Asus Zenbook RX303: cheapest Zenbook ever
The Zenbook RX303 has the look of more expensive ultrabooks from Asus, but at a much lower price. That low price translates into a somewhat slower processor and less RAM. The screen panel used also has a lower resolution and disappointing viewing angles. Still, the RX303 is not a bad choice for its money, because there are few laptops under 750 euros that have the same housing as a much more expensive laptop, are equipped with an SSD and can also last almost nine hours on a battery charge.
Pros
- Long battery life
- Fast SSD
Cons
- Mediocre screen
- Resilient keyboard
The Zenbook series has been considered Asus’ high-end ultrabook line for years. In the summer of 2014, Asus released the RX303 together with the Zenbook UX303. The RX303 has the same ultrabook appearance as the UX303, but with a price of 750 euros it is a lot cheaper, partly thanks to somewhat slower hardware and a screen with a lower resolution. In this short review, we look at whether the RX303 is an interesting alternative to the more expensive UX303, which we also reviewed .
Appearance, keyboard, touchpad
The fact that the RX303 costs ‘only’ 750 euros cannot be seen from the outside. The laptop has almost the same housing as the thousand-euro UX303, which has advantages and some minor disadvantages. A plus to the metal housing is in any case that it feels sturdy and also seems to be able to take a beating. Unfortunately, we appear to be able to press the housing in the middle, just like with the more expensive UX303, and the keyboard springs too far, especially in the middle, when a key is pressed.
The keyboard itself hasn’t changed from other Zenbooks like the UX302 and 303, though the backlighting of the keys on the RX303 has been dropped. The keys have a lot of travel for an ultrabook and spring slightly with your finger while typing, so that the correct keystroke is usually registered, even if you don’t hit the key directly from above.
The touchpad is also unchanged from previous Zenbook models. The surface is quite large and smooth, making it easy for your finger to glide over it. The left mouse button of our test RX303 gave a somewhat unclear feedback, which we are not used to from the Zenbook touchpads. That problem probably only concerns this copy, because the right mouse button did give the clear, short click that we expected.
Battery life, screen and speed
From the outside, the RX303 is therefore the same as more expensive Zenbooks and it is therefore the internal hardware that makes the difference. The RX303 has a Core i3-4030U processor, 4GB RAM and a screen resolution of 1600×900 pixels on board. Those are somewhat meager specifications for an ultrabook, but the RX303 is officially not an ultrabook. Nevertheless, thanks to the 128GB SSD, the laptop feels fast and the speed difference with the more expensive Zenbooks will not be noticeable with light use, but will become clear with heavy use.
In addition to the speed, the image quality also differs. The RX303 does not have a full-HD screen, while a touchscreen is also missing. The reflections are not too bad, because Asus has mounted a matte screen, but the viewing angles are not. The choice fell on a TN panel, which suffers from inverting colors, especially at oblique, vertical viewing angles. The horizontal viewing angles are quite good for a TN screen and only suffer from a slight decrease in brightness. The brightness of almost 300cd/m² and the contrast of 932:1 are not bad for a TN screen either. However, we would not use the RX303 for image editing and would rather save for a more expensive Zenbook, with a higher resolution and an IPS panel.
Finally, there is the battery life. The battery of the RX303 is the same as that in the more expensive UX303, which lasts more than seven and a half hours on a battery charge in our browsing test. The RX303 goes beyond that and turns the disadvantage of its weaker hardware and low screen resolution into an advantage in this test. Presumably the TN screen consumes less energy, while the lower screen resolution puts less strain on the GPU, leading to an impressive battery life of almost nine hours in the browsing test. When watching a 1080p movie, that battery life is almost seven hours.
Conclusion
The Asus Zenbook RX303 looks like an ultrabook, but has less powerful hardware than we are used to from ultrabooks. In addition, the screen resolution is lower, there is no touchscreen and the viewing angles of the TN panel are disappointing. Still, the RX303 is not a bad choice for its money, because there are few laptops under 750 euros that are equipped with an SSD and can also last almost nine hours on a battery charge.