I was curious where Core M stood against some mid range 4-5 year old systems, namely Core 2 Duo. I checked on the Notebookcheck mobile CPU and GPU benchmarks, and it doesn't seem appreciably faster than the P8600/320M combo in an old white unibody macbook we have, for instance. The CPU scores a bit higher, not earth shattering, the GPU looks to track around the same. Is that wrong?
Not to say that that's not impressive, going from that in 35+23 watts to a total of 5 watts, but it's not a huge upgrade for people on those systems either, apart from form factor and screen etc.
That's great and all, except....who asked for a 5W notebook chip? Intel has been doing this for a while, moving the MAINSTREAM of the notebook market from M/H-series chips to U (CULV) series chips...and now to the even less powerful Y-series, which until Broadwell was so crap nobody dared to put it in their laptops (IVB-Y and Haswell-Y). Core M is just a slight upgrade over those.
It's already happening. We're already seeing "ultrabooks" such as this Asus, and the new Macbook Air arriving with these crappy chips, and making us pay $1300 for the privilege. Why the hell wouldn't I just use an ARM chip at this point in a $500 Chromebook, and with the same quality screen and materials?
I was with you until you mentioned 'chromebook'. That threw everything out of the window and, honestly, you'd be a bit silly to even consider such a machine.
Not mint, and not with that tiny amount of storage, and not at that price. If they had at least made the storage upgradable it would've been the PERFECT linux lappy.
True. Chromebooks seem silly, and an answer to nothing right now, in today's state of technology. I think Krysto, you're missing a few things...just as comparing this to a 2010 Air or an '08 MacBook. It's got 8GB of RAM. The earlier MacBooks were 2, an option of four but no more. They were either using 5400 RPM HDDs or the earliest, slowest SSD technology, they didn't aport IPS panels (nor options like HiDPI <&1000!!). You were lucky to get two, two and a half hours on the old, white plastic MacBooks, maybe an hour more on the '10 Air....they were thicker, heavier, and not anywhere close to today's GPU solutions integrated, sharing some of that RAM, in some cases 2GB of its internal/existing system memory when necessary. Along with the improvements made to OS X, this is a machine built for 'Most'... ...Not you and I. Different needs, all that but plenty are getting by everyday without turning a laptop or their desktops at home on. iPads, your Nexus or Samsung tablet of choice -- even today's smartphones smoke those older MacBooks for all reasons mentioned above; portability, longevity, 'speed' (with PCIe storage now, quick NAND solutions in tabs), and overall function. There's a WHOLE lot of folks using their iPad for their email, facebook, casual gaming and web surfing, entertainment and media, constant, 'everywhere' connectivity radios and phenomenal displays you can throw in a bag and forget it's there. Even charge it with a cigarette lighter. Same applies to today's phablet phones ...as we've seen tab sales drop whether it's due to over saturation of the tablets in those who already 'want them', a slower upgrade cycle and/or the 'phablet' craze with incredible, HiDPI 5-6" display phones in our pockets...with the SAME power as their tablet counterparts (some compared favorably in this review ...IOW, iPhone 66/6+, Note 4 and incoming S6, new LGs, HTCs and iPhones, these 'phones' are going to be competing even more favorably this year to these ultra book scores, that's cool!) Point being 'Most' folks haven't the needs or just plain 'wants' those of us frequenting Anandtech are looking at for our next computer. That said, a dozen hours, two pounds and those improvements are all fine choices for someone not rendering video or manipulating 200 RAW 50mpxl images 'on the run' --- the perceived and 'real speed' increases via SSD storage, the iGPU and fabless quiet design might just make for an excellent commuter computer for many of us, at just 7-$999! Like the new MacBook, it's got a place in the marketplace for the masses but if it's not the solution you're lookong for the Broadwell 35/45 watt MacBook pro, XPS 15 and 17" workstations, etc ...they'll be here sooner than later and from all things I've seen, other than maybe a 5-8% power increase and savings over Haswell, there's plenty of options on the market today that cover the bases I'll be 44 this year and started with an Apple IIe. What a cool time to be a 'geek'! J
If Chromebooks could do RDP, than they would make decent thin clients. Otherwise, I don't find much value in them except for cases where you want your device to only be a browser from a management standpoint.
I may be in the niche group right now, but I am pretty excited at what these 5W chips bring to the table. These chips are really where Windows on a tablet will stand out in my opinion. With much better performance than you get with the crappy Atom line of CPUs and with way better performance than anything ARM will provide, and then add in the millions of legacy programs that you can use on a full x86 Windows platform, and in my opinion, it's a winning combination. With products like Dell's Venue 11 Pro already upgraded to Core M, and with the upcoming Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi also coming in with Core M, and all for around $800, I find it worth the extra $300 to get better performance and get full blown Windows instead of being stuck in the limited Chromebook world. At this point, I'm waiting on reviews, and both of Anandtech's Core M reviews so far show me what I expected.
Of course, I agree that this platform is not for everybody. A gamer should build their own gaming desktop, or invest in something like the Razer Blade if they want mobility, and a content consumer should just go Android Tablet, iPad, or Chromebook. But personally, I already have a gaming desktop at home that is overpowered for the task in my mind and would benefit from being mobile, but the task is incompatible with anything but Windows, so my smartphone or non-Windows tablet can't even run to program, and Atom is far too weak, so something with Core M is ideal.
In other words, if you don't want it, don't buy it. But to answer your top question, who asked for a 5 W notebook chip? I did.
I'm excited about these chips too because of battery life. For personal use I'd rather have some more gaming chops.
I use a Surface Pro 1 for work and am happy with it except for battery life. The battery life isn't bad; I just know there is better out there and in consideration to my iPad I can't ditch the iPad.
because the MAINSTREAM of the notebook market won't even use the paltry power this offers. the MAINSTREAM user needs a web browser, a picture viewer, video playback software and at rare intervals the ability to run office. 8GB of ram means they won't need an upgrade for a long time.
But after a couple of weeks the MAINSTREAM will start to get annoyed with the slowdowns, the heat and the fact that you can't have more than a few programs running at once, whitout the laptop throttling down constantly. MAINSTREAM is especially annoyed how everything comes to a crawl when they're doing the virus scans. Because 8GB RAM doesn't change the fact that the puny 5 watt ceiling means that it spends half the time below 1 GHZ and with one core turned off.
MAINSTREAM quickly realizes that much of the time, their iPad does a quicker and better job at looking something up online, or replying to an email.
Hey now! Apple certainly didn't put this halfassed, asthmatic excuse of a CPU in the MacBook Air.
It's the craptastic 12 inch MacBook that has to suffer the indignity of being powered by a CoreM.
(And while I love Apple products and got an i-everything myself, both Apple and Apple fanboys have finally jumped the shark with the 12 inch MacBook. And the Koolaid-swillers can't believe how innovative it is: "It only has ONE port! So brave and futuristic!"
It's also fabless, with PCIe storage that flat FLIES, an excellent iGPU that'll help that meager Core m processor that is essentially as fast as the quickest core2duos (mobile)! As well, an operating system that scales your UI properly and sure, a single port. It's 'portable'. Not meant to be connected. You can certianly (& already) buy the proper docks and/or adaptors necessary to utilize USB 3, HDMI or VGA, & power it simultaneously. The traditional bottleneck for the 'mainstream' has NEVER been the CPU. Rather it's memory, storage sub system, OS or a combination of all at the above...including GPU. While you're an Apple fan, you should know just how great these displays and their HiDPI scaling through OS X (& iOS) has gotten since the release of the 2012 models and 'new' iPad (3). This IS the computer for the 'Apple fanboy Kool-Aid swillers' unlike you and I that obviously need a bit more horsepower, I/O or 'strength' from our laptops. Most, don't. They're doing the 'lifting' at work on a supplied work station. They're using their MacBook to edit family photos, videos, neither using Premier, AE, Smoke or even FCPx ...nor photoshop. They're using iPhoto and iMovie, NEITHER of which will be slowed down to the point of frustration as they're doing what they NEED it to. Surf the web, check email, Facebook and Twitter, watch a flick or listen to music, even ALL those processes, simultaneously running won't create any 'perceived slow down' by the end user of they're not in need of the processing power and amount of ports you somehow believe we all need. I get it. And own a pair of 15" rMBPs and they're the best computers I've ever owned, and to think it started on a IIe and monochrome display! That said, we get it, you're disgusted but guess what? ASUS literally JUST released the same 'halfassed, asthmatic of an excuse of a CPU' in their latest Ultralight line. Bit less money, but lesser IGPU, lesser storage speeds, and severely lacking display OOB without calibration. It's got your ports, but again I ask, Why? Why the ports? Why a quad core i7 Xeon with GPUs in SLI? When no one wants anything p,urged in to their laptop on the train, on the plane or on the go? No need to charge, it lasts ten hours --- but if u need it, buy the 13" rMBP. Same tech, all the IO you seem to need and not so anemic a CPU As an Apple fan myself, it's sad to see another 'fan' so clueless and ignorant to what a portable, laptop design should and shouldnt be (like the crappy hinge on the ASUS) And you get OS X, an operating system built and 'intended' for maximum end user enjoyment and Performance --- 'real or perceived', it's irrelevant. It's always nice to leave work at home
Who asked for a 5W notebook chip? To me the answer is anyone concerned about battery life and/or size; having to put a fan in a notebook adds to its bulk, not to mention making noise, reducing room for batteries and, if the processor needs a fan, reducing that battery life even further.
Granted the screens are really the most demanding component these days, especially high-densisty screens requiring stronger backlights, but hopefully this will go down too (and you can run at reduced brightness to get some extra time out of the battery). But yeah; battery life improvements require everything to get more efficient, and that includes the processor. It might not be a massive leap in performance (or an improvement at all, depending upon what you're doing with it), but the efficiency improvements are enormous.
Because it's easier for intel to improve the power to performance ratio than merely making the chips faster with the same power. They've been doing this since sandy-bridge and it doesn't seem like they'll change that any time soon.
Except this laptop is $699.... not $1300...And for that "extra" $200, you get a thin, shiny laptop capable of doing 99% of what the "normal" user will want...
You want to play uber games... buy an Alienware 18!
The core M's are specifically intended for the low power market so if performance is your priority you wouldn't be looking at this one in the first place. You would instead be looking at the new generation of i3, i5 etc just coming out:
Yea Intel has been making leaps and bouns the last couple of years in their processors. But none of it has been tailored towards power users or high power markets.
It has all been in increasing efficiency, which they have done an amazing job of catching up in. But the downside of all this is that for 2-3 years all us power/high power users to sit with our thumbs up our asses while we wait for something worth our while to come out.
If you aren't super concerned with lowering TDP to save power then you are just going to have to wait a bit longer before Intel tries going back to their old ways. But then again, I'm not sure it will ever be the same again.
I'm still waiting for a compelling reason to upgrade from my i7-2600K. I've upgraded everything in my PC over the last 4 years with the exception of my Z68 motherboard and my CPU. The Sandy Bridge architecture has certainly stood the test of time.
This is apples to oranges but my prior laptop was a big heavy Alienware M17X M3 which I still have but I was tempted with the latest tiny, thin and extremely high performance 14" Razer Blade laptop which I don't think is much bigger than this Zenbook if that. But it sports a full Quadcore i7 4720HQ with hyperthreading and an Nvidia Maxwell GTX970M GPU. It is a killer combo with the 3200x1800 screen. It is so small compared to the Alienware and more than twice as fast.
