The scalpels are out and the specs revealed in this post about the ASUS Zenbook UX31E. As I work with this laptop I am increasingly impressed with how well it works and what it delivers. One question that I am consistently asked is, “Why would you buy a Zenbook when you can just use a tablet?”
It’s a good question. Why would you? Personally, I would not choose one over the other as they each offer an entirely different experience to the user. The ASUS Zenbook may be pricier than the average tablet but it has several advantages that make me feel it is worth looking at when you are in the market for ultra portable technology.
To start with, the weight of the Zenbook, a mere 1.3kgs, when compared to the specs is extraordinary. Sure, a tablet is light, but with the laptop you are given more screen real estate to work with – and this is, to me, an important factor for working heavily while on the move – and more keyboard space. While working on the smaller tablet keyboard is simple and flexible enough, when you are smashing out words at high speed, there is less margin for error when using the expanse offered by the Zenbook.
Let’s start with the specs. The ASUS Zenbook UX31E is 3mm at the front and 9mm at the rear, the spun metal and aluminium housing holds the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine II with instant on two-second resume, four to five times the usual standby time, automatic data backup and recovery and 25% longer battery life. I will be testing that in another post anyway…
You also get a SATA Revision 3.0 SSD, USB 3.0, the Intel Core i7 2677M processor and Intel QS67 chipset, and DDRs 1333MHz SDRAm on board memory. The Intel i7 processor is power efficient and can handle four threads in parallel with the Intel Hyperthreading technology. It has a low base frequency but has the potential to clock higher speeds, up to 2.8GHz, with the built-in Turbo Boost delivery high speed performance in a super light shell.
The graphics are supplied by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 that clocks at either 350 or 1200MHz – the latter when Turbo Boost is used – which is unlikely to play the higher end games but can manage a fairly impressive list of the most recent. You can see a list offered up by Intel here.
The ASUS Zenbook UX31E has a 4-in-1 card reader, ample storage, integrated 802.11 and Bluetooth, a headphone out jack, a USB 2.0 port as well as the 3.0, one micro HDMI and one mini VGA port. The display is 13.3 HD inches with an LED backlight and is so very, very nice and thin.
Tamsin