ASUS Zenbook (UX21) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 22, 2011 8:00 PM ESTIntegrated VGA Camera
ASUS integrated a VGA camera into the display bezel of the UX21. Its performance is pretty much what you'd expect for such a small sensor. Given enough light you can actually send a halfway decent image at a high frame rate to someone at the other end of a Skype call:
Unfortunately if you're not in studio lighting, both image quality and frame rate suffer tremendously. The camera is still usable, but don't expect anything wonderful out of it:
Video Out
The Zenbook UX21 features two display outputs: mini VGA and micro HDMI. ASUS supplies a dongle to conver the former into a standard female VGA connector, while you'll have to supply your own cable for the latter. Maximum display output over VGA is 1920 x 1200 while it's 1920 x 1080 over micro HDMI. I tested both outputs and they worked as expected, with quick detection and switching times between outputs.
With an external display connected the Zenbook automatically shifts into clone mode. You can cycle through notebook panel or external only configurations by hitting fn + F8. There's also a dedicated combination (fn + F7) to blank the display entirely if you want a quick way to hide what you're working on.
Networking Performance: Wireless & USB Ethernet
ASUS integrated a very small Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 802.11b/g/n WiFi solution into the UX21. Unfortunately the specs of this particular radio aren't anything to write home about. It supports only 2.4GHz and a single spatial stream, limiting its performance to 72Mbps with 20MHz channels and 150Mbps with 40MHz channels. Unfortunately Apple's AirPort Extreme only supports 40MHz channels on the 5GHz band so my testing was limited to 20MHz channels at 72Mbps. Real world performance is obviously significantly lower than that, I measured about 50-60% of the link rate for most transfers within 10 feet of the AP. That works out to be around 5MB/s over 802.11n. If you can connect using 40MHz channels however, expect to see about twice the performance. ASUS is limited by the availability of 1/4 length PCIe WiFi solutions since the Zenbook uses that form factor. Apparently a 2x2:2 version is due out next year; we'll hopefully see it in time for the second generation Zenbook.
All Zenbooks ship with a USB to Ethernet adapter, enabling 100Mbps Ethernet if you need a wired connection. Inside the dongle is a ASIX AX88772B USB Ethernet controller. The controller works quite well, and I had no problems sustaining over 90Mbps in a transfer on my local network.
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KPOM - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
Nice review, as usual. The ASUS Zenbooks are the first credible competitors to the MacBook Air, in my opinion (far more than the Acer), in that they are nearly identically equipped, with some upgrades (faster SSD, better sound) at a lower price. Hopefully this pushes Apple a bit to do some upgrades for next year's Ivy Bridge MacBook Air (I wouldn't mind a better speaker and 6Gbps SSDs, and perhaps a small price drop for the upgraded models).C300fans - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
I fail to see any lower price comparing with AIR.madmark4 - Thursday, November 3, 2011 - link
Seriously?Let me step you through it then:
1) Base MBA, $999. Slower processor, 64gb SSD, and 2gb ram.
2) Base UX21, $999. Faster processor, 128gb SSD, and 4gb ram.
Did you happen to see the lower prices there? I think most do.
sapi3n - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
my problem with this piece of hardware is in the interface. I've got a core 2 duo Asus laptop that is quite good, but the keyboard is like typing on a rope bridge, forcing me to carry an external keyboard for anything expansive. I wish this wonderful company would start with the keyboard, and work outward.twotwotwo - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
Sounds like you find the bad display contrast pretty maddening. Are you saying you'd advocate Windows users get a Macbook Air just because of it, though? It's $250 more (system cost + getting Windows Home Premium) plus the fuss of setting up Boot Camp, and folks might prefer the Zenbook for the better SSD, the resolution, the USB 3/VGA/HDMI/Ethernet connection options, etc. The Air seems like a choice for graphics-focused folks or people looking for *the* most premium ultraportable there is, but it doesn't seem like the shoo-in choice for a typical mobility-focused Windows user.But if the display *is* a total dealbreaker I'd love to hear more about why. A dull grey backlight bleed sounds annoying, but reflections from a glossy screen coating seem worse to me and reviewers seem to mostly accept the trend towards glossy displays. But I can't really do any comparisons since I don't have a Zenbook sitting around (or a ThinkPad X1, which seems to have the same contrast level), so your insight would be interesting here.
Does sound like a pity about the Asus's touchpad. :/
agent2099 - Sunday, October 23, 2011 - link
I'm disappointed with the maximum resolution for the microHDMI port. It only does 1900x1080 which means you cannot connect it ton a 24" monitor at native res (1900x1200). Is this just a limitation of the microHDMI port or for all intel HD graphics. For some of the other laptops out there that have full size HDMI, can you output 1900x1200 native?repoman27 - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
The HD Graphics in 2nd Gen Intel Core processors support HDMI 1.4 features, one such feature being the Micro HDMI connector itself. Intel is a bit vague as to the maximum resolution using HDMI, although they clearly note that 2560x1600 is achievable using DisplayPort 1.1. It's odd that the spec here is for less than 1920x1200 since even HDMI 1.0 supported resolutions that high. Although 1920x1200 displays seem to be going the way of the dodo due to the onslaught of 1920x1080 "Full-HD" panels, it's still curious to see such a seemingly arbitrary limitation.Watwatwat - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
if you are just using this anywhere, on your lap even, viewing angle becomes key, esp with such a small short display. they really dropped the ball going brighter instead of wider.rs2 - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
Sorry, but you must be dreaming. Either that, or your requirements for labeling something "extremely responsive" have seriously been slipping. Extremely responsive doesn't mean "static content scrolls smoothly across the screen and looks pretty", it means more along the lines of "when I launch an app, I don't have to wait 5 to 10 seconds for it to load and become usable" and "I can switch easily and quickly between multiple applications, without losing my view of any of them if I so choose" and "my device doesn't need a full minute to power on from a cold start".Today's tablets are a world away from being "extremely responsive" by any reasonable set of criteria.
alxx - Monday, October 24, 2011 - link
So any chance of giving this a review with it running linux ?fedora 15 or ubuntu ?
Is it full bluetooth 4 support or limited ?
Does it support HS , low power and low energy or ???