When comparing Microsoft Surface Pro 4 vs ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA, the Slant community recommends ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA for most people. In the question“What are the best 12" laptops?” ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA is ranked 2nd while Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose ASUS ZenBook 3 UX390UA is:
The Zenbook 3 fully implements USB-C charging and charges at full speed without needing a separate AC cable.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great pen support
The (included) Surface Pen has a very interesting set of features - it allows for 1024 points of pressure, has an eraser on top, and when you click the eraser it will open Cortana (Microsoft's new voice assistant). It's magnetized, so it will stick to the left side of the Surface. The Surface achieves all of this via its new N-trig technology (replacing the Wacom technology found in older generation models). There's also palm rejection technology, so whenever the pen tip it close to the screen is will ignore all finger or palm touches.
Pro Laptop-level specs
The Surface Pro 4 comes in configurations from core M up to a core i7. RAM starts at 4GB, and goes to 16GB. Storage caps out at 256GB of SSD storage, which should be enough for most users. These are all specs that can be found in most laptops - even beating out some budget-midrange desktop options.
Pro Good expandability options
The Surface has a USB 3.0 port that can be used for a mouse to be plugged in, or you can plug in a USB hub or Microsoft's own Surface Dock, which has 4 USB 3.0 ports, audio output, Gigabit Ethernet, and two HD video ports. The Surface Dock allows for as much expandability (or more) as most laptops out there. There's also a SD card slot if you need more storage (current SD card sizes range up to 200GB, although this won't be as fast as the internal SSD speeds).
Pro Charges entirely over USB-C
The Zenbook 3 fully implements USB-C charging and charges at full speed without needing a separate AC cable.
Pro Decent screen
The 12.5inch screen has a FullHD panel and reaches a maximum brightness of 270nits. Color coverage is rather average unfortunately, at just 85% of the sRGB color gamut. One interesting feature of the Zenbook 3 are the thin bezels around the screen which give it a very premium feel.
Pro Great speakers
Zenbook's speakers are certainly a highlight of the laptop. The music is clear and has some depth to it. The sound enhancement software that comes with the laptop does a pretty good job of adding a little bass to the drum beats.
Pro Extremely portable
Weighing just 910g and being only 12mm thick, the Zenbook 3 is a very portable laptop that you can easily carry around in a backpack and forget it's there.
Pro Finger print reader for quickly logging in
Pro Backlit keyboard
Pro Has good keyboard key travel for its size
Pro Has the world's smallest fan
Pro Powered by powerful i5 or i7 CPUs
Pro Up to 16 GB of RAM for double the price
Cons
Con Expensive
You can find a computer with similar specs for about half the price of the Surface Pro 4. You are paying a premium for the high-end build quality, for the engineering required to manufacture a fully portable computer, as well as for the high resolution touchscreen.
Con Lack of touch-focused apps
Windows has traditionally been a mouse-and-keyboard operating system. Finally, third party apps are starting to become more touch friendly, although it's a long, slow process. The Windows Store still lacks many big titles, which means the only option is to download the regular Windows version of most apps, which are rarely touch-friendly.
Con Only one USB-C port
The Zenbook 3 comes with just one USB-C port that acts as a port for the charger as well. This means that you need to use a dongle in case you want to charge your laptop and use peripherals at the same time.
Con The wrist rest area flexes a little
The area where the wrist is supposed to rest has a little flex due to the chassis being made of plastic.
Con Keys are a little shallow
While the keyboard is large and (most of the time) pleasant to use, the keys themselves are a little shallow which introduces a weird feeling that can lead to frequent typos.