Performance wise it might not be any quicker but will probably be a huge upgrade to form factor and battery life, it really depends on your priorities. If the laptop never leaves the coffee table then no reason to get a thin and light design.
I don't know if I can agree with that. No matter the coffee table the couch is very nearby, thus kicking back on that or the easy chair - not to mention the backyard picnic, watching something while ironing in the laundry room - setting it about for TV/movies/netflix/news in the kitchen. I think it would be great for a home only user.
I don't wish to be pedantic, but your scenarios are "leaving the coffee table", perhaps I should have said desk. I've met people with laptops who almost never pick it up, they just got it because a desktop takes up too much space and doesn't fold down.
The Dell XPS13 kept winning - I have to go hunt down the review on that, here, hopefully. Getting the QHD+ touchscreen on the Dell is twice the cost, but man, those benches.
Well, for a lot of people a Core 2 Duo is more than powerful enough. Using a M4400 with a Core 2 Duo T9600 from time to time rarely does it feel slow for "normal usage", i.e. browsing the web, working with Photoshop and whatnot.
Once we have reached a certain threshold more performance just doesn't seem so important any more. I would say most folks reached that threshold with the release of the later C2D CPU:s.
I know many of these people, and replacing the spindle drive with a small SSD (and my usual optimizations in 5 mins) settles it entirely for them. It's faster than the new regulars at the stores.
I just "upgraded" from my Core Duo T2400 based laptop (which kept up with modern software) to a $60 second hand thinkpad t61, with Core 2 T7100 CPU (which easily keeps up with modern software.)
I only upgraded because the screen backlight on the old laptop was a bit flaky, and only upgraded to the thinkpad because it has a fantastic keyboard and I already had the ultrabay HDD adaptor from a previous work laptop, as well as using the same PSU as my old laptop (also a Lenovo.)
Modern machines are let down by their crappy keyboards and screens. That's where the race to the bottom has hit.
TL;DR
I concur. With the push of software down to tablet and smartphones, people have learned to somewhat optimize again, and CPUs performance from ~7-8 years ago is perfactly adequate.
Except I'd argue your two biggest concerns (keyboard and screen) are ..at least ½ of the equation ... Of MUCH higher quality, legibility, brightness, contrast, and their corresponding technologies behind them; AMOLED or LCS have come leaps and bounds in the last half to full decade. I'm also intrigued by the new keyboard and trackpad Apple has implemented If anything, it does seem more Window's OEMs are getting trackpads correct. I can't speak to their keyboards but I've been using solely OS X laptops during that time period you're talking about. Though, during that period Apple's keyboards, again, have only gotten 'Better'. Just MHO, but not a lot of laptops are upgradable either, some 32bit even limited to 3-3.5GB of RAM & nearly impossible to get an SSD inside. That, the SSD today is the ONE differentiator and bottle neck eliminator we've seen. Not the CPU, the RAM, the display or the keyboard. GPU in some cases, sure. But going solid state and fanless without the need for AC all day...for the layman, those are HUGE wins
I completely agree with the C2D being adequate. For me, "adequate performance" was an upgraded Dell Latitude D620 with a T2300 (1.6 GHz 32-bit dual core), 4 GB of RAM which wasn't fully utilized due to the 32-bit OS and a thing about the 945 chipset that didn't recognize more than like 3.2 GB and a 320 GB non-SSD. It was and still is just fine but the battery was bad, the screen was getting kinda flickery and one of the USB ports was damaged so I bought a used Latitude E6320 with some kind of i5 Sandy Bridge in it and it's far more than I need. While I like the fanless aspects of modern laptops, I hate the short key travel and other sacrifices made in the name of making something thin. It seems pointless and faddish to do that because the laptop still needs just as much space in a handbag or whatever since the other two dimensions aren't different. I'm sure that some people will want something like this, but I can't find a reason to care that much about the thickness. I didn't care when I had a 90 MHz Pentium laptop (which was fanless...Texas Instruments Travelmate 5130..there was a heatsink and this huge heat spreader bar under the keyboard) and I don't worry about it now.
CPU performance wise, no you will not be upgrading.
But everything else - screen quality, resolution, thickness, weight, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, battery life (11+hours, try getting that out of a Core 2 Duo).
The Core M might not stand much a of chance against the the U but they seem to have a purpose. I would very much like a review of the new more powerful Asus UX303LA which is sporting the 5200U. I got it from the microsoft store for 1300$ after adding a 1TB EVO 850 SSD. the screen is higher ppi than the newest 13 inch macbook pro retina with 8GB of Ram. You can't beat the bang for the buck. Battery life is the only disappointment so far.
It's a shame that it hasn't keyboard backlighting and such a poor display calibration. Maybe they'll do better in future iterations. I'm very interested in a Skylake model.
I don't know why people want to buy these thin & light machines. What is wrong with a 5 lb laptop with a 35 Watt CPU, four RAM slots, two spindles, 14.1 inch 4:3 SXGA+ screen etc.? I keep being told "the ship has sailed", but I have no idea why.
If you're traveling a lot or just have to take your laptop with you every day, you appreciate a lighter laptop. Very, very much. They also have much better battery life.
I used to carry a 4kg laptop with extended battery, 1200p screen etc to events like Computex and day trips/meetings for a couple of years. Put it this way, I'm glad I have a UX301 now at just over 2lbs. That being said, there are a few lighter weight systems that have me interested, like the LaVie Z that we saw at CES.
I am the definition of a desktop replacement buyer.
But even I see the relief in pulling out a 2lb feather on an airplane rather than some 17in 7lb beast.
Although those days are even coming to an end. Now you want a desktop replacement, the new Gigabyte P35X is a perfect idea! Thin, light, and TONS of horsepower. :)
If you want light and power I'd recommend getting a desktop AND a thin and light notebook. Why? The compromises necessary for thin and light notebooks are not compatible with the idea of a powerful notebook. Because of this you have to make a lot of compromises when it comes to heat, battery life, performance, price. At some point it might be possible but you can't get the best of both worlds right now.
Well, I disagree. As a render programmer that travels and works remote a lot (once every two months as minimum) I need a powerful laptop to work with. And the true is that these days there is plenty of great options that give you both (portability and performance). Recently I bought a Clevo p650sg (i7 4720hq, 980m, 32gb RAM, 2xSSD 500 + HD 1tb) for 2k usd. That being said, I do have a modern desktop PC at home that I bought last year (i7 4790, 16gb RAM, 500gb SSD + 2tb storage and a GeForce 770), but I prefer to use my laptop (I also bring it to the office and I plug to monitors and keyboard to increase my productivity). Performance wise, I will say that there is not much difference between my new laptop and the desktop that I use, in fact my new laptop is more powerful than my desktop at work except for the CPU (4770, 16gb RAM, 256 SSD and geforce 760).
I love to have the performance of a powerful desktop in 2.6kg (before I had a Lenovo Y500, not that powerful but close and same weight). These days I use my desktop pc at home more as a media server and some occasional gaming on the TV than for work or main gaming platform (in any case I play SC2 and Civ5 mostly and I can play those on my laptop, even my old one).
That being said, I do see the point of ultrabook or hybrids. I also have an Asus T100 that I use as my true mobile laptop/tablet that I bring with me everywhere. For web surfing, mails, word/excel, watching movies/series at the airport/airplane, etc. is great, and battery life is awesome. I see myself buying a Surface Pro 4 or something like it in the future, to replace the T100, but not for actual work since I need a true i7 (not ULV), lot of ram and a powerful GPU, that I can bring with me when I travel.
While you are correct and if you want power then there is no better solution than a full fledged desktop.
But you can't say that Laptops can't be defined as powerful when it is toting a 4ghz I7 with a GTX 980m. That is like saying a Corvette isn't sports car because it isn't a Ferrari. Laughable I know right?
Either way, broad stroke generalizations like that are quickly falling apart with each passing year as they cram more and more power into smaller and smaller packages. Anymore you are really only lacking in personal upradability. Which I can see being a big enough problem to turn people towards a desktop form factor of some sort.
I mostly agree, I've done the 17" laptop with dedicated graphics. It quickly lost it's ability to play the latest games with high settings, and eventually do play the latest with reasonable settings. It's battery life sucks, it's heavy, it's useless on an airplane, etc.
It was handy for gaming on vacation though. I've been tempted to buy 2 new laptop's, another gaming/big screen 17" laptop and a 12 or 13" ultralight. They're both laptops, but they serve completely different purposes.
Working with two machines brings a lot of hassles of its own. Installing apps twice, upgrading twice, synching data, etc. having more storage on the desktop means you have to be selective and then you go the wrong selection on the road.
I'd wish I could have an OS that has a seamless cloud extended storage, synching apps and documents a I need. Did I describe ChromeOS here?
Because (very obviously) if you don't need a powerful machine but you do a lot of travelling then it's much better to have a lighter machine with a long battery life. Most of my work is web/ssh/rdp, long battery life and lighter weight are FAR more important to me than it being able to play Crysis or do video editing lightning fast.
Fair enough. I suppose I feel like we used to have a sane product line up for laptops, where 3 or 4 lbs was as light as anyone needed, then you had 5-6 lb machines that were workhorses with good expandability and possibly better value if you didn't need to shed all the weight, and then desktop replacements that could be as heavy as they needed to be.
Now everything seems to be getting absurdly slim for no obvious reason, while maintainability and expandability are dirty words.
Most people consider 3-4lbs a weight to drag about, add into that a charger brick and the the chunky bag and you're quite weighed down. Contrast that to a laptop like this which has an all-day battery life (or much smalller charger) and slips into a thin sleeve case, sure you have to make sacrifices but it's all about priorities. There are plenty of fat, more upgradeable laptops around as well in all shapes and sizes. Once size doesn't fit all, never has.
Try lugging a 5lb laptop + brick + accessories across a dozen airports over the course of a month and you'll appreciate every ounce of weight savings you can muster.
Try opening a 14" laptop on a plane in coach when the person in their seat reclines. You'll appreciate <13" then.
But if you're the DTR type, then yeah, Intel hasn't been focusing on you. But there are options out there from Clevo and Maingear, among others.
I can understand people want a lighter machine, but you have a point about it going too far, and become a ridiculous race to be half an ounce lighter than the competitor.
Once they got under 4 pounds it really ceases to have a point, and they could have invested the weight difference towards either performance or longer battery life. It's not like you can even tell the difference between a 2 pound laptop and a 3 pound laptop, especially once it's inside a bag. If carrying half a pound or a whole pound of additional weight really means that much, and makes that much difference, toss out that half liter bottle of water you probably got in your bag. BOOM! A whole pound of weight saved! Is the bag really that much lighter to carry now? Nah, thought not.
You forgot to factor in the self-centered elitist narcissism that applauds loudly inside their heads every time they haul out their precious and hope others notice. Thus a tenth of an ounce and one shiny polish point is a king's ransom.
I've been carrying around a heavy 17" laptop for the last 8 years (2 different laptops). I would love to have a lighter laptop, but don't want to give up the 17" screen. I'm a heavy traveler, approaching 1 million miles on United, but my laptop case has wheels and it's not that big a deal to lug around. I wish they still made 17" laptops with 1200p screens.
As you did the calibration for your test machine - would it be possible for you to provide an ICC profile ? (This would also be useful for other devices with poor initial calibrations that you test.)
What do you mean? You mean nobody connects a notebook to an external display? If that's what you're saying you're wrong. And HDMI is much more universal than Displayport.
