Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED review: Big power in a small package

Price When Reviewed

$1799

Best Prices Today: Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED

$1799

The new Zenbook 14 Pro OLED is a compact pc that, regardless of its small dimensions, packs numerous efficiency beneath the hood. The larger tier configuration options an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and a GeForce RTX 4070 GPU and might thus problem beefy gaming laptops in pure brute drive. The mannequin I’ve for testing is extra modest and has an easier Core i7-13700H and RTX 4060 as an alternative. It additionally has 16 gigabytes of RAM as an alternative of 32.

My evaluation unit isn’t essentially the most highly effective configuration, however that’s nonetheless numerous energy for such a small laptop computer. I can simply hearth up Adobe Premiere Pro and reduce or coloration grade 4K movie in a number of layers, browse picture libraries at lightning velocity, and twist and switch 3D objects in Blender. You might wish to keep away from being overly formidable and making an attempt to do all three directly as a result of restricted RAM. But even that’s doable. Read on to be taught extra.

Looking for extra choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops obtainable in the present day.

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: Specifications

Processor: Intel Core i9-13700H, 6pcs Peformance as much as 5 GHz, 8pcs Efficient as much as 3,7 GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop, 8GB
Memory: 16GB DDR5
Storage: 1TB SSD, slot for SD card
Displays: 14.5 inch shiny OLED, 2880×1800 pixels, 120 Hz
Webcam: 1080p with 3dnr, ir for Windows Hello
Connections: 2 Thunderbolt 4, USB 3 Gen 2 Type A, HDMI, headset
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3
Operating system: Windows 11 Pro
Other: Backlit keyboard, Asus Dial
Noise stage: 0-39 dBa
Battery life: Two hours 10 minutes (excessive load, full brightness), about eight hours (low load, low brightness)
Size: 32.2 x 22.3 x 1.8 cm
Weight: 3.63 lbs
Price: $2,299.31

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: Performance

Cinebench R23, CPU: 15,357 factors
Cinebench R23, CPU single core: 1,884 factors
Geekbench 6, CPU: 11,214 factors
Geekbench 6, CPU single core: 2,559 factors
Geekbench 6, GPU: 87,663 factors
Disk learn: as much as 6,996.16 MB/s
Disk write: as much as 5,221.14 MB/s

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: Manages warmth to some extent

You can play video games in your pc even when that’s not what it’s primarily constructed for. With its little-more-than-2k decision and 120 Hz frequency, the graphics card isn’t actually fitted to sustaining a gradual 60 Hz in video games, however decrease the ambition and determination and even heavy titles can run easily. For some time anyway, the pc tends to throttle down efficiency considerably throughout longer durations of most load. Not stunning contemplating the small area for cooling and followers.

Mattias Inghe

But just for the graphics card. You can push the processor for hours with none lack of efficiency. However, the underside of the pc will get scorching shortly, so it’s greatest to maintain it on a desk and never in your lap. It solely will get noticeably scorching on the highest of the keyboard when the graphics card is working at full velocity.

The pc could also be compact, however it’s not significantly skinny and light-weight. It’s nearly two centimeters at its thickest level and weighs 3.63 kilos. Its fairly angular form additionally makes it much less snug to hold round. The chassis is stable matte aluminium with darkish surfaces, and the edges and again are coated with giant cooling grids. There remains to be room for the anticipated set of connections, twin thunderbolt 4, a big USB port, a standard sized HDMI and headphone jack.

Unusual to see on this small format is that it has a separate charging port as an alternative of getting energy from one of many sort c ports. But then once more, it is a efficiency pc with efficiency {hardware}. The charger is a hefty block, as thick as the pc, and weighs an additional couple of kilos to hold round. Three if you happen to embrace the wall plug cable.

