Asus ZenBook UX330 Review - Review 2022

Does an ultraportable laptop have to be ultra-pricey? The Asus ZenBook UX330 (UX330UA-AH54) answers with a solid "no": Well-equipped with a Cadre i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB solid-state drive, this 13.3-inch laptop is just $699, or $400 less than a comparably configured LG gram xiii. It'southward a standout in the two areas that matter most for an ultraportable: office productivity and battery life. The ZenBook demands a look if you're seeking a compact that won't bust your upkeep.

Getting the Basics Right

Exclusive to Amazon.com, our test unit weighs 2.64 pounds, tied with the non-bear upon-screen version of the Dell XPS 13 Touch ($1,198.25 at Amazon) (2.seven pounds), though no match for the featherweight LG gram xiii ( at Amazon) (2.0 pounds). It measures 0.53 by 12.seven past eight.7 inches (HWD), somewhat bulkier than its peers—the XPS 13 is 0.half dozen by 12 by seven.9 inches—merely still a cinch to constrict into a briefcase.

Instead of the mark of Zorro, the Asus' aluminum lid carries the marking of ZenBooks, finely etched concentric circles radiating out from the chrome Asus logo in the middle. In that location's a piffling flex in both the lid and the plastic keyboard deck and bottom—enough to brand the screen wobble a flake when typing in your lap only not enough to make the organisation experience flimsy. A hefty bezel surrounds the display, dissimilar the nigh borderless XPS thirteen screen. A webcam in the superlative bezel takes well-lit, slightly soft-focus selfies.

Port selection is pretty good for an ultraportable. On the laptop's left side, y'all'll find a USB 3.0 port, an sound jack, and an SD carte slot. On the right are some other USB 3.0 port, a proprietary connector for the small power plug, a micro HDMI port, and a USB-C information port with no Thunderbolt 3 or arrangement-charging functionality. We could wish for a total-fledged Thunderbolt iii port (and for a micro to full-sized HDMI dongle in the box), merely we have to remind ourselves that this is a $699 consumer laptop, not a workstation. The ZenBook likewise includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

The backlit keyboard offers a fairly pleasant, pliant typing feel with adequate travel and a soft, just-this-side-of-mushy feel. The cursor arrow keys are tiny, merely they're arranged in a proper inverted T rather than an HP- or Apple-style row; they team with the Fn key for Home, Terminate, Page Up, and Page Down.

The Delete cardinal is next to the power button, which puts the system to sleep if hit accidentally rather than offering an "Are yous sure?" pop-up as some laptops with similar juxtapositions do. The buttonless touchpad with embedded fingerprint reader taps and glides smoothly, though it'southward a scrap stiff or resistant to clicks.

The full Hard disk (1,920-by-1,080) non-bear upon display delivers wide viewing angles and rich colors in everything from videos to pie charts. There's ample brightness, at least at the superlative three or four backlight settings; good contrast with deep blacks; and sharp detail for text and images alike. We'd like the screen to tilt back merely a few degrees further, simply otherwise charge per unit it Class A.

Audio from the UX330's front-mounted Harman/Kardon speakers is authentic and loud plenty to fill a medium-sized room, though nosotros found the AudioWizard software'southward default music fashion emphasized drums and bass over other instruments and vocals. There are also buttons for movie, gaming, spoken language, and recording modes.

Silver Streak

Our ZenBook UX330 features Intel'southward Core i5-7200U, a 2.5GHz (three.1GHz turbo) dual-cadre processor with Hyper-Threading and Intel Hd 620 integrated graphics. Teamed with 8GB of retentivity and a Micron 256GB SATA SSD, it delivered lively performance for everyday apps even when matched against the Core i7-based Razer and Dell, posting a course-leading iii,061 points in our PCMark 8 full general productivity criterion. The Stealth was hard on its heels with iii,032 points while the LG gram, with the same CPU every bit the Asus, managed 2,875.

See How We Test Laptops

The ZenBook's stop in our Adobe Photoshop paradigm-editing test was more anticipated, trailing the Cadre i7 contenders merely topping the Cadre i3-powered Lenovo ThinkPad 13 . And it took a disappointingly long 3 minutes and 5 seconds, a full infinitesimal backside the XPS xiii's time, to complete our Handbrake video-editing task.

Neither the UX330 nor any of its peers, all equipped with integrated rather than dedicated graphics, dazzled us in our 3DMark graphics test or Heaven and Valley gaming simulations; they're suitable for coincidental and solitaire games, not breaking the 30 frames per 2nd bulwark for smooth gameplay in fast-twitch titles. But the Asus scored a significant victory in our video-playback bombardment rundown test, lasting a full xiii hours on a charge. The LG came within half an 60 minutes of that fourth dimension while others showed lesser stamina.

Anybody'southward a Winner

You tin can argue that office productivity and battery life are the two virtually of import benchmarks for an ultraportable—that video editing is for beefier desktop replacements and games are for detached-graphics gaming rigs—and by that reckoning, the ZenBook comes through our testing wearing a crown. Combine that with a price hundreds below the competition, and you see why we're glad to recommend it.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/netbooks-products/17982/asus-zenbook-ux330-review

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