ASUS ZenBook UX305LA Review

Performance and Benchmarks

Running under the hood is an Intel Core i7-5500 processor clocked up to 2.4GHz, Intel HD 5500 Graphics, and 8GB LPDDR3 RAM. That said, it’s not built for heavy gaming but it’s great for MS Office work and can run your favorite Adobe software.

As for benchmarks, take a look at the scores below:

3DMark:
* Fire Strike 1.1 – 681
* Sky Diver 1.0 – 2,728
* Cloud Gate 1.1 – 4,793
* Ice Storm 1.2 – 40,467

Crystal Disk Mark:

Temperature-wise, the UX305LA is cool at around 40°C when using it for basic tasks like working on Office documents, photo editing, and web browsing. But during benchmarks, the temperature can spike up to 86°C. At that point, the UX305LA becomes really toasty and should be placed on a table.

What’s impressive here is that the heat is mostly concentrated on the top most part of the keyboard (above the Fn keys) so the rest of the keyboard, especially the palm rest, is still cool enough to work on. The fans, on the other hand, are very quiet especially when just doing basic tasks and will only emit a faint hum during a stress test.

Battery Life

The ZenBook UX305LA is powered by a 3-cell 56WH battery. ASUS claims that it can last for up to 12 hours. With our normal usage which consists of heavy Wi-Fi browsing, MS Office work, light video streaming and photo editing at 50% brightness with Battery Saver, Bluetooth, and Location services off, it was closer to 10 hours which is still very good.

Conclusion

The ASUS ZenBook UX305LA is one of the best Windows ultrabooks we’ve used so far. It has a fantastic high-resolution display, powerful Intel Core i7 processor, healthy 8GB RAM, fast 512GB SSD, and long battery life. Not to mention that all of that are housed in a sleek premium body that you wouldn’t mind carrying with you all the time.

What had us scratching our heads though is the lack of keyboard backlighting. It would have been a perfect machine if only ASUS opted to include it. As for the price, it has an SRP of Php64,995. Yes, it’s still expensive, but if you compare it to the top-of-the-line 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 6000, 8GB RAM, 512GB PCIe-based Flash storage) which costs Php87,490 at the time of writing, the ZenBook UX305LA’s asking price suddenly looks more appealing.

ASUS ZenBook UX305LA specs:
13.3-inch QHD+ (3200 x 1800) IPS display
2.4GHz Intel Core i7-5500 CPU
Intel HD 5500 Graphics
8GB LPDDR3 RAM
512GB SATA3 SSD
2x USB 3.0
USB 2.0
720p webcam
WiFi 802.11 ac
Bluetooth 4.0
3-cell 56WH battery
Windows 10 64-bit
324 x 226 x 14.9 mm
1.3 kg
Aurora Metallic, Obsidian Stone colors

Pros:
* Premium build and good design
* Good display
* Great performance
* Good battery life
* Good heat management
* Quiet fans and keyboard

Cons:
* No keyboard backlighting