ASUS ZENBOOK UX31E Review (Version 2.0)
Before we start talking about the ASUS UX31, known as ASUS ZENBOOK, we’ll find out what the Ultrabook is and why it has become a Zen from ASUS.
The concept of ultrabooks was proposed by Intel, which decided to change priorities in the development of new technologies and combine in a single device all that users like in portable technology. So it was decided to combine the style and autonomy of fashionable tablets with the functionality and software features (Windows) of typical laptops.
Until recently, the “perfect laptop” demanded sacrifices. Productive, but noisy. Compact but weak. With a capacious battery, but heavy. And so on. We, as end users, wanted to have everything: a slim body, performance, and even that sound so that the quality was from the speakers.
')
Thus, the ultrabook should have the following features:
• Performance — Second Generation Intel Core Processor / SSDs
• Wake up time - less than 7 seconds.
• Compactness - case thickness less than 18 mm
• Long battery life - at least 5 hours
• Low noise
• Minimal heat dissipation
• Low weight - less than 1.4 kg
ASUS, who decided to start mass production of ultrabooks first, personally added several more points to this list of strict requirements - for example, to use only metal as a case material. This item was a continuation of the unofficial installation - ultrabook, in the end, should be beautiful and stylistically different from the "ordinary" notebooks.
Another feature of the new class of devices in ASUS rightly considered the design appeal ... and decided not to hang these terrible stickers advertising processor and Windows. Finally there are no stickers on the case! A Windows serial delicately put on the metal of the bottom of the laptop.
Zen is a way to understand the natural nature of things, to see their true essence, therefore, speaking of ASUS Zenbook, we assume that the Taiwanese manufacturer is trying to reinvent the laptop. So it seems to us, who have studied the new generation for several weeks along and across. In Zenbuk there are no radical differences from previous generations of portable computers, but there is something in it, initially it is a laptop in its true meaning; as if someone up there finally realized that by increasing the power, dimensions and prices of the devices, we will soon come to a standstill, therefore, with a wave of our domineering hand, gave the order to the engineers to invent everything anew. Whether it will be possible to change the paradigm, start a new trend and conquer all the markets with the concept of ultrabooks, time will tell, but in the meantime, we’ll become familiar with the device that caused a real stir among ordinary users.
Storming mass demand with a new class of devices did not accidentally entrust the ASUS UX31E model. U models are thin and light notebooks, with priority in terms of reliability and performance. X - from the word eXtraordinary, i.e. a device that is clearly different from the others. “3” is a 13.3-inch screen, respectively. 1 - means that the model is the first in a row.
All the advantages and disadvantages of the device are dictated by the whole concept of ultrabooks and can be seen literally from the image alone. The familiar pros and cons will not be at the end of the review, but at the very beginning, a logical continuation of your emotions at first sight.
pros
+ InstantOn - wake from sleep for a couple of seconds and sleep for up to 2 weeks on one battery charge
+ USB Charger + - charging portable equipment from USB even when the laptop is turned off
+ Rich equipment, the availability of adapters
+ Stylish, durable and beautiful body
+ Thickness from 3 mm (front) to 9 mm (rear) and weight 1.3 kg.
+ Screen with high resolution and brightness
+ Good acoustics
+ Overall system performance, thanks to the use of the most powerful in the line of Core i7 and ultra-fast SSD
Minuses
- Heating of the bottom with a high load
- limited number of ports
- Glossy screen
- There is no discrete graphics adapter
Love at first sight? May be. Let's sort these points in more detail.
Acquaintance with the device begins with the box - which itself looks thin and monolithic.
Inside a nice-looking box, there is a plastic form in which a laptop is laid, with pockets for instructions, a charger, etc.
The bundle of the ASUS Zenbook is rich ...
... besides the expected cover with leather trim ...
... the manufacturer was not too lazy to put in the box adapters ...
... and adapters for RJ-45 and VGA, further expanding the communication capabilities of beech.
He looks perfect. Solid metal and no plastic.
There is no backlash, nothing creaks - the case is monolithic. Non-removable battery, but with the same warranty period as the laptop itself. The screen frame is dark brown and provides a durable anti-dust effect.
The cover is dark in color.
The edges of the case in the photos look stylish, like a razor. In reality, they are not so sharp that the laptop in their hands delivers inconvenience.
