Asus Zenbook 13 UX331UA Review

Asus Zenbook 13

Asus is doing awesome in the Indian market in the smartphone section and even in the computer peripherals, laptop as well. Earlier we did review Asus UX360UA , Asus UX390UA, Asus UX303, overall we have seen UX series laptop on this website. And  this is one of its successor. Asus UX331UAL and I am going to tell you how amazing this laptop is capable to be the best.

Asus Zenbook 13
Asus Zenbook 13

Specification of Asus UX331UA

  • Intel Core i5 8250U (The model which we have for review) / Intel Core i7 8550U
  • 8GB RAM
  • 13.3″ (16:9) FHD (1920×1080) 60Hz Display 178 degrees of viewing angle
  • Intel UHD graphics 620
  • 256GB SATA3 M.2 SSD
  • Windows 10 home
  • VGA Web camera
  • WiFi Integrated 802.11 AC / Bluetooth V4.2
  • 2x Type A USB 3.1, 1X USB type C port
  • 1x HDMI supports HDMI 1.4
  • 1x MicroSD card 
  • 1x Audio jack combo
  • Built in 1W harman kardon speakers
  • 20 Whrs polymer battery
  • Power Adapter : Output – 19V DC 2.37 A 45W, Input: 100-240 V AC 50/60Hz Universal 3/2 pin compact supply
  • 2.5 lbs weight with battery

Inbox Content

  • Laptop itself
  • Power adapter and cable
  • USB type c to Lan port adapter
  • Carrying pouch
  • User guide and Warranty Information 

Build of the Asus UX331UA

Asus ROG series is personally my favourite but when it all comes to commute and travel a lot the heavy gaming laptop is not the choice. These are being Asus have specifically designed the UX series laptop and the latest product the Asus UX331UA is extra ordinary.  When I unboxed the laptop, it was thin and light. The structure did remind me of the MacBook but not precisely. It is 13.9mm thin with 2.5 lbs weight. 

Asus Zenbook 13
Asus Zenbook 13

Even after being thin it doesn’t lacks behind in the performance and doesn’t even lack behind in the ports section either. I will say still you get 2 full size USB ports with 1 type C port, audio jack, HDMI and MicroSD card slot.

Asus Zenbook 13
Asus Zenbook 13

The laptop is thin and more important you will open it with one finger, the lid as well as comes with Fingerprint scanner for the windows hello. It’s kind of cool to have a fingerprint scanner in the laptop.

Asus Zenbook 13
Asus Zenbook 13

Windows and Performance

In this section my always aim is to benchmark and prove that how well is the internal hardware. I initially started with My Computer properties to demonstrate the ram and processor.  

Asus Zenbook 13 UX331UA My Computer properties

The above image showcases the amount of RAM and the processor series and performance clock. Next we choose the DXdiag for the model number check. 

Asus Zenbook 13  DXDiag (Click on the image to enlarge) 

We forgot to get the screenshot the display tab but we have other important and in detail information of the hardware. Let’s start with CPU-Z one of the important hardware validation software which gives CPU details in all. 

CPU-Z details for CPU Tab for Asus Zenbook 13.

It does confirms the current clock speed and I can confirm it can be boosted till 4.0 GHz in case of the i7 inside. 

CPU-Z Cache tab for Asus Zenbook 13.
CPU-Z memory tab for Asus Zenbook 13

 The RAM size and the type of the RAM is been confirmed with the above screenshot. 

CPU-Z benchmark score for Asus Zenbook 13

So the single thread score the Asus Zenbook 13 in CPU-Z is 289.9 and for Multi-thread it is 1367.8. I think for the core i5 kaby lake processor inside the raw performance score is perfect.

GPU-Z information in the Asus Zenbook 13

There’s isn’t any NVidia or ATI graphics card inside, It does run with the Intel UHD graphics 620 inside single.

CrystalMark Info Asus Zenbook 13

The above screenshot showcases the Sata M.2 SSD used inside the Asus Zenbook 13. Over investigation confirmed the M.2 SSD is been manufactured by Hynix. Not a popular brand in India but it does performance brilliantly. 

CrystalDiskMark scores

The Asus Zenbook 13 with 256GB internal SSD does crush the performance benchmark.

Battery life

The 50Wh Li-po battery is definitely promising for the long battery life and Asus does claims 14 hours of battery life. In our test we did got 12-13 hours of battery life easily with 6-7 percent remaining in some cases. It’s definitely 3x than the normal laptop but indeed it’s with normal use and not heavy use.

Asus Zenbook 13
Asus Zenbook 13

Verdict

Overall we give the ultra book a pick for performance and light weight factor. It gives good color options but only limit to 256 GB storage could be a little choosing factor for some. We will definitely recommend it for the travel purpose.