Portable Power: Your guide to our high-end ZenBook line

When it comes to selecting a premium laptop, you’ll find a bigger budget doesn’t always make the choice any easier. The high-end is replete with options for those willing to spend a little more money, but there’s more to a good fit than a luxury finish. Thankfully, though ultrabooks were once one-size-fits-all with little consideration for the difference between a person who spends all their time in Excel and someone who spends all their time in Photoshop, the ZenBook family includes a variety of laptops designed to cater to your preference for screen size, resolution, performance, and yes, even budget.

Our premium ZenBook line is packed with options but each one includes the latest Intel processors with at least four cores and eight threads, and a minimum of 8GB of RAM to keep up with demanding workloads and manic amounts of multitasking. A lightning-quick SSD with at least 256GB of storage is standard issue for all of your files, and ample connectivity means there’s plenty of freedom for connecting external drives.

Ultrabooks are, by definition, ultra portable, so each laptop features an all-metal body that’s both light and durable, as well as exceptionally beautiful. Gold accents, diamond-cut edges, and our signature concentric circles on the lids lend loads of style without being at all ostentatious. A beautiful Full HD display with narrow bezels keeps your laptop nice and compact, and long battery life and backlit keyboards across the entire family ensure working on the move is never uncomfortable or inconvenient. Whether you’re a creative professional that needs some extra horsepower, or a grad student that wants something stylish and slim, read on to find a ZenBook that’s made for you.

ZenBook 14 UX431, the luxurious budget ultrabook

If you’re working within a budget but don’t want to compromise on premium looks or performance the ZenBook 14 UX431 has you covered. In addition to its stunning Utopia Blue metallic exterior, this ultrabook is slim and light at just 0.63” thick and 2.62 lbs. The compact chassis looks like a 13” laptop, but when you open it up, you’ll find a 14” IPS display with narrow bezels and a Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution squeezed into its frame.

There’s no skimping on performance, either. Even the baseline UX431 that starts at $799 USD boasts a quad-core Intel Core i5-8265U processor paired with 8GB of RAM and a speedy 256GB PCIe SSD. Another hundred dollars bumps you up to an even more powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-8565U chip and doubles the storage capacity to 512GB.

Despite its slim size, the keys offer a generous 1.4 mm of travel. Instead of flat chiclet-style keycaps, the stunning silver keys have a gentle scoop to improve tactility when you’re typing, and you get a more comfortable angle thanks to the way the ErgoLift hinge lifts the back of the laptop when you open the lid.

Perhaps also unexpected for an uber-portable ultrabook is the superb Harmon Kardon-certified speaker setup. They enjoy our smart amplifier technology that maximizes volume without distortion. The quad-speaker array is tuned with ASUS SonicMaster and includes two higher-frequency speakers on either side of the keyboard to deliver bright and crisp audio. The ErgoLift hinge once again plays a part by clearing space underneath the laptop for the two downward-firing bass speakers to push out a deep, rich sound.

No productivity machine would be complete without plenty of ports, so the UX431 has the requisite USB Type-A ports, one USB 3.1 Gen 1, and one USB 2.0, along with a reversible USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB Type-C port. The HDMI port gives you a near-universal way to connect to external displays, whether it’s a second monitor at your desk or a conference room projector. An SD card slot gives you an easy way to unload camera cards and the like without the need for a dongle, and of course, there’s an audio combo jack on board for plugging in headphones. You get dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 WiFi to ensure a fast and stable connection while you’re out an about.

It may seem like a dream to get a laptop this compact with such premium finishes and powerful components for as little as $799 USD, but the ZenBook UX431 is as real as can be.

The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 offer portability in many sizes

The ZenBook 13 UX333 has a great deal in common with the UX431, including the same excellent quad-core Intel Core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD, but it’s even more compact at just 11.9” wide. Thanks to the NanoEdge display, you get a 13.3” display in an impossibly small package. The Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution absolutely pops against the 2.8-mm side bezels, and wide 178° viewing angles keep the colors vivid when you’re sharing the screen with someone else. Full coverage of the sRGB color space ensures you see every shade as you work on creative tasks, too.

