WWW.T 3 INDIA.COM MARCH 2 019 T3 Tomorrow’s Technology Today 77Tested
t’shardtonottoglimpseatthenewAsusZenBook
13 withoutbeingamazedbyhowsmallittrulyis
especiallywhenheld.Notonlyisit 14 %smaller
thanthepreviousgenerationUX 331 butalsohasa
footprintlesserinsizethananA4sheetmakingitthesmallest
13 - inchlaptopintheworld.
Themetalfinishonthelidiselegantyetnotgarishtodetract
fromoperatingitinaprofessionalenvironment.Wegotthe
top-endmodelinRoyalBluecolourthatlookssuavepairedwith
theRoseGoldtrimmingabovethekeyboard.Speakingof,the
backlitkeysmakeitsuitablefornighttimebutthecramped
spacingisthebiggestcasualtyoftheminiaturisation.Thelayout
tooksometimegettingusedtobutthetactilefeedbackand
travelwasonpoint.TheUSPisthetrackpaddoublingasa
numberpadlightingupinneonblueoncethetop-rightcorner
ispressedwithsufficientforce.Whileitworksasintended,it
willremainacoolnoveltyformosttoshowoff.Thesmooth
glidingandresponsivegesturesonthetrackpaditselfwere
accuratealthoughitfeltatadshortwhennavigating.Thescreen
isabsolutelygorgeousflankedbyultrathinbezelsonthesides
andtopevenhousinganembeddedHDIRwebcam.While
WindowsHellounlockingissuperquick,thecameraquality
justaboutpassesmuster.A 1 3.3-inchpanelwithFullHD 1080 p
displayfurtherservestohighlightthesharpandcolourful
images.Thecolourreproductionispraiseworthyalthoughin
welllitenvironmentsitishardtoseeduetonotbeinganti-
glare.Onthebottomarespeakerstunedinconjunctionwith
HarmanKardonworkingfineinmostcases.Don’texpectmuch
intermsofloudnessorbass,bothofwhichwerealittlelacking.
TheErgoLifthingebelowthescreenhasmultipurposeusage
liftingthebaseoftheUX 333 abovethegroundleadingtobetter
cooling as well as ventilation, no muffling of sound and inclined
typing. The overall performance is great powered by a
competent Intel core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, SSD storage and
the option of switching between integrated Intel or discrete
Nvidia graphics. The former is perfect to stretch out the battery
life and the latter provides a bit more gruntwork in doing 3D
work like video rendering or casual gaming at lower settings.
A decent amount of ports were present on both sides supporting
almost all modern connections but pulling out plugged in
peripherals took more force as the slots were very tight. The
dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi isn’t just for show managing to tap out
nearly the entirety of our 100Mbps test connection. A mostly
polished experience in an impressive MIL-STD-810G certified
build is appreciable.
Asus raises expectations on what to expect from future 13-inchers
COMPACT POWER
I
PRICEFrom`88, 990 URLasus.com/in/DIMENSIONS
1 .69x30.2x8.9cmWEIGHT1.19kgCPUIntelI7-8565U
RAM8GBLPDDR3 GPUUptoNvidiaGeforceMX 150
STORAGE 51 2GBPCIEG3X 2 SSDOSMicrosoft
Windows 10 Home(64-bit)DISPLAY 1 3.3-inchFHDIPS
LCDRESOLUTION1920 x10 80 PORTS 1 xUSB 3. 1 Gen 2
Type-C, 1 xUSB3. 1 Type-A, 1 xUSB2. 0 Type-A,1xHDMI,
1 xMicroSDcardreader, 1 xHeadphone/microphonejack
WIRELESSCONNECTIVITYDual-band 802. 11 acWiFi,
Bluetoothv5.0BATTERY 3 Cell, 50 WVERDICT
WE’RE IMPRESSED Size, Display colours,
Key travel
WE’D IMPROVE Cramped keyboard layout,
Screen glare, ports tightness
THE LAST WORD Finally true portability is at
hand with the ZenBook 13WORDS ANKUSH MAHAJAN