But micro HDMI isn't so you'll need an adapter anyway. Mini DisplayPort is more common than micro HDMI thanks to all the cables that cater for Apple machines.
Because they make micro to regular HDMI cables allowing users to connect to HDMI monitors, which covers a huge fraction of external monitors. As somebody driving a 3440x1440 IPS out of a laptop every day, this makes a huge difference in how useful a laptop is.
Indeed, I would have expected a mini DP video port. But it does make sense, actually. Micro HDMI is not very common but has the advantage of being able to be hooked to almost any display on the market, without an active adapter. Except for extremely-low-level models, all monitors have at least one DVI or HDMI input. DP connectors are not so common. So this is a very cheap choice for the end user since simple passive microHDMI to HDMI or (micro)HDMI to DVI adapters are sufficient.
I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. Mini-hdmi does not have any advantage whatsoever above miniDP.
Both connectors: Connect an HDMI or single-link DVI display with passive cable.
MiniDP only: Drive higher display resolutions than 1080p (i'm not kidding. The old zenbook was limited to 1080p), drive VGA, miniDP or DP displays with an passive cable, dual-link DVI with an active cable. Adapters are quite common due to the popularity of macbooks.
mini-hdmi only: licensing costs.
The ONLY reason to choose mini-hdmi over miniDP is marketing.
Manufacturers: Stop with the matte screens. Just stahp! They ruin the viewing experience. If you need to use it outside, there are much better anti-glare alternatives that don't make the screen look grainy and lame.
99% of articles about laptops: People complain about glossy screens. This article: you complain about a matte screen.
I guess the best thing for manufacturers would be to offer both options, like Apple used to. But having two SKUs for every pre-existing spec would have to be worthwhile for them to do it...
I ignore almost all laptops that have a glossy screen. When I saw this was matte, I became much more interested in it as an option. Matte screens are 1000x better (IMO).
Then you obviously have bad eyesight. When it comes to fine details and color consistency, matte screens have absolutely ruining effect, that's just plain common sense. There is a reason why all phones and tablets have glossy screens. When I applied matte protector on my Note 3 I was disgusted by what I saw.
You think matte screen is better just because you haven't really seen the full glory of a high resolution glossy screen.
I prefer glossy, and actually just swapped out the screen in my laptop for a glossy one. Cost me about $80, but worth it for me. My work paid for the laptop, so I just paid for the new glossy screen.
This appears to be a great offering. If they announce pre-calibrated screens (or there was a simple and reliable DIY method) I'd seriously consider buying this device. It seems like ASUS has really been listening: IPS, >= 1080p, decent keyboard, good trackpad, good battery life, good performance, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, ...more than 1 I/O port, and a great price! On a personal, subjective note, too bad it is so similar to the styling of the Transformer Prime tablet... I'm still angry about how terrible that device performs (eMMC just falls apart with time), which really hurt my opinion of ASUS, it would be best to not be reminded of it.
The DOTA 2 temperature comparison chart's y-axis is mislabeled as frequency rather than temperature. Also, it looks like the test stopped before the zenbook came to thermal equilibrium. So, will it start to throttle or fry eggs sometime after an hour of heavy use?
I'm very happy to see all of the fanless laptops. But, even with a 4.5W TDP CPU, it seems there's still some tuning to be done to get rid of the heat.
Everyone is struggling, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel on getting high performance on low power. ARM overheats, and x86 is too slow compared to desktop chips.
Don't be. The Asus may feel snappy when you browse the web, but as soon as you open a few more programs and try to multitask, the Asus Zenbook will start to protest, and throttle down the speed and/or cores. For anything more than light usage with little or no multitasking your MacBook Air, or any similarly specced computer from 2014/2013 will be faster.
Bullshit. This very article shows that you're wrong. The Core M does not throttle much, if at all, in this laptop. The Yoga has throttling issues because Lenovo made the poor decision to keep the CPU unnecessarily cool.
I have one of them for about a week and Ubuntu 15.04 daily works without any problems (I was realy surprised how bainless the instalation was). Battery life +-5.5h mixed wifi browsing + music / Sublime + terminal + haskell builds + music (brightness about 25%). I am going to see how it works with Arch.
Brett, do you know of any initiative to develop a new slimmer Ethernet connector for use in these thin and light systems? While WiFi is getting faster many of use still prefer the reliability and speed of a wired connection when available.
Speed and reliability of the wireless is questioned in a fair amount of the user reviews. The keyboard keys also stick after a month's use in end user reviews.
These ultrabooks are targeted towards the millions of Sales Reps, who usually don't need more than web browsing, Excel and presentation in convenient, long lasting, durable and light package.
High performance computers have totally different users.
im just an intern, but for my use case and everyone who works with me, this machine is NOT adequate for professional excel use. itd fall on its face trying to do pivots/charts with any substantial amount of rows
Watch, all these "premium feel", self centered, glory money show off, "elite items" freaks who want more than anything to feel rich inside when using their computer prods, will all have early onset alzheimer's, from picking and licking with their "super premium expensive feel" bragging egotist aluminum puters. I can hardly wait, though in that soon to engulf future condition they probably won't be able to understand why it happened to them.... just keeping rubbing those super elite aluminum bodies you constantly pine for...
Uh, that's not proven at all. There are at least as many studies questioning environmental factors as there are attesting that they are a major cause of Alzheimer's.
A small correction 10dB means its ten times louder. Wikipedia on decibel- "A change in power by a factor of 10 corresponds to a 10 dB change in level. A change in power by a factor of two approximately corresponds to a 3 dB change. "
back on the review, if my laptop were to die, this would be the laptop to get. I have an Asus b43j, with 6GB ram (bought 4) and saving for an mx200 ssd (has a 5400rpm 320gb drive). bought it 4 years ago. still good as new. the aluminum is nice. I expect that the quality is still the same in Asus products.
"The speakers are downward firing through two grilles on the bottom of the device." Would that be an explanation for the raising hinge design? Lifting the bottom of the laptop to give the soung waves a bit more room to escape?
You explained the differences in performance in core M very well (thermal throtlling basically) and the heating across the Yoga 3 and UX.
theverge reviewed the T300 recently (hope you guys do too!) and just compare the difference:
"The Core M processor in my review unit is clocked at 1.2GHz and combined with the 8GB of RAM on tap, has no trouble handling most basic computing tasks. It surely won't play any modern 3D games, but working in Chrome, Word, and other Windows 8.1 apps is no issue. I'm able to have as many tabs open in Chrome as I need without the system grinding to a halt, and switching between apps is quick and painless. I often forgot that I was using a computer that was more tablet than laptop, though the heat from the back of the T300 was enough to remind me that this is a full-blown Windows 8.1 machine and not a crippled charlatan faking the role."
As an engineer i prefer graphs and empirical evidence to support claims, specially in a tech product. "The screen is nice", how nice? is it well calibrated? This is why i cant take some websites reviews seriously.
Core M does make sense to replace the i3 (which I own and which is virtually fanless anyway), probably with the superior 5y10 but 5y70/1 is half way between i3 and i5, not to mention i7. It will be interesting to see what MS will decide to do with the i5 (which is what most people have bought with SP3), keep it (just moving to Broadwell) or change to Core M 5y71...
" so perhaps we will see the Pro 4 with a Core M CPU. "
I am hearing a smaller screen version with the new Intel Atom and the Surface 4 with Core M. Though If I was MS I would keep a version with the new i5 and i7 for power users. It is a amzing that they sold over 1m Surface 3 last quarter, which is probalby about the same as Apple sells of MacBook Pros
Wow, it's like a MacBook except with connectivity options. 3 USB 3.0 ports, instead of just one?! That's madness. A dedicated display out? Whaaat?! And cheaper?
... I just can't see a reason, any reason, for anyone to get that new MacBook. There are better low TDP, long battery life, ultra portable options out there. I think this is one of them.
I'd still consider the Macbook for the touchpad. My Yoga 2 Pro is OK and my work Thinkpad T440 is awful. I even use a mouse at work my writs trigger the stupid touchpad and randomly highlight/erase things. My Macbook Air (Sandy) is still top notch with the touchpad.
That is something the MacBook (and really any Apple laptop) has going for it. In general, superior tracking on the touchpad. But does that really outweigh every other drawback of the new MacBook for you? I've already seen several MacBook Air owners (tech journalists) who've sworn off the new design for the lack of connectivity alone.
Just bought a Broadwell rMBP13 with the new trackpad. The trackpad truly is a revelation. People seem to get rather obsessed with processing specs and completely overlook the quality of the interface with the machine.
Agree with the t440 comment. Great machine except for the stupid bleedin' trackpad..... how many times have we said that about a windows laptop, how hard can it be (obviously not as easy as it may appear on the surface lol)
Ya, "heavier"... it's just under .6 additional lb. It also provides an optional 3200x1800 panel and higher clocked M-5Y71. And as I said in my previous comment the slightly thinner and lighter body of the MacBook comes at the cost of connectivity and functionality.
As a travel device? No heavy user is going to use this as their primary machine, but it's still much faster than any fanless tablet for 'on the go' usages.
Agreed. For the price it really can't be beat. If you need/want more performance than the Core M offers, you can step up to a Dell XPS 13 instead. If you need/want a Yoga-like hinge and touchscreen, you can go to an HP Spectre x360 (or Yoga, if battery life isn't big on your priority list).
Anandtech skips the Geekbench again, yet almost whenever they do some deep chip analysis, they use it as a reference for raw performance measures.
Why is this the case?
What I find the most striking regarding the Core M is, again, the vast inferiority in the GPU aspect compared to ARM based chips.
20nm planar Apple GPU and 28nm Nvidia GPU are besting it for the fraction of the price.
Imagine the disparity when the upcoming iPad and Shield with the X1 Tegra come out.. next iPad will probably have double the graphic power than the new $1300 MacBook!! Ouch
I guess we'll just ignore that Intel thoroughly trashes even the best ARM SoCs in CPU even in the same power envelope and focus only on GPU. Okay then.
Yeah, the Core M is equaled or bested by Apple's and Nvidia's SoCs in terms of GPU. What are you going to do with that GPU power? Especially with an iOS device? Last I checked Candy Crush didn't require a lot of horsepower. With Android you can at least run console emulators to take advantage.
And I guess you will just ignore that there are TONS of graphically rich touch oriented games(do I need to start naming titles?) on iOS, and that gaming on iPads is by many orders of magnitude larger bussiness than gaming on all ultrabooks put together! The fact you mention candy crush says all about your objectivity and knowledge.
..as for "thoroughly trashing" in CPU(or should i say, in software-dependent web benchmarks only), well just wait for the 14nm Cyclone and Cortex A72. By year's end we will see ARM CPU beating core m even on 2.5w TDP and $50 worth of chips
This Asus Laptop does not have a Ethernet Port since it's so thin, but GOOD guy asus includes a ethernet adapter in the box.
THen you turn around and look at apple's offering. 1 port, Twice as expensive, and requires you to buy a $80 adapter right after shelling out $1300 + Tax.
With the Asus laptop, you can avoid sales tax easily. with the apple laptop, you can't.. They got sales tax everywhere because of apple stores in every state. Your only hope is mac mall and they lag behind several months on new models.
It doesn't do *that* much better (well, I guess it does when you consider the XPS 13 uses a higher wattage CPU). But Dell worked closely with Intel and Microsoft to squeeze every little bit of power savings they could out of the hardware/software package, so I imagine that's responsible for the difference.
