You want a laptop that depend nice . Asus realize that . That ’s why the ship’s company has examine so hard to ramp up a good MacBook . The ZenBook logical argument has given parentage to many beautiful , herculean , desirable machines that extend PC people a luck to plume — even when they ’re wall by MacBooks at their local cafe .
The newest addition to the home , the ZenBook Pro UX501 , is a competitor for the 15 - inch MacBook Pro in looks and carrying out . At least , it wants to be .
What Is It?
A high - end 15 - inch laptop for originative professional and other business leader user who want a stylish political machine . Pretty much what you ’d wait from a non - enterprise “ pro ” laptop : a Core i7 CPU , a discrete Nvidia graphics chip , a lot of RAM , all - metal construction , attention - grabbing purpose elements , and a 4 kilobyte screenland . fundamentally the same computer as its gamer sib , the Asus G501 , except for the shiny silverish aluminum finish and an bestow touch screen .
ASUS G501 Lightning Review : If The MacBook Pro Could Game
Competitively price consider the specs : just $ 1500 right now .
Design
Asus keeps thing simple — and very , very conversant to anyone who ’s ever hefted an Apple machine . There are some fluorishes , though . The edges are chamfered to keep them from seize with teeth into the tegument as much as they might . ( I still would n’t call it comfortable . ) alternatively of a matte finish like the MacBook Pro , the ZenBook ’s lid has a spun metallic element design . A ripple pattern across the top of the keyboard serves as both the stereo speaker grilles and a overnice design speck . lamentably , the audio quality does n’t hold up up to the aesthetic one .
The full size keyboard is standard Asus — not mushy ; not very springy , either — and the numerical keypad , while a slight squished , is just wide enough to use without induce to search .
Though the aesthetic are intelligibly meant to evoke comparisons to the MacBook Pro and exude a similar creative professional aura , I ca n’t deny that it looks adept . tote up a beautiful 4 kB resolution 15.6 - column inch presentation with popping colors , wide viewing angles , and reactive touch , and the ZenBook Pro could definitely attract a few Apple - shun Windows lovers .
Using It
This is not a laptop computer you bribe if all you do is check electronic mail , process words , and challenge your Facebook friends to Bejeweled Blitz duel . It ’s phone the ZenBook Pro because it ’s mean for piece of work , and those are the specs you ’re paying for .
If you ’re a serial tab opener like me , you ’ll be happy to know the 16 GB of RAM makes it possible to have a ludicrous number of them undefended in Chrome and Firefox without slip all the resource .
Once you get into more performance - intensive program program , the ZenBook ’s limit become clear . Like the G501 , this simple machine run on an Intel Core i7 - 4720HQ processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 M GPU ( with 2 GB VRAM alternatively of 4 ) , with a 512 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM . sound pretty speedy , no ? Yet somehow I only bring off to get midrange performance .
Instead of surge through labor like batch processing century of images or interpretation and encoding a 7 minute video , the ZenBook take enough time that you ’d either want to multitask in another window ( completely possible with this computer hardware ) or go get a snack . It ’s herculean , but it does n’t palpate blaze away tight . I marvel which element is to blame .
At five pound , it ’s not terribly heavy for a 15 - column inch computer , but it still experience like a personal computer that ’ll sit around on your desk more than you carry it around . If you put it in your shoulderbag , you ’ll definitely feel that weight after a myopic walk . The power brick is large and adds another dog pound and a half on its own . undecomposed news : the bombardment lasts five to six hour , so you might not require to bring it along .
The Best Part
The UHD screen is a joyousness to lay eyes on . When you ’re watching video or looking through photos the high pixel density feel worth it .
Tragic Flaw
That 4 K solvent is also the ZenBook ’s Achilles dog . That pixel density may make for beautiful images , but it also do job with some apps . Adobe Premiere Pro , GIMP , and a few other programs were nearly unserviceable due to teeny , tiny image and card baptistery . Even program that descale UI constituent appropriately still looked weird and wrong .
Unless you ’re indisputable all the programs you postulate will surmount properly , a 4 K projection screen is going to handicap your workflow more than it help oneself .
Review Notes
The large touchpad sits in the center of the ZenBook ’s deck and not centered below the G and H keys on the keyboard .
Most 15.6 - inch laptops are stock with muckle of full sizing ports . The ZenBook is thin for the size of it and that means the VGA and Ethernet ports are kick downstairs to dongle - tough . Both dongle are included .
Other ports : 3x USB 3.0 , HDMI , Thunderbolt , an SD calling card slot , and a 3.5 mm headset jack .
The intact touchpad snap down for a left click , but only the correct - hand - corner of the pad activates a right - click .
The powerfulness button depend just like a regular keyboard key , and is locate above the num - pad . It take in getting used to , especially if you reach without look .
There ’s lot of pre - installed software on the ZenBook , including some Asus - branded apps and some “ deals . ” You ’ll likely end up uninstalling most of them .
Even when performing intensive task , the ZenBook last out quiet and did n’t get unduly blistering on the bottom .
Should You Buy It?
perhaps . The design looks prissy and the screen emphatically rivals MacBook Retina display . It ’s the sort of motorcar that front great in the coffee shop when you ’re ring by radiate Apple Son . The price is jolly nice for a laptop with a 4 K screen and a sizable 512 GB solid state private road , too . But I just do n’t mean that 4 K filmdom and mid - range functioning make sense if you really require to get some piece of work done .
The display is beautiful , and if all you need to do is play 4 K video on it ( with a speaker connected for better audio ) that ’s good enough . We also know it plays games decently well . But if you ’re here for content creation and other resource - vivid employment , this simple machine probably wo n’t cut it .
What might ? Creative professionals could beak up the Lenovo ThinkPad W550s ( Intel Core i7 , 8 GB of RAM , 256 GB SSD , Nvidia Quadro K620 M GPU , 2 GB of VRAM , nontouch 15.5 - inch 2880 x 1620 sieve ) or , for those who want something a bit more fashionable , the HP ZBook 15u G2 ( Intel Core i7 , 16 GB of RAM , 256 GB SSD , AMD FirePro M4170 GPU , 1 GB of VRAM , nontouch 15.6 - inch 1920 x 1080 screen ) alternatively .
Both offer quick performance and filmdom resolutions that are less probable to cause a job . And in the pillow slip of the ZBook , you get a lighter laptop computer that ’s a bit easy to carry around .
connect with the author at[email protected ] .
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