A powerful ultraportable at an inexpensive price, the Asus ZenBook 13 has Intel’s Tiger Lake 11th-generation “Tiger Lake” CPUs.

The new Asus ZenBook series is available in three sizes: 13, 14 and 15. On the premium ultra-portable laptop market, the Asus ZenBook 13 has long been a budget option. The most recent model starts at $949.99, with a $50 upgrade available in the configuration tested here, which includes the latest “Tigersake” 11th generation i7 CPU, 1TB SSD, and 16GB RAM. The ZenBook 13 also boasts a long battery life, a tiny and light design, and a variety of color options. A comparable MacBook Pro 13-inch would be a good alternative for anyone looking for a combination of exceptional capabilities and cost-effectiveness. A comparable one would cost an extra $100 on the ZenBook Pro 13.

The terms that spring to mind when you consider this project are creativity, flair, and originality. These are the features of the new ZenBook 13 in style. This is one of the smallest 13-inch laptops in the world with a magnificent NanoEdge screen without a frame and an innovative ScreenPadTM 2.0.

Asus Zenbook: Features:

Design & Build Quality:

The Asus Zenbook 13 has a really beautiful look. An aluminum alloy with a diamond-cut finish is the material for this construction.

look, construction quality and feel, with a gentle finish, it is premium. It is 1,07 kg and must be transported anywhere. It’s small, smart and handy.

Sustainability – MIL-STD 810G is checked for trustworthy durability in military terms.

Display:

A screen-to-body display of 13.3-inch is provided by the Asus Zenbook 13. Although there seem to be smaller bezels on display, the bezels are still extremely tiny.

The luminescence is 300 nits maximum. The display is therefore brighter, whether indoors or outdoors. The visual quality is great with excellent viewing angles. The replication of color is also sufficient.

Audio:

The twin speakers are positioned correspondingly in the lower left and right corners. It is approved by Harman Kardon and comes with an intelligent amplifier. This improves the quality of the audio output. The audio from the speakers is louder and clearer.

Webcam:

It’s up to the top of the display in the middle. It’s a WebCam with high technology infrarot. It delivers the best results for video and video chats. The unlock feature also works with the face. It is very safe and convenient.

Keyboard:

The design of the keyboard is rather amazing. There is enough room between each separated key. There are also separate functions with additional hotkeys.

TouchPad:

The touchpad is generously sized. The top of the touchpad has a glass surface, which provides a smoother experience while using it.

Number Pad 2.0 — the touchpad comes with a built-in LED numeric keypad. We may also use a unique motion of swiping from left to right to open the calculator straight from the touchpad. This numeric LED keypad’s brightness may be adjusted. It’s a one-of-a-kind new item.

Performance:

This is the main topic that needs discussion, especially in the luxury market, when it comes to laptops. As we all know, it features an Intel i7 CPU for the 10th generation. It has a clock speed of 1.3 GHz, up to 3.9 GHz.

All the normal operations are conducted well. It gives a further performance increase, albeit it contains an SSD. It is a very short boot time. In less than 30 seconds, the system may be restarted.

Image editing is a great video editing tool. It can also easily handle any technological applications. It is a fantastic choice for working professionals and students..

Gaming: 

Although it is not a laptop, it can play sophisticated games graphically. You can play a variety of games with the Intel Iris plus GPU included. Don’t anticipate the same game experience on a laptop, however. It is not optimal to play games, but other chores may be handled.

Battery:

According to the manufacturer, the battery has a 67 WHR lithium polymer battery with 22 hours of battery backup. However, the program actually depends on it. It has a normal 20-hour average battery backup. For a charge of 60 percent, it takes 50 minutes for the 65 Watt quick loader and roughly 2 hours to complete the load. Overall, the lifetime of the battery is sufficient.

Software:

The operating system is powered by Windows 10 Home. The system is good for optimizing the OS. Microsoft Office 2019 is also pre-installed with lifetime free access.

The My Asus portal is now available, allowing customers to download and connect to the customer care team for the latest software updates.

PROS & CONS:

User experience:

The new Asus ZenBook 13 is an amazing mix of minimal weight and maximum performance in an ultraportable notebook, thanks to an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 CPU that delivers great performance.

Keyboard:

The hinge extends underneath the keypad base, slightly pulled upward to improve the taping convenience when the Asus ZenBook 13 is opened. This ErgoLift hook has been a feature of Asus laptops for a few years and is tempting for those who desire it, and still small enough to not bother those who like to rest flat on their keyboards. The keyboard itself consists of sturdy keys with silent key switches. But unfortunately, a column of keys to the right (Page Up, Page Down, Home and End) requires a little tight pushing of all the keys with my big fingers.

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The Asus ZenBook 13 offers a good tapping experience except for a somewhat weak touch pad hinge. You can even transform the touchpad into a calculator with simulated light buttons. This ZenBook 13 does not have the unique ScreenPad on some other ZenBook models, which is mostly good. The unusual ScreenPad combines an aftertaste monitor with a touchpad, but not a must-have feature like the touch bar of Apple. This is mostly for individuals who do not mind downloading and going through several settings pages for ScreenPad-compatible apps.