I tried one of the first gen UX31. If I recall, it was a 128GB SSD and so full of bloatware about 30 GB were free. I took it back to the retailer and questioned. I was told to buy a standalone copy of windows and install. It seemed easier to return the PC and go Mac. I have not looked back. ASUS, you make great products but are you still filling the laptops with bloatware?
"If I recall, it was a 128GB SSD and so full of bloatware about 30 GB were free."
I don't believe you. The OS takes about 10-20 GB, so that's roughly 100GB left. You're saying 70 GIGABYTES were taken up by crapware? That's bullshit. That'd be like, 20 installs of Adobe Premiere Pro, or two installs of a high-end AAA 2014 game. You're lying.
No, and that is why I returned the PC. I could not believe the level of bloatware. I am curious about these current machines. If I see any at a local store I may test to see.
No back-lit Keyboard was the deal-breaker for me. I would have been very interested but I work/play in dark settings often and cannot go back to a non back-lit keyboard. It was a gross mistake by Asus. Get with it man!
I don't know where that $699 price is coming from. Amazon US is showing around $899 and in Canada the cost is $1200. So this "budget" ultrabook just went through the roof in pricing.
I'm thoroughly impressed by it but this is MacBook pricing...
You're obviously correct, but in (somewhat) fairness, that 1080 pixel vertical resolution is 30 more pixels than an SVGA+ device provides. I like my 1600x1200 Thinkpads, but my 1400x1050 Thinkpads are certainly reasonable.
I've never paid much attention to Ultrabooks, but this strikes me as a very intriguing machine, especially for travel. My only Asus device is their now no-longer-produced Mini-TS Windows Home Server box, and it's done fine for quite a few years. What's bothering me is that the more-expensive "Signature" edition is touted as having no bloatware and, curiously, some sort of illy-defined optimization for Windows. That implies that the non-signature edition has some non-optimized Windows settings, whatever that might mean.
As someone who recently purchased a ASUS UX303LA Ultrabook, only to find that a design flaw /weakness has rendered it useless, due to the display hinge breaking. I would advise anyone considering an ASUS Ultrabook to look into the hinge/construction on the newer models to see if the have attempted to correct this flaw, in how the thin plastic that attaches the display to the base.
Touch screens receive a lot more handling on and by the display in everyday use than non-touch screens and require at least as strong or stronger attachment to the hinge than regular laptops. ASUS neglected to do so with the UX303 series and is resulting in a high failure rate of display/hinges. (see amazon review for example).
Anandtech, while likely beyond the scope of this type of review, please look deeper into the durability and construction of these ultra-portables in the future, as light weight construction techniques , can begin to translate into premature physical/mechanical failures.
What is interesting to note is that the Arm tablets' performance results can actually be posted alongside these laptops and not result in flat out jokes. At least in the web results. Convergence in performance is beginning to be real.
I bought the version with 128Gb SSD yesterday. My first impression was disappointment because the 1080p ips screen has alot of light bleed in the bottom. The way this zenbook digs into soft tables is also irritating. But I love everything else about it.
Since laptops now are being stripped of any moving parts they should be silent, or so you'd think, but now that there is no humming from the cooling fan or buzzing from the harddrive, and suddenly the sounds from badly designed electronics can no longer hide behind mechanical noise. I propose a new test for electronics like laptops and tablets, the coil wine test. Do a search on "Dell XPS coil whine" (be it XPS 13 or 15 or Precision M3800) and you'll see what all the fuzz or should I say whining is about.
A laptop can be fast, light, good looking, have high quality haptics, a battery that will last for days, and no moving parts hence promising no mechanically induced noise, but it can and will probably have some component on the PCB that is screaming IIIIIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIH constantly due to lack of proper EMC shielding of the circuits. The question is will this sound be loud enough to be heard by a user’s ears.
The Dell XPS 13 is winning quite a few tests in this review, but it wouldn't do well in a sound test looking for noise from the electric circuits within the dB(A) range at a distance were a users ears would be.
Explain is insufficient. intel core's throttling is more complex than that. It's mainly ruled by power usage condition. NOT thermal condition. Intel set 2 turbo power limit for turbo control. short and long. If Processor boost to maximum clock, package power usage reach short limit. core sustains a few seconds maxmum clock until averge power usage in time window reach long limit. after that, core throttles down their clock to until their power usage reach long limit.
I tested throttling on my ux305 with occp. Idle frequency when running on battery is 800mhz. When plugged in the mains idle freq. is 2ghz. 100% CPU load will make the CPU spike @ 2ghz, but quickly settle @ 1.5ghz. 100% CPU and GPU will make the CPU settle @ 700-800MHz. It doesn't get hot so I'm guessing it's because of the power usage.
I would also be very happy if you could provide me with the calibrated ICC profile which you created. Is there a chance to get it from you? That would be very kind (and extremely helpful).
I really would like the profile as well, my UX305 absolutely don't perform like that, and I'd like to understand why. (I've made a forum thread about that : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=24270... )
I've been looking at getting one of these (partly due to the price) but the thing that puts me off is the issues I've read with the intel video drivers. I've heard horror stories about ASUS treating it like a hardware fault, multiple RMAs, and so far no resolution. It doesn't look at all promising :(
You said that you managed to calibrate the color profile and got better results. Mind sharing the particular ICC profile for the benefit of us here that do not have access to a professional profiler?
Great article and I think u need to include a new metric such as clarity for touch screen optioned laptops. Recently i purchased a Asus UX303L with the 3200x18000 touch screen. I was devastated to be able to see the touch screen gridlines that were extremely visible. I checked out the dell XPS and samsung touch screens with the equivalent resolution and the grid lines were not visible. Since I am in Hong Kong, no refund is available to consumers and im stuck arguing with asus support that this is normal. If i had noticed those lines i would have bought a dell xps instead.
I was about to buy Lenovo U41 I5-5200 U Processor, 4GB memory, SSHD 1TB 7MM 5400RPM,but I disappointed just because of its TN display and very poor screen quality:-(
I just came across Asus UX350 & really impressed by its spec, but following are my major doubts blocking me to buy this,
1.I am a software developer, Will be using ORACLE DB & Eclipse & Web design & Music running simultaneously.
Will Asus UX350[Core M5Y10] can handle it without crashing and more heat?
2.Fan less processor will be good even after one year???, how it cools up the ultrabook?
Please suggest if you know any other model for my below requirement. No Compromise : 1.13 inch screen - IPS is Preferred 2.Slim & not more than 2kg. 3.Good processor & RAM , which easily supports ORACLE DB & Eclipse & Web design & Music running simultaneously 4.More than 5 hours battery.
Can be compromised: 1.Storage size is doesn't matters if its SSD or else 1 TB/500GB sshd. 2.Price around INR 50,000.
I admit I am a bit of an ASUS Zenbook Fan(boi), I do or have owned 3 ASUS 'laptops' (UL20A, UX32VD and a Transformer T100). But one thing that really, really peeves me about their keyboards, having the PgUp and PgDn (and to a lesser extent Home End) on the arrow keys thus needing to press the Fn key to get those functions. Especially when there is plenty of room on the keyboard (above the left and right arrow keys is room for PgUp/PdDn).
Having 1-handed access to PgUp/Dn is extremely useful to have in a small laptop, as I tend to lay in bed/floor/couch propping up my head with one hand while reading/scrolling/surfing with only one hand. And yes I know how that sounds ;)
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tipoo - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I was curious where Core M stood against some mid range 4-5 year old systems, namely Core 2 Duo. I checked on the Notebookcheck mobile CPU and GPU benchmarks, and it doesn't seem appreciably faster than the P8600/320M combo in an old white unibody macbook we have, for instance. The CPU scores a bit higher, not earth shattering, the GPU looks to track around the same. Is that wrong?tipoo - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Not to say that that's not impressive, going from that in 35+23 watts to a total of 5 watts, but it's not a huge upgrade for people on those systems either, apart from form factor and screen etc.Krysto - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
That's great and all, except....who asked for a 5W notebook chip? Intel has been doing this for a while, moving the MAINSTREAM of the notebook market from M/H-series chips to U (CULV) series chips...and now to the even less powerful Y-series, which until Broadwell was so crap nobody dared to put it in their laptops (IVB-Y and Haswell-Y). Core M is just a slight upgrade over those.It's already happening. We're already seeing "ultrabooks" such as this Asus, and the new Macbook Air arriving with these crappy chips, and making us pay $1300 for the privilege. Why the hell wouldn't I just use an ARM chip at this point in a $500 Chromebook, and with the same quality screen and materials?
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I was with you until you mentioned 'chromebook'. That threw everything out of the window and, honestly, you'd be a bit silly to even consider such a machine.Mikemk - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
You'd be silly to consider it for Chrome OS yes, but they can be good hardware with Linux Mint installed.tuxRoller - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Not mint, and not with that tiny amount of storage, and not at that price.If they had at least made the storage upgradable it would've been the PERFECT linux lappy.
akdj - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
True. Chromebooks seem silly, and an answer to nothing right now, in today's state of technology. I think Krysto, you're missing a few things...just as comparing this to a 2010 Air or an '08 MacBook. It's got 8GB of RAM. The earlier MacBooks were 2, an option of four but no more. They were either using 5400 RPM HDDs or the earliest, slowest SSD technology, they didn't aport IPS panels (nor options like HiDPI <&1000!!). You were lucky to get two, two and a half hours on the old, white plastic MacBooks, maybe an hour more on the '10 Air....they were thicker, heavier, and not anywhere close to today's GPU solutions integrated, sharing some of that RAM, in some cases 2GB of its internal/existing system memory when necessary. Along with the improvements made to OS X, this is a machine built for 'Most'......Not you and I. Different needs, all that but plenty are getting by everyday without turning a laptop or their desktops at home on. iPads, your Nexus or Samsung tablet of choice -- even today's smartphones smoke those older MacBooks for all reasons mentioned above; portability, longevity, 'speed' (with PCIe storage now, quick NAND solutions in tabs), and overall function.
There's a WHOLE lot of folks using their iPad for their email, facebook, casual gaming and web surfing, entertainment and media, constant, 'everywhere' connectivity radios and phenomenal displays you can throw in a bag and forget it's there. Even charge it with a cigarette lighter. Same applies to today's phablet phones ...as we've seen tab sales drop whether it's due to over saturation of the tablets in those who already 'want them', a slower upgrade cycle and/or the 'phablet' craze with incredible, HiDPI 5-6" display phones in our pockets...with the SAME power as their tablet counterparts (some compared favorably in this review ...IOW, iPhone 66/6+, Note 4 and incoming S6, new LGs, HTCs and iPhones, these 'phones' are going to be competing even more favorably this year to these ultra book scores, that's cool!)
Point being 'Most' folks haven't the needs or just plain 'wants' those of us frequenting Anandtech are looking at for our next computer. That said, a dozen hours, two pounds and those improvements are all fine choices for someone not rendering video or manipulating 200 RAW 50mpxl images 'on the run' --- the perceived and 'real speed' increases via SSD storage, the iGPU and fabless quiet design might just make for an excellent commuter computer for many of us, at just 7-$999! Like the new MacBook, it's got a place in the marketplace for the masses but if it's not the solution you're lookong for the Broadwell 35/45 watt MacBook pro, XPS 15 and 17" workstations, etc ...they'll be here sooner than later and from all things I've seen, other than maybe a 5-8% power increase and savings over Haswell, there's plenty of options on the market today that cover the bases
I'll be 44 this year and started with an Apple IIe. What a cool time to be a 'geek'!
