Asus Zenbook 15 (UX534FTC-AS77) Review

Asus Zenbook 15 is one of the most compact 15-inch notebooks that we have ever come across, it's slimmer and faster than the 2019 Zenbook 15.

Also, it comes with an i7 comet lake processor rather than the ice lake ones which is quite interesting.

So let's take a deep dive into Zenbook 15 and find out all of those features Asus promises, and decide whether or not it is an option worth considering in 2021.

Why Trust Us:

All of our reviews are based on real-time testing and market research. We only recommend products that are worth buying for the prices.

Asus Zenbook 15 (UX534FTC) Review

Hours Tested = 18 hours | Market Researched = 3 hours

You can also buy from your local Amazon store from the links below

When you take a look at the spec sheet of Asus Zenbook 15, it is pretty impressive for a thin and lightweight notebook like this.

We are reviewing the beefier variant of this notebook which features a 15.6 inches UHD 4k Display, Intel Core i7 10th Gen Processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q discrete graphics, 16GB RAM, and 512GB of PCIe SSD.

External Review

DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY:

This notebook has one of the most beautiful designs we have ever seen, The icicle Silver metal finish along with the rose gold accents really makes it stand out from the competition.

The build quality is sturdy, there's barely any screen or build flex as it is mostly made up of aluminum.

The hinges are strong and silent, when you open the lid they automatically elevate the keyboard to a 3-degree angle for better airflow and typing experience.

Like the Razer Book 13, Asus Zenbook 15 is very lightweight and easy to carry.

Despite the incredible spec sheet it just weighs 3.6 lbs (1.6 kg) and just 0.70 inches thick which makes it not much of a hassle to carry around.

KEYBOARD:

Inside, this laptop features a full-sized keyboard which is backlit too, the keys are excellent, they feature an adequate amount of travel distance

The rose gold finish on the keys looks classy, overall Asus has done a really nice job in making this keyboard tactile.

TOUCHPAD (ScreenPad 2.0):

Now like any other laptop review, we dive right into the touchpad but it's a bit of a different story on the Zenbook 15.

Asus has integrated a 5.7 inches display that also works like a trackpad, think of it as a secondary display for ease of use.

In the ScreenPad there are a bunch of quick access apps, first, there is the num key which opens up the number pad like a keyboard.

Next up is the handwriting app, which lets you manually type on the ScreenPad, that's cool.

Then there's a quick key app that displays all the commonly used hotkeys like copy, paste, undo, redo, etc. Also, you can create shortcuts for software like Adobe, Chrome, etc. This can be really useful for people using AutoCad.

Since this ScreenPad would be new to your workflow, it may take some time for you to get completely used to it.

You can also turn your ScreenPad off any time, and use it as a normal touchpad.

The surface of the touchpad is smooth and responsive, the placement is perfect, neither too high, nor too low.

PORTS:

Port selection is pretty decent, on the left-hand side you will get a combined microphone headphone jack and a USB 3.1 gen 2 port.

On the right-hand side, there is our charging port, an HDMI port, another USB 3.1 gen 2 port, a USB Type-C port, and a Full-Sized SD card slot.

We really miss Thunderbolt connectivity on this laptop.

WEBCAM AND SPEAKERS:

The webcam of Zenbook 15 is okay for day to day video chats and office meetings, however, the Microphone leaves a lot to be desired.

The speakers are on the bottom and they provide decent sound quality, so no problems with this too.

Overall the design and build quality of this laptop is superb, hats off to Asus for this.

Internal Review

DISPLAY:

Asus Zenbook 15 features a 15.6 inches UHD 4k Display, which is definitely impressive. The 92% screen to body ratio and 178-degree wide viewing angles add even more in making the display awesome.

The display features 100% of sRGB and 83% Adobe RGB, which makes this laptop ideal for photo/video editing.

The screen is bright enough for working in a high light environment, but it will suffer in outdoor use.

Overall it is a good quality display, that will get the job done for most people.

RAM AND SSD:

This notebook has 16GB RAM and 512GB of PCIe M.2 SSD.

The SSD inside is one of the fastest in the market with an incredible read and write speed.

For RAM, there isn't any upgradeable option, 16GB should be enough for most people.

For SSD you can add up to 2TB SSD on the second M.2 slot. To upgrade the SSD just open the back panel by unscrewing a handful of Philip screws.

We would recommend you to apply Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB SSD as it complies with the system and is faster.

PERFORMANCE:

Asus has been wise when selecting the CPU and GPU for their laptop.

Zenbook 15 features an Intel Core i7 10th Gen Comet Lake Processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q discrete GPU.

The combination of the CPU and GPU is mind-blowing, this laptop knocked every competitor out of the ground in performance.

Here are the benchmark scores which got us excited.

Benchmark Scores:

In Cinebench single-core test, the comet lake processor performed really well.

As compared to the i7 10th Gen Icelake CPU, Comet Lake is 15% faster in performance.

In the blender test, you can clearly see that the higher clock speed on Zenbook really helps in better results.

Moving on to the Adobe Premiere Pro test, the 1650 Max-Q GPU comes in handy to accelerate editing, and to our surprise, Zenbook 15 has defeated Razer Blade Stealth 13 featuring the same GPU.

We were really impressed by the performance of this notebook, it checks all the boxes of productivity, heavy professional programs, and multitasking.

Gaming:

Although this laptop is not gaming based (Asus has focused more on productivity), you can play many heavy games smoothly on 1080p settings.

Some of the games we tested on Zenbook 15 are;

Titles	Settings	FPS
GTA V	1080p settings	70+ FPS
Far Cry 5	Normal	About 65 fps
CS: GO	Maxed out	120+ fps
Valorant	Maxed out	120+ fps
Rocket League	1080p settings	120+ fps

HEATING AND FAN NOISE:

Under heavy loads of multitasking and gaming, the laptop did reach 82 degrees but it cools down really fast, thanks to the decent cooling system of this notebook.

The cooling system of Razer Book 3 Ultrabook also impressed us.

We didn't see any thermal throttling or lag even after several hours of heavy usage, Zenbook 15 has taken care of this.

Fan noise was minimal, it is really quiet and doesn't sound like a jet under heavy workloads, on basic usage it did feel there was no fan at all.

BATTERY:

Battery life is quite interesting on a powerful notebook like this, Asus promises 15 hours of battery life under basic usage but we have got different results.

On basic usage (word processing, web browsing), the laptop will last about 11 hours which is great.

On heavy usage (multitasking, gaming), Zenbook will last about 9 hours.
Battery life is quite impressive it is enough to last a whole day without charging.

BOTTOM LINE:

Asus has hit the ball out of the park in making the design of this notebook and we really love the way how its CPU sustains high clock speeds and deliver incredible performance.

We were also amazed by the battery life, for a 15.6 inches notebook with high performing processor and discrete GPU 9 hours is absolutely insane.

Now the question is do we recommend this notebook?

Definitely Yes, just look at the price point, its a steal, you are getting a really powerful thin, and lightweight notebook capable of managing day to day heavy loads easily.

DEALS Amazon.Com: