The first time I personally saw the Asus Zenbook, I knew it would be my next laptop(the last two I bought were all Macbook Airs). And while ultrabooks are still in their infancy stage, they’ve already sparked interest and awe to the point of being an aspirational device. I’ve been using the Zenbook UX31 for a couple of weeks now and have actually made it my primary laptop without much hesitation. Check out our full review of the Asus Zenbook UX31 after the jump.
It is not a huge secret that Asus got its inspiration for the Zenbook from Apple’s venerable Macbook Air. The body is made up of solid aluminum alloy — sand-blasted lid with concentric-pattern finish that comes in a earth brown tones. The interior is coated in silver, brushed-metal finish using the same aluminum materials.
The ultrathin frame is achieved by using an all-aluminum unibody design and a curved chassis construction that tapers toward the edges. This gives the Zenbook that impression of thinness although the center can go as thick as 0.71″.
The out lid has that circular brushed finish while the interior and and bottom of the laptop are all in brushed-metal finish in their natural silver color. The edges are a bit sharp and cause some minor scratches on the flesh if you’re not careful. The aluminum alloy used here feels more solid than the one used in the MBA.
The display on the Zenbook is one of the sharpest ones I’ve seen in any laptops I have tried this year. The 1600×900 pixel resolution is also one of the highest among the laptops in this size category, even surpassing the pixel density on the Macbook Air 13 which is only 1440×900. The dark, narrow bezel around the display gives it nice, cinematic appeal.
The keyboard on the Zenbook is also made up of aluminium alloy which makes it more elegant and durable. The chiclet-type keys are well-spaced apart and comfortable to use.
The cold, smooth surface tends to get slippery at times and the some of the keys aren’t set evenly (you will definitely notice a lot of individuals keys seem to lean on one side.) A very minor detail but feels like it adds to the typing slip-ups (I’ve experienced more than the usual misses on the keys making my typing rate significantly slower).
The biggest feature that’s sorely lacking here is the back-lights on the keyboard.
The large and generously-proportioned trackpad is another frustration altogether. It’s too jerky and sensitive that most of the multi-touch gestures are un-intentionally or doubly activated.
After tweaking the settings a bit, I was able to minimize the jerkiness and reduce the sensitivity to more tolerable levels (two-finger scroll has become smoother). For the most part though, I’d prefer using an external mouse rather than the trackpad. I hope there’s a software fix for this in upcoming updates.
The very thin frame of the Asus Zenbook provided little space for ports — a USB 2.0 port on the left side along with the 3.5mm audio port and SD/MMC card reader; another USB 3.0 port on the right side with a power plug, mini-VGA port and micro-HDMI port. The HD webcam and two microphones are placed in the top corner of the bezel, just above the screen.
While this particular configuration will not actually be available in the Philippines (see below for the full specs of the commercial units), the Windows Experience Index of the Zenbook gives us a good perspective on how it performs compared to other laptops we’ve used before.
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