Asus Zenbook UX32LN-R4053H Ultrabook Review

Even though the UX32LN cannot carry the Ultrabook title due to the missing touchscreen, the dimensions and the weight correspond with the usual standard of this product class. At first look the thick (18 mm; ~0.7 in) but light (just 1.44 kg; ~3.2 lbs) metal case reminds us of the much more expensive siblings, the UX301 and UX302. However, there are some differences in the details: The impressive Gorilla Glass coating of the base unit and the cover is missing; instead you get both matte and shimmering light metal surfaces. The resulting color combination of silver, black and dark gray might look a bit boring, but it supports the high-quality impression of the device.

Asus manufactures the case from a solid block of aluminum, so there are hardly any annoying gaps or material transitions. Another advantage of the strong construction: The case cannot be pushed in, even with a lot of force. The same applies for the display, which is very torsion-resistant despite the thin construction.

Thanks to the smooth hinges it is no problem to open the lid with one hand. Unfortunately, the precise hinges cannot completely avoid a certain amount of bouncing with vibrations. Still, we do not want to speak of a serious issue here. Handy: Small magnets prevent an accidental opening of the lid when the notebook is closed. Just do not put credit cards next to the Zenbook.

Webcam and Microphone

The webcam, with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, only takes mediocre pictures, which have issues with visible picture noise and poor details, especially in bad lighting conditions. However, the associated array microphone can convince us with an excellent voice quality, so you usually will not require an external headset.

Accessories

Besides the usual brochures, a 65-Watt power adaptor and a zip tie, the box of the UX32LN does not contain any additional accessories – another indicator of the price difference to the UX301 and UX302, which come with a high-quality cover as well as adaptors for LAN and VGA.

The software suite with several apps and utilities is much more comprehensive, but there are no substantial additions. The preinstalled trial version of the virus scanner McAfee Internet Security turned out to slow the system down: The transfer rates of attached USB stick and hard drives were significantly reduced with the activated real-time scan.

Maintenance

It is relatively easy to remove the large maintenance cover with the proper tools (Torx T5). But you have to be careful, an adhesive tape is supposed to act as an additional fixation at the back of the case – it will probably lose its adhesive force when you remove the cover a couple of times. Inside the case you can find a mini-PCIe WLAN module, one memory slot with 4 GB RAM (another 4 GB are soldered onto the mainboard) as well as the 2.5-inch SSD. The battery is screwed into the case and could be replaced in theory. It might also be a good idea to clean the fan and the cooling unit after the device has been in operation for a while.

Warranty

The retail price includes a two-year manufacturer’s warranty with a Pick-Up & Return service for Germany and Austria. Some shops also offer optional warranty extensions; an upgrade to three years with the same service type retails for around 80 Euros (~$108).

Although 13.3-inch displays with 2560x1440 or even 3200x1800 pixels are available now, the Full HD panel of the UX32LN is not outdated by any means. We actually think that 1920x1080 pixels are a reasonable compromise between a sharp picture, size and manufacturing costs, and the chance for smooth gameplay of 3D games in the native resolution is increased as well. Considering the pixel density of almost 166 ppi, every further increase would only result in a marginal quality improvement anyway.

Another advantage of the panel is the powerful background illumination. The luminance reaches an impressive value of 358 cd/m² with a very even brightness distribution. You can only see slight screen bleeding on the right side with a completely dark picture, but it is hardly noticeable with an adjusted brightness value. Step 5 of 11 (148 cd/m²) is recommended during the day, and you can dim the luminance to 39 cd/m² in dark environments.

It does not matter if you look at the display from above, below or from the side: The IPS technology provides a high-contrast presentation without deviations in all scenarios. Less expensive, but technically inferior TN panels are increasingly being pushed back into the low-cost segment, except for gaming notebooks where TN panels remain popular because of their fast response times and reduced ghosting.

Depending on the chosen configuration, the UX32LN is powered either by a Core i5-4200U – which is also used in our review unit – or by the slightly faster Core i7-4500U. Both CPUs are based on the current Haswell architecture and the ULV models are specified with a TDP of just 15 Watts. The important difference between the two dual-cores is, first of all, the clock: The Core i5 runs with 1.6 up to 2.6 GHz, the Core i7, on the other hand, with 1.8 up to 3.0 GHz. The L3 cache of the 4200U was also reduced from 4 to 3 MB. However, both chips support the most important instruction sets and features like AVX or Hyperthreading.

The processor also has an integrated HD Graphics 4400 GPU, which only handles simple office and multimedia tasks since the Zenbook also has the much more powerful Nvidia GeForce 840M. The 3D graphics card can automatically be activated or deactivated via Optimus and has 2 GB dedicated memory.

We want to praise Asus for the generous memory equipment: All available models have 8 GB memory in a dual-channel configuration as well as a proper SSD. Our review unit has a capacity of 256 GB, whereas the cheaper versions only have 128 GB.