If you want to scale up without sacrificing the Rose Gold and Royal Blue aesthetic, you can opt for the ZenBook 14 UX433 with a 14” NanoEdge display. The UX433 can be configured with the same Intel Core i5-8265U CPU and 8GB RAM, giving you the same performance with the slightly larger Full HD display, but you can upgrade to more powerful internals, too. The Intel Core i7-8565U brings a higher clock speed of 1.8 GHz along with a 4.6 GHz Turbo clock. In addition to the speedier chip, the UX433 offers double the amount RAM to give you 16GB of DDR4, as well as twice the storage capacity in a 512GB PCIe SSD. We put our NumberPad on the UX433’s touchpad too, and it’s perfect for quick calculations or for speeding up data entry.

Even with the upgrades from the pocketbook-friendly UX431, the UX333 and UX433 won’t break the bank. The ZenBook 13 UX333 starts at $849 USD, while the ZenBook 14 UX433 with a Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM lands at $1,199 USD.

ZenBook 15 UX533 delivers a bigger but balanced ultrabook

The bigger brother of the UX333 and UX433, the ZenBook 15 UX533 strikes a perfect balance between portability and performance for creatives on the go. Content creators often need more space to work than a 14” display can offer, so the UX533’s more spacious 15.6” Full HD panel is the perfect canvas. The laptop’s thin NanoEdge bezels mean you can max out on screen size without adding bulk, and 100% sRGB coverage ensures you see the full gamut of colors in content you’re creating for the web.

In addition to rocking a powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-8565U processor and 16GB of RAM, the UX533 brings you a step up to NVIDIA GeForce 1050 Max-Q graphics. NVIDIA’s Max-Q GPUs are aimed directly at slim laptops like the ZenBook 15. They’re optimized for performance within the thermal envelope a compact laptop requires. This gives you serious power for demanding photo, video, and graphic design projects, but in a laptop that’s almost absurdly slim given its internals. The 512GB PCIe SSD is wicked fast to keep up with the work that the CPU, GPU, and RAM can process, and it gives you more than enough storage for all your applications.

We didn’t overlook style and ergonomic function, of course. It’s important to be able to take your workstation with you wherever you go, so size and weight are important variables, especially for a 15″ laptop. This ultrabook weighs only 3.7 lbs, so it won’t weigh you down, and at just 13.9″ x 8.7″ x 0.7”, it fits neatly into laptop cases or shoulder bags. The UX533 features the same great keyboard as its smaller siblings, and the ErgoLift hinge props the keyboard up at an angle for even more comfortable typing.

There’s plenty of ports for connecting peripherals and additional storage, too. The USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C ports are perfect for speedy external drives, while your mouse has a home in the standard USB 2.0 Type-A port. A full-size HDMI port gives you the option of plugging into a second display when you need to work across multiple screens, and the MicroSD slot makes transferring media from a camera card a snap. You can plug your headphones into the 3.5 mm audio combo jack to listen to music while you work or to preview the videos you’re editing. When you’re away from your desk the 73 Wh battery in the UX533 will get you through the day’s productivity or entertainment without the constant need for a wall outlet, and the dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 WiFi promises gigabit-level speeds so you can get to work easily.

If you want to maintain strong performance but seek to knock a few bucks off of the price, you can opt for a UX533 with an Intel Core i5-8265U processor and NVIDIA MX150 graphics, but the fully loaded version with the Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 1050 Max-Q discrete graphics is still a reasonably priced premium offering at $1,399 USD or $2,219.99 CAD.

No compromises with the ZenBook Pro 15 UX580

If you’re looking to maximize performance, it usually means stepping up to a larger class of laptop. However, the ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 is a stylish ultrabook with the power to punch well above its weight class. At just over 4 lbs and only 0.74” thick, this is a no-holds-barred, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink sort of machine that’s packed with components and features to satisfy the needs of professional content creators.

