn’t, and always do your research when buying laptops that advertise super-high-resolution displays, because many of them aren’t what they say they are.

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EDIT: So far, no ASUS laptops other than the NX500 (which is not being produced anymore) use real 4K displays, so the G501VW won't get you the kind of display you want either. If you want a super-high-resolution display, you have to look elsewhere than ASUS.

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EDIT2: To get a good deal on a Dell XPS 15, assuming you're in the US, buy from eBay seller new.techies. Some of his models are new, some are refurbs, but they all come with the Dell warranty. I bought mine through him and it's been great so far. http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=xps+9550+UHD+%28256GB%2C512GB%2C%221TB+SSD+PCIe%22%2C%221TB+SSD%22%29&_sop=15&_ssn=new.techies&_armrs=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=xps+9550+UHD+%28256GB%2C512GB%2C%221TB+SSD+PCIe%22%29&_sacat=0
 
Solution