Ask Me Anything - Official ASUS Representatives

[raja@asus]

Well since no one is asking any questions i may as well ask one more. Microsoft is about to come out with Windows 10 and Intel is about to come out with Skylake chip. How will you take advantage of this new technology. Is there anything new that will go on sale that was designed specifically for these two new upcoming products in mind?

New OS and a new Chip obviously do not come out every year, people will be upgrading en masse, how will you attempt to capture our imagination and our wallets.

It's not possible for me to start revealing what we've got in store, but here's what I can say: We're all about user-experience and anything associated with it.

 

[KarlSHO]

Hey guys thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. I'm a fan of Asus products and own many of them. I'm with Waziki Software and we are developing a new operating system, we would love to work with Asus as an OEM distributor of the OS. Do you think this is something Asus might be interested in?

 

[Larry Litmanen]

Well since no one is asking any questions i may as well ask one more. Microsoft is about to come out with Windows 10 and Intel is about to come out with Skylake chip. How will you take advantage of this new technology. Is there anything new that will go on sale that was designed specifically for these two new upcoming products in mind?

New OS and a new Chip obviously do not come out every year, people will be upgrading en masse, how will you attempt to capture our imagination and our wallets.

It's not possible for me to start revealing what we've got in store, but here's what I can say: We're all about user-experience and anything associated with it.

Feel free to tease, we don't need all the details. Isn't that what Marketing is all about.

 

[twire83]

Can you tell us about the R&D process for components at ASUS?

 

[hst101rox]

Why do your newer laptops such as the G750 and G751 not have an option for an Extreme CPU (like the i7-4940MX), which would allow for unlocked overclocking (via throttlestop)? That is a good perk for an enthusiast/gaming machine, not just for games but for engineering/scientific work as well (more computational power) and to lengthen the useful life of the machine with new software.
I see that MSI's newest high-end laptops with the same generation (GPU bump and new chassis model) also now do not offer an extreme CPU, and Alienware also.
Why can't you allow a socketed CPU? That is why I love my trusty G50VT laptop with an X9100 CPU.

 

[PCDIYASUS]

What's the best way to future-proof my PC on a budget?

This is a tricky question and it really comes down to what do you expect to do with you system.

Considering a mid range system can be very fast and offer extremely good performance the main thing is looking at the platform and whether it has the room to grow with it you want.

Additionally consider storage affects a lot of the perception on performance from a daily usage standpoint and upgrading to a modern SSD offers a huge increase in the quality of experience. Beyond that consider that most users within the first year to two years of owning a system adapt to the system and find it slow.

An example is you may come into the system originally using 4 to 10 tabs and then by the end of 2 years you like running 40+ tabs because you have been comfortable with the performance of the system. This then affects your memory foot print so more memory can help. Even a higher performing SSD compared to a basic SSD will help if you also are doing concurrent work loads.

In the end you need to know your usage model and build your system around that and define a motherboard that will give you expansion and flexibility to grow with over time. This is also an area that is important as a board with ports does not ensure compatibility we spend considerable time and effort on validation and UEFI updates to provide superior compatibility and interoprability.

Lastly from a gaming standpoint keep you monitor in mind as the resolution, refresh rate you want to play at drivers much of the experience your system has ( of course this varies from game engine to game engine ) but with that noted if you plan to have a 4K monitor or even 2560x1440 monitor it already means you need a certain type of system compared to a system using only a 1080P monitor.

Hope this provides some insight.

 

[PCDIYASUS]

Can you tell us about the R&D process for components at ASUS?

This is a really open ended question can you clarify a little more what specifics you are wondering about?

 

[twire83]

Can you tell us about the R&D process for components at ASUS?

This is a really open ended question can you clarify a little more what specifics you are wondering about?

Sure! It was open ended because I didn't know if you could answer it or not. Wanted to allow room for whatever you could tell us!

How are new products envisioned and designed? How long does the process take? How long does it take to adapt to new standards (Skylake, USB Type C, etc.)? Who is involved in the process?

