Why Asus Zenbook UX305 Catches Eyes in Crowded Enterprise Market

By Don Reisinger

The secret sauce in the UX305 is mobility. Asus is marketing this notebook as an ultra-light device that’s ideal for highly mobile employees, especially sales professionals and others who need to work on-the-go. The UX305 is a remarkably thin 1.23cm at its thinnest point and weighs just 2.6 pounds. Those seeking ultra-mobility will find it in the UX305.

Asus has done a fine job over the last several years delivering stylish products. There was a time in the enterprise when computers were dull and ugly. But Asus, like HP, Dell, and Lenovo, have all found a way to bring beauty to products designed for corporate customers. The UX305 comes in White Ceramic Alloy or Obsidian Stone with “spun-metal hairline details.” There are also diamond-cut edges to add a little more refinement. From a design perspective, the UX305 is spot-on.

The UX305’s display quality could be a major selling point for companies that need their employees to have higher-end screens. Most notebooks in its category come with a 1,440-by-900 display, due mainly to their small size. However, the 13.3-inch UX305 screen clocks in at 3,200-by-1,800 pixels. That’s a major upgrade over what is available in some competing notebook models.

Since it’s such a small device, the UX305 comes standard with a solid-state drive, though customers who want more storage can opt for SATA3. The computer comes with up to 512GB of storage, providing enough room for large files. Asus has been pushing the heavy storage as a major selling point for enterprise customers, realizing that in many companies around the world, internal storage size is still very important.

Asus has done a fine job of bundling the latest and greatest technology in the UX305. From the aforementioned high-end screen to support for USB 3.0, the device has what most enterprise customers are seeking. In addition, the computer has 802.11ac wireless, a micro HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port for viewing presentations, and more. From a specs perspective, it’s well-equipped.

The Zenbook comes with Intel’s Core M line of processors, which is believed to be less powerful than the company’s i5 or i7 line of processors. However, according to Asus, its latest notebook actually outperforms the i5, despite less power. The company showed several benchmarks, including opening Microsoft Office files to claim that this notebook can open apps faster than comparably equipped computers running the Intel Core i5.

The cloud is a hot topic in the enterprise, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Asus is pushing its cloud services to customers. The company says that the UX305 comes with support for the Asus cloud storage server WebStorage, as well as the ability to synchronize content between devices. Users will get 16GB of WebStorage capacity when they buy the UX305.

Battery life is critical to a mobile employee, so Asus has done a solid job working at maximizing how long its computer will last on a single charge. The Zenbook UX305 lasts for 10 hours for Web browsing and eight hours for playing music or watching videos. The all-day battery life could be an important selling point to some companies.

The big issue for Asus’ ultraportable is that it runs Windows 8.1—an operating system that has not proven popular among consumers or enterprise customers. However, as Microsoft has noted, the company will provide free upgrades to Windows 10 to any customer running Windows 8.1. So, while it might be less-than desirable at the onset, Windows 10 looks to be a winner and something enterprise customers will want once it launches.

It’s hard to beat the Zenbook UX305’s starting price of $699. The device comes with a wide range of high-end components and its design is outstanding. To make it affordable to boot could play a crucial role in the device selling quite well in the enterprise in the coming months.