As being the successor of the original UX31 laptop, the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A comes with the several significant improvements. The company stated that this is basically the line of sleek PC ultrabook that will has the great potential to match the popularity of Apple’s MacBook Air laptop series. Therefore, let’s take a look at the following specs overview of this portable ultrabook to figure out whether it has what it takes to go head-to-head with MacBook Air and also for your personal reference.
Design
Same with the predecessor, the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A comes packed with the sleek all-aluminum material with the dimension of 13.3 x 8.9 x 0.44-0.66 inches and body-weight of about 3 pounds. The display measures 13.3 inches (Full HD IPS) with the max resolution of 1920x1080 pixels which will allow for the smooth 1080p video playback as well as the good viewing angles (wide 178-degree). The display provides the impressive brightness with its 423 lux which is higher than the MacBook Air (285 lux). On the downsides, you may experience that the touchpad (4.1†x 2.8â€) may be unreliable every now and then but on the other hand the keyboard is quite comfortable to use and it has been added with the back-light feature.
Performance
To boost the overall performance, this ultrabook has been packed with the third-generation of Intel Core i7 along with the 4 GB of RAM (DDR3). This kind of processor may provide the enhanced graphics performance through the Intel HD Graphics 4000 technology so it will be working properly when playing 3D games, displaying high-quality image and watching HD videos. For storing files, there will be the 128 GB of SSD which will deliver the top read speeds of 550 MB per second and also the maximum write speeds of 500 MB per second. For the software system, the device comes pre-loaded with the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) along with the Microsoft Office 2010 (trial version).
Battery Life
In terms of battery power, this device comes packed with the non-removable battery of 50 Wh that will last for about 6.5 hours on a single charge. As the comparison, the MacBook Air will last about 6 hours and 25 minutes while the original model will last for about 5 hours and 58 minutes.
Internet Access and Connectivity Features
In order to access the internet, users can utilize the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/a and there will be also the complete connectivity ports which include 2x USB 3.0, mini VGA, mini display port, micro HDMI and the 3.5 mm microphone/headphone combo. Unlike the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3, this ultrabook unfortunately lacks optical drive.
Price, Pros and Cons
The selling price of Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A is about $1.099. The advantages of this portable ultrabook will be the really bright and vivid IPS display, good wide viewing angles, swift Core i7 processor, clear speakers, and longer battery life. On the other hand, this ultrabook comes packed with the unreliable touchpad and the webcam is rather awful especially when it’s used in low-light situation.[IS]