It starts with the Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU, a shredder of multitasking workloads with six cores and 12 threads that scoffs at any number of simultaneous tasks. We paired it with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB PCIe SSD that offers plenty of storage along with a sizable serving of speed. During our own tests, we tried to max out the UX580 with a spate of tasks, from editing dozens of photos at once to playing a 1080p video while juggling loads of web browser tabs. Not only did it show no signs of slowing down regardless of the load, but the laptop never even got hot.

To ensure it can handle all those complex editing projects, the UX580’s hexacore processor is combined with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU, which is an exceptionally powerful GPU for an ultrabook. We were not messing around when we specced out this laptop for serious workloads, although we wouldn’t mind if you did feel like playing hooky, because the UX580 has got some game, too. We ran some popular titles on the ZenBook Pro and found that even at high settings at the full native resolution, it achieved playable frame rates. If you dial down the detail settings, you can increase those FPS averages significantly, too. You can see more of our results in the ZenBook Pro hands-on article.

Whether working or gaming, you’ll love parking your peepers on this screen. The 15.6” boasts a 4K UHD resolution with a Delta E < 2 rating for extremely accurate colors, it’s PANTONE-validated, and it covers 100% of the Adobe RGB color space, so it’s perfectly tailored for photographers who need to know the colors on screen match what will come back from the printers. The ZenBook Pro’s display is also touch-enabled and supports active styluses like the ASUS Pen.

Even with such a sizable display, anyone who works on multiple monitors at their desktop workstation is going to find it hard to go back to one screen. The UX580’s unique ScreenPad goes a long way towards alleviating the discomfort by giving you an actual second display right there on the touchpad. It’s not some simple monochrome screen, either; it’s actually a 5.5” Full HD IPS touchscreen. You can leave it as just a touchpad if you like, but it offers so much more, especially when you’re away from your desk and don’t want to mess around with minimizing windows to pause music or find a tool bar. The ScreenPad can be used as a widget repository, keeping items like your Calendar and the Calculator close by and available with a quick tap. When you have certain applications open, like Microsoft Office apps, the ScreenPad will offer you a tool palette for Word and Excel right at your fingertips. You can even use the ScreenPad as an extension of the main laptop display. This mode is great if you want to park something like your music player or Twitter feed somewhere other than your main workspace. We can also confirm that you can drop a media stream, from apps like Sling TV, on the ScreenPad to enjoy while you work.

Because so many creators use high-speed external storage, the UX580 has not one but two USB Type-C ports equipped with Thunderbolt 3. You can daisy-chain Thunderbolt 3 storage, but with two ports that support it, you don’t have to. There’s also a pair of USB 3.0 Type-A ports for other peripherals, dongles, and thumb drives that a power user wouldn’t want to be without. A microSD slot, HDMI 1.4 port, and an audio combo jack round out the roster of I/O on the ZenBook Pro.

You’ll be drawn in by the UX580 Deep Dive Blue finish and aluminum chassis, with striking details cutting across the keyboard area. It’s the cherry on top of a marvelous treat, and it can be yours for $2,299.99 USD or $2,999.99 CAD.

The ZenBook S UX391 is a piece of performance art

It’s not a crime to want your laptop to be a statement piece as much as it is a tool for work. If you want to turn heads when you walk in the office and espouse an aesthetic that’s stylish, powerful, and impossibly thin and light, the ZenBook S UX391 is the laptop you want. It’s one of those machines that looks like it costs three times what it actually does (in this case, $1,199.99 USD) not only because of how svelte its build is, but also the unique color options.

You can get it in either Deep Dive Blue or a rich Burgundy Red, and both come with subtle Rose Gold accents. In either case, the color is part of all-metal unibody construction that features diamond-cut edges. You’ve probably never seen a red laptop like this one, and it’s likely that no one in the office has, either. It’s a stunner, with our spun-metal finish bringing an extra shimmer and shine to the exterior.

