ASUS Zenbook 3 Review

The introduction of the new Macbook brought different brands to introduce their own laptops with an amazing and ultra-thin design. One of those brands is ASUS and recently, we reviewed their thinnest laptop to date, the ASUS Zenbook 3. But unlike the Macbook, this ASUS Zenbook 3 performs better than the Macbook as this one sports an Intel Core I processor instead of Core M

A beautiful thin and light design

One of the main features and probably its main selling is its design. By looking at it, you’ll already know that this laptop is one of the thinnest that you can find in the market. And yes, this laptop directly competes against Apple’s Macbook when it comes but not to power. The body is made up of solid metal along the beautiful chamfered gold edges. However, the top plate of the laptop feels a little bit hollow when pressing into it.

The ASUS Zenbook 3 is a thin and light laptop. Right now, it isn’t the thinnest laptop that you can find in the market but you’ll still be amazed at how thin the ASUS Zenbook 3. But of course, the Zenbook 3 thinness comes with a compromise because this one only comes with an audio jack & single USB Type-C Port that you can use for charging. Thankfully, the ASUS Zenbook 3 comes with a dongle that gives you a port for HDMI, USB Type-C and also a full USB port.

Actually, living on a dongle life wasn’t really a problem for me. I thought that it would be a hassle but since we already have apps like Sharelink or Share.it, connecting to the laptop wasn’t really a problem for me. However, if your line of work or lifestyle needs to be connected via wires to your laptop most of the time then that would be a problem because there’s only a single port on the adapter of the ASUS Zenbook 3.

Oh and the speaker of the laptop? It was really great. You won’t believe how good the speaker of the laptop is even the Zenbook 3 is really that thin.

A fine display

On the ASUS Zenbook 3, We have a 12.5-inch full HD display and unfortunately, it’s not a touchscreen but come on guys, just look how thin the device is, also, the bezel on the display doesn’t look big too which made the Zenbook’s look really attractive. You don’t have to worry about its Full HD display as this one looks pretty damn good even with that. But of course, the MacBook’s display is still sharper and better.

Nonetheless, the ASUS Zenbook 3’s display still good. The color accuracy is good and the viewing angles of the display are still great. However, I wished the Zenbook 3’s display was more than 1080p since this is the company’s flagship notebook.

One of the disadvantages of having an ultra thin laptop like the ASUS Zenbook 3 is its keyboard. Why? Well, the travel distance of the keys are short and sometimes, I cannot even feel that I was already able to type on the keyboard. However, I already got used to typing on the keyboard of the ASUS Zenfone 3 after a few hours. But again, it is still annoying for me sometimes.

The ASUS Zenbook 3 features a trackpad with just the right size and it was nice to use and I can live with it even without a mouse(except when I’m playing Overwatch of course) however, the fingerprint sensor’s placement wasn’t really cool to me. I mean, the fingerprint scanner works well and it can read my fingerprint fast but why in the world did they place it in the trackpad? It’s really annoying that the fingerprint scanner blocks the trackpad in my usage.

Intel Core i7 instead of Core M3

The processor inside it is probably the best thing in this laptop. Despite having an ultra-thin form factor, the ASUS Zenbook 3 still managed to have an Intel Core i7 processor inside. Yep, Core i7, not Core M3. The performance? It’s damn great. Actually, I was even able to render 1080p videos on my ASUS Zenbook 3 without problems. ( I use Sony Vegas by the way which is really CPU intensive).

Aside from the powerful Intel Core i7 processor on the ASUS Zenbook 3, there’s a measly 16 GB of RAM inside. I know, it’s really amazing that they were able to fit in those components on a device this thin. Oh, and did I say that this one has a 512GB SSD inside? Yep.

The ASUS Zenbook 3 is made not purely for gaming but of course since we’re getting an Intel Core i7 processor inside and also a 16GB of RAM, I was able to play Overwatch at 720p at the lowest settings and I was able to get 30-35 fps however at heavy clashes, the frames drops to 25fps. In Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, I was able to play this game at 720p at lowest settings with 25-33fps. Anything more than that would be unplayable.

Any other apps wouldn’t be a problem as I can run multiple tabs on chrome without a hitch and the temperature? Despite having a small and thin design, the ASUS Zenbook 3 doesn’t get to the point where the laptop becomes really hot even at heavy tasks. Also, I was surprised that this laptop still has a fan inside.

Verdict

The ASUS Zenbook 3 is no gaming laptop but it’s an amazing laptop that is even more portable than my tablet. Yep, I even prefer the ASUS Zenbook 3 over my tablet because this one is lighter and more powerful so I don’t have any problems even if I even load Photoshop and some more.

The ASUS Zenbook 3 might be thin but it is really powerful, however, if you’re planning on using the laptop for gaming then you might have a problem with that as this one doesn’t have a dedicated graphics for that. The ASUS Zenbook 3 is a nice laptop and a very thin one with a surprising power. However, the price of the ASUS Zenbook 3 is a little bit steep at P79,995. But c’mon, I love Macs but this one is worth it compared to the new MacBook Pro