The Asus Zenbook UX303LN is the latest addition to this series, and it will be the most powerful 13-inch Zenbook for 2014 and early 2015. It follows the same formula as its predecessors, with a thin and light metallic body, top features, quick hardware, and more powerful graphics than have ever been squeezed into an ultrabook in this class. It most certainly is, and our comprehensive review will tell you all you need to know about the Zenbook UX303LN.

Asus Zenbook UX303LN Price $750 (Approx)

Asus Zenbook UX303LN Released Date June 2014

Let's take a look at the Asus Zenbook UX303LN in more detail. The Asus Zenbook UX303LN is a gorgeous casing laptop. With its new screen hinge and glass-covered casings, the Asus Zenbook UX303LN pulls most of its lines from the 2012 Asus lines rather than the updated 2013 models. And that's a decision I appreciate, first because I've never been a fan of the fingerprint magnet Gorilla Glass layer, and second because, as you'll see later, the cooling implementation is actually better on this approach. 

The entire laptop is composed of metal, and it seems more robust and well-constructed than previously. There are no misaligned pieces, and the attention to detail is exactly what you'd expect from a high-end smartphone. The lid and inner sides are cut from a single block of aluminum, while a sheet of metal covers the belly, which is now thicker and more robust than on previous Zenbooks, ensuring that the laptop does not creak when picked up.

In terms of design, the UX303LN resembles a Zenbook in appearance. The concentric circle's pattern on the lid cover is still there, but it's a little more subdued (and easier to wipe clean of smudges), and the brushed aluminum that covered the palm rest on previous Zenbooks has been replaced with a smoother, softer finish with a barely visible and almost indistinguishable texture. All of these minor tweaks may not appear to be significant at first glance, but they do, in my opinion, offer the new Zenbook a more refined appearance.

Some design decisions irritate me, such as the cooling grid hidden behind the screen's hinge, which directs hot air towards the display and indirectly towards the user, the Power button integrated into the keyboard as the top-right button, or the tall and sharp front-lip, which aggressively cuts into my wrist when using the trackpad or arrow keys. But I'm sure I'll be able to live with them. 

On a more practical level, I enjoy the UX303LN's robust port selection, which includes three USB 3.0 ports, full-size HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, and a card reader (which still can't completely fit an SD card), and various adapters (USB to LAN and mini-DP to VGA). I particularly like the balance of this laptop, as the screen can be readily raised with one hand while the body remains flat on the tabletop.

While the Asus Zenbook UX303LN does not follow the design lines of its predecessor, the Asus Zenbook UX303LN does inherit the keyboard and touchpad. I'd say it's a decent keyboard, with some flex in the center but a lovely feel and appropriate-sized square keys. They don't have a lot of travel, so getting used to this keyboard will take some time, but they're sturdy enough to register commands even when pressed on the sides.

Furthermore, I prefer the traditional layout, with the exception of the Power Button in the top-right corner, which you will find yourself pressing frequently when seeking Delete. And, although being firmer than the other keys and hence more difficult to engage, it nevertheless switches off the laptop when accidentally hit. The keyboard is, of course, illuminated, and you can adjust the brightness manually by pressing the FN + F3/F4 buttons (3 different settings, plus OFF).

The TouchPad is big, with beveled edges that nicely divide it from the palm rest. Although the glass surface does not provide much friction, it is precise and sensitive when executing casual taps or motions. The entire pad is clickable, but because the clicks are stiff and noisy, you'll probably end up taping it more than really clicking it. As a side note, the older Zenbooks were plagued by jittery and unreliable touchpads, but the UX303LN's isn't one of them. In fact, I'd describe it as gentle and precise. Overall, there isn't much to complain about when it comes to the keyboard and touchpad. On some gadgets, you'll find better, but these aren't awful either.

The new Zenbook has the same 13.3-inch 3200 x 1800 px IPS touchscreen as the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (hardware ID SDC424A), which has been a source of controversy. It's sharp, and most things will appear fantastic on it thanks to Windows 8.1's scaling enhancements, but you'll still run into rogue third-party software that displays tiny text and buttons. I've been using it at native resolution with fonts scaled to 200 percent, thereby turning it into a glorified 1600 x 900 px screen, which is actually quite enjoyable to use as long as the software stays up. Setting it to a lesser resolution, on the other hand, will result in blurry and unusable fonts. Even against dark backdrops, the panel is fairly bright, has wide viewing angles, and very little light streaming around the edges.

