ASUS Zenbook Pro 15.6" Unboxing

I bought the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15.6 with an i7 processor, 512GB SSD Drive and 16GB ram with a GTX 1050 Ti 4GB video card.

There were several boxes that it came in. Firstly, there was an Amazon box, then an ASUS outer box, before you get to an inner box. The number of boxes created from just one laptop is quite amazing.

The laptop comes with a charger, 2 instruction booklets, an additional cable strap and the laptop.

Physically out of the box

The laptop which weighs 4 lbs actually feel pretty heavy compared to all my other 14" ultra portable laptops. It feels very dense and actually quite well built.

The keyboard has a good feel and the layout is comfortable for typing.

I would say, the location of the power button beside the [delete] button is simply poor design, but otherwise I do not have any other complain.

The mouse pad is responsive and the matt screen looks pretty good.

As I have several legacy software that does not work well on a QHD screen, this laptop is FHD and it does look pretty good and images and colors are pretty sharp.

After doing all the updates (about 30 minutes), the computer is ready to use. There was not a whole lot of updates to be installed.

There was no special design to raise the computer. It opens like a regular laptop, the matt finish on the laptop looks great. There are 2 speakers embedded on the side of the keyboard and they look pretty good.

The sides of the laptop contain a variety of ports. On the left side are an HDMI output and a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports, while the right side has a headphone jack, microSD card slot and a pair of USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports.

It has a fingerprint sensor which may come in handy for fast logins.

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The Sound

The Zenbook Pro has very clear and loud speakers. The Harmon Kardon speakers did not disappoint. It could easily fill a small meeting room, and possibly even a mid sized conference room. It was quite impressed by the clarity but the bass is not very noticeable.

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The Screen.

I got the FHD version which has 1920 x 1080. The blacks are pretty black and images clear. The brightness of the screen is also very good. 

By looking at the photos comparing it with a color corrected screen to Pantone colors, I would say the images and colors are pretty accurate.

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Heat and Fan

While using this laptop and installing software, it was on my lap for 3 hours, and it still did not heat up enough to burn me.

One thing for sure, in a totally silent room, you can constantly hear the twin fans blowing. It was not noisy enough to annoy, but definitely audible.

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Battery Life.

The massive 73Wh 8-cell lithium-polymer battery seemed big, but after 4 hour of use, downloading software updates, installing software, browsing web, listening to music or watching a movie in the background while moving files, the battery is at 50% remaining. 

I would have to use more to have good assessment of the battery, but I could easily say that I probably would never get the 10 hours of battery life as claimed by ASUS. With my current estimation, I would say a 6 - 7 hour battery life would be possible for normal usage.

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Graphics

This is one of the few laptops I own with a dedicated video card. the GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB memory is pretty good in running even the newest games. 

I ran Mafia 3, PUBG on the computer and after optimizing the game, I do get 100+ fps which is very good at FHD settings 1080p. 

I would say that the graphics capabilities on this system is pretty good, however, the laptop seems to heat up considerably. 

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Overall

I would say that this is a good laptop. I paid around US$1,200 (Black Friday) for i7-7700, 512GB amd 16GB memory. with a GTX 1050 Ti video card, it is good for a few years of entry level gaming and possibly video editing. At this price, I would say it is a pretty good buy. (or you can shell out a little more for a touch screen)

The battery life is a little disappointing as my Surface Book at 1 year old gets much better battery life than this.

The laptop has speakers that sounds amazing and the screen is pretty solid for a FHD screen.

The weight is a little of concern. If given a chance, I'd probably get the 14" Zenbook instead of the 15.6" screen. The difference between 2.6 lbs and 4 lbs is quite significant. 

-- Robin Low

MIUI 10 on Mi Mix 2S

I just updated my Mi Mix 2S to the new MIUI 10.

There is not a lot of difference at the first. Dragging the screen up gets you the Google search, and dragging it down gives to the setting menu. Pretty much the same as MIUI 9.5.

At the start, my keyboard disappeared from my Facebook Messager and Facebook, and after restarting the phone, everything was fine again.

One thing I need to get used to is that now to close apps, you have to swipe left / right instead of up...

Holding on the app at the app switch screen allows you to lock the app, create a split screen or change settings on the app.

The timer now also has sound options for you to listen to natural sounds for the duration, sort of like a napping aid to help you relax.

The toggle app screen is also different.

I have yet seen significant improvements on the camera, calendar and other claims that MIUI 10 has over MIUI 9.5.

My phone was already running pretty fast with no lag, so there is not much difference.

Overall, I do like the new changes, and yes, there is a little need to get used to the new design. Overall, the UI and UX seem better, and nothing much is compromised except for the initial bugs I faced with Facebook, but all seemed to clear up once I restarted my phone.

I do like it and I would recommend that you update to the latest MIUI when you have the chance.

-- Robin Low

Fancy Remodeling in Malaysia. Is it different?

I see a lot of new renovation and development in Malaysia, many of the malls are give a new facelift. Things look really nice giving them the clean Japanese retail look. Shopping and browsing seems quite nice.

I was recently in Terbrau Aeon and I really liked the new look of the mall. The layout of the mall was very interesting and they have a new food court with an interesting concept. The products sold there seemed to be of a wider variety and of a pretty good selection.

However, when I decided to purchase a product, the design of the cashiers are totally FAIL!

I waited 20 minutes for a small purchase, and I saw many customers walking off, and not completing their purchase. This is like going online, trying to buy a product, and after clicking through many pages, the checkout cart is still not completed.

There were 6 staff, but only 2 counters, the other staff seemed to be standing around and chatting for 30 minutes. When the queue grew, other shoppers were blocked from walking and there was a congestion created on a Thursday afternoon! When there is not even a lot of shoppers.

So the renovations:
Pretty (YES)
User Experience (BAD)

Going to the different levels, the mall looks really transformed. The design seemed really pretty and many of the products and display makes them attractive, however, the whole experience of buying is still very bad. Long queues, multiple queues, and inefficient staff.

Is this typical of shopping in Malaysia?

The food court. Looks really WOW and nice. The food choices seemed great, and they smell great. However when I tried buying food, it was again a miserable experience.

You queue to choose your food (with many people cutting queue), then you queue to pay for the food.

And what's worse, the food (friend food and BBQ food) seemed to be served in excessive plastic and there is no way of heating it. (A microwave was found and it was not turned on.)

When you buy a drink. You queue in one queue and collect in another queue. The queues are manned with only one person with 20 people in line, waiting for their orders which seemed to be made 2 at a time.

It was a pretty food court, but I WILL NEVER go back again. Seemed like a great layout, but much FAIL in user experience.

Perhaps they need a lesson in UX.

I hope someone goes in and work with them to fix the experience. I really like this mall, and the new design is better, but the experience is worse.

-- Robin Low