Radial metal lines on the back catch light and give the Zenbook an industrial-design flavor. The Zenbook, made of unibody aluminum like the MacBook Air, has a darker gloss to its back lid and a heft that makes it almost feel more like magnesium or steel. The experience is that similar, down to the square plastic wall charger with a removable plug tip. Take the Asus Zenbook out of its foam-lined jewel-box packaging, and you might think you'd accidentally bought a MacBook Air. If your idea of an Ultrabook is a Windows version of a MacBook Air with a slightly lower price, then consider the Zenbook your product: just be forewarned that the keyboard, touch pad, and battery life are less impressive than the audio/visual bells and whistles. If I were buying a Zenbook, I'd stick with our $1,099 review model and live with the limitations, glad that I had a MacBook Air-alike that saved me a few dollars along the way. The 13-inch Zenbook UX31 gets more expensive in 256GB SSD and Core i7 configurations, climbing up to $1,449 at its highest price.
Those are somewhat minor issues for what's otherwise a very solid and impressive thin laptop, but at a price north of $1,000, these are issues anyone would pay attention to. Nearly 5 hours isn't shabby, but it's not industry-leading. Battery life is short of the Air's lofty numbers, too. It feels like the opposite of the silky-smooth experience on a MacBook Air. Excellent speakers, sleek design, and a high-resolution screen are accompanied by a finicky keyboard and touch pad, giving the ever-so-slightly-off sensation when working on the Zenbook.
Smartly, the Zenbook gets that part right: when competing with a product as singularly well-known and highly rated as the MacBook Air, your product has to be either better or cheaper.Ĭheaper, it is: as for better, I'd have to disagree.
That's $200 less expensive than the equivalent MacBook Air.
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The 13-inch Asus Zenbook, despite looking at least as expensive and high-end as laptops such as the Samsung Series 9, has a starting price of $1,099, which includes 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD drive.