GADGET GIZMO REVIEW Asus' Zenbook UX303

GADGET GIZMO REVIEW Asus' Zenbook UX303

DECEPTIVELY POWERFUL

Asus' Zenbook UX303 offers top-notch specifications in a sleek and sturdy all metal design without compromising on the ports or battery life

Asus launched the UX305 last year and we loved it because it had great design and performance at a surprisingly low price. Now Asus has launched the UX303 -it offers similar design but solves some issues we had with the UX305.

The main improvement is in terms of the hardware. The older UX305 had limited performance because it had an Intel Core M processor and Intel graphics. On the UX303, you get a 6th generation Intel core i5 processor and Nvidia 940M graphics with dedicated 2GB memory . This makes the notebook capable of handling gaming at medium to high settings.Although, while the UX305 came with a 256GB SSD, this one has a 1TB hard drive (5,400rpm). There's no doubt that the SSD would have pushed the performance to a new level. We wish Asus offered an SSD as an option on this one too.

That being said, this laptop is no slouch! The hardware had no issues playing a full HD video file or running games like Serious Sam and Call of Duty 4 at high settings. Even image and video editing was smooth thanks to the Nvidia graphics card. With brightness set to maximum, the notebook managed to deliver over 5 hours of battery life while running a full HD video on VLC player in a continuous loop. With regular usage -web browsing, documents and multimedia -we got roughly 7 hours, quite impressive for a notebook this thin.

As you can see, design is a big feature of the Zenbook UX303. It weighs just 1.45kg and has a gold finish all-metal chassis.The lid has Asus' signature concentric circle pattern for added style. On the left are two USB 3.0 ports and a SD card reader while the right side has another USB 3.0 port, DisplayPort and HDMI out. The tapered design of the notebook makes it easy to carry and hold even though it has full size ports. Asus includes a DisplayPort to VGA and an Ethernet adapter in the box. The 13.3-inch display has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels which keeps everything pin-sharp. The viewing angles of the screen are great but we feel that the brightness could have been better. Most likely a result of the slim design, the sound from the speakers is weak -good for personal use only . At `71,490, the Zenbook UX 303 is one of the sleekest notebooks around with a dedicated graphics card. For a slightly higher price, you can get the HP Envy 13 which also has similar specifications, an allmetal build and a 256GB SSD (although it lacks dedicated graphics).

Karan.Bajaj@timesgroup.com

ET23MAR16