items: items 1: articleHeading: ASUS Zenbook A14 First Impressions: A Lightweight and Efficient Copilot+ PC
articleLink: https://www.91mobiles.com/hub/asus-zenbook-a14-first-impressions/
articleSummary: The Asus ZenBook A14 features a 14-inch OLED display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio, offering vibrant colors and deep blacks, though it is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks touch functionality. It is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor and comes with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 512GB SSD, suitable for everyday tasks but not intensive applications like heavy gaming. The laptop boasts an impressive battery life, with users reporting up to 14-15 hours of real-world usage. The keyboard is comfortable with backlighting, and the touchpad is large and supports Windows Precision drivers, including Asus's NumberPad 2.0. Connectivity options include two USB 4.0 Type-C ports, one USB-A 3.2 port, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The dual speakers provide adequate sound, and the 1080p webcam with an IR sensor supports Windows Hello login. In India, pricing starts at Rs 99,900 for the Snapdragon X variant and Rs 1,29,990 for the Snapdragon X Elite model, with pre-order benefits.
articleTitle: 91Mobiles
articleType: web_article
favicon: https://www.91mobiles.com/favicon.ico
snippets: The Asus ZenBook A14 features a 14-inch OLED display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio, offering vibrant colors and deep blacks, though it is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks touch functionality., Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor, the ZenBook A14 is designed for efficient performance., One of the standout features of the ZenBook A14 is its impressive battery life. Users have reported achieving up to 14-15 hours of real-world usage on a single charge
type: ARTICLE
items 2: articleHeading: ASUS Zenbook A14 Review: Premium design meets performance in a thin package
articleLink: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/reviews/asus-zenbook-a14-review-premium-design-meets-performance-in-a-thin-package/articleshow/120517880.cms
articleSummary: The Asus ZenBook A14 is reviewed as a premium, thin, and light laptop that balances performance and portability. It is powered by the Snapdragon X processor, offering smooth performance for general computing. The 14-inch OLED display is praised for its visual quality. The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience with backlighting, and the touchpad is large and accurate, featuring the NumberPad 2.0 functionality. Connectivity is well-handled with a mix of USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI ports. The laptop's overall design and features make it a compelling option for users seeking a stylish and efficient portable computer.
articleTitle: Timesofindia
articleType: web_article
favicon: https://www.timesofindia.com/favicon.ico
snippets: The keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience with well-spaced keys and decent travel distance. It is backlit, facilitating use in low-light environments., The touchpad is generously sized and supports Windows Precision drivers, ensuring smooth navigation and accurate gestures., Despite its slim profile, the ZenBook A14 includes a respectable set of ports
type: ARTICLE
items 3: content: My first impressions of the ASUS ZenBook A14 are extremely positive. To start, the packaging was very well done and easy to open. The laptop was well protected in the box which was inside of another box that added to the security and overall aesthetics while opening it up.
The laptop itself is a nice beige color made of a sleek material known as Ceraluminium that is scratch resistant and extremely lightweight allowing for the laptop itself to be under 2½ pounds of total weight. When lying flat on the table, opening the top cover up was easy and without any drag.
At a first glance you see a full-size keyboard with a top F-key bar for controlling various settings from volume to brightness, the camera, microphone and others. Additionally, it is backlit with multiple brightness settings including off to conserve battery life. As you’d expect, there is a touchpad, but this one is multifunctional as you can drag your finger across the top or sides to control screen brightness, volume, and open the built in ASUS “ScreenXpert” settings menu.
It has a 14-inch OLED HD display capable of 1920x1200 resolution. There is a 1080P front facing camera with microphone for video calls and recording. Using AI and the camera, the laptop is aware of when you walk away and will lock on its own but, it also wakes when you come back. I like this feature as it saves battery but also increases security for me if I happen to forget to lock the screen.
The specifications of this ZenBook are very good. It has a 3.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor which is built to take advantage of various AI capabilities and is capable of 45 TOPS (Trillions of Operations per Second). There is an integrated Qualcomm Adreno graphics card, 16 GB of ram (which is not upgradable), a 512 GB solid state hard drive, along with wireless that has the newer 6E AX standard which is backward compatible. It claims to have a 32 hour battery life and I have no reason to doubt that based on my initial usage. Additionally, there are two Dolby Atmos speakers for sound, which are pretty good for the size of the device.
