13.3″ ASUS Zenbook UX303LA-DS51T via Amazon
ASUS Zenbook UX303LA-DS51T is a powerful and portable, modern and stylish design Full HD 13.3 inch sensitive and responsive touchscreen ultrabook with a Broadwell Intel i5-5200U processor, 8GB memory, 128GB Solid State Drive (no regular hard drive) which would be great for students- even engineering students that would like to run CAD software or similar, for programming, business people or frequent travellers with its long battery life and home entertainment except for the advanced 3D gaming as it offers more than sufficient power for multimedia and office tasks.
Asus Zenbook comes with the 5th generation dual core i5-5200U processor (3MB L3 cache) at 2.2GHz to 2.7GHz speed with turbo boost- extra performance when needed and improved power efficiency for simple tasks and hyper threading for smart 4-way processing performance, 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz for effortless multitasking power that is also expandable up to to a max of 12GB, 128 GB Solid-State Drive as ample storage space and much snappier overall performance and 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system that is good with a decent touchscreen which you shall also be able to update to Windows 10 for free some time in 2015.
Glossy finish super clear anti-glare 13.3 inch Full HD IPS (in-plane switching technology) LED backlit widescreen crisp touch display with 1920×1080 pixel maximum screen resolution, 16:9 image aspect ratio and very large viewing angles is great for easy navigation on Windows 8 and rich visuals, also with the Intel HD 5500 with shared memory that offers better performance than the Intel HD 4400 and 5000 and you should be able to play most of the latest game titles in low to medium settings and resolutions or create and edit multimedia. ASUS SonicMaster and Bang & Olufsen ICEpower technology with integrated stereo speakers and Asus AudioWizard offer premium quality- loud and clear sound with sharp treble and rich bass. It comes with an integrated 1.2MP high-definition webcam and microphone to let you chat with your loved ones or work colleagues even in dimmer light.
Scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 3 finish smokey brown Asus UX303LA-DS51T with concentric-circle pattern looks stylish and premium and feels durable, weighs 3.2 pounds and measures 12.7 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches- is highly portable with also its 3-cell lithium ion polymer battery that gives you up to 7 hours of battery life. Full sized chiclet style keyboard is backlit for typing accurately in dim light, has no numeric pad but a decent size touchpad with Asus Smart Gesture technology. Optical drive is not included but is compatible with external DVD drives and you have the newer technology up to 3 times faster 802.11ac wireless with wider coverage, Bluetooth 4.0 to link with your MP3 players and smart phones wirelessly, 10/100/1000 Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN for convenient wired web access, 3 x USB 3.0 ports for quick data and multimedia transfer, Memory Card Reader- SD Card, SDHC Card, an HDMI output and a mini DisplayPort interface for flexible connectivity.
Conclusion: ASUS Zenbook UX303LA is a really good value ultrabook with great technical specs and features including a 5th generation i5 processor, large amount of memory and good size SSD (both upgradeable), Full HD touch display, Intel HD 5500 graphics, high quality webcam, up to 7 hours battery life (Energy Star qualified), superior sound with SonicMaster and Bang & Olufsen ICEpower, 3 x USB 3.0 ports, fast 802.11ac wireless and a variety of other connectivity options, backlit keyboard and more.. Intel i5-5200U is ultra low voltage with a TDP of 15 watts and is more or less equal to the previous generation i5-4300 in performance. It is a great overall performer and would be perfect for multimedia and office tasks as well as the usual easier daily tasks but not for super demanding multimedia editing and advanced gaming- video editors, song producers and avid gamers should look for alternatives even though it can run mid-range graphics games comfortably. It comes with 1 year standard parts and labor warranty by Asus if anything goes wrong within 12 months.
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