The sound effects in "Angry Birds" came through loud and clear when we played the game on the Chrome browser, as did the audio on "The Avengers" trailer. However, Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" sounded louder and fuller on the UX31 than the Zenbook Prime. When streaming Fun's "We Are Young," Nate Ruess' vocals had a nice warmth. Powered by Bang & Olufsen's ICEPower technology, the speakers embedded in the Zenbook Prime's hinge delivered moderately loud and clean-sounding audio. The trade-off is that that you often need to zoom in to read text.
#Eye candy 4000 2003 1080p#
Is 1080p on a 13-inch notebook overkill? Not to us, because you get full HD video playback and the ability to see more content on screen when surfing the Web and when snapping two windows side by side. In addition, the Prime's matte screen allows for wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles, on a par with the Air.
#Eye candy 4000 2003 skin#
We preferred the warmer colors on the ASUS, which made skin tones look more natural and explosions pop more. To compare picture quality, we put the Zenbook Prime and MacBook Air side by side and played "The Avengers" trailer in full HD.
#Eye candy 4000 2003 series#
The Zenbook Prime also handily beats the MacBook Air (285 lux) and Samsung Series 9 13-inch (355 lux). When we hit the UX31A with our light meter, the display averaged 423 lux, which is brighter than the older UX31 (391 lux) and well above the ultraportable average (219 lux). Not only is this 1920 x 1080 matte panel sharper than the MacBook Air-and most other 13-inch laptops-it's superbright and offers generously wide 178-degree viewing angles. All are less than what we consider uncomfortable: 95 degrees.Ĭlick to EnlargeIf you have the means, splurge for the $1,399 configuration of the Zenbook Prime. After streaming a Hulu video at full screeen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured 83 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 91 degrees, and the middle of the underside was 92 degrees. While slightly warmer than its predecessor, the UX31A managed to stay pretty cool during our tests. On applications such as WordPad we scrolled smoothly and quickly, but the same gesture was sluggish in both Chrome and Internet Explorer. Two-finger scrolling was inconsistent in our testing, however. Pinch to zoom and rotate also worked well. We quickly three-finger flicked through photos, and three-finger flicking up for switching windows and flicking down to show the desktop were both responsive.
Most multitouch gestures worked smoothly right out of the box. However, once we disabled both tapping and drag and drop in settings, the UX31A was less temperamental.
At first the cursor was too unwieldy, especially when typing, and we would accidentally type over our work. The bad news is that we had to tweak some settings to make that happen. We'd much prefer adjusting the volume, brightness and other settings without having to execute a key combo.Ĭlick to EnlargeThe good news is that the Zenbook Prime's 4.1 x 2.8-inch Elan touchpad can provide a satisfying navigation experience. So what did ASUS not fix? That would be reversing the function row to make them direct access keys. Annoyingly, the right side of the keyboard didn't get as bright as the left, but ASUS assured us that final production units shouldn't have this issue. Just as importantly, ASUS made this keyboard backlit, making the layout much easier to see in our dimly lit living room.Ĭlick to EnlargeYou can also adjust the intensity using a function key combination. Typing this review felt fluid and fast on the UX31A, compared with the mushier experience on the UX31.
That's because ASUS ripped out the old silver layout and added black keys with much improved travel (12 percent better key cap travel distance). But the lid doesn't fall back very far.Ĭlick to EnlargeAll the keys are in the same place on the Zenbook Prime, but they feel a lot better. Our only real quibble with the design is that the display sometimes flopped back, which happened during a bumpy bus ride and on a couple of occasions when picking the Ultrabook up. The layout is now black instead of silver, making the keys easier to read. Just like the original, the Zenbook Prime features a speaker integrated into the display hinge, and a very large touchpad sits underneath the keyboard. It's easy to slip into a bag or backpack, and will easily fit on an airline tray. Nevertheless, we don't think users will mind the slightly wider and taller body on the ASUS.
The HP Envy Spectre XT (12.9 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches) and Dell XPS 13 (12.4 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches) manage to cram a 13-inch display into a 12-inch chassis using a thinner bezel. Click to EnlargeAt 13.3 x 8.9 x 0.44-0.66 inches (our measurements), the Zenbook Prime has the same dimensions as the original UX31.
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