For external connectivity, there is one full-size HDMI port, two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C 40GB ports, one USB-A port and a headphone jack. Using the HDMI and USB-C ports you can connect up to three monitors which can be very handy for editing videos and photos, working on spreadsheets, or just to dedicate a certain application to a specific monitor.
This ASUS ZenBook is specifically designed to take advantage of AI applications such as Copilot which you can use as your personal assistant when trying to write papers, do research, or work on other projects. Another application Windows now comes with is called “Recall” which allows you to go backward in time, so to speak, in case you want to review something you had just seen or maybe something from a couple of hours ago.
Besides AI using the camera to lock and unlock the device, ASUS has also included another application to take advantage of it to help improve your experience and productivity. Called “StoryCube”, this application helps to organize all your media files in various categories, allowing you to go to specific photos and videos using timelines, locations, and people. It will automatically group these elements for you and using its AI will create videos, photo albums and various memories that it sees as similar, maybe from a vacation or other event that it has identified as important in some way. Basically, any combination of descriptions, timing or locations are easily pulled up for viewing and use in projects you may be working on in other common applications.
Overall, this laptop is straightforward to use and adjust to. As a business user who occasionally engages in photo and video editing, I find that the Zenbook simplifies these tasks and enhances the experience with its user-friendly interface, AI assistance, and easy to use features.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Positive first impressions, well-packaged, great features
type: REVIEWS
items 4: content: THIS… IS the new Asus Zenbook A14, a thin and light laptop with honestly some of the best specs I have seen for the price. Asus has paired a 14” FHD+ OLED display with the new Snapdragon X plus processor and a host of pretty impressive features and shoved it into a laptop that weighs almost nothing! With the market becoming significantly more competitive from Windows to Mac laptops, let's see if Asus has concocted the next best thin and light laptop that won’t break the bank!
So opening the box, I was honestly surprised by just how much I really enjoy the Zabriskie Beige color on the new A14. I was worried it would come off as more of a feminine color, but I will say it bluntly, this is probably one of the best looking laptops I have ever seen. As far as the material of the exterior, Asus is calling it “Ceraluminum” and feels like a soft textured aluminum to the touch and touts improved resistance to scratches, falls and smudges. I will say that when I review lighter colored laptops, I am always worried they will show scratches or fingerprints rather easily, but whatever dark magic Asus is putting in their laptops has been able to successfully defend itself against my unruly spell of fingerprints. This is truly one of the only laptops that I can say is visually striking and eye-catching. Now that I am done frothing at the mouth over just how good beige can look, lets crack this puppy open and see what this oled screen can do and if asus can continue on its legacy of benchmark setting screens.
Opening the A14 you are greeted with a beautiful pantone validated (the gold standard) 60hz oled screen in what is called FHD+ (also referred to as WUXGA) which is essentially a regular HD screen with just a few more pixels. I love that Asus went with a gloss screen as it really shows just how good this oled panel is without sacrificing its clarity. Coming in at 600 nits peak brightness, it is bright enough for almost every setting and to fight off most glare cast by lights. I was originally bummed when I saw that this was an HD screen and not a 2k screen, but honestly… this screen is really pulling its weight! If you put this laptop in front of me and said it was 2k or 4k panel, I would probably believe you! ASUS has struck again with their screen magic. Moving down towards the keyboard, Asus has used its ErgoSense keyboard for the A14 with purple esq hue for the backlighting. The ergosense keys have a soft but poppy feel that just encourages you to keep typing, and the purple hue honestly looks strikingly good on the beige frame. Below the keyboard is a well sized trackpad with Asus build in smart gestures that make day to day life quicker.
Moving under the hood, Asus has used the snapdragon X plus processor with 16gb of ram. This is my first CPU that wasn't made by Intel, AMD or apple… and snapdragon didn’t come to play games. The snapdragon X plus just tears through tasks and light gaming while also being wildly power efficient. I mean, I am genuinely getting over 30 hours of screen time consistently… which is wild considering this laptop weighs just more than 2 pounds and almost never gets hot. One thing I want to call attention to real quick is just how many ports this laptop has packed in it for its size. The A14 is packed with a high speed HDMI 2.1 port, two thunderbolt type C ports that also work as display ports, a regular USB-A port and an audio jack! This laptop also charges over either of its Type-C ports which is awesome that you don’t have to buy an overpriced proprietary charger should you lose or break the one that comes with it. My only real complaint when it comes to the Zenbook A14 is that the speakers lack a bit on the low end bass, but that is to be expected from a laptop this size. It has two H/K tuned speakers that fire through the keyboard, and to Asus' credit, these speakers are crystal clear… just not rock your socks off good like pretty much the rest of the A14.
