If you were in the market for a small thin-and-light laptop with some sort of dedicated graphics over the last few years, chances are you ended up with one of the Asus ZenBooks released during that time.
This article is a review of the latest iteration in the series as of late 2018 and the first half of 2019, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX433FN, an ultra-compact 14-inch laptop with modern specs and very few compromises. It’s built on the latest hardware platforms available at this time, with Whiskey Lake processors and Nvidia MX150 graphics, bundled alongside a good screen, fast keyboard and fair-sized battery, all tucked in a small and light chassis.
A lot has changed since the release of the previous ZenBook UX430 series though and there are now many contenders in the niche, so the new ZenBook is up to a serious challenge.
We’ve spent the last few weeks with the Zenbook 14 UX433FN, and gathered all our impressions below, with the positive sides and the quirks you’ll have to be aware of if interested in this computer. Read on to find out who is this for, where it shines and what can still be improved.
Update: As of mid-2019, Asus launched an update in the ZenBook 14 series, and you can read all about the UX434FL model in this dedicated article.
Specs as reviewed
| Asus ZenBook 14 UX433FN
|
| Screen | 14.0 inch, 1920 x 1080 px, IPS, non-touch, glossy |
| Processor | Intel Whiskey Lake Core i7-8565U CPU |
| Video | Intel UHD 620 + Nvidia MX150 2GB DDR5 (10DE 1D12 variant, Nvidia 419.77 drivers) |
| Memory | 16 GB LPDDR3 (soldered) |
| Storage | 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD (80 mm) |
| Connectivity | Wireless AC (Intel AC 9560), Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Ports | 1x USB-A 3.1, 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x USB-C 3.1 gen2, HDMI, microSD card-reader, mic/headphone |
| Battery | 50 Wh, 65W charger |
| Size | 320 mm or 12.56” (w) x 200 mm or 7.83” (d) x 15.9 mm or 0.63” (h) |
| Weight | 2.71 lbs (1.23 kg)+ .44 lbs (.2 kg) charger, US version |
| Extras | backlit keyboard, HD webcam, IR Hello camera and near-field mics, available in Royal Blue or Icicle Silver |
Our review unit is a top specked configuration, but Asus offers the ZenBook 14 UX433FN in other versions as well, with either the Core i3-8145U, Core i5-8265U or the i7-8565U Whiskey Lake processors, 8-16 GB of RAM and 256 GB to 1 TB of storage. The Core i5 models are paired with only 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSDs, and you’ll have to upgrade to the i7 CPU for the extra memory and storage space.
That aside, a Zenbook UX433FA series is also available in some regions, identical to the UX433FN model tested here, but without the Nvidia MX150 graphics. Most of the aspects covered in this article apply to the FA variants as well, in case you’re interested in one of those.
Design and construction
The form-factor is perhaps this laptop’s main selling point, as it’s significantly more compact and even lighter than most of the alternatives with similar specs and features.
As you can tell from the pictures, the bezels around the screen are minuscule, and we’re not just talking about the side bezels, but also about the top and especially the chin, at least its visible part, as there’s more of it hiding behind the main body as part of what Asus calls the Ergolift hinge mechanism.
We’ve seen it on the ZenBook S line in the past, and it’s a system designed to lift-up the computer on the back of its screen, thus creating a slightly inclined typing position and extra space underneath, for improved airflow. The downsides are the fact that the laptop no longer rests on its four rubber feet placed on the underbelly, but on two of those and two extra tiny feet placed at the bottom of the screen, as well as the fact that the display is only able to lean back to about 150 degrees. Of course, we could also consider the long term-reliability of this mechanism, but there’s no way to tell how will it age and if it will become loose or unstable with time. As it is right now, it seems well made and reliable, and Asus mentions that the laptop is MIL-STD-810G military standard compliant, for what that’s worth.
I can also tell you that the ZenBook UX433 feels sturdier built that the older UX430 models. The construction still relies on a plastic inner frame encased in sheets of aluminum, but the metal is thicker and doesn’t bend as easily. The lid is especially tough, almost on par with the hood of my XPS 13, and there’s only a slight amount of warping in the keyboard deck, mostly when pressing hard on the surface and not necessarily something you’ll notice with actual use.
It’s worth mentioning that Asus offers the UX433F series with either a glass covered screen or a matte variant. We have the former here, and the glass reinforces the screen’s frame, thus I’d expect the matte versions to feel a bit flimsier. The glass also adds to the weight and overall thickness, as our test model weighs about 1.23 kg (2.7 lbs), while the anti-glare version weighs only 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) according to the official specs sheet.
As far as materials go, metal is used for the main body, lid, and exterior, with just a single piece of plastic that wraps around the back edge and integrates cooling grills, as well as the ZenBook branding on the inside, above the keyboard. The design left no room for the branding beneath the screen, like on most laptops, thus Asus moved the logo over here. Seeing this grill’s design, I was hoping they’ve put the speakers beneath, but that’s not the case, the grill is merely decorative and the speakers are still firing to the bottom of the laptop.
The design is clean and for the most part, simple, without aggressive branding elements or stickers, and the status LEDs were placed on the side. There’s still an always-lit LED integrated within the power key though, and you’ll have to learn to ignore it when watching movies in a dark room.
Asus offers the laptop in either Royal Blue or Icicle Silver, both with Rose Gold elements: that aforementioned plastic piece and the Asus logo on the hood. The Blue is the more unique of the two, but at the same time the silver variant, the one we have here, does a better job at hiding smudges. We’ve included pictures of the blue version of the smaller ZenBook UX333 next to the silver UX433, for comparison.
These aside, The UX433FN is highly portable, sits well anchored on any desk even when resting on those small rear feet, and its screen can be operated with a single hand. The interior edges are a tad sharp though and they will dig into your wrists when using the device on a cramped desk, without proper arm support, yet they shouldn’t bother you much otherwise.
The IO can be a potential deal-breaker. On one hand, you do get two USB-A slots, one USB-C port, and an HDMI 1.4 connector, but on the other, there’s no Thunderbolt 3 support and no full-size card reader, just a microSD reader. The lack of Thunderbolt 3 is hard to accept in this day and age, especially when all the major rivals offer one, and the USB-C port doesn’t support charging. I can’t tell for sure if it supports DP, as this would be the only way to hook up a 4K 60Hz screen. As a side note, a USB-A to LAN adapter is included in the packs, as well as a protective sleeve, but not on all markets.
Keyboard and trackpad
Asus uses a bunch of different keyboards on their laptops, and some are better than the others. After typing several thousands of words on this one, I can conclude it’s pretty good, yet not my favorite.
The layout is standard, with softly finished full-size keys, short arrows and miniaturized Function keys at the top, as well as the Power button integrated into the top-right corner, which I’d advise you to disable from Windows in order to prevent putting the computer to sleep when looking for Delete.
This is also a fairly short-travel keyboard, with 1.4 mm keystrokes, but the keys require a rather firm press to properly actuate, which for me translated in a fair bit of errors while typing fast, especially when capitalizing letters with the left Shift key. I am used to slightly shallower keyboards, like the one on the XPS 13, that’s why I’d expect most users to actually find this one quite good, especially those of you coming from older devices. This is also fairly quiet, thus appropriate for library use or other low-noise environments.
