Asus UX303LN - Need some impressions

Hello,

I'm looking for impressions on the Asus UX303LN from people who have some experience with it.

How is the batter life on normal use?
How is the battery life on gaming?
performance?
display and viewing angles?
keyboard and portabilty?

Please mention (i5\i7 [4\5] FHD/QHD).

Many thanks to you all

 

My model is the i5-4210U FHD matte non-touch version with aftermarket Samsung 840 EVO SSD and 8GB RAM with Nvidia GT840M dedicated graphics.

I average around 5 and a half to six hours for a typical school day, working in MS Office, editing some Photoshop files, browsing in Firefox with ~20 tabs open at a time and continually streaming YouTube with occasional local video playback before the laptop reaches 15-20% with screen brightness at 20-40% with Wi-Fi on.

I usually don't play games when I'm on battery, but I remember getting around 2 hours of intense gaming, which is actually very good.

I get very good performance. No lag whatsoever, everything loads amazingly fast (due to the SSD) and I find that the i5 version is perfect for regular use. The i7 version isn't worth it since it's only about a 10% increase in performance which isn't actually noticeable in day-to-day use.

Mine is the matte IPS non-touch 1080p screen with excellent viewing angles (it's IPS, duh). Everything is nice and sharp and you don't run into scaling issues. Color reproduction is also excellent since it's not the QHD version with the Samsung PLS panel which has murky yellows when running on battery.

Keyboard is excellent with a nice tactile feel and good key travel. I type very well on this laptop. It's no Lenovo Thinkpad (those are the best keyboards you will ever use) but it's perfectly adequate and definitely better than a lot of keyboards out there. The only issue I have is that the power button is located where the Delete key usually is on regular keyboards, so very occasionally I hit the power button by accident.

In terms of portability, it's average. It weighs a little over 3lbs so it's relatively light and not any heavier than other laptops in its class (unless you're talking about the Dell XPS 13 2015 which is the king of portability with its very small footprint and light weight). It's certainly good and won't be bothersome.

I recommend you go for this (though wait for the 940M version with the i5 Broadwell CPU to increase battery life further). It's currently the only ultrabook besides with a dedicated GPU which actually allows for some moderate gaming at 900p with medium settings or 1080p with low settings.

 

Thank you very much for your comment.

 

I have i7 4510U same IPS non-touch matte screen. Excelent performance with OEM 256GB SSD. I like that compared to my previous Vaio Pro13 (still 13" still matte screen on Pro) this Asus have 3 USB .
Bluetooth Logitech mouse works flawless (only when back from stand-by have a little lag for 1-2 sec. and then working 100% normal.

840M I tested only in NFS (many hours all played in 1080p full details), Warcraft III and some tests on quake 3 but not really having time for gaming. NFS is just perfect for driving .

I've seen many 720p 1080p mkv . All play nice with VLC Player.

On my daily job (engine calibration programmer) I get 4-5 hours on battery with 30-40% brightness and always wifi on. If I turn wifi off I'll have a USB dongle 3G modem connected for sure. That is the only thing missing in this less than 1.5kg machine. WWAN modem inside. I was thinking of getting next a X1 Carbon 3rd generation.. Asus I got it in december. X1 3rd come in January... I'll stick with Asus until this December or January .. it might come a good ASUS after this or who knows VAIO japan or Samsung 13" 2015-2016 model...