As Asus has neared perfection with the Zenbook A14, I genuinely cannot be more blown away with the package that Asus has presented this year while keeping the Zenbook A14 a relatively affordable laptop. While I have gripped at the lack of low end sound, I find that to be a relatively easy problem to look over when we consider that literally almost everything else about this laptop is near perfection and…. Don't we all use headphones at this point anyways?? That being said, the cool part about Best Buy is that they likely have this laptop on display in a store near you, so you don’t just have to take my word for how good it is! BestBuy also has an excellent return policy and even better customer service, so you never have to worry about being stuck with a laptop that just doesn't cut it for you! So there is no harm in testing out to see if the Asus Zenbook A14 is right for your lifestyle. Until next time :)
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Visually striking, excellent OLED screen, powerful processor
type: REVIEWS
items 5: content: AI and ASUS are the next gen answer to productivity. ASUS has several different laptop models with Microsoft Copilot installed as the focus of its infrastructure. You just need to figure out which model best suits your needs. Something focused on performance for gaming, intense productivity or in-depth creativity, with limited battery life or something a little less intense with a much greater battery life.
I have the Zenbook A14 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor. Some of the other current models include the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor for more demanding needs.
The Snapdragon X Plus processor is an ARM based processor. Unlike the x86 processors, this Qualcomm processor offers a good balance of power and efficiency, with the bulk of its attributes leaning more towards efficiency with the best battery lasting times in the current 14” Zenbook line up.
This model’s battery life can provide up to 32 hours of use in certain situations. Obviously, more demanding tasks can shorten this expectation. I will tell you that most of my uses were very close to that expectation. I could easily go for several days before needing to charge the battery again. My primary uses would entail working through emails, using Excel spreadsheets, Word docs, PDF editing and some picture editing. The built in AI makes the workload not only go smoother but a lot quicker.
Because of the low draw cpu and gpu the laptop never seems to actually get too warm like older laptops or high performance laptops would. Some of my other laptops would actually get almost too hot to touch but this stays virtually cool almost all the time
The only time I saw it get a little bit warm was while I was using it when it was plugged in and charging. The heat pipe and dual lightweight aluminum fans with ASUS’s advanced cooling system keeps everything pretty cool for hours.
I cannot believe how light and thin this laptop is at less than three pounds it barely feels like you're carrying anything at all, And the 14 inch screen makes this laptop small enough to fit in any backpack or carry bag. This feels more like a chromebook than a laptop.
It seems crazy at this point in time that computers can virtually think for themselves. Today's AIs are leaps ahead of the digital personal assistants that most of us were familiar with using on our phones and computers. Copilot is very intuitive, and has a nice set of narratives to keep everything clean, respectful, safe and extremely helpful.
I was easily able to use Copilot to summarize information needed to write a document advising employees of upcoming changes. Copilot not only includes the facts but can create the document in an empathetic way if desired, or keep it precise and to the point with just the facts.
The options seem to be endless, and with Zenbook’s NPU working at Up to 45 TOPS, most everything seems to happen with the blink of an eye. Obviously more tasking operations will take a bit more time, depending on the amount of data needing to be processed.
NPUs typically work in conjunction with CPUs and GPUs, not as replacements.
The NPUs can then accelerate AI-specific computations, as that is their primary goal, freeing up the CPU and GPU for other tasks.
NPU- Neural Processing Unit
a specialized processor designed to accelerate neural network computations and AI-related tasks
Unlike CPUs and GPUs, NPUs are optimized for parallel processing, making them efficient for tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and other AI-intensive workloads. They are increasingly common in devices like smartphones, laptops, and even PCs, where they help offload AI tasks from the main CPU and GPU, improving performance and power efficiency
They say that a good NPU for general AI use should be able to handle 40 TOPS.
TOPS= Tera Operations Per Second
(Which is how many trillions of operations a processor can perform in a single second)
45 TOPS should be sufficient for most AI photo editing and image generation. I did try out Copilot in the Paint app, to enhance some sketches. You can alter the amount of the AI “creativity” with a slide bar, for a little enhancement, or full on liberties.
