ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 review – when performance and style have an offspring

Stylish, powerful and potent – this is the ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534. It continues the legacy of the ZenBook 15 UX533 but is a little more than just a refresh. With that said, two things stand out in the specifications list of this laptop.

As number one, we consider the obvious upgrade in the generations of NVIDIA GPUs, moving from last-years GTX 1050 Max-Q to the brand new GTX 1650 Max-Q. Thanks to the Turing 12nm architecture of NVIDIA, it manages to consume up to 35W and still perform on a decent level. More on that – later. The second big change is the ScreenPad 2.0. Now it debuts in the non-Pro version of the ZenBook and moreover, is an improved version – wider and more usable than ever.

All of the aforementioned, combined with the Whiskey Lake CPUs, the 1080p (or 4K) IPS display and the big battery is packed tightly in one of the smallest 15-inch laptop chassis that exist up to now.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-15-ux534/

Contents


Specs Sheet

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 (BX325) - Specs

  • BOE NV156FHM-N63
  • Color accuracy  5.2  2.2
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 8000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Battery
  • 71Wh, 8-cell, 73Wh, 4-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 354 x 220 x 18.9 mm (13.94" x 8.66" x 0.74")
  • Weight
  • 1.60 kg (3.5 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • HDMI
  • Card reader
  • SD
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ac
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.0
  • Audio jack
  • Headphone/ Microphone combo
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • 3D IR HD camera
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Array microphone with Cortana voice-recognition support
  • Speakers
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

All ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 (BX325) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the branded box you are going to find the laptop, carefully covered in a protective sleeve. Underneath it, there are two segments, containing the cable as well as the 120W power adapter. Additionally, there is a compartment inside the top part of the box, that contains a protective carrying bag – a nice touch, ASUS.


Design and construction

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 boasts a very small package. It short and narrow even for an ultrabook, it is 18.9 mm thick and it weighs 1.65 kg. This puts it side by side with MSI’s PS63 Modern, which is also meant for creating content while keeping your style in check. We digressed a little bit, but let’s get back to the ZenBook. It is also made out of aluminum and embodies the ErgoLift hinge.

This tilts the base of the laptop at such angle, that gives headroom to the fans while keeping the form factor thin. A great secondary effect from that is that the display loses the bottom chin, hence has almost no bezels around it – ASUS claims a 92% screen to body ratio. Above it, they have managed to put an IR face recognition system.

On the base of the device, you are going to see a full-layout backlit keyboard. By saying full-layout we mean that it features the NumberPad section. However, the keys there are smaller and they feel a little cramped up. Additionally, there is where the Power button resides.

Nevertheless, the rest of the keyboard feels very comfortable to use – having both long enough travel and clicky feedback. Just below it, though, is located the star of the show – the so-called ScreenPad. It has a does exactly what it suggests – it is a touchpad in the form of a screen, that can be used as a second display, as an assisting display, that has some dedicated apps on it – some of them include handwriting your text, Quick key for shortcuts or use it as an App navigator. If you want to fully experience the ScreenPad check ASUS’ official website or …you know… buy the laptop. By the way, the handwriting thing works surprisingly well – your words actually look as on paper.

Obviously, there are not much ventilation grills on the bottom, but in addition to them, there are the speakers as well. How about the exhausted hot air – it comes out of the left side and in between the display and the base.

Ports

Paying company to the exhaust on the left, there is a USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port and an audio jack. On the other side you can see the power plug, an HDMI connector, a USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) and a USB Type-C 3.1 (Gen. 1), followed by a full-sized SD card reader.


Disassembly and upgrade options

It all starts by removing the bottom plate – as usual. First, you need to unscrew 10 Torx-head screws (size T5). Then, pry the bottom plate with a plastic pry tool. It’s worth noting that it was somewhat harder than usual to do that, so you would need some patience to do it.

After we’ve opened the laptop, we were astounded by the tight package. There is literally no free space. However, this didn’t stop ASUS to put two fans for cooling down this system. Additionally, it uses two heat pipes for both of the chips, and interestingly, they separate by leading to a different fan – dope.

What is not dope is the fact that the lack of space means – no RAM upgrades. Make sure you pick carefully before you buy. On the bright side, there is a single M.2 PCIe x4 slot for storage expansion.

Finally, the ZenBook 15 UX534 comes with a 71Wh battery pack, which is huge for a ULV-equipped device.


Display quality

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 in the configuration we tested has a Full HD IPS panel with a model number BOE NV156FHM-N63 (BOE07D8) – expectedly, the same as the UX533. Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

It has comfortable viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

The measured maximum brightness of 313 nits in the middle of the screen and 297 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 13%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 7300K – colder than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is warmer – 7100K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1160:1 (1000:1 after profiling).

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 92% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534’s display is free of flickerings, which means it doesn’t use PWM to adjust its brightness level. This, in turn, makes it comfortable for long work periods, by not harming your eyes in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Conclusion

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534’s display has an IPS Full HD panel with comfortable viewing angles and good contrast ratio. Additionally, it covers a substantial amount of the colors found on the Internet (92% of sRGB) and its backlight lacks PWM.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 configurations with 15.6″ FHD IPS BOE NV156FHM-N63 (BOE07D8).

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

ASUS ZenBook 15 UX534 produces a very good quality sound. Its low, mid and high tones are clear.


Drivers

You can download all of the drivers and utilities on ASUS’ official web page: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-15-UX534FT/HelpDesk_Download/

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This device has a 71Wh battery pack on board.

With it, the laptop is able to reach 13 hours of Web browsing on battery power and 11 hours of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

You can get the ZenBook 15 UX534 either with the Core i5-8265U or with the Core i7-8565U – both quad-core processors. The former works in the range of 1.60-3.90 GHz, while the latter goes from 1.80 GHz up to 4.60 GHz.