The keys are backlit, with three intensity levels to choose from, and the light doesn’t creep from underneath. They don’t light up when swiping fingers over the touchpad, at least not on my test unit, you actually have to physically press a key to do it.
This particular color scheme also uses silver writing on silver keys, which makes the writing difficult to see from a normal angle when the illumination is switched off. That shouldn’t bother you if you’re a power user and don’t look at the keys while typing, but the average user might find it a little annoying.
You can, of course, surpass this quirk by keeping the lights on all the time, but that’s not going to be ideal when trying to squeeze out long runtimes. Of course, that’s also not going to be a problem if you opt for the blue version of this laptop, with the more visible gold writing on blue keys.
A proper-sized touchpad sits beneath the keyboard, centered on the chassis, albeit it’s shorter than on the older Zenbook UX430s, due to the reduced sized of the new generation. It’s both visually and physically indented from the palm-rest around, and it’s a glass-made Synaptics surface with Precision drivers, thus it comes to no surprise that it’s a solid performer, handling swipes, gestures, and taps well. There’s also very little to complain about the physical clicks, which are smooth and quiet.
Keep in mind that our early-sample unit did not get the exact touchpad you’ll find on the retail units, which is what Asus calls a NumberPad. That’s a similar glass surface, which however doubles as a Numeric pad with the press of a dedicated zone in its top-right corner. We did get it with the later retail product, and it performs similarly to the one we had on the initial review unit.
I like how Asus is adding extra functionality to their touchpads, but those who use NumPads to quickly enter numeric data might find the experience a little lacking here, as there’s no haptic feedback and touch is not as responsive or precise as a physical key, so I wouldn’t get over-hyped about this feature. This implementation doesn’t support Alt codes either.
That aside, you should know that while you can keep the NumberPad active and still use the clickpad at the same time, I would rather recommend switching it off with daily use and only activating it when needed.
There’s no finger-sensor on the Zenbook UX433, unlike on the older models that integrated one within the clickpad. I doubt that’s going to be missed though, as the IR Hello camera is a smoother alternative for quickly logging into Windows. Our test model did not include the set of IR cameras at the top of the screen, but you’ll get it as standard with the retail versions.
Screen
Speaking of the screen, there’s a 14-inch display on the Zenbook UX433 series, like the name suggests, with a choice of either a matte or a glass finishing, both without touch.
We have the latter implementation here, with the layer of glass on top of the panel, which on one hand translates in plenty of glare in bright environments, and on the other improves colors, reduces the graininess you’ll get with the anti-glare version and improves the screen’s overall rigidity. I’d personally take the matte finishing over the glossy alternative, especially when there’s no touch, but that might not actually be an option for you, because as far as I can tell Asus will mostly offer this laptop with the glossy screen variants in most regions.
For the panel Asus went with a mid-range option, an AU Optronics B140HAN03.2 we’ve seen on other 14-inch laptops in the past. It’s fairly bright, at around 300 nits, but not as bright as the options on the Dell XPS 13 or the HP Spectre, for instance, and arguably bright enough for outdoor or strong-light use. Contrast and colors are also pretty good, but calibration is fairly poor out the box, with skewed gamma, White Point and gray levels, so you’ll want to use this color-profile to address those, or better yet calibrated the monitor yourselves. Our sample also suffered from some serious brightness variation towards the corners, even if light-bleeding was not noticeable with the naked eye.
More details below, recorded with a Spyder 4 sensor.
- Panel HardwareID: AU Optronics AUO323D (B140HAN03.2);
- Coverage: 97% sRGB, 71% NTSC, 75% AdobeRGB;
- Measured gamma: 2.3;
- Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 291 cd/m2 on power;
- Contrast at max brightness: 840:1;
- White point: 8400 K;
- Black on max brightness: 0.35 cd/m2;
- PWM: No.
You can also read more about this screen in Notebookcheck’s review, as they use more advanced tools for their display tests.
Hardware, performance and upgrade options
Our test model is a highly-specked version of the Zenbook UX433FN, with the Whiskey Lake Core i7 processor, 16 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, a 1 TB Samsung PM981 MZVLB1T0HALR SSD and the higher-efficiency/lower-clock 10DE 1D12 variant of the Nvidia MX150 dedicated graphics chip.
Retail versions will be available with either a 256 GB or 512 GB SSDs, and from what I can tell the supplier varies from region to region, as in the US the 512 GB version of the Zenbook UX433FA ships with a Western Digital SN520 SDAPNUW-512G drive. As far as I can tell, the included 256 and 512 GB drives included in some regions are limited to PCIe x2 speeds, thus not nearly as fast as the 1 TB version we had on our sample, but that should vary from region to region.
The storage is the only upgradeable component on this laptop, as the CPU, RAM and even the Wi-Fi chip are soldered on the motherboard. In order to get to it you have to remove the entire back panel, which is a fairly simple task, but keep in mind that the screws around the sides are of different sizes, and there are also two extra screws hidden beneath the rear rubber feet. Replacing the storage yourselves might however void the warranty, as for some reason Asus placed a warranty sticker on the screw, both on our sample and on the retail versions I’ve seen online. Contact Asus and ask them about this before proceeding.
As far as the choice in CPU and RAM goes, if you want 16 GB of memory you’ll pretty much have to upgrade to the i7 processor, even if the i5 is perfectly adequate for everyday use. Whiskey Lake CPUs are meant to run at higher Turbo clock speeds than their Kaby Lake-R counterparts, but that’s only possible as long as the cooling can keep temperatures at bay, which can be problematic on ultra-portables. We’ll get to that in a second.
First, I’ll tell you that this laptop handles everyday use smoothly, while running cool and quiet. The logs below we’ll show you what to expect in terms of performance and internal temperatures, while in the next section we’ll talk about the fan’s behavior and outer-shell temperatures.
Like already mentioned earlier, if browsing, movies, and text-editing are what you’ll ask from this laptop, the Core i5 version is probably the one to get, even if it only comes with 8 GB of RAM. You can however step-up to the i7 UX433FA models for the slight performance boost and the future-proofness of those 16 GBs of RAM.
In the next part, we’ll talk about this Zenbook’s performance in demanding CPU loads, as well as in combined CPU+GPU chores, like gaming, as gaming is the whole point of going for the UX433FN models with the dedicated Nvidia chip. Before we proceed, you should keep in mind that while our initial review was based on an early-production sample here with early drivers, we later updated our findings based on a retail model with stable drivers, so the behavior documented in the article is similar to what you should expect from the units available in store.
We test the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 10+ times in the row, with 3 seconds delay between each run. Out of the box, the initial runs return results of around 650 points, which further stabilize to around 480 points for concurrent runs, which is equivalent to Turbo Speed frequencies of 2.2 GHz, a TDP of 14 W and temperatures of around 68-70 degrees Celsius. Details below.
We also undervolted our unit (you’ll find more about Undervolting and how it’s performed in this article), which was stable at -80 mV, and reran the Cinebench loop test. In this case, the CPU settles for scores of around 550 points after several runs, which is equivalent to speeds of 2.4-2.5 GHz, a similar TDP of 14 W and temperatures of around 70 degrees Celsius. Details below.