You can also edit photos in the Paint app, and remove objects and backgrounds or insert something created by AI. Super resolution in photos, enhances the resolution of any picture
to increase the photo size and clarity.
On a side note , if Microsoft's Copilot is not your preferred AI, there are other Windows based options out there.
Also, the microphone must have excellent gain on it, because the room needs to be completely silent in order for me to get a non interrupted conversation with the AI. If you have the TV or radio on, it will respond to anything being said through those speakers. Even with the TV muted, I have a fan in the background, and the AI stutters as it picks up the noise from the fan or any other background sound. (There should be a way to adjust the sensitivity on what the AI is listening to)
I tried benchmarking the laptop, but because it has an ARM processor, most of the benchmark software I have wouldn’t work with it. I was able to get a rating with Cinemark and it received a 520 for the multi core test putting it in the 4th tier, with 1625 being the top score. In the single core test, it received a 108, with the top contender getting a 113. The Passmark rating was 2842.5 I would also like to point out, that the scores received were pretty much the same on battery power or plugged in.
While this laptop doesn’t score in the top tiers, it did manage to handle all the productivity apps and multitasking I threw at it without issues. I had a secondary monitor plugged in and was running Excel, Chrome, Citrix, Word, and a PDF editor all with no issues.
Separately I was able to run some video editing software like Davinci without issues.
I did try to run some games just to see how they would work. Fortnite wouldn’t run because of a 430 error (which was not a capability issue), but either way it wouldn’t start. I was able to run Marvel Rivals, but not very well. It was very laggy with the standard setting, and was only able to reach an average of 8FPS. After adjusting the display setting to the lowest, the game ran at 11FPS, but still extremely laggy. So, gaming on this laptop is probably going to be limited to web based games and stuff like solitaire.
The 14-inch WUXGA OLED Display is pretty stunning with full HD, 1920 x 1200 resolution (16:10) and a 600-nit peak HDR brightness and brilliant Pantone®-validated colors even outdoors and a smooth 60Hz refresh rate.
The screen is just big enough, and bright enough to make streaming your favorite videos, weekly shows, and the latest movies most enjoyable. The audio is pretty loud and very clear with the dual super-linear speakers.
Windows Hello Infrared (IR) camera allows you to unlock your laptop quickly and securely
Enhance your video calls with improved lighting, background blur and video effects.
Live Captions - offer real time translations as you talk
MyASUS provides a collection of handy apps and tools that help you get more out of your laptop, while GlideX enables you to get more done by sharing screens across devices. Plus, ScreenXpert helps you manage app windows across all connected displays
GlideX is a cross-device screen-sharing solution, with Mirror and Extend features that give you a bigger and better space for work and play. The Unify Control feature lets you use a single mouse and keyboard set to control different devices from one PC, across different OSes, so you don’t need to switch between devices
The recall feature is pretty nice although you have to have either a fingerprint or face recognition active. To Start it and use it. Although If you are the type of person that does not like to use the camera on laptops and such you can tape over the camera while attempting to use this as it will just ask you for your pin or password.
You can select any text on the screen while viewing the pictures taken from the recall app. You can also copy images and edit the pictures for sharing.
Once you are in the recall app You can either slide the scroll bar left or right to review the screenshots recorded while you have been using the laptop. You can also use the arrow keys left and right to navigate the same screenshots.
The oversized touch pad is nice, It makes using it a lot easier the shortcuts to adjust the brightness and volume on the touchpad are a nice convenient feature. There's even a shortcut on the touch pad to open up the ScreenXpert menu, In which you can set up items for task grouping and quick toggles of some features.
One of my favorite things about this laptop is the fact that it has virtually all the ports of a full sized laptop, and it comes with a scratch resistant exterior and shock resistant features with
US Military-Grade laptop durability MIL-STD 810H. It is also resistant to high and low temperature ranges.
Overall, this isn’t the most powerful laptop, but it has all the necessary features to get your work done. The NPU and embedded AI work great, helping to enhance and simplify any task. The laptop and webcam are good enough for content creators and streamers. It is also perfect for watching and listening to your favorite types of media. All this coupled with a light-weight design and low-power consumption architecture, makes for an extremely portable laptop with an incredible battery life.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: AI and ASUS are the next gen answer
type: REVIEWS
items 6: content: Immediately upon unboxing I noticed how light and how high quality this laptop feels. As for the overall feel, it's super thin, extremely light and the finish/feel of it feels premium and high quality yet very rigid and durable. Let's dive in!
