Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Incredibly light-weight
- Ceraluminum is spectacular
- Mind-blowing battery life
Cons
- A $600 laptop computer CPU in a $1,200 machine
- Seriously, that is the slowest Snapdragon X chip
- Ceraluminum feels virtually plasticky and hole
Our Verdict
The Asus ZenBook A14 is an unimaginable proof of idea for the way mild and long-lasting a laptop computer may be. But you shouldn’t purchase it until you’re prepared to commerce efficiency for an ultralight machine that will get extra battery life than you in all probability want.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$1,200
Best Prices Today: Asus ZenBook A14
$1199.99
The Asus ZenBook A14 is an enchanting machine. Its chassis is fabricated from “Ceraluminum,” so it’s extremely mild and sturdy. Not solely does it weigh simply over two kilos, however it additionally affords wonderful battery life. However, Asus has chosen to place absolutely the slowest Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip on this machine.
The ZenBook A14, retailing for $1,200, makes use of a Snapdragon X chip that was initially meant for $600 laptops. Although this laptop computer affords prolonged battery life, I’m unsure the trade-off is sensible at this worth level. For everyday tasks, a sooner Snapdragon X chip would supply higher efficiency (typically at a lower cost!). But if you happen to’re pleased with Windows on ARM and battery life is a high precedence, then this is likely to be the machine for you. It’s only a very small area of interest to focus on.
Asus ZenBook A14: Specs
The Asus ZenBook A14 incorporates a Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor. We reviewed the UX3407QA mannequin, which prices $1,200 at retail. This machine has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 processor.
This is definitely a more moderen, extra entry-level Snapdragon X chip. It’s slower than the preliminary Snapdragon X Plus chips, which have been the slowest of the lot. Here’s the official product matrix. As you’ll be able to see, Snapdragon X is available in final with the slowest CPU (as much as 3 GHz) and the slowest GPU (1.7 TFLOPS.) This does imply the machine makes use of much less energy and may get higher battery life. But, once more, Snapdragon X chips basically are already nice at that. This doesn’t really feel like $1,200-class efficiency.
While I’m instructed tariffs are affecting pricing, that is nonetheless a lot greater than we’d count on to see a laptop computer with this chip promote for. Qualcomm promised laptops within the $600 vary with this chip and Asus used it to ship a longer-lasting $1,200 machine.
- Model quantity: UX3407QA
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100
- Memory: 32 GB LPDDR5X
- Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno
- NPU: Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)
- Display: 1920×1200 OLED show with 60Hz refresh fee
- Storage: 1 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
- Webcam: 1080p webcam
- Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (USB 4.0 Gen 3), 1x USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 2), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, 1x combo audio jack
- Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
- Biometrics: IR digital camera for facial recognition
- Battery capability: 70 Watt-hours
- Dimensions: 12.23” x 8.42” x 0.53”
- Weight: 2.16 kilos
- MSRP: $1,200 as examined
The Asus ZenBook is technically spectacular, because it’s tremendous mild and long-lasting.
Asus ZenBook A14: Design and construct high quality
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Asus ZenBook A14 is extremely mild. At simply 2.16 kilos, selecting it up virtually looks like selecting up a hole machine.
That’s because of the “Ceraluminum,” the “revolutionary material” Asus is exhibiting off right here. It’s ceramic-coated aluminum, which Asus says “combines the lightness of aluminum with the resilience of ceramic.” It’s extremely mild! And, whereas Asus does say it’s rugged as effectively, I ought to observe that I used to be not trying to scratch or drop this machine to check that!
The Ceraluminum is attention-grabbing. It doesn’t really feel like typical steel — you’re not touching steel, you’re touching ceramic. I wouldn’t say it feels low-cost, however there’s one thing about selecting it up that jogs my memory mind of selecting up a plastic laptop computer and it’s so mild that it’s virtually like a hole plastic laptop computer. We affiliate that “metal” really feel with premium laptops and whereas there’s steel underneath the floor right here, you gained’t really feel it. If you want a weighty steel laptop computer, this isn’t for you. But if you happen to like the texture of one thing mild, that is spectacular. If you may get over the dearth of steel feeling, you’ll be able to really feel such as you’re selecting up one thing virtually impossibly mild for the efficiency. That’s cool!
