Ask Me Anything - Official ASUS Representative

[amuffin]

Is ASUS ROG@Frys (Sunnyvale) coming back in the next two months?

I won some cool stuff too.

Last years was awesome! I of course filled out the survey and wanted it to be back!

 

[raja@asus]

Why do you put Creative Labs software on your boards when you have the Asus Xonar product range?

A couple of reasons:

1) Some users don't want to dedicate a PCIe slot to a soundcard.

2) In polls people asked us for the software as part of the package.


-Raja

 

[raja@asus]

Why is there not more push for watercooling north bridge/south bridge/ cpu on AMD and Intel based Asus boards.

Watercooling south/northbridges is very much a niche market and isn't really necessary for these components. On the AMD side, we have to consider costs and what the market is willing to pay - anything we add on our side increases prices for you.

 

[griptwister]

I don't have the time to view all the questions, but are there any plans for some newer AMD AM3+ motherboards anytime soon, maybe some more lower tier boards with a new look and PCIe 3.0?

Also, does/will ASUS start distributing custom computer cases?

*edit* I would also like to see a few glowing logo's on your guys' Motherboards. I think it'd add a little more Flare. Lol!

 

[raja@asus]

I don't have the time to view all the questions, but are there any plans for some newer AMD AM3+ motherboards anytime soon, maybe some more lower tier boards with a new look and PCIe 3.0?

Also, does/will ASUS start distributing custom computer cases?

*edit* I would also like to see a few glowing logo's on your guys' Motherboards. I think it'd add a little more Flare. Lol!

Things are always being developed. If we feel there's an update required we'll make one

 

[Saga Lout]

Well done on your marathon so far, Raja - epic comes to mind.

 

[jakjawagon]

I have two questions:

1. I have heard that some Asus tablets (primarily the TF700) had problems with the speed of the internal storage, i.e. the tablet becomes unusably slow when multitasking. Has this been addressed for the new Tegra 4 based Transformer Pad Infinity? If so, can you give me some idea of a release date for that tablet, specifically in the UK.

2. The media buttons (play/pause etc.) on my Asus N55SL laptop (and as far as I can tell from googling, most/all Asus laptops) only work in Windows Media Player/Centre. Googling suggests this was intentional. I was wondering why this is. Every laptop I've owned previously that had media buttons worked in any program (though occasionally requiring some fiddling with settings).

 

[threehosts]

If it isn't too late I want to ask this question: Why are you sticking to SATA on all motherboards when there is also SAS?

Some motherboards have a lot of SATA ports. To save space you can fit one SFF-8087 port instead of 4 SATA ports. I would like to see more SAS products, especially LSI based products as they are so widely recogniced in the server and enterprise world, which means that they are stable and have stable drivers for all relevant operating systems. SAS is more stable than SATA in general and at the same time it is fully compatible with SATA products.

Is this something you might consider doing?

 

[yarcod91]

First: are there any plans on making a Transformer Book with an active digitizer? I was litterally drooling when I saw the Transformer Book for the first time, but ended up disappointed in the lack of stylus. I am now considering a Samsung Aiv Q instead, as it has everything I want, unless you have something coming up soon (preferably before back-to-school).

Second: I really like products with 16:10 screens. Right now I am looking for a hybrid laptop (as indicated by my first question), and would love a machine with 16:10. Do you like 16:9 over 16:10 at ASUS or is it just the market that does? Are there any plans on making such a device?

Third: When designing a laptop/hybrid/tablet, what is the most difficult part? Is it heat dissipation, part placement, choice of components or...? What kind of devices do you enjoy to develop the most?

Fourth: Are there any plans on releasing portable products with Thunderbolt connection? The reason I ask is because I would love the idea of having an external discrete graphics unit plugged into an ultrabook. Then I will have both the desired portability and when I get home, and become more stationary, I can plug in a much better graphics card and play games on it.

Last: I really like ASUS, and you have over the last few years really gained my confidence. Your products are well built, good looking and very often a reasonable price. Thank you for being great, and keep up the good work!

EDIT: added the fourth question.

 

[raja@asus]

If it isn't too late I want to ask this question: Why are you sticking to SATA on all motherboards when there is also SAS?

Some motherboards have a lot of SATA ports. To save space you can fit one SFF-8087 port instead of 4 SATA ports. I would like to see more SAS products, especially LSI based products as they are so widely recogniced in the server and enterprise world, which means that they are stable and have stable drivers for all relevant operating systems. SAS is more stable than SATA in general and at the same time it is fully compatible with SATA products.

Is this something you might consider doing?

It's not outside the realms of possibility - if the performance fits and we can see a market. No promises on this stuff though. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[asustoms]

Why do you put Creative Labs software on your boards when you have the Asus Xonar product range?

A couple of reasons:

1) Some users don't want to dedicate a PCIe slot to a soundcard.