Powering it on and charging it the first time is pretty quick, and you'll be up and going in a matter of a few minutes. Setup asks a few questions and gets you to create an account or sign in to an existing Microsoft account which is easy and makes it easy to sync your mobile phone to this PC so you can get all your messages and photos with ease and even use your phone's internet connection when you're not on your home or work Wifi. This also enables you to sign in to the other Microsoft apps and Edge browser (all of which is optional) and helps add even more features to make it easier to use and keep things in sync across multiple devices. With setup out of the way, the software included is mostly just to support the PC and help you get the latest updates from Asus, though Asus does bundle a few extras which are totally optional.
Display, Keyboard, and Speakers:
The screen is rich, vibrant and crisp and has some minor glare but not as bad as other laptops I've used. I do really like this laptop's OLED display's brightness and colors. As for the keyboard, it feels pretty solid and is one that I found I was able to type easily on, it had the right amount of activation on the keys and the backlighting is definitely nice to have when using it in darker areas. The sound quality the speakers have is good, and pretty loud. I'd equate it to the same kind of quality and sound you'd expect to hear out of a tablet. Not the loudest, or most bass but just right for everyday use.
Connectivity, Ports:
This laptop definitely has good connectivity with Wifi that seems stable and fast as I had no issues connecting and doing transfer tests on my internal 6E Wifi network. All of the file transfers were as fast as those I'd see on gigabit ethernet, so this machine does seem to have a good Wifi chipset. For ports, there are plenty for expansion and high speed docks. This machine does have a USB-C that supports displays and high speed data transfer so it's easy to connect it to an external monitor and other peripherals.
Performance:
Where this laptop shines is battery life and performance. For the common things you could do on this laptop, email, word processing and light photo editing you'll get excellent battery life where the battery can easily last a day with casual use. It is powerful enough to support heavier tasks but at the expense of battery life. In my use though, I found that I have been able to go a whole day without charging in most circumstances with pretty moderate use throughout the day.
Overall this laptop has been great and would be an excellent choice for entertainment (not necessarily gaming) school, or office work. It's super light, has great battery life and to me hits all the right marks for these uses. I'd absolutely recommend this laptop.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Light, premium feel, great battery life
type: REVIEWS
items 7: content: I was doing some research on a notebook PC that feels like, well, a notebook. There's so many options when you use that search term, though very few are actually that portable. I got to the point I was thinking of just hedging my bet and going with a nice Chromebook since the kids use them all day for school and they're light and portable. Thankfully, I came upon this Asus Zenbook A14 notebook!
It's an actual notebook in both size and weight, not to mention the rounded corners and soft, smooth feel. Even the color made you think less tech and more book-like as if it would blend in with your folders. I've owned a Zenbook for over 4 yrs now and it's my go-to for most basic tasks like surfing, emails, or social. But this one has some really smart tech with your own Copilot AI button for whenever access to your most pressing questions. The screen, being OLED, is incredibly sharp and efficient, even though it's only FHD+ (1920x1200) yet taller than my old model. This is the first time I get a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset on a PC; I'm familiar with they're stellar performance on my Android phones, so I thought it was worth the gamble. I'm pleasantly surprised it handles itself quite well and runs very efficient compared to your typical Ultra core or Ryzen cores. I wouldn't go playing intense gaming apps on it (quite lagging) but it gets the job done for the most part. I've got a full-sized keyboard with 3 step backlighting and a large trackpad with edge shortcuts for volume and display brightness (if you're lazy). There's 2 Thunderbolt-4 ports, an HDMI 2.1, and headphone jack on the left side, and a lonely usb-A 3.2 on the right. Speakers from Harman Kardon do a great job simulating surround sound and get plenty loud, unless you're suspending it in the air. I would've liked the ease of expandability of a microSD-XC slot as I had on my previous Zenbook rather than spending more for a 1TB+ drive. The AI-sense camera identified my face only once of the 5 times I've used it, suggesting it may not be good at certain light levels.
You can't go wrong with this Zenbook for your everyday needs, unless you're a gamer. It's very light and sturdy, feels premium and the battery lasts all week (3+ hrs/day, currently at 36%). You'd be hard pressed to find a more notebook-y laptop than this.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Actual notebook in size and weight
type: REVIEWS
items 8: content: This beautiful device might be the perfect fit for most people who want a feather weight, competent laptop with the energy to last multiple days on a single charge.