That’s probably the most spectacular bit. The remainder of the machine is commonplace — in a great way! This mannequin is out there within the “Iceland Gray” shade with a black bezel and hinge. It’s straightforward to open the laptop computer with one hand. It feels good and lightweight to carry, perhaps even too mild if you happen to favor a weightier expertise. It’s lighter than I count on a practical laptop computer to be.
Asus ZenBook A14: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Asus ZenBook A14’s keyboard and trackpad are advantageous. Neither is unusually spectacular, however each are actually usable.
The keyboard options 1.3mm of key journey. It’s a tad squishy and doesn’t reply as crisply because the keyboards typically do on a ThinkPad, for instance. But it’s fairly good for a laptop computer centered on being mild and skinny.
The trackpad is an effective measurement and in a great location proper beneath the keyboard. The floor feels good to slip your finger over, and it has a pleasing “thunk” whenever you click on down on it. As typical, I would favor a haptic touchpad to make extra of the trackpad’s floor clickable.
Asus ZenBook A14: Display and audio system
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Asus ZenBook A14 has an honest show. Asus has chosen to incorporate a 14-inch OLED show with a 1920×1200 decision. It appears advantageous — I do like an OLED show!
On the opposite hand, this show solely helps a 60Hz refresh fee. I perceive {that a} larger refresh fee would decrease battery life. On the opposite hand, this looks like not precisely the very best spec for a $1,200 laptop computer. It’s not nearly CPU efficiency. For a machine with a $600-laptop-class CPU, I’d hope parts just like the show would actually sing to make up for that. It’s additionally value noting that that is not a touchscreen show.
This machine’s audio system get loads of quantity, which is nice. They’ll be nice for video conferences and watching YouTube movies. On the opposite hand, the bass appears notably underwhelming to me — actually, that’s no shock. Would a $1,200 ultralight laptop computer have a tremendous subwoofer? Plan to carry headphones for music, motion pictures, and TV exhibits.
Asus ZenBook A14: Webcam, microphone, biometrics
The Asus ZenBook A14 features a 1080p webcam that really produces a shocking crisp image. It’s not good, however it’s higher than common. It’ll be nice for video conferences. There’s no bodily digital camera shutter, although.
The microphone right here sounds advantageous and you possibly can actually use it for conferences. I do really feel like I’ve heard clearer, crisper audio from the microphones on different machines. But it’s advantageous. This machine isn’t the final word video assembly bundle, the purpose is simply having an honest mic.
Asus did embrace an IR digital camera for Windows Hello sign-in right here and it really works very effectively. You can simply signal into your PC simply by opening this machine or sitting down in entrance of it. (There’s no fingerprint reader, nonetheless.)
Asus ZenBook A14: Connectivity
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Asus ZenBook A14 options an okay choice of ports, however not quite a lot of them. That’s no shock, because it’s an ultralight machine. I’m simply completely happy to see a headphone jack right here.
On the left facet of the machine, you’ll discover two USB Type-C ports, an HDMI out port, and a combo audio jack. Bear in thoughts that you’ll want one of many USB Type-C ports to cost the machine — it costs by way of USB-C. On the precise facet, you’ll discover a single USB type-A port. That’s all. Plan to carry a dongle if you would like extra ports.
As far as radios, you’ve got the same old Snapdragon X {hardware} right here: Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Asus ZenBook A14: Performance
The Asus ZenBook A14 carried out advantageous in day-to-day desktop utilization. Look, that is an ultralight laptop computer with a low-tier processor, I’m not doing severe heavy CPU utilization duties on it! For an internet browser like Chrome and productiveness instruments like Microsoft Word, it labored advantageous. But for graphics-heavy duties — gaming {and professional} apps that hit the GPU — it’s a lot slower than many different Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite-powered methods
(But shopping for a $1,200 laptop computer is a giant dedication and also you would possibly ultimately wish to do one thing extra demanding, extra than simply opening some additional browser tabs. That’s why the efficiency nonetheless issues.)
