ASUS Zenbook UX534
ASUS UX334, UX434 and UX534 models with ScreenPad™ 2.0. These models most probably share almost the same hardware (the only difference is screen size and discrete NVidia GPU, and missing Display Port Alt-Mode on some models, even 15 inch seems to not include USB-C DP Altmode -), this article covers hardware specific configuration for all ZenBook 13 (UX334), ZenBook 14 (UX434) and ZenBook 15 (UX534).
| Hardware | PCI/USB ID | Working? |
|---|---|---|
| GPU (Intel) | Yes | |
| GPU (Nvidia) | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Audio | Yes | |
| Touchpad | Yes | |
| Webcam | Yes | |
| Card reader | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | Yes | |
| Face recognition sensor | Yes |
However the first author is testing on an UX534FTC Full HD (no 4K), with NVidia GTX1650 Max-Q and a 10th generation 10510U Core I7.
Configuration
Secure Boot
In order to boot Arch (or any OS not supporting Secure Boot), enter the UEFI parameters by holding F2 (or ESC key and then selecting "Firmware Setup"), then navigate with the keyboard arrows to the "Security" tab and set "Secure Boot" to Off.
Video
See Intel Graphics and Hardware Acceleration. For models with discrete Nvidia graphics card, also see NVIDIA Optimus.
The Screenpad works as a secondary display and is completely separate from the touchpad: you just have a (non-touch) second screen under your fingers. Therefore it can be deactivated like any other display using one's Desktop environment settings for example, thus lowering power consumption while leaving the touchpad functionality intact.
The Screenpad requires a 'Rotation Portrait Left' and is most useful with a scale factor of 200% (Wayland allows to set a different scale factor of 100% if the main screen in only the Full HD version). If you dual boot, brightness is kept from the last Windows setting.
To change the Screenpad brightness, you can install the custom kernel module asus-wmi: https://github.com/Plippo/asus-wmi-screenpad
Facerecognition login
This computer has built-in face recognition sensor. You can use it with the project Howdy . See the howdy page for further informations.
Battery charge threshold
Troubleshooting
Suspend
Suspend is working out of the box, with the tested version of Arch Linux Linux 5.6.3-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed, 08 Apr 2020 07:47:16 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux.
Linux (4.17 at least) default to suspend-to-idle which is not very power effective. This is probably due to this change in 4.14-rc1. For better power effective you can use suspend-to-ram by adding mem_sleep_default=deep to the kernel command line.
When activating suspend-to-ram (sleep_default=deep), the sound is crackling (and not working for regular use) at wake-up. An ugly fix is to reset Sound Card (either inserting/removing a jack, either with the following scripts) [Improved method required to be add]
Create the following script (do not forget to make it executable).
/etc/systemd/system/audio-wake-up.sh
#!/bin/bash echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.3/remove echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/rescan
Create the following service
/etc/systemd/system/audio-fix-wakeup.service
[Unit] Description=Fix internal audio restore after Deep sleep on ASUS Zenbook UX533/534 After=suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/bin/audio-wake-up.sh [Install] # Make it part of the sound initialization routine WantedBy=suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target
Enable this service (audio-fix-wakeup.service)
Tips and tricks
Power saving and performance
As advertised by ASUS, these laptops are capable to last up to 9 hours on battery. In order to achieve this, see:
- BIOS update - It is generally recommended to update BIOS, as it usually brings performance, power-saving and security features.
- Power Saving - List of general recommendations to increase battery life.
- Improving performance - List of general recommendations to increase performance.
- SSD - Tips and tricks for Solid State Drives. These three laptops ship M.2 SSD by default.
- Undervolting CPU - Decrease voltage for Intel CPU (reduce battery drain, reduce heat and therefore - reduce fan speed)
- Bumblebee - If using bumbleblee and optimus, install 'bbswitch' to allow a good shutdown of NVidia Card ('nvidia-smi' return error if NVidia is power off, or information if it is in use)
UX534FT FHD perfom perfectly with Gnome 3, Bumblebee (bbswitch activated), Konkor (Gnome-extension) with Governor 'Power Save' does :
- 10h+ (more than 10 hours probably arround 12h or more) watching a video from network using VLC with bluetooth audio, low brightness (not lowest)
- 7.5h+ with brightness arround 60% watching a Youtube Video and using Firefox
- ? h (TODO) in heavy duty task (for example 'optirun' task using discrete Nvidia GPU