J
eanazag - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
If Chromebooks could do RDP, than they would make decent thin clients. Otherwise, I don't find much value in them except for cases where you want your device to only be a browser from a management standpoint.Marc GP - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
They can.https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-r...
8steve8 - Thursday, April 23, 2015 - link
that's not RDP, that's chrome remote desktop. not a terrible solution, but in my limited experience had issues vs RDP.metayoshi - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I may be in the niche group right now, but I am pretty excited at what these 5W chips bring to the table. These chips are really where Windows on a tablet will stand out in my opinion. With much better performance than you get with the crappy Atom line of CPUs and with way better performance than anything ARM will provide, and then add in the millions of legacy programs that you can use on a full x86 Windows platform, and in my opinion, it's a winning combination. With products like Dell's Venue 11 Pro already upgraded to Core M, and with the upcoming Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi also coming in with Core M, and all for around $800, I find it worth the extra $300 to get better performance and get full blown Windows instead of being stuck in the limited Chromebook world. At this point, I'm waiting on reviews, and both of Anandtech's Core M reviews so far show me what I expected.Of course, I agree that this platform is not for everybody. A gamer should build their own gaming desktop, or invest in something like the Razer Blade if they want mobility, and a content consumer should just go Android Tablet, iPad, or Chromebook. But personally, I already have a gaming desktop at home that is overpowered for the task in my mind and would benefit from being mobile, but the task is incompatible with anything but Windows, so my smartphone or non-Windows tablet can't even run to program, and Atom is far too weak, so something with Core M is ideal.
In other words, if you don't want it, don't buy it. But to answer your top question, who asked for a 5 W notebook chip? I did.
eanazag - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
I'm excited about these chips too because of battery life. For personal use I'd rather have some more gaming chops.I use a Surface Pro 1 for work and am happy with it except for battery life. The battery life isn't bad; I just know there is better out there and in consideration to my iPad I can't ditch the iPad.
r00fus - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Hyperbolic post is hyperbolic.Let us know how all your existing software runs on an ARM chip.
Go buy yourself a monster laptop if you want. I like having an option of a slim, sleek fanless form factor, even if the performance isn't top notch.
wetwareinterface - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
because the MAINSTREAM of the notebook market won't even use the paltry power this offers. the MAINSTREAM user needs a web browser, a picture viewer, video playback software and at rare intervals the ability to run office. 8GB of ram means they won't need an upgrade for a long time.V900 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
But after a couple of weeks the MAINSTREAM will start to get annoyed with the slowdowns, the heat and the fact that you can't have more than a few programs running at once, whitout the laptop throttling down constantly. MAINSTREAM is especially annoyed how everything comes to a crawl when they're doing the virus scans. Because 8GB RAM doesn't change the fact that the puny 5 watt ceiling means that it spends half the time below 1 GHZ and with one core turned off.MAINSTREAM quickly realizes that much of the time, their iPad does a quicker and better job at looking something up online, or replying to an email.
V900 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Hey now! Apple certainly didn't put this halfassed, asthmatic excuse of a CPU in the MacBook Air.It's the craptastic 12 inch MacBook that has to suffer the indignity of being powered by a CoreM.
(And while I love Apple products and got an i-everything myself, both Apple and Apple fanboys have finally jumped the shark with the 12 inch MacBook. And the Koolaid-swillers can't believe how innovative it is: "It only has ONE port! So brave and futuristic!"
akdj - Saturday, March 28, 2015 - link
It's also fabless, with PCIe storage that flat FLIES, an excellent iGPU that'll help that meager Core m processor that is essentially as fast as the quickest core2duos (mobile)! As well, an operating system that scales your UI properly and sure, a single port. It's 'portable'. Not meant to be connected.You can certianly (& already) buy the proper docks and/or adaptors necessary to utilize USB 3, HDMI or VGA, & power it simultaneously. The traditional bottleneck for the 'mainstream' has NEVER been the CPU. Rather it's memory, storage sub system, OS or a combination of all at the above...including GPU. While you're an Apple fan, you should know just how great these displays and their HiDPI scaling through OS X (& iOS) has gotten since the release of the 2012 models and 'new' iPad (3).
This IS the computer for the 'Apple fanboy Kool-Aid swillers' unlike you and I that obviously need a bit more horsepower, I/O or 'strength' from our laptops. Most, don't. They're doing the 'lifting' at work on a supplied work station. They're using their MacBook to edit family photos, videos, neither using Premier, AE, Smoke or even FCPx ...nor photoshop. They're using iPhoto and iMovie, NEITHER of which will be slowed down to the point of frustration as they're doing what they NEED it to. Surf the web, check email, Facebook and Twitter, watch a flick or listen to music, even ALL those processes, simultaneously running won't create any 'perceived slow down' by the end user of they're not in need of the processing power and amount of ports you somehow believe we all need.
I get it. And own a pair of 15" rMBPs and they're the best computers I've ever owned, and to think it started on a IIe and monochrome display! That said, we get it, you're disgusted but guess what? ASUS literally JUST released the same 'halfassed, asthmatic of an excuse of a CPU' in their latest Ultralight line. Bit less money, but lesser IGPU, lesser storage speeds, and severely lacking display OOB without calibration. It's got your ports, but again I ask, Why?
Why the ports? Why a quad core i7 Xeon with GPUs in SLI? When no one wants anything p,urged in to their laptop on the train, on the plane or on the go? No need to charge, it lasts ten hours --- but if u need it, buy the 13" rMBP. Same tech, all the IO you seem to need and not so anemic a CPU
As an Apple fan myself, it's sad to see another 'fan' so clueless and ignorant to what a portable, laptop design should and shouldnt be (like the crappy hinge on the ASUS)
And you get OS X, an operating system built and 'intended' for maximum end user enjoyment and Performance --- 'real or perceived', it's irrelevant.
It's always nice to leave work at home
Haravikk - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Who asked for a 5W notebook chip? To me the answer is anyone concerned about battery life and/or size; having to put a fan in a notebook adds to its bulk, not to mention making noise, reducing room for batteries and, if the processor needs a fan, reducing that battery life even further.Granted the screens are really the most demanding component these days, especially high-densisty screens requiring stronger backlights, but hopefully this will go down too (and you can run at reduced brightness to get some extra time out of the battery). But yeah; battery life improvements require everything to get more efficient, and that includes the processor. It might not be a massive leap in performance (or an improvement at all, depending upon what you're doing with it), but the efficiency improvements are enormous.
ragenalien - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Because it's easier for intel to improve the power to performance ratio than merely making the chips faster with the same power. They've been doing this since sandy-bridge and it doesn't seem like they'll change that any time soon.frodbonzi - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Except this laptop is $699.... not $1300...And for that "extra" $200, you get a thin, shiny laptop capable of doing 99% of what the "normal" user will want...You want to play uber games... buy an Alienware 18!
Ratman6161 - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
The core M's are specifically intended for the low power market so if performance is your priority you wouldn't be looking at this one in the first place. You would instead be looking at the new generation of i3, i5 etc just coming out:http://ark.intel.com/products/family/84981/5th-Gen...
http://ark.intel.com/products/family/84980/5th-Gen...
Refuge - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Yea Intel has been making leaps and bouns the last couple of years in their processors. But none of it has been tailored towards power users or high power markets.It has all been in increasing efficiency, which they have done an amazing job of catching up in. But the downside of all this is that for 2-3 years all us power/high power users to sit with our thumbs up our asses while we wait for something worth our while to come out.
If you aren't super concerned with lowering TDP to save power then you are just going to have to wait a bit longer before Intel tries going back to their old ways. But then again, I'm not sure it will ever be the same again.
Once you go mobile, you stay mobile. :P
WithoutWeakness - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I'm still waiting for a compelling reason to upgrade from my i7-2600K. I've upgraded everything in my PC over the last 4 years with the exception of my Z68 motherboard and my CPU. The Sandy Bridge architecture has certainly stood the test of time.warezme - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
This is apples to oranges but my prior laptop was a big heavy Alienware M17X M3 which I still have but I was tempted with the latest tiny, thin and extremely high performance 14" Razer Blade laptop which I don't think is much bigger than this Zenbook if that. But it sports a full Quadcore i7 4720HQ with hyperthreading and an Nvidia Maxwell GTX970M GPU. It is a killer combo with the 3200x1800 screen. It is so small compared to the Alienware and more than twice as fast.kingpotnoodle - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Performance wise it might not be any quicker but will probably be a huge upgrade to form factor and battery life, it really depends on your priorities. If the laptop never leaves the coffee table then no reason to get a thin and light design.FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I don't know if I can agree with that. No matter the coffee table the couch is very nearby, thus kicking back on that or the easy chair - not to mention the backyard picnic, watching something while ironing in the laundry room - setting it about for TV/movies/netflix/news in the kitchen.I think it would be great for a home only user.
kingpotnoodle - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I don't wish to be pedantic, but your scenarios are "leaving the coffee table", perhaps I should have said desk. I've met people with laptops who almost never pick it up, they just got it because a desktop takes up too much space and doesn't fold down.jramskov - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
You do get a much snappier machine due to the SSD and it's got a generous (for the price) amount of memory.FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
The Dell XPS13 kept winning - I have to go hunt down the review on that, here, hopefully.Getting the QHD+ touchscreen on the Dell is twice the cost, but man, those benches.
Gigaplex - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
That webcam angle...Calista - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Well, for a lot of people a Core 2 Duo is more than powerful enough. Using a M4400 with a Core 2 Duo T9600 from time to time rarely does it feel slow for "normal usage", i.e. browsing the web, working with Photoshop and whatnot.Once we have reached a certain threshold more performance just doesn't seem so important any more. I would say most folks reached that threshold with the release of the later C2D CPU:s.
FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I know many of these people, and replacing the spindle drive with a small SSD (and my usual optimizations in 5 mins) settles it entirely for them.It's faster than the new regulars at the stores.
TheWrongChristian - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I just "upgraded" from my Core Duo T2400 based laptop (which kept up with modern software) to a $60 second hand thinkpad t61, with Core 2 T7100 CPU (which easily keeps up with modern software.)I only upgraded because the screen backlight on the old laptop was a bit flaky, and only upgraded to the thinkpad because it has a fantastic keyboard and I already had the ultrabay HDD adaptor from a previous work laptop, as well as using the same PSU as my old laptop (also a Lenovo.)
Modern machines are let down by their crappy keyboards and screens. That's where the race to the bottom has hit.
