Thoughts on the Zenbook/Zenbook Prime

ScottALot

ScottALot

Active Member
Help me Pick a Laptop

I've got a bunch of laptops to choose from (that have a free Xbox accompanied with them :D ), but I'm not very good at eliminating ones from the list. Here they are:

Asus Zenbook UX21E-ESL4:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/ASUS-ZENBOOK-UX21E-ESL4/productID.244285800/vip.true
[strike]Dell Vostro V131:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Dell-Vostro-V131/productID.249116500/vip.true[/strike]
[strike]Dell Latitude E5520:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Dell-Latitude-E5520/productID.249116900/vip.true[/strike]
[strike]HP Envy 4-1017nr:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/HP-ENVY-4-1017nr/productID.251501100/vip.true[/strike]
Acer Aspire TimelineU:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...neU-M5-481T-6694/productID.250640800/vip.true
HP Pavilion dv6-7027nr:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/HP-Pavilion-dv6-7027nr/productID.250639100/vip.true
Sony Vaio E Series:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...ries-SVE1511DFYS/productID.250637900/vip.true
Lenovo IdeaPad U310-4375:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Lenovo-IdeaPad-U310-4375/productID.251977100/vip.true
Samsung Series 5:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...5-NP530U3C-A01US/productID.251500600/vip.true
Asus Zenbook UX31E-ESL8:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/ASUS-ZENBOOK-UX31E-ESL8/productID.244365200/vip.true
[strike]HP Pavilion dm1-4171nr:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/HP-Pavilion-dm1-4171nr/productID.247107400/vip.true[/strike]
Samsung Series 3: [I have a coupon for NewEgg for $50, so this would be the "cheapest" one]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131303

Things I'm looking for:
Build Quality - I don't want this thing to flex like crazy like some piece of cheap plastic

Able to Game Lightly - I'm thinking LoL, Minecraft, Quake, ...

Battery Life - I don't have a number in mind, but I want to be able to bring it around campus without worrying about it.

Quiet - I don't want to have fans constantly spinning up and junk.

Good CPU power - I'd like an i5-2 Series or i3-3 Series minimum. I like the 3 series for its low heat, low power.
 
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Strangely, we've been testing most of these models at work to find a replacement for our current aging fleet. After a lot of testing (and one broken flimsy HP Spectre XT screen) I loved the Zenbook UX31. The performance and build quality are top notch.

The only downsides to the Zenbook is the flimsy power connector. It has been beefed up for the new model, but it's still pretty bad. The other downside is that Asus support is practically non-existent.
 
I've played with the Zenbook at Best Buy and played with my girlfriends uncle's MacBook Air, they're both extremely high quality built. The Zenbook is absolutely amazing. I like it probably 10x better than the MacBook Air.

It's very quick, the i7 in there is amazing and the size is fantastic and very light. I actually thought the MacBook Air was a little heavy for it's size lol
 
I don't think you could really go wrong with the Asus or the Samsung, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be the Asus. In my experience, Asus' build quality is pretty much always good.
 
trewyn15 said:
I've played with the Zenbook at Best Buy and played with my girlfriends uncle's MacBook Air, they're both extremely high quality built. The Zenbook is absolutely amazing. I like it probably 10x better than the MacBook Air.

It's very quick, the i7 in there is amazing and the size is fantastic and very light. I actually thought the MacBook Air was a little heavy for it's size lol
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spynoodle said:
I don't think you could really go wrong with the Asus or the Samsung, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be the Asus. In my experience, Asus' build quality is pretty much always good.
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Yeah, I had the Zenbook Prime for some time, but I felt like it didn't merit the $1000 I had paid for it. I'd rather grab the regular Zenbook and get a free Xbox without breaking the bank. I'm highly considering the Acer TimelineU, but I don't know how good the build quality is. Usually Acer appeals to the noob consumer, so the quality is generally not so good... but that's sometimes an unfair assumption as occasionally they put out a unexpectedly good quality product (like some of their monitors are way better than people expect with the Acer brand)
 
Scott, what did you think it was lacking? I need to get out of school and make some real money so i can buy some fun stuff haha
 
trewyn15 said:
Scott, what did you think it was lacking? I need to get out of school and make some real money so i can buy some fun stuff haha
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Not really lacking anything per se, but just didn't have enough hardware to merit $1000. Once you get over $800, you expect the computer to be able to game admirably as well as do basic tasks on a great battery life. It just seemed really weak on slightly intensive tasks like Minecraft. I didn't want to have to change settings on such a high end laptop for it to play a game so simple.
 
ScottALot said:
Yeah, I had the Zenbook Prime for some time, but I felt like it didn't merit the $1000 I had paid for it. I'd rather grab the regular Zenbook and get a free Xbox without breaking the bank. I'm highly considering the Acer TimelineU, but I don't know how good the build quality is. Usually Acer appeals to the noob consumer, so the quality is generally not so good... but that's sometimes an unfair assumption as occasionally they put out a unexpectedly good quality product (like some of their monitors are way better than people expect with the Acer brand)
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Yeah, I've heard good things about their monitors. I'm sure that some of their computers are decent, too, but a lot of their computers are pretty bad. As far as I've seen, most Acer computers feel pretty cheap, whereas most Asus computers feel solid and well-built.
 
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