Asus seems to be gearing up to launch a refreshed version of its ZenBook UX305 super-slim laptop that was launched last year. The new model, dubbed as the ZenBook UX306UA, will throw in a few new features like an illuminated chiclet keyboard and a USB Type-C port. The upcoming refresh will also measure 12.75 x 8.90 x 0.55 inches, making it just as thin and light as the older model.
The upcoming UX306UA will feature either an Intel Core i7-6500U or an Intel Core i5-6200U processor. The laptop will also support up to 16GB of DDR3L SDRAM clocked at 1,866MHz, and between 256GB and 512GB of storage on an SATA 3 SSD. The visuals will be handled by integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 hardware built into the CPU.
Staying on the visual front, the UX306UA will have a 13.3-inch, LED-backlit IPS screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Customers will be able to choose from a model with a 3,200 x 1,800 resolution and a model with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. The screen will be protected by an anti-glare coating for outdoor use, and play host to a built-in HD webcam.
As for inputs and outputs, the UX306UA will have a microphone and headphone combo jack, one USB 3.0 port, one micro HDMI port for pushing the Windows 10 Home desktop to an HDTV, one SD card reader, and the USB Type-C port, which provides transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps. There doesn’t seem to be an Ethernet port, but the laptop’s network connectivity will be handled by integrated wireless AC technology.
Finally, the updated laptop will include two built-in 2-watt speakers, a digital microphone, and a 57 Whrs polymer battery promising up to 12 hours of life with Wi-Fi connected. Security features thrown into the hardware list will include BIOS booting user password protection and hard drive user password protection. The product page’s overview section adds that the laptop will include Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, too.
One feature that makes this notebook stand out among the others is its Asus IceCool technology. This prevents heat emanated by hot-handed humans from building up on the palm rest. The surface temperature is intended to stay within 28 degreesto 35 degrees Celsius, a window below our body temperature, to keep the overall computing experience comfortable. This definitely beats using a tiny desktop fan to blow air across the laptop’s keyboard to keep those sweaty palms chilled.
Just recently, we took a look at the older $900 Zenbook UX305UA, which packed an Intel Core i5-6200U processor that had a single-core score of 2,854 and a multi-core score of 6,045 on Geekbench. The review unit also had a 256GB solid state drive from Micron that managed 460MB per second in the CrystalDiskMark Read Test. The notebook’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 hardware managed a score of 821 in 3DMark’s Fire Strike test.
Overall, the only real drawbacks we saw with the UX305UA was its overall plain design and a lack of a backlit keyboard, the latter of which Asus has obviously fixed with the upcoming UX306UA model. However, when this updated ZenBook will be released here in the United States is unknown at this point, but the listing itself indicates that its arrival could be rather soon.