GPU options

As of the graphics card – you are going for the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620, or if you want a dedicated GPU, there is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q on offering from ASUS.


Gaming tests

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average50 fps46 fps43 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average99 fps67 fps30 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average47 fps43 fps38 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i7-8565U (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS ZenBook 15 UX5343.32 GHz (B+84%) @ 85°C3.10 GHz (B+72%) @ 89°C2.68 GHz (B+49%) @ 83°C
MSI PS63 Modern3.17 GHz (B+76%) @ 95°C2.56 GHz (B+42%) @ 95°C2.32 GHz (B+29%) @ 95°C
ASUS ZenBook 15 UX5333.92 GHz (B+118%) @ 65°C3.82 GHz (B+112%) @ 79°C2.71 GHz (B+51%) @ 75°C
HP Spectre x360 15 (15-df0000)3.10 GHz (B+72%) @ 69°C1.92 GHz (B+7%) @ 61°C1.88 GHz (B+4%) @ 64°C
Dell Inspiron 14 5482 2-in-13.12 GHz (B+73%) @ 96°C2.56 GHz (B+42%) @ 94°C2.01 GHz (B+12%) @ 76°C

Quite interestingly we have a significant downgrade in the performance and the thermals of the ZenBook 15 UX534, compared to its predecessor – the UX533. Despite that, we found the cooling to still be a lot more effective than the one on MSI PS63 Modern, which was constantly running on the limit of its cooling – at 95C. Additionally, the ZenBook 15 UX534 was pretty quiet throughout the entire test and it ended at respectable 2.68 GHz at 83C.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-QGPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
ASUS ZenBook 15 UX5341229 MHz @ 77°C1221 MHz @ 78°C
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)
ASUS TUF FX5051521 MHz @ 67°C1491 MHz @ 70°C
ASUS TUF FX7051566 MHz @ 74°C1568 MHz @ 74°C
Acer Nitro 7 (AN715-51)1633 MHz @ 61°C1599 MHz @ 67°C

Now when we put it side by side with a true gaming laptop, the difference is quite extreme. You can see that despite, the ZenBook 15 UX534 is equipped with the Max-Q version of the GTX 1650 it still reaches 77-78C with frequencies that are around the Base clock speeds.

Gaming comfort

Well, the outsides are indeed a little warm, but it is in normal boundaries.


Verdict

Let’s put it straight – if you already have the ZenBook 15 UX533, there is no great reason to switch for this one. We mean, yeah, the ScreenPad is awesome and the GTX 1650 Max-Q is great, however, the step is not big enough for you to change your laptop in under a year of use.

Okay, now, this is only if you have the pre refresh version of this very device. But (there is a big but here), if you don’t and you are in need for a powerful laptop, that is going to help you with your working process, or even want to play some games on it – the ZenBook 15 UX534 is a pretty strong laptop. Why, though, you would ask.

There are a couple of very good reasons to like this laptop (as well as a few very minor ones not to). First, let’s start with the display – we had the 1080p IPS panel (BOE NV156FHM-N63 (BOE07D8)), so if you own the 4K one, the results will most probably be different. So, it has a good contrast ratio, comfortable viewing angles and it covers 92% of sRGB. Additionally, its maximum brightness is just over 300 nits, while the backlight doesn’t flicker at any level of brightness.

Well, yes there are some downsides. One of them is that the laptop is not utilizing a Type-C charger for example, while the other is that the Type-C port that it has lacks a Thunderbolt support. Perhaps the main of the downsides, however, is that the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Yep, this is 100% true – so make sure you get the 16GB if it suits your budget, because, there is no turning back.

Then, there is the performance. While it is not on par with the previous model (which is a mystery to us, why), it is still way above the average for this CPU. We were most impressed by the ability of the CPU to maintain a high frequency on all cores under long periods of time (for example during video editing). This is not only possible because of the cooling capabilities of the laptop, but also because of the bulky charger it comes with – it is able to maintain a pretty high power input towards the processor – we measured 27W after the 15th minute of Prime95 – this is insane for a ULV processor! Plus, its battery is able to handle 13 hours of Web browsing and 11 hours of video playback.

In combination with the GTX 1650 Max-Q, the ZenBook 15 UX534 turns into a great prospect – both for creative work and for a medium level of gaming. Without any intentions of discrediting the MSI PS63 Modern, the ZenBook 15 UX543 is better to purchase in our opinion.

Pros

  • ErgoLift hinge and a beautiful bezel-less design
  • 92% sRGB coverage and no PWM for brightness adjustment (BOE NV156FHM-N63 (BOE07D8))
  • ScreenPad that is basically adding a second screen to the laptop
  • Great performance
  • Long battery life


Cons

  • Lacks a Thunderbolt support
  • Its RAM is soldered and cannot be upgraded

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-zenbook-15-ux534/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
R7ex Ed
R7ex Ed
4 years ago

An almost perfect 15-inch clamp shell!

Jon
Jon
4 years ago

Great review, really detailed, thanks! Weird that it runs slower than the 533. How much does the charger weigh? How much does the charger + laptop weigh?

Laptop cũ giá rẻ Tphcm

Asus increasingly perfect with very beautiful design.

Martin
Martin
4 years ago

Does UX534 have Modern (Connected) Standby? Is it possible to turn off this terrible sleep mode?

Bea
Bea
4 years ago

El misterio del rendimiento inferior en cinebench puede ser debido a que el modelo anterior (533) iba acompañado de DDR4 2400 mientras este 534 lleva LPDRR3 a 2133. ¡Cosas de Asus!

R7ex Ed
R7ex Ed
4 years ago

Hope to see a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (7590) review and see how it compares to this.