As expected, undervolting the CPU improves the performance in CPU-heavy tasks, and will benefit those of you who plan to run demanding software on this computer. Our test unit performs well once undervolted, but we’ve seen faster implementations of the i7-8565U processor. Undervolting also helps with everyday use, allowing the components to run cooler and more efficient.
Those interested in benchmarks results will find a handful of them below, on the default voltage profile:
- 3DMark 11: P3873 (Graphics: 3541, Physics: 7886);
- 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 2621 (Graphics – 2873, Physics – 9110);
- 3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 935 (Graphics – 847, CPU – 2277);
- Uniengine Superposition – 1080p Medium: 2080;
- PCMark 08: Home Conventional – 3514;
- PCMark 10: 3921;
- PassMark: Rating: 4480, CPU mark: 9354, 3D Graphics Mark: 2497;
- GeekBench 3.4.2 32-bit: Single-Core: 4219, Multi-core: 13781;
- GeekBench 4.3.2 64-bit: Single-Core: 5090, Multi-core: 14689;
- CineBench R15 (best run): OpenGL 85.77 fps, CPU 634 cb, CPU Single Core 181 cb;
- x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 32-bit: Pass 1 – 153.94 fps, Pass 2 – 38.15 fps.
We also ran some of the tests on the -80 mV undervolted profile, and here’s what that lead to:
- 3DMark 13 – Fire Strike: 2594 (Graphics – 2860, Physics – 7687);
- 3DMark 13 – Time Spy: 952 (Graphics – 858, CPU – 2542);
- GeekBench 4.3.2 64-bit: Single-Core: 5075, Multi-core: 14993;
- CineBench R15 (best run): OpenGL 81.75 fps, CPU 691 cb, CPU Single Core 175 cb;
- x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 32-bit: Pass 1 – 156.03 fps, Pass 2 – 40.85 fps.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the gaming experience. Asus puts the lower wattage 10DE 1D12 variant of the MX150 chip inside this laptop, unlike on the older Zenbook UX430 that got the full performance MX150. However, as you’ll see below, performance is pretty much on par with the older variant, due to the fact that the GPU throttled badly inside the UX430.
We ran a couple of games on our test-unit, and I’ve compiled the results in the following table. All the games were tested at FHD resolution and High graphics settings, on the default voltage profile, and I’ve also added the following gaming ultrabooks as reference points: the Asus ZenBook UX430 (MX150 10De 1D10 GPU), the Asus Zenbook UX331(MX150 10De 1D12) and the Acer Swift 3 (MX150 10De 1D12). Here’s what we got.
| Zenbook UX433 | Zenbook UX430 | Zenbook UX331 | Swift 3 |
| Bioshock Infinite | 48 fps | 45 fps | 46 fps | 46 fps |
| Far Cry 4 | 22 fps | 24 fps | 28 fps | 26 fps |
| Far Cry 5 | 17 fps | – | – | – |
| Shadow of Mordor | 29 fps | 29 fps | 29 fps | 29 fps |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | 22 fps | – | – | 22 fps |
| Tomb Raider | 45 fps | 45 fps | 46 fps | 45 fps |
Based on these results, the ZenBook UX433 FN is a competitive option in its niche, but of course, there’s only that much you can expect from this low-power implementation of the Nvidia MX150 chip.
However, both the CPU and GPU were not able to maintain high Turbo frequencies for very long while running games on our sample, especially in the more CPU demanding titles like FarCry 4 and 5, so the performance drops after a while.
Undervolting the CPU helps in older titles like Shadow of Mordor, but has little to no impact in Far Cry, where it still clocks down very aggressively.
Emissions (noise, heat), Connectivity and speakers
The implemented cooling is very similar to the solution used on the past generation of the Zenbook UX430, with a single fan and single heatpipe, but a larger GPU plate that also covers what looks to be the VRM.
Given the gaming experience with the UX430UN, I was expecting something else, especially when other OEMs now implement dual-fan cooling with a more complex system of heatpipes on this kind of thin-and-light laptops with MX150 graphics.
It’s hard to say if the cooling is a bottleneck based on our experience with this test unit, so I’ll refrain that for further contact with a retail sample. Of course, performance is demanding CPU+GPU loads is the only potential issue, as otherwise, this cooling is perfectly adequate for everyday use.
In fact, the fan remains mostly inactive with daily tasks and multitasking, and only kicks on when the laptop is plugged in and switched to the High-Performance power mode. I did notice a faint electronic creaking coming from the inside, yet only audible at very short distances and not at the normal head level, so it’s not something that should bother anyone with regular use. Coil whine has been however problematic with modern laptops, and there’s a good chance you’ll get it to some degree on your device, so make sure to test for it. In fact, quite a few buyers report coil whine on their units, go through the comments at the end of the article for more details.
The fan spins faster with games, but it’s never annoyingly noisy, topping at about 40 dB at head-level according to our sound meter, with the ambient noise level measured at 33 dB in a perfectly quiet room.
As far as outer shell temperatures go, out test unit runs merely warm with everyday use, and while the bottom does reach temperatures in the mid-40s with games, it actually ran cooler than the older Zenbook UX430. However, keep in mind the performance issues of our sample, mentioned in the previous section, I’d expect retail units to run hotter if the components are also allowed to reach higher temperatures in order to provide the long-term gaming experience expected from such a device.
*Daily Use – running a Netflix video in EDGE for 30+ minutes
*Load – running Far Cry 4 for 30+ minutes
For connectivity, there’s an Intel 9560 wireless module inside this laptop, with Bluetooth 5.0, pretty much the go-to solution for any up-to-date ultraportable these days. It performed great with our setup, both near the router and at 30 feet with obstacles in between, and didn’t run into any drops or other issues.
As far as the speakers go, there’s a set of them firing through fairly large cuts on the front side of the belly, and they’re fairly good. We measured maximum volumes of about 80 dB at head level, without any distortions and a limited amount of vibration on the palm-rest, and the sound comes out fairly rich, with good mids and highs, but a little lacking on the lower end.
Peaking inside you’ll actually notice that Asus dedicated a fair bit of space to the speakers in this otherwise space-constrained design, so no wonder they sound better than the average bunch you’ll find on current ultraportables. Just be careful not to cover them when using the laptop on the lap, which can, unfortunately, happen easily due to their positioning.
A 720p camera and a set of IR Hello cameras are available on the retail versions of the ZenBook UX433F, both placed at the top of the screen and flanked by an array of near-field microphones that work with Cortana and Amazon Alexa. The standard webcam is fairly mediocre, much like on most existing ultraportables, but the IR camera is going to prove very useful for logging into Windows, especially since there’s no finger sensor. It wasn’t included with our test-unit, but as far as I can tell it’s going to be a standard feature on all retail ZenBook UX433F versions.
Battery life
There’s a 50 Wh battery inside both the UX433FA and the UX433FN models. Given the fact that there’s Optimus on the FN which disables the Nvidia chip when not needed, both lines will offer similar battery-life with everyday tasks, with differences only in games and other demanding loads that would use the MX150 GPU.