TL;DR
I concur. With the push of software down to tablet and smartphones, people have learned to somewhat optimize again, and CPUs performance from ~7-8 years ago is perfactly adequate.
akdj - Saturday, March 28, 2015 - link
Except I'd argue your two biggest concerns (keyboard and screen) are ..at least ½ of the equation ... Of MUCH higher quality, legibility, brightness, contrast, and their corresponding technologies behind them; AMOLED or LCS have come leaps and bounds in the last half to full decade. I'm also intrigued by the new keyboard and trackpad Apple has implementedIf anything, it does seem more Window's OEMs are getting trackpads correct. I can't speak to their keyboards but I've been using solely OS X laptops during that time period you're talking about. Though, during that period Apple's keyboards, again, have only gotten 'Better'. Just MHO, but not a lot of laptops are upgradable either, some 32bit even limited to 3-3.5GB of RAM & nearly impossible to get an SSD inside. That, the SSD today is the ONE differentiator and bottle neck eliminator we've seen. Not the CPU, the RAM, the display or the keyboard. GPU in some cases, sure. But going solid state and fanless without the need for AC all day...for the layman, those are HUGE wins
BrokenCrayons - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I completely agree with the C2D being adequate. For me, "adequate performance" was an upgraded Dell Latitude D620 with a T2300 (1.6 GHz 32-bit dual core), 4 GB of RAM which wasn't fully utilized due to the 32-bit OS and a thing about the 945 chipset that didn't recognize more than like 3.2 GB and a 320 GB non-SSD. It was and still is just fine but the battery was bad, the screen was getting kinda flickery and one of the USB ports was damaged so I bought a used Latitude E6320 with some kind of i5 Sandy Bridge in it and it's far more than I need. While I like the fanless aspects of modern laptops, I hate the short key travel and other sacrifices made in the name of making something thin. It seems pointless and faddish to do that because the laptop still needs just as much space in a handbag or whatever since the other two dimensions aren't different. I'm sure that some people will want something like this, but I can't find a reason to care that much about the thickness. I didn't care when I had a 90 MHz Pentium laptop (which was fanless...Texas Instruments Travelmate 5130..there was a heatsink and this huge heat spreader bar under the keyboard) and I don't worry about it now.074geodude - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
CPU performance wise, no you will not be upgrading.But everything else - screen quality, resolution, thickness, weight, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, battery life (11+hours, try getting that out of a Core 2 Duo).
It's time to upgrade.
beehofer - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
The Core M might not stand much a of chance against the the U but they seem to have a purpose. I would very much like a review of the new more powerful Asus UX303LA which is sporting the 5200U. I got it from the microsoft store for 1300$ after adding a 1TB EVO 850 SSD. the screen is higher ppi than the newest 13 inch macbook pro retina with 8GB of Ram. You can't beat the bang for the buck. Battery life is the only disappointment so far.sonicmerlin - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
Even the iPad Air 2 has a faster GPU than Core M.FwFred - Monday, June 15, 2015 - link
I'd say the GPUs trade blows, but the Core M has faster CPU, and the Asus has far more storage for an equivalent price.Novacius - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
It's a shame that it hasn't keyboard backlighting and such a poor display calibration. Maybe they'll do better in future iterations. I'm very interested in a Skylake model.Klug4Pres - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I don't know why people want to buy these thin & light machines. What is wrong with a 5 lb laptop with a 35 Watt CPU, four RAM slots, two spindles, 14.1 inch 4:3 SXGA+ screen etc.? I keep being told "the ship has sailed", but I have no idea why.Novacius - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
If you're traveling a lot or just have to take your laptop with you every day, you appreciate a lighter laptop. Very, very much. They also have much better battery life.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I used to carry a 4kg laptop with extended battery, 1200p screen etc to events like Computex and day trips/meetings for a couple of years. Put it this way, I'm glad I have a UX301 now at just over 2lbs. That being said, there are a few lighter weight systems that have me interested, like the LaVie Z that we saw at CES.Refuge - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I am the definition of a desktop replacement buyer.But even I see the relief in pulling out a 2lb feather on an airplane rather than some 17in 7lb beast.
Although those days are even coming to an end. Now you want a desktop replacement, the new Gigabyte P35X is a perfect idea! Thin, light, and TONS of horsepower. :)
Flunk - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
If you want light and power I'd recommend getting a desktop AND a thin and light notebook. Why? The compromises necessary for thin and light notebooks are not compatible with the idea of a powerful notebook. Because of this you have to make a lot of compromises when it comes to heat, battery life, performance, price. At some point it might be possible but you can't get the best of both worlds right now.killeak - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Well, I disagree. As a render programmer that travels and works remote a lot (once every two months as minimum) I need a powerful laptop to work with. And the true is that these days there is plenty of great options that give you both (portability and performance). Recently I bought a Clevo p650sg (i7 4720hq, 980m, 32gb RAM, 2xSSD 500 + HD 1tb) for 2k usd. That being said, I do have a modern desktop PC at home that I bought last year (i7 4790, 16gb RAM, 500gb SSD + 2tb storage and a GeForce 770), but I prefer to use my laptop (I also bring it to the office and I plug to monitors and keyboard to increase my productivity). Performance wise, I will say that there is not much difference between my new laptop and the desktop that I use, in fact my new laptop is more powerful than my desktop at work except for the CPU (4770, 16gb RAM, 256 SSD and geforce 760).I love to have the performance of a powerful desktop in 2.6kg (before I had a Lenovo Y500, not that powerful but close and same weight). These days I use my desktop pc at home more as a media server and some occasional gaming on the TV than for work or main gaming platform (in any case I play SC2 and Civ5 mostly and I can play those on my laptop, even my old one).
That being said, I do see the point of ultrabook or hybrids. I also have an Asus T100 that I use as my true mobile laptop/tablet that I bring with me everywhere. For web surfing, mails, word/excel, watching movies/series at the airport/airplane, etc. is great, and battery life is awesome. I see myself buying a Surface Pro 4 or something like it in the future, to replace the T100, but not for actual work since I need a true i7 (not ULV), lot of ram and a powerful GPU, that I can bring with me when I travel.
Refuge - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I disagree, but only half.While you are correct and if you want power then there is no better solution than a full fledged desktop.
But you can't say that Laptops can't be defined as powerful when it is toting a 4ghz I7 with a GTX 980m. That is like saying a Corvette isn't sports car because it isn't a Ferrari. Laughable I know right?
Either way, broad stroke generalizations like that are quickly falling apart with each passing year as they cram more and more power into smaller and smaller packages. Anymore you are really only lacking in personal upradability. Which I can see being a big enough problem to turn people towards a desktop form factor of some sort.
andrewaggb - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I mostly agree, I've done the 17" laptop with dedicated graphics. It quickly lost it's ability to play the latest games with high settings, and eventually do play the latest with reasonable settings. It's battery life sucks, it's heavy, it's useless on an airplane, etc.It was handy for gaming on vacation though. I've been tempted to buy 2 new laptop's, another gaming/big screen 17" laptop and a 12 or 13" ultralight. They're both laptops, but they serve completely different purposes.
Conficio - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Working with two machines brings a lot of hassles of its own. Installing apps twice, upgrading twice, synching data, etc. having more storage on the desktop means you have to be selective and then you go the wrong selection on the road.I'd wish I could have an OS that has a seamless cloud extended storage, synching apps and documents a I need. Did I describe ChromeOS here?
kingpotnoodle - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Because (very obviously) if you don't need a powerful machine but you do a lot of travelling then it's much better to have a lighter machine with a long battery life. Most of my work is web/ssh/rdp, long battery life and lighter weight are FAR more important to me than it being able to play Crysis or do video editing lightning fast.Klug4Pres - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Fair enough. I suppose I feel like we used to have a sane product line up for laptops, where 3 or 4 lbs was as light as anyone needed, then you had 5-6 lb machines that were workhorses with good expandability and possibly better value if you didn't need to shed all the weight, and then desktop replacements that could be as heavy as they needed to be.Now everything seems to be getting absurdly slim for no obvious reason, while maintainability and expandability are dirty words.
kingpotnoodle - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Most people consider 3-4lbs a weight to drag about, add into that a charger brick and the the chunky bag and you're quite weighed down. Contrast that to a laptop like this which has an all-day battery life (or much smalller charger) and slips into a thin sleeve case, sure you have to make sacrifices but it's all about priorities. There are plenty of fat, more upgradeable laptops around as well in all shapes and sizes. Once size doesn't fit all, never has.Dorek - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Anyone who considers 3 pounds "a weight to drag about" must be from a planet where gravity is lower. 3 pounds is NOT HEAVY.bznotins - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Try lugging a 5lb laptop + brick + accessories across a dozen airports over the course of a month and you'll appreciate every ounce of weight savings you can muster.Try opening a 14" laptop on a plane in coach when the person in their seat reclines. You'll appreciate <13" then.
But if you're the DTR type, then yeah, Intel hasn't been focusing on you. But there are options out there from Clevo and Maingear, among others.
V900 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I can understand people want a lighter machine, but you have a point about it going too far, and become a ridiculous race to be half an ounce lighter than the competitor.Once they got under 4 pounds it really ceases to have a point, and they could have invested the weight difference towards either performance or longer battery life. It's not like you can even tell the difference between a 2 pound laptop and a 3 pound laptop, especially once it's inside a bag. If carrying half a pound or a whole pound of additional weight really means that much, and makes that much difference, toss out that half liter bottle of water you probably got in your bag. BOOM! A whole pound of weight saved! Is the bag really that much lighter to carry now? Nah, thought not.
FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
You forgot to factor in the self-centered elitist narcissism that applauds loudly inside their heads every time they haul out their precious and hope others notice.Thus a tenth of an ounce and one shiny polish point is a king's ransom.
kevith - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Lol! :-)kmmatney - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I've been carrying around a heavy 17" laptop for the last 8 years (2 different laptops). I would love to have a lighter laptop, but don't want to give up the 17" screen. I'm a heavy traveler, approaching 1 million miles on United, but my laptop case has wheels and it's not that big a deal to lug around. I wish they still made 17" laptops with 1200p screens.Duncan Macdonald - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
As you did the calibration for your test machine - would it be possible for you to provide an ICC profile ? (This would also be useful for other devices with poor initial calibrations that you test.)djvita - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
anandtech should post the RGB levels/ profile they used to calibrate, for goodwill of buyers =)Allan_Hundeboll - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
Yes please share the ICC profildanbob999 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Why micro HDMI? Why a port nobody uses?Novacius - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
A full sized HDMI port would be too big I suppose. This device is only 12.3mm thin.baka_toroi - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
What do you mean? You mean nobody connects a notebook to an external display? If that's what you're saying you're wrong. And HDMI is much more universal than Displayport.Gigaplex - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
But micro HDMI isn't so you'll need an adapter anyway. Mini DisplayPort is more common than micro HDMI thanks to all the cables that cater for Apple machines.xthetenth - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Because they make micro to regular HDMI cables allowing users to connect to HDMI monitors, which covers a huge fraction of external monitors. As somebody driving a 3440x1440 IPS out of a laptop every day, this makes a huge difference in how useful a laptop is.nightbringer57 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Indeed, I would have expected a mini DP video port.But it does make sense, actually. Micro HDMI is not very common but has the advantage of being able to be hooked to almost any display on the market, without an active adapter. Except for extremely-low-level models, all monitors have at least one DVI or HDMI input. DP connectors are not so common. So this is a very cheap choice for the end user since simple passive microHDMI to HDMI or (micro)HDMI to DVI adapters are sufficient.
Darkstone - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. Mini-hdmi does not have any advantage whatsoever above miniDP.Both connectors:
Connect an HDMI or single-link DVI display with passive cable.
MiniDP only:
Drive higher display resolutions than 1080p (i'm not kidding. The old zenbook was limited to 1080p), drive VGA, miniDP or DP displays with an passive cable, dual-link DVI with an active cable. Adapters are quite common due to the popularity of macbooks.
mini-hdmi only:
licensing costs.
The ONLY reason to choose mini-hdmi over miniDP is marketing.
Caleb Olson - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
Thus the prominently placed HDMI sticker on the palm rest.Cinnabuns - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
All the projectors at my workplace have an HDMI port. Seems pretty useful to me.greyhulk - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Manufacturers: Stop with the matte screens. Just stahp! They ruin the viewing experience. If you need to use it outside, there are much better anti-glare alternatives that don't make the screen look grainy and lame.Azurael - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
99% of articles about laptops: People complain about glossy screens. This article: you complain about a matte screen.I guess the best thing for manufacturers would be to offer both options, like Apple used to. But having two SKUs for every pre-existing spec would have to be worthwhile for them to do it...
menting - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
i'm glad with the matte screens.. glossy = yuckAmbroseAthan - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I ignore almost all laptops that have a glossy screen. When I saw this was matte, I became much more interested in it as an option. Matte screens are 1000x better (IMO).darkich - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Then you obviously have bad eyesight.When it comes to fine details and color consistency, matte screens have absolutely ruining effect, that's just plain common sense.
