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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C300fans - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
a 999$ copycat of AIR.rs2 - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
Except with better cooling and an infinitely better OS.morousg - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
Sorry... but you shoul read some OS desing books.Maybe they would help on understand why Microsoft is trying to get rid of Windows legacy OS, by pushing developers ot HTML5.
If they succeed, Windows 9 will only support HTML5 apps, so they can put any sort of OS, more stable and safe, that just loads an HTML5 browser. I think is a very smart move.
And also, I love all the Microsoft Office suit. I only envy Windows for having Visio, Access etc... But windows it self, is a crap, and Microsoft knows it veeeery well.
Kyrandia - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
The lag is not caused by power saving. If you look into the trackpad configuration, you'll find "ASUS SmartSense" or "ASUS Smart Detector", which is some kind of typing detection. If you enable it, trackpad is disabled while you are typing. However, it won't automatically reactivate in a period of time, but you need to touch the "reactivation area" to reactivate it. To make your life easier, you just need to disable this function or customize the activation area.AdamRS - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
I'm really looking forward to a review of the UX21's bigger brother....mainly because of the screen. I hope it is an improvement.Ogxite - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
Aren't the screen shots on the Intergrated VGA Camera page from OS X?stevenjklein - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
Anand wrote that he "can't quite pinpoint [the] inspiration for the Zenbook UX21's 45W power brick design."Anand, were you being sarcastic?
It is clearly a clone of the Apple's AC adapter, right down to the fold-up prongs.
See for yourself: http://www.power2battery.com/images/A1184acadapter...
Silenus - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
Lol yes...he was being sarcastic there.komoornik - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
Heat ? Noise?996miami - Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - link
Thanks. Well done. Will share with friends.