To test the battery life of a laptop, we use PCMark 8’s in-built battery benchmark – which loops its ‘Home’ benchmark until the battery fails. We do this with the screen brightness set at 50 per cent and the power mode slider all the way to the left to Battery Saver.
The ZenBook 13 UX331UN provides quite a bit more endurance than previous ZenBooks we have tested, and even beats the excellent Dell XPS 13. Although ASUS claims ten hours, and this test is just five and a half, it should be noted that this test is continually running workloads without a break.
In reality, you probably won't work like that, and the screen brightness is also perfectly acceptable at 25 per cent. We took this notebook to an all-day event, using it for six hours straight to take notes, browse the Web, and participate in social media. By the end of the day there was still allegedly a few hours left.
In other words, if you need to work on a transatlantic flight or sit in a coffee shop all day writing, the UX331UN will deliver without you having to scrabble for the AC power adapter. Assuming you fully charged the battery before heading out…