The Asus ZenBook 13 also lacks a touch-enabled display, which I think is a much bigger problem considering the powerful touch features of Windows 10 that are beneficial for computer tasks such as navigating web browsers and shutting down programs. The  Asus ZenBook 13 features a 4K display as well. A full HD screen with a luminosity of 450 nits or 300 nits (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) is a single display option. The higher version of our testing device is the only one that I recommend if you don’t want to make the most of your battery life, so 300-nit backlights are preferable.

Over the screen is an HD (720p) with IR sensors that allow face recognition connections with Windows Hello. The video quality with a bit of a noisy image, even under bright interior lighting settings, is average.

CPU and Media-Creation Tests:

All in all, with the latest CPUs in mind, the ZenBook 13 performs excellently as regards graphics and processing. For instance, it has a tiny edge over its WinDownload equivalents in our PCMark 10 productivity test, which mimics numerous productive and content-creation tasks in the real world. This test assesses whole system performance for workplace operations such as word processing, tablets, online surfing, and video conferencing. The test produces a figure; the higher the number, the better.

The performance of the 1 TB SSD ZenBook 13 is likewise outstanding, but does not differ much from other SSD-based laptops, all assessed with a total of about 5,000 points.

The Asus ZenBook 13 is at least as quick as laptops using Intel silicone from the previous generation and is rival to the power of the AMD Ryzen 5 processor in the Envy x360, based on specialized multimedia content benchmarks. The Asus  ZenBook 13, for example, uses a Handbrake video that is equivalent to an Envy x360, 16 minutes to transcode a 4K movie, and over 10 minutes faster than the Core i5.

Similar findings are presented by Maxon’s CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is threaded to utilise any processor cores and threads. Cinebench emphasizes a complicated image on the CPU instead of the GPU. The outcome is a patented score that shows the capacity of a PC to handle processor-intensive tasks.

The ZenBook 13 is the leading product for our picture editing benchmark, where we use an Adobe Photoshop standard JPEG image with a number of 10 sophisticated filters and effects. We stop every process and add the whole running time at the end.

Lower times are preferable here, much like in Handbrake. The Photoshop test puts a strain on the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also use most GPUs to speed up the filtering process, so systems with strong graphics processors or cards may notice a performance increase. The high base and boost clocks of the Tiger Lake CPU, on the other hand, are expected to aid in this “bursty” test.

Testing the ZenBook 13:

The ZenBook 13 is one of the first computers that features a CPU from Intel Tiger Lake. Four cores, eight threads and a 2.8GHz base clock speed are included with the Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU. There is also a graphics processor, Intel Iris Xe. This integrated graphics motor can match the performance of a separate GPU on a gaming portal, making it perfect for anyone who desires an ultra-carrying laptop yet sometimes wishes to play games on it.

I conducted our benchmark tests on the Acer Swift 3, the Apple MacBook Air, and the HP Envy x360 13 to match the performance of the Zen Book 13 to that of a few other highly-priced laptops.

Affordable Big-Cat Power, Impressive Portability:

For most outstanding laptop purchasers, the Zen Book 13 meets the top three objectives: power, mobility, and price. As a consequence, this laptop is a great choice in the ultra-portable luxury category for around $1,000.

In order to achieve this optimal mix of features, Asus had to compromise. The quality and the lack of a 4K or touch screen are considerably inferior, and they are both available in the more affordable format and the Dell XPS 13, the editors’ choice.

These issues prohibit us from granting an Editors Choice award to the ZenBook 13, but do not allow us to suggest this great laptop in a tiny and attractive notebook that won’t break the bank for anybody who wants to have the latest Intel CPU.

Easy on the eyes:

The ZenBook 13 is one of the tiniest and lightest laptops with a 13.3-inch display with dimensions of 0.55 by 8 by 11.98 cm and a weight of 2.36 pounds. The Apple MacBook Air measures 11.97 by 0.63 by 8.46 inches and weighs 2.8 pounds in comparison. Asus has achieved an outstanding engineering achievement. Because of its small size, ultra-thin bezels are needed around the display. The 88 per cent screen-for-body ratio of the ZenBook 13 is comparable to the 90 percent ratio of the 14-inch ZenBook 14.

Even in pine-gray or lilac-mist, the light-weight ZenBook 13 is easy to see. I evaluated the previous model, which looks and feels well at home among the other metal-finish computers in this category, such as the MacBook Pro. The concentric circle pattern that surrounds the Asus logo engraved on the display cover does, however, make it stick out a little. If you want a ZenBook 13 that stands out, get it in the vibrant Lilac Mist color scheme. For a distinctive two-tone aesthetic, it changes the exterior and keyboard deck while keeping the gray hue on the display borders.

Although the ZenBook 13 is beautiful in design, compact and light enough not to strain the shoulders of your backpack, I don’t believe it is as well-established as the Dell XPS 13 or Apple MacBook Pro. There’s a tiny but remarkable degree of bend when you touch the palm rest. The large-size touchpad’s hinges are also loose, producing noises that inspire little confidence. In view of the modest cost of about 1.000 dollars, I think some buyers will be ready to overlook these difficulties.