Here what we got in our tests, with the screen set at 30% brightness, which is around 120 nits. Keep in mind our unit is pre-production and we tested battery life on the default voltage profile. Retail units could squeeze slightly longer run-times with better optimized drivers and if you decide to undervolt the CPU or dim the screen more, but don’t expect to get the 13 hours Asus mentions in their ads, it’s not going to happen.
- 6.3 W (~8 h of use) – text editing in Google Drive, Better Battery Mode, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
- 5.6 W (~9 h of use) – 1080p fullscreen video on Youtube in Edge, Better Battery Mode, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
- 5.4 W (~ 9 h 15 min of use) – 4K fullscreen .mkv video in the Movie app, Better Battery Mode, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
- 5.9 W (~8 h 25 min of use) – Netflix fullscreen in Edge, Better Battery Mode, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON;
- 12.5 W (~4 h of use) – browsing in Edge, Better Performance Mode, screen at 30%, Wi-Fi ON.
Our test unit came with a compact and light 65 W charger, the standard design we’ve seen on ZenBooks in the last years, with the prongs attached to the power brick. A full charge takes around two hours.
The UX433FA variants are bundled with an even smaller 45 W charger and a full charge should take a little longer. As far as I can tell, neither include fast-charging technology, which is surprising given that Asus bundles fast chargers with some of their other laptops, like the Zenbook S UX391 or the ZenBook Flip UX362 lines.
As a side note, despite the fact that all the UX433s offer a USB-C gen2 port, they also lack to required circuitry to charge via USB-C, so you’ll have to always rely on the included barrel plug charger.
Price and availability
The Zenbook 14 UX433 series is already available all around of world as of early 2019, and more configurations should be released in the weeks to come.
In the US, the UX433FA model starts at $999 for a Core i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB PCIe x2 SSD configuration, while for $1199 you can find the Core i7-8565U version with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB PCIe x4 SSD. The base-level configuration also starts at 999 EUR in Europe, but over here you’ll have to pay around 1350 EUR for the higher specced model, yet most stores offer a couple of other configurations in between.
You’ll also find Core i3-8145U models in some regions, and these should start at around 900 EUR and are not that bad performance-wise, able to surpass a late-2016 i7 as you’ll see from this dedicated article.
The UX433FN series with dedicated MX150 is not available on the North American market for the time being, but it should demand a $50 to $100 premium over a similarly specked FA configuration if Asus decides to actually offer it over there. The top-specked UX433FN is already listed at 1399 EUR in Europe, with the i7 CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.
Follow this link for updated configurations and prices at the time you’re reading.
Final thoughts
I can’t draw final conclusions based on this sample of the ZenBook 14 UX433FN, due to the fact that I can’t tell if our early-production sample was performance-wise on par with the final retail units in games and other CPU+GPU heavy applications. And that’s the main reason you’ll want one of these laptops.
I can, however, draw conclusions on the UX433FA variants, ignoring the dedicated Nvidia chip for a bit.
As an ultra-compact daily driver, this checks many of the right boxes. It’s tiny and light, in fact, smaller than most of the competitors, it looks nice and is built well. It also packs a fast keyboard, a fairly good screen, punchy speakers, modern hardware and a fair-sized battery.
The hardware might seem like a significant selling point here, and this laptop does nonetheless perform great once undervolted, but Whiskey Lake is only a minor update of the Kaby Lake-R platform that you’ll find inside most existing ultraportables these days, so not a must have. On top of that, you should consider that the screen is only averagely-bright and not ideal for outdoor use, and you will get better autonomy with some of the competitors that pack a larger battery. And then there is also the lack of Thunderbolt 3, the lack of a finger-sensor and the inability to charge via USB-C, features some of you might want on your device and available with the competition.
For the most part though the ZenBook UX433F compensates its lacks with an aggressive pricing, not necessarily for the base-level models, but especially for the higher specced Core i7 / 16 GB / 512 GB SSD variants, available in the US for $1100 at the time of this update, with a $100 discount from the list price.
But that’s not all, if an all-around ultraportable is in fact what you’re after, don’t forget that Asus also offers a slightly smaller variant of this laptop, the ZenBook UX333FA series with a 13-inch screen, as well as the lighter Zenbook S UX391 series, both closer competitors for the current heavyweights in the ultraportable niche: the Dell XPS 13, the HP Spectre 13 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop. The UX391 is already available in stores, while the UX333 is expected at the beginning of 2019. These are all 13-inch laptops though, while the UX433 gets the larger 14-inch screen.
Update: As for mid-2019, Asus also offers the ZenBook UX392 in stores, a more refined follow-up of the ZenBook US391, and you can read all about it in our detailed analysis.
Back to the UX433FN variant with dedicated MX150 graphics, I’d advise you to further look into how it actually performs with games, once it becomes available. If it does perform well, then it’s going to be a competitive offer, but this niche includes many other options you should at least check out, like the Acer Swift 3 SF314-55G, the Huawei MateBook X Pro, the HP Envy 13 or the Asus ZenBook UX331FN, but also the more powerful MSI Prestige P42 and Lenovo IdeaPad 720s bundled with the full-power variant of the MX150 graphics chip. It’s a tough choice between all these, as each has their share of strong points and quirks, but we’re here to help.
Anyway, that’s about it for our review of the Asus ZenBook 14 UX433 FN series, but the comments section below is open for your feedback and questions, and look further for updates in the weeks to come as we hopefully get to test a final version of the UX433FN series.
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Learn more. Andrei Girbea, Editor-in-Chief of Ultrabookreview.com. I've been covering mobile computers since the 2000s and you'll mostly find reviews and thorough guides written by me here on the site.
Paige
November 21, 2018 at 4:12 am
In the US right now, the price for ZenBook S UX391UA (i7-8550U, 8GB, 256GB SSD) is roughly the same as that of UX433FA (i7-8565U, 16GB, 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD). Which one would you recommend getting? I'm leaning towards UX433FA because of the better specs. Plus, I don't need thunderbolts ports. However, I'm still not sure which I should go for due to its build quality and power supply (Zenbook S through USB-C 60W vs cable 45W). Also, Zenbook S seems to be advertized as something more premium in general. I don't play games. I normally use my laptop for doing research (a lot of typing, statistical analyses of big data, running experiments, etc.) and entertainment. I would really appreciate your advice! Thank you!
Andrei Girbea
November 21, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Tough call, I like them both. Here's the review of the UX391, if interested: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/19213-asus-zenbook-ux391ua-review/ .
Couple of things I'd consider:
1. The UX391 is smaller, thinner and lighter. Build quality is about on par, both are well made.
2. I personally liked the keyboard on the UX391 better
3. Screens are about the same quality, but the UX391 gets a matte finishing, while the UX433 gets glossy, without touch.
3.1 There's a slightly bigger screen on the UX433
4. Better performance for the UX433 in demanding loads, also a faster included SSD as far as I can tell. Performance with everyday use should be the same.
5. The UX391 runs hotter while performing demanding loads, as it's thinner
6. You only get USB-C connectivity on the UX391, so you'll need adapters, but it gets Thunderbolt 3 which gives you more options when it comes to hooking up a fast external drive or multiple high-res screens, if needed.
7. You get good speakers on both, faster wireless on the UX433, crappy webcam on both
It's up to you what you want. With the UX391 you'll favor portability and the matte screen, while with the UX433 you'll get a slightly bigger device with full-size ports and faster performance in demanding tasks.
