Been drooling over the ASUS ZenBook UX31E-DH72 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook ever since it became available. Although I seriously considered pulling the trigger on a new one, an extra $1400 doesn't grow on trees around here so I lusted from a distance for months, studying spec sheets and reading reviews. After all, priorities are priorities, and purchasing and setting up a new ZenBook wasn't at the top of my list for some time!!
ASUS ZenBook's build quality is phenomenal - solid, no flexing, a precise dark and angular brushed aluminum design that I like far more than my son's MacBook Air's lightly rounded design. The ZenBook simply looks and feels more professional than the MacBook Air.
The ZenBook's Bang & Olufsen speakers are much better than Apple's flimsy speakers. That alone could be a deciding factor if you watch a lot of video on your laptop; plus the 13.3" Widescreen LED-Backlit HD Display at 1600 x 900 is incredibly sharp and clear from all viewing angles. Sleep/wake is instant, and cold boot and shutdown times are bare seconds.
User reviews overall are extremely positive, so when I came across a ASUS ZenBook UX31E-DH72 13.3-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook for sale locally on Craigslist three days ago, with virtually no prior use and everything in as new order, I arranged to meet the seller at our local Denny's Restaurant to look it over. What I found was a must have item, in pristine condition, with all the original packaging and printed material, at half the price of new.
Cash changed hands and I went home with a new to me ASUS ZenBook UX31E-DH72 with the following specs:
-1.80GHz Intel Core i7-2677M
-4GB DDR3 RAM
-256GB SATA III Solid State Drive
-Windows 7 Home Premium
-13.3" Widescreen LED-Backlit HD Display
-1600 x 900 Native Resolution
-Bang & Olufsen ICEpower Audio
-7 Hours of Battery Life
-USB 3
-802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
-Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
-2.87 lb
I have no real problem with Windows 7. It's conceded to be the best work Microsoft has done with Windows on the desktop and I tend to agree. It's not perfect by any means but what closed source OS really is? At least it's FAR better than Widows 8, and that's the truth! I like it on my ZenBook, I really do, but as an advocate of free open source software and Linux Mint in particular there are a lot of things I don't like about it enough to actually keep it! Besides one of the reasons I wanted a ZenBook was to install Mint 14 on it, so I'll tackle this project and report how it goes.
From what I've read it should be a piece of cake. Go into the BIOS and disable EFI. Burn Mint 14 MATE to a flash drive. Insert the drive and set the BIOS to boot first from it - and there you go! There will be an issue or two, there always is, but there shouldn't be much to deal with so I'm looking forward to it!
Stay tuned, more to come soon as I have breakfast and do some chores..
ASUS ZenBook UX31E: Going to install Mint 14..
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
ASUS ZenBook UX31E: Going to install Mint 14..
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: ASUS ZenBook UX31E: Going to install Mint 14..
Where to start! ..The installation went flawlessly. It really did! Mint 14 runs like a champ on this ASUS Ultrabook and I couldn't be more pleased!!
Did a couple of chores then settled in to the task of replacing Windows 7 on this awesome little Ultrabook with Linux Mint.
Burned a copy of Mint 14 MATE on an 8GB USB flash drive using my other laptop and Unetbootin.
Then booted the Ultrabook while holding the F2 key down to enter the BIOS. Under the BIOS Security tab I clicked "Disable" on EFI boot, saved my selection by pressing the F10 key and restarted the machine. This little laptop restarts in only seconds, so everything is pretty much instant.
Put the flash drive with Mint 14 on it in place and booted into the BIOS again where I set the boot order of devices up with the flash drive booting first, then the 256GB solid state hard drive.
Saved my change by pressing F10 and rebooting. The system instantly came up to the Mint installation program, and about 12 minutes later Windows 7 was no more and Linux Mint was live ready to work with! ..Piece of cake!!
A short time later, after configuring Mint the way I want it, everything is running as expected with no surprises at all. Audio, video, flash, ..you name it and it's all working perfectly!
Replaced Firefox with my personal favorite Chromium, and removed Thunderbird as well. Installed Wine and put Photoshop 7 and Illustrator 10 in place, two graphics programs I use a lot.
Posting this from my new to me ASUS UX31E ZenBook running Mint 14, and couldn't be more pleased with the way this little machine and Linux Mint came together in such complete harmony. A match made in computer heaven if there ever was one!
Did a couple of chores then settled in to the task of replacing Windows 7 on this awesome little Ultrabook with Linux Mint.
Burned a copy of Mint 14 MATE on an 8GB USB flash drive using my other laptop and Unetbootin.
Then booted the Ultrabook while holding the F2 key down to enter the BIOS. Under the BIOS Security tab I clicked "Disable" on EFI boot, saved my selection by pressing the F10 key and restarted the machine. This little laptop restarts in only seconds, so everything is pretty much instant.
Put the flash drive with Mint 14 on it in place and booted into the BIOS again where I set the boot order of devices up with the flash drive booting first, then the 256GB solid state hard drive.
Saved my change by pressing F10 and rebooting. The system instantly came up to the Mint installation program, and about 12 minutes later Windows 7 was no more and Linux Mint was live ready to work with! ..Piece of cake!!
A short time later, after configuring Mint the way I want it, everything is running as expected with no surprises at all. Audio, video, flash, ..you name it and it's all working perfectly!
Replaced Firefox with my personal favorite Chromium, and removed Thunderbird as well. Installed Wine and put Photoshop 7 and Illustrator 10 in place, two graphics programs I use a lot.
Posting this from my new to me ASUS UX31E ZenBook running Mint 14, and couldn't be more pleased with the way this little machine and Linux Mint came together in such complete harmony. A match made in computer heaven if there ever was one!
-
sofasufi
Re: ASUS ZenBook UX31E: Going to install Mint 14..
Hi AZ4x4.
I'm pleased to read that you are loving Mint on your ZenBook. I'm a complete Linux newbie...currently in the process of upgrading my T500 ThinkPad - can't afford to buy a sexy new laptop right now! - with an SSD & 4 Gig's of RAM. From here I will be replacing XP with Mint 13 Cinnamon. I've been running it on a USB for the last few weeks and am highly impressed. All the best for 2013.
The future is Minty!
sofasufi
edge of the desert
south africa
I'm pleased to read that you are loving Mint on your ZenBook. I'm a complete Linux newbie...currently in the process of upgrading my T500 ThinkPad - can't afford to buy a sexy new laptop right now! - with an SSD & 4 Gig's of RAM. From here I will be replacing XP with Mint 13 Cinnamon. I've been running it on a USB for the last few weeks and am highly impressed. All the best for 2013.
The future is Minty!
sofasufi
edge of the desert
south africa