There is a reason why all phones and tablets have glossy screens. When I applied matte protector on my Note 3 I was disgusted by what I saw.
You think matte screen is better just because you haven't really seen the full glory of a high resolution glossy screen.
Impulses - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Matte FTWkmmatney - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I prefer glossy, and actually just swapped out the screen in my laptop for a glossy one. Cost me about $80, but worth it for me. My work paid for the laptop, so I just paid for the new glossy screen.mobutu - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
matte FTW indeed, glossy it's just plain awfuldarkich - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Absolutely wrong - matte is just plain awful and needs to go away ASAPmooninite - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
When will ASUS come out with a successor to the UX301LAA? It's been over a year now and I don't see anything on the horizon.Whatever it is, it better not come with a 4k screen. I'll take a 2560x1440 OLED.
3DoubleD - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
This appears to be a great offering. If they announce pre-calibrated screens (or there was a simple and reliable DIY method) I'd seriously consider buying this device. It seems like ASUS has really been listening: IPS, >= 1080p, decent keyboard, good trackpad, good battery life, good performance, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, ...more than 1 I/O port, and a great price! On a personal, subjective note, too bad it is so similar to the styling of the Transformer Prime tablet... I'm still angry about how terrible that device performs (eMMC just falls apart with time), which really hurt my opinion of ASUS, it would be best to not be reminded of it.Hulk - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I assume this unit uses a m.2 drive? What size? 42mm? One slot or two?Gigaplex - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
At this thinness, I'd expect it to be soldered on.Allan_Hundeboll - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
I think its a 80mm m.2 6 gbps sata ssdcasteve - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
The DOTA 2 temperature comparison chart's y-axis is mislabeled as frequency rather than temperature. Also, it looks like the test stopped before the zenbook came to thermal equilibrium. So, will it start to throttle or fry eggs sometime after an hour of heavy use?I'm very happy to see all of the fanless laptops. But, even with a 4.5W TDP CPU, it seems there's still some tuning to be done to get rid of the heat.
djvita - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Everyone is struggling, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel on getting high performance on low power. ARM overheats, and x86 is too slow compared to desktop chips.Brett Howse - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Sorry I was graphing the clock speeds of the chips and then removed that from the graph and left the temperatures, but forgot to re-label that axis.I'll leave DOTA running for a lot longer and see what happens. Eventually it will need to throttle back a bit.
crimson117 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Is there a table somewhere listing the specs for each UX305 model number?Too many skus makes it hard to know what you're getting, eg UX305FA-ASM1, UX305FA-USM1, UX305FA-FB003H, UX305FA-FC008H.
hammer256 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
That price, that spec. I have a Macbook air (2014) and I am positively jealous.V900 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Don't be. The Asus may feel snappy when you browse the web, but as soon as you open a few more programs and try to multitask, the Asus Zenbook will start to protest, and throttle down the speed and/or cores. For anything more than light usage with little or no multitasking your MacBook Air, or any similarly specced computer from 2014/2013 will be faster.kyuu - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Bullshit. This very article shows that you're wrong. The Core M does not throttle much, if at all, in this laptop. The Yoga has throttling issues because Lenovo made the poor decision to keep the CPU unnecessarily cool.satai - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I have one of them for about a week and Ubuntu 15.04 daily works without any problems (I was realy surprised how bainless the instalation was). Battery life +-5.5h mixed wifi browsing + music / Sublime + terminal + haskell builds + music (brightness about 25%).I am going to see how it works with Arch.
Calista - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Brett, do you know of any initiative to develop a new slimmer Ethernet connector for use in these thin and light systems? While WiFi is getting faster many of use still prefer the reliability and speed of a wired connection when available.satai - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
You get and USB/Ethernet Adapter with the UX305. It's not perfect solution but at least it's "free" not $29.But I like your idea, though it's clear it would take years to spread the cables...
xthetenth - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
If they could make a passive small adaptor cable that'd probably work great. Or just USB type c to everything and go with that.Ryan Smith - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
In theory you could do a Type-C Alt Mode for Ethernet. It would take all 4 pairs of lanes, but there are enough wires to do the job...satai - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
The better part is, that ethernet is usually in usage in places where I have "docking station".FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Speed and reliability of the wireless is questioned in a fair amount of the user reviews.The keyboard keys also stick after a month's use in end user reviews.
FwFred - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Never going to happen, USB 3/3.1 Type C is all you need (especially with Thunderbolt)Ananke - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
These ultrabooks are targeted towards the millions of Sales Reps, who usually don't need more than web browsing, Excel and presentation in convenient, long lasting, durable and light package.High performance computers have totally different users.
thesavvymage - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
im just an intern, but for my use case and everyone who works with me, this machine is NOT adequate for professional excel use. itd fall on its face trying to do pivots/charts with any substantial amount of rowsFlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Watch, all these "premium feel", self centered, glory money show off, "elite items" freaks who want more than anything to feel rich inside when using their computer prods, will all have early onset alzheimer's, from picking and licking with their "super premium expensive feel" bragging egotist aluminum puters.I can hardly wait, though in that soon to engulf future condition they probably won't be able to understand why it happened to them.... just keeping rubbing those super elite aluminum bodies you constantly pine for...
kyuu - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
While I actually prefer the design of, for example, the Yoga over aluminum designs like this or MacBooks, your spiel is rather psychopathic.FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Thanks for reading the vent, though don't say you weren't warned. Hands all over brushed aluminum all day long is the recipe for alzheimer's.Dorek - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Uh, that's not proven at all. There are at least as many studies questioning environmental factors as there are attesting that they are a major cause of Alzheimer's.djvita - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
A small correction 10dB means its ten times louder. Wikipedia on decibel- "A change in power by a factor of 10 corresponds to a 10 dB change in level. A change in power by a factor of two approximately corresponds to a 3 dB change. "back on the review, if my laptop were to die, this would be the laptop to get. I have an Asus b43j, with 6GB ram (bought 4) and saving for an mx200 ssd (has a 5400rpm 320gb drive). bought it 4 years ago. still good as new. the aluminum is nice. I expect that the quality is still the same in Asus products.
Brett Howse - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
10 dB is ten times the power of the sound wave, but roughly twice the perceived loudness.Conficio - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
"The speakers are downward firing through two grilles on the bottom of the device." Would that be an explanation for the raising hinge design? Lifting the bottom of the laptop to give the soung waves a bit more room to escape?Brett Howse - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Unfortunately no the speakers are at the front of the device.Mobile-Dom - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
do we know the SSD type on here? i havent seen it be noted anywere? is it MSATA? M.2 SATA, M.2 PCIe? i just have no cluedjvita - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
This is why I love anandtechYou explained the differences in performance in core M very well (thermal throtlling basically) and the heating across the Yoga 3 and UX.
theverge reviewed the T300 recently (hope you guys do too!) and just compare the difference:
"The Core M processor in my review unit is clocked at 1.2GHz and combined with the 8GB of RAM on tap, has no trouble handling most basic computing tasks. It surely won't play any modern 3D games, but working in Chrome, Word, and other Windows 8.1 apps is no issue. I'm able to have as many tabs open in Chrome as I need without the system grinding to a halt, and switching between apps is quick and painless. I often forgot that I was using a computer that was more tablet than laptop, though the heat from the back of the T300 was enough to remind me that this is a full-blown Windows 8.1 machine and not a crippled charlatan faking the role."
As an engineer i prefer graphs and empirical evidence to support claims, specially in a tech product. "The screen is nice", how nice? is it well calibrated? This is why i cant take some websites reviews seriously.
Michael Bay - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Verge was left-leaning with Topolsky and went full bananas when he left. Race this, opression that on what seemed to be a tech site.Oh, and Apple can do no wrong, of course.
Laxaa - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Performance seem to be around Surface Pro 3 levels, so perhaps we will see the Pro 4 with a Core M CPU. Perhaps even the same CPU as the new MacBook?The Surface Pro 3 is termal restricted after all, so maybe the move to a fanless design will help overcome that issue.
digiguy - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Core M does make sense to replace the i3 (which I own and which is virtually fanless anyway), probably with the superior 5y10 but 5y70/1 is half way between i3 and i5, not to mention i7. It will be interesting to see what MS will decide to do with the i5 (which is what most people have bought with SP3), keep it (just moving to Broadwell) or change to Core M 5y71...Speedfriend - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
" so perhaps we will see the Pro 4 with a Core M CPU. "I am hearing a smaller screen version with the new Intel Atom and the Surface 4 with Core M. Though If I was MS I would keep a version with the new i5 and i7 for power users. It is a amzing that they sold over 1m Surface 3 last quarter, which is probalby about the same as Apple sells of MacBook Pros
dragonsqrrl - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Wow, it's like a MacBook except with connectivity options. 3 USB 3.0 ports, instead of just one?! That's madness. A dedicated display out? Whaaat?! And cheaper?... I just can't see a reason, any reason, for anyone to get that new MacBook. There are better low TDP, long battery life, ultra portable options out there. I think this is one of them.
FwFred - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
I'd still consider the Macbook for the touchpad. My Yoga 2 Pro is OK and my work Thinkpad T440 is awful. I even use a mouse at work my writs trigger the stupid touchpad and randomly highlight/erase things. My Macbook Air (Sandy) is still top notch with the touchpad.dragonsqrrl - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
That is something the MacBook (and really any Apple laptop) has going for it. In general, superior tracking on the touchpad. But does that really outweigh every other drawback of the new MacBook for you? I've already seen several MacBook Air owners (tech journalists) who've sworn off the new design for the lack of connectivity alone.OrphanageExplosion - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Just bought a Broadwell rMBP13 with the new trackpad. The trackpad truly is a revelation. People seem to get rather obsessed with processing specs and completely overlook the quality of the interface with the machine.wintermute000 - Saturday, March 28, 2015 - link
Agree with the t440 comment. Great machine except for the stupid bleedin' trackpad..... how many times have we said that about a windows laptop, how hard can it be (obviously not as easy as it may appear on the surface lol)KPOM - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Except it is heavier, has a lower resolution screen, and a slower processor than the new MacBook.Dorek - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
"Heavier." loldragonsqrrl - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Ya, "heavier"... it's just under .6 additional lb. It also provides an optional 3200x1800 panel and higher clocked M-5Y71. And as I said in my previous comment the slightly thinner and lighter body of the MacBook comes at the cost of connectivity and functionality.gw74 - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Core M = NOOOOOOOOPEFwFred - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
As a travel device? No heavy user is going to use this as their primary machine, but it's still much faster than any fanless tablet for 'on the go' usages.FwFred - Wednesday, March 25, 2015 - link
Amazing price point for the overall package. I would have guessed $899 or $999 (and +$100 if it had the higher end Core M and 802.11ac)kyuu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Agreed. For the price it really can't be beat. If you need/want more performance than the Core M offers, you can step up to a Dell XPS 13 instead. If you need/want a Yoga-like hinge and touchscreen, you can go to an HP Spectre x360 (or Yoga, if battery life isn't big on your priority list).darkich - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Anandtech skips the Geekbench again, yet almost whenever they do some deep chip analysis, they use it as a reference for raw performance measures.Why is this the case?
