Tired of black and gray PCs? Small, light and mobile 13-inch ultrabook, the Asus Zenbook 13 UX325EA-KG315T is surrounded by pink silver metal for more originality. But it has other arguments still, in particular screen question with a luminous OLED panel (100% DCI-P3), but also for the nomads with its NumPad, its varied connections with TB4 and its powerful components. The 11th generation Core i7 Quad Core processor is quite at home in the versatile field with its more powerful than average integrated Iris Xe graphics chip and its fast memory / storage duo (16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD). And the amenities are not lacking with Windows Hello facial recognition, 12-hour battery life, Wifi AX or the extended backlit keyboard. The only downside, weak speakers and the absence of jack. The shiny screen can also upset some users.
Specifications of the Asus Zenbook UX325EA-KG315T
Screen (s) | 13.3 “Full HD OLED 100% DCI-P3 400nits NanoEdge (1920×1080, gloss) |
Processor | Intel Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake (2.8 GHz, 4 cores) |
RAM installed | 16 GB LPDDR4X 3200MHz (soldered) |
Graphic card | Intel Iris Xe |
Storage | 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD 32GB Intel Optane H10 SSD Cache |
Connectivity | 1 USB 3.2 2 USB 4 Type-C Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.0, microSD |
Network | Wi-Fi ax (2×2), Bluetooth 5.0 |
Backlit Keyboard | Yes |
Numeric keypad | Yes, via NumPad |
Windows Hello | Yes, via infrared webcam |
Audio system | 2 Harman Kardon SonicMaster speakers |
Operating system | Windows 10 64-bit |
battery life announced / Battery | 15 hours / Li-Po 3 cells 67Whr |
Dimensions (mm) / Weight | 304 x 203 x 13.9 / 1.1 Kg |
Chassis, connectors, screen of the Asus ZenBook UX325EA-KG315T
The Asus ZenBook UX325EA-KG315T is dressed in a “Lilac Mist” color, a lilac pink that tends towards silver. Here, the color is shiny but not flashy, worked with bevelled edges and the concentric textured effect typical of the Zenbooks on the back of the screen which bypasses the Asus logo now offset on the right. Asus talks about a design ” that inspires calm and serenity “. Rather, we will be talking about a sophisticated look that is out of the ordinary and lends itself to any type of environment. The ultrabook is made entirely of metal to give a bit of robustness to its slim silhouette but its color tends to mark fingerprints, to be taken into account if you are maniacs.
Indeed, the Zenbook 13 is particularly thin and light with 13.9 mm thickness and a scale that tilts around 1.1 kilograms , but also compact thanks to the thinned edges of the screen (screen / device ratio of 88 %). Note that its unibody chassis (monocoque) meets the military resistance standard MIL-STD-810G for foolproof strength (extreme heat, shock, fall, humidity, altitude, exposure to the sun).
The ultrabook is equipped with “ErgoLift” hinges which raise the base when the screen is opened to improve typing comfort on the keyboard and ensure better air circulation below. Speaking of the keyboard, this one has a white key backlighting system and stretches across the width of the base with a row of function keys appearing on the right.
The screen is the highlight here, because it is one of the first to offer Full HD OLED , therefore at a more affordable price over the more widely crossed 4K OLED. Thus, the contrast and black levels are far beyond anything you will see on a conventional LED screen and the screen here benefits from high brightness (400 nits) added to extensive colorimetry (100% DCI- P3, sRGB) to offer the most faithful rendering to image professionals. Added to this, the borderless design (NanoEdge) on all four sides reinforces the impression of immersion. Its Full HD definition(1920 x 1080 px) allows to offer a vast perfectly clear display space and to make the most of High Definition content even if we stay a step above the finesse and comfort of 4K obviously. Also note that this screen is bright and that it will tend to reflect the surrounding light more readily than you anti-glare. But here again, the good brightness of the panel should counter the majority of the inconveniences.
Strong point here, Asus is swimming against the current in terms of connectivity is so much the better! While the trend is to reduce the number of ports to an absolute minimum, the Zenbook 13 UX325EA can count on a microSD card reader, an HDMI 2.0 video output and a USB Type-A port (standard format) in addition to two more ports. modern USB 4 Type-C Thunderbolt 4 . Everything is there in easy-to-access formats and you also benefit from the versatility of the TB4 to connect a docking station (up to 2 external screens) and improve your productivity. Connectivity question, Wifi 6 (802.11 ax) and Bluetooth 5.0 answer present while the infrared webcam is responsible for ensuring Windows Hello facial recognition. One glance is enough to log in. Note also that there is no jack. It will therefore be necessary to use an adapter or a Bluetooth headset to enjoy solo audio.
Another welcome feature on this Zenbook is the NumPad integrated into the touchpad. Its principle is to display a highlighted numeric keypad (retro LED) on the touchpad following a pressure in its upper right corner. Asus announces that it will provide even faster input in version 2.0.
Performance, battery life of the Asus ZenBook UX325EA-KG315T
Inside the ZenBook UX325EA-KG315T, we have an 11th generation Core i7-1165G7 low power processorTiger Lake. This processor brings some interesting advancements over previous generations, starting with a higher TDP. Thus, the Core i7-1165G7 displays a TDP of 28W where its predecessors, the Core i7-1065G7 and the Core i7-10510U are satisfied with a TDP of 15W, and this despite the low consumption. This results from an increase in performance visible on advanced software (Lightroom, Capture One Pro, Davinci Resolve, 7Zip, etc.), a little less on basic everyday tasks (Office, surfing the Web, streaming …) . We understand, these tasks in question are perfectly taken care of by the Zenbook, but since these are missions that only commit very few resources, the difference between the generations is not noticeable. Opposite, the RAM provides for 16 GB RAM, an important total for multitasking which allows the coming years to come with confidence.
But the advantage of this 11th gen Tiger Lake lies above all in the new integrated graphics chip, the Iris Xe. Thanks to it, Intel is back in the race against AMD but also and above all against small NVIDIA graphics cards such as the GeForce MX250 or the GeForce MX350. The performances of the Iris Plus G7 of the Gen10 (Ice Lake) are exceeded by a good length. So, with the Iris Xe, you should be able to play many games at 1080p under good conditions and work on fairly graphics-intensive tasks (Lightroom) without delay. Another benefit of having a faster graphics chip integrated into the processor is that it simplifies the design of the ventilation system and therefore causes less noise and heat than in a configuration with a dedicated graphics card.
Storage is also getting attention here since it is entrusted to a 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD supplemented with a 32 GB Optane H10 SSD cache.. Hitherto crossed alongside a hard drive on the entry level to boost the startup and shutdown phases and some application launches, the Optane module now supports the SSD but the gain is then anecdotal as the latter is already showing remarkable responsiveness in the system on a daily basis. Indeed, the SSD ensures shortened loading times, an almost instantaneous launch of Windows and very fast file copies, not to mention the qualities in terms of energy savings, durability and silence of the SSD. Not to spoil anything, its capacity is not ridiculous and can accommodate a good part of your game library. For more info on the Optane H10 module.
But one question remains: what about battery life? This is indeed a crucial data if we consider this ultrabook for mobility. The battery is quite large for a 13-inch (67 Whr), which should allow it to exceed 12 hours of battery life in web browsing via Wifi, with a little more in video playback. A very good result in favor of mobility. In addition, Asus has thought of users in a hurry by equipping its ultrabook with Fast Charge technology to recharge the battery to 60% of its capacity in 40 minutes .
Be First to Comment