One more thing to keep in mind is that the UX433 is brand new and there's limited info about it from actual buyers, while the UX391 has been available for a while, so you can find more reviews and opinions about its potential hidden flaws that I and other reviewers might have not ran into with our samples. No matter what you end up going with, I'd buy from a place that allows returns without a restocking fee, as quality control is problematic these days with most manufacturers.
Hope this helps
Paige
November 21, 2018 at 8:46 pm
Thank you very much for your detailed reply! The UX391 versions sold in the US are both with glossy screen, unfortunately. I'll think about it a little more. I'm glad to hear that their build qualities are on par. Thank you very much again!
Tilly
March 7, 2019 at 4:33 pm
I'm really in doubt. I'm looking for a 13", or 14" in 13" size with weight similar to this one. 16GB ram and 512GB ssd. The European price at 1249 Euro would be acceptable but is the absolute max (though I'm still hoping for them to go down a bit). What annoys me is the glossy screen and I'm a bit worried about the underside of the hinge as the notebook mainly sits on my lap, or rather side of thigh. I generally like Asus keyboards and can't deal with Dell keyboards. Don't care about graphics card. Long battery life is not unimportant.
Is there an alternative I should be looking at that just has the edge over this notebook? Anything planned from other manufacturers?
Andrei Girbea
March 7, 2019 at 4:39 pm
I'd also consider the ZenBook UX391 if within budget, not sure if it is. Also perhaps the Acer Swift Sf314-55, but that's a little bigger. You'll find reviews for both here on the site. The other good options with 16 Gb of RAM and 512 Gb SSD are more expensive.
Tilly
March 7, 2019 at 10:03 pm
Unfortunately, the UX391 costs about 400 Euro more. That's a lot, considering the UX433 in the configuration I'm looking at is already at the top end of my budget. The Acer only seems to have 8GBram and 265 disk here. The Swift 5 is above my budget again and again has a glossy screen (thus no advantage). Pretty much all others I look at again are either above my budget or don't seem to offer any real advantage. *sigh* so it looks like I'm out of luck here.
JAYson
November 21, 2018 at 10:55 pm
I'm trying to decide between the XPS15 and the 533. Assuming the 533 will be roughly the same, only larger, and without the lighted numpad?
So all things being equal, would you go with the 533 or the XPS15? Both have comparable specs (ASUS: i7-8565U WL/16GB DDR4/512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen3x2 SSD/GTX 1050 Max-Q) vs (XPS: i7-8750H, 16GB DDR4, 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe SSD, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti), and are within $50 of each other via black friday pricing.
What would you go with for a great all-rounder, no gaming?
Andrei Girbea
November 21, 2018 at 11:31 pm
The XPS is the safer bet at this point imo, considering it's been available for a while and all of this flaws are well documented. Just make sure you know what to expect and you can accept the issues.
The Zenbook could be a nice pick, but there are no reviews out there and it's a brand new platform, thus there are a lot of questions that would need answers before we could tell if it's good product or not, with the screen quality, performance and fan behavior just the important ones. Getting one right now would be a gamble, it might be great, but at the same time it might have flaws.
JAYson
November 22, 2018 at 2:08 am
Thank you! Went with the XPS on a great Black Friday deal. Keep up the great work!
Bud
November 28, 2018 at 4:15 am
The UX433 is about $1099, while DELL XPS 15 is about $1399 after holiday discounts, how are they on the same price par? are you saying you found the XPS for $1099 as well? can you share where?
Rayben
November 22, 2018 at 12:20 pm
Do you know if the anti-glare FHD screen is a glossy display with slight anti-glare coating or a full matte display? Because Asus website states it as only anti-glare. Also any idea on the pricing of the 16GB MX150 model? These seem very expensive compared to other MX150, Vega 10 laptops. How is the durability compared to premium laptops like XPS 13 and X1 Carbon?
Andrei Girbea
November 22, 2018 at 1:40 pm
I've been told it's completely matte, which is also backed up by the fact that those versions are lighter, and that's made possible by removing the sheet of glass. I'd reckon same finishing as on other matte laptops.
i7 /16 GB /512 GB SSD + MX150 will ship for 1400 EUR over here in Europe. I'd reckon 1200-1300 USD if/when available in the US.
The build is pretty good, but the XPS has a stronger inner deck. The lid is tough on this glass-covered variant, about on par with my XPS 13, but I'd expect the matte versions to flex a bit more without the extra reinforcement of the glass. So all in all the XPS is the better built of the bunch, with the X1 coming in second imo and this Zenbook a close third. They're all well made though, I don't think that should be a decisive factor.
Ocean
November 25, 2018 at 3:37 am
Do you know if the UX433FN will be released in the UK?
If not, what would you recommend for a ultrabook at roughly 14" with i7,16Gb,256Gb SSD and MX150. I'm currently looking at the UX433FN and the HP Envy 13.
Cheers
Andrei Girbea
November 25, 2018 at 1:50 pm
I don't know, you should ask Asus on social media, they might give you an answer.
There are a bunch of such devices, they're listed here: Not sure which are available there: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/16104-laptops-nvidia-mx150/ , you should check which are available over there.. Careful there are two MX150 versions, MAx-Q and full-voltage, consider which one you'd rather get.
DimTm
November 25, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Hi
"Max brightness in the middle of the screen: 291 cd/m2 on power;"
I saw on the site notebookcheck.net brightness is Maximum: 332.8 cd/m² (Asus ZenBook 14 UX433F)
Why such a difference between your site and notebookcheck.net ?
Andrei Girbea
November 26, 2018 at 2:09 pm
Different tools and screen testing methodologies. Our software measures brightness and contrast at the same time, by switching between a white and black image at about 5 seconds. As far as I know, they test the maximum brightness after keeping a white image on the screen for several minutes, then a black image for several minutes for the black levels, and get the contrast based on these numbers. They're result are thus more accurate, but I think ours make more sense in real life, where the content changes on the screen all the time.
Bud
November 28, 2018 at 4:18 am
Is there any contender for a 14" notebook, which comes with 500GB SSD and 16GB RAM, even if for a bit higher price? I Can't find any worthy contender.. someone suggested Dell Latitude 7490, but it seems a bit anachronistic, also, I it weighs more.
Andrei Girbea
November 28, 2018 at 1:26 pm
That Latitude is a nice laptop, but rather expensive, heavy and gets a small battery.
I'd reckon you're not interested in the dGPU, in which case I can't think of better options for $1100. Perhaps this, the 55 version with the dGPU, but it's not yet available https://www.ultrabookreview.com/22174-acer-swift-3-2018-review/ , or the Lenovo 720s 14, but that's also heavier.
The Huawei MateBook X Pro is the only better option in the 14-inch class, but also much more expensive at around $1500 (perhaps you could find it cheaper these days)
Bud
December 2, 2018 at 4:30 pm
That Lenovo is already discontinued, I suppose a new replacement will come out soon, do you happen to know what is replacing it? and is it worth the wait?
