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Sheltering in place means hours spent working and videoconferencing at residence — and on the sofa or in mattress, for a few of us. That means battery life and lap-friendliness stay related even for those who’re not touring or working in oddball locations. But as a lot as I just like the 14-inch Asus ExpertBook B9450 for its strengths in that respect, its price ticket could also be a little bit offputting, particularly given its relative weaknesses in contrast with cheaper fashions.
LikeFeatherweight for its sizeSpectacular battery lifeDespite its ultrathin profile, it has a full-size HDMI connector
Don’t LikeExpensive for a clamshellSlower than related fashions
Several novelties make the 14-inch ExpertBook B9450 stand out from a crowd of me-too enterprise laptops, along with the yowza 16-plus hour battery life as examined. While it is not a two-in-one just like the LG Gram 14 or Lenovo Yoga C940, it does speak in confidence to 180 levels (in different phrases, it may possibly lie flat). The vary of display angles, plus its cool operating, has made it certainly one of my favorites for lap work and Zooming whereas giving my again a break in mattress. It’s additionally exceptionally mild at 2.2 kilos (995 grams) — lighter than a MacBook Air, for example — because of Asus’ novel use of magnesium-lithium alloy, which the corporate claims is lighter and stronger than the magnesium-aluminum alloy utilized by most laptops. And although the floor seems like plastic, there’s little flex within the keyboard deck and the corporate says it is handed quite a lot of the MIL-STD 810G exams. Though it is also lighter than the aforementioned opponents, they’re additionally hybrids, that are often heavier than equal clamshells.
Asus’ NumberPad 2.0 is a digital numeric keypad that comes up on the touchpad. You can nonetheless use it as a touchpad whereas it is there.
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Another notable function is Asus’ NumberPad 2.0, the digital numeric keypad for the touchpad, a pleasant addition given that you simply sacrifice a quantity pad with most small laptops. It’s nice if it is advisable to enter numbers or do calculations, however it would not work at the side of the alt key for coming into ASCII codes. That could also be a distinct segment quibble, however it’s the quickest method to enter incessantly used symbols reminiscent of £ or ©.None of this comes notably low cost, although. Our analysis unit configuration is $1,800, making it costlier than carefully configured opponents; ours got here with 2TB SSD, however that is most likely approach overkill for a laptop computer on this class. You can get it with 512GB (from Amazon and B&H, for instance), however that solely shaves about $100 off the value. In principle, there’s an Intel Core i5-10210U model and an choice with a 33-watt-hour battery — that ought to ship half the battery lifetime of our 66-Wh unit — which ought to value much less, however these are not obtainable wherever but. Models with the 33-Wh battery ought to weigh even much less at 1.9 kilos (870 grams).Along the identical traces, the system seems on Asus’ UK website, however is not in the stores, and would not appear to be obtainable in any respect in Australia. The US value interprets to about £1,445 or AU$2,820.
Asus ExpertBook B9450F
Price as reviewed
$1,800
Display
14-inch 1,920×1,080 show
PC CPU
1.8GHz Intel Core i7-10510U
PC Memory
16GB LPDDR3 SDRAM 2,133MHz
Graphics
128MB devoted Intel UHD Graphics 620
Storage
2TB SSD
Ports
2x USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, 1x USB-A 3.1, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x micro HDMI-to-Ethernet, 1x combo audio
Networking
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5
Operating system
Windows 10 Pro (1909)
Weight
2.2 kilos (995 grams)
Because it is a enterprise system, it has all of the niceties you’d anticipate: Windows 10 Pro, a fingerprint reader, and IR digital camera for Windows Hello login. There’s additionally a digital camera shutter for privateness and devoted button for turning off the digital camera. If you are an enterprise person or purchaser, Asus plans to make a vPro model obtainable as soon as Intel rolls out the vPro-supporing variations of those CPUs.The matte-textured shell would not entice fingerprints, however does are inclined to get scuffed and dusty. One merely cannot win in opposition to the setting.The ExpertBook makes use of Asus’ ErgoLift hinge, which lifts the underside for higher air flow and a slight keyboard tilt.
Lori Grunin/CNET
Though the display would not actually stand out, it is matte and fairly vivid. I have not been in direct mild in over a month, so I’m undecided if it is vivid and nonreflective sufficient to deal with these lighting circumstances. Likewise, the backlit keyboard feels first rate with fairly a little bit of journey (1.5mm) and bouncy suggestions. There are quite a lot of utilities included, all obtainable through a central MyAsus app launcher. These embody recharge-ceiling settings (100%, 80% and 60%) to theoretically delay the battery’s bodily life and an app that allows direct connection to a telephone (through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) for file switch and on-PC notifications. It may be helpful, however nonetheless feels a little bit awkward since it is not built-in with both working system, although.
Lori Grunin/CNET
My one quibble with the keyboard is the location of the facility button, which is simply above the backspace key and to the left of the delete key. It doubtless solely issues for those who’re a contact typist who makes use of each, however I’ve needed to practice myself to look down when utilizing both with a purpose to hold from hitting the facility button by accident. This format is not distinctive to the ExpertBook, nonetheless. It appears to be cropping up rather a lot in newer technology of ultrathin laptops. On the opposite hand, the devoted screen-capture key’s welcome and likewise appears to be a part of the development.On our streaming-video battery exams, the B9450 managed a critically spectacular common of 16.5 hours, placing it in roughly the identical class because the always-impressive LG Gram 14. For actual work, with the settings cranked up a bit to get first rate efficiency, it nonetheless managed to final a full 8-hour day. Even on the fan’s Turbo setting it is nearly silent.But except battery life, the B9450’s efficiency is comparatively unexceptional, albeit not dangerous for a enterprise pocket book. That could also be partly as a result of its use of last-gen low-power reminiscence, which is slower than the newer LPDDR4x utilized by competing methods — it is about 10% to 20% slower than the LG Gram 14 total. In that respect, the LG Gram gives a greater stability of battery life and efficiency. When you throw within the LG’s flexibility as a two-in-one and extra intensive set of ports at a cheaper price, the ExpertBook loses a few of its luster as a advice.Geekbench 5 (multicore)
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Geekbench 5 (single-core)
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Cinebench R20 CPU (multicore)
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Video playback battery drain check (Streaming)
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency (in minutes)
System configurations
Asus ExpertBook B9450
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (1909); 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-10510U; 16GB LPDDR3 RAM 2.13GHz; 128MB Intel UHD Graphics; 1TB SSD
Dell XPS 13 9300 (2020)
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7; 16GB LPDDR4x SDRAM 3.733GHz; 128MB Intel Iris Plus Graphics; 512GB SSD
Lenovo Yoga C940-14IIL
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7; 12GB LPDDR4x SDRAM 3.733GHz; 128MB Intel Iris Plus Graphics; 512GB SSD
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 (2020)
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-10510U; 16GB DDR4 RAM 2.67GHz; 128MB Intel UHD Graphics; 512GB SSD