What I find the most striking regarding the Core M is, again, the vast inferiority in the GPU aspect compared to ARM based chips.
20nm planar Apple GPU and 28nm Nvidia GPU are besting it for the fraction of the price.
Imagine the disparity when the upcoming iPad and Shield with the X1 Tegra come out.. next iPad will probably have double the graphic power than the new $1300 MacBook!! Ouch
kyuu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I guess we'll just ignore that Intel thoroughly trashes even the best ARM SoCs in CPU even in the same power envelope and focus only on GPU. Okay then.Yeah, the Core M is equaled or bested by Apple's and Nvidia's SoCs in terms of GPU. What are you going to do with that GPU power? Especially with an iOS device? Last I checked Candy Crush didn't require a lot of horsepower. With Android you can at least run console emulators to take advantage.
darkich - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
And I guess you will just ignore that there are TONS of graphically rich touch oriented games(do I need to start naming titles?) on iOS, and that gaming on iPads is by many orders of magnitude larger bussiness than gaming on all ultrabooks put together!The fact you mention candy crush says all about your objectivity and knowledge.
darkich - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
..as for "thoroughly trashing" in CPU(or should i say, in software-dependent web benchmarks only), well just wait for the 14nm Cyclone and Cortex A72.By year's end we will see ARM CPU beating core m even on 2.5w TDP and $50 worth of chips
Morawka - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
See this is how you treat your customers.This Asus Laptop does not have a Ethernet Port since it's so thin, but GOOD guy asus includes a ethernet adapter in the box.
THen you turn around and look at apple's offering. 1 port, Twice as expensive, and requires you to buy a $80 adapter right after shelling out $1300 + Tax.
With the Asus laptop, you can avoid sales tax easily.
with the apple laptop, you can't.. They got sales tax everywhere because of apple stores in every state. Your only hope is mac mall and they lag behind several months on new models.
DavidTJ - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Exactly what model is reviewed?I have looked at UX305FA-FB003P and it's totally different. Also UX305FA-FC008H looks different (4GB only)...
Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Can you add a DOTA 2 battery life test? Also, why does the XPS 13 do sooooo much better in the normalized battery life test?kyuu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
It doesn't do *that* much better (well, I guess it does when you consider the XPS 13 uses a higher wattage CPU). But Dell worked closely with Intel and Microsoft to squeeze every little bit of power savings they could out of the hardware/software package, so I imagine that's responsible for the difference.heytimbo - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I tried one of the first gen UX31. If I recall, it was a 128GB SSD and so full of bloatware about 30 GB were free. I took it back to the retailer and questioned. I was told to buy a standalone copy of windows and install. It seemed easier to return the PC and go Mac. I have not looked back. ASUS, you make great products but are you still filling the laptops with bloatware?Dorek - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
"If I recall, it was a 128GB SSD and so full of bloatware about 30 GB were free."I don't believe you. The OS takes about 10-20 GB, so that's roughly 100GB left. You're saying 70 GIGABYTES were taken up by crapware? That's bullshit. That'd be like, 20 installs of Adobe Premiere Pro, or two installs of a high-end AAA 2014 game. You're lying.
heytimbo - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
No, and that is why I returned the PC. I could not believe the level of bloatware. I am curious about these current machines. If I see any at a local store I may test to see.beehofer - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
No back-lit Keyboard was the deal-breaker for me. I would have been very interested but I work/play in dark settings often and cannot go back to a non back-lit keyboard. It was a gross mistake by Asus. Get with it man!creed3020 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I don't know where that $699 price is coming from. Amazon US is showing around $899 and in Canada the cost is $1200. So this "budget" ultrabook just went through the roof in pricing.I'm thoroughly impressed by it but this is MacBook pricing...
FwFred - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Microsoft store had it for $699. Amazon let's other resellers sell at any price they want, Amazon didn't have it in stick themselves when I checked.dionisk - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Just bought it 3 days ago from amazon for 699. You just need to keep looking. Amazons prices fluctuate based on their supply.fabrica64 - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Too bad it is a 16/9 laptop. Stop 16/9 displays! Why can't people put a 16/10 display... a little bit more of squareness makes a lot of differenceArtShapiro - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
You're obviously correct, but in (somewhat) fairness, that 1080 pixel vertical resolution is 30 more pixels than an SVGA+ device provides. I like my 1600x1200 Thinkpads, but my 1400x1050 Thinkpads are certainly reasonable.I've never paid much attention to Ultrabooks, but this strikes me as a very intriguing machine, especially for travel. My only Asus device is their now no-longer-produced Mini-TS Windows Home Server box, and it's done fine for quite a few years. What's bothering me is that the more-expensive "Signature" edition is touted as having no bloatware and, curiously, some sort of illy-defined optimization for Windows. That implies that the non-signature edition has some non-optimized Windows settings, whatever that might mean.
Supercell99 - Sunday, March 29, 2015 - link
As someone who recently purchased a ASUS UX303LA Ultrabook, only to find that a design flaw /weakness has rendered it useless, due to the display hinge breaking. I would advise anyone considering an ASUS Ultrabook to look into the hinge/construction on the newer models to see if the have attempted to correct this flaw, in how the thin plastic that attaches the display to the base.Touch screens receive a lot more handling on and by the display in everyday use than non-touch screens and require at least as strong or stronger attachment to the hinge than regular laptops. ASUS neglected to do so with the UX303 series and is resulting in a high failure rate of display/hinges. (see amazon review for example).
Anandtech, while likely beyond the scope of this type of review, please look deeper into the durability and construction of these ultra-portables in the future, as light weight construction techniques , can begin to translate into premature physical/mechanical failures.
eanazag - Monday, March 30, 2015 - link
What is interesting to note is that the Arm tablets' performance results can actually be posted alongside these laptops and not result in flat out jokes. At least in the web results. Convergence in performance is beginning to be real.Allan_Hundeboll - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
I bought the version with 128Gb SSD yesterday. My first impression was disappointment because the 1080p ips screen has alot of light bleed in the bottom. The way this zenbook digs into soft tables is also irritating. But I love everything else about it.SNV - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 - link
Since laptops now are being stripped of any moving parts they should be silent, or so you'd think, but now that there is no humming from the cooling fan or buzzing from the harddrive, and suddenly the sounds from badly designed electronics can no longer hide behind mechanical noise. I propose a new test for electronics like laptops and tablets, the coil wine test. Do a search on "Dell XPS coil whine" (be it XPS 13 or 15 or Precision M3800) and you'll see what all the fuzz or should I say whining is about.A laptop can be fast, light, good looking, have high quality haptics, a battery that will last for days, and no moving parts hence promising no mechanically induced noise, but it can and will probably have some component on the PCB that is screaming IIIIIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIH constantly due to lack of proper EMC shielding of the circuits. The question is will this sound be loud enough to be heard by a user’s ears.
The Dell XPS 13 is winning quite a few tests in this review, but it wouldn't do well in a sound test looking for noise from the electric circuits within the dB(A) range at a distance were a users ears would be.
PhytochromeFr - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Explain is insufficient. intel core's throttling is more complex than that.It's mainly ruled by power usage condition. NOT thermal condition. Intel set 2 turbo power limit for turbo control. short and long. If Processor boost to maximum clock, package power usage reach short limit. core sustains a few seconds maxmum clock until averge power usage in time window reach long limit. after that, core throttles down their clock to until their power usage reach long limit.
Allan_Hundeboll - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
I tested throttling on my ux305 with occp. Idle frequency when running on battery is 800mhz. When plugged in the mains idle freq. is 2ghz.100% CPU load will make the CPU spike @ 2ghz, but quickly settle @ 1.5ghz. 100% CPU and GPU will make the CPU settle @ 700-800MHz. It doesn't get hot so I'm guessing it's because of the power usage.
Allan_Hundeboll - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Sorry I tested this with occt.bgc99 - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
You should explain exactly how you calibrated the display. And, if you calibrated it why don't you provide the icc profile you created?dionisk - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
I really would like the profile too.dionisk - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Is there any possibility of the calibrated ICC profile being posted here since Asus didnt?Techie77 - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
I would also be very happy if you could provide me with the calibrated ICC profile which you created. Is there a chance to get it from you? That would be very kind (and extremely helpful).Hydrogen Owl - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
I really would like the profile as well, my UX305 absolutely don't perform like that, and I'd like to understand why.(I've made a forum thread about that : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=24270... )
Hydrogen Owl - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
(I mean the profile of the laptop, which version of UX305 it is)daddacool - Friday, April 10, 2015 - link
I've been looking at getting one of these (partly due to the price) but the thing that puts me off is the issues I've read with the intel video drivers. I've heard horror stories about ASUS treating it like a hardware fault, multiple RMAs, and so far no resolution. It doesn't look at all promising :(madfry - Saturday, April 25, 2015 - link
You said that you managed to calibrate the color profile and got better results. Mind sharing the particular ICC profile for the benefit of us here that do not have access to a professional profiler?aaa_southeast - Sunday, May 24, 2015 - link
Can somebody who has a UX305 tell how many browser tabs it can open ?Rayovac - Sunday, June 21, 2015 - link
Great article and I think u need to include a new metric such as clarity for touch screen optioned laptops. Recently i purchased a Asus UX303L with the 3200x18000 touch screen. I was devastated to be able to see the touch screen gridlines that were extremely visible. I checked out the dell XPS and samsung touch screens with the equivalent resolution and the grid lines were not visible. Since I am in Hong Kong, no refund is available to consumers and im stuck arguing with asus support that this is normal. If i had noticed those lines i would have bought a dell xps instead.[email protected] - Monday, July 13, 2015 - link
I was about to buy Lenovo U41 I5-5200 U Processor, 4GB memory, SSHD 1TB 7MM 5400RPM,but I disappointed just because of its TN display and very poor screen quality:-(I just came across Asus UX350 & really impressed by its spec, but following are my major doubts blocking me to buy this,
1.I am a software developer,
Will be using ORACLE DB & Eclipse & Web design & Music running simultaneously.
Will Asus UX350[Core M5Y10] can handle it without crashing and more heat?
2.Fan less processor will be good even after one year???, how it cools up the ultrabook?
Please suggest if you know any other model for my below requirement.
No Compromise :
1.13 inch screen - IPS is Preferred
2.Slim & not more than 2kg.
3.Good processor & RAM , which easily supports ORACLE DB & Eclipse & Web design & Music running simultaneously
4.More than 5 hours battery.
Can be compromised:
1.Storage size is doesn't matters if its SSD or else 1 TB/500GB sshd.
2.Price around INR 50,000.
eldakka - Monday, October 12, 2015 - link
I admit I am a bit of an ASUS Zenbook Fan(boi), I do or have owned 3 ASUS 'laptops' (UL20A, UX32VD and a Transformer T100). But one thing that really, really peeves me about their keyboards, having the PgUp and PgDn (and to a lesser extent Home End) on the arrow keys thus needing to press the Fn key to get those functions. Especially when there is plenty of room on the keyboard (above the left and right arrow keys is room for PgUp/PdDn).Having 1-handed access to PgUp/Dn is extremely useful to have in a small laptop, as I tend to lay in bed/floor/couch propping up my head with one hand while reading/scrolling/surfing with only one hand. And yes I know how that sounds ;)
vermutas - Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - link
I`m going to buy this laptop and i would like to calibrate the screen. Could you upload settings for the calibration of asus screen?