Asus UX31 Zenbook
The 'ultrabook' concept was announced by Intel earlier this year. The idea is to marry second-generation Core processors and sleek, slim hardware designs to deliver computing muscle without weight, and good looks without compromising on capabilities. Many pundits have commented that the ultrabook is Intel's way of encouraging notebook manufacturers to challenge Apple's MacBook Air.
Our first serious hands-on experience with an ultrabook, the Asus UX31 Zenbook suggests that there is potential for the concept — although the UX31 itself has some irritating flaws.
The thin, light, all-metal chassis is a highlight, but it also embodies some of those irritations. It looks stunning, and at 32.5cm wide by 22.3cm deep by 1.7-3cm thick and 1.3kg the UX31 is light and eminently portable. Slipping the Asus UX31 Zenbook into a small bag is no problem and the metal lid exhibits almost no flex. If you don't mind acquiring some inevitable scratches, there's no need for a protective sleeve.
But the base plate is made of metal too, and it's a single sheet. There are no expansion bays — for example to augment the 4GB of RAM — and there's no way to access the battery if you want to drop in a spare.
From an ergonomic point of view, I also found the bottom edge of the chassis a little sharp: when using the wrist rest, the bottom edge of the chassis makes its presence felt. If you lean heavily in this area you may find this uncomfortable.
While grumbling about the design, I also have an issue with keyboard. The 'chiclet'-style design looks great, but there's not much return on the keys and I had a tendency to miss out letters while typing as a result.
This problem receded slightly with reduced typing speed, but who wants to do that in order to accommodate their notebook? The touchpad also seemed less responsive than I'm used to.
The screen, by contrast, is great. The 13.3in. panel has a native resolution of 1,600 by 900 pixels, which makes it easy to have two document windows open side by side. I'd like to see more notebooks move to this resolution from the apparently almost universal 1,366 by 768. The screen's reflective coating won't please everyone, though.
The remaining specs have their pros and cons. A 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-2677M processor is top-notch, but the 128GB SSD leaves the system short on storage capacity. There's a USB 3.0 port, but only two USB connectors in all (the other being USB 2.0).
VGA-out is supported, but only via a mini connector, for which Asus provides a converter to a standard size. There's a mini HDMI connector too, but Asus doesn't provide a converter for that. The webcam's basic VGA (640-by-480-pixel) resolution is disappointing. And if you want Ethernet you'll have to use a USB converter, leaving you with just one available USB port. At least Asus provides a USB-to-Ethernet dongle.
The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium, graphics are Intel integrated, there's a headphone jack but no microphone connector, an SD card reader but no optical drive (you won't find the latter on any ultrabook).
Overall, the ultrabook concept impresses, but Asus could have executed it better here.
Sandra Vogel