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3 Things I Dislike About My 2017 ASUS Zenbook

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Two months ago I bought a 13.3-inch ASUS ZenBook laptop. For the most part, I am very pleased with the performance of the laptop, but there a few things I dislike.

We got off to a rocky start when I had issues with the display that was too dark to read. ASUS support was useless and clueless to help me.  Fortunately, I was able to fix the display issues. I posted how I did it on Medium.

My new ASUS Zenbook was too dark. How I fixed it.

I was able to fix the brightness issue, but I have 3 more things that I dislike that I want others considering a Zenbook to be aware of.

#1 The Fingerprint Reader

The Zenbook has a fingerprint reader to unlock the laptop. It works about 40% of the time. The other 60% of the time, I press a few times – each time failing – before having to enter a PIN. Meanwhile, the fingerprint reader on my iPhone 6s works 99% of the time on the first try.

#2 The Keyboard

The thing I dislike most about the Zenbook is the keyboard. The keys need to really be pressed to register. The keyboard on my cheap Chromebook is so much better. I have to retype so many sentences on the Zenbook because letters are missing. The biggest issue is when a word has two letters that are the same beside each other. It will often only capture one of the clicks, so Good becomes God.

#3 Adjusting the Volume

This has to be the dumbest keyboard thing I have seen in many years. In order to raise or lower the volume, you need to hit 2 keys at the same time. And the keys are far apart, so it requires both hands.

  • FUNCTION + F11 (lowers the volume)
  • FUNCTION + F12 (raises the volume)

dumb ASUS keyboard

My Next Move

Perhaps I need to buy a USB Keyboard with actual up and down volume buttons and attach it to my Zenbook? That would solve two of my problems. I could use the keyboard at home and use the ASUS keyboard when out.

ASUS Zenbook laptop

ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54 13.3-inch LCD Ultra-Slim Laptop (Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon CANADA) 

UPDATE: I went to Best Buy and chatted with a sales rep. He showed me that all Windows laptops require hitting the Function key and another key to adjust the volume. Asus happens to spread it out further than other laptops. One of the makers (maybe HP or Dell?) uses the F2, which means one could much easier adjust the volume with a single hand.

Anywho…I bought a USB laptop and am typing away happily on it right now.

Coffee Shops Fight Back Against Laptop Abusers

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Today’s Wall Street Journal has a story listing the growing number of coffee shops that have decided to end the always on and always free access to WIFI broadband. The story is No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users and it is by Erica Alini. It is a good article, although I think I spotted an oversight. She writes:

So far, this appears to be largely a New York phenomenon, though San Francisco’s Coffee Bar does now put out signs when the shop is crowded asking laptop users to share tables and make space for other customers.

The trend away from free always on WIFI started four years ago with Seattle’s Victrola Coffee. From the June 2005 New York Times article Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users by Glenn Fleishman:

Victrola started providing free wireless access two years ago after customers asked for it. As in hundreds of other cafes, the owners hoped it would encourage regulars and infrequent patrons to buy more food and drinks. But there was also a disadvantage, staff members said: the cafe filled with laptop users each weekend, often one to a table meant for four. Some would sit for six to eight hours purchasing a single drink, or nothing at all.

This led Victrola to pass a policy that still exists at their 15th Avenue location to this day. From the same article:

So last month the cafe discontinued the free service on Saturdays and Sundays – and so far it has proved to be a sound business move. Weekend revenue is up and more seats are filled.

Photo victrola coffee by yelahneb

There are growing number of coffee shops that have become laptop refugee camps. It is refreshing to see the trend is moving back to making coffee shops a more social atmosphere.