Random Stuff

My Asus PA32UCX arrived several weeks earlier than promised; but it’s been almost six weeks now since placing my order for the 16″ MacBook Pro from a premium reseller here in Ho Chi Minh City. Any day now, I guess? In the meantime, I’m having the walls painted and new curtains installed in my room over the weekend. Although the room is pretty enormous with high ceilings, I was quoted just USD $130.00 by the painter – my beer budget for one week. hehe Not spectrally neutral paint – but better than the cat vomit-colored walls and drapes I’ve been staring at for over five years – and the best I can do here under the circumstances.

I had a few issues working with the new display: the OSD freezes when trying to install the driver through the display’s USB-A port; my Mac prevents installation of the Asus calibration firmware for Mac OS; and a few other quirks I might write about in a future blog post if I’m bored. It only dawned on me later (duh!) that it’s impossible to calibrate the Asus with the Mac anyhow, as the Mac OS applies its own color management – which is the reason they’re connected through a Blackmagic UltraStudio 4K Mini. So, if you want to calibrate the monitor, you’ll need a Teranex Mini SDI to HDMI 8K HDR – bringing the total outlay to $6,100. By way of comparison, Apple’s 6K Pro Display XDR with nano texture glass, stand and AppleCare+ will probably be in the neighborhood of $8,200 whenever it’s available in Vietnam.

More aggravating than the little annoyances with the PA32UCX is Asus’s maddeningly incompetent customer support: I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if they use prison labor. While chatting online with one of their representatives, don’t be surprised if it takes them longer than ten minutes to answer a question as simple as where the power switch is located!

Growing impatient with their wholly unqualified support staff, I decided to shoot them an email. Asus’s website says enquiries will be answered within 24 to 48 hours. Here it is over 72 hours later and they still haven’t answered some of my questions, saying they have to pass them along to their engineers. And their fifth-grade level writing doesn’t inspire confidence that their answers are even correct. Put me directly in touch with a trained professional, Asus! This is why I’ve said before that you’re better off spending the extra money for Apple, whose after-sales support is second-to-none and whose support community has has helped me out on numerous occasions over the years.