When it's allowed to turbo to the max, that is. If you put it in a laptop where you're more thermal and power constrained it's gonna give similar performance to this.
The 700 number was definitely with good cooling and maybe even the CPU set to the 25w mode. To achieve over 700 the CPU would need to be boosting to 3.3 ish ghz which is not reasonable to see in a laptop.
(Sorry, posted this wrong) The 707 score is for a 15w laptop. Also, some redditors benchmarked the envy x360, which has a ryzen 5 2500u, that scored 577
Did Anandtech run Cinebench on Asus a single time, or in long loop? Did not see the answer when fast-reading the article. Ryzen Mobile in HP x360 with 2500U scored up to 614 for users in a single run, and AMD showed ~550 to be expected in continuous load at 25W. However- this Asus is a laptop weighing only half of what HP x360 weighs, thus lower cTDP/shorter boost time is reasonable.
Not sure, but in the power analysis section of the article it stated that after an initial burst the laptop dropped its CPU power down to 15W; so falling behind a 25W system is only to be expected. The graph in that section's bobbing up and down on temp/clock speed/etc suggests it was run long enough to reach steady state at least.
This is getting pretty close to the laptop I've wanted for years but no one made.
* Quad Core * Thunderbolt 3 * No dGPU * Backlit keyboard (why there are any laptops without this in 2017 I don't know)
but it unfortunately fails two big requirements for me:
* Standard ethernet port, no flappy spring loaded designs and no Killer anything. * Upgradeable RAM
I'd really like to see something slightly thicker and heavier which put that thickness towards an Intel or Aquantia NIC, socketed everything, and then filled the rest of the available space with battery.
They do support 32GB of standard DDR4 though, and the manufacturers could offer this with the obvious trade-off in battery life.
Having said that, why someone would really need 32GB of RAM in an ultrabook is beyond me. For heavier workflows, there are larger laptops available, and of course desktops. Can't have everything in life.
I believe they prefer to implement LPDDR to be able to reach long battery runtime during sleep. With standart DDR, any sleeping computer is pretty much out of juice overnight whereas laptops with LPDDR can sleep for days.
I've been able to sleep Dell Latitudes used by my previous employer over the weekend since the 2008(?) models; AFAIK all of them used standard DDR2/3 not low power sorts.
Overnight? That's a pretty major exaggeration. I had a Acer 3830TG (Sandy bridge, 4GB DDR3) that lasted >3 weeks in sleep. And before anyone says it, I always "powercfg -h off" on a new system/OS install.
@Jimios basically I'm looking for a powerful, portable machine on which to run VMs and do development. It'll never run games or even Windows so an nVidia or AMD GPU is just wasted silicon, wasted power, and annoying driver problems. I'd rather just use the Intel GPU that's built in to the processor and has great Linux support, but basically every proper workstation laptop forces a Quadro on you.
If I want to avoid the GPU I'm stuck looking at the thinner models. I don't really care about thin, I think my 2008-era Macbook Pro (the one right before unibody, that was basically an evolution of the Powerbook G4 design) was perfect as far as size/weight goes.
Can't the dGPU be completely disabled through BIOS/EFI or something? I haven't owned a non-Apple laptop recently so I honestly don't know.
As for your use case (multiple VMs, etc.), I understand, but I don't think there would be too much demand for what you're asking. A laptop with your description wouldn't sell well to justify the development and marketing cost, IMO. Laptops like the article we're commenting on are mass market devices.
Also, typically with "workstation laptops" companies aim at CAD/CAM engineers and creative professionals. Which is sad, and I understand your frustration.
As a developer currently using a Yoga with 16GB of ram, while I'd rather have a big laptop with a 45W CPU and 32GB of ram; if I could only have 1 I'd go for the ram multiple VMs or copies o Visual studio and a bunch of loaded browsers max out 16GB more often than I'm CPU limited.
"Can't the dGPU be completely disabled through BIOS/EFI or something? I haven't owned a non-Apple laptop recently so I honestly don't know."
I have yet to encounter a dual-GPU laptop where all the video ports were wired through the onboard GPU. Usually at least one of the external ports and sometimes the internal display is wired through the dedicated component, requiring that part to be enabled for those ports to work.