Bevel corners make the ultrabook even more subtle than it is. If you make it even thinner and leave the body material unchanged, the laptop can turn into a formidable throwing weapon.
An interesting feature is that a texture in the form of concentric circles that refract light is applied to the aluminum surface of the lid. The case is very different from the glossy plastic for the better, unless, of course, you are not a fan of glamorous and sleek "laptops for girls."
On the bottom panel in the solid piece of aluminum gaps are formed - this is the blowing grate.
In the closed state, the edges of the laptop fit snugly together. Open the laptop will help a small ledge on the top cover.
We did not drop the zenbook to the floor, but the case looks so reliable that falling from the table to the floor (a common accident among laptops) will not cause him significant harm.
In comparison with the matte ASUS P52.
In terms of brightness, the screen is one of the best on the market. In the evening, at maximum brightness, we recommend using the screen only as a flashlight, otherwise the eyes will start to get tired very quickly.
The UX31E is equipped with a TN matrix with a resolution of 1600x900, with a 16: 9 aspect ratio. The choice of such a matrix imposes certain restrictions on the viewing angles, which is not so critical in everyday use.
High brightness allows you to use your laptop even on a clear sunny day, but if the light source is behind you, be prepared to face all the drawbacks of the glossy screen. High brightness level allows better display of media content (photos, videos).
ASUS UX31E is a very powerful device, thanks to the Intel Core i7-2677M processor (basic frequency: 1.8 GHz, in Turbo Boost mode: up to 2.9 GHz).
Integrated Intel HD 3000 video core. In the 3Dmark 06 test, the model scored 3755 points.
The storage in the laptop - SSD-drive with a capacity of 256 GB.
The amount of non-expandable RAM is 4 GB DDR3.
It is possible to estimate the overall performance only in the aggregate of all technical characteristics. ZENBOOK is a high-performance and fast device that displays results previously available only to stationary computers. The laptop boots up in 16 seconds, and it wakes up from sleep in literally 2 seconds thanks to InstantOn technology. All programs are installed in a few seconds, the simultaneous launch of multiple applications does not kill the system, does not force Windows "thinks".
InstantOn technology provides the ability to find a laptop in sleep mode up to 14 days on one charge. In addition, in sleep mode, when the charge level drops to 5%, the laptop automatically saves the contents of the RAM to disk, preventing data loss when completely disconnected. InstantOn is the next generation of standby mode, combining the advantages of existing modes, and devoid of their shortcomings.
The system simply runs the program and works, as if nothing had happened. However, this is primarily the merit of the ADATA SSD disk, may the Lord keep it for many years. The drive is one of the fastest today (reading speed of over 300 Mb / s), so the user can not worry about system performance in the next few years.
In our engineering sample there were no Russian letters on the keyboard.
In various reviews, the opinion about the keyboard was controversial, but we certainly liked it. In the cons write down only non-standard location of the power key, so unsuccessfully located next to delete. And this is due to the fact that, according to ASUS, the procedure for turning on / off the computer is a thing of the past. It must completely replace the phase of sleep.
Therefore, it is recommended that the computer not be turned off, but immersed in a “dream”. No wonder that the speed of waking up from “sleep” is one of the main advantages of the device. Accordingly, when you press this key, the laptop will not be chopped off instantly, but will display a menu in which you should select one of the suggested options:
• put to sleep a laptop (InstantOn)
• send to hibernation
• turn off the laptop
• nothing to do
But back to the keyboard. The keys are made in the general style, made of aluminum, and have anti-slip coating. The arrangement is “island” and on the 13 ”model is actually perfect.
Perhaps you will miss the familiar plastic, tactile sensations are extremely important for working at the keyboard, but here the keys are no less convenient to use, and in some ways even more pleasant. Metal keys are pressed clearly, with a pleasant sound. If you often write, you understand what is at stake.
Cursor buttons are reduced, but separated from other buttons, and it is convenient to use them even when blindly typing.
The large touchpad Elan SmartPad with multitouch support allows you not to take extra weight in the form of a mouse, it is designed for most everyday tasks (and we additionally believe that everything can be done on it, because the productive shooter will not run anyway).
Touchpad buttons are almost indistinguishable, but it is convenient to use them. The surface is matte, fingers glide well over it, it is resistant to the appearance of prints.