Andrei Girbea
December 3, 2018 at 1:56 pm
I'd reckon some sort of 14-inch IdeaPad 730s might be launched in the near future, although for now only a 13-inch model was announced. Can't tell what to expect though, I don't have any inside information, so it would be just speculation.
Thrandine
November 29, 2018 at 5:44 am
Which one is better, the Zenbook or Ideapad 720s 14 with MX150?
Andrei Girbea
November 29, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Each has its pros, but I incline towards the Zenbook. You should take pricing and your particular needs into considerations, you'll find reviews for both that talk abut their strong points and quirks.
Bud
December 4, 2018 at 3:33 pm
The Asus website says this model has better venting due to the design – when the lid is open.
I usually connect the notebook to an external screen so I keep the lid closed. does it mean it would heat up and make more noise?
Andrei Girbea
December 5, 2018 at 4:18 pm
Should do fine for the most part, as the output grills are not covered in any way. See this pic: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/sides-back-3.jpg
Two things to consider, though:
1. you might want to raise the bottom in some way to allow better airflow underneath.
2. The interior will get fairly hot, and that means the screen will get hot as well, as it's in direct contact to the interior in this situation. That might cause issues over time, but it's something you'll have to accept with every laptop and should only be problematic while running games, which I'd reckon you might not do that often.
KC
December 5, 2018 at 8:16 am
What would you say about the Lenovo C930 (4K display with soundbar hinge)? Would that be a better option? I know there the x1 ThinkPad line don’t know how that contends…Or jus go MacBook Air?
Andrei Girbea
December 5, 2018 at 4:23 pm
I haven't personally reviewed it yet, but it should be a solid option. More expensive though. Look into reviews that go in depth on performance and typing experience, I had some nits with those on the previous Yoga 920, not sure if/how they were addressed on the update.
the X1 Carbon is another good option, but beware of the various quality control quirks. You'll find a review here on the site, and plenty of info on the topic online.
Don't go for the MacBook Air if you're interested in performance, that's a Core Y laptop with a butterfly keyboard and an obnoxiously high price tag. Rather go for a base MacBook Pro 13 if you absolutely must go that route, but there are better value options on Windows's side imo.
DimTm
December 8, 2018 at 2:17 pm
Hi
I read on the French site "www.lesnumeriques.com", here is the translation, such remarks:
The Zenbook speakers are placed under the chassis, all the way to the front; the sound sent back to the user strongly depends on the surface on which the PC is placed. Also, the perceived location of the sound source is also very far from the screen, making it unnatural to watch a video.
"Les haut-parleurs du Zenbook sont placés sous le châssis, tout à l'avant ; une disposition peu judicieuse. Non seulement le son renvoyé vers l'utilisateur dépend fortement de la surface sur laquelle le PC est posé (réfléchissante comme un bureau en PVC, absorbante comme une nappe…), mais la localisation perçue de la source sonore est en plus très éloignée de l'écran, d'où un rendu peu naturel lors du visionnage d'une vidéo."
What do you think of thèse problems with thé speakers?
Thank
Andrei Girbea
December 9, 2018 at 4:35 pm
They comment on the positioning of the speakers, which is not that bad imo. I don't think you'll notice anything unusual when watching movies, the only problem is that you can easily cover them when using the laptop on the lap.
Markus
December 19, 2018 at 5:43 pm
I got this model for a good price on black friday.
However, it had horrible throttling while gaming. For example in "Rime" it was smooth at low settings in the first two minutes, then it would throttle to about 400Mhz GPU and 600Mhz CPU, making it unplayable. I tried undervolting (-100mv), but this just delayed the throttling by a minute or so.
Asus released bios "300" with "Optimize system performance" as change. However, even with this bios games were unplayable. I returned it after a few days.
Andrei Girbea
December 19, 2018 at 6:53 pm
Throttling both the CPU and GPU at the same time sounds life a defective unit.
Vadim
January 10, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Hello. I have the same problem even in simple old games like Quake Live. It's interesting that playing on iGPU – all is ok. But when I play on dGPU – first 5-10 minutes it's ok, but after PC starts throttling to 400Mhz CPU and dGPU starts throttling at the same time. I don't understand what is the real reason of it – CPU or dGPU.
And it's strange that dGPU always tries to work at about 1600Mhz (before throttling), but there is 1d12 version that has about 1100Mhz boost frequency.
I can see screens if somebody can help me…
Andrei Girbea
January 10, 2019 at 4:47 pm
Did you try undervolting the CPU, see what that does? There's no other way around it, except for waiting for some sort of update from Asus. I'd return the product if undervolting doesn't address the matter to some extent. I would expect some throttling in this kind of form-factor, but not to that extent.
Nelson
December 20, 2018 at 12:08 am
I can confirm the USB type C port has no display port. I have the UX430, and the just looked and the port has a D symbol next to it that denotes display port compatible. This one lacks the symbol. I always use 2 screens connected to my laptop and the lack of this port is a deal breaker. I might look at the Zenbook 15.
Eetu Tyster
December 21, 2018 at 12:26 pm
Review of UX533 coming? Have been asking Asus if it supports 4K@60Hz through USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode..
Andrei Girbea
December 23, 2018 at 12:18 pm
Hopefully in 2019, I don't have a review unit yet.
Rayben
December 24, 2018 at 4:11 am
Asus Zenbooks apart from the Zenbook Pro line do not support USB-C Power Delivery or Display Out functions. Side note, DPOut cannot exist without PD so if there's no charging support, there's no DP or HDMI support.
Eetu Tyster
December 24, 2018 at 12:26 pm
On the User Manual of UXx33, refers to UX533 Right side. It is still unanswered will this deliver DP 4K@60Hz
"USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™/DisplayPort combo port
The USB 3.1 (Universal Serial Bus 3.1) Gen 2 Type-C™ port
provides a transfer rate of up to 10 Gbit/s and is backward
compatible to USB 2.0. Use a USB Type-C™ adapter to connect
your Notebook PC to an external display."
Eetu
December 27, 2018 at 1:33 pm
Asus Support answered about UX533 "yes, this port will support 4K@60Hz if the adapter supports it."
Need to order one and test to be sure..
Akshay
December 22, 2018 at 9:12 am
I am thinking of buying the i7 one with discrete GPU,is it worth the investment, as it costs around 5200AED.
I am just an average user with occasional gaming usage,i will use it for at least 5 years
DimTm
December 25, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Hi
1)
Tell me which model (number- "XXXX") has such specifications Asus UX433FA-XXXX
i7
screen – mat
16g
500mb
Are you there a list of all these models with number "XXXX"?
2)
What difference between…"FA" and "FN" – Asus UX433FA VS Asus UX433FN ?
Thank
Andrei Girbea
December 26, 2018 at 2:37 pm
1. Look for the models available in your country, they're not the same
2. It's already mentioned in the article: FN – MX150 GPU, FA- UHD 620 GPU. Everything else is the same.
Minchu
December 25, 2018 at 8:03 pm
I bought an ASUS ZenBook-UX433FA. The audio system doesn't work, both speakers and headset. I tried all possible options of downloading their audio drivers and re-installing. Still can't get the audio to work at all. I am extremely disappointed.
I wonder what kind of testing they do in their factories before they ship their products.
