ASUS has joined rival Acer in jumping on board Intel’s ultrabook bandwagon, releasing four new notebook models, all with a hint of MacBook Air about them. This top-of-the-range ASUS Zenbook UX31E-RY010V delivers as much performance as we’ve seen from this category so far, pushing past the 61 mark on our UserBench Encode HD media-encoding benchmark. It combines a 13.3in aluminium chassis with a high-resolution 1,600 x 900-pixel LCD panel and is driven by Intel’s new 1.8GHz dual-core Core i7-2677M low-voltage processor.
The only storage, apart from 4GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, is the 256GB SanDisk solid-state drive (SSD). Because of the thin base, you don’t get your standard peripheral ports, but you still have micro-HDMI, mini-VGA and two USB ports, one of them USB 3.0. There’s no Ethernet built in, but a USB Ethernet adapter is included and you’ll find integrated 802.11b/g/n wireless networking and Bluetooth 4.0.
This version of the ZenBook weighed in at 1.41kg and although its Lithium Ion battery is built-in (its capacity is unknown), it lasted 3 hours 52 minutes on our Battery benchmark, which is 23 minutes longer than the Acer Aspire S3 951 we tested previously. While this one is 26% faster than the Aspire, it’s also 48% more expensive at $1,999. Given the performance, weight and battery life, this is the fastest notebook you’ll likely find under 1.5kg, although you’re paying for the privilege. For most people, a model with lower specs might be a better-value option.