Wrist rest has a large size, hands can be positioned just as conveniently as on laptops with a 15 inch display.
A small nuance - the keyboard backlight is not here. Whether it is necessary, is a moot point, but you can increase the price with additional functionality indefinitely. Something will still have to sacrifice, otherwise only 1% of the country's population will be able to use the new class of devices.
The refusal of external light indicators cannot be explained anything else as following the design. But now they are built right into the keyboard: for the power button, Caps Lock, F2. However, one familiar indicator was left outside the keyboard, on the right side.
The high brightness of the screen and the productive processor did not allow the zenbook to reach the “tablet” level of autonomy: you should count on 4-5 hours of active battery life, with a capacity of 50 Wh (due to strict requirements for dimensions and weight).
On the other hand, as we have already mentioned, ASUS is struggling with turning off devices in all possible ways. In deep sleep mode, the Zenbook discharges slowly.
Acoustics (two speakers) located at the bottom of the laptop. We wondered if they could embed a sound in the 13 ”model, similar to the successful solutions for the“ adult ”N series. We managed to cope with the task, although not without flaws. Unfortunately, it was physically impossible to extend low frequencies to the level of 15 ”and 17” of the new N-series notebooks (and in the series itself, for example, the N55 decided to supply an external subwoofer as the most adequate solution to the low-frequency problem).
The rest of the sound is beyond praise, it is loud, but not rattling, keeping the purity at the limit of the sound. Great for watching movies. The Bang & Olufsen company, familiar to you from reviews, this time showed a real audiophile master class.
All connectors are located on the side faces of the case.
17 mm of thickness is elegant in terms of design, but imposes certain restrictions - there is simply nowhere to build additional connectors into the beech. There is one USB 3.0 port, a regular USB c USB Charger + function that provides USB charging of portable electronics in the notebook's deep sleep mode, there is a headphone jack that allows you to connect a headset or microphone, microHDMI, miniVGA, SD-MMC and everything.
By the way, about charging from USB. This technology works even when the laptop is not plugged in; and to protect the battery from intense discharge, the charging function is turned off when a user-defined laptop battery charge level is reached.
But in the complete set, in a nice little case there are adapters for LAN and VGA.
Left side: USB, universal headphone / microphone port, SD-MMC.
Right side: miniHDMI 1.4, miniVGA, USB 3.0, power port.
The power plug has an additional plus — an orange-green diode (orange lights up when charging up to 100%), making it easy to find the plug in the dark.
In normal operation, the zenbook shows the noise level as that of a sleeping cat without hind legs, while its fan may not rotate at all - the case itself provides excellent cooling.
With a high load, the system starts to make a little noise.
The case, as already mentioned, provides cooling of the system, while avoiding critical, causing discomfort, heating. With one exception. On the back cover, where the blowing grill is located, the heat is noticeable. Let's just say, it can cause some inconvenience if the system, for example, has a high load on the video core, and the laptop is located on your lap.
Stands under the palm will always remain cold - with such a thick body.
High performance, unusual and eye-catching design, compact size - all these are only external manifestations of the new Zen practice, which shows how, with the exception of the graphic part, the laptop should be.
In terms of performance, there is almost no difference between the ASUS UX31E Ultrabook and some desktop computers, not to mention the “simple” powerful notebooks. Performance begins to rest not “ironically”, but on the capabilities of the operating system and the optimization of installed applications.
The disadvantages of the ASUS UX31E are a consequence of the overall approach to the concept: a small, very thin body, affordable prices, the desire for exclusive design.
ASUS traditionally launches several models on the market. If for the older configuration, the UX31E will have to pay, according to Yandex.Market, over 52,000 p. (at the time of publication), then the youngest, differing processor, SSD-drive volume and pre-installed OS, will be cheaper. Let's not forget about the 11.6 ”model UX21E. In general, the language does not turn to call Zenbook an expensive fashion model with a narrow market niche. Each person will be able to choose the configuration for the price that suits him, because the differences will be only inside - outwardly, all Zenbooks remain invariably beautiful and attractive.
Fans of the cold style of silver and sharp edges (of sword and magic, yeah), will be satisfied. If you outwardly liked this laptop, you simply will not notice the shortcomings.
