Tom's Hardware's AMA With Asus, In Its Entirety

Tegra 4, Z87 And Thunderbolt/802.11ac, And An RoG Vacation

Q. Any chance for a ROG flavor of Xonar Essence One MUSES Edition? (meaning that it includes Dolby Headphone or some other form of virtualized surround)

A. There are no plans to add that kind of feature to the Essence One right now. What I will say is that the SNR is very good - so channel separation creates a very solid image without needing Dolby. It's a considerable step-up from any soundcard - Dolby features included.

Q. When are you planning to release the GTX780 DCII into the Swedish market? Just wondering if I'm supposed to stick around and wait or just get a reference.

A. This going will be going into production shortly and be available soon in North America as well as other regions. Overall availability should be within the next month or so.

Q. Why didn’t you choose Tegra 4 to power your new Transformer Pad Infinity tablet?

A. We have a very close relationship with Nvidia and work extensively with them with our RD and Performance Analysis team. When developing hardware in a OS environment like Android as well depending on a number of experience and usability factors it is a considerable task at monitoring the feedback and usage of users and attempting to ensure all applicable aspects of development incorporate these items (software coding, hardware adjustments as well as total component selection ). In this respect we definitely look to provide the best experience possible whether it is gaming, browsing, general application performance or system response. This is something we will work with Nvidia, Google and internally as we get closer to releasing Nvidia based hardware as well as other SOC options.

Q. How did you decide which z87 mobos would have Thunderbolt compatibility and 802.11ac wifi?

A. The idea was to align certain features with user groups and provide options for a variety of budgets. Some of these technologies are costly for us to add, and ultimately that has a knock-on effect for the consumer. As Thunderbolt is a high end specification and the corresponding external hardware being high performance as well generally being more expensive than USB 3 based solutions we align our skus with this segmentation. A user who purchases the feature set offered in a board like our Expert or Deluxe Dual is likely to also be interested in or using Thunderbolt. Most mATX users do have high end editing stations or focus on content creation as such there is no need to integrate Thunderbolt. In this same respect we have incorporated 802.11AC on our highest skus as they are most likely to have also made the investment in high performance 802.11AC routers. It is only recently that a large amount of the market has shifted to dual band N based solution (especially in mobile products) as such really only cutting edge adopters have the corresponding routers or setups or even needs to justify 802.11AC as this controller is considerably more expensive than N based solutions we maintain offering it on the boards richest in feature set and functionality (Deluxe, Deluxe Dual, Maximus VI Formula, Maximus VI Extreme and our Maximus VI Impact and lastly our Z87-I Deluxe).

Q. Where is the Republic of Gamers located? If I pay it a visit, can you recommend any good restaurants there?

A. You can create such a place in your own home by using an ROG product and registering on the ROG forums to become part of the ROG community. We don't do meals on wheels, or freeze dried food additions in the box, but you do get a lot of product for the money! :)

Q. Can you give us any specs or other details about Asus's upcoming Chrome OS products?

A. All we can say is look at our track record of offering a lot of difference products with different designs. We are always interested in new and interesting products. Additionally if it is something you are interested in, the more feedback we get, the better, so let us know!

  • Aoyagi
    So I take it Asus is, in fact, not planning to broaden its AMD laptop selection since they didn't respond to the question about that. Unfortunate, I really liked the brand.
    Reply
  • kennai
    On page 8, the first answer is to the second question, and the second question is to the first answer. Was staring at that second answer for like 2 minutes being like, whaaaaat.
    Reply
  • kennai
    On page 8, the first answer is to the second question, and the second question is to the first answer. Was staring at that second answer for like 2 minutes being like, whaaaaat.
    Reply
  • bim27142
    They didn't answer my question. :( :( :(
    Reply
  • Madn3ss795
    I was excited so see any sights of an ITX AMD board from Asus. Sadly all answers led to a big "NO".
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    Sadly, Asus is too Intel focused to concern themselves with any innovating anything on their AMD lineup.
    Reply
  • vmem
    11057585 said:
    Sadly, Asus is too Intel focused to concern themselves with any innovating anything on their AMD lineup.

    ASUS is a business, and like any good business they're only concerned with MAKING MONEY. this is actually a GOOD THING, they have a clear goal and they know how to go about doing it: make good products that consumers want to buy.

    a huge part of making money and running a business is getting brand recognition, something AMD has been TERRIBLE at until recently. and ASUS made their point clear, they're not favoring Intel, their marketing research simply says there is insufficient demand. this is because when you walk into best-buy or even microcenter, at least 90% of the people shopping there still equate Intel with CPU. when that changes, ASUS will focus on AMD more. it's really that simple
    Reply
  • vmem
    11055330 said:
    Awesome info here... though I'm kinda bummed they had no info about pricing on that 39" 4k monitor. I'm drooling at the thought of acquiring one of those since it's using a cheap VA panel, assuming ASUS doesn't get greedy and charge a ton for it.

    Can't wait to be rid of this 1080p plague.

    I don't think it's a simple matter of greed. they can't price it TOO cheaply, or else their 31" 4K monitor with the nice Sharp panel won't sell. They have to price it appropriately for the quality and the market. if I were to venture a guess I'd say it'll be around $2-2.5K when it comes out.
    Reply
  • lp231
    11057635 said:
    11055330 said:
    Awesome info here... though I'm kinda bummed they had no info about pricing on that 39" 4k monitor. I'm drooling at the thought of acquiring one of those since it's using a cheap VA panel, assuming ASUS doesn't get greedy and charge a ton for it.

    Can't wait to be rid of this 1080p plague.

    I don't think it's a simple matter of greed. they can't price it TOO cheaply, or else their 31" 4K monitor with the nice Sharp panel won't sell. They have to price it appropriately for the quality and the market. if I were to venture a guess I'd say it'll be around $2-2.5K when it comes out.

    From the web, the 31.5" will cost around $3799 to $4000. I expect the 39" to be close to $10,000.

    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    11057620 said:
    ASUS is a business, and like any good business they're only concerned with MAKING MONEY. this is actually a GOOD THING, they have a clear goal and they know how to go about doing it: make good products that consumers want to buy.

    a huge part of making money and running a business is getting brand recognition, something AMD has been TERRIBLE at until recently. and ASUS made their point clear, they're not favoring Intel, their marketing research simply says there is insufficient demand. this is because when you walk into best-buy or even microcenter, at least 90% of the people shopping there still equate Intel with CPU. when that changes, ASUS will focus on AMD more. it's really that simple

    AMD had nearly 50% market share in 2006 which has gradually dwindled to the current ~16-17% which is around a 10% drop from a year ago. The overreaching bias on tech sites over the years have fortified Intel's position as a monopoly over the CPU market and the lack of features such as PCIe 3.0 and Thunderbolt on AMD exemplifies the perception that AMD is inferior to Intel.

    The reality is that AMD has a clear advantage in integrated GPU solutions that would be optimal for small form factors but the lack of hardware and absence of media coverage perpetuates a fallacy that Intel provides the best solution for all computer needs.

    I, for one, will not be supporting Asus since ASRock and MSI continue to provide a much more balanced solutions on both platforms.
    Reply