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| arstechnica.com |
Adopting the runaway success of the slim and powerful MacBook Air, PC manufacturers have finally arrived on the scene with their own blade-thin models. The Asus Zenbook is one of the first compelling "ultrabooks" and certainly the most striking, with a brushed metal body and clean lines.
While we found the performance of the Zenbook to comprise unfaltering, it does fall short in a few areas like screen and sound quality (the 11-inch Core i7 we tested is also cheaper than the MacBook Air). But in one key respect it absolutely fall down hard: the trackpad is fickle and barely functional, to the point that using the Zenbook as a primary traveling work machine caused us a good deal of frustration.
Asus "The Body" Zenbook
The Zenbook is made almost alone of brushed or anodized aluminum, with a few darker accents of metal and plastic (the frame around the screen and the surface in which the keyboard is inlaid are both dark plastic). The computer vents heat under the screen through slots in the hinge, which is also entirely metal. While Apple's MacBook Air uses a strip of plastic in the hinge to help the computer better pick up WiFi signals, we didn't notice any signal problems with the Zenbooks.
Edges and corners of the Zenbook are sharp, altho the body is low-profile enough that we didn't have a problem with the edges digging into our wrists. The underside of the computer is slightly curved, and the computer can get pretty warm on the underside during moderate to heavy use. The area near the vents under the screen gets near-scalding hot while editing images.
The underside of the Zenbook has four rubbery feet all but a quarter of an inch high. When we received our loaner review unit, we found these feet were uneven, and placing the computer on a flat surface meant it wobbled when weight was placed on the lower right corner. We are certain we were not the first hands to touch this review unit out of the box, but none of the feet had sustained any significant wear-in fact, the foot that the computer wobbles onto is the only one that doesn't show any wear. At the end of our time with the Zenbook, the other three feet seemed to have worn in enough that the wobble was less pronounced.
Other than the feet, the feel of the Zenbook is quite hardy. No parts of the notebook squeak or creak or flex, and it felt like the expensive machine it is when I used it (so long as the heel of my right palm on the palmrest didn't rock it).
Whenever I would open the Zenbook, it was a toss-up whether the screen would lift smoothly away from the rest of the computer or would have to be prised apart like an oyster. If the hinge had comprised loosened up earlier in the day and we had opened and closed the computer a few times, it was easier to open and the bottom half would remain stable on a surface. If it had been a day or two since the computer was opened, we'd have to work a fingernail under the nub along the top edge to pry it open.
Once open, the body of the Zenbook is equilibrated relative to the weight of the screen. We could tip the display all the way back without the computer tipping with it. The profile of the computer is thin, measuring 9 millimeters at its thickest point and weighing only 2.43 lbs, thinner but heavier than the same size MacBook Air. The computer comes with a brown nylon and leather sleeve that snaps closed, which makes it easy to just throw in a bag and go. We hope you like brown envelope-style cases.
Only a handful of ports are on the Zenbook: a DC ability jack, USB 3.0, and micro-HDMI on the right, and USB 2.0, miniVGA, and headphone jack on the left, and included in the box are a USB-to-Ethernet adapter and a miniVGA-to-VGA adapter. The ports are sufficiently spaced and we had no issue plugging things in next to one another. arstechnica.com
While we found the performance of the Zenbook to comprise unfaltering, it does fall short in a few areas like screen and sound quality (the 11-inch Core i7 we tested is also cheaper than the MacBook Air). But in one key respect it absolutely fall down hard: the trackpad is fickle and barely functional, to the point that using the Zenbook as a primary traveling work machine caused us a good deal of frustration.
Asus "The Body" Zenbook
The Zenbook is made almost alone of brushed or anodized aluminum, with a few darker accents of metal and plastic (the frame around the screen and the surface in which the keyboard is inlaid are both dark plastic). The computer vents heat under the screen through slots in the hinge, which is also entirely metal. While Apple's MacBook Air uses a strip of plastic in the hinge to help the computer better pick up WiFi signals, we didn't notice any signal problems with the Zenbooks.
Edges and corners of the Zenbook are sharp, altho the body is low-profile enough that we didn't have a problem with the edges digging into our wrists. The underside of the computer is slightly curved, and the computer can get pretty warm on the underside during moderate to heavy use. The area near the vents under the screen gets near-scalding hot while editing images.
The underside of the Zenbook has four rubbery feet all but a quarter of an inch high. When we received our loaner review unit, we found these feet were uneven, and placing the computer on a flat surface meant it wobbled when weight was placed on the lower right corner. We are certain we were not the first hands to touch this review unit out of the box, but none of the feet had sustained any significant wear-in fact, the foot that the computer wobbles onto is the only one that doesn't show any wear. At the end of our time with the Zenbook, the other three feet seemed to have worn in enough that the wobble was less pronounced.
Other than the feet, the feel of the Zenbook is quite hardy. No parts of the notebook squeak or creak or flex, and it felt like the expensive machine it is when I used it (so long as the heel of my right palm on the palmrest didn't rock it).
Whenever I would open the Zenbook, it was a toss-up whether the screen would lift smoothly away from the rest of the computer or would have to be prised apart like an oyster. If the hinge had comprised loosened up earlier in the day and we had opened and closed the computer a few times, it was easier to open and the bottom half would remain stable on a surface. If it had been a day or two since the computer was opened, we'd have to work a fingernail under the nub along the top edge to pry it open.
Once open, the body of the Zenbook is equilibrated relative to the weight of the screen. We could tip the display all the way back without the computer tipping with it. The profile of the computer is thin, measuring 9 millimeters at its thickest point and weighing only 2.43 lbs, thinner but heavier than the same size MacBook Air. The computer comes with a brown nylon and leather sleeve that snaps closed, which makes it easy to just throw in a bag and go. We hope you like brown envelope-style cases.
Only a handful of ports are on the Zenbook: a DC ability jack, USB 3.0, and micro-HDMI on the right, and USB 2.0, miniVGA, and headphone jack on the left, and included in the box are a USB-to-Ethernet adapter and a miniVGA-to-VGA adapter. The ports are sufficiently spaced and we had no issue plugging things in next to one another. arstechnica.com
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