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Asus ZenBook 13 UX325 Review: World’s Thinnest 13” Laptop That Works All-Day Long

ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325 AXO Review Feature Image

We’ve recently gotten our hands on the latest Asus ZenBook 13 UX325, and this little piece of machinery did not disappoint us. The Asus ZenBook series has been around for 9 years now. It has been well received and recognized with its zen brushed aluminum chassis.

Design

If you have seen the unboxing of this little feller, the Asus ZenBook 13 UX325 we have comes in a Pine Grey colored, diamond-cut aluminium alloy chassis which gives it a luxury and sturdy touch. It is ultra-lightweight, weighing at 1.07kg, and with a closed lid, it is as thin as 13.9mm only.

Much to my surprise, is that Asus manages to pack in all the I/O ports needed for daily necessity. We have a HDMI 2.0 port and two Thunderbolt 3 on the left, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, along with a microSD card reader on the right. You might have noticed that it does not come with an audio port, that’s why Asus packed in an USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for those who still want to connect a 3.5mm jack audio earphones. I use a USB-C powered headset and a pair of Bluetooth TWS earbuds so I didn’t have a problem with it.

Opening the lid, you will be welcomed with a 13.3-inch FHD display with an incredibly thin NanoEdge bezel on its display border. Sitting right on top of it is the IR Webcam (supports Windows Hello) that has an indicator that lights up when using. I was quite happy that they decided not to sacrifice the webcam like some of the laptops do and remain the webcam position on the top bezel despite having a 88% screen to body ratio.

Asus ZenBook 13 UX325 Review: World's Thinnest 13'' Laptop That Works All-Day Long 14

The Ergolift Hinge of the laptop chassis lifts the keyboard when the lid is opened. Typing on with a lifted keyboard does feel more comfortable for the wrist especially when you are typing all day long. The only thing I did not like was the arrow cluster keys that were squished right at the bottom right of the keyboard.

Performance

ASUS ZenBook 13 Benchmark
PC Mark 10 Bench-marking Test

When it comes to performance, it did not fail to impress me by booting almost instantly and launches programs almost instantly thanks to the PCIe NVMe SSD and the latest Intel i7 10th Gen Processor packed in.

ASUS ZenBook 13 Speaker

The ZenBook 13 speakers are certified by Harmon Kardon. They are loud and does not distort at high-level volumes. The dual speakers are placed at the bottom on both the left and right sides of the bottom lid. Dialogues are crisp and clear, and vocals are clean even at maximum volume.

Battery

I’ve tested the battery through several days for long use on videos and daily work usage. With video, audio, and work, it lasted me about 13 to 14 hours of usage on battery. Most of the days, I would end my day with about 3 hours of battery life left to spend before plugging it to charge.

ASUS ZenBook 13 Charger

As you have noticed, the ZenBook 13 does not come with the typical charging port. In fact, it is now paired with a 65W fast charge adapter. The device is now able to be powered by the standard 5W to 20W USB C charger. With most smartphones powered by USB C charger, you can now share your cables with the ZenBook without carrying around a charging brick. This is pretty convenient especially when you forgot your laptop charger while traveling. Apart from that, the charging port works well for any USB powered device which is a smart move allowing no space wasted when the device is not charging.

There was a day where I forgot to charge it and had 5% battery life left when I arrived at the meeting location. I decided to plug-in my power bank and it was a life savior where I could finish an hour meeting with it and even had it charged to 10%. Of course, you can’t expect it to perform heavy-duty tasks on low-charge with a 5V charger, you can still type documents and respond to emergency emails with it.

Accessibility

ASUS ZenBook 13 Numberpad 2.0

For fans that have been following the ZenBook series, the series has introduced its NumPad back in 2018. Despite being compact, the NumPad allows you to well… have a Numpad on your mouse-pad. Asus brought in the NumberPad 2.0 which now allows you to not only activate and deactivate the Numpad with the touch button on the top right of the mouse-pad zone. It has also been upgraded to have a button on the top left which enables you to adjust the brightness of the NumPad, and also launch and close the calculator app by just swiping on the mouse-pad from the button itself.

Apart from that, the function keys surprised me as it comes with a function lock (Fn+Esc). While not using the function keys, you can now turn off the Function Priority mode and access to Hotkeys without needing to hold the Fn key to use the HotKeys.

A Girl’s POV: Asus Zenbook 13 Heavy Duty Work and Entertainment Laptop

Despite not having a fingerprint option available, the ZenBook 13 supports Windows Hello face recognition. The IR camera enables you to log in to desktop even when in dark areas.

The Asus Zenbook 13 is an ideal laptop for girls/women to carry around due to its weight and size. Where I was not convinced to work with a 13-inch screen at first, I found it comfortable to look at and it did not compromise what my previous 14″ laptop could offer me.

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Asus ZenBook 13 UX325 Review: World's Thinnest 13'' Laptop That Works All-Day Long 15

Asus informed us that this ZenBook comes in two colors, the Pine Grey that we are having and Lilac Mist. The Pine Grey gives off a classy and cool look while the Lilac Mist is much softer for those who want to have a gentle look.

Priced at RM 4,699, I think it is quite a reasonable price for those who want a high-performance laptop for daily use. You can also opt for the i5 variant at RM 3,999. Those who prefer a larger screen can opt for the ZenBook 14 which is tagged at the same price.

Asus ZenBook 13 (UX325) & 14 (UX425): Specifications and Pricing

ASUS ZenBook 13 (UX325)ASUS ZenBook 14 (UX425)
CPUIntel Core i7-1065G7 processorIntel Core i5-1035G1 processorIntel Core i7-1065G7 processor Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor
Display13.3” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 450 nitsSlim 2.9 mm bezels with 88% screen-to-body ratio14” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 400 nitsSlim 2.5 mm bezels with 90% screen-to-body ratio
Operating systemWindows 10 HomeWindows 10 Home
Office SoftwareOffice Home & Student 2019 includedOffice Home & Student 2019 included
GraphicsIntel® Iris® Plus GraphicsIntel® Iris® Plus Graphics
Main memory8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard
Storage512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
ConnectivityWiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0
CameraHD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)HD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)
I/O ports2 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A; 1 x Standard HDMI 2.0; 1 x MicroSD card reader2 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A; 1 x Standard HDMI 2.0; 1 x MicroSD card reader
TouchpadASUS NumberPad 2.0ASUS NumberPad 2.0
AudioCertified by Harman KardonASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performanceArray microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition supportCertified by Harman KardonASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performanceArray microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life
AC adapter65-watt power adapterOutput: 20 V DC, 3.42 A; Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal65-watt power adapterOutput: 20 V DC, 3.42 A; Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
Dimensions304 x 203 x 13.9 mm319 x 208 x 13.9 mm
WeightApprox. 1.07 kgApprox. 1.13 kg
ColorPine GreyPine Grey, Lilac Mist
Retail Pricing (MYR)RM 3,999 (i5-1035G1)
RM 4,699 (i7-1065G7)
RM 3,999 (i5-1035G1)
RM 4,699 (i7-1065G7)

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