Final Thoughts On The ZenBook UX305CA

Name: Asus ZenBook UX305CA
Brand: Asus

by Joshua Gulick — Thursday, January 28, 2016, 12:10 PM EDT

The Asus ZenBook UX305CA is an evolutionary update to an already nice product, but this is one of cases in which that’s a (mostly) good thing. The ZenBook’s design and build quality are as good in this year’s model as they were in the previous edition, so we’re not surprised that many of the new or updated components are incremental upgrades geared mostly at keeping the ultrabook current. A new CPU is a given in an updated model. The moves to a fast M.2 SSD and 802.11ac Wi-Fi were nice touches too. The ZenBook's chassis didn't need much of a makeover.

Find The Asus ZenBook UX305CA @ Amazon.Com

The ZenBook UX305CA performed well, both in our benchmarks and in our real-world use cases. It definitely has the chops to handle the workload of a student and it could even be a solid choice for certain business users. Though, as we mentioned earlier, anyone who writes at length, whether for school or business, might want to give the keyboard a try before committing to this machine, and the Core M isn't for power users that run strenuous applications that are constantly going to tax the CPU cores.

The ZenBook UX305CA has excellent battery life for such a small and lightweight ultrabook, making it a good choice for travelers. The battery life will also appeal to students and, well, anybody that likes to have a computer handy when on the road.

Still, there is some room to grow. We’d love to see a keyboard backlight (a feature that appears on plenty of systems with lower price tags than the UX305CA). Also, making Windows Hello support standard on the ZenBook line would have gotten plenty of attention. Maybe Asus will add some head-turners to the next ZenBook iteration, but for now, the UX305CA is a strong choice for anyone shopping for an affordable (sub-$700) machine in the thin-and-light market.