For a while now I have been looking at laptops and the last Windows laptop I got was in the beginning of 2008 for work and I haven’t gotten one since. I have been in situations that I need a Windows laptop to tweak and organize certain network things. My eye has always been with the Asus Zenbook, decent specs for a very small size and the same look as the MacBook Air.

Recently released they have revised the internal works of the machine and made it that much more powerful. The new Zenbook Prime UX31A and UX21A would include a revamped design with newer Ivy Bridge processors, backlit keyboards, speedier SSD up to 256 GB, an optional Nvidia 620M GPU, and the matte 1080p IPS displays.

The specifications I’m going for are:

• Intel Core i7-3517UM 1.7 GHz
• 4 GB SO-DIMM, 128 GB Solid-State Drive
• Backlit Keyboard
• 13.3-Inch IPS Full-HD LED Screen, Intel HD 4000 Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

The best part about purchasing it from Amazon is that there is a Windows 8 upgrade Guarantee for any computer bought between June 2 2012 and Jan 31 2012 for $14.99 which is relatively cheap for an OS. I was previously waiting to make the purchase at a later stage so I can get Windows 8 but for that price and specifications I will have the chance to get Windows 8 right as soon as it’s released.

The best review I got with the full breakdown on the machine was done as usual by the Verge, they really go through the machine totally. The main drawbacks is the mediocre sound and annoying touchpad and those for me are not deal breakers. And for $1400 its pretty good. There is quite a bit of bloatware on it so I’m plan on doing a clean install which will do me good and drastically improve performance.

(All Pics Taken From TheVerge – Check out their review, it gives you all the details)

Link: TheVerge