Asus is trying to undercut our laptop Editors' Choices.
At $849.99, the ZenBook 13 is a hefty $360 less than a Dell XPS 13 equipped with an identical Intel Core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of memory, a 256GB solid-state drive, and a 1080p non-touch display.
The difference between the Asus and the Razer Blade Stealth is even greater at $550, though the Razer provides a faster Core i7-8565U CPU.
You won't find frills like a Thunderbolt 3 port or a 4K touch-display option, but you'll find the ZenBook 13 a tempting entry-level pick among light, compact, skinny-screen-bezel ultraportables.
Zen and the Art of Laptop Design
Also known as the ZenBook UX333 (or UX333FA-DH51, to give my test unit its full down-and-dirty model name), the ZenBook 13 bears a family resemblance to the premium ZenBook S, with a snazzy blue aluminum finish with concentric circles surrounding a gold Asus logo centered in the lid.
(That lid remains, alas, fingerprint-prone.) The company's so-called ErgoLift hinge tilts the keyboard at a 3-degree typing angle when the laptop is opened.
At 0.67 by 11.9 by 7.4 inches, Asus boasts that the new model is 14 percent smaller than last year's UX331, with much thinner screen bezels (2.8mm on the sides and 3.3mm on the bottom).
That compares nicely to the Dell XPS 13's 0.46 by 11.9 by 7.8 inches.
The ZenBook even beats the Dell's weight by a few milligrams (2.62 pounds versus 2.7 pounds).
Interestingly, while the ZenBook UX331 was one of the very few ultraportables to offer discrete graphics (the Nvidia GeForce MX150 now seen in some models of the Blade Stealth), its successor joins the XPS 13 in sticking with the Intel processor's UHD Graphics 620 integrated silicon.
That makes it strictly a productivity machine unsuited for light gaming.
The older ZenBook's Windows Hello fingerprint reader has vanished, too, replaced by a 720p face-recognition webcam centered above the screen.
The camera's images were clear but pale or washed-out in a sunny room.
Along with a USB 3.1 Type-C port, there are full-size USB 3.1 Type-A and HDMI ports on the laptop's left edge, plus a connector for the compact power adapter.
The right edge offers a USB 2.0 port, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack.
The HDMI port is particularly welcome for connecting a monitor without having to carry a dongle, though Asus puts a different dongle in the box—a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter, for office workers who'd rather not rely on the 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Pretty...and Pretty Sturdy
Asus says the ZenBook 13 has passed a number of the MIL-STD 810G torture tests undergone by semi-rugged business systems like Lenovo ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks.
I can't elicit any flex grasping the screen corners, but there's a little if I mash the middle of the keyboard.
A gold strip forward of the keyboard serves to accent the blue color scheme; the strip is perforated to look like a speaker grille, though the Harman/Kardon speakers are actually on the bottom.
The glossy 13.3-inch display offers a full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) native resolution.
Fine details look sharp, though icons and screen elements border on a little too big with Windows' default 150 percent zoom.
Brightness is adequate—not the brightest I've seen, but good contrast yields pleasingly white rather than off-white backgrounds.
Colors are nicely saturated, and the off-center screen viewing angles are wide.
The keyboard earns points for dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys (F9 through F12 on the small top row) and cursor arrows in an inverted T instead of a row, but some keys are cramped.
The right Shift and Delete keys are tiny, and the latter is next to the power button instead of having the top right corner to itself.
The span from A through apostrophe is a quarter-inch shy of the desktop-regulation 8 inches.
The F7 key cycles through three levels of backlighting, and a button in a corner of the touchpad turns the latter into an LED-lit keypad for numeric data entry.
With the number-pad feature turned off, the touchpad glides and gestures smoothly, but it requires a firmer rap than the gentle tap I'm used to from other laptops.
The keyboard has a shallow but snappy typing feel; after an hour's practice, I was maintaining a good pace, though I never felt like declaring it a favorite.
The ZenBook's speakers don't get exceptionally loud, though you can crank them to max volume without distortion.
Bass and backing tracks are subdued, but the overall sound is okay.