The concept of ultrabooks was proposed by Intel, which decided to change priorities in the development of new technologies and combine in a single device all that users like in portable technology. So it was decided to combine the style and autonomy of fashionable tablets with the functionality and software features (Windows) of typical laptops.
Until recently, the “perfect laptop” demanded sacrifices. Productive, but noisy. Compact but weak. With a capacious battery, but heavy. And so on. We, as end users, wanted to have everything: a slim body, performance, and even that sound so that the quality was from the speakers.
')
Thus, the ultrabook should have the following features:
• Performance — Second Generation Intel Core Processor / SSDs
• Wake up time - less than 7 seconds.
• Compactness - case thickness less than 18 mm
• Long battery life - at least 5 hours
• Low noise
• Minimal heat dissipation
• Low weight - less than 1.4 kg
ASUS, who decided to start mass production of ultrabooks first, personally added several more points to this list of strict requirements - for example, to use only metal as a case material. This item was a continuation of the unofficial installation - ultrabook, in the end, should be beautiful and stylistically different from the "ordinary" notebooks.
Another feature of the new class of devices in ASUS rightly considered the design appeal ... and decided not to hang these terrible stickers advertising processor and Windows. Finally there are no stickers on the case! A Windows serial delicately put on the metal of the bottom of the laptop.
Zen is a way to understand the natural nature of things, to see their true essence, therefore, speaking of ASUS Zenbook, we assume that the Taiwanese manufacturer is trying to reinvent the laptop. So it seems to us, who have studied the new generation for several weeks along and across. In Zenbuk there are no radical differences from previous generations of portable computers, but there is something in it, initially it is a laptop in its true meaning; as if someone up there finally realized that by increasing the power, dimensions and prices of the devices, we will soon come to a standstill, therefore, with a wave of our domineering hand, gave the order to the engineers to invent everything anew. Whether it will be possible to change the paradigm, start a new trend and conquer all the markets with the concept of ultrabooks, time will tell, but in the meantime, we’ll become familiar with the device that caused a real stir among ordinary users.
Storming mass demand with a new class of devices did not accidentally entrust the ASUS UX31E model. U models are thin and light notebooks, with priority in terms of reliability and performance. X - from the word eXtraordinary, i.e. a device that is clearly different from the others. “3” is a 13.3-inch screen, respectively. 1 - means that the model is the first in a row.
All the advantages and disadvantages of the device are dictated by the whole concept of ultrabooks and can be seen literally from the image alone. The familiar pros and cons will not be at the end of the review, but at the very beginning, a logical continuation of your emotions at first sight.
Advantages and disadvantages
pros
+ InstantOn - wake from sleep for a couple of seconds and sleep for up to 2 weeks on one battery charge
+ USB Charger + - charging portable equipment from USB even when the laptop is turned off
+ Rich equipment, the availability of adapters
+ Stylish, durable and beautiful body
+ Thickness from 3 mm (front) to 9 mm (rear) and weight 1.3 kg.
+ Screen with high resolution and brightness
+ Good acoustics
+ Overall system performance, thanks to the use of the most powerful in the line of Core i7 and ultra-fast SSD
Minuses
- Heating of the bottom with a high load
- limited number of ports
- Glossy screen
- There is no discrete graphics adapter
Love at first sight? May be. Let's sort these points in more detail.
Equipment
Acquaintance with the device begins with the box - which itself looks thin and monolithic.
Inside a nice-looking box, there is a plastic form in which a laptop is laid, with pockets for instructions, a charger, etc.
The bundle of the ASUS Zenbook is rich ...
... besides the expected cover with leather trim ...
... the manufacturer was not too lazy to put in the box adapters ...
... and adapters for RJ-45 and VGA, further expanding the communication capabilities of beech.
Housing
He looks perfect. Solid metal and no plastic.
There is no backlash, nothing creaks - the case is monolithic. Non-removable battery, but with the same warranty period as the laptop itself. The screen frame is dark brown and provides a durable anti-dust effect.
The cover is dark in color.
The edges of the case in the photos look stylish, like a razor. In reality, they are not so sharp that the laptop in their hands delivers inconvenience.
Bevel corners make the ultrabook even more subtle than it is. If you make it even thinner and leave the body material unchanged, the laptop can turn into a formidable throwing weapon.
