Asus ZenBook 3 UX390UA Review

The ZenBook 3 is a top-of-the-range 12.5-inch ultrabook from ASUS. Small, sleek and light, it cries out to be slipped into a bag and carried everywhere. Battery life is going to be crucial for a laptop that so clearly wants to be a travelling companion. But that’s not all: at £1,499.99 (inc. VAT; £1,249.17 ex. VAT, or $1,599) the ZenBook 3 needs to excel at everything.

The ZenBook 3’s chassis design is every inch what’s expected of a premium laptop. My review sample’s rose-gold colouring won’t be to every taste, but there are royal blue and quartz grey alternatives for those requiring a more demure look.

In each case the ASUS branding is a bright gold beacon in the centre of the circular pattern on the brushed-aluminium lid. There’s a band of gold trim all around the lid too.

ASUS says the ZenBook 3’s aerospace-grade aluminium chassis is 50 percent stronger than standard laptop alloy. That’s borne out by the fact that I was unable to bow the lid in my hands without exerting a serious amount of force.

The choice of material also means this is a lightweight laptop. Indeed, ASUS has managed to do what very few can achieve and duck under 1kg. In fact, the ZenBook 3 is well below that mark, coming in at just 910g (2lbs).

This is a thin laptop too, measuring 11.68mm (0.46in.) at the back edge. Some of this thinness comes from just 0.4mm of Gorilla Glass 4covering the screen — just half the thickness of the usual Gorilla Glass layer. On the desk the footprint is tidy at 296mm by 191.2mm (11.65in. x 7.52in.).