As at all times, we ran the Asus ZenBook A14 by means of our standard benchmarks to see the way it performs. But, since that is an ARM-powered laptop computer, we will’t run all our regular benchmarks.
First, we run Cinebench R24, which has an ARM-native model. This is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on general CPU efficiency. It’s a fast benchmark, so cooling underneath prolonged workloads isn’t an element. But, because it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
That’s what we see right here. With a multi-threaded Cinebench R24 rating of 603, the Asus ZenBook A14 is available in considerably behind the Snapdragon X Elite-powered machines which have 12 cores as an alternative of eight cores.
Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, however it’s nonetheless good to verify how the GPU performs. We run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency. This isn’t an ARM-native benchmark, so it’s run by means of the Prism translation layer. This provides us an honest concept of how this machine’s GPU will do when enjoying most Windows video games, that are written for x86 processors and can run by means of this translation layer.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
With a 3DMark Time Spy rating of 1,066, the Asus ZenBook A14 lagged behind even Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus-powered machines. Of course, you in all probability don’t plan on utilizing this machine for gaming — however wouldn’t it’s good if a $1,200 machine delivered higher GPU efficiency if you happen to ever need it? There are lots of other good laptop options in this price range.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
We additionally run 3DMark Night Raid, which has an ARM-native model. This provides us a greater concept of the machine’s GPU efficiency with out the Prism translation layer being an element.
With a 3DMark Night Raid rating of 16,768, the Asus ZenBook A14 as soon as once more is way behind different Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered machines. It’s unhappy to see such a great laptop computer be so hobbled by the CPU selection at this worth level.
Overall, the Asus ZenBook A14 delivers low-end efficiency for its {hardware} class and worth vary. But day-to-day desktop use is advantageous.
Asus ZenBook A14: Battery life
The Asus ZenBook A14 has a 70 Watt-hour battery, which is actually actually spectacular given its extremely mild weight of two.16 kilos. Asus may have trimmed this down if the purpose was to get the laptop computer as mild as potential, however it’s good to see. We’d count on some severe battery life due to the lower-end Snapdragon X {hardware} right here.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop computer suspends itself. This is a best-case situation for any laptop computer since native video playback is so environment friendly, and actual battery life in day-to-day use is at all times going to be lower than this.
We set the display to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks and it’s value noting that the ZenBook’s OLED show has a little bit of a bonus, as OLED screens use much less energy to show the black bars across the video.
The ZenBook A14 lasted for an unimaginable 1,436 minutes in our battery life benchmark. That’s 24 hours operating on battery, one thing that might’ve been fully unprecedented just some years in the past. But, whereas this can be a artificial benchmark that doesn’t precisely match real-world makes use of the place you’re operating a bunch of browser tabs and different purposes, it’s nonetheless extra battery life than you doubtless want. I don’t suppose the efficiency trade-offs are value it to most individuals.
Asus ZenBook A14: Conclusion
The Asus ZenBook is technically spectacular, because it’s tremendous mild and long-lasting. That mentioned, the low-end Snapdragon X CPU right here doesn’t actually make sense for a $1,200 laptop computer. It buys you extra battery life, however these machines have already got unimaginable battery life even with out sacrificing CPU efficiency. Ideally, you’d additionally avoid wasting money by choosing this cheaper CPU! You’d virtually actually be higher off with a unique Snapdragon X laptop computer, if you wish to go the ARM route, maybe a Surface Laptop 7? Almost each different machine has a higher-end CPU.
Still, there’s in all probability somebody on the market who needs an ultralight laptop computer that squeezes out additional battery life away from {an electrical} outlet. If you’re that individual, excellent news — you discovered your new favourite laptop computer.