| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful configuration | Too much bloatware |
| QHD+ resolution display | Battery life could’ve been better |
| Superb performance | |
| Awesome build quality |
Asus was one of the first PC manufacturers in the industry to start the Ultrabook line of portable-yet-powerful notebook computers. Four years have passed since then, and with its latest Zenbook series, the company has shown yet again that it knows how to lead the game.
An impressive product from that lineup is the ZenBook UX303UB. It is a high-end laptop priced in the Rs. 70-80,000 bracket. Let’s review this machine, and see how tall it stands.
Hardware and Software (8/10)
The specs of this laptop are superb. There are two configuration choices for processors: Core i7 6500U and Core i5 6200U options combined with 4GB of RAM. As you can see, both are pretty powerful configurations.
Other specs include a 13.3-inch QHD+ touchscreen display (3200 x 1800 pixels), NVIDIA GeForce 940M Graphics with 2GB memory and storage options including SSD of 128, 256 and 512MB or mechanical HDDs of 500GB or 1TB. There’s also an HD webcam in the laptop, latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As you can see, the configuration options are excellent and completely packed with power while offering a goodly amount of choice.
The software options offered are 64-bit editions of Windows 10 Professional or Windows 10 Home. The package also includes a trial of the latest MS Office 2013, Dropbox, McAfee LiveSafe, Evernote, Flipboard and Twitter. Also some of Asus’s own tools that throw update pop ups every now and then. Now that can be pretty annoying. Nevertheless, it’s still a top notch machine, with absolutely killer specs and configurations.
Build Quality (9/10)
At 20mm and 1.45 kg, it’s not one of the thinnest and lightest laptops out in the market, but it’s certainly very thin and portable. The smooth metal finish has given a premium look to it, and there are three color choices: Icicle Gold, Rose Gold and Smoky Brown. All of them are unique and stylish in their own ways, and you’ll find the company’s familiar concentric ring pattern atop the lid.
You’ll hardly find anything to complain about the build quality. The hinge is sturdy, yet you can lift the lid from one finger without having to hold the base down with the other hand. It has plenty of ports on both the left and right sides, which include three USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot and a full-size HDMI port. These are pretty impressive expansion slots for a laptop as thin as this one. There is a backlit keyboard in the laptop combined with Asus’ ambient light sensor technology, which can automatically adjust the backlight of the keyboard according to the environment. And despite packing a ton of power, the ZenBook UX303UB runs silently until you start doing something extremely resource hungry. All these things make the build quality of this portable laptop quite awesome.
Performance (8/10)
Since it’s packed with cutting-edge hardware, you will find little to complain about . Except for those update popups that’re pushed your way by the bloatware. The display is evenly bright and sound quality equally impressive, which leaves little to be desired in both the audio and video departments. The computing power also works like a charm and it’s much more than enough for your most everyday computing tasks, and more.
Battery Life (7/10)
According to Asus, this laptop can provide battery life up to 7 hours, which is not too great when considered from the perspective of what other laptops (including Macbook Air’s 12 hrs battery life) are offering in that price range. But still, it’s pretty good for most day-to-day tasks.
And as usually, the 7 hours battery life advertised by the company isn’t the life that your laptop will give you all the time. The actual battery life that you get will depend a lot on your usage. If you start watching HD videos on YouTube or Netflix, the laptop will run out of juice sooner than that. Same applies to gaming as well. But regular work and internet browsing should be able to get you 5 hours at least, which is not a lot, but generally good enough.
Verdict (8/10)
In the end I’d like to say that this is a pretty solid laptop from a brand whose potential is often underrated as a laptop manufacturer. Asus has put together an awesome combination of powerful hardware and software, which seems worth every penny when considered against its price. The only disappointments are in the battery life and the annoying bloatware, but overall this is a very good high-end laptop that you’ll love to own.
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