Andrei Girbea
December 26, 2018 at 2:38 pm
Send it back. Quality control is unfortunately an issue with most manufacturers, I know it's frustrating, but that's just the way it is…
Viasheslav
December 26, 2018 at 1:28 am
Hello! Is there an adequate solution to eliminate overheating? It is impossible to play
Andrei Girbea
December 26, 2018 at 2:38 pm
Undervolting should help.
Viasheslav
December 27, 2018 at 9:49 am
-90 mv. Not help
Taiwo
December 26, 2018 at 5:21 am
Hi guys, I need a laptop for programing, I would have gone for the XPS but it expensive, are the zenbooks great. What would you recommend for me Zenbook Ux333fn or Ux433FN, future docking setup with 4k matters to me. Thanks
Andrei Girbea
December 26, 2018 at 2:39 pm
I don't think that's a possibility, given there's only USB-C on these laptops and no TB3.
Taiwo
December 26, 2018 at 4:14 pm
What laptop do you have in mind for me
Rayben
December 30, 2018 at 5:00 am
Lenovo Ideapad 720s 14 with i5 and MX150. Better than Zenbooks and unlike XPS 13, it has good ports and a dGPU. TB3 (PCIe x2) supports DP 1.2a that allows upto 4096×2160 at 60Hz. It's long overdue for a refresh so you may be able to find one at around $700.
Source: psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/Lenovo%20Laptops/ideapad%20720S%20(14_)/ideapad_720S_14-win516.pdf
Daniel
August 12, 2019 at 10:55 am
720s are GARBAGE build quality. On paper specs look good with a thunderbolt 3 and price is good. But we had so many issues with them we stopped buying them at our company. Basically harddrive stops reading, power loop issues.
Booker
December 27, 2018 at 12:29 am
I received the UX433FN (with the Geforce 150), several days ago.
Overall I like it, but I'm worried about heating and noise.
I noticed 2 instances in which it heated and make loud noise:
1. when "wsappx" process was running, it made noise and heated for almost an hour I think.
2. When the MCafee virus scanner auto-ran (for about 10 min)
In both occassions CPU usage went to about 30%. and according to CoreTemp, the cores heated to about 75-80 C, and the left side of the keyboard was very hot, while noise came from right side of keyboard.
Does this sound normal, or is my unit faulty? why does this happen at just 30%?
I can still return if it is faulty.
Would other ultra-book respond the same way, so if I try to opt for another one it wouldn't really make a difference?
Andrei Girbea
December 29, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Perhaps others can reply based on their experience with this laptop. The fan was not as aggressive on my test model, but that was not a retail unit. As far as the heat goes, this is a thin-and light laptops with some beefy specs, so it's going to get hot, there's no way around it.
As far as the second question, I don't think you can find a computer that runs significantly quieter or cooler in this kind of a form-factor. Larger/thicker options, yes, you'll find some of those.
kimi
January 11, 2019 at 9:33 pm
I had the mcafee issue only once, the fan started to run, but the keyboard wasnt warm as you stated, after the scanner had finished its scanning, may be two minutes or so, the fan noise was gone. I checked it again next day but it ran without the fan and the cpu usage was around 25%.
I used sound detector the max i got when running games was around 50-55 decibels and normal usage around 30-35.
I have a issue or am i doing anything wrong, the gpu doesn't seem to be running at it's full capacity at all. Played far cry 3 at ultra settings, for first few scences it was fine and later it fps started to fall so bad, some parts had a freezing kind of thing. Any idea, i checked it youtube MX-q version playing the same game without any trouble.
pierrex
January 14, 2019 at 4:10 am
hi booker, did you manage to change or something?
is it the i7 or i5? did you manage to reduce the noise? is it still doing noise when not playing games? thanks a lot, i m very noise sensitive
David
January 6, 2019 at 3:19 pm
Do you know something about the anti-glare screen? Will it be the same one from the ux430 (and with bad PWM)?
I‘m not sure which one i should chose… the ant-glare one is +100,- more..
Are you going to test the ux480 pro with the screen-touchpad? That‘s also interesting for me (Price +200,-) and has a NVIDIA 1050
Andrei Girbea
January 7, 2019 at 12:02 pm
I'd reckon it should be the same panel as on this model and not the one on the UX430UN. Can't confirm this for sure though.
I don't think I'll be able to review the UX480, it's not available in my region.
David
January 8, 2019 at 8:44 pm
Okay, thank you for your comment!
I‘ll ask the asus-team about the panel. Maybe i‘ll get a usefull answer.
Elsewise i‘m going to purchase the anti-glare ux433 and send it back, if there‘s PWM.
Thomas
January 13, 2019 at 6:17 pm
Have you noticed, at CES ASUS revealed the ZenBook-14-UX431. I don't see what is the upgrade over UX433FN, it has almost the same specs, only SDD got bigger and so the weight to 1.4kg.
Andrei Girbea
January 14, 2019 at 12:07 pm
See this post: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/24241-asus-zenbook-ux392-ux431/ . It gets quad speakers and hopefully better graphics (full power MX150, not Max-Q), but I might be wrong about that. I'll update when I find out more.
pierrex
January 14, 2019 at 4:05 am
hello all,
i m hesitating between both asus ux480 and ux433.
i need a 14' with 512g and 16g ram for a good office/firefox work speed, and some photoshop.
i dont think i need a strong 3D card. however my last asus were noisy (fan) and really anoying.
have you tried these models? which one do you recommend? and most important are they NOISY.
thanks a lot
Andrei Girbea
January 14, 2019 at 12:13 pm
I haven't reviewed the 480, but you can read about the performance, thermals and acoustics of our UX433 sample in the article.
Manuel
January 14, 2019 at 11:40 pm
I bought one from amazon.
It sure looked great, but it had the most horrible coil whine. I never had such an issue with laptops before, not even on my 2011 400€ HP notebook, but I hear it's quite common nowadays.
I had to send it back, really disappointed with the quality control.
Juffin
January 15, 2019 at 8:20 am
I picked up UX433FN on Costco.com (using a 100$ off manufacturer's coupon). After the first use it became obvious that the unit had coil whine and was overheating quite noticeably even at moderate CPU loads. The heat could be felt through the keys, and the back side got uncomfortably hot. Updating BIOS did not resolve these issues. So I exchanged it for another unit, but ran into same exact problems, and on top of that one side of the keyboard on the new unit was making creaking noise. So this one is going back too.
Is there any hope that ASUS will fix the issues with coil whine and overheating with firmware updates, or is that something to expect from laptops with this form factor? I am not sure whether to give up on this laptop or try another exchange.
Andrei Girbea
January 15, 2019 at 11:40 am
Coil whine is random and unfortunately common with modern laptops.
As for overheating, I'd say that's subjective. This is a thin aluminum laptop, so it's normal for it to get hotter than thicker devices when put to work. As per our tests, this one actually doesn't get that hot with regular use, once you get past the initial Windows updates, etc.
Filip
January 22, 2019 at 7:20 pm
I'm thinking between this asus and hp envy 13. Hp is now around 880€ and asus 960€ in my country with i5 processor. Primary use: movies, music, word, mail etc., and looking for: good build quality, good screen, speakers and battery life 8+ hours. Ofc I'm open for another laptop suggestion if there is something better.