On my current Asus with a GT650M the HDMI port is wired through the nVidia chip so if I want to use an external monitor I have to either use VGA (yuck) or deal with the disaster that is nVidia Optimus. Even under Windows it's annoying, under Linux it's a mess.
I've felt the same as you for the last decade, but you'd be surprised these days. AMD GPUs are quite well supported out of the box on open drivers, within 6mo of launch, and generally you can get them up on launch day using recent kernel/Mesa releases. I'll be getting an AMD 2500u based laptop this time around. Probably the Acer Swift.
> basically I'm looking for a powerful, portable machine on which to run VMs and do development. It'll never run games or even Windows so an nVidia or AMD GPU is just wasted silicon, wasted power, and annoying driver problems. I'd rather just use the Intel GPU that's built in to the processor and has great Linux support, but basically every proper workstation laptop forces a Quadro on you.
you had me until "never runs Windows", lol.
nice troll, bro, nice troll.
also, accelerated graphics support in lunix. ha ha ha ha ha.
Yes, slightly thicker with a bigger battery and replaceable everything would be nice. Is battery on this one user-replaceable? If not, it is a 2-year device, and as such is too expensive.
do you really need more than 8gb in a laptop for an ultrabook? I have 16gb on my desktop and it never goes beyond 8gb without gaming. I don't game on ultrabooks, they're purely for work.
Unfortunately there may not be sufficient space in the 15W wrapper to permit better integrated graphics. New MacBook Pros aren’t likely to come out until next spring, anyway.
I'm still loving my 4xxx gen Zenbook, aside from having to replace the keyboard, it's been kicking around for nearly 4 years now with no probs. Solid line of laptops and very sleek. Will definitely look @ the 9xxx Zenbook for my next upgrade! Really want to see what 10nm brings to the table!
Do the Thunderbolt 3 ports provide 2 PCIe lanes or 4? I was very disappointed to find out that my XPS 13 only has 2 lanes available for an external GPU.
17 fps on a Cherry Trail Atom which is exactly what I got too, on a Teclast X98. I was wondering why QuickSync was so slow on an Atom when it's just the Atom that's slow.
I'm surprised about the Zenbook's overall efficiency though. It's comparable to a Core M device while having double the performance. I wonder how much of this is down to the CPU, given the screen is a large hi-res unit and the battery is rather small.
I've had the chance to work with a UX390 and now on a XPS13 (with 8th gen i5). Both are impressive machines. I do appreciate the long battery life of the XPS13, I get well over a day of work out of the battery, closer to two, and the more versatile connectivity (USB-A is still king today and for the next couple years at least). It's also nice to be able to forget your power supply and not care. One thing that would put me off this UX490 but is not mentioned in this review: this seems to be a non-mate display. Quite baffling since this is no touch screen. Try using one of those on the train, or a plane sitting next to the window, especially with the low maximum brightness. Mate displays are just more usable, I feel, if you don't use touch. With a mate display you can lower the screen brightness and get that much more battery life...
Although brands often change the screen on new models for a poorer/cheaper one after all the reviews are out, it would still be useful if you can publish the make of screen fitted to your laptop review models. There is a key code shortcut to display the make of screen, (which I have forgotten) so there is no need to open up the laptop to find out.
It is regrettable they do not offer a non-glare type screen. (thank god the touch UI in Windows has receded, as it was ruining outdoor use). Otherwise this Zen 3 would suit me well, if it were not for the price. Want a quite 'thin & light' 14 or 15" FHD, maybe 1 TB3, ,thats reliable, but nearer half the price.
I would really appreciate in every review, if you would make some comment about the fixability and upgradeability the device. Is the RAM soldered down? Can the SSD be replaced? How hard is it to open the case? How hard is it to replace the battery. Some of us do not like to buy devices based on planned obsolescence and we don't want to throw it away after 500 recharge cycles, when the battery starts to degrade.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
55 Comments
Back to Article
lefty2 - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
The Cinebench multithread score look very weak. Only 497. The Ryzen 2700U scores 707Dr. Swag - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
When it's allowed to turbo to the max, that is. If you put it in a laptop where you're more thermal and power constrained it's gonna give similar performance to this.If you look here it's only scoring 550 or so
https://images.anandtech.com/doci/11964/amd_ryzen_...
