Ubuntu 16.10 on Asus ZenBook UX330
As mentioned in a previous post, I recently got the Asus ZenBook UX330 (UX330CA-FC020T, to be specific). It's a very light weight 14" decent spec'ed laptop which runs Ubuntu flawlessly. Here are some notes on installing, and first impressions.
UEFI boot and install
As far as I've seen, there are at least two versions of the BIOS around for these machines: The display model had an "old fashioned" ASCII text based BIOS, while the one which got delivered had a new UEFI based GUI. Both can boot the Ubuntu 16.10 64-bit live image, but the Secure Boot just needs some tweaking.
Before getting to boot, it's important that the partition of the USB stick which holds the image is marked as bootable. In GParted, this can be done with the option seen below. Once that is taken care of, transferring the ISO is easily done with UNetbootin.
Once ready, plug in the USB stick, restart the machine, and hold F2 to enter the BIOS / UEFI setup. (Holding ESC will show the temporary boot selection menu). The "easy" mode can be seen below.
From here, press F7 to enter "Advanced" mode, and use the arrow keys or mouse to tab over to the Security options. Towards the bottom of that tab, there's a sub-menu for Secure Boot. Enter that menu, and disable Secure Boot.
Use F10 to save and exit, and got back into the UEFI setup with F2 to verify that the Ubuntu live portion shows up as "1100, Partition 1". From here you can change the Boot settings to select the USB portion first, or use F8 to boot from that only once, which should be all you need to get the installation going.
Ubuntu compatibility
Here's a list of features I've personally tried and confirmed to be working. In summary, this machine looks very well prepared for Ubuntu, with no major draw-backs. The only additional setup which might be worth-while is configuring the touchpad to temporarily disable while typing, as described here.
| Status | |
| USB ports | Work |
| SD card reader | Works, mounts. |
| Wifi | Detects all networks; connects. Fast re-connect after suspend. |
| Bluetooth | Not tried |
| Web cam | Works with "Cheese" |
| Suspend | Works; resumes quickly. From Ubuntu menu, lid close, or Fn + F1 |
| Flight mode (Fn + F2) |
Work, reconnects quickly. |
| Keyboard brightness (Fn + F3/F4) |
Works |
| Screen brightness (Fn + F5/F6) |
Works |
| External display (Fn + F7/F8) |
Not tried |
| Volume buttons (Fn + F10/F11/F12) |
Works |
| CPU throttling | Not tried |
Specs
The UX330CA is a decent spec'ed laptop, and there's a few variations should you want more power. Here's the selection as it looks in early 2017, comparing to the slightly more expensive UX330UA line.
| UX330CA | UX330UA | |
| Price range | €750 | €930 - €1300 |
| CPU | Core M3-7Y30 1 (2.6) Ghz | Core i5 7200U 2.5 (3.5) GHz - Core i7 7500U 2.9 (3.5) GHz - |
| Max TDP | 4.5 W | 15 W |
| RAM | 8 GB | 8 / 16 GB |
| SSD | 128 GB | 256 / 512 GB |
| GPU | Intel HD Graphics 615 | Intel HD Graphics 620 |
| Display | 1920 x 1080 pixels; 13.30" anti-glare; no-touch |
1920 x 1080 pixels; 13.30" anti-glare; no-touch |
| USB | 2x USB 3.0 A 1x USB 3.1 C |
2x USB 3.0 A 1x USB 3.1 C |
| SD card reader | SD, SDHC, SDXC | SD, SDHC, SDXC |
| HDMI | Micro HDMI | Micro HDMI |
| RJ45 / LAN | No, comes with USB adapter. |
No, comes with USB adapter. |
| 3.5mm mini-jack | 1x | 1x |
| Web cam | 1280 x 720 pixel | 1368 x 768 pixel |
| Bluetooth version | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Wifi version | 802.11 ac | 802.11 ac |
| Weight | 1.20 kg | 1.20 kg |
| Dimensions (W x L x H) | 32.20 x 22.10 x 1.23 cm | 32.20 x 22.10 x 1.35 cm |