Mattias Inghe

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: Spacious keyboard and good additional controls

The “14” within the title stands for 14 inches in display dimension, however it’s a bit larger than most 14 inchers, with a 14.5 inch floor. That additionally makes it a couple of millimetres wider than a typical 13.3 or 14-inch. This could seem marginal, and for essentially the most half it’s. However, it leaves just a little extra room for the keyboard, which, regardless of having margins on the edges, has full-sized, correctly spaced keys. It’s additionally very effectively constructed. Buttons have distinctive high quality mechanics and the stroke peak is palpable.

The On button is within the high row between Print Screen and Delete. There is a sure danger of unintended entry, however with a barely smarter placement than in different computer systems and with larger strain resistance, Asus avoids the largest dangers. The backlighting is rarely greater than half-strength within the keyboard, however it’s sufficient to maintain you from drifting at nighttime.

Underneath is a big mouse pad with good management. A recessed ring within the high left nook gives particular controls that emulate a dial management, permitting you to “turn” it along with your fingertip.

The Asus Dial function, which pops up a spherical menu on the display once I faucet the “dial”, might be linked to controls corresponding to quantity and brightness, and likewise management some options in Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud. You may also construct your individual menu wheels with non-obligatory settings and options within the system. Although it’s frustratingly difficult to do. After years of this function in numerous Zenbook and ProArtwork computer systems, it’s a disgrace that it hasn’t been developed extra and that you could’t get direct assist for sliders in additional packages. It’s as much as third-party builders to combine, and that’s apparently not interesting sufficient.

Mattias Inghe

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: Top class display

With OLED within the title, it’s after all OLED within the display. But right here you get a pleasant, sharp and colourful OLED display with all the great qualities that it brings with it. The decision of 2880 x 1800 pixels makes it so dense that I’ve to lean actually shut to tell apart particular person pixels.

You get excellent distinction right down to the smallest pixel, intense colours with glorious management and coloration accuracy, and even quick response occasions for if you wish to play video games. The coloration gamut goes as much as no less than dci p3 stage, and the display delivers each show p3 and SRGB nearly completely, and is even so near AdobeRGB that it’s not noticeable that it misses by a few p.c.

That’s for sdr picture, and a brightness of as much as about 350 cd/m2. If you need peaked dynamics, you can even change to HDR mode within the Windows display settings, then you definately get simply over 500 cd/m2 in spot brightness, however not with calibrated coloration accuracy. You can select between srgb, dci-p3, show p3 and “Native” for coloration gamut from Asus’ personal settings, the place you can even manually modify the colour temperature and blue mild filter.

Mattias Inghe

Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED: App confusion

This is finished within the My Asus software the place you even have controls for community optimization, keyboard settings, battery charging and followers. Then there’s ProArtwork Creator Hub, the place you possibly can management the identical followers, and make a handful of different settings, in addition to professionally calibrate the display when you have a appropriate calibrator. Asus ought to think about merging these two packages. It simply will get complicated to have so many separate apps.

The display has contact assist which provides good direct management. And some fingerprints to take away from the in any other case shiny floor. It may cause a little bit of bother when you have darkish surfaces to take a look at in a brilliant room, as reflections grow to be obvious, however for essentially the most half it’s not an issue, particularly if you happen to flip up the brightness barely.

Well-sounding if not spectacularly good audio system sit on the underside of the pc. They present clear bass and treble and a midrange effectively suited to voice copy. It might not be a hi-fi expertise for enjoying music, however it’s acceptable for many issues. Small however good microphones within the pc present glorious noise-free voice pickup, and the webcam is sweet sufficient. It’s all the time a little bit of a lottery in Asus laptops, however right here it delivers a principally good image, some noise in darkish environments however in any other case nothing important to complain about.

Mattias Inghe

Despite its compact dimension, the Zenbook 14 Pro OLED can do just about every little thing. Edit images and movie, compile code or manipulate 3D fashions. Even play video games. No downside. Want to do every little thing on a tiny 14-inch display in a laptop computer that can usually want an umbilical wire to a wall socket? Because you’ll want it when the pc can’t carry out at its peak for greater than a few hours at most. That’s the query.

This article is a translation from our Swedish web site.