Notebook Hunter

Metallic salmon-pink isn’t the most obvious colour choice for an Ultrabook, but the ASUS Zenbook UX31E-RY032V manages to make it work and for $1,299 it’s a pretty good deal as well. This Ultrabook is essentially identical to the UX31E-RY009V, which means it’s got mid-range specs and a proper (if smallish) 128GB solid state drive.  The all-metal exterior is particularly nice, and gives the UX31E a truly premium feel. This finish hasn’t compromised the weight at all: at 1.3kg it’s one of the lighter Ultrabooks currently available.

One other good feature is that the 13.3in screen has a resolution of 1,600 x 900 pixels, which is significantly higher than any other 13.3in Ultrabook released so far. Port choice isn’t exceptional, but the USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Micro-HDMI and Mini-VGA should still be sufficient for most users. There’s also an SD card reader and a headphone jack, which round out the connectivity nicely.

See the special online here.

Processor
The UX31E features a 2nd Gen Intel Core i5-2557M (1.7GHz), which is one of the better mid-range low-voltage processors that can run productivity applications and some intensive software. It can burst up to 2.7GHz using Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology if a particularly demanding program is running.

Graphics
It comes with an integrated graphics solution called Intel HD Graphics 3000. It’s on par with a low-end dedicated graphics card, and is sufficient for modern games at the lowest settings.

RAM
4GB of RAM is enough to run several programs at once smoothly. It’s more than enough to ensure fluid overall system performance with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Storage
A128GB solid state drive is very small, but it does have very rapid response though for both reading and writing data.

Screen
It sports a 13.3in (1,600 x 900 resolution) gloss screen. This is a much higher resolution than what’s typical for an Ultrabook (1,366 x 768).

Portability
The UX31E has exceptional portability, because it weighs 1.3kg and is 17mm thick.  It’s more than light enough to be taken anywhere without any problems whatsoever.