Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FTC in Review: Matte, powerful king of battery life

[Redaktion]

Asus has equipped the slim laptop with a four-core processor and a dedicated graphics card. The features are excellent otherwise as well: Matte IPS screen, NVMe SSD, 16 GB of RAM (in dual-channel mode), backlit keyboard. On top of that, the outstanding battery life rounds off the overall package well.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-15-UX534FTC-in-Review-Matte-powerful-king-of-battery-life.457639.0.html

[SpaceSwede]

Yeah! Finaly an 15 inch Asus with and a mate display. Sweet!

[Jesse]

Agreed, FINALLY figuring out that people want matte displays.  Now if they could only up the brightness and get rid of the useless numpad, they'd have a winner.

Also, how can you not compare it head to head with it's main competitor, the MSI Prestige 15 A10SC-018?

[_MT_]

Agreed, FINALLY figuring out that people want matte displays.  Now if they could only up the brightness and get rid of the useless numpad, they'd have a winner.

I wouldn't call it useless. In my eyes, it's the only benefit of a 16:9 15 incher compared to 8:5. It's not much, but it's at least something. If you're entering data, it's always going to be faster than the numeric row. It's nice even for something simple like IP addresses. And on some keyboards, the numeric row is used for additional letters and numbers have to be accessed via a key combination slowing you down further. Some laptops offer numeric keyboard layout via function key within the main block and that works as well (especially with function lock for longer entries). Although the keyboard leaves a lot to be desired - small cursor keys, power button integrated in the keyboard, it doesn't seem very legible, etc.

I know some people like touchpads centered in the chassis. And while symmetry appeals to me aesthetically, I hate having my palms resting on a touchpad when typing. The last thing I want are spurious false clicks (or gestures, whatever) caused by hand movement while rapidly typing. I buy laptops because I type. A lot. And fast. So in my eyes, a laptop should be centered around typing (obviously, I'm not talking about gaming laptops). Otherwise, I could buy some tablet mutation.

[passenger]

Numpad is not necessary in most of the cases, especially if one could already type blindly - reaching the numpad and leaving the home row often is a pain in the a**, and not everyone do accounting or typing IP addresses all day with a laptop. And this is particularly true for the asus screenpad series, since one big sale point of the whole screenpad series is that the touchpad have a numpad toggling mode. Just press its corner, and it's itself a numpad.

With a numpad, your posture would be shifted from center, which is not particularly friendly to your wrist. Not to mention there's already tried-and-tested alternative solutions such as fn layers.

[Lum Dermaku]

How did you not include comparisons with MSI Prestige 15?

P15 has everything that this Zenbook 15 hasn't:

• 6 core i7 10710U cpu
• 2 usb c thunderbolt 3 ports with power delivery, display port, usb 3.2 gen 2
• Bigger battery (although very similar battery life)
• Faster ddr4 2666mhz ram which is also upgradeable
• Better cpu cooling and higher sustained tdp for longer
• NO NUMBERPAD ,ffs wtf is Asus doing? P15's keyboard is almost completely centered (it has exta pgup pgdown, home, end keys which i appreciate a lot and use them frequently
• 2 m.2 nvme pciegen3x4 ssd (1 with sata3 support), both upgradeable
• upgradeable wi-fi card
• you won't rest your hands on the touchpad while typing like you do on this Zenbook 15 since its keyboard is shifted to the left

all of those for the same 1399$ price as the Zenbook 15 but Zenbook 15 has 1tb ssd compared to 512gb on P15  although P15 as i mentioned above has 2 slots, 1 free.

Asus better implement a true numberpad with full size keys and big + and Enter buttons rather than that crammed annoying numberpad OR just get rid of it.

[Apostolos]

Is it possible to connect 4k/60hz monitor in this laptop?

[Ron Hart]

I purchased the Zenbook Pro Duo (i9 version) after reviewing laptops for a few months. I purchased this beautiful laptop upon some recommendations of tech professionals and friends, the specs weren't bad either. I received my new laptop 05/08 ordering directly from Asus and needless to say I was excited like a kid on Christmas morning. Unfortunately this is were the happiness ends. Last night 05/12 around 8:30 pm CST I was walking by my in-home work station my friend and me heard a noise coming from the laptop. The noise was very audible a "popping" or deep clicking noise. It clicked 4 or 5 times then paused, my friend and I observing the laptop at this point. The laptop was connected to two other monitors all plugged into the same power strip. There were six browser windows open at the time and for the most part idle. We observed the laptop for a few more seconds and then it started with popping and/or clicking sound again, popping 4 to 5 more times. On the fourth or fifth pop we witnessed Smoke coming from the right vent and immediately powered down the laptop and disconnected the power. There was a slight burning smell not recognizable if it was electrical, but I assume it was. As any concerned human I sat there watching for any more signs of smoke for a good 30 mins, I then jump straight to google and searched for incidents like mine. I didn't find much. It was after hours so I could not contact Asus directly and decided to wait until morning to call in a place a ticket. Next morning I called Asus Tech support 888-678-3688 and 855-755-2787 when they opened unsuccessfully. I tried on the hour every hour and finally reached a customer support rep around noon. I explained to him what me and my friend observed and advised my deepest concern of an electronic device producing smoke. The rep did the usual and gathered the necessary information and advised that this would need to be escalated (obviously), his next statement didn't set well with me. I was advised by Asus Customer Service that someone would be in contact with me in the next couple of Days! That's right, Days! I understand minor issues the time frame could be a couple of Days.This I believe is NO minor issue! Smoke and the smell of burning is no minor issue Especially from a BRAND NEW LAPTOP!! Not to mention the fact the rep said it was going to be escalated! You mean to tell me a tech giant like Asus treats Escalations like a two Day resolution! Great customer service guys!! Oh forgot to mention, the customer service rep not offering any type of action plan. So in my ever growing frustration, I am sitting here waiting for Asus to contact me with a brand new Broken laptop. This is a laugh...part of the Case number email the customer rep sends: " "...Your case and contact information were passed to the escalation department for review by our escalation team here at ASUS. I understand that there was an incident involving your Notebook (UX581GV). First and foremost, on behalf of ASUS, we sincerely apologize for this incident and for any inconvenience it may have caused you. Your safety is our priority and we thank you for bringing it to our attention!..."" I Love the ending "your safety is our priority..." but its going to take them DAYS to get with you, Thank you for the priority Asus!! I was really excited for the laptop as it was my first Asus laptop, after the experience with the customer service rep I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANYONE! 0 out of 5 stars for Customer Service and tech support, 0 out of 5 stars on Product. I literally only had the laptop for 4 days before it breaks down and now Asus is telling me it will be Days before and escalation rep can look into my issue! By the time this all over, I will have spent more time/DAYS with tech support than having my laptop turned on! CAUTION to all new buyers!

[Denis]

This seems to be an interesting product, I mean the size and weight is impressive, i7-10510U cpu, GTX 1650 MaxQ gpu, great battery autonomy and so is the heat management with dual fans. I simply prefer the 15.6" format, in my case, just too many sacrifices when you go below this size, soldered 16GB ram, single M.2 slot, screen with poor response time... oh wait a minute, this is a 15.6" and no Thunderbolt 3 also? Asus is getting more and more greedy, especially at this price point.