An interesting feature is that a texture in the form of concentric circles that refract light is applied to the aluminum surface of the lid. The case is very different from the glossy plastic for the better, unless, of course, you are not a fan of glamorous and sleek "laptops for girls."
On the bottom panel in the solid piece of aluminum gaps are formed - this is the blowing grate.
In the closed state, the edges of the laptop fit snugly together. Open the laptop will help a small ledge on the top cover.
We did not drop the zenbook to the floor, but the case looks so reliable that falling from the table to the floor (a common accident among laptops) will not cause him significant harm.
Screen
In comparison with the matte ASUS P52.
In terms of brightness, the screen is one of the best on the market. In the evening, at maximum brightness, we recommend using the screen only as a flashlight, otherwise the eyes will start to get tired very quickly.
The UX31E is equipped with a TN matrix with a resolution of 1600x900, with a 16: 9 aspect ratio. The choice of such a matrix imposes certain restrictions on the viewing angles, which is not so critical in everyday use.
High brightness allows you to use your laptop even on a clear sunny day, but if the light source is behind you, be prepared to face all the drawbacks of the glossy screen. High brightness level allows better display of media content (photos, videos).
Performance
ASUS UX31E is a very powerful device, thanks to the Intel Core i7-2677M processor (basic frequency: 1.8 GHz, in Turbo Boost mode: up to 2.9 GHz).
Integrated Intel HD 3000 video core. In the 3Dmark 06 test, the model scored 3755 points.
The storage in the laptop - SSD-drive with a capacity of 256 GB.
The amount of non-expandable RAM is 4 GB DDR3.
It is possible to estimate the overall performance only in the aggregate of all technical characteristics. ZENBOOK is a high-performance and fast device that displays results previously available only to stationary computers. The laptop boots up in 16 seconds, and it wakes up from sleep in literally 2 seconds thanks to InstantOn technology. All programs are installed in a few seconds, the simultaneous launch of multiple applications does not kill the system, does not force Windows "thinks".
InstantOn technology provides the ability to find a laptop in sleep mode up to 14 days on one charge. In addition, in sleep mode, when the charge level drops to 5%, the laptop automatically saves the contents of the RAM to disk, preventing data loss when completely disconnected. InstantOn is the next generation of standby mode, combining the advantages of existing modes, and devoid of their shortcomings.
The system simply runs the program and works, as if nothing had happened. However, this is primarily the merit of the ADATA SSD disk, may the Lord keep it for many years. The drive is one of the fastest today (reading speed of over 300 Mb / s), so the user can not worry about system performance in the next few years.
Keyboard and touchpad
In our engineering sample there were no Russian letters on the keyboard.
In various reviews, the opinion about the keyboard was controversial, but we certainly liked it. In the cons write down only non-standard location of the power key, so unsuccessfully located next to delete. And this is due to the fact that, according to ASUS, the procedure for turning on / off the computer is a thing of the past. It must completely replace the phase of sleep.
Therefore, it is recommended that the computer not be turned off, but immersed in a “dream”. No wonder that the speed of waking up from “sleep” is one of the main advantages of the device. Accordingly, when you press this key, the laptop will not be chopped off instantly, but will display a menu in which you should select one of the suggested options:
• put to sleep a laptop (InstantOn)
• send to hibernation
• turn off the laptop
• nothing to do
But back to the keyboard. The keys are made in the general style, made of aluminum, and have anti-slip coating. The arrangement is “island” and on the 13 ”model is actually perfect.
Perhaps you will miss the familiar plastic, tactile sensations are extremely important for working at the keyboard, but here the keys are no less convenient to use, and in some ways even more pleasant. Metal keys are pressed clearly, with a pleasant sound. If you often write, you understand what is at stake.
Cursor buttons are reduced, but separated from other buttons, and it is convenient to use them even when blindly typing.
The large touchpad Elan SmartPad with multitouch support allows you not to take extra weight in the form of a mouse, it is designed for most everyday tasks (and we additionally believe that everything can be done on it, because the productive shooter will not run anyway).
Touchpad buttons are almost indistinguishable, but it is convenient to use them. The surface is matte, fingers glide well over it, it is resistant to the appearance of prints.
