ASUS ZENBOOK UX31: light and powerful
Pros: Powerful specs, great looks, keeps low temperatures.
Cons: Speakers cause keys vibration, pricey for an Ultrabook
We we’re expecting this: the new wave of Macbook Air competitors is being led by the ASUS ZENBOOK Ultrabooks and the first to come in our office is the UX31, the 13.3″ model that features impressive looks and powerful specs. Here is our review of what promises to be a very popular laptop!
In a few words
You may have discovered in the past months that Ultrabooks are considered to be the future of mobile computing. Intel has released this idea of a thin, light, powerful and correctly priced laptop that would represent the major leap laptops need to have in order to maintain fresh and attractive. And who wouldn’t mind such a laptop. Furthermore Ultrabooks are desperately gorgeous to look at and the ASUS ZENBOOK UX31 is no exception.
Back at Computex 2011, ASUS displayed the UX21, the smaller brother, but we decided to go for the 13.3″ model – the UX31. So what are you getting from this thin design? To start with you get an alloy case that is both beautiful and sturdy, enough ports to handle anything (USB 2.0, USB 3.0, microHDMI, miniVGA, audio jack, SD card slot), really powerful specs (1.8 GHz Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7-2667M processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD), an impressive bright display (13.3″ 1600×900), and Bang & Olufsen audio.
The only department where the ZENBOOK UX31 doesn’t act like an Ultrabook is the price. The current configuration we tested would burn a hole in your wallet and make you spend around $1500.
Despite the price we liked it a lot. The apps look and run great, Windows 7 boots very fast and shuts down quickly, basic graphic tasks are being handled very well by the Intel HD 3000 chip and the fact that the laptop weighs next to nothing and is incredibly thin makes it worth the higher price tag. It’s main rival is the 13.3″ Macbook Pro which oddly enough starts at “just” 1299$ but we reccomend reading the whole review and decide for yourself whether the ZENBOOK is worth your bucks.
What we did like:
+ Powerful specs;
+ Large and comfortable palmrest;
+ Design;
+ Audio quality;
+ Display – the brightest on the market.
What we did not like:
- Price tag (although you can opt for more cheaper ZENbOOKS)
- Keyboard vibration when maxing the volume;
- Keyboard isn’t backlit;
- microHDMI instead of normal HDMI port.