However, the colors are horribly off, particularly the yellows (although not exclusively), which have a Mustard-like hue. For further information, see the photo below, where I had this laptop next to the iPad Air. Because blue is the only reasonably true color, everything appears to be over-saturated. However, there is clearly a calibration issue with this device, which Asus will presumably address in future sale models. Lenovo and Samsung both experienced similar problems with their Yoga 2 Pro and ATIV Book 9 Plus ultrabooks, which they were able to partially solve with BIOS patches, so perhaps Asus will do the same.

However, as a side note, I'm baffled as to why a gaming laptop would have such a high-resolution panel. On the basis of scalability difficulties alone, this is certainly overkilled. It's not like the hardware supports running games at 1800p in the first place. Furthermore, certain games support pixel per pixel mapping, which means that if you drop the resolution in-game alone, rather than in Windows, they'll run in little windows in the middle of the screen. That's inconvenient.

To summarize, I hope that Asus will also offer the UX303LN with a normal Full HD IPS panel. That should resolve the scale and color issues, potentially improving battery life and lowering the ultimate sale price. Furthermore, they must resolve the calibration concerns with the QWHD panel, which will undoubtedly be included in the top configurations.

When you connect two devices together, you can share information or even send files back and forth. For example, you can connect your smartphone to your computer via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Or you can connect your laptop to your TV using HDMI cable.

The interfaces have been placed in the back portions of the sides, preventing them from interfering with the use of an external mouse.

I have the Zenbook UX303LN in the best possible configuration, with the upgraded Intel Haswell Core i7-4510U processor, 12 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD, as well as the dedicated Nvidia 840M graphics. So it's no surprise that the UX303LN excels at everything from fundamental activities to gaming and multimedia entertainment. 

This laptop can also be upgraded in part. The backplate is held in place by a number of Torx screws (T5) and is rather easy to disassemble with the correct equipment. To access to the two P20 screws behind the rear rubber feet, you'll have to peel those off. You'll need a flat screwdriver, but be careful not to harm the metal. The motherboard has 4 GB of RAM soldered on it, plus a spare memory slot that can take up to an 8 GB module, for a total of 12 GB of RAM.

There's also a 2.5-inch 7-mm storage drive, but it's occupied by a SanDisk SD6SP1M-256G-1102 SSD in a special adapter, which is essentially an NGFF M.2 pen-drive, identical to the Zenbook UX301LA's. Asus most likely choose this route to save money, but I believe the UX303LN will also come with HDDs that you can swap with your own 2.5′′ 7mm SSDs.

To support this idea, we have a mSATA connector on the right side of the laptop, which is empty on this particular machine and should take the caching SSD for HDD-equipped models. If you desire, you should be able to use this free slot to connect a half-size mSATA SSD as a boot drive.

Overall, the Asus Zenbook UX303LN is a quick machine. The Core i7-4510U is simply a faster version of the Core i7-4500U, thus you won't notice the difference in everyday use or benchmarks. However, the Nvidia 840M graphics chip is noticeably quicker than the Nvidia 730M featured in the UX302 from last year, despite consuming roughly the same amount of electricity.

However, under load, the entire laptop appears to run a little hotter. In reality, when playing games, the CPU can reach and even exceed 90 degrees Celsius, which is extremely hot. The good news is that there is no throttling, but the high temperatures may have long-term negative repercussions on the silicone. So, if you do decide to purchase this laptop, make sure you get it with an extended warranty.

Some of you mentioned trying to overclock the 840M processor, but I'm not going to do it on a pre-release model because this laptop already runs hot under load. If you do decide to overclock your machine, make sure you understand what you're doing and keep a watch on the temperatures.

The Turbo can potentially run at 3.1 GHz (single-core), however, our experiments haven't confirmed this. In both single and multi-core modes, Cinebench R15 maintained a steady 2.8 GHz. In the Cinebench multi-core test, the i7-4510U achieved the same results in battery mode as the i7-4510U. (high-performance).

In battery mode (energy conservation mode), the clock rate slowly decreased, and the computing performance suffered as a result. During continuous Cinebench multi-load operation, the CPU decreased to 800 MHz on a regular basis. The duration of these decreases grew longer, and after three minutes, the SoC was stable at 800 MHz. When compared to the competition, the UX303 is a standout. Core i5 devices trail behind by about 20%, whereas other Core i7-based versions (Portégé Z30-A-12U) are comparable.

What is the cause of the system benchmark's "inferiority"? A look at the PCMark 8 Storage score indicates a very high result, which is backed up by excellent CrystalDiskMark 3.0 and AS SSD ratings. As a result, it isn't owing to a purportedly slow SanDisk SSD. On the other hand, competitors with SSDs, such as the Dell XPS 13, Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus, HP Spectre 13-3010eg, and Gigabyte P34G v2, all scored around 10% worse in storage tests. 

