Asus Zenbook UX305 Review: A Great Laptop for Just $700

The new MacBookis style too slight . The Dell XPS 13is the Windows laptop computer to tick . But say you ’re looking for a somewhat cheaper razor - thin machine ? For just $ 700 , the new Asus UX305 is a pretty damn good deal .

What Is It?

A 13.3 - inch MacBook Air - styled laptop running Windows 8.1 instead . Thinner and light than the MacBook Air , but not as stupidly thin as Apple ’s latest MacBook . Incredible build quality and specs for a machine this tacky . The processor ’s nothing special — a comparatively weakCore metre — but where else are you going to retrieve 8 GB of RAM , 256 GB of substantial province storage and a 1080p screen inside an unibody atomic number 13 chassis for just $ 700 ? Plus , this laptop computer has no noisy fan .

Design

How do I put this ? It ’s a thinner MacBook Air with a much beneficial screen door , a more or less worse but still quite competent trackpad , and a more or less lean keyboard . Nothing about it feels quite as fastidiously crafted as a MacBook or as well-heeled as the Dell XPS 13 , but it ’s all surprisingly good for the damage ! Well above average in every way , with no major dealbreakers . The aluminium chassis experience solid and long-wearing , the Florida key are a little tight but still reasonably well-off and quick to typecast on , and you get three whole USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot for your money . ( There ’s also a micro - HDMI larboard for telecasting - out duties , but there ’s no adaptor in the boxful . )

As far as looks go , the UX305 does n’t really stand out … unless you ’re in just the right light . Most of the time , it looks like a dark gray MacBook knockoff , but when the sunshine beam , you could see it ’s really a elusive empurpled MacBook clone with some oculus - catching concentrical circles brushed into the palpebra ’s design . ( The concentric circles have been an Asus trademark for a while . )

The Best Part

Effortlessly lifting this 2.6 - pound sterling laptop off a board and sliding it into a bag , then pulling it out again just as easily . The machine is so thin , light , quiet , and charge so quickly that I find myself whipping it out even for email duties I ’d normally tackle from my earpiece . You know the word “ cumbersome ” ? The UX305 is the precise antonym .

The Tragic Flaw

It just does n’t sense sinewy enough to be my only computer . Like other data processor I ’ve tried with an Intel Core M processor , it ’ll undertake most oecumenical purpose computing tasks with surprising elan . For case , I had no trouble run full Adobe Photoshop and Premiere to turn some DSLR videos into mellow - quality animated GIFs for my Apple Watch recapitulation . But I also saw batch of stuttering just open a whole clump of Chrome check , and even streaming picture . Though Netflix worked just fine , the 4.5W Intel Core M-5Y10 cow dung was n’t able-bodied to keep up with The Sopranos cyclosis from HBO Now .

And , like other Core M notebooks I ’ve try , affair go to shit when the battery ’s on its last leg . I got about 5.5 hours of real - world use out of the machine , but the last 20 minutes are like a slideshow . Even five hour is n’t bad , but it ’s no better ( and sometimes worse ) than you could get with a more powerful CPU … which seems a little counterintuitive , no ?

This Is Weird…

When I want to watch Game of Thrones on the adult screen , I typically plug a laptop into my TV with an HDMI cable . My last - gen Core i5 ultrabook does it no problem . Core M computers ? Not so much . Not the UX305 , and not others I ’ve examine either . The telecasting playback always stutters . Maybe these Core M french fries do n’t have enough graphical muscle ?

Review Notes

The edge of the palmrest are beveled … which mean they do n’t dig into my wrists ( as much ) as other MacBook - esque laptop !

The concealment get gracious and bright , and it ’s get a lusterlessness goal that handles glare middling well . It feels just a little spot washed out , not as colorful as could be , but it ’s still damn prissy to have a 1080p screen for the damage .

No keyboard backlight . I overleap get one .

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Pretty certain a few of the keys on this keyboard are stiffer than others .

Not a fan of having the world power key as a veritable tonality on the keyboard that I might accidentally press . I have n’t accidentally press it yet , though .

The touchpad ’s physical buttons are stiff , but not painfully so like on some other laptops .

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The very bottom of the lid actually shore up the laptop when you fully launch the CRT screen . It even has its own fiddling rubber ft . It makes for a slightly unlike keyboard slant .

The power adaptor is reasonably small , but it ’s an despicable drum diddley . I ’d really choose USB charging , which the late MacBook and Chromebook Pixel demonstrate is whole achievable on a laptop computer like this .

There are unquestionably a few pre - installed apps , but there is n’t too much bloat — and you could grease one’s palms this one from the Microsoft Store to get around that special pain in the neck .

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Should You Buy It?

Yes — unless you’re able to afford to pay more ! The Asus UX305 is a well - rounded laptop computer at a bang-up $ 700 price , but you could get an even near one for just a little mo more money . At $ 800,the Dell XPS 13is slightly well in almost every individual way , with longer electric battery spirit , a more powerful central processing unit , and more creature comforts too . And for $ 900 , the backflippingHP Spectre x360adds an fantabulous touch screen . If you ask me , they ’re emphatically deserving the extra money .

But hey , perhaps you do n’t have $ 800 or $ 900 to spend . Or perhaps you really need more than their stingy 128 GB of storage — the Asus arrive with a 256 GB solid state thrust , and HP and Dell charge direction more for that . If so , I think you ’ll be pleasantly surprised how far your money goes with Asus . The UX305 might not be my favorite , but it ’s still a achiever .

Asus Zenbook UX305 Specs (as tested)

showing : 13.3 - in 1080p IPS touchscreen display

Processor : Dual - core 800MHz Intel Core M-5Y10 ( Broadwell )

graphic : Intel HD Graphics 5300

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Memory : 8 GB DDR3L

Storage : 256 GB SSD

Connectivity : 3x USB 3.0 , 1x micro - HDMI , 1x South Dakota card slot , 1x 3.5 mm audio , dual - stria 802.11ac Wi - Fi , Bluetooth 4.0 , 1x USB to Ethernet adapter

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