It might be surprising that Asus does not use a compact mSATA or M.2 SSD, but a much larger and heavier 2.5-inch drive. However, this also results in some advantages for the user: SSDs with this form factor are usually comparatively inexpensive, and you could also integrate a (hybrid) hard drive with a much higher capacity.

Asus uses a Kingston SSD with the designation SVP200S37A256G, and there are some reasons why you might want to replace it: Despite multiple runs, the drive did not manage a sequential read performance above 215 MB/s, neither in CrystalDiskMark nor in AS SSD Benchmark – an unusually bad result for a current SATA 3.0 SSD. The write performance and the 4K results on the other hand are acceptable. It is probably an OEM drive with a strong relationship to the SSDNow V+-series (controller SandForce SF-2281), which revealed similar drawbacks with incompressible files in other reviews.

We want to skip the technical details and the performance results of the Intel HD Graphics 4400 at this point and recommend our GPU database for further information. Much more interesting is the additional GeForce 840M: It is based on the new Maxwell architecture, which was only released a couple of months ago and offers some interesting features. Besides the power consumption, Nvidia was also able to reduce the bandwidth requirements significantly compared to the predecessor, so the GPU just needs a 64-bit memory interface (2 GB DDR3, 900 MHz). Furthermore, the 384 shader units (1029 - 1124 MHz) also work more efficiently than the same number of Kepler ALUs. 

The result is impressive: Up to 50% more performance compared to the Iris Graphics 5100 or a GeForce GT 730M are not only measurable but also perceptible in practice. The GeForce GT 740M as well as the slightly lower clocked GT 735M fall behind by 25 up to 30%. We also want to praise the identical performance on battery and on mains power – that is not the case for every notebook.

Even though the GeForce 840M is one of the fastest GPUs that can be used in such a compact 13-inch case, the performance is usually not sufficient for the native display resolution. Modern games usually run smoothly only with medium or sometimes high settings and with 1366x768 pixels. However, this is still an impressive result if you consider the lower fps numbers of the Aspire S3-392G (GeForce GT 735M) or the Zenbook UX301 (Iris 5100).

In addition to the following benchmarks, we have to speak about two problems during our review: Diablo III could only be started after a driver update to the current version 337.88 – just to use the slow HD Graphics 4400 GPU despite other settings. We were also surprised by low frame rates in Wolfenstein: The New Order, although it used the GeForce GPU.

The situation is not so good when we look at the case temperatures. While the values are uncritical when idle, at around 30 °C (86 °F), the thermometer quickly climbs above 40 °C (104 °F) under load. In the center, above the keyboard, is a hot spot with around 50 °C (122 °F) – you can barely touch this spot with the hands. Still, we want to mention that such high temperatures are the result of synthetic benchmarks. The high temperatures are also limited to a very small area far away from the palm rest, so the user is not really affected.

The good news first: Throttling is (almost) no problem for the Zenbook. We want to exclude the minimum clock decrease of the GPU, which still runs at 980 MHz (up to 81 °C; 177.8 °F) after one hour of torture with FurMark. The processor even used the Turbo Boost range at 2.0 GHz (up to 87 °C; 188.6 °F) when we stressed it with Prime95. As a result, you should not expect performance limitations in practice, even on very hot summer days.

Asus trusts the Hi-Fi specialists from Bang & Olufsen that were involved in the development of the two speakers when it comes to the sound. Considering the typical Ultrabook standards, the small speakers are surprisingly loud and powerful, but lack a bit of power in terms of bass as well as a higher brilliance. We would still speak of a good overall impression, even though the sound quality can obviously not compete with an external sound system (via stereo jack or HDMI).

Let's make it quick: If you are looking for an Ultrabook or a subnotebook with gaming capabilities for around 1,000 Euros (~$1354), it will be very hard to ignore the Zenbook UX32LN. It does not matter if you look at the performance, mobility or quality – Asus set the bar very high for the competition.

Among others, we liked the nice and very solid aluminum chassis in particular, which accommodates many powerful components. Many competitors use a Core i5 processor and 8 GB memory, but the modern GeForce 840 is a unique feature of the Zenbook. Thanks to the Maxwell architecture, the GPU is not only faster than its Kepler based predecessor, but also consumes much less power. This enables a surprisingly quiet cooling solution without critical temperatures for the hardware.

The good input devices and the great IPS display deserve praise as well, although users will have to waive the touchscreen. We prefer a matte panel anyway – which means we can enjoy the good battery runtimes outdoors. This is unfortunately not always possible with its rival, the Acer Aspire S3-392G.

Finally, we have to mention the few drawbacks of the Zenbook, for example the moderately fast SSD or the poor webcam. If these issues are not important for you, there is no reason why you should not buy the Zenbook.