Asus has unveiled its high-end ultrabook, which will feature the dual-core Ivy Bridge CPUs that are also rumored to be coming to the next generation of MacBook Pros. The UX31A is the successor to the Zenbook. So how does it compare?
Connectivity
The UX31A has a 13.3-inch screen and weighs less than 3 pounds, and comes with a small power adapter. It includes two USB 3.0 ports, a headset jack, a SD Card slot, mini-VGA and mini-HDMI support. The included mini-to-VGA connector has to be used to connect to older displays or projectors. Along with the to-VGA connector, Asus includes a USB-to-Ethernet adapter.
BlueTooth 4.0 is in; there's also a Bang & Olufsen audio system to improve sound.
Storage
"The 6GBps SATA SSD drive seems very fast," PCWorld noted, continuing from the Zenbook. The ultrabook can apparently function for up to 2 weeks in sleep mode, and several months in hibernation.
AnandTech in its review posted benchmarks of the battery performance: idle, the 11-inch version clocked 470 minutes - just under eight hours - while browsing the Internet in Internet Explorer 8 with Flash ads enabled resulted in 263 minutes of usage. As AnandTech noted, Asus is including a higher resolutions and processor in the Prime than in the original Zenbook.
Hardware
PCWorld also reported the keyboard has a "nicer feel to it" over the Zenbook, and has multiple levels of backlight brightness for the keys. The trackpad was described as large and smooth, but the site experienced a "jumping" cursor. However, it's to be noted the unit PCWorld used wasn't final.
The UX31A introduces a new display compared to the Zenbook, with the 13.3- and 11-inch versions coming with a 1920x1080 IPS display. "Bright and clear" viewing angles were produced, according to PCWorld, which offers "terrific" color. Text also wasn't too small to read.
Pricing
The 13.3-inch version of the UX31A - or the Zenbook Prime - has a 128GB SSD with an approximate cost of $1099 when the devices hit shelves in June 2012. The 11-inch's pricing has not been confirmed.
An additional $400 gets the 250GB SSD and a more powerful processor, though PCWorld didn't report specifics. However, it did confirm all versions of the Prime get 4GB of RAM.