The GeForce 840M is a mid-range GPU found in several low-cost entertainment devices. As may be observed, it has approximately 60% more computing performance than the integrated HD 4400. With Turbo enabled, the GPU core can run at speeds of up to 1124 MHz. In all games and the FurMark GPU stress test, this was the case. Even when there was no concurrent CPU load, performance was limited to 640 MHz in battery mode (e.g. via Prime95 in the stress test). Cinebench R15's OpenGL test concluded at 28 frames per second in battery mode (AC mode: 57 fps). For this benchmark, the Optimus driver was compelled to use the 840M.

We've looked at the 840M's gaming performance in a variety of laptops before. The GeForce reached its regular level in the UX303, as it did in Thief with the UX32LN. Some modern games can even be played in native FHD resolution without stuttering. This does not apply to demanding games that already fail with medium settings (Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Thief).

The UX303LN has two fans to keep it cool. In its UX32LN, Asus employed a dual-fan design (840M-version). The advantage is that because the CPU and GPU waste heat are segregated, one fan can occasionally be turned off. While idling, our UX303LN shut off both fans, leaving us with a totally silent device (29.5 dB(A) base noise measurement room).

Both fans were spinning slowly with only 34.3 dB (A) in simple load. The stress test yielded a sound level of 38.2 decibels (A). The vent's location will very surely benefit the emissions. The apertures are on the backside and discharge into the hinge.

The gains achieved in noise reduction are lost in waste heat generation. The 13-inch UX303 runs a little hotter than the previous UX32LN, especially when loaded. However, a temperature difference of only a few degrees is minor, and it could indicate a problem with measuring precision. When compared to the competition, our review sample stands out, especially when the second heat source, the GeForce 840M, is taken into account. In terms of overall surface temperatures, only Apple's MacBook Pro Retina 13 comes close.

We ran the stress test for nearly two hours and got a stable clock that was somewhat above the nominal 2.1 GHz range. For a brief while at the start of the test, the clock was set to 2.8 GHz. There were no negative impacts of stress on the performance. The 3DMark 11 test that followed yielded the same results as a cold start.

Speakers

The speakers are under the right and the left wrist rests. The sound is acceptable, despite the little hole. Despite the Bang & Olufsen trademark, the consumer should not expect substantial depths or good-sounding bass. At the very least, the small soundbox can provide a high volume without damaging the membrane. There is a hint of treble, but the concentration is on the mids, as it is with most laptop speakers.

In the category comparison, long battery runtimes indicate very low power consumption. Is this correct? The UX32LN, on the other hand, performed at a similar speed due to nearly identical hardware but consumed around 8 Watts more during the stress test. Asus has managed to keep the UX303LN's idle power usage much below average despite its high brightness, which does not bode well for the other competitors. Recharging a fully empty battery takes about 3:30 hours with the small 65-Watt power supply.

The battery life is at an all-time high. 13 hours of idle is insignificant to the user; who would want to sit in front of a gadget without Wi-Fi, using the lowest brightness, and typing in Word for 13 hours? In the Wi-Fi browsing test, the time of 9:40 hours is more realistic. For this test, the brightness was set to 140 cd/m2 in energy saver mode (ambient light sensor off, dimmed 6 levels). Despite having the same capacity, the UX32LN (50 Wh) falls short (-36%). The competition is likewise beaten, with just Apple's MacBook Pro Retina 13 (72 Wh) being able to compare. It took 7:46 hours to render an H.264 trailer in Full HD. Flight mode was enabled, and the brightness was adjusted to 140 cd/m2.

Asus has once again put up a circular bundle that will appeal to subnotebook lovers who place a high value on looks. With a weight of 1.43 kilograms, the case made from one piece of light metal feels wonderful and is still pleasant to carry around. Although the matte FHD IPS panel lacks awe-inspiring contrasts, it is bright and has excellent color accuracy (calibrated).

Nvidia's GeForce 840M is unquestionably the UX303's USP, as it qualifies the device for today's best games. Despite the addition of a second heat source, waste heat and noise emissions remain minimal, and in certain instances are even better than competitors without a dedicated graphics card. Non-gamers can opt for the UX303LA variant, which comes with built-in graphics.

Due to its exceptionally efficient idle periods, the UX303LN achieves a runtime of nearly ten hours, easily outrunning most of the competitors in the $1140 to $1520 price bracket. There is also excellent maintainability because the base plate can be easily removed by removing the tiny screws - no hooks or buttons are required. The inadequate webcam is a small flaw, but the very low-noise microphone makes up for it.

Very nice: In the base configurations (HDD, i5, HD+), even purchasers on a tight budget can enjoy a high-quality casing and decent input devices. However, we cannot say whether a screen with a resolution of 1600x900 pixels will be able to meet the high level.