Hey, how’s it going? I think for a lot of people this will be the laptop that they want. So a lot of people are looking for that laptop that’s thin and light. It doesn’t cost too much and can play some games. This is that one. So if this is what you’re looking for stick around, this is the new laptop from Asus, it’s called the ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331.
And what makes this thing special is the fact that this thing is running an MX150 in a very light and portable package now, it’s not the thinnest laptop out there. Obviously, there are thinner Ultrabooks in this but this thing is relatively thin but they’ve given it enough room to allow for a proper thermal solution because there is a decent GPU inside this thing. Okay. I’m just going to go through some things that I do like about this laptop and then maybe touch on some points that I don’t like about it, in no particular order.
The build quality on this thing is quite good. It is a thousand-dollar device back in 2018. So you expect devices like this to have a good build quality and it does deliver, the screen has a little more flex to it. I feel than the older UX330, but aside from that great build quality. other things I like the trackpad this is one of the better trackpads of seen from ASUS its glass. The texture was super smooth with Windows Precision drivers. You can’t get much better than this on a Windows laptop. There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the side If you’re into using Windows Hello to log in.
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331 Screen
The screen is also surprisingly good It’s really bright It’s pretty color accurate and the viewing angles are good. I do wish the hinge was a little bit stiffer It’s just got a little bit more play than I would like but a good screen otherwise.
It’s a little bit of work to get inside you do have to remove the bottom feet and remove some screws but inside you can replace the SSD. The one that includes is a little slow. It’s a satyr drive. So if you want to you can switch the same to an nvme drive, but there’s not much else that you can replace in here.
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331 Battery
The battery down here is only 50-watt hours It’s not particularly big. It’s kind of weird because you look at the device like this with a 50-watt hour battery and then devices with 60-watt hour batteries with similar screens sizes and this is actually getting slightly better battery life, which is good, how are they doing this? I think it’s through software optimization. I’m not sure exactly what they’re doing but I’m getting a 9 half-hour battery with the screen at 13 inches.
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331 Speakes and Webcam
It’s the speakers also send quite good. It’s got Harman Kardon branding and the thing is we’ve seen a lot of bad speakers hiding behind this branding before not to dis the brand or anything but are Harman Kardon at this point means nothing to me on laptops. But this time around this sounds really good. It’s a clean sound with a good range and good volume, I do wish that the speakers were located on the top instead of the bottom, but it’s a good sounding speaker.
The webcam is pretty much garbage reminds me of the one on the 12-inch MacBook. If you use your webcam frequently, then you’re gonna have to get an external because this is just terrible.
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331 Has Nvidia MX150
The feature that makes this laptop the most special is its GPU. It’s running the Nvidia MX150 It is a very impressive card, It’s not like most powerful GPU that’s not what it is, but it doesn’t require crazy heat sinks or fans, but it’s still pushing out decent frame rates and games, you can comfortably play basically any popular title right now as long as you lower the graphics quality a bit.
So if you’re a Casual Gamer, you know what let’s not even use that term even if your enthusiasts you’re going to be fine on an MX150 as long as you don’t need really high-quality Graphics, if you are someone who wants to play GTA V with like 20 mods running then no this is not the system for you. But for most people, you’re going to be happy with this.
ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331 CPU and Fans
the CPU the running is Intel’s 8th gen kaby lake-r and for the right application like if you’re running stuff that can take advantage of Extra cores performance is great.
The fans on this thing are kind of a mix on an idol, It’s completely quiet. It’s literally silence they don’t even come on, but when you do some intensive stuff to kick in and they don’t get too loud or anything, but when you’re playing games, they get quite loud and it’s actually one of the latter Ultrabooks that have seen in 2018 now that’s honestly a good thing because remember for dealing with a device that puts out a decent amount of heat, if you’re not pushing it out quickly, you’re going to have problems.
I did not notice any thermal throttling on this laptop when I was playing games, which is you know, it’s promising it’s good. But when I ran some stress test I did notice throttling and it’s not something that I think will appear for most people’s usage scenarios. It does seem confined to the stress test, but it is there and depending on what you do and how demanding your tasks. Are it may or may not be an issue.
If you really need some really intensive CPU or GPU stuff than this is probably not the best laptop for you for most people there’s no throttling issue that I can see, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
Things that I don’t like about ASUS ZenBook 13 UX331
There are a couple of things that I don’t like first is the port flexion, so it’s got an okay Port flexion, It has a USB C Port but uses a regular Barrel plug for charging and I just feel like that was a missed opportunity because To fulfill charging under device a visitor an awesome.
It also does not support Thunderbolt 3 on that USB C Port so I don’t know again a missed opportunity. I’m sure he keeps the cost down but it would have been nice.
Another thing, I don’t like is the top surface, so this has this kind of glass looking material, I’m actually what actually is glass but it just looks tacky and it makes the whole thing look cheaper and it attracts fingerprints, so you’re gonna get smudges the stuff for the top, the older one the US330 just had to complain stainless steel finish and I like that but this you know what this looks like a Chromebook to be honest, like one of those cheaper Chromebooks.
Okay. Another thing I don’t like this is a big one the keyboard This is a keyboard that has a great layout but it’s just not as comfortable to use as I would expect the keystrokes are a little soft to feel it the mechanism for the switch isn’t the best but I think most people can get used to this keyboard given enough time.
Overall. I like this glob top a lot. I think it’s a great fit for a lot of people if you look for frivolous thin and light that doesn’t cost too much money and can play some games on the side with decent battery life from you’re not playing games. This could be the bomb. Okay. Hope again. Has enjoyed this post share if you liked it comment if you loved it. See you guys next time.