The UX391 is also one of the smallest Zenbooks around at just 12.24″ wide, and an astonishing 0.5” thick. Even better, it weighs well under 2.5 lbs, making it the most delightfully portable ultraslim in our portfolio. You’ll want to take it everywhere, and we included a protective sleeve with the UX391 so it won’t get scratched when you do. The loveliness extends to the display where NanoEdge bezels are in full force, wrapped around a stunning 13.3” LED-backlit display that’s available in both Full HD and 4K resolutions depending on the configuration you choose.

Looks and lightness aside, beauty is only skin deep, and a laptop is no good unless it performs, so we didn’t skimp on the UX391’s internals. Packed inside its half-inch-thick frame is an Intel Core i7-8550U processor paired with up to 16GB of RAM, This quad-core processor with Hyper-Threading is primed for productivity on the go, and it is well able to juggle Powerpoint, multiple Chrome windows, and a flurry of emails in addition to the music you’ve got streaming in the background. The integrated UHD Graphics 620 are capable of doing some light creative work when the need arises, and up to 512 GB of PCIe SSD storage means you won’t have to backup to the cloud every time you get back to the office.

We made sure to include a 50 Wh battery so you’re never stuck hunting for an outlet when you’re out for a day of meetings, and you’ll stay connected to devices and the internet with onboard Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi. In keeping with the remarkable thinness of the UX391, it’s loaded with an array of USB Type-C ports. Though many ultrabooks make do with just one, the ZenBook S has three; one offers USB 3.1 Gen 1 speed, and the other two rock USB 3.1 Gen 2 and Thunderbolt 3, which will please creative pros to no end. All three ports are capable of supporting an external USB Type-C display and fast-charging devices.

The UX391 is ideal for professionals eager for power and portability in a stylish package. You can find the ZenBook S UX391 at the retailers listed in the table below.

Zen plus Utopia equals ZenBook S13 UX392

If you’re looking for a thin and light ultrabook that makes no compromises in hardware or aesthetics, the ZenBook S13 UX392FN is certainly worth a look. And once you’ve had a glance the impossibly-thin 2.5 mm bezels flanking the Full HD IPS display, you won’t want to look at any other laptop. We know that most people prefer the webcam sitting up on top of their screen, so in order to accommodate this with our super-narrow bezels, we positioned it inside a notch on top of the display. This keeps your webcam exactly where you’d expect it, and conveniently doubles as a way to easily open the lid. The display is actually 13.9” instead of the usual 13.3”, but we squeezed it into a chassis that’s almost the exact same size and weight as the slim and trim UX391.

Wrapped in a delicate but rich new color called Utopia Blue, the UX392 is all aluminum, featuring a spun-metal finish. The whole thing is CNC-milled from a block of aluminum, a superior process to stamped metal that leads to greater durability and a reduction in gaps. Although it inherited much of our signature ZenBook design, the UX392 features squared-off corners and edges that echo the angles of the webcam bump.

Under the deceptively delicate hood are a quad-core Intel Core i7-8565U processor and 8GB of RAM that offer tremendous multitasking capabilities in such a tiny system. While the UX391 makes do with integrated graphics, the UX392 packs in NVIDIA GeForce MX150 for discrete graphics performance that takes multimedia performance to a whole new level. With a 512 GB PCIe SSD, the storage offers both generous capacity and rip-roaring performance to keep boot times to a minimum and ensure your files load quickly.

While lots of ultrabooks ditch ports in favor of a slim profile, the UX392 still manages to fit a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port as well as twin USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports for external displays, fast charging, and speedy data transfers from storage devices.  A microSD card slot and audio combo jack round out the list of ports.

The ZenBook S13 UX392FN is currently available at the retailers listed below for $1,399 USD

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