iFixit

Many PC manufacturers turn to audio specialists outside of their own company to provide their laptops with sound systems. Asus is no different, looking to Bang & Olufsen to pump up the volume in the Zenbook.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bang & Olufsen, their sound systems are the choice of many luxury vehicle manufacturers, including Aston Martin.

• We're pretty sure the left speaker is Bang, while the right is Olufsen.

  • That's what we heard through the grapevine, at least.
  • We'll be here all night, folks.

In order to completely blur the lines between an Ultrabook and a high-powered laptop, Asus gave the Zenbook onboard RAM and removable RAM.

While this may give the Zenbook an identity crisis, it is a step in the right direction for Ultrabook design.

It is clear that Asus wanted to give users the ability to upgrade/repair their laptops, but could only allow for a single RAM module given the space constraints inside the already-bulging Zenbook.

We'll keep our eyes peeled for the onboard RAM, but the removable RAM module comes out for now.

The Zenbook comes standard with a 500 GB, 5400 RPM 2.5" hard disk drive, in addition to 24 GB of onboard SSD storage.

Let's see how this hard drive measures up to other high profile Ultrabooks.

• 2012 Apple MacBook Air 13" ($1,099.99 - $1,199.99): 128 GB SSD
• Dell Inspiron 14z ($899.99): 500 GB, 5400 RPM HDD and 32GB onboard SSD
• Acer Aspire S5 ($1,279.00 - $1,399.99): 2x 128 GB SSD

No matter which way you spin it, a 5400 RPM HDD seems a bit out of place in a $1,300 laptop.

These fans are pretty cool. And accessible!

• We'll stop. We promise. Or maybe not—only time will tell.

Because fans are responsible for circulating the air through the computer, they are often the component that collects the most dust. Having fans that are easy to access for cleaning are important for making a device that is easy to maintain.

There is something oddly satisfying about removing a warranty sticker. Maybe it's the feeling of irrevocability that comes with it—knowing that, from this point onward, the device is entirely yours.

• It appears as though Asus didn't put too much engineering into enforcing their warranty. The void sticker is just a sticker—no impossible-to-remove residue on the screw head, no weird disintegrating labels. Just a sticker that actually retains a good amount of stickiness even after being removed.

  • We're not saying you should defraud companies—just stating fact.

With a little elbow grease, the Intel 6235 Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 card comes out of its mini PCI Express socket. Inside we find two Intel ICs:

• Intel 82550 Fast Ethernet Controller
• Intel 82549MDE Wi-Fi controller

In an industry where design often favors slimness over modularity, we're thankful that the Weefees still come as mini PCI Express cards.

Motherboard removal and replacement is fairly easy with the inclusion of labeled connectors on the board.

• Though they're not technically "instructions," labeling sockets and connectors is extremely helpful when reassembling a machine. Thanks Asus!

Off come some standard connectors and screws, and the motherboard is free.

Front of motherboard:

• Intel Core i7-3517U 1.9 GHz processor (4M cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 620M GPU
• 4x Hynix H5TQ2G83CFR 2 Gb DDR3 SDRAM
• 2x Hynix H5TQ2G63DFR 2 Gb DDR3 video SDRAM
• SanDisk iSSD SDIS5BK 024G 24 GB SSD
• Intel BD82HM76 platform controller hub
• ON Semiconductor NCP3218 synchronous buck controller