 

[PCDIYASUS]

Why do your newer laptops such as the G750 and G751 not have an option for an Extreme CPU (like the i7-4940MX), which would allow for unlocked overclocking (via throttlestop)? That is a good perk for an enthusiast/gaming machine, not just for games but for engineering/scientific work as well (more computational power) and to lengthen the useful life of the machine with new software.
I see that MSI's newest high-end laptops with the same generation (GPU bump and new chassis model) also now do not offer an extreme CPU, and Alienware also.
Why can't you allow a socketed CPU? That is why I love my trusty G50VT laptop with an X9100 CPU.

Cost is a big factor for most users the entire experience of the note is more important than the CPU which is important but has to be balance in regards to cost of the monitor / panel or the chassis or GPU.

Additionally when designing systems the target is to have an ensured experience and this is best achieved with fixed specifications and components. This does not mean that have a socketed based design is not possible and will ever come into play but there needs to be sufficient demand and interest. There is also the time and effort to design a board, thermal solution and overall design that is very different than the current designs we utilize now. This is also another form of expense and can be difficult when also trying to ensure a prompt time to market.

Overall with a fixed system our goal is to provide a complete out of box experience to have a system more in line with what you are communicating would make more sense in a barebone type of design. We used to offer solutions like this but moved away as the market wanted cleaner and more defined designs.

Lastly underclocking has much less value now with advanced turbo technologies and power savings tech that modifies everything from clock speeds to voltages on the fly.

As always though never say never and if we get enough feedback that the community really wants a more end user configurable notebook with support for CPUs then there is possibility. ( I will note though mobile CPUs are generally difficult to purchase and this is also a concern )

 

[raja@asus]

Can you tell us about the R&D process for components at ASUS?

This is a really open ended question can you clarify a little more what specifics you are wondering about?

Sure! It was open ended because I didn't know if you could answer it or not. Wanted to allow room for whatever you could tell us!

How are new products envisioned and designed? How long does the process take? How long does it take to adapt to new standards (Skylake, USB Type C, etc.)? Who is involved in the process?

Tom's Hardware's now sibling site Anandtech has an interview published with Dr. Albert Chang of ASUS. Would be a good article to read as it answers a lot of this.

 

[PaulBags]

I feel silly for asking, but what is with flat faced chipset & VRM heatsinks? What happened to surface area?

 

[Larry Litmanen]

I have one more question. How do you determine what product to offer, what product to sell to the public. If you visit technology blogs you will hear people say just put a Linux on it and i will buy it, obviously vast, vast majority of people will not buy a product with Linux OS. Or for example people keep demanding removable battery in phones but end up buying iPhones. As they say minority tends to be very vocal but they are not the ones who make up the sales. There's a famous example out there that when asked which salsa people prefer, Mild, Spicy or Very Spicy most people say they prefer Very Spicy but sales indicate that Mild is by far the most popular.

So how do you sort through the noise and figure out what the market demands, wants and will buy. I am sure there's a committee of technology experts and visionaries. Do bloggers have any input? How does the process work.

 

[hst101rox]

Thank you for the response, PCDIYASUS.

"We used to offer solutions like this but moved away as the market wanted cleaner and more defined designs."
I don't agree that moving from a socketed CPU to a soldered CPU results in a leaner, less heavy laptop. A cleaner and more refined design is not limited by having a socketed CPU IMO (takes up so little space).

I am trying to find the first high end gaming laptop by you that switched from being socketed to soldered. I remembered there wasn't any significant weight savings or dimensional changes with that model. -- found it, I think it's the G750. The G75 was the last to have a socketed CPU. It weighed 8.7 pounds, the G750 with a soldered CPU weighed 9.9 pounds! Both 17.3" screens.
It is just with the G751 that you have been able to cut weight down to 8.5 pounds.

So I don't see having a socketed CPU limiting your physical design goals.

