ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 11.6-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook (Silver Aluminum)

by Asus

• Intel Core i7 Processor 1.8GHz
• 4GB SO-DIMM RAM
• 128GB Hard Drive
• 11.6-Inch Screen, HD Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium

Product Description

Amazon.com

Design. Love. Zen

It looks like nothing you've ever seen. It feels like nothing you've ever felt. It's breathtakingly beautiful. It's ultra-thin – with a minimum thickness of only .12". It's ultra-light – the brushed aluminum alloy body weighs only 2.43lbs. It's ultra-fast – powerful 2nd Generation Intel^® Core^™ i7 processor, SATA 3.0 SSD and USB 3.0. It resumes active mode in just 2 seconds, and the SonicMaster Audio delivers astounding sound. Introduce yourself to the most incredible Ultrabook^™, the ASUS ZENBOOK^™ – it will be love at first sight.

Key Features

• Spun metal and hairline aluminum finish throughout the entire chassis that only measures a minimum thickness of .12" and weighs only 2.43lbs (Learn more)
• 2nd Generation Intel^® Core^™ i7-2677M processor with Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology for smart multitasking that automatically senses what you're doing and boosts performance
• ASUS exclusive Super Hybrid Engine II with Instant On 2-second resume, double the standby time, automatic data backup and recovery, and 25% longer battery life (Learn more)
• SATA 128GB solid state drive for an amazingly smooth and fast computing experience (Learn more)
• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 for quicker device charging and up to 10x faster transfers than USB 2.0¹ (Learn more)
• ASUS SonicMaster Technology co-developed by world-renowned audio experts at Bang & Olufsen ICEpower^® increases audio performance with lifelike surround impact (Learn more)




Learn More

Incredible Beauty

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The ASUS ZENBOOK™ UX21E-DH71 is meticulously designed and engineered to achieve the thinnest profile and lightest form factor of any ultrabook, all while accommodating the latest technology in a harmonious marriage of power and art. Elegant and durable aluminum with a hairline spun finish reflects a cool, infinite look of limitless depth. The ASUS ZENBOOK™ UX21E-DH71 measures a minimum thickness of only .12" and weighs only 2.43lbs.

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Incredible Responsiveness

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Exclusive ASUS Super Hybrid Engine II with Instant On enables 2-second resume of the notebook from sleep, with up to two weeks of standby time with open files and other pending data kept safe in memory. Plus, automatic data backup when the battery reaches 5% charge further helps secure your work. The ASUS ZENBOOK™ UX21E-DH71 keeps energy saving front and center with a dedicated Battery Saving Mode, which conserves power whenever possible to increase battery life by as much as 25%. You're also always in the know when it comes to the battery thanks to ASUS PowerWiz, a utility that shows exactly how much charge is left per application – web browsing, gaming, movie watching and more. The ASUS ZENBOOK™ UX21E-DH71 combines power, efficiency, smooth usage and user empowerment, all on in one sleek package.

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	Incredible Performance
View Large	ASUS is proud to deliver the world's first ultrabook with SATA 128GB solid state storage, making for an amazingly smooth and fast computing experience. Additionally, the ASUS ZENBOOK™ UX21E-DH71 ships with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 as standard, multiplying the transfer rates of current USB 2.0 by as much as a factor of ten!1

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	Incredible Audio
View Large	Another ASUS exclusive, SonicMaster technology was co-developed with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower® to deliver breathtaking, lifelike audio that far exceeds the limitations of conventional notebook PC sound performance. Deeper, more impactful and wider in range, SonicMaster delivers four times the sound output of other ultrabooks without increasing the size or weight of the form factor.

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Relax, ASUS Has You Covered

Ranked as the #1 most reliable PC brand by 3 independent sources,² readers and editors alike choose ASUS as their trusted notebook and netbook. ASUS tirelessly strives to exceed expectations of quality to ensure you an unmatched peace of mind every time you start your PC.

This notebook also comes with the industry's most comprehensive warranty.

