Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A-C4027H
Specifications
Notebook: Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A-C4027H (Zenbook Prime UX Series)Processor: Intel Core i7 3517U
Graphics Adapter: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Display: 13.3 inch, 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels, glossy: yes
Weight: 1.465kg
Price: 1500 euro
Average of 3 scores (from 5 reviews)
Reviews for the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A-C4027H
Ultra-Touchbook. Few laptops of 2012 impressed us as much as the premium Ultrabook from Asus. The model achieved a rare 90%. Everything was perfect - even the display maintained a high standard. Will the touch panel make this great model even better?
Source: Wired Magazine
WIRED Great touchscreen. You get the performance you pay for. Gorgeous brushed-aluminum body is still one of the best designs among Windows PCs. Bang and Olufsen speakers kick out some impressive audio for an ultrabook. TIRED Noisy fan. Touchpad is too sensitive with certain gestures, causing annoying swiping accidents. Glossy screen results in too much glare.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 03/05/2013
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Engadget
ASUS' Zenbook Prime line of Ultrabooks is a good thing that keeps getting better. The beautiful all-metal design paired with good performance has been a constant, and the keyboard and touchpad have improved over the last year. The UX31A Touch is very much an evolutionary update of the 13-inch Zenbook, as the real change here is just the touch-capable display -- and Windows 8, of course.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 12/31/2012
Foreign Reviews
Source: Notebookjournal
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 01/29/2013
Rating: performance: 70% features: 50% display: 90% mobility: 50% workmanship: 90% ergonomy: 50%
Source: Notebookinfo
DE→ENSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 01/04/2013
Rating: Total score: 93% performance: 90% display: 100% mobility: 90% ergonomy: 100% emissions: 88%
Source: HardwareLuxx
DE→ENPositive: up-to-date device; sensitive touchscreen
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/27/2013
Comment
Series:
The Asus Zenbook is still one of the best looking ultrabook out there, next to the Macbook Air. The only problem with the original UX32 was its price. The 13 inch model was far more pricy than any other ultrabooks. Asus decided to deliver a little of that good taste for far less the price with the new mid-range Zenbook.
With the same kind all metal body featuring a concentric circle design, the new UX32A looks every bit as good as the original Zenbook. To reduce its price, the 256GB SSD had to be replaced with a hybrid drive consisting of a 500GB hard disk and a 24GB SSD. Naturally this makes the new model a little thicker than the older one but that size isn’t a problem at all. It is still by farthest, one of the sleekest ultrabook out there. As a result of the thicker chassis, several additional ports could be included in this new model, which actually is better.
The fast boot-up and resume from sleep times still remains fast thanks to the tiny SSD but the cheaper model is crippled with an i3 processor of the older Sandy Bridge platform and an older generation graphics adapter as well. Due to this severe new generation technology shortage it is hard to see why a person would choose the UX32A over all the other ultrabooks in the same price range out there. Perhaps if exterior design is your only priority, it would serve you well. However, even the least tech savvy person might not consider an ultrabook with an i3 processor.
Intel HD Graphics 4000: Processor graphics card in the high end Ivy Bridge models. Offers a different clock speed in the different CPU models (ULV to desktop quad core) and therefore a different performance.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
3517U: Fast Ivy-Bridge-based ULV-CPU in Q2 2012. Offers a core clock of 1.9 - 3.0 GHz and an HD 4000 GPU (350 - 1150 MHz). The TDP is rated at 17 W.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
13.3": This is a common display format for subnotebooks. Netbooks, UMPC and some subnotebooks have tinier displays. Nevertheless, the majority of standard laptops has a higher format. The advantage of a small display is, that the subnotebook can be small dimensioned and can be carried easily. Further the small display needs few energy, which improves the battery runtime and in consequence the mobility. The disadvantage is that the reading of texts is a bit exhausting for the eyes, especially with high resolutions.» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
1.465 kg: This sub-notebook weighs less than the average of all notebooks and represents a medium class of weight among the sub-notebooks. 11 inch displays are normal for this class of weight.
Asus: ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated, a Taiwanese multinational company, produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems. The company's 2007 revenues reached US$6.9 billion. ASUS also produces components for other manufacturers. The Eee PC initiated the netbook boom in 2008.
83.33%: This rating should be considered to be average. This is because the proportion of notebooks which have a higher rating is approximately equal to the proportion which have a lower rating.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
