Asus ZenBook 13 2018 review

Asus ZenBook 13 2018 review

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If you’re like a lot of people, you want a thin and light notebook that you can toss into a backpack and carry around without wrenching your back. You need to get real work done, but that doesn’t mean you’re against the occasional light gaming session to break things up either. If that’s you, then Asus might have finally very made the notebook you’ve been looking for.

Specifically, we’re talking about the Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UN. This 13.3-inch notebook with battery such as Asus C21N1347 Battery, Asus X555 Battery, Asus X555LA Battery, Asus X555LD Battery, Asus X555LJ Battery, Asus X555UB Battery, Asus X555YA Battery, Asus Y583L Battery, Asus C23-UX21 Battery, Asus UX21 Battery, Asus UX21E-DH71 Battery, Asus UX21E-KX016V Battery is priced at the low-end of the premium market, at $1,000 for an eighth-generation Core i5-8250U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SATA SSD, and a Full HD display. The twist? Asus has fit in a discrete GPU, the entry-level Nvidia GeForce MX150, making the ZenBook 13 the “thinnest notebook with discrete graphics.”

That’s a nice trick, if Asus managed to pull off the feat of managing a discrete GPU’s heat inside a thin-and-light’s chassis. Did Asus work some magic and squeeze out the maximum potential from the potent combination?

Asus managed to fit a 50 watt-hour battery into the ZenBook 13, which is a decent capacity that exceeds the 43 watt-hours in the HP Spectre 13 and almost matched the 52 watt-hours in the newest Dell XPS 13. The Intel Core i5-8250U is an efficient processor when running less demanding tasks, and so we had hopes it would demonstrate close to all-day battery life.

As it turned out, the ZenBook 13 was a bit of a mixed bag. It did quite well running our Basemark web benchmark test, lasting roughly the same timeframe as the XPS 13 and beating out the Spectre 13. It fell short of its low-cost sibling, the ZenBook UX330UA, however. Web browsing was a strength, however, while it’s video playing efficiency was only the middle of its class at just under 10 hours. That likely translates to most of a working day unless your tasks are particularly demanding.

The ZenBook 13 would be a rather mundane thin-and-light Windows 10 notebook if it weren’t for its discrete GPU. That’s not nothing, though, as it does stand apart in its ability to support playing more than just the most casual games. And if you need to edit photos or video, then you’ll get much better performance — which is a plus for a notebook that comes in at $1,000 and provides a great productivity punch as well.

Probably the most interesting alternative to the ZenBook 13 is its own budget-oriented sibling, the ZenBook UX330UA. That machine comes in at $750 for the same Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SATA SSD, and 13.3-inch Full HD display, and offers roughly equivalent performance and even better battery life. In fact, there’s little to recommend the ZenBook 13 over it unless you really need the discrete GPU.

The same can be said for the $1,300 (currently on sale for $1,080) HP Spectre 13 and the $1,300 (on sale for $1,000) Dell XPS 13. The Spectre 13 is much thinner and smaller, and gorgeous, while the XPS 13 is similarly sized but more robustly built. Neither of them has discrete graphics, however, and so once again the ZenBook 13 wins out for entry-level gamers and creative professionals.

If you’re looking to spend less money but still want a GeForce MX150, then you have some other options. You could opt for the Acer Aspire 5 for around $600 similarly equipped, which will drop you back to a seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor and add in a less-sharp 15.6-inch Full HD display. The Lenovo Ideapad 720s ($850) and Acer Swift 3 ($1,000) are two 14-inch notebooks that also sport the MX150 and eighth-generation Intel CPUs for the same or less money. None of these machines are as thin and light as the ZenBook 13, but you’re bound to get slightly better performance thanks to a thicker chassis that lets the GeForce MX150 run with a bit more headroom.

The ZenBook 13 is well-equipped to last for several years of solid productivity work, thanks to its utilizing the latest generation of Intel Core processor, and it’s built well enough that it should survive the usual mobile office worker’s treatment. The notebook will also support future USB-C peripherals, which is a plus, although the lack of Thunderbolt 3 support is limiting.

Yes, if you’re looking for a discrete GPU in a thin and light 13.3-inch notebook. If you can live with integrated graphics, however, then there are several other options available that provide better battery life, more robust designs, and more futuristic connectivity.