Asus has long been the closest competitor to Apple when it comes to designing ultrabooks with metallic bodies. Right from the first Zenbook, it absolutely nailed the premium metal look and feel on ultrabooks, and it has steadily refined it since. The ASUS ZenBook UX305CA-DHM4T continues the phenomenal look and performance we’ve all come to love in the Zenbook line, and it builds on its other sibling the ASUS Zenbook UX305LA, like a Quad-HD+ touchscreen display and its more svelte than its predecessors.
It maintains the same slim body size, portable enough, 8GB system memory and 256GB solid-state-drive (SSD). Still, there are a few areas where compromises have been made such as the choice of Core M processor, but for most part this is among the phenomenal machine that feel sturdy and premium, at a price many more people can afford.
Design and Features
The ASUS UX305CA measures 12.8 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches (LXWxH) and just weighs 2.6 pounds, much lighter than the 13-inch Macbook Air. As such, there should be no worries on finding it space on your backpack and this is good news for the road warriors who are always on the move as it is slim. In addition to its lightweight, it is fanless therefore making the laptop practically silent. It also features a 44WHrs/3-cell Li-ion Polymer battery, which the Asus claim that you can work or play longer up to 8 hours on a full charge without a recharge. But the bad thing is, it’s a non-removable one so you can’t just snap it out.
When it comes to connectivity, the Ultrabook does not skimp either as it comes with three USB 3.0 ports whereas many ultrabooks have only two USB ports. The USB 3.0 can reach data transfer speeds of up to 5 Gbps, which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. The good thing is that the USB 3.0 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 to allow you use older USB-compatible devices with the Asus Zenbook. It has a micro HDMI port that you can connect with an HDTV or large screen to watch your videos and movies.
It also comes with 802.11ac Wi-Fi for internet connection that is much faster than the previous 801.11n, thereby allowing you to browse the Internet, stream videos and download files quickly. It has a Bluetooth 4.0, audio jack, SDXC media card holder and it runs on Windows 10 (64-bit). It has a built-in 1.2MP HD camera with a microphone that is efficient for chatting online and video conferencing for instance in Skype. It can also snap a high-resolution photo for video and voice. It also has an ASUS SonicMaster and built-in stereo speakers to provide crystal-clear audio, deep rich bass, and realistic sound.
Performance
The headline feature on the ASUS ZenBook UX305CA-DHM4T is the 0.9 GHz Intel Core M3-6Y30 (speed up to 2.2GHz-4MB cache) processor. This is a fully-fledged Skylake part in terms of power saving features, so it positively sips power, but when it comes to performance it is a far cry from Core i5 or i7 branded models, like the ASUS Zenbook UX305LA and ASUS K501UX, respectively. There is also 8GB of system memory, which is enough, power for you to run games, multiple programs simultaneously, most complex software and handle your daily tasks with ease. It comes with a 256GB Solid State Drive that offers quick boot times, loading of software, games, accesses data quickly and efficient in reading and writing files. The storage space is enough to store your critical documents, files, apps, digital photos, favorite songs and movies.
What’s most striking is the laptop’s slimness. It uses the sixth generation Intel chips; hence it’s passively cooled, eliminating the need to fit in a fan. The laptop has a 13.3-inch Quad-HD+ glossy touch display with a resolution of 3200×1800 pixels that offer stunning images, sharp detail for movies, videos and games. It also features the IPS technology with an aspect ratio of 16:9 that offers a crisp view from every angle. However, when talking about gaming, the Asus Zenbook skimped on this as it has an integrated graphics engine called Intel HD 515, which should be around 15% faster than the older Intel HD 5500, according to G3D Mark. In real life, GTA 5 played on low settings and 720p resolution should give you around 25 frames per second. It’s playable but far from great. Another example, Battlefield 4 will give 30+ FPS on similar settings.
Summary
The ASUS ZenBook UX305CA-DHM4T delivers a stunning overall effect in terms of portability, long lasting battery under lightweight use and a fanless design that eliminates any processor noises. It has enough storage and memory and a nice processor but definitely not the giant at this category. If you’re after speedy performance, then you’re safe with the ASUS Zenbook UX305LA, although you’ll miss on the touchscreen though not a deal breaker as Windows 10 works seamlessly without touch capability.
Its gaming potential is limited, but we will be unfair to judge the fish on its inability to climb a tree. Being an Ultrabook, we did not expect it to be geared towards players. Therefore, if you are after a slim and great-looking laptop with a premium feel, then the ASUS ZenBook UX305CA-DHM4T is worth a long look as you shop around for an ultraportable laptop.
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