I love the look and feel of “Ceraluminum” (made by a mysterious process that bonds ceramic elements to aluminum), which has already proven resistant to fingerprints and scratches. Just the act of lifting the lid with the display with a single finger shows me the attention to quality that was paid by the manufacturer.
Speaking of the display, the FHD+ OLED has gorgeous colors and contrast! The resolution is fine for a 14 in screen. Nitpickers bemoan the 60Hz refresh rate, but I in comparison to another laptop I have with a refresh rate twice that, I really don’t see a difference in everyday use. Also, I very much appreciate being able to manage the screen brightness with a trackpad gesture as opposed to reaching for a function button.
The Snapdragon X Plus CPU drives the computer’s operations handily. I have yet to hear the fans turn on, even with the initial set-up and updating that is typical for Windows 11. Startup is quick, and the facial recognition works well. I love a cool and quiet computer.
While performing standard tasks (Web research, presentation creation, composing articles, emails, etc.) I am getting over 16 hours of real computer use between charges. I am not a computer gamer, nor do I perform video editing. So far, I have not found any productivity apps I use that do not run Windows on ARM natively.
That ASUS can pack such a powerful, efficient processor and an ample battery in a package weighing about 2 pounds is astonishing. Typing on the keyboard is a remarkably satisfying experience; this is one of my favorite laptop keyboards, with good key travel, no mushy bouncing, and ample key spacing. The trackpad is mechanical but works very well.
So, is this the perfect computer for general use? Note that there is no haptic trackpad, no touchscreen, no fingerprint sensor, and only a 60Hz display refresh rate. Camera and speakers are good, but not outstanding. However, I find none of these “deficiencies” to be deal breakers, as adding any more features would create a heavier, more expensive computer with less battery longevity.
I am very happy to have a superb laptop that is easy to carry, has an extremely long battery life and sumptuous display, and that is a joy to type on. It ticks all my boxes!
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Superb laptop, easy to carry, long battery life
type: REVIEWS
items 9: content: ASUS is known for packing in a lot of value and innovation in their laptops. The ASUS Zenbook A14 with the Snapdragon X Processor is no exception.
Qualcomm is relatively new to the Windows PC market, as their chips are mostly used in phones and tablets that are ARM devices. ARM processors and Windows have not historically played well together, but that has changed quite a bit in the last year. Windows 11 has an ARM version of the OS, and many other software companies have products that run natively on ARM or on the included Windows ARM emulator.
That technobabble aside, this ASUS laptop features a new case material that is a blend of ceramic and aluminum. This makes the laptop lightweight, but has the added benefit of great heat transfer and no fingerprints. I have last year's ASUS Zenbook 14, which runs on the Intel Core Ultra 5 with 8GB of memory. So some of my comparisons will be with that system, which has been amazingly good.
This Zenbook weighs in about 7 oz less than my older Zenbook--for a total of about 2 lbs, 6 oz. It fits great in my backpack when I ride my bike or motorcycle into work. The build quality is very good, and the laptop power supply is compact. You can actually lift the lid of the laptop without the base lifting off the surface--nice! There are ample connection ports on the laptop, which includes a USB-A, two USB-C (40 Gbps), a full-size HDMI (thank you) and a headphone jack. Note that plugging in the power supply uses one of the USB-C ports.
As far as performance, the Snapdragon X Plus CPU is the middle of the road. The Elite is the top of the line (at several hundred dollars more), and the X is the base (at several hundred dollars less). The Elite also has a much better integrated GPU than the Plus or the X. Like with any laptop, you need to know what you are going to be using it for to pick the best processor, integrated GPU and memory for your needs.
I have owned laptops with the Elite, and I will confidently say that the performance of the Elite is far superior to the Plus for certain tasks--like gaming, complex calculations, and video editing specifically. However, if your usage is mostly limited to typical tasks like Microsoft Office, e-mail, web browsing, light gaming, and other less complex computing tasks, this Snapdragon X Plus will feel quite peppy and there will be no graphics lag when scrolling on the internet or through documents. Programs like Word and Excel start up almost instantly. I would put the performance of the X Plus processor in line with the Intel Core Ultra 5 for single- and multi-core speeds, which is quite impressive. However, the Core Ultra 5's integrated GPU is far superior to the X Plus' integrated GPU, and that showed up not only in the Geekbench numbers (25424 vs. 9654), but also with video encoding (326 frames per second vs. 154 frames per second). The Elite actually performed better all around than the Core Ultra 5, as an additional comparison to consider.