1 Year ASUS Global Warranty³

Offers a level of coverage that would add hundreds of dollars to the price of competing laptops:


• 1 year global warranty
• 30 flawless display guarantee
• 2-way free standard shipping
• 24/7 tech support



1 Year Accidental Damage Protection (ADP)³

Whether your notebook is damaged by accidental spills, drops, electrical surges, or fire, ASUS will fix it or replace it for you during the first year after purchase.


• Covers accidental drops, spills, power surges, and fire damage
• Target 3 business day turnaround time for repair / replacement; not including receiving and shipping time
• 1-way shipping (from ASUS to the user) at no additional cost
• 24-hour toll-free phone support




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What's in the Box

• ZENBOOK^™ UX21E-DH71
• Notebook Carrying Bag
• AC Adapter
• 6 cell Battery Pack
• Warranty Information Card

Specifications

• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Display: 11.6-inch HD display (1366 x 768)
• CPU: 2^nd Generation Intel Core i7-2677M Processor (Turbo Boost up to 2.9Ghz)
• Graphics: Intel UMA
• Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n (@ 2.4GHz)
• Bluetooth: BT 4.0
• Memory: 4GB DDR3
• Storage: 128GB Solid State Drive
• Camera: 0.3 megapixel
• Speakers: Stereo Speakers powered by Bang & Olufsen ICEPower^®
• Microphone: Microphone
• Input / Output:1 x Mic-in/ Headphone-out, 1 x mini VGA port for external monitor, 1x micro HDMI, , 1x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 1x micro HDMI
• Battery: 6 cell
• Dimensions: 11.77 x 7.72 x 0.12 ~ 0.67 -inches (W x D x H)
• Weight: 2.43lbs (with 6 cell battery)
• Color: Silver

© 2011 ASUS Computer International. All Rights Reserved. ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer. All specifications and terms are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers on selected models. Products may not be available in all markets. Product may not be exactly as shown in photos.

¹ All figures theoretical values compared to USB 2.0 benchmarks for reference purposes. Actual speed depends on device and system status.
² Rated number 1 PC brand according to SquareTrade, the leading direct-to-consumer warranty company (for more information visit http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/ ). Rated number 1 reliable PC maker in Q2 2010's RESCUECOM report http://www.rescuecom.com/2010-2nd-Quarter-Computer-Reliability-Report.html
³ ASUS reserves the right to exclude certain SKUs; check with your retailer to confirm coverage of specific models. Valid for notebooks purchased in the US and Canada only. Certain retailers do not participate in ADP coverage. For complete details, please visit: http://completewarranty.asus.com/.




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Product Description

11.6" (1366x768) LED / i-7 2677M Dual Core (1.8GHz) / 4GB DDR3 / 128GB SSD / Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit) / 802.11BGN / Bluetooth 4.0 / 1 USB 3.0 Port / 1 USB 2.0 Port / 6 Cell Battery / Micro HDMI / .67" Thin and only 2.42lbs / 1YR Global Warranty / 1YR Accidental Damage Protection / 30-Day Zero Bright Dot / 24-7 Tech Support

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

166 of 182 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally October 17, 2011

By b. Weiss

This is a significant product, and a long-awaited one. Previously, if you wanted to have a notebook like MacBook Air, you'd be forced to switch to Mac regardless of how much of a Windows person you were. Nothing else on the Windows side was really even remotely comparable. Now, this is the first real alternative in the Windows camp.

Is it better than the MacBook Air? It depends. If you are a Windows person, it is. Previously, you had to be seriously biased to say any Windows-based laptop in the ultracompact category is better than the MacBook Air. Now, that can be an honest assertion. But if you are a Mac person, you might still say the MacBook air is better, which could be a debatable assertion, but a respectable one.

To me, ZenBook is better than the MacBook air, even if I objectively lay aside the operating system difference, because for my personal preferences I give a higher value to some of the strong points of Zenbook, especially its thermal performance. Your preference may be different.

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- THUMBS UP FOR BOTH MACBOOK AIR AND ZENBOOK

(1) COMPUTING PERFORMANCE - First of all, in terms of the primary computing performance, including the CPU and memory performance, they're very similar, and both are very good. Asus' own tests say that the Zenbook is faster, but I don't feel much of it. This is, however, mainly because both are so fast. Comparing the speed of the CPU and memory of these two computers really has very little practical meaning. Only labs would be interested in doing that. Who is going to choose a computer over another because one opens up Microsoft Word in 1.5 seconds versus the other's 1.7 seconds? You see what I mean.