The 700 number was definitely with good cooling and maybe even the CPU set to the 25w mode. To achieve over 700 the CPU would need to be boosting to 3.3 ish ghz which is not reasonable to see in a laptop.
lefty2 - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
(Sorry, posted this wrong)The 707 score is for a 15w laptop. Also, some redditors benchmarked the envy x360, which has a ryzen 5 2500u, that scored 577
neblogai - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Did Anandtech run Cinebench on Asus a single time, or in long loop? Did not see the answer when fast-reading the article. Ryzen Mobile in HP x360 with 2500U scored up to 614 for users in a single run, and AMD showed ~550 to be expected in continuous load at 25W. However- this Asus is a laptop weighing only half of what HP x360 weighs, thus lower cTDP/shorter boost time is reasonable.DanNeely - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Not sure, but in the power analysis section of the article it stated that after an initial burst the laptop dropped its CPU power down to 15W; so falling behind a 25W system is only to be expected. The graph in that section's bobbing up and down on temp/clock speed/etc suggests it was run long enough to reach steady state at least.lefty2 - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
It's a pity no review site wants to buy a Envy x360 and benchmark it properly. We could lay this to rest thenRyan Smith - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Our Envy is on its way.=)lefty2 - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Excellent!jjj - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
Hope you guys spend a bit of extra time on power (for just the RR SoC), it's a possible weak point given how little such data AMD shared.Krysto - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
And how do we know this isn't this laptop's "peak performance", too? Maybe Intel's chip actually drops down to a score of 300 after it throttles...Krysto - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Came here to say this. Intel's "ultra-mobile" chips are too weak. I'd rather get a quad-core AMD chip for the price.StevoLincolnite - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
My major gripe is the Intel Decelerator Graphics.For christ sake, at-least let me play MOBA's like Overwatch, we are almost in 2018!
Ratman6161 - Sunday, November 26, 2017 - link
Ultra mobile "U" CPU's are not aimed at or intended for that usage. This, or any other U CPU and this entire form factor probably aren't for you.MrSpadge - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
Feel free to vote with your wallet :)HStewart - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Now we can see one of reasons why Intel hire Raju.Keep in mine Cinebench is heavy Video intensive by nature.
Brazos - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Intel should hire someone from AMD to help make their graphic chips competitive. :)mooninite - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I don't get it. ASUS hasn't released an equivalent to the UX301LA. Why are they not releasing an Iris-level graphics CPU? Didn't sell well?wolrah - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
This is getting pretty close to the laptop I've wanted for years but no one made.* Quad Core
* Thunderbolt 3
* No dGPU
* Backlit keyboard (why there are any laptops without this in 2017 I don't know)
but it unfortunately fails two big requirements for me:
* Standard ethernet port, no flappy spring loaded designs and no Killer anything.
* Upgradeable RAM
I'd really like to see something slightly thicker and heavier which put that thickness towards an Intel or Aquantia NIC, socketed everything, and then filled the rest of the available space with battery.
labrats5 - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
The current intel chips don't support more than 16gb of lpddr3 ram. Even if it were user replaceable, there would be nothing to upgrade to.Jimios - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
They do support 32GB of standard DDR4 though, and the manufacturers could offer this with the obvious trade-off in battery life.Having said that, why someone would really need 32GB of RAM in an ultrabook is beyond me. For heavier workflows, there are larger laptops available, and of course desktops. Can't have everything in life.
aeronatis - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I believe they prefer to implement LPDDR to be able to reach long battery runtime during sleep. With standart DDR, any sleeping computer is pretty much out of juice overnight whereas laptops with LPDDR can sleep for days.DanNeely - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I've been able to sleep Dell Latitudes used by my previous employer over the weekend since the 2008(?) models; AFAIK all of them used standard DDR2/3 not low power sorts.hybrid2d4x4 - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
Overnight? That's a pretty major exaggeration. I had a Acer 3830TG (Sandy bridge, 4GB DDR3) that lasted >3 weeks in sleep. And before anyone says it, I always "powercfg -h off" on a new system/OS install.wolrah - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
@labrats5 Who said anything about LPDDR3?@Jimios basically I'm looking for a powerful, portable machine on which to run VMs and do development. It'll never run games or even Windows so an nVidia or AMD GPU is just wasted silicon, wasted power, and annoying driver problems. I'd rather just use the Intel GPU that's built in to the processor and has great Linux support, but basically every proper workstation laptop forces a Quadro on you.