The keyboard has very good feel, and the tan color allows for nice contrast with the backlighting. The trackpad is responsive, is a good size, and has some special features on the far left and right sides that are indicated with a nice instructional sticker that is applied to the trackpad when you pull the laptop out of the box.
The OLED display is crisp with deep blacks and bright whites. The contrast is wonderful, especially if you are coming from a different technology of screen. OLED screens are naturally bright enough to use outside, but you do need to be aware of the glare. Note that the display is not a touch screen. The built-in camera has good resolution, but there is no physical toggle switch to cover the camera. Sound quality is good, but this laptop does not feature premium speakers from Harman Kardon, like some other ASUS laptops. The Harmon Kardon speakers on my other ASUS Zenbook sound better.
The last thing I want to mention is compatability. There are still some compatability issues with Windows PCs running ARM processors. There are some games that will be glitchy or will run slow (or not at all) through the emulator. I have newer Canon and Brother printers. While the printer drivers included with Windows run the print functions of both machines just fine, scanning is a different story. For example, Brother's iPrint and Scan flat out does not install and I had to find an alternative program for scanning. There are plenty of free choices available on the internet--you just need to look for them (I like NAPS2). For Canon, one of my favorite utilities for printing photos also will not work (it is a bit older), and I had to find an alternative. Be sure to do a little bit of research and make sure all the programs you like to use either have an ARM version or will run on the emulator. These were the only two I ran into.
Overall, I found the emulator works well and does not slow down the laptop considerably for most applications. The one I found that slowed down the most was a statstics package I use occasionally. Analyzing 100,000 data points on the Core Ultra 5 was instantaneous, while on the Snapdragon X Plus, it took almost 13 seconds.
In conclusion, this ASUS laptop is really nice. It's lightweight and I literally had the battery last nearly 26 hours on a single charge. Wow. The overall feel is wonderful and it has peppy performance. Minus one or two compatability issues because of the ARM processor (which I found go-arounds for), it performs tasks well.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Lightweight, great battery life, premium build
type: REVIEWS
items 10: content: I have to say that I really love this ASUS Zenbook A14 14" FHD+ OLED Laptop - Copilot+ PC - Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus - 16GB RAM - 512GB SSD in Zabriskie Beige. Beginning with the appearance, the laptop is a beautiful soft matte finish in beige or putty color with very clean and simple design. Most impressive is how light and solid it feels in the hands. It’s the perfect laptop for sitting on the couch or lying in bed. The bottom consists of two small speaker vents and a large vented screen for cooling. It has a good sound but don’t expect to hear much bass. The cooling vent appears to work well as the laptop runs cool to the touch. The screen is vibrant and sharp with good viewing at all angles despite a gloss finish. The keyboard is comfortable, and the touchpad has a silky paper-like feel that works just as well.
The laptop powers up in about 20 seconds and installation out of the stylish box was a breeze. I chose to load this laptop as a completely new system, so I didn’t have to bring across settings, etc. from another computer. The laptop feels snappy and responsive in use. The Snapdragon X Plus cpu makes processing with apps like CoPilot and Paint work smoothly and without hesitation. Cocreator in Paint works quite well, and I was able to quickly generate some artwork featuring a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel chasing butterflies for example. This makes this laptop a graphic powerhouse for casual graphics design. ASUS offers some interesting software like StoryCube for generating a life’s collection of memories using AI. I hope to delve into StoryCube once I get my own media organized and added to the laptop through an external drive. Battery life is incredible…after watching Youtube video for hours, battery life still shows 19 hours remaining.
I’ll wrap up by saying I find this ASUS laptop perfect for everyday use when I’m not on my desktop. The 14-inch screen helps to keep the laptop light and portable and the performance makes it a joy to use.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Beautiful device, incredible battery life
type: REVIEWS
items 11: content: The new ZenBook A14 powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPU is a great new Ultrabook from Asus.
The Zabriskie Beige color is elegant with a textured feel to the entire case it looks and feels great. The laptop case is made from a lightweight alloy of Ceramic, Aluminum and Magnesium (Ceraluminum) makes this laptop lightweight and strong, weighing only 2.4 lb.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor runs Windows 11 well when paired with the 512 GB PCIE 4.0 SSD and 16 GB LPDDR5X ram.
