Of late, I found an increasing interest towards sleek and portable laptops which is the reason why I called dibs on the newly launched Asus ZenBook UX430 as soon as it arrived in India. There was a time when all I wanted was a powerful laptop that could satiate the hunger for games in me.

Great display; Slim and lightweight; Premium design

Heats up while gaming; Underpowered GPU

Asus continues to make smaller and more powerful ultrabooks, that compete with the likes of Apple and Dell on every other aspect, except pricing. As more people demand for more a more powerful computer that's…

Lightweight and very portable; Crisp, anti-glare display; Useful fingerprint sensor

Absurd fingerprint sensor placement; Lid picks up smudges and fingerprints

"The PC industry is dying, smartphones will take over" – this usual statement has been around for a while. It's not wrong to say that smartphones and tablets are slowly evolving to dominate the laptop's territory of providing computing solutions on the move.

Excellent everyday laptop. Fast CPU, fast wifi (1% faster than MacBook Pro by Rogers speed test). Good size SSD, backlit keyboard, very light laptop and power adapter (which is exactly the size of old macbook 65W adaper but lighter) - very good for working on the road or taking on a trip.

The Asus ZenBook UX430U is everything most people are looking for in an ultraportable, right down to the affordable price. There's a lot to like here, especially the trifecta of a high-quality display, optimal webcam placement, and thin bezels.

Excellent value; Thin and light; Full HD display; Comfortable keyboard

No touch screen; Frequent fan noise

Asus continues to make smaller and more powerful ultrabooks, that compete with the likes of Apple and Dell on every other aspect, except pricing. As more people demand for more a more powerful computer that's powerful enough to handle most everyday computing tasks, the like of the Asus ZenBook...

Asus seems to have paid attention to what the market really wants, and that is a simple, no-nonsense laptop that's easy to carry around. Even with the base model, you get a modern processor and comfortably large SSD, and we're happy to see that creature comforts such as the excellent screen and...

Looks great; thin and light, Comfortable trackpad and keyboard, Excellent screen, Good overall performance

Not enough USB ports; Noisy fans; Battery life could have been better

The positives don't outweigh the longer list of negatives on the UX430. The few standout features are the crisp matte display and thin design, but nearly everything else is average at best or unremarkable.

crisp IPS matte display; good contrast levels, accessible internals; upgradeable M.2 SSD, Great core specifications for the price, attractive and slim design, respectable battery life, full-size SD card reader, decent speakers

display backlight could be brighter; poor outdoor visibility, Discrete MX150 tends to throttle below base clock rate, pulse-width modulation on nearly all brightness levels, Inserted SD card protrudes by over half its length, no touchscreen, glossy, or 4K UHD options, soft keyboard keys with shallow...

The ZenBook UX430UA is one of many thin and light ultraportable Asus laptops. It follows in the footsteps of previous greats, including the UX310UA and UX303UA that delivered a similar combination of performance and portability.

Supremely portable; Great keyboard and trackpad; Anti-glare screen is great for productivity; Decent performance

Not the best value; Lid picks up fingerprints and smudges; Disappointing battery life

This laptop is splendid. Lightweight, fast, nice screen. I would've liked more ports but I just bought a USB C hub with 4 USB A 3.0 ports. It does has a little coil whine (I believe it's the SSD) but it happens only on full stress and it is not that often, I can hardly ever notice it if it's still...