So what is there to like about the ASUS Zenbook Prime? A lot actually.
Full 1920×1080 HD IPS Screen
The screen is hands down the best of any laptop or even desktop monitor I have seen. It really puts every other display to shame with its 1080p resolution, bright colors, and wide viewing angle. You have to see one in person to know what I mean.
As far as ASUS cramming the 1920×1080 resolution on a 13″ screen, for the most part readability hasn’t been a problem. Gnome Shell and Unity on Linux, and even Windows 7 scales the UI more or less correctly so that it is usable and comfortable on the eyes. I have noticed that I find myself sitting a bit closer when I read web pages in Chrome, but overall I enjoy the extra room on the screen.
Battery Life
I spent abut 30 minutes with the UX31A in Windows to run a couple of benchmarks on the SSD (more of that in the next section), and creating a recovery ISO before installing Ubuntu. Because of this I only know how the battery performs under Linux. Under Ubuntu Linux (12.10 Beta) the battery life has been excellent. I have seen anywhere from 3.5 to 7.5 hours depending on CPU utilization and the brightness level of the screen.
Performance
In one word… Fast. I have the Core-i7 (UX31A-DB71) version with runs between 1.9 GHz (3.0 GHz Turbo) and it can easily handle whatever I throw at it. 1080p YouTube videos, VirtualBox VMs, as well as other high performance applications seem to run smmothly and without performance problems.
Slim and Light
I can pick this thing up with two fingers and since the frame is made out of a single piece of metal there is no bending or creaking to speak of.
The Zenbook Prime comes with an padded envelope sleeve with a magnetic clasp which is a very nice addition. With its battery life taken into account the UX31A becomes a great laptop for travelling.
Backlit Keyboard
For those of you working at night this is a must have feature that is quickly becoming more common among higher end laptops. You can adjust the backlight manually or (under Windows currently) have the option to do it automatically with the built-in light sensor.
The keyboard is very nice and it is significant improvement over the previous generation UX31e. The keyboard has a good feel while typing, the buttons have plenty of space, and the keys have a nice amount of travel.
High Power USB Charging
Another nice feature that has been absent form reviews is high speed USB charging. When the laptop is plugged in to the wall you can charge your smartphone, tablet, or other USB device through the pair of high power USB 3.0 ports. The USB 3.0 ports allow for High Speed communication while supplying a current up to 1.5 A. This comes as quite a surprise to be able to charge as quickly as you would with a wall charger when you are accustomed to slow PC charging.
A closer inspection of the BIOS reveals you can enable high power charging even on battery power, effectively making the Zenbook a big 50 W dedicated device charger on the go.
home, end, pgup, pgdn shared with arrow keys
For a day or so I couldn’t get used to the lack of page up, page down, home, end keys. Upon closer inspection the UX31A does have those keys they are just integrated into the arrow keys and are activated by the function key. At first this frustrated me, but quickly it became second nature and now I am beginning to like it.
Dual Band Wireless
The UX31A comes with the latest mobile Intel chipset which supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. I have used both bands to connect to various routers and have been impressed with both the speed and the stability of the connection.