Asus ZenBook UX310UA
£549 inc VAT • asus.com/uk
The Asus ZenBook UX310UA is what happens when a practical everyday laptop and an expensive all-aluminium Ultrabook fall in love. It gets you the pricey look and feel of a portable, stylish machine with the features of a workhorse and a price way below that of a rival MacBook. The model on review here is the cheaper version, with an Intel Core i3 CPU, 1920x1080 screen and 4GB RAM. If you want a Core i5, a 3200x1800 display, 128GB SSD, a 500GB hard drive and 8GB of RAM, then there’s another model for £699.
Design
The UX310UA is a return to the roots of the ZenBook range. This is a ‘regular’ laptop, without a touchscreen or a 360-degree hinge. It’s also slightly chunkier than some of our favourite mid-price ZenBooks, because it has space for a hard drive as well as an solidstate drive. There is just an SSD in this particular model: you’ll need to use a Torx screwdriver to remove the bottom panel and install a hard drive. This will void the warranty, but once the 12-month cover is up, you can crack it open and add some storage.
It’s not thick or heavy at 19mm and 1.45kg, but simply a little less sharp and wedge-like than the ZenBook UX305. It’s light enough to carry around with you all day, every day.
The UX310UA is a looker too, and has an all-aluminium frame that’s a more affordable Windows 10 take on what Apple has made with its slimmer MacBooks. Plus, like other 13in ZenBooks, the lid has a brushed concentric circles design on the lid. There are plain silver and light gold shades to choose between. Both look great.
There’s one problem with the build. Apply some firm pressure to the keyboard surround and it flexes a little. It’s more noticeable than in early ZenBooks and is disappointing to see in an otherwise lovely design. But it is much less obvious than in the UX360CA and does not ruin typing or cause any trackpad problems.
Connectivity
In many respects, the Asus is more up to date than a MacBook Air. Unlike previous ZenBooks, the UX310UA has a USB-C 3.1 port. This is the new breed of USB, using a reversible plug rather than one that has to be plugged-in the right way. It’s also a USB 3.1 socket, meaning it’s ready to take on the fast peripherals that we’ll start to see more of in the next 24 months. Right now USB-C is a future-proofing addition, but it’ll become more important over time.
There are plenty of the old standards packed in, including a full-size HDMI port, an SD card slot and three regular USBs. One of just a few minor down sides is that only one of the full-size USBs is version 3.0. The other two are the slower USB 2.0. This makes no difference if you’re attaching a keyboard or mouse, but if you use an external SSD drive, you’ll have to make sure you use the USB 3.0 socket on the left side. Note that there’s no Ethernet port.
Display
Unlike its more expensive sibling, the FC075T model has ‘only’ a 1920x1080-pixel 13.3in screen. Yet, this matt panel is one of the highlights, because in most respects it outperforms a lot of the similarly priced competition. Asus isn’t specific on the technology, but viewing angles are as good as those found on an IPS display.
For a £549 laptop, its sharpness and colour saturation are fantastic. You’ll notice this as soon as Windows 10 boots up: colours
The UX310UA’s all-aluminium frame is a more affordable Windows 10 take on what Apple has made with its slimmer MacBooks
look deep and rich without appearing overcooked. The Asus Splendid application also lets you tweak the colour temperature, increasing colour pop further or applying a blue light filter to avoid eyestrain if you’re going to read
It’s not as bright as the 3200x100 model, hitting only 308cd/m2 on our colorimeter, but it’s bright enough for most environments save for outdoors on the sunniest of sunny days. But then again, few laptops are bright enough for comfortable outdoor use.
There are a few small niggles, though. First, this isn’t a pure flat screen, which you tend to see in very fancy laptops or those with touchscreens. What we mean by this is that the display border is raised, but it does knock off a few style points. The lid doesn’t tilt back that far, either. On a desk this doesn’t matter, but if you’re going to want to use this in a confined space it on your knees, the display angle will be slightly severe.
Keyboard and trackpad
The UX310UA’s keys have a ‘scissor’ mechanism, which is designed to make them feel a little less wobbly. This is a solid keyboard, with slightly deeper action than most in this category. We like it a lot, despite the visible keyboard flexing that happens is you are a heavy typer. There’s also a backlight, one of the main features missing from the earlier UX-series ZenBooks.
Its trackpad is more familiar. It’s large, topped with glass, and has buttons integrated into the pad that take a rough 50/50 split of the very bottom part. If keyboard flex and the use of just one USB 3.0 socket were the first black marks against the UX310UA’s day-to-day experience, the trackpad is perhaps the third. During testing, it occasionally registered taps when we were just trying to move the cursor. Despite using a glass surface, the trackpad isn’t as smooth as we’d like. This is likely because the surface isn’t treated to the same level of glass-frosting as you get in some more expensive machines.
We are being tough on the UX310UA here, though. The pad is still large, comfortable, and has a button-click that doesn’t require too much pressure and isn’t loud enough to annoy anyone nearby trying to watch TV. It’s just one of the few parts that doesn’t thoroughly outclass much of the competition.
Performance
Our review unit has an Intel Core i3-6100U CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. Running Windows 10 off an SSD makes the UX310UA feel very fast day-today, but the dual-core processor isn’t as powerful as some laptops at this price.
It can handle most basic tasks, but bear in mind this isn’t a laptop for serious 3D rendering or video encoding. Such a computer is going to be thicker and heavier, and won’t last long away from the mains, though.
In Geekbench 4, it scored 5329 for the multi-core test and 2828 for single-core. (The Core i5 version scored 5886 and 3175 respectively.) In PCMark 8, it managed 2315.
This ZenBook is not well-suited to demanding games. Even at 720p resolution with low graphics settings applied, our tests wouldn’t run at anything approaching 30fps. Older titles may run okay, but don’t buy this with a view to gaming on it.
Like most Intel Core-equipped laptops, the UX310UA has fans rather than relying entirely on passive cooling. It’s noticeable in quiet rooms, but the volume doesn’t ramp up too high when you start challenging the CPU.
Battery life
One of the pleasant surprises is that despite the fact it uses a Core i3 rather than a Core M, its battery life is still very solid. Playing back a 720p video on loop at 120cd/m2 brightness, it lasted around eight hours. That provides enough scope to use the UX310UA for a full day’s light work away from the adaptor. The screen is a real benefit here, as it only needs to be set to around 35 percent brightness to be comfortable to use in a well-lit room.
This laptop is a fantastic all-rounder for someone looking for a laptop prepared for a whole bunch of different uses. However, for the sake of balance we’re going to end on one slight off-key note: the speakers. It has a pair of Harman Kardon units that fire out from the underside. They are fine, but lack the volume and beefiness of Apple’s MacBook speakers, for example. You can’t have it all, but this latest ZenBook gets pretty close.
Verdict
The Asus ZenBook UX310UA is an excellent portable all-rounder. It has the design spark of a laptop worth showing off, matched with an amazing breadth of features and smart pragmatism that sees it pack in more, higher-quality tech than its rivals.
This is as close to a perfect £549 laptop as we’ve seen this year. Sure, there are parts that could be improved. There’s some flexing of the shell under pressure, the trackpad surface isn’t as silky smooth as some and the speakers are just so-so. However, stack these up next to the list of strengths and the UX310UA is easy to recommend.
The ZenBook’s screen only needs to be set to around 35 percent brightness to be comfortable to use in a well-lit room
These are minor issues, though. The one you should consider is display contrast, which isn’t all that hot. Our colorimeter measured it at 409:1, where some laptops can achieve over 1000:1.