If I want to avoid the GPU I'm stuck looking at the thinner models. I don't really care about thin, I think my 2008-era Macbook Pro (the one right before unibody, that was basically an evolution of the Powerbook G4 design) was perfect as far as size/weight goes.
Jimios - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Can't the dGPU be completely disabled through BIOS/EFI or something? I haven't owned a non-Apple laptop recently so I honestly don't know.As for your use case (multiple VMs, etc.), I understand, but I don't think there would be too much demand for what you're asking. A laptop with your description wouldn't sell well to justify the development and marketing cost, IMO. Laptops like the article we're commenting on are mass market devices.
Also, typically with "workstation laptops" companies aim at CAD/CAM engineers and creative professionals. Which is sad, and I understand your frustration.
DanNeely - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
As a developer currently using a Yoga with 16GB of ram, while I'd rather have a big laptop with a 45W CPU and 32GB of ram; if I could only have 1 I'd go for the ram multiple VMs or copies o Visual studio and a bunch of loaded browsers max out 16GB more often than I'm CPU limited.wolrah - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
"Can't the dGPU be completely disabled through BIOS/EFI or something? I haven't owned a non-Apple laptop recently so I honestly don't know."I have yet to encounter a dual-GPU laptop where all the video ports were wired through the onboard GPU. Usually at least one of the external ports and sometimes the internal display is wired through the dedicated component, requiring that part to be enabled for those ports to work.
On my current Asus with a GT650M the HDMI port is wired through the nVidia chip so if I want to use an external monitor I have to either use VGA (yuck) or deal with the disaster that is nVidia Optimus. Even under Windows it's annoying, under Linux it's a mess.
linuxgeex - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
I've felt the same as you for the last decade, but you'd be surprised these days. AMD GPUs are quite well supported out of the box on open drivers, within 6mo of launch, and generally you can get them up on launch day using recent kernel/Mesa releases. I'll be getting an AMD 2500u based laptop this time around. Probably the Acer Swift.timecop1818 - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
> basically I'm looking for a powerful, portable machine on which to run VMs and do development. It'll never run games or even Windows so an nVidia or AMD GPU is just wasted silicon, wasted power, and annoying driver problems. I'd rather just use the Intel GPU that's built in to the processor and has great Linux support, but basically every proper workstation laptop forces a Quadro on you.you had me until "never runs Windows", lol.
nice troll, bro, nice troll.
also, accelerated graphics support in lunix. ha ha ha ha ha.
thanks for the laugh.
IGTrading - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
It will be lovely to watch AMD Ryzen Mobile mop the floor with this 1700 USD waste of money.For this much money, I would expect way better performance, but luckily HP Envy x360z with Ryzen Mobile is just 600 USD.
There's nothing in ASUS' new Zen that's worth the extra 1000 USD they're asking.
mkaibear - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Er, the Envy x360 is nearly twice the size and twice the weight of this Zenbook. You're not exactly comparing apples with apples there.Thin and light is always expensive.
IGTrading - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
Perfectly true.We don't actually need it to be that small.
What I'd prefer is to have a thin 17-incher with 2 M2 SSDs and a HDD, FHD touchscreen and a flippable display (to go into tablet mode)
The fact that the ENVY is 15" helps with our productivity.
mkaibear - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
*you* don't need it to be that small, that's fine. Buy a different one!My mum, for example, *does* need a thin and light laptop because of her osteoarthritis, so this would be infinitely better for her than the Envy.
(although she's going for a Mac anyway *rollseyes*)
Anyway, my point is that there are use cases for thin and light, even if it doesn't fit with what you'd want to do.
peevee - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Yes, slightly thicker with a bigger battery and replaceable everything would be nice.Is battery on this one user-replaceable? If not, it is a 2-year device, and as such is too expensive.
