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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave2D here. I think for a lot of people, this will be the laptop that they want.
00:09So a lot of people are looking for that laptop that's thin and light, that doesn't cost too much, and can play some games.
00:15This is that one. So if this is what you're looking for, stick around.
00:19This is the new laptop from Asus. It's called the UX331. It's their ZenBook.
00:24And what makes this thing special, what makes this video what it is,
00:27is the fact that this thing is running an MX150 in a very light and portable package.
00:32Now, it's not the thinnest laptop out there, obviously there are thinner ultrabooks than this,
00:35but this thing is relatively thin, but they've given it enough room to allow for a proper thermal solution
00:40because there is a decent GPU inside this thing.
00:43Okay, I'm just going to go through some things that I do like about this laptop,
00:46and then maybe touch on some points that I don't like about it.
00:49In no particular order, the build quality on this thing is quite good.
00:52It is a $1000 device, so you expect devices like this to have good build quality,
00:56and it does deliver. The screen has a little more flex to it, I feel, than the older UX330,
01:01but aside from that, great build quality.
01:03Other things I like, the trackpad. This is one of the better trackpads I've seen from Asus.
01:07It's glass, great texture, super smooth, with Windows precision drivers.
01:11You can't get much better than this on a Windows laptop.
01:13There's also a fingerprint sensor on the side if you're into using Windows Hello to log in,
01:17and the screen is also surprisingly good. It's really bright, it's pretty color accurate,
01:21and the viewing angles are good. I do wish the hinge was a little bit stiffer.
01:25It's just got a little bit more play than I would like, but good screen otherwise.
01:29It's a little bit of work to get inside. You do have to remove the bottom feet and remove some screws,
01:33but inside you can replace the SSD. The one that they include is a little slow.
01:37It's a SATA drive, so if you want to, you can switch this thing to an NVMe drive,
01:41but there's not much else that you can replace in here.
01:43The battery down here is only 50 watt-hours. It's not particularly big.
01:47It's kind of weird, because you look at a device like this with a 50 watt-hour battery,
01:51and then devices with 60 watt-hour batteries with similar screen sizes,
01:54and this is actually getting slightly better battery life, which is, right?
01:57It doesn't really... How are they doing this? I think it's through software optimization.
02:01I'm not sure exactly what they're doing, but I'm getting a 9.5 hour battery with a screen at 250 nits.
02:07The speakers also sound quite good. It's got Harman Kardon branding,
02:10and the thing is, we've seen a lot of bad speakers hiding behind this branding before,
02:14not to diss the brand or anything, but Harman Kardon at this point means nothing to me on laptops,
02:19but this time around, this sounds really good.
02:21It's a clean sound with good range and good volume.
02:23I do wish that the speakers were located on the top instead of the bottom,
02:26but it's a good sounding speaker.
02:28The webcam is pretty much garbage. It reminds me of the one on the 12-inch MacBook.
02:32If you use your webcam frequently, then you're going to have to get an external,
02:36because this thing is just terrible.
02:38Alright, the feature that makes this laptop the most special is its GPU.
02:42It's running the NVIDIA MX150, and if you've seen my previous reviews,
02:45I've actually even done a dedicated video on the MX150.
02:47It is a very impressive card.
02:49It's not like the most powerful GPU, that's not what it is,
02:51but it doesn't require crazy heatsinks or fans, but it still pushes out decent frame rates in games.
02:56You can comfortably play basically any popular title right now,
02:59as long as you lower the graphics quality a bit.
03:01So if you're a casual gamer, you know what, let's not even use that term.
03:04Even if you're an enthusiast, you're going to be fine on an MX150,
03:07as long as you don't need really high quality graphics.
03:10Now if you're someone who wants to play GTA V with like 20 mods running,
03:13then no, this is not the system for you,
03:15but for most people, you're going to be happy with this.
03:17The CPU they're running is Intel's 8th Gen Kaby Lake-R,
03:21and for the right application, like if you're running stuff that can take advantage of extra cores,
03:25performance is great.
03:26The fans on this thing are kind of a mix.
03:28On idle, it's completely quiet.
03:30It's literally silent, they don't even come on.
03:32But when you're doing some more intensive stuff, they kick in,
03:34and they don't get too loud or anything,
03:36but when you're playing games, they get quite loud.
03:38And it's actually one of the louder Ultrabooks that I've seen in 2018.
03:41Now that's honestly a good thing,
03:44because remember, if we're dealing with a device that puts out a decent amount of heat,
03:48if you're not pushing it out quickly, you're going to have problems.
03:50Now, I did not notice any thermal throttling on this laptop when I was playing games,
03:54which is, you know, it's promising, it's good.
03:56But when I ran some stress tests, I did notice throttling.
03:59And it's not something that I think will appear for most people's usage scenarios,
04:02it does seem confined to stress tests,
04:04but it is there, and depending on what you do and how demanding your tasks are,
04:08it may or may not be an issue.
04:10But if you really need some really intensive CPU or GPU stuff,
04:13then this is probably not the best laptop for you.
04:15For most people, there's no throttling issue that I can see.
04:18Now, it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
04:20There are a couple things that I don't like.
04:22First, is the port selection.
04:24So, it's got an okay port selection.
04:26It has a USB-C port, but it uses a regular barrel plug for charging,
04:30and I just feel like that was a missed opportunity,
04:32because universal charging on a device like this would have been awesome.
04:35It also does not support Thunderbolt 3 on that USB-C port, so, I don't know.
04:39Again, a missed opportunity.
04:41I'm sure it keeps the cost down, but it would have been nice.
04:44Another thing I don't like is the top surface.
04:46So, this has this kind of glass-looking material.
04:49I'm not sure if it actually is glass, but it just looks tacky,
04:52and it makes the whole thing look cheaper,
04:54and it attracts fingerprints like crazy,
04:56so you're going to get smudges and stuff on the top.
04:58Their older one, the UX330, just had like a plain stainless steel finish,
05:02and I like that, but...
05:05You know what? This looks like a Chromebook, to be honest,
05:07like one of those cheaper Chromebooks.
05:09Come on, Asus, you could have done better on this one.
05:11Okay, another thing I don't like, and this is a big one, the keyboard.
05:15This is a keyboard that has a great layout,
05:17but it's just not as comfortable to use as I would expect.
05:19The keystrokes are a little soft.
05:21I feel like the mechanism for the switch isn't the best,
05:23but I think most people can get used to this keyboard, given enough time.
05:26Okay, overall, I like this laptop a lot.
05:29I think it's a great fit for a lot of people.
05:31If you're looking for something that's thin and light,
05:33that doesn't cost too much money, and can play some games on the side,
05:36and has a decent battery life when you're not playing games,
05:38this could be the one.
05:40Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
05:42Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
05:44See you guys next time.