ASUS Zenbook Prime (UX21A) Review: The First of the 2nd Gen Ultrabooks
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 22, 2012 2:46 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- CPUs
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
- Zenbook
- Zenbook Prime
- Ultrabook
- Notebooks
GPU Performance
Peak synthetic GPU performance sees a sizeable boost compared to the previous generation Zenbook. 3DMark 11 requires DX11 hardware and thus the original Zenbook won't run on it, but the rest of the 3DMark tests give us some perspective.
Vantage shows us a 63% improvement over the HD 3000 based Zenbook UX21.
Here we see just how much better Intel's graphics cores have gotten over the years. The Inspiron 11z could barely run the entry level 3DMark Vantage suite, whereas the Zenbook Prime delivers nearly an order of magnitude higher score here.
Gaming Performance
We can say that the silicon in the Zenbook Prime's CPU features Intel's HD 4000, the upgraded 16 EU Ivy Bridge GPU. The result should be much improved gaming performance. Once again we are thermally limited so there are some cases where you won't see tremendous increases in performance.
At a high level, for any modern game, you shouldn't count on being able to run it at the Prime's native 1080p resolution. You need a discrete GPU (or Haswell) to pull that off. The former is a tall order for a machine that's already mostly battery. The good news is that 1366 x 768 is playable in many games.
Not all games will see huge performance gains, but the latest Batman title runs 30% quicker on the new Prime.
More CPU constrained and thermally bound environments won't show any improvement over the Sandy Bridge based Zenbook UX21.
The 61% increase in performance over the original Zenbook takes the Prime into the realm of playability at these settings.
Portal 2 is an interesting case as we are significanty CPU and thermal bound here. The Prime can reach frame rates as high as 39 fps, but after a couple of runs you see degradation into the 32 - 37 fps range. On average, there's no improvement in performance compared to its predecessor - there's no beating the laws of physics.
Diablo III
Last week Intel proudly showed me a demonstration of Diablo III running on Ivy Bridge's processor graphics, from a standard notebook all the way down to an Ultrabook. Eager to repeat the experiment myself, I fired up Diablo III on the Zenbook Prime.
Default settings at 1920 x 1080 were understandably unplayable. Dropping the resolution down to 1366 x 768 and clutter density down to medium however gave me an average of around 17 fps outdoors and 20 fps in early crypts. Given that Diablo isn't a twitch shooter, these frame rates were actually playable - all I needed was an external mouse.
As a primary gaming system, any Ultrabook this size is going to fall short. However, if you need to get your Diablo fix in while on the road, the Zenbook Prime will deliver in a pinch.
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Pneumothorax - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Finally,my days of running bootcamp on a MBA are coming to an end!g1011999 - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Beginning of new retina display MBA?Endeavour1934 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
2 years ago when Sony first released the VAIO Z with the 1920x1080 display, they said that because the grid of pixels was more dense, it needed 25% more backlight power than the 1600x900 version in order to have the same level of brightness.Maybe the same thing happens with this new IPS display, and that may be one of the reasons why the battery life is not better than the previous generation.
saneblane - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I've yet to see what's so ultra about this. The performance is not their, the gpu sucks and they are not Apple to be selling things with not much use. Good luck with this.CaioRearte - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Sorry Intel, but it seems AMD won the slim-notebook round. Intel can't catch up on video performance at this wattage, and tons of processing power aren't exactly what a laptop owner is looking for. Since AMD has been turning towards diverse computing methods for a while, and actively dedicating more to the graphics than to raw power, their products will be more balanced and enticing in the long run.Anyway, the UX32 with the dedicated 620M looks like a good contender, when are you getting your hands on it? :)
Lilian_Anne32 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I have the previous version of this which I bought a few months ago.... it didn't have a backlit keyboard or anything else I expected it to have, with the keyboard being annoying and all, but the laptop functions well. I was just curious if the first models are tradeable for a newer model?That extra USB port would be very useful for me right now.
TrackSmart - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Well, you certainly won't be able to trade in the older model, but you could easily sell it on Ebay when the new one comes out. If you are talking about replacing your keyboard for the backlit keyboard on the new one, I wouldn't count on it. It sounds like it has been substantially redesigned.On the plus side, you'll have enjoyed your new laptop for have a year by the time the new model comes out. There will always be a better model coming out in 6 months. Enjoy what you've got.
IntelUser2000 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I think the improvement in battery life can be attributed to the following:-USB 3.0 controller moving from a dedicated chip to a integrated one in the HM7x PCH
-Improved software/hardware build quality. Also maybe the Sandisk SSD offers bettery battery life?
-DDR3L memory? Ivy Bridge allows DDR3L support, and I've also read that the new Zenbook uses one
kenyee - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I know it's a copy of the Macbook Air, but 4GB isn't enough for people running VMs. And you know Apple is going to increase their memory limit with the next release ;-)Love the screen though...about time they started putting high density screens in these things...
theknowhow - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Confused on the configuration versus the price on UX32.As far as I can see, the $799 vs. $ 999 device differs only in additional HDD. I would have made sense if its an SSD difference
Am I missing something here?