We have reviewed the ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325J exactly a year ago and today I get to check out the successor, ZenBook 13 UX325E OLED. It a lot of new improvements, obviously the OLED display which applied on a lot of ASUS’s 2021 ZenBook-series laptops and of course the updated internal like the Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processor.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325E – Specification

• Intel Core i5-1135G7 / i7-1165G7
• 13.3″ 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD OLED Display
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• 8GB LPDDR4x 4,266MHz RAM
• Intel SSD 660P 512GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x2 SSD Storage
• IR Webcam with Windows Hello
• 2x Thunderbolt 4 USB C, 1x USB A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI & 1x microSD Card Reader
• 67Wh 4-cell Lithium-polymer Battery
• Dimension 30.4cm x 20.3cm x13.9cm (WxDxH) @ 1.11kg
• Colour options: Pine Grey / Lilac Mist
• Price: RM 4,299 (Intel i5-1135G7) / RM 4,999 (Intel i7-1165G7)
• Where to buy: Shopee Malaysia / Lazada Malaysia

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325E – Design

It has the exact built and design with the ASUS ZenBook 13 UX325J which I love so much for practically in such lightweight and compact.

The use of lightweight yet strong aluminium alloy not only helps with the sleek design and serious durability. The ultrabook even meets the MIL-STD-810G US military standard and passes the ASUS laptop stress tests included power-on drop test and operation at extremes altitude and temperature.

The signature Ergolift hinge tilt the keyboard 3° when the lid opened added better ergonomic typing as well as internal airflow. Coming to the keyboard and touchpad, the ZenBook 13 uneven keyboard backlight seems to have been fixed. The 1.4m key travel is comfortable and tactile for my liking. The touchpad size is large enough and does feature ASUS NumberPad 2.0 which is handy for those who crunch a lot of numbers.

The slim bezel frame allowing it to keep the laptop’s footprint small while equipped with a 13.3-inch OLED display. More on the display later. The top bezel is slightly thicker to accommodate the HD webcam and an IR sensor enabling Windows Hello support even in total darkness.

While on the bottom are two bottom-firing speakers tuned by Harmon Kardon and four rubber feet to keep the laptop in place. Although the audio bounced from the table, I did find the sound is crystal clear and loud without much distortion. The audio would easily be muffled if you placed it on a couch or bed.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325E – Ports & Connectivity

The ports selections are pretty ample including a full-sized HDMI 2.0, two Thunderbolt 4 ports for fast charging, 40Gbps data transfer and connecting to 4K monitors. There’s a USB A 3.2 Gen 1 and a microSD card reader on the right.

Intel 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth V5.0 are present on this laptop. Best-in-class Wi-Fi connectivity with Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) 1 for responsive and reliable Wi-Fi connections.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325 – Performance

Of course, the internal get updated with the power-efficient Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processor paired with a significant iGPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics. Offered with two processor options; Intel Core i5-1135G7 and Core i7-1165G7 paired with soldered 8GB LPDDR4x 4,266MHz RAM and Intel SSD 660P 512GB PCI NVMe SSD storage. Breaking the boundaries of performance for thin and light laptops, the 11th Gen Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics offers an unmatched speed and intelligence that makes your experience fast, smooth, and easy!

The review unit that I gotten is the Core i5-1135G7 quad-core, 8 threads with a max turbo frequency of up to 4.2GHz. It is one power-efficient processor based on configurable TDP from 12W to 28W.

On Geekbench 5 test, the single-core scored 1,276 while the multi-core scored 3,370. Coming to GPU, it garnered 11,025 points which are pretty close to the NVIDIA GeForce MX350 discrete graphics card. You can even game with it but don’t put too high expectations, after all this is an ultrabook that isn’t meant for gaming.

Videos and photos editing are manageable on this laptop, some heavy codecs may require proxies for a smoother playback while editing.

Overall it’s a great business or creative laptop for anyone who needs something portable and lightweight.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325E – OLED Display

The OLED display upgrade is a godsend, offer good colour reproduction at any brightness level while giving exceptionally high contrast and vivid colours. The Full HD ASUS OLED panel provide a 1:1,000,000 Contrast Ratio, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut and ultra-fast 0.2ms response time. Not forgetting, it is PANTONE Validated and TÜV Rheinland certified which reduce 70% harmful blue light compared to a conventional LCD technology display.

The OLED display is already rich in colour and it can get further spice up by enabling the Vivid setting under the MyASUS app. Movies that I watched on Netflix has stepped up a level with the Vivid setting enabled.

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED UX325E – Battery Life

It’s not easy to kill the battery on this laptop, the 67Wh battery lasted close to 13 hours with mostly web-based works, Netflix streaming and some photo editing. It can easily last me two days of use with a single charge.

The compact 65W PD charger is capable to charge the laptop from 0% to 100% in less than 2 hours.