Asus Zenbook Flip S UX370UA
Do we call it a lablet or a taptop?
A laptop-tablet for the best of both worlds
Even when computer companies come up with product names that make sense, they have to go and ruin it. A year ago (see our review, Issue 484) we tested Asus’ Zenbook Flip UX360CA. The ‘360’ here stood for the 360-degree hinge that lets you fold the keyboard all the way round and hold this ‘two-in-one’ laptop like a tablet.
So now they’ve updated it, and what have they called it? ‘370’. No, the laws of physics haven’t been suspended. From closed, you can rotate the keyboard all the way around so that its back sits flat – well, almost flat – against the back of the screen. That’s still 360 degrees, by our reckoning.
What’s really changed is that the Flip S is even thinner and lighter. Maybe the ‘S’ stands for ‘slimmed-down’? From nearly 14mm thick, it’s now just 11mm, yet it still feels solid. The aluminium chassis comes in grey or a striking deep blue with gold highlights, and as before you get two USB Type-c ports, so you can charge the battery and use an external monitor (with an adapter) at the same time.
There’s also a headphone socket, as well as surprisingly good Harman Kardon speakers. The backlit keys don’t move much when you hit them, but we found them easy to type on, and the gesturesensing touchpad works well.
It all weighs just 1.1kg, and the width and height have lost a few millimetres too, thanks to narrower borders around the 13.3in touchscreen. This sticks at Full HD resolution, perhaps a disappointment compared with the ultra-sharp screens of many rivals. The screen offers an acceptable, if not brilliant 84.6 per cent of the SRGB colour range, while the maximum brightness was very average, and struggled to overcome the effects of bright sunlight. But for indoor use we found it fine, with good deep blacks.
Inside is Intel’s Skylake i5-7200u, a very different processor from the low-power m3 in the previous model. You wouldn’t choose a system like this for jobs like video editing, but it can have a go, and you’ll see no delays in general office tasks and web browsing. Given the fast SSD, we’d hoped the Flip S might score a bit higher in our benchmark tests than it did, but it’s no slouch. And that SSD has a generous half-terabyte capacity.
In our video-playback test, the Flip S lasted five hours 30 minutes – not bad, but it probably won’t see you through a day.
A lightweight, pacey two-in-one that bends over backwards to please
SPECIFICATIONS
2.5GHZ Intel Core i5-7200u dual-core processor • 8GB memory • 512GB flash storage • 13.3in 1920x1080-pixel screen • VGA webcam • Fingerprint reader • 802.11ac Wi-fi • Bluetooth 4.1 • 2x USB Type-c ports • SD card reader • Windows 10 Home • 11.1x311x211mm (HXWXD) • 1.1kg • One-year warranty www.snipca.com/25806
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OUR AWARDS
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PRICES
Our reviews contain a link to the best price we found online at the time of press.
VERDICT: A better screen and battery life would have been welcome, but if you need a laptop-tablet the UX370UA is a good albeit pricey choice
★★★★☆
ALTERNATIVE: HP Elitebook x360 G2 £1,379 HP’S 13.3in two-two-twoin-one has onlyy halfhahalf the storage, but nearlyearlrly twice the battery life; it’s a lot bulkier, though