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
The Test
To keep the charts clean and simple I omitted a lot of the config details of each of the notebooks. For your reference, here's the configuration of each of the notebooks in our tests:
Dell Inspiron 11z (SU4100 + GMA4500 + HDD + 56Wh)
Performance
As I mentioned earlier in this review/preview, the deal ASUS worked out with Intel prevents us for discussing clock speeds or specifications of the ULV Ivy Bridge silicon in the Zenbook Prime. Obviously the silicon is going to fit within the same 17W TDP as its predecessor so don't expect huge differences in clock speeds.
If you take into account Quick Sync and its SSD, the Zenbook Prime is an extremely quick solution. Looking at the breakdown of PCMark scores you get a much more realistic look at where the ULV IVB fits into things.
In some areas the Sandisk U100 holds the Zenbook prime back, here it's actually slower than its predecessor. Despite all of its issues throughout most of last year, SandForce was always fast.
I threw in a PCMark Vantage graph as we have a lot of older data in that benchmark that can help put things in perspective:
It's amazing the sort of performance gains we're able to show over the older Core 2 based ultra portables like the Dell Inspiron 11z and Adamo 13. Again we see a slight performance deficit versus the SandForce based UX21E.
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sonelone - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I really wish more manufacturers would do something similar to Sony's Vaio Z series, having a slim ultrabook but also giving it the capability of a dedicated GPU when plugged in. The UX31 would be the perfect laptop for me if it had that.Impulses - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Are you gonna be reviewing the larger model as well?JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Yes, both of them is the plan. Stay tuned....nortexoid - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
They should seriously consider a Trinity option. Nobody will be doing heavy CPU lifting on an 11 inch ultra book so Trinity will be more than adequate in the CPU department. Imagine how awesome it would be to play games with decent frame rates on this thing.piroroadkill - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Have you checked HD 4000 performance? It's not stunning, but it's way better than I imagine you think..bleh0 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I've seen them and while they are close Trinity could be put in with lower costs, similar battery life, and in some cases better gaming performance.Since the models don't ship with Thunderbolt you aren't losing any ports either.
ananduser - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
HD4000 barely offers playable rates. And when it does the experience as a whole is choppy. So, if you're willing to spend top dollar on an ultrabook, you better not care about light gaming.JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Define "light" gaming. For me, it means 1366x768 and low to medium detail levels, and for that the HD 4000 is certainly adequate. Now if you're wanting medium to high detail settings and a higher resolution -- never mind native 1080p! -- than no, HD 4000 isn't going to be remotely close.chrnochime - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Now that the display is finally not the cause of the whiner's reason for whining, I wonder how many are actually going to put the money where their mouth is and buy this laptop.Sunburn74 - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
Nah they'll just find things to complain about like how 4gb of ram isn't enough and how it doesn't make them coffee in the morning and take the dog out for a walk. Its really sad actually, how when anyone who's not apple makes a marvelous machine that is darn close to perfect, the PC community (with its schizophrenic mindset) just criticizes it and eventually ignores it to death. Hopefully that won't happen here.