Asus backs the laptop with a one-year warranty and provides a carrying sleeve in the box.
Testing: Four 13-Inchers, One 15
I ran into one snag when choosing systems for our performance comparison: The other key-comparison ultraportables that have completed PC Labs' benchmark suite (which was refreshed a few months back) all have Core i7 processors, giving them a head start on the Core i5-based ZenBook.
So, in addition to the 13.3-inch Dell XPS 13, Razer Blade Stealth, and Huawei MateBook 13, I threw in one comparably equipped, if not comparably sized, notebook: the Core i5 Lenovo IdeaPad 530S.
Their specifications appear in the table below...
As it turned out, the ZenBook surprised its Core i7 rivals in our Cinebench CPU test and posted respectable numbers in our other non-graphics benchmarks, as well as winning our battery-rundown runoff.
It makes no pretense of being able to play games, but it delivers ample productivity per dollar.
Productivity, Storage, and Media Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark).
The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows.
We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, Web browsing, and videoconferencing.
The test generates a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better.
PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a Storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the PC's storage subsystem.
The result is also a proprietary numeric score; again, higher numbers are better.
The Asus trailed the Core i7 trio but easily topped the IdeaPad in the office productivity test, finishing just 300 points off the 4,000 mark that we consider excellent.
Meanwhile, all five laptops' solid-state drives whisked through the storage test.
Next is Maxon's CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads.
Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image.
The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads.
Call it an outlier, but the Core i5 ZenBook caught a tailwind and edged its Core i7 competitors in this event.
We're as stymied as you are (and we wouldn't recommend the system for heavy-duty video editing), but everybody loves an underdog.
We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark.
Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image.
We time each operation and, at the end, add up the total execution time (lower times are better).
The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters, so systems with powerful graphics can see a boost.
As in PCMark 10, the Asus split the difference between the Core i7 machines and the Lenovo in a creditable performance.
Graphics Tests
3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting.
We run two different 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike, which are suited to different types of systems.
Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff.
The results are proprietary scores.
The Razer and Huawei, with their GeForce MX150 graphics, flogged the notebooks with Intel integrated graphics (while simultaneously being crushed by true gaming rigs with GeForce GTX or RTX silicon).
ZenBook owners seeking entertainment will have to content themselves with casual or browser-based games and streaming video.
Next up is another synthetic graphics test, this time from Unigine Corp.
Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene and measures how the system copes.
In this case, the work is done in the company's eponymous Unigine engine, offering a different 3D workload scenario than 3DMark, for a second opinion on the machine's graphical prowess.
We present two Superposition results, run at the 720p Low and 1080p High presets.
As you can see, even the GeForce MX150 systems are far from the minimum-acceptable 30fps at 1080p resolution, while the PCs with integrated graphics barely register on the chart at all at the 1080p setting.
There are never any outliers when we run this test.
Video Playback Battery Rundown Test
After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test.
(We also turn Wi-Fi off, putting the laptop into airplane mode.) In this test, we loop a video—a locally stored 720p file of the open-source Blender demo movie Tears of Steel—with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system conks out.
The Dell deserves credit for copping the silver medal despite a battery-sucking 4K screen, but the Asus is in a class by itself, lasting 15 hours in our unplugged endurance test.
A long workday or transcontinental flight should hold no terrors for it.
A Bargain in Royal Blue
Counting the Huawei MateBook 13, this is the second recent review where we've found ourselves forgiving an ultraportable for not having a Thunderbolt 3 port—and the ZenBook 13 costs $150 less and has the HDMI and USB Type-A ports that the Huawei relegates to an external dock.
Its slightly subpar keyboard keeps the Asus from Editors' Choice contention, but its impressive value makes it well worth a look.
Pros
Low price.
Great battery life.
Nearly borderless screen.
USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI ports.
Touchpad can double as a numeric keypad.
View More
Cons
Crowded keyboard.
No Thunderbolt 3 port.
The Bottom Line
The Asus ZenBook 13 is a classy Core i5 ultraportable that's priced aggressively.
Even a slightly cramped keyboard can't keep it from an earnest recommendation.