Overclocking still has it's place.

I believe it is not just a decision by Asus, MSI and Alienware to all move away from socketed CPUs, but pressure by Intel that, for some reason, you and the other companies will not go up against.


" will note though mobile CPUs are generally difficult to purchase and this is also a concern"
Not on Ebay.

 

[PCDIYASUS]

Can you tell us about the R&D process for components at ASUS?

This is a really open ended question can you clarify a little more what specifics you are wondering about?

Sure! It was open ended because I didn't know if you could answer it or not. Wanted to allow room for whatever you could tell us!

How are new products envisioned and designed? How long does the process take? How long does it take to adapt to new standards (Skylake, USB Type C, etc.)? Who is involved in the process?

Still pretty open ended.

It really depends on the product

For motherboard and high specialized graphic cards you can be looking at 4 to 6 months generally. This is generally the hardware and layout stages. The firmware development and software development can be sometimes much longer. Especially for motherboard some of the designs have been incremental and progressive meaning we have been continually working on them over the years and it takes a collective period of time to see the final version produced ( or more so the feature or functionality originally envisioned ).

There are many teams in product design from the core engineers and PCB and topology team to a dedicated power delivery / VRM team to senior engineers who overview the overall implementations. Sepearelty we have a UEFI ( BIOS team ) and software team. There is also a creative ID team and as you can imagine designs are not always realistic or we need to fine a way to make a visual design work practically or psychically.

Validation and QVL / QTC is also a huge portion of the time investment especially with new standards. Collectively for new specifications you can easily be looking at 8 to 12 months of total time invested ( assuming the specification is fairly close to final )

ASUS also is pretty unique at least for motherboards in that there are dedicated teams that work on different segments / series. You can see how some competitors boards are the same board with different heatsinks.

mainstream and TUF series shares engineers and resources but they do have their own product management team which is tasked with the overall design and development. The boards are also generally different in regards to layout and design. There are threads of design consistent in these stages such as specialized trace layout for memory may be consistent or other performance oriented designs.

This is mirrored on ROG but every more specialized as they have their own engineers and software team and PM team. ROG boards generally are the most complex and most advanced and most time consuming everything is taken to the next level in these boards designing, testing and optimization.

WS is similar to ROG and also has their own engineers and software team and PM team.

This type of setup also us to truly focus on innovative and unique approaches to each segmentation.

Overall though there are senior product managers and engineers to held ensure a design consistency in regards features, functionality, performance and quality is present across all boards. Some may push further through more advanced validation, improved components or specialized features but every board has to meet a min bar of ASUS quality and reliability and performance.

Speaking of performance there is a performance analysis and overclocking team which also aligns with validation to check performance capabilities not only under normal scenarios but a wide range of cooling configurations. Additionally for specialized boards like WS and TUF they incorporate even more advanced validation and interoprability checks.

In regards to input on product, features, functionality and much more ideas and feedback are collected from an array of courses whether it be end users, technical media, partners, system integrators and many other sources. We try to look at really aspects of usability and experience and improve on those. In this respect we have spent years of progressive refinement for many of the features users have come to appreciate and know on our motherboards. As opposed to just putting in a feature for the heck of it we are trying to lay a foundation and then grow it into something offering real value.

There is literally a lot I am not detailing as this is a rabbit hole of detailing and can go into super specifics in some many ways. Hope it has given you some insights and clarity.

I can say though unquestionably the time and effort and resources is unmatched by competitors.

 

[raja@asus]

I feel silly for asking, but what is with flat faced chipset & VRM heatsinks? What happened to surface area?

Depends how much surface area is needed to dissipate the heat of the component they are cooling. If it's not much heat being produced the surface area is more than adequate, so there is no issue.

 

[allanitomwesh]

How much would it take to crowd source a custom design motherboard from Asus?

 

[AndrewFreedman]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all of your great questions so far, and thanks to our guests from ASUS for their time and their answers.

