Analysts might have flagged the end of the PC era and declining sales might lead you believe this, but there are companies like Asus that are still innovating on notebook design and pushing the experience to new levels. Asus Zenbook UX305F 13-inch Asus Zenbook weighs just 1.2 kg with its 3-cell battery and is beautifully thin at 13mm, slimmer than even the Apple Macbook Air. It packs a full HD display with 178 degree wide viewing angle. This is Asus’s offering for people looking at a stylish and yet portable Windows machine. SPECS: 64-bit Windows 8.1 OS | 13.3 inch FHD LED Back-lit Screen (1920x1080p) | Intel Core M-5Y71 Processor (1.2 GHz with Turbo Boost Up to 2.9 GHz) | Intel HD Graphics 5300 | 4 GB DDR3 | 256 GB SSD | 32.4 x 22.6 x 1.23 cm (1.2 kg) | 3-cell, 56 Wh Li-ion Price: Rs 49,999 What is good? Asus has perfected laptop design with its Zenbook. It is like any traditional ultrabook, but thinner, lighter and more usable. The Asus Zenbook features a 13-inch full HD display with wide 178 degree viewing angles. The display is so crisp and vivid that it pushes you to watch video after video. Even at the time of 2K panels on laptop, the color reproduction is so natural that it is hard to differentiate pixels with the naked eye. Inside, the Asus Zenbook uses Intel’s ultra low-voltage Core M processor which has a thermal design power of 4.5 watts. The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.2 GHz with turbo-boost upto 2.9 GHz. Thanks to this ULV based processor, the notebook boots instantly with Windows 8.1. There is no noticeable lag while switching apps, opening or closing Windows programs or running multiple tabs in Web browser. Asus’s designers have managed to put in three USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, SD card reader and headphone jack in its slim body. The chiclet style keyboard offers good travel while typing and the arrow keys are perfectly shaped too. Another great addition to Zenbook UX305F is its large trackpad. The trackpad accepts most basic gestures like pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling perfectly. Sliding in from the left shows the app switcher while sliding in from the right showed Charms bar (irrelevant with Windows 10). The Asus Zenbook UX305F can easily get past one work day. I managed to watch two three-hour full HD movies back to back with Wi-Fi turned off, display set to max resolution and brightness. Even that left me with nearly 30 per cent battery. What is not that good? The first pain point is its audio quality. While Asus claims to have used Bang & Olufsen technology, the speakers sound so low that everything sounds tinny, and that is putting it mildly. The great display of this device gets marred by its poor audio playback. The keyboard is great but it is not backlit. While you can’t ask for more at this price, Asus could have come up with an optional backlit keyboard model. The drawback of Intel Core M-5Y71 processor is its HD 5300 graphics. While this would be good for playing Riptide 2 (available on Windows Store) but it's not for anything beyond. Should you buy? If you want a lightweight ultrabook with all day battery life, Asus Zenbook UX305F is a good option. Asus Zenbook UX305F could be a great choice for business travelers and students who won’t be doing any heavy tasks, but will still get portability and excellent battery life.
