ASUS Zenbook 3 Deluxe - Hands On Review

The Asus Zenbook 3 Deluxe: A Super Light Ultra Book with a Premium Touch

This is the Asus Zenbook 3 deluxe, it's a super light ultra book that is almost identical to its smaller sibling, the Asus Zenbook 3. It even has a lot of the same internal components so what makes this version deluxe well? It's a little bigger and a lot better.

Our review unit ships with an Intel Core i7-7500U processor, 16 gigabytes of RAM, a 512-gigabyte PCIe solid-state drive, and a 14-inch 1080p display. The retail price of the Asus Zenbook 3 deluxe is $1700.

Asus decided to stick with its winning design for the Zenbook 3 deluxe, with a few small refinements. It's still that deep inky blue and the lid still features that opulent gold finish around its edges. The deluxe model is a bit larger with a 14-inch display to the original 13-inch. It's still just as thin, even if it is a little heavier, weighing at 2.4 pounds compared to the original's weight of two pounds flat.

Even though it's super light, the build quality here is excellent. The chassis feels substantial and has an effortlessly premium look to it. One of our complaints about the original Zenbook 3 was its lack of ports. It featured a single USB Type-C port and a headphone jack, and that's it. The Asus Zenbook 3 deluxe remedies that issue by including three USB Type-C ports and a headphone jack, offering nearly as many ports as the latest MacBook Pro 15.

Asus also improved the keyboard pretty significantly. The key travels much deeper and feels just filled better. It still feels like a laptop keyboard but at least it feels good on the finger despite these changes. Asus decided to stick with the 1080p display for the deluxe model, with a contrast ratio of 9:10:1. It looks great, everything is sharp and vibrant, but a 1440p or 4k option would have been a welcome addition at this size.

Should You Buy It?

If you're looking for a well-built ultrabook that's a fair bit lighter than the MacBook Pro 13, the Zenbook 3 is an excellent choice at $1700. However, it faces a lot of competition, so you might want to have a look at other options like the Surface Pro, XPS 13, or even the new Surface Laptop before committing to this one.