Asus is trying to undercut our laptop Editors' Choices.
At $849.99, the ZenBook 13 is a hefty $360 less than a Dell XPS 13 equipped with an identical Intel Core i5-8265U processor, 8GB of memory, a 256GB solid-state drive, and a 1080p non-touch display.
The difference between the Asus and the Razer Blade Stealth is even greater at $550, though the Razer provides a faster Core i7-8565U CPU.
You won't find frills like a Thunderbolt 3 port or a 4K touch-display option, but you'll find the ZenBook 13 a tempting entry-level pick among light, compact, skinny-screen-bezel ultraportables.
Zen and the Art of Laptop Design
Also known as the ZenBook UX333 (or UX333FA-DH51, to give my test unit its full down-and-dirty model name), the ZenBook 13 bears a family resemblance to the premium ZenBook S, with a snazzy blue aluminum finish with concentric circles surrounding a gold Asus logo centered in the lid.
(That lid remains, alas, fingerprint-prone.) The company's so-called ErgoLift hinge tilts the keyboard at a 3-degree typing angle when the laptop is opened.
At 0.67 by 11.9 by 7.4 inches, Asus boasts that the new model is 14 percent smaller than last year's UX331, with much thinner screen bezels (2.8mm on the sides and 3.3mm on the bottom).
That compares nicely to the Dell XPS 13's 0.46 by 11.9 by 7.8 inches.
The ZenBook even beats the Dell's weight by a few milligrams (2.62 pounds versus 2.7 pounds).
Interestingly, while the ZenBook UX331 was one of the very few ultraportables to offer discrete graphics (the Nvidia GeForce MX150 now seen in some models of the Blade Stealth), its successor joins the XPS 13 in sticking with the Intel processor's UHD Graphics 620 integrated silicon.
That makes it strictly a productivity machine unsuited for light gaming.
The older ZenBook's Windows Hello fingerprint reader has vanished, too, replaced by a 720p face-recognition webcam centered above the screen.
The camera's images were clear but pale or washed-out in a sunny room.
Along with a USB 3.1 Type-C port, there are full-size USB 3.1 Type-A and HDMI ports on the laptop's left edge, plus a connector for the compact power adapter.
The right edge offers a USB 2.0 port, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack.
The HDMI port is particularly welcome for connecting a monitor without having to carry a dongle, though Asus puts a different dongle in the box—a USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter, for office workers who'd rather not rely on the 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Pretty...and Pretty Sturdy
Asus says the ZenBook 13 has passed a number of the MIL-STD 810G torture tests undergone by semi-rugged business systems like Lenovo ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks.
I can't elicit any flex grasping the screen corners, but there's a little if I mash the middle of the keyboard.
A gold strip forward of the keyboard serves to accent the blue color scheme; the strip is perforated to look like a speaker grille, though the Harman/Kardon speakers are actually on the bottom.
The glossy 13.3-inch display offers a full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) native resolution.
Fine details look sharp, though icons and screen elements border on a little too big with Windows' default 150 percent zoom.
Brightness is adequate—not the brightest I've seen, but good contrast yields pleasingly white rather than off-white backgrounds.
Colors are nicely saturated, and the off-center screen viewing angles are wide.
The keyboard earns points for dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys (F9 through F12 on the small top row) and cursor arrows in an inverted T instead of a row, but some keys are cramped.
The right Shift and Delete keys are tiny, and the latter is next to the power button instead of having the top right corner to itself.
The span from A through apostrophe is a quarter-inch shy of the desktop-regulation 8 inches.
The F7 key cycles through three levels of backlighting, and a button in a corner of the touchpad turns the latter into an LED-lit keypad for numeric data entry.
With the number-pad feature turned off, the touchpad glides and gestures smoothly, but it requires a firmer rap than the gentle tap I'm used to from other laptops.
The keyboard has a shallow but snappy typing feel; after an hour's practice, I was maintaining a good pace, though I never felt like declaring it a favorite.
The ZenBook's speakers don't get exceptionally loud, though you can crank them to max volume without distortion.
Bass and backing tracks are subdued, but the overall sound is okay.
