ASUS Zenbook UX305FA Laptop Review – Intel Core M Broadwell

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

The ASUS Zenbook UX305 was found to be a very well built Intel Ultrabook that is easily affordable. At first we were doubtful that the Intel Core M processor would be able to perform the tasks that we wanted to do, but we were pleased with the performance that it offered. We were able to stream 1080P content smoothly, play light games and do some Photoshop editing without any issues at all. The Intel Core M processor and 8GB of memory allowed us to edit dozens of images in Photoshop without bringing the system to a crawl, which is impressive for sub $700 dual-core powered notebook that is passively cooled!

The only thing we found ourselves wanting on the Zenbook UX305 was a back-lit keyboard as we really do enjoy the look and added benefits of having one. The battery life was pretty solid on our Zenbook UX305 and while we never got 10 hours out of it, we were able to spend the day traveling around the country on two flights that totaled 5.5 hours and we still had about 20% battery life left. We were surfing the web, watching movies, editing photos in Photoshop and had the screen brightness up, so we were happy with the battery life that we were getting.

When it comes to pricing the ASUS Zenbook UX305 can be purchased for $698.00 shipped on Amazon this very second. Right now you can go to the Microsoft Store and get the Zenbook UX305 for $599.99 shipped by using the $100 off promo code PCGRAD15. After using this laptop for a number of weeks we feel the $698 asking price is fair, but for $599 it really does feel like a steal! The ASUS Zenbook UX305 is also covered by a one year warranty on parts and labor for that price.

Legit Bottom Line: ASUS’ Zenbook UX305 is one heck of a budget Intel Ultrabook and we are shocked how capable this model is thanks to the Intel Core M processor that exceeded our performance expectations!