ZenBook does have much faster data transfer through its USB 3 port. It is easily multiple times faster than MacBook air's USB 2. But unless you routinely transfer very large files, I'm not sure if this is so important. Also, MacBook Air has a thunderbolt port which I've not tested in comparison with the ZenBook.

ZenBook also uses a much faster SSD (nearly twice as fast as that of the MacBook Air), but for some reason, I did not notice a very big difference in actual performance. Again, it's probably because both are already superfast for daily tasks. Gamers may tell a different story, but why do you buy an ultracompact laptop like these if you are a gamer?

(2) DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY - Both computers are extremely well-designed and well built. To me, the ZenBook is almost a bit too pretty (a bit too showy and trendy to my taste). This is usually a problem I have with Mac products, but now, you've got a Windows product that beats that. I wish they would make a ZenBook in all black, and with a more plain business looking (but keep the feel of the high-quality and compactness). Had Lenovo made a similar machine maintaining the basic black square-edged ThinkPad style with the same compactness and thermal performance (see below), I would nearly certainly buy the ThinkPad instead. But there's nothing even in the radar screen on the ThinkPad side, so I caved in.

(3) BATTERY LIFE - The smaller ZenBook (UX21) uses a 35W battery and has 5+ hrs of battery life, comparable to that of MacBook Air. I did not do a strict test. But both are very good. The key is that both laptops would run through a whole day, even a busy day. That's what matters. Once a laptop reaches an all-day battery life, further extension of the battery life really no longer matters that much, unless of course it then reaches much longer to become days or even a week. You will be doing an overnight charging anyway. It's the mid-day recharging that brings trouble.

You may ask, how can a five-hour battery support whole-day use? Well, this actually has something to do with the instant resume feature of these computers (see below), and you have to experience it in real life to fully appreciate its usefulness.

(4) TWO-SECOND INSTANT RESUME - If you have got used to waiting for your Windows to boot up, you'd be pleasantly shocked by how ZenBook manages to always wake up in 2 seconds, unless you've done a cold shutdown.

Instant resume was a famous feature of MacBook Air, but now ZenBook completely matches (perhaps even surpasses) MacBook air on that. Asus designed a Super Hybrid Engine which enables the ZenBook to have a true 2-seocnd resume in the entire two weeks standby time. Asus claims it is better than MacBook Air because MacBook air's instant resume works only for a day of standby time, and after that would take 6 seconds to resume. I did not test that. But if you use your laptop on a daily basis, both these machines have reliable instant resume, and you will appreciate this feature in your daily use.

Instant resume is not just a cool feature. It is very practical and has a huge impact on user experience. For example, without such instant resume ability, a laptop would have to have a minimum of eight hours of battery life to reliably last through a whole day without causing headaches. With instant resume, a 5+ hour battery life will last a whole day for most people in most situations. You usually don't use the computer constantly every minute, and the reliable instant resume of these computers makes a seamless whole day long user experience with a single charge of a five hour battery. For example, while I'm traveling, I can set this laptop to go to sleep after every 5 min. of inactivity without feeling distracted. Only a laptop that has instant resume can work this way, or it will drive you crazy. In this situation, "instant" is the key word, and even a 5-second resume may feel bad by interrupting your natural workflow and you will most likely end up setting an auto-sleep longer than a minimum of 30 min. Instant resume is therefore a crucial factor in the matter of intelligent power management.

(5) REASONABLE PRICE - for a similar configuration, the prices of ZenBook and MacBook Air are comparable. Many expected Asus to beat the Apple's price, but personally, I'm glad to see that they were even able to match it, particularly with a design that had very few compromises. One should note that a serious scaling factor is at play in the economics of making and selling these. Once occupied that enviable leveraging position facing suppliers and manufacturers on the bargaining table, Apple has an almost crushing advantage over others in the ability to make these new products requiring cutting-edge components at the lowest possible cost and sell them at a good margin. It will take time for commoditization to happen to let others to catch up. Before that, painful sacrifices (so painful that a company like HP has decided to quit) have to be made by the competitors in order to be competitive, even if assuming that they can come up with attractive competing designs at all in the first place. I just hope that ZenBook starts a momentum that leads to better and more affordable ultracompact laptops based on Windows.