Andrei Girbea
January 22, 2019 at 7:25 pm
You're not going to get 8+ h of battery life with any of these, more like 5+ .
That being said, the HP gets a slightly bigger battery, while the ZenBook gets a larger and brighter screen and better speakers, as well as more modern design. I'd go with the ZenBook
Filip
January 22, 2019 at 7:33 pm
This was fast :) thx for your reply, and a good review of asus zenbook.
jess
January 26, 2019 at 1:39 am
Hello : )
I'm trying everywhere to buy this laptop in the icicle silver colour and it's only the navy blue everywhere and as if they aren't releasing the silver colour. Where did you get yours???
jess
Konstantin
February 7, 2019 at 11:48 am
Tried 4 different units (i5 with discrete graphics, 256GB, matte screen). The coil whine when plugged in and booting/shutting down in unbearable, really loud. There is also an intermittent speaker noise (cracking, popping, "thud" sound) every minute or so on the last unit. 4K video (youtube, netflix) for more than 5 minutes results in severe temperatures (high-80s, scorching hot on the bottom, can't hold in in your lap, really). Can't return it for a refund, unfortunately, only exchange it with the same model… Undervolting with XTU is not helping (-100/-150). Maybe the WD SSD also plays a role in coil whine, but can't swap that to test it cause it will void warranty. Overall a beautiful notebook with terrible internal design and quality control. Also, there are very limited settings in power options, so any help with turning Turbo Boost off is welcome. I'll also mess with the C-states and see if any of it causes that loud coil whine when plugged-in.
Andrei Girbea
February 7, 2019 at 1:20 pm
You can disable Turbo Boost with Throttlestop, it allows a bit more options than XTU.
David
February 7, 2019 at 4:55 pm
I'm from germany und mine had also bad coil whine. It was terrifying, because the fan has been very quiet and all i heard was the whining, the whining and the whining. Anoying!
i had the ux433 with the anti-glare display. I recommend it. Very bright und good viewing angles. But the performance wasn't as good as i expected. The i5 8265u (with igpu) already throttled at idle! XTU told me "Power Limit Throttling" and "Current Limit Throttling" while ~5% CPU usage. Undervolting didn't work properly. The ssd wasn't very fast, too… The Zenbook felt like having a handbrake. So it's an average notebook with a nice design.
It's a pity but i sent it back…
Flipper
February 14, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Is this the "thud" sound your'e speaking about:
https://imgur.com/gallery/TuiODlx
I have similar experience, I tried 3 units of the 512GB/16GB RAM notebook.
The first 2 had a major coil whine whenever the CPU was doing a bit of work.
In addition, Both had the "thud" sound, sometimes very frequently.
The third time I exchanged it, I got one with a somewhat different Serial number, and the coil whine was fine, nothing like the first two. This of course means ASUS has serious problem with their QC.
However, the thud sound is still here, it usually pops up when laptop goes from ~40 degrees to ~50 degrees, like watching a simple yoytube video.
So this sound seems like a sideffect of parts contraction/expansion as the fan starts to work harder.
I find this sound very annoying. not sure what to do though, as other than that I'm happy with the notebook, and will probably be unhappy with other notebooks.
Any idea what to do about this sound?
Kevin B
May 22, 2019 at 1:10 pm
Hey Konstantin,
I thought I was the only one experiencing this. I bought one UX433FN here in the Philippines and started noticing that pop that I think comes from the touch pad/palm rest area.
I firmly second your opinion that Asus has had serious quality control issues as of late. In my case, I had to open 5 UX433FN boxes, to get one that works for me. As my wife said it, you have to settle for the lesser evil in this case as we loved the laptop as it is – especially with the limited options and high laptop prices here in Manila.
Eva
March 25, 2019 at 5:54 pm
I'm looking for laptop, mainly for statistics software, GIS, but with god's battery and not too heavy as I need to move with it on daily basis. I consider this Asus Zenbook UX433FN and MSI PS42-8RB, could I find something else with similar price? Which one would be better? I know that MSI has better specs, but I found it really ugly and I don't like keyboard – is there a big difference between Asus and MSI in performance?
Andrei Girbea
March 26, 2019 at 12:39 pm
they have similar hardware, except for the GPU with the MSI getting the faster MX150 variant. Does GIS actually use the GPU though? I'm not familiar with it.
Jusuf
March 27, 2019 at 11:53 am
Hi, this laptop specs, especially weight and compactness very appealing for me. But, I wonder whether this suitable for video editing? Or the ux533 with gtx 1050 is better for video editing?
alex
April 5, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Hi, i have the same exact question..should i get this or the ux533 for video editing. I normally do some 3 or 4 minute videos of software products (like demos/trailers) with some title effects, transitions etc on final cut pro on my mac, but want to move to windows (would use premiere i guess).
Thanks
Andrei Girbea
April 5, 2019 at 2:14 pm
The CPU's performance in demanding tasks is what you should look at for video editing, which we simulate with the Cinebench loop test in the Performance section. The UX433 is not the best performer in this case, even with undervolting. The UX533, on the other hand, performed really well, so I'd rather recommend it if within budget.
Vismay
May 15, 2019 at 4:12 pm
Can anybody please give me the link of this wallpaper?
Benaya Tr
June 26, 2019 at 3:41 am
is it normal to here the noise of the laptop touching the table every time I put my left hand on it?
I mean – the left side is thicker, and so you can here the slight noise when it touches the table…
plus – does the package include ehtenet adapter? because on the review they show it does, but my package doesnt..
thanks in advance
Andrei Girbea
June 26, 2019 at 11:23 am
I don't' exactly understand what you're saying, but the two sides should be the same and the laptop should only touch the surface with its feet. As for the Ethernet adapter, the bundle differs from regions to region.
Andrei Girbea
June 28, 2019 at 3:07 pm
Hey, just wanted to update all of you still following this subject that there's a new ZenBook 14 in the works, that should be available in the near future. We're currently spending time with it and gathering our impressions for a review, so if you have any questions, please get in touch in this article: https://www.ultrabookreview.com/28101-asus-zenbook-14-ux434fl-review/
Brindusa Chiributa
August 23, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Between this assus and dell xps 9380 5i/8go/256,at a similar price, which one would you chose? For mainly office/photo editing/video editing/netflix tasks?
Andrei Girbea
August 29, 2019 at 10:06 am
The XPS is a better laptop overall.
Dani
September 27, 2019 at 3:59 pm
I just ordered this one, with Geforce, 16gb, 1TB disk, matte screen and silver. I'm not sure yet if this is the right choice, but the battery of my old UX330 only survives for 3 hours working with browser, ms word and pdf open, and I'm too often maxing out on memory.
Didn't want any of the newer ones as I need at least 2 oldschool USB connections. Also don't care about a touchpad screen, which might be too big for comfortably reaching the middle keys if your hands are small.
My biggest worries are that it's not that much better than what I have considering its steep price, and that I can't use it on my lap due to the downward protruding screen when open. I can return it fortunately, but then there's still no solution to my laptop problem, given my requirements of a matte screen, weight and old-school USB.
Any opinion?
Andrei Girbea
September 27, 2019 at 4:04 pm
Are you sure it's the UX433? This doesn't come with GeForce.