Asus just can't stop cranking out hits when it comes to its laptop division. The company seems intent on world domination and thanks to its affordable prices coupled with high end specs it's becoming pretty clear that they'll stop at nothing to take over the market. Proof and point is the companies latest model; the Asus ZenBook UX330UA-AH54.
As part of the Zenbook lineup, the UX330UA-AH54 packs a stunning design along with top notch features such as a Kaby Lake i5 processor, a fingerprint reader as well as a 256GB SSD storage unit. Today we set out to know this laptop in depth as we find ourselves immersed in our review of the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54.
Check out the Asus ZenBook UX360CA-UBM1T we reviewed, a convertible laptop that packs a Core m3 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a Full HD touchscreen at an even more convenient price than the UX330UA-AH54.
Review of the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54
Timeless design, sturdy build
One of the things we love most about the Zenbook lineup is the design of its laptops. Asus has taken things to a whole new level in this regard and the UX330UA-AH54 is no exception to this.
Built with an aluminium body, the AH54 bodes a stylish yet sturdy design that manages to feel secure yet lightweight at the same time. Weighing in at roughly 2.6 pounds, this laptop weighs about as much as the 13 inch MacBook Air and measures just half an inch for a sleek and comfortable grip.
Another big plus when it comes to this model over the MacBook Air is that Asus decided to give its -relatively affordable model- a 13.3 inch Full HD display with anti glare coating and wide-viewing technology. All in all, its a pretty neat display for editing pics, videos as well as streaming the latest Marvel movie at high resolution.
The keyboard, as with all high end ultrabooks, is backlit and we especially appreciate the inclusion of a fingerprint reader located within the trackpad for a seamless unlocking experience courtesy of Windows Hello login technology.
Top of the line internals
While the design of the UX330UA-AH54 might be what caught your eye in the first place, you'll stay because of its internals. Specifically, everything under the hood of this notebook is top of the line. For starters we've got a Kaby Lake Intel Core i5-7200U dual core processor which clocks in at a base 2.5GHz and can stretch its performance all the way to 3.1GHz for more resource-intensive tasks.
This is the latest i5 processor to hit the market and as such performance is unparalleled. With this processor only your imagination is the limit when it comes to diving into some heavy duty tasks. Anything from running virtual machines to working with complex IDE's to editing pics on photoshop for hours on end, if you can think about it you can probably do it.
The only limitation in terms of performance is gaming since this specific model doesn't come with a dedicated graphics chip and therefore its performance when playing the latest games is less than stellar.
Moving onto RAM, we've got an 8GB DDR3 module which should be more than enough for power users and tends to hit the sweet spot in terms of performance for most users. In layman terms, 8GB of RAM should be enough for you to easily run several programs at a time without having any lags in performance.
Finally, storage is another virtue we found on the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54 review, as the notebook packs a 256GB SSD storage unit. If you've never used an SSD before you're in for a treat in terms of speed.
What's more, you couldn't have searched for a laptop at a better time since just a year ago it was incredibly rare to find anything above 128GB on a laptop with this price point and this set of specs.
Great battery life but limited gaming capabilities
As we mentioned previously on this review, the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54 houses a pretty impressive battery life that stretches out towards 9-10 hours with light usage. In this case, the key words would be "light usage" because an intensive usage such as video streaming while downloading programs at the same time could drain your battery in a matter of 2-3 hours so be warned.
Gaming at a "serious level" simply isn't in the cards. There's no dedicated graphics to speak off, just an integrated Intel HD 620 GPU which delivers good results on games such as Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch whilst playing at low details but won't go much further than that.
All in all, the graphics chip on this laptop is well suited for video editing as well as picture editing and streaming movies but it shouldn't be looked at seriously by gamers.
No DVD drive but there's a USB type C port
As expected due to its size, the UX330UA-AH54 lacks a DVD reader but it does manage to pack a couple of USB 3.0 ports as well as a standalone USB Type C port with Charger+ technology. There's also a microHDMI output, an SD card slot and an audio jack. When it comes down to wireless connectivity we've got WiFi ac connectivity as well as Bluetooth 4.1 support.
Closing arguments: To buy or not to buy?
In the spirit of wrapping up this review of the ASUS ZenBook UX330UA-AH54 we've gotta say that there are better laptops and there are cheaper laptops but the UX330UA-AH54 sits in a class of its own. We absolutely love its minimalist design with high quality craftmanship. We appreciate the latest generation Core i5 processor as well as the extensive SSD storage unit and ample battery life.
Obviously if you're a graphic designer you're gonna have to pass on this model due to its lack of a dedicated graphics chip but leaving that aside and unless your job requires an i7 then this is absolutely an excellent choice for you that will allow you to enjoy a high end laptop for many years to come.