Asus backs the laptop with a one-year warranty and provides a carrying sleeve in the box.
Testing: Four 13-Inchers, One 15
I ran into one snag when choosing systems for our performance comparison: The other key-comparison ultraportables that have completed PC Labs' benchmark suite (which was refreshed a few months back) all have Core i7 processors, giving them a head start on the Core i5-based ZenBook.
So, in addition to the 13.3-inch Dell XPS 13, Razer Blade Stealth, and Huawei MateBook 13, I threw in one comparably equipped, if not comparably sized, notebook: the Core i5 Lenovo IdeaPad 530S.
Their specifications appear in the table below...
As it turned out, the ZenBook surprised its Core i7 rivals in our Cinebench CPU test and posted respectable numbers in our other non-graphics benchmarks, as well as winning our battery-rundown runoff.
It makes no pretense of being able to play games, but it delivers ample productivity per dollar.
Productivity, Storage, and Media Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark).
The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows.
We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, Web browsing, and videoconferencing.
The test generates a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better.
PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a Storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the PC's storage subsystem.
The result is also a proprietary numeric score; again, higher numbers are better.
The Asus trailed the Core i7 trio but easily topped the IdeaPad in the office productivity test, finishing just 300 points off the 4,000 mark that we consider excellent.
Meanwhile, all five laptops' solid-state drives whisked through the storage test.
Next is Maxon's CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads.
Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image.
The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads.
Call it an outlier, but the Core i5 ZenBook caught a tailwind and edged its Core i7 competitors in this event.
We're as stymied as you are (and we wouldn't recommend the system for heavy-duty video editing), but everybody loves an underdog.
We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark.
Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image.
We time each operation and, at the end, add up the total execution time (lower times are better).
The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters, so systems with powerful graphics can see a boost.
As in PCMark 10, the Asus split the difference between the Core i7 machines and the Lenovo in a creditable performance.
Graphics Tests
3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting.
We run two different 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike, which are suited to different types of systems.
Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff.
The results are proprietary scores.
The Razer and Huawei, with their GeForce MX150 graphics, flogged the notebooks with Intel integrated graphics (while simultaneously being crushed by true gaming rigs with GeForce GTX or RTX silicon).
ZenBook owners seeking entertainment will have to content themselves with casual or browser-based games and streaming video.
Next up is another synthetic graphics test, this time from Unigine Corp.
Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene and measures how the system copes.
In this case, the work is done in the company's eponymous Unigine engine, offering a different 3D workload scenario than 3DMark, for a second opinion on the machine's graphical prowess.
We present two Superposition results, run at the 720p Low and 1080p High presets.
As you can see, even the GeForce MX150 systems are far from the minimum-acceptable 30fps at 1080p resolution, while the PCs with integrated graphics barely register on the chart at all at the 1080p setting.
There are never any outliers when we run this test.
Video Playback Battery Rundown Test
After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test.
(We also turn Wi-Fi off, putting the laptop into airplane mode.) In this test, we loop a video—a locally stored 720p file of the open-source Blender demo movie Tears of Steel—with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system conks out.
The Dell deserves credit for copping the silver medal despite a battery-sucking 4K screen, but the Asus is in a class by itself, lasting 15 hours in our unplugged endurance test.
A long workday or transcontinental flight should hold no terrors for it.
A Bargain in Royal Blue
Counting the Huawei MateBook 13, this is the second recent review where we've found ourselves forgiving an ultraportable for not having a Thunderbolt 3 port—and the ZenBook 13 costs $150 less and has the HDMI and USB Type-A ports that the Huawei relegates to an external dock.
Its slightly subpar keyboard keeps the Asus from Editors' Choice contention, but its impressive value makes it well worth a look.
Pros
Low price.
Great battery life.
Nearly borderless screen.
USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI ports.
Touchpad can double as a numeric keypad.
View More
Cons
Crowded keyboard.
No Thunderbolt 3 port.
The Bottom Line
The Asus ZenBook 13 is a classy Core i5 ultraportable that's priced aggressively.
Even a slightly cramped keyboard can't keep it from an earnest recommendation.