We're going to let them take a break overnight so they can eat, sleep, and reflect on the AMA so far. In the meantime, the thread will remain open overnight so you can add more questions. They'll come back in the morning to answer lingering questions before the thread closes at 12 p.m. EDT.

Thanks!

 

[raja@asus]

I have one more question. How do you determine what product to offer, what product to sell to the public. If you visit technology blogs you will hear people say just put a Linux on it and i will buy it, obviously vast, vast majority of people will not buy a product with Linux OS. Or for example people keep demanding removable battery in phones but end up buying iPhones. As they say minority tends to be very vocal but they are not the ones who make up the sales. There's a famous example out there that when asked which salsa people prefer, Mild, Spicy or Very Spicy most people say they prefer Very Spicy but sales indicate that Mild is by far the most popular.

So how do you sort through the noise and figure out what the market demands, wants and will buy. I am sure there's a committee of technology experts and visionaries. Do bloggers have any input? How does the process work.

We have experience in certain segments to gauge the validity of user requests against. JJ and I work within communities and with media sites - we look at the requests and then filter them down to those that add value or enhance user-experience. Those that are viable are then fed-back to our product managers and R&D teams at HQ for consideration.

We're also both end-users ourselves - a lot of what you see on our motherboards are things we've had direct input in as users and builders. Same goes for any product line we're involved in testing.

-Raja

 

[MrAOK]

Question about the x205. I love the X205TA but 32GB is really pushing the minimum. Any plans to give us the same notebook, but with added memory?

 

[zeyuanfu]

Hi,
I have two questions:

1, Will the Z97 and H97 Pro Gamer motherboards ever be launched in America?

2, Will you make a "special/dual-card edition" (like the ARES III or the MARS 760x2) of cards such as the GTX 980, Titan X or the rumored upcoming R9 390X?

If you could answer these questions, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jeffrey Barone]

Is there going to be another rog front base?

When will we see a new oc panel?

is asus working on a rampage extreme for broadwell and Skylake?

Is 2011-3 at eol?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Do you know if there's any work going on for a front panel header for USB C ports? I believe they need extra data lines. I'd rather not see a repeat of sticking USB cables out the back of the case and around to the I/O panel.

Also, do you intend to have your Windows 10 laptops/desktops/motherboards allow disabling Secure Boot? MS has made it optional, which I'm slightly upset about. It tends to be a pain if you're doing anything beyond running stock Windows.

 

[garrlker]

Hey everyone , thanks for doing this AMA!
So I recently purchased an Asus Transformer Book T100TA and, like a lot of people, I discovered quickly how it has a 32bit Uefi bios while the CPU supports 64bit operating systems. Although for the average users this is not a problem, there are entire communities for running Linux on the T100TA and this would be a big step towards that direction.

Is there any chance of Asus releasing a 64bit Uefi bios for T100TA?

 

[tmr263]

Hello Asus Team,

Has the company established any sort of timeline for the USA release of the Asus Zenfone 2?

This. I'm dying to buy this phone. I'd get the world version if it supported band 17 lol. Any rough timeline or will there be preorders in US?

 

[Calculatron]

I have a number of questions, mostly stemming from my own idle curiosity. My first set of questions deal with the FM2+ platform, because it, with all the enthusiast chatter, often gets overlooked, and it needs some lovin' too.

The FM2+ Crossblade Ranger seemingly came out of left-field for a lot of people, and, naturally, like with all things, some people received it with mixed feelings. What was the driving force behind the decision to produce an ROG product for the FM2+ platform? (What is the process for making such a decision?) Is there a TUF FM2+ in the works?

... Is there any chance to get any information on the upcoming FM3 platform?

How does ASUS, particularly the power delivery/VRM team, feel about certain innovations, like Intel's decision to have an on-die VRM, and AMD's upcoming Carrizo moving the southbridge onto the die?

What features do you enjoy having on your own motherboards and video cards? Are there any features that you wish could be incorporated?

Lastly, favorite beer?