I realize most of you have been waiting for the new Zenbook under its Infinity tag and model #, the UX301, and have dismissed any UX31 models as last year's.
Well, not quite. This model, $1200 for i5/8gb/128gb (I believe that leaves one of the two M.2 SSD slots open) is actually a refresh called the Zenbook Touch. Not only does it add, well, touch (1080p IPS multitouch) but actually brings Haswell to the table. Finally!
The change is so stealth, however, that even the stat listings are wrong. The battery claim is an Ivy-esque 5 hours, but the Sweclockers test puts the Haswell i7 version of the UX31LA right with the Haswell XPS12, which is pretty good.
Even though not enough people have bought this to nail down the SSD upgrade particulars, this looks to be a much better option than the arm-and-a-leg pricing of 25*14 and QHD+ ultrabooks this year. I guess there's also the Yoga 2, but the color issues have me a bit spooked -- and Asus can certainly build 'em.
Well, not quite. This model, $1200 for i5/8gb/128gb (I believe that leaves one of the two M.2 SSD slots open) is actually a refresh called the Zenbook Touch. Not only does it add, well, touch (1080p IPS multitouch) but actually brings Haswell to the table. Finally!
The change is so stealth, however, that even the stat listings are wrong. The battery claim is an Ivy-esque 5 hours, but the Sweclockers test puts the Haswell i7 version of the UX31LA right with the Haswell XPS12, which is pretty good.
Even though not enough people have bought this to nail down the SSD upgrade particulars, this looks to be a much better option than the arm-and-a-leg pricing of 25*14 and QHD+ ultrabooks this year. I guess there's also the Yoga 2, but the color issues have me a bit spooked -- and Asus can certainly build 'em.
Facebook
Twitter