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- THUMBS DOWN FOR BOTH MACBOOK AIR AND ZENBOOK

(1) Neither has built-in 3G/4G cellular communication capability to take a SIM card. I'm surprised that these newest laptops still don't have built-in 3G/4G cellular communication. This would be OK three maybe even two years ago. Not now. You need cellular communication for a device that can be called "mobile". I hope they will introduce this soon. Before that, to get cellular connection you will have to either use an external adapter or through your cell phone (either tethered or using a mini hotspot).

(2) Neither uses an IPS screen, and both are (unfortunately to me) glossy screens. An IPS screen would have superior sideview performance. New screen technologies competing with IPS are emerging, but not found on these, MacBook Air or ZenBook. But for daily use, both screens are very good, and probably a good point to bring down the price because an IPS screen would definitely have cost more.

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- THUMBS UP FOR MACBOOK AIR ONLY

MacBook air beats Zenbook on these areas:

(1) It has a backlit keyboard.

(2) Many insist that MacBook Air has an unbeatable Multi-Touch trackpad. That could be very well true. But I'm not a very sophisticated user of Multi-Touch and can't reach a conclusion on this. Both felt pleasantly good and smooth to me. If it were up to me, I still prefer the ThinkPad's TrackPoint.

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- THUMBS UP FOR ZENBOOK ONLY

ZenBook beats MacBook air on these areas:

(1) OUTSTANDING THERMAL PERFORMANCE - Although MacBook air is already a quite cool laptop, ZenBook is much cooler still, quite noticeably. I am especially pleased by the thermal/cooling performance of the ZenBook. If there is one company that can do a thermal system design to beat Apple, it is Asus, and they seem to have done exactly that. They've been designing the world's best thermal and cooling solutions for computer motherboards from the start of the company, and no one else can claim better expertise than them on this.

To me, thermal performance is the number one critical element of a laptop performance. I'd rather have a cool and slower laptop, than a hot and fast one. Asus has made one that is cool and fast.

The thermal issue is not just a preference for comfortableness. It is a serious health concern. I believe the current designs of some laptops are outright crazy and reckless. The thermal radiation is likely to cause various skin diseases in less serious cases, and infertility or even cancer in worst cases. Sooner or later, this will become a focus of attention. The whole thing is currently masked by ignorance of mass consumer.

If you dispute with me, I have my slowly burnt fingers to show you.

(2) OUTSTANDING AUDIO - You will have to listen to the sound of the ZenBook to believe it. Read more ›

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ASUS ZENBOOK REVIEW November 20, 2011

By S. Smith

Amazon Verified Purchase

Summary: The Zenbook is exactly what I had in mind when I needed a lightweight, low maintenance portable to carry on business trips with me. Tablets or netbooks were not an option because of their limited capabilities and inadequate performance.

The Zenbook is very pleasant to look at and different, but not difficult to use- in fact, my experience has been enjoyable. I've not experienced any problems described by other reviewers. Perhaps Asus is listening and my machine is a reflection of that.

I was surprised at the negative comments on engineering design, choice of components, etc. The emphasis on the keyboard and touchpad are understandable in that they are different - the manual explains how to use the keypad and what to expect. I've had electrical "pops" on many laptop chargers, and this one did so about 5% of the time. Asus provides a solid warranty on its laptops. And, I have dealt with their support organization before on warranty work and service calls, with positive results, except one, where it took time for them to find a replacement laptop - the outcome was satisfactory.