2) In polls people asked us for the software as part of the package.


-Raja

Thank you for the thourough answer Raja, I have a more specific questions about the Xonar and motherboards

1) If Asus offers sound cards, why haven't there been any motherboardsboards advertised yet with ASUS sound processors on them?

I would see it as an added value or at the very least, a nice option, to buy an ASUS motherboard with built in ASUS Xonar sound processing, even though I've never purchased one. There are probably some users who aren't aware ASUS offers sound cards and I don't know but maybe it would be good marketing for the sound cards, to include ASUS sound processors on motherboards.

 

[raja@asus]

Why do you put Creative Labs software on your boards when you have the Asus Xonar product range?

A couple of reasons:

1) Some users don't want to dedicate a PCIe slot to a soundcard.

2) In polls people asked us for the software as part of the package.


-Raja

Thank you for the thourough answer Raja, I have a more specific questions about the Xonar and motherboards

1) If Asus offers sound cards, why haven't there been any motherboardsboards advertised yet with ASUS sound processors on them?

I would see it as an added value or at the very least, a nice option, to buy an ASUS motherboard with built in ASUS Xonar sound processing, even though I've never purchased one. There are probably some users who aren't aware ASUS offers sound cards and I don't know but maybe it would be good marketing for the sound cards, to include ASUS sound processors on motherboards.

It all adds cost. Ramp it too far and you start infringing upon the other side of the argument. That is, a discrete card can be kept and used on other motherboards. We have to keep balance between features and what people want to pay.


The upcoming Maximus VI Formula features a dedicated DAC (Crystal Semiconductor) and has 120db SNR. That's going to be the best sound solution found on a motherboard ever.

 

[WyomingKnott]

On re-reading the thread, I've noticed at least four posts with similar questions. Users cloakster, bigeasy70075, yarcod91, and shriganesh would like to know if you have any plans to build a transformer / Android tablet with a digitizer stylus.

My guess would be that that is such a niche market that tooling up for it and distributing it would lead to a loss, but we would love to hear a response from Asus.

Personally, I use a cheap third-party stylus with my Transformer and it works for me, but I don't need much in the way of precision and I don't do any artwork.

(One of the more impressive applications that I have seen for a digitizer was not related to art or precision at all. I took a class where the teacher used a digitizer display at her disk that was repeated for us with a projector. We got the canned presentation, but she could write and draw on the slides, and save the results.)

 

[danwat1234]

and Asus G750 questions...

 

[jpishgar]

Hey there all!

As it is now been 24 hours, the "official" AMA is concluded!

A big, huge thanks to ASUS representatives who took the time out of their schedules to come and answer all the awesome questions our community had for them. We know this was a lot of work on their end, and we're greatly appreciative of the time taken to engage with the community here at Tom's Hardware.

For answering questions, an epic thanks goes out to Raja Gill, JJ Guerrero, Nick Mijuskovic and last but not least - to Erik Joiner at ASUS for helping to put this together on their end and securing the time and info required to feed our ravenous fanbase all this juicy info about what ASUS is up to.

To Users: Please feel free to continue participating in this thread, but the rules are still in effect.
To ASUS: You guys can stick around as long as you like - we'll keep the thread open!

As a heads-up, stay tuned to news and articles for the announcement of our next AMA which will be coming next week on Tuesday!

Thanks again to all for making this a great success!

-JP

 

[VectorRoll]

Thanks to all the ASUS people that answered questions for us. It was appreciated. Now we know a little more than we did about some things. Hopefully they will go back through it all and answer a bit more.

 

[cloakster]

On re-reading the thread, I've noticed at least four posts with similar questions. Users cloakster, bigeasy70075, yarcod91, and shriganesh would like to know if you have any plans to build a transformer / Android tablet with a digitizer stylus.

My guess would be that that is such a niche market that tooling up for it and distributing it would lead to a loss, but we would love to hear a response from Asus.

Personally, I use a cheap third-party stylus with my Transformer and it works for me, but I don't need much in the way of precision and I don't do any artwork.

(One of the more impressive applications that I have seen for a digitizer was not related to art or precision at all. I took a class where the teacher used a digitizer display at her disk that was repeated for us with a projector. We got the canned presentation, but she could write and draw on the slides, and save the results.)

Its actually not as niche of a market as you would think. I work at a BB and there is a decent amount of customers that buy the Note 8.0 and Note 10.1 for its digitizer stylus. Also for the iPad we have a lot of people coming in asking for a stylus that is more precise than the universal ones we carry.

 

[Pailin]

Thanks for your time Asus folks, its been really great to have you guys here engaging the community like this

These little touches make a lot of difference.

 

[bnot]

Thanks.

 

[Paulusx]

Why wont Asus release the Sabertooth 990FX GEN 3 in New Zealand/Australia ?