The title of this article doesn’t leave much room for doubt, and this article is dedicated to the analysis of the Zenbook 13 OLED UX325E, a notebook from Asus. The company managed to make a really premium device, with elegant design, amazing performance and above all efficient.
And when I say that it has an amazing performance, it’s because it has everything that the vast majority of users need. It’s equipped with an 11th generation Intel Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, an Intel Iris Xe graphics cards, and a gorgeous 13.3-inch anti-glare OLED screen.
In terms of workmanship, this Asus Zenbook 13 is an aluminum notebook that pops out right out of the box. Besides being a very thin device, Asus hasn’t left out something that’s really important, connectivity. In total we have 3 USB ports, 1 Type-A and 2 Type-C. These C-type ports allow speeds similar to Thunderbolt 3, that is, up to 40Gbps.
As I had previously informed, it has a beautiful 13.3-inch OLED screen (not touch) and FullHD resolution with 1920×1080 pixels, which managed to impress me. It is able to reproduce images with really high quality, which together with its sound system “created” by Harmn Kardon, we managed to have a fantastic multimedia experience.
Its side frames are really thin, however the top and bottom frames are a little bigger.
The Asus Zenbook 13 features an island-style bubblegum keyboard, which I can really say I like. Besides being comfortable and precise, it’s one of the quietest keyboards I’ve ever tried on a laptop, and that makes a difference for someone who has to type for a few hours every day.
As for the trackpad, it’s really big, maximizing all the space you can on the deck. It uses Microsoft Precision drivers, is exceptionally smooth, is quiet and has a satisfying click.
And if all of the above didn’t make this laptop really interesting, then you know that its performance is the best we can get in this range. An Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, and an Intel Iris Xe graphics card. When I was testing the Asus Zenbook 13 I used it for everything I need from a PC, which includes work and play. As you can imagine, a lot of my work is done with multiple browsers open and working simultaneously, with social networks, email and a few more tools, and everything running at the same time. And at no point did I lack performance. All very smooth, and done very quickly.
I’m not a big fan of PC gaming, but I had to experience the performance of this Intel Iris Xe, so I decided to install Assassins Creed Syndicate. To my amazement, it ran the game, but as you might imagine it was noticed that this is not a gaming laptop, but the game ran.
Its SSD is 512GB, and being an NVMe SSD it doesn’t lack speed, as it is light years ahead of the usual HDD.
Battery life is something that left me a little on the back foot. Checking the screen this laptop has, with the hardware inside, I expected a little more. It’s not the best laptop I’ve had in my hands in terms of autonomy, but I can assure you that I managed to work around 9 hours straight with it, without this having seen the charger. It is good? For me I think it’s a really adjusted value, 9 hours of work, which despite not being very demanding in terms of processing, is 9 hours straight on screen.
Asus says it can handle it for about 13 hours of video playback, and I believe it’s possible since its battery has 67Wh. When charging, it comes with a 65W charger, and a 50% charge can be achieved in 45 minutes. To fully charge the battery, we need about 1 hour and 55 minutes.
A practical view
Logging in via the IR camera is faster and more convenient than via the fingerprint sensor. He’s not here and we don’t expect you to miss him. The notebook supports fast charging and you can charge it to 60% capacity in 49 minutes. Our experience is that you have never run out of this laptop to limit you.
During normal use, we have spent 11 hours with the laptop, and you will be able to save even longer. In addition to fast charging technology, it rarely happens to be discharged. This has really worked, and few laptops actually last that long on battery power, although manufacturers tend to mention different times.
The ASUS SonicMaster sound system works with Harman / Kardon to ensure excellent sound. It belongs to the group of the best sound systems in laptops. The quality is equal to the model from Lenovo in this test.
Improvements also apply to the microphone. It uses artificial intelligence to filter the surrounding noise. You will appreciate this, for example, when working from home and video conferencing.
The manufacturer comes with a standard MyASUS tool that sets the power mode or turns the laptop into a completely silent computer. There are more settings and they also apply to the image. It is also used to download drivers and BIOS.
Asus Zenbook 13 Review: Final Verdict
I confess that I didn’t have high expectations for this Zenbook 13. Despite having good specifications, I had the idea that it was just another laptop, but I was wrong, and Asus managed to surprise me a lot on the positive side, especially on the screen.
As you may have noticed throughout the review, I have no major negative points to point out. I could complain about the graphics card, but I don’t think anyone buys a laptop of this style to play games, or at least they shouldn’t, and this Zenbook is guaranteed not designed for that, so I can’t even pick it up at that point.
Regarding its operating system, it comes with Windows 10 Home, which works perfectly on this machine. The moment I turned on the machine for the first time I was asked to install Windows 11, which I decided not to do, as the machine was kindly provided to us by Asus United States, and it will be up to them to decide whether they want to do it or not, and given the time I spent with the laptop in my pose, reverting to Windows 10 Home could be more work.
Moreover, from its design, finish, processor, memory, disk and screen, it is an excellent laptop that will certainly not let you down, whatever the situation. As such, our rating for the Asus Zenbook 13 is (4 out of 5).