Wrist rest has a large size, hands can be positioned just as conveniently as on laptops with a 15 inch display.
A small nuance - the keyboard backlight is not here. Whether it is necessary, is a moot point, but you can increase the price with additional functionality indefinitely. Something will still have to sacrifice, otherwise only 1% of the country's population will be able to use the new class of devices.
The refusal of external light indicators cannot be explained anything else as following the design. But now they are built right into the keyboard: for the power button, Caps Lock, F2. However, one familiar indicator was left outside the keyboard, on the right side.
Battery
The high brightness of the screen and the productive processor did not allow the zenbook to reach the “tablet” level of autonomy: you should count on 4-5 hours of active battery life, with a capacity of 50 Wh (due to strict requirements for dimensions and weight).
On the other hand, as we have already mentioned, ASUS is struggling with turning off devices in all possible ways. In deep sleep mode, the Zenbook discharges slowly.
Sound
Acoustics (two speakers) located at the bottom of the laptop. We wondered if they could embed a sound in the 13 ”model, similar to the successful solutions for the“ adult ”N series. We managed to cope with the task, although not without flaws. Unfortunately, it was physically impossible to extend low frequencies to the level of 15 ”and 17” of the new N-series notebooks (and in the series itself, for example, the N55 decided to supply an external subwoofer as the most adequate solution to the low-frequency problem).
The rest of the sound is beyond praise, it is loud, but not rattling, keeping the purity at the limit of the sound. Great for watching movies. The Bang & Olufsen company, familiar to you from reviews, this time showed a real audiophile master class.
Connectors
All connectors are located on the side faces of the case.
17 mm of thickness is elegant in terms of design, but imposes certain restrictions - there is simply nowhere to build additional connectors into the beech. There is one USB 3.0 port, a regular USB c USB Charger + function that provides USB charging of portable electronics in the notebook's deep sleep mode, there is a headphone jack that allows you to connect a headset or microphone, microHDMI, miniVGA, SD-MMC and everything.
By the way, about charging from USB. This technology works even when the laptop is not plugged in; and to protect the battery from intense discharge, the charging function is turned off when a user-defined laptop battery charge level is reached.
But in the complete set, in a nice little case there are adapters for LAN and VGA.
Left side: USB, universal headphone / microphone port, SD-MMC.
Right side: miniHDMI 1.4, miniVGA, USB 3.0, power port.
The power plug has an additional plus — an orange-green diode (orange lights up when charging up to 100%), making it easy to find the plug in the dark.
System noise level
In normal operation, the zenbook shows the noise level as that of a sleeping cat without hind legs, while its fan may not rotate at all - the case itself provides excellent cooling.
With a high load, the system starts to make a little noise.
Temperature
The case, as already mentioned, provides cooling of the system, while avoiding critical, causing discomfort, heating. With one exception. On the back cover, where the blowing grill is located, the heat is noticeable. Let's just say, it can cause some inconvenience if the system, for example, has a high load on the video core, and the laptop is located on your lap.
Stands under the palm will always remain cold - with such a thick body.
Conclusion
High performance, unusual and eye-catching design, compact size - all these are only external manifestations of the new Zen practice, which shows how, with the exception of the graphic part, the laptop should be.
In terms of performance, there is almost no difference between the ASUS UX31E Ultrabook and some desktop computers, not to mention the “simple” powerful notebooks. Performance begins to rest not “ironically”, but on the capabilities of the operating system and the optimization of installed applications.
The disadvantages of the ASUS UX31E are a consequence of the overall approach to the concept: a small, very thin body, affordable prices, the desire for exclusive design.
ASUS traditionally launches several models on the market. If for the older configuration, the UX31E will have to pay, according to Yandex.Market, over 52,000 p. (at the time of publication), then the youngest, differing processor, SSD-drive volume and pre-installed OS, will be cheaper. Let's not forget about the 11.6 ”model UX21E. In general, the language does not turn to call Zenbook an expensive fashion model with a narrow market niche. Each person will be able to choose the configuration for the price that suits him, because the differences will be only inside - outwardly, all Zenbooks remain invariably beautiful and attractive.
Fans of the cold style of silver and sharp edges (of sword and magic, yeah), will be satisfied. If you outwardly liked this laptop, you simply will not notice the shortcomings.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/134364/
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