ASUS’ new ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) is being touted by the company as the world’s lightest OLED laptop. The new UX325 is a second refresh of the original ZenBook 13. While the last refresh introduced 11th-gen Intel Core Tiger Lake CPUs, this refresh now adds an OLED display option.
DESIGN
The UX325 weighs just 1.14-kgs, with the chassis and lids of the device built using diamond-cut aluminum alloy. The ZenBook 13 OLED also boasts a side profile of 13.9 mm. The laptop measures 304-by-203-by-13.9mm in dimension, and comes with a larger keyboard than on previous ZenBook 13 models.
You also get an ErgoLift hinge, which raises the keyboard up for a more comfortable angle when the screen is opened. There is also a NumberPad 2.0 alongside the ErgoLift hinge mechanisms and IR cameras for fast face-recognition. The ZenBook 13 OLED has also been tested to meet the ultra-demanding MIL-STD-810G U.S. military standard for reliability and durability.
DISPLAY
The laptop features a 13.3-inch OLED HDR display that offers a resolution of 1920-by-1080 pixels and a 0.2 ms response time. The display also offers an ultrawide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3, which is widely used in the motion picture industry, and is PANTONE Validated to provide the most precise colour accuracy for content creators.
The display offers 400 nits of brightness. You also get 100-percent DCI-P3 colour gamut support, while it’s also TÜV Rheinland-certified for low blue light output.
The panel is powered by Intel Iris Xe Graphics and like the original UX325, the OLED model still boasts 88% screen-to-body ratio with full-size connectivity options.
SPECIFICATIONS
The UX325 is powered by a 11th Gen Intel Core i7 1165G7 processor running at a clock speed of 1.80GHz. You also get 16 GB of memory and 1TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD storage.
In terms of connectivity, you get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports that offer up to 40Gbps with 5V-20V Easy Charge. There is also one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one standard HDMI 2.0, and one MicroSD card reader rounding off the connectivity options list.
The ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED also comes with a 67 Wh lithium-polymer battery that offers a battery life of up to 13 hours. You also get WiFi 6 (802.11ax) with speeds of up to 2.4 Gbps through ASUS WiFi Master technology and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity options.
Since there is WiFi SmartConnect, the laptop automatically connects to the router with the best signal in your current network setup. It also memorises the mobile hotspots you connect to and prioritises connections to them when they‘re detected.
Since there is no 3.5mm audio jack on this one, considering the slim form factor, the ZenBook comes packed with a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for users who want to connect via a 3.5 mm audio jack.
The dongle also has Hi-Res Audio certification to ensure good audio performance. The speakers on this laptop are certified by Harman Kardon.
PERFORMANCE
Since the ZenBook 13 OLED is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage, performance is not an issue. Booting up the laptop as well as running various applications were quite fast and lag free thanks to the robust specs. We put the laptop through a variety of real world situations such as editing photos, rendering videos and even gaming.
We are glad to report that the device was able to handle all these tasks without any major hiccups even with multiple browser tabs and applications running simultaneously. In terms of the gaming performance, the ZenBook 13 OLED was able to run graphics heavy games without any struggle.
Considering the blockbuster performance it offers, the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) is not your typical ultrabook. It’s a powerful device that offers the visual benefits of an OLED screen in a light and portable build. You also get good set of connectivity options, strong specs-sheet, and good overall performance.
If you are a road warrior who needs to deal with heavy files and graphics-intensive work, but would prefer a thin and light laptop to carry around in your backpack, the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) should be one of the options you could look at.
Price: AED 4799
Photography by Ranbir Sen
ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) AED 4799
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Final Rating
Summary
The laptop features a 13.3-inch OLED HDR display that offers a resolution of 1920-by-1080 pixels and a 0.2 ms response time. The display also offers an ultrawide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3, which is widely used in the motion picture industry, and is PANTONE Validated to provide the most precise colour accuracy for content creators.