HStewart - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Ethernet port can be handle by Thunderbolt 3 - of course requiring a dongle or docking station / hubUpgradeable RAM in light notebooks in side of the times in keeping things small. it best to go for max ram as you can get at the time.
poohbear - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
do you really need more than 8gb in a laptop for an ultrabook? I have 16gb on my desktop and it never goes beyond 8gb without gaming. I don't game on ultrabooks, they're purely for work.0iron - Thursday, November 23, 2017 - link
Do you use Chrome with more than 20 tabs? With multiple Excel files, Outlook & occasional Firefox running 8GB RAM will reach its limit easily.anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I'd rather buy a surface book 2 at this price. Yes it would be a tradeoff with no tb3, but I would gain a 1050 and more battery.kepstin - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I'm just gonna say, this quote: "On the bright side, it can get fairly dim," is the funniest thing I've read all day.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
We aim to please.tipoo - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Any idea when these ULV quads will be combined with Iris Plus, which is presumably what Apple would be waiting on?KPOM - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Unfortunately there may not be sufficient space in the 15W wrapper to permit better integrated graphics. New MacBook Pros aren’t likely to come out until next spring, anyway.poohbear - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
I'm still loving my 4xxx gen Zenbook, aside from having to replace the keyboard, it's been kicking around for nearly 4 years now with no probs. Solid line of laptops and very sleek. Will definitely look @ the 9xxx Zenbook for my next upgrade! Really want to see what 10nm brings to the table!cyborgu - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
Do the Thunderbolt 3 ports provide 2 PCIe lanes or 4? I was very disappointed to find out that my XPS 13 only has 2 lanes available for an external GPU.serendip - Wednesday, November 22, 2017 - link
17 fps on a Cherry Trail Atom which is exactly what I got too, on a Teclast X98. I was wondering why QuickSync was so slow on an Atom when it's just the Atom that's slow.I'm surprised about the Zenbook's overall efficiency though. It's comparable to a Core M device while having double the performance. I wonder how much of this is down to the CPU, given the screen is a large hi-res unit and the battery is rather small.
speculatrix - Saturday, November 25, 2017 - link
Can you boot Linux at all, and if so, are all devices recognized?Thanks
MatthiasP - Sunday, November 26, 2017 - link
Asus made an almost perfect thin and light laptop and then put a dark and glossy display in. WOW.Qiou87 - Monday, November 27, 2017 - link
I've had the chance to work with a UX390 and now on a XPS13 (with 8th gen i5). Both are impressive machines. I do appreciate the long battery life of the XPS13, I get well over a day of work out of the battery, closer to two, and the more versatile connectivity (USB-A is still king today and for the next couple years at least). It's also nice to be able to forget your power supply and not care.One thing that would put me off this UX490 but is not mentioned in this review: this seems to be a non-mate display. Quite baffling since this is no touch screen. Try using one of those on the train, or a plane sitting next to the window, especially with the low maximum brightness. Mate displays are just more usable, I feel, if you don't use touch. With a mate display you can lower the screen brightness and get that much more battery life...
Manch - Tuesday, December 5, 2017 - link
I didnt like the glosdy screen on my ASUS ux501 so Iut a matte screen protector on it. Works greatManch - Tuesday, December 5, 2017 - link
I putwill2 - Monday, November 27, 2017 - link
Although brands often change the screen on new models for a poorer/cheaper one after all the reviews are out, it would still be useful if you can publish the make of screen fitted to your laptop review models. There is a key code shortcut to display the make of screen, (which I have forgotten) so there is no need to open up the laptop to find out.It is regrettable they do not offer a non-glare type screen. (thank god the touch UI in Windows has receded, as it was ruining outdoor use). Otherwise this Zen 3 would suit me well, if it were not for the price. Want a quite 'thin & light' 14 or 15" FHD, maybe 1 TB3, ,thats reliable, but nearer half the price.
will2 - Monday, November 27, 2017 - link
It would be of interest to many if you DID show photos of laptop internals, and if it is easy to change items like the battery, SSD etcamosbatto - Wednesday, November 29, 2017 - link
I would really appreciate in every review, if you would make some comment about the fixability and upgradeability the device. Is the RAM soldered down? Can the SSD be replaced? How hard is it to open the case? How hard is it to replace the battery. Some of us do not like to buy devices based on planned obsolescence and we don't want to throw it away after 500 recharge cycles, when the battery starts to degrade.Namisecond - Thursday, November 30, 2017 - link
I really don't understand why Asus would put in a double-glass glossy display without touch capability...alexmckay - Tuesday, December 19, 2017 - link
I think this is awesome. I always remember in college my book bag being so heavy from my laptop, this would be a great thing for college students.