With the laptop manufacturers in a maddening rush to cut short the bulk from the notebooks, with almost all manufacturers dishing out flagship ultra-books, the market needed a product which covers almost all the Cons of the competitors without adding on to the extra paunch on the device. Apple MacBook is one of the thinnest notebooks available in the market, yet it only features a single USB type C port, ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T fills that void with an array of ports, without sacrificing the form factors.
Table of Contents
Major Highlights of the Product
- Full HD narrow bezel touchscreen display
- Ultra-Light 2-in-1 Ultrabook with a touch pen included in the packaging
- Affordable Pricing at USD 1,299
- Powered by an 8th Generation Core i7 APU with an NVidia GPU enabling effortless graphic design and photo manipulation jobs.
- 512 GB SSD Hard Disk Drive
- Windows 10 Home Edition out-of-the-box
Form Factor
The ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T Ultrabook is housed in a sleek aluminum chassis with the trademark Asus Concentric Circle Pattern on the lid. Below the lid, it sports a narrow bezel Full HD Screen, bezels of which are narrow to the edge and thick on the top and bottom. Though Asus claims the display to be IPS and anti-glare, a fair amount of glare is observed coupled with an ultra-glossy screen, which makes it a difficult read in the outdoors.
The 16:9 form factor, lags behind in visual performance in comparison to the 3:2 form factor, often seen in tear off 2-in-1s, especially in portrait mode. The ZenBook has a 0.5 inches thickness in a closed mode and weighs an approximate of 3.3 pounds.
Processor
The ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T packs in the latest Core i7 processor and an NVidia GeForce MX150 GPU integrated, provides a solid performance in terms of the general usability and an above average level of multitasking in the general computing side as well as on the graphic design and editing capacities. It runs resource hungry design applications like that of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop like a charm. However, the graphics capabilities suffer a setback if the gaming experience is considered. The ZenBook Flip is a low performer on the Gaming side and high-end games lag even at a lower GPU setting.
ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T Performance
The overall performance of the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T is a mixed bag. While it does pack in a lot of features, few of which are really interesting ones, calling it a true all-around performer would be an over exaggeration. Starting with the build quality, the design and look of the laptop, though brandishing a metallic look, is not something that is interesting and fresh rather it seems a repeat telecast of all the previous designs of the Asus Laptops/ Ultra-books.
The hinges are too tight for a single-handed operation, and also caves in a little bit while an amount of pressure is put on opening the lid. The Type C ports lack the Thunderbolt3 support, which though provides legacy support, does not offer dash charging or similar futuristic features. The laptop features a volume rocker and an on/off switch which is similar to the mobile phone/ tablet architecture, on the sides of the laptop, which is an interesting feature, while posing a risk of being pressed down and subsequent damages.
On the positive side, however, in spite of the sleek form factor, the laptop packs in the power of a Core i7 processor, which provides a robust computing experience. The NVidia graphics chip provides design capabilities to the laptop, thereby the resource hungry graphics designing software run like a charm on the laptop. This capacity is further augmented by the in-package Asus Pen, and a responsive touch screen providing designing ease. The Laptop functions equally well in tent, normal and tablet modes, with a slight usability slag in the portrait mode, owing to the 16:9 form factor.
The RAM and the ROM
The Laptop features a meaty 16 GBs of LPDDR3 2133 MHz RAM, which is soldered to the system, therefore the RAM cannot be easily removed. That being said, the RAM is enough for seamless multi-tasking ability with resource-hungry apps, and for general computing users and graphic designers on a budget, this laptop delivers smooth performance. and on the Capacity side, this laptop packs in a 512 GB M2 form factor SSD Hard Disk Drive, which takes care of the space requirements.
Battery life
The Lithium-ion battery packs a power packed 10 hours (Approx) of performance on a single charge, which is commendable given the fact that the device runs on a core i7 processor which in itself is a little power-hungry.
The Product at a Glance
| Form Factor | 14 Inch, Metallic Finish with a 0.5 inch closed lid width, with a full HD 1920p X 1080p 16:9 form factor display with a narrow bezel 157 PPI |
| Processors | 1.8GHz 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8550U with an NVidia GeForce GPU |
| Memory Options | 8 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD |
| Input Options | USB 3.0, 3.1 USB-C (non-Thunderbolt 3), HDMI, microSD card slot, 3.5mm combo audio jack, volume rockers and an off/on switch, on the sides of the laptop and a fingerprint sensor perched over the top corner of the trackpad. |
| Display Options | 1920 X 1080 touchscreen IPS narrow bezel display. |
| Connectivity Option | 802.11AC Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Camera | 0.9-megapixel front camera |
| Power Backup | Around 10 hours of backup |
| Operating System | 64-bit Windows 10 Home |
Final Verdict
For a sub-1300 Dollar price range, the ASUS ZenBook Flip UX461UN-DS74T, with its features gives stiff competition to the players of the 2-in-1 convertible ultra-books. Accepted, lacks the chic looks of the Lenovo Yoga, or there are deal breakers like the sloppy Fingerprint scanner, underrated front camera, and a below average gaming experience, yet it still is a good buy for the general purpose computing needs with a latest Intel processors, lightweight, and an exceptional battery life.
