Asus UX31A-C4037H

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Reviews for the Asus UX31A-C4037H

67% Asus Zenbook Touch UX31A review
Source: PC Pro Archive.org version
In fact, there are only two areas in which the UX31A falls behind, the first of which is battery life. Even here, though, the Asus is far from awful: in our light-use benchmark it managed 7hrs 11mins, which isn't amazing but still perfectly respectable. In the end, however, the main gripe we have with the Zenbook Touch UX31A is its price. It performs well in every category, and it's drop-dead gorgeous to boot, but at £1,500 it's simply too expensive to recommend. For our money, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 and Dell XPS 12 are by far better buys.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 12/04/2013
Rating: Total score: 67% price: 50% performance: 83% features: 83% workmanship: 83%

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.

Non demanding games should be playable with these graphics 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.  

3537U: Fast Ivy-Bridge-based ULV-CPU in Q1 2013. Offers a core clock of 2.0 - 3.1 GHz and an HD 4000 GPU (350 - 1200 MHz). The TDP is rated at 17 W.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

13.30":

Above all, this display size is used for subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles. For all three types, this size is quite large. The biggest variety of subnotebooks is represented with this size.

Large display-sizes allow higher resolutions. So, details like letters are bigger. On the other hand, the power consumption is lower with small screen diagonals and the devices are smaller, more lightweight and cheaper.

1.5 kg:

In former time,s this weight was typical for big tablets, small subnotebooks, ultrabooks and convertibles with a 10-11 inch display-diagonal. Nowadays, often 15 inch laptops weigh as much.

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.

In the notebook sector, Asus had a global market share of about 11% from 2014-2016, making it the fourth largest laptop manufacturer. In the smartphone sector, Asus is not among the Top 5 and has only a small market share (as of 2016).

67%: This rating is bad. Most notebooks are better rated. This is not a recommendation for purchase.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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