Asus Zen. Book 3 vs. Apple Mac. Book Super Skinny Laptop Face Off. It would be a mistake to write off the Asus Zen. Book 3 as a Mac. Book clone, because its not. Sure, its really thin, like Apples trendsetting ultraportable, but Asus machine stands out, offering a full power Core i. Core M weak sauce here in a very svelte frame. The Zen. Book 3 also has a very colorful 1. The Mac. Book is the trendsetter for a reason, though It offers a sharp display, surprisingly good ergonomics and excellent battery life. Read on to see which system deserves your money. Design. Both the Mac. Book and Zen. Book 3 are among the thinnest and lightest laptops on earth. Made of 6. 01. 3 aluminum alloy, which Asus said is 5. Zen. Book weighs 2 pounds and measures 1. The unibody aluminum Mac. Book is ever so slightly heavier and thicker at 2. MacBook Pro Kaby Lake first look MacBook Pro Kaby Lake first look. Apple has just unveiled its refreshed line of 12inch MacBook laptops, which feature new and more powerful Intel Core M processors. Heres everything you need to know. The Mac. Book comes in four colors, including Rose Gold, Space Gray, Gold and Silver, and the Zen. Book 3 comes in Quartz Grey, Rose Gold and Royal Blue. I dont like that you have to pay 5. Asus. Still, I love how the blue carries over to the keyboard, as well as the gold, diamond cut edging. Plus, the Asus touchpad has a fingerprint sensor that supports Windows Hello, which makes it easy to log in. Winner Zen. Book 3. The blue version will turn more heads. Credit Repair Spreadsheet. Times are tough. Many people are struggling. And many people find themselves in a hole, missing credit card and car payments, and when they. MORE Best Ultrabooks Thin and Light Windows LaptopsPorts. If you like to plug in more than one peripheral at once, you wont like the Mac. Book or Zen. Book 3. They both have only a single USB C port, which is used for charging. There are a growing number of USB C accessories, but youll want to use a dongle to accommodate most of your existing devices. The good news is that Asus includes a Mini Dock in the box, which has both an HDMI output and traditional USB port, in addition to a USB C port for charging. Apple charges 7. AV Multiport Adapter. Winner Zen. Book 3. At least Asus includes a dock. Display. The 1. 2. Asus Zen. Book 3 is bigger than the Mac. Books 1. 2 inch panel, but its not as sharp. It packs 1. 92. 0 x 1. Mac. Books display. Asus does include special True. Life technology that you can turn on and off via software, which is designed to increase the sharpness and contrast of videos, and we found that it worked well. The Zen. Book 3s display is a bit more colorful, covering 1. RGB color gamut versus 1. Apple. With a Delta E rating of 1. Zen. Books screen has colors that are slightly less accurate than the Mac. Books. Last but not least, the Mac. Books display is brighter, hitting 3. Zen. Book 3s 3. 09 nit brightness is above the ultraportable average, but below the Macs. Winner Mac. Book. While its less colorful, the Mac. Books screen is sharper and brighter. Audio. I fired up Spotify and listened to some U2 and Chris Stapleton on both the Mac. Book and Zen. Book 3, and the Asus had the edge. While the Mac. Books speaker produces more volume, it sometimes struggled with the high notes, which sounded harsh at maximum volume. The four speaker system on the Asus delivered a more balanced performance on such tracks as I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For, with the jangling guitars nicely complementing Bonos soaring vocals. Also, unlike with the Mac. Book, you can adjust the sound profiles on the Zen. Book using the Audio. Wizard app. Winner Zen. Book 3. More speakers more balanced sound. MORE Best Asus Laptops. Keyboard and Touchpad. When you look at the numbers, the Zen. Book 3 would seem to have the superior keyboard. It offers 0. 8 millimeters of travel, which is more than the Mac. Books 0. 5 mm. However, the Zen. Books keys felt mushier as I typed. The Mac. Book feels flatter and stiffer at first, but its unique butterfly mechanism offers a more solid feel. The Mac. Book also offers a roomier touchpad at 4. Zen. Book. More importantly, the Force Touch trackpad on the Mac provides a smoother scrolling experience and more accurate cursor navigation its less jumpy. Winner Mac. Book. The Asus is good, but the Mac. Book is better. Performance. The Mac. Book and Zen. Book 3 use different processors, with the Asus starting with a full Core i. Generation Kaby Lake CPU, 8. GB of RAM and a 2. GB SSD for 1,0. 99. We tested the 1,5. Core i. 7 chip, 1. GB of RAM and a 5. GB SSD. The Mac. Book starts with a low power Core m. GB of RAM and a 2. GB SSD, and we reviewed the faster Core m. RAM and a 5. 12. GB SSD. On Geekbench, which measures overall performance, the Zen. Book 3 scored 7,6. Mac. Book 5,9. 06. The Asus also packs a faster SSD, as it turned in a transfer rate of 5. That also beats the Mac. Books 3. 55. 9 MBps. The only test where the Mac. Book outshined the Zen. Book was our spreadsheet test, which pairs 2. The Apple took 3 minutes and 1. Asus wasnt that far behind at 3 3. Winner Zen. Book 3. Its simply more powerful. MORE Best Apple Laptops. Heat and Noise. Because the Zen. Book 3 has a Core i. Core M processor, it needs a tiny fan to dissipate heat. It works well, too both the keyboard and touchpad stayed below 9. The bottom of the system hit 9. The fanless Mac. Book got a little toastier on the bottom, hitting 1. Winner Mac. Book. The Asus runs cooler, but its also louder. Battery Life. This is the biggest reason to go with the Mac. Book. On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi Fi, the Core i. Zen. Book 3 lasted 7 hours and 5 minutes. Thats not bad, given how thin this system is, and we would expect moderately better endurance from the less powerful Core i. However, the Mac. Book lasted a very strong 9 hours and 3. Winner Mac. Book. It has significantly more staying power. Webcam. While both the Mac. Book and Zen. Book have low resolution cameras, the Zen. Book 3s shooter is truly awful. The selfie I shot in my office was quite blurry and delivered inaccurate colors it looked like I went through a spray tan booth. The Mac. Books image looks fairly fuzzy, too, but at least the hues are more realistic. Winner Mac. Book. The lesser of two evils. Value. The Asus Zen. Book 3 starts at a lower 1,0. Mac. Book by 2. 00. You also get more for your money in terms of performance, because you get a Core i. Core m. 3 CPU you get on the Apple. Asus also includes a dock for attaching peripherals, whereas Apple charges 7. Both systems start with 8. GB of RAM and a 2. GB SSD. MORE Best Laptops Under 5. Those willing to pay a premium can choose the 1,5. Zen. Book 3 in fetching Royal Blue, which also steps you up to a Core i. GB of RAM. The 1,5. Mac. Book gives you a roomy 5. GB SSD like the Zen. Book, but Asus splurge configuration also includes 1. Unit 731 Testimony Pdf. GB of RAM, while the Mac. Book stays at 8. GB. If you want a Core m. Apple 1,7. 99. Winner Zen. Book 3. More oomph for your money. Overall Winner. The Zen. Book 3 and Mac. Book are both very strong ultraportables, but their strengths are in different areas, which is why this match ends in a draw. Still, there are clear winners here, depending on your priorities. Get the Asus Zen. Book 3 if you want better performance and richer audio, and you want better specs for your money. The Mac. Book is the ultraportable to get if you prefer longer battery life, as well as a slightly better typing experience, a sharper screen and better webcam.