ASUS Zenbook (UX21) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 22, 2011 8:00 PM ESTPerformance
Raw CPU performance of the Zenbook's UX21 is obviously within the realm of the 11-inch MacBook Air, however its SSD really pushes it ahead of the MacBook Air in a lot of the PCMark 7 tests. PCMark tends to emphasize the benefits of an SSD but it really does illustrate just how much of a difference an SSD can make. A lot of the faster systems we've reviewed with mechanical drives simply feel slower than the Zenbook as a result of the latter having an extremely capable SSD. If there's any impact that Ultrabooks have on the market I hope it's the more widespread use of SSDs by OEMs.
Gaming performance is not a strong suit of the Zenbook UX21. Pretty much anything with a half-way decent discrete GPU is going to put this thing to shame. While you can play some games on the Zenbook, if you're planning on doing any real gaming with your notebook you probably don't want an Ultrabook.
Boot and Resume Time
ASUS did a lot of BIOS optimization work to make the UX21 boot as quickly as possible. In its default configuration you don't see a POST screen; instead you get a quick flash of the ASUS logo before immediately being dumped into the Windows 7 startup sequence. The whole process from power off to desktop takes 16.7 seconds, which is actually marginally little quicker than a MacBook Air from off to OS X (17.2 seconds).
Resume time is even more impressive. By default the UX21 goes into a suspend-to-RAM state when you shut the lid. Resuming from this state takes just a hair over 2 seconds (I measured anywhere from 2.04—2.22 seconds)—it's quick. The WiFi usually takes a couple more seconds to become active beyond that, and Windows doesn't remember your previous brightness setting just whatever setting the active power plan was set to upon resume. Other than those two hiccups, the experience is just awesome.
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Lu-Max - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
I own a UX31E and I can confirm that the Atheros AR9485WB-EG WIFI adapter installed in it is 2.4GHz capable ONLY. I was very disappointed when it would not connect to my N AP which was running in 5GHz mode.I confirmed this information with ASUS Technical Support. I could not find this specification listed anywhere for the Zenbook, not even on the ASUS site. Had I know this prior to purchase it would have been a key decision factor.
chrnochime - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
You whining about this laptop? Don't buy it. There's a new concept.Oh and btw 5GHz has sh!tty range/wall penetration so not everyone wants great speed at short ranges and no signal beyond that at all.
Filiprino - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
Adding 5Ghz is $10 more at most. And 5Ghz is less prone to interferences. It's great for videostreaming, backups...jjj - Saturday, October 22, 2011 - link
Crappy perf,crappy battery life,crappy screen,crappy connectivity ,overpriced but thin.Devo2007 - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
You forgot to add "crappy post" at the end. Crappy trollduploxxx - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
expensive typing machine is a better word... afterall that is what you can do with it.fancy, fast enough cpu and HD without any graphics performance. Sure i can believe that it will only start to increase sales when IVY arrives, then they might finally be able to achieve some level of graphic performance.
silly OEM always follow the silly Intel rules just to sell there way to expensive cpu.
B3an - Saturday, October 22, 2011 - link
Nice first attempt. But i'd also like a better display, specifically better viewing angles, thats most important. Secondly i'd like a higher res for the 11 inch model, and 1080p for the 13 inch model. If this atleast had better viewing angles i would have bought this right away. Shame.I love how the battery life on this is better than the AIR, even with improved specs but same battery capacity on the Zenbook.
Impulses - Saturday, October 22, 2011 - link
Any plans to review the UX31 or will it be too redundant? I'm curious whether that model's screen will fare any better... I think it's probably gonna be the more popular model too.JarredWalton - Saturday, October 22, 2011 - link
Should be coming soon....Impulses - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
Cool, thanks!