Pros:

1. The Elan touchpad works very well and has a sensitivity region that shrinks in size when you are typing on the keyboard so that you don't accidentally activate the touchpad while typing.
2. While a source of complaints, the keyboard and keys definitely enhance the look. Keys provide positive feedback with a "tactile click" created by the key giving way when it is pressed down far enough. It's also reliable - key presses that failed were not the computer's fault.
3. When done working, I just close the lid on the machine to suspend my work - (it has "sleep" rather than "shutdown" as the default option to power off your computer).
4. To resume (hours or days later), I simply open the lid and login -much the same as any laptop only the response is much quicker - about 2 seconds. My wireless reconnects fast enough that I can go directly to the Internet and start browsing, or refresh my Outlook to get the latest mail.
5. The extremely small footprint allows me to store the computer anywhere, even inside a leather notebook that normally holds a pad of paper.
6. Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 for greater speeds and new capabilities
7. Good speakers and audio
8. Tiny camera and good microphone. The mic even works with WSR.....not great
9. My old USB DVD/CD player works fine.
10. Crisp easy to read display

Cons:
1. The keyboard keys are the "chicklet" style found on other Asus, Apple, etc. computers and if you are not used to them they can be difficult to type on simply because they are flat across the top as opposed to the tapered keys found on many keyboards (e.g. ThinkPad) and are low-profile (i.e. short). Personally, all keyboards require some time to adapt to them.
2. I/O ports are limited but adequate.
3. Must carry the port adapters if you need Ethernet or VGA - I personally don't need them.
4. 4 GB RAM limit, hopefully this will change with higher density chips. However, with the SSD being so fast, virtual memory use is not noticeable to me.
5. Wireless limited to 150 Mb/s - fast enough for real-time data over wireless, but 300Mb/s would be desirable. Most routers still only support G (54 Mbps) in public places, hotels, etc. So I couldn't use it anyway.

In short, the Zenbook represents a significant step forward in mobile technology. I will benefit from Asus's innovatation and the reward/cost ratio is clearly on my side.

Update 12/18/2011:
I've used the computer daily for the last month traveling around the country without any issues. I carry it in my backback or luggage along with my Lenovo work computer. I'm actually starting to depend on the handy mouse pad gestures - quite nice. The graphics chip can drive a full HD TV (1920 x 1080) and its own monitor concurrently - e.g., watch/listen to amazon movies while I use run programs, handle email, and/or browse the internet on the lower resolution builtin display.

Very portable, convenient and reliable. Still very pleased with the purchase.

Update 2/10/2012:
Just had my first interaction with Asus support - the laptop was accidentally damaged; I sent it in under the ADW warranty and it was back in my hands 2 days later - Fixed! 1 day to transport in each direction and 1 day for the repairs. As expected, Asus covered the transportation in both directions.

Update 11/21/2012:

Just completed a 1 year anniversary with my Zenbook. I like it even more than before as ASUS continues to refine the drivers and I've found tidbits of info in the user comments here that are helpful - like how to configure the touchpad. I plan to migrate to windows 8 - the drivers are available, or, switch to one of the new touch enabled Zenbooks instead.

56 of 62 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly bad keyboard November 5, 2011

By David White

I bought this beautiful ultrabook at Frys last week and kept it for 5 days. I actually bought it right off the back of the truck that had just arrived. I was truly excited to get this machine(BUT): The keyboard is truly bad. The trackpad started off bad until I realized I needed to run an update from Asus to get all the drivers updated. The trackpad improved greatly with the updated driver, yet is still FAR lacking compared to a MacBook trackpad I do not know why).

Back to the keyboard. No driver can fix this keyboard. The keys are flat on top. The keys sit very close to the surrounding material underneath. You can push a key at the corner and touch the underlying material and not register a key push. I cannot replicate this on any other keyboard I have in the house. This means you bottom out the key before it registers the key push. Bottom line: you miss every fifth letter unless you hit the key right in the middle. I like to keep my job and I need to spell correctly. Therefore:

I took this machine right on back to Frys. The machine is truly beautiful (prettier than the MacBook Air). The sound from the speakers is very nice and it is much quieter than the MacBook Air (which we also own) because the implementation of the internal fan is much better on this Asus machine. The screen is nice too.

The keyboard sucks though and the trackpad is merely passable. I hated to take it back, but how Asus turned this into the Anus with a keyboard that doesn't work is beyond me. What screwed up committee let this happen?