The 1080p camera includes IR and face recognition with windows hello was very fast and worked flawlessly.
The laptop has a full size HDMI 2.1 port 2 USB C gen 3.2ports and 1 USB A gen 3.1 port and one audio jack.
The laptop includes WiFi 6e and Bluetooth 5.3. connectivity
A 65w charger is included charging is done through one of the USB C ports. This laptop has an advertised battery life of 32 hours. I was able to use it full time for three 8 hr days and one evening before charging doing a combination of web browsing, streaming and word processing.
The OLED screen has good vibrant colors and the Qualcomm Arduino graphics was great for streaming and work activities. The 16:10 format with 1900 x 1200 with 600 nit max and HDR capable make it great for streaming or watching video. It is 60 hz so there is some compromise to keep the cost down but I did not notice any issues.
The keyboard has a perfect spacing and the keys have just the right travel and keypress pressure to make this a great for typing. The touchpad is fantastic with integrated controls for video playback by swiping left or right across the top, screen brightness along the right side and audio volume along the left side Asus has really engineered theses well.
The sound is good, tuned by Harmon Kardon. It is good for such a slim laptop but the bass is lacking but not absent. It has Dolby Atmos and the tuning really is good. I was really surprised by the sound this laptop can put out given its size.
Overall this is an excellent ultrabook and does everything you need it to for work or school and will last long past a normal workday without a charge. It is lightweight perfect for a backpack or briefcase with a bright clear display making it perfect for working or entertainment in all lighting conditions.
This is a Copilot PC so it includes Ai goodies like Recall and Cocreator. Copilot can be activated with the dedicated key on the right of the spacebar. The Ai can answer questions, take dictation, do research among other things.
I really like this laptop, it may become my favorite for travel. I love the beige color and surface, it does not show fingerprints. Asus has a winner with this Qualcomm Snapdragon X powered laptop!
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Excellent ultrabook, lightweight, great display
type: REVIEWS
items 12: content: The first thing that stood out to me was how the ASUS Zenbook A14 feels surprisingly light in my hands. It is probably the lightest laptop I have ever owned. It has a very attractive minimalist aesthetic and is made from a material called Ceraluminum which feels a little bit like a cross between ceramic and plastic. The material has a matte like texture and seems to be very effective at resisting fingerprints and smudges. The ASUS Zenbook A14 is also MIL-STD 810H rated which implies the laptop should also be very durable.
It comes packaged with the following items:
The ASUS Zenbook A14 laptop itself
A 65W USB-C charger
Pamphlets
Some important specifications
Snapdragon X Plus X1P42100 8-Core CPU
Qualcomm Adreno X1-45 GPU
Qualcomm Hexagon NPU w/ 45 TOPS
1920 x 1200 60Hz OLED screen
16 GB DDR5
Micron Technology MTFDKBA512QGN 512 GB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Wi-Fi 6e wireless adapter w/ Bluetooth
1x HDMI 2.1
2x USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C with support for display/power delivery (40Gbps)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10Gbps)
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Battery Life
On the first day, I spent about 3 hours watching YouTube while surfing the internet and the battery had 86% left. I then shut down the laptop for the night to see what sort of power drain I can expect after a shut down.
The next day, upon turning on the laptop, the battery had 85% charge left. So, power drain after a shut down seems negligible. I then watched YouTube while working on this review, balancing my checkbook with Quicken and surfing the internet for another 3 hours which left the battery with 65% charge.
So, for my typical casual usage pattern, I seem to get about 5% power drain for every hour which extrapolates to around 20 hours per charge. That seems really good to me. It means I don’t really have to worry about recharging for a day or two. Of course, this will vary depending on the workload.
Media Consumption
The OLED display is excellent. Vibrant colors with deep rich blacks and excellent contrast. Text is very crisp and readable. Watching videos and surfing the internet was very pleasurable.
The downward firing speakers are okay and a little better than I expected. I usually prefer up-firing speakers because down-firing speakers can be muffled depending on the surface the laptop is sitting on. During my time with it, the sound was very clear, with a decent soundstage, but lacking a little in bass. It’s probably better suited for casual media consumption than for seriously listening to your music collection.
Keyboard and Trackpad
The built-in keyboard is backlit and feels very comfortable for typing and the trackpad feels very responsive and accurate. When travelling with the laptop, I feel that I can be very productive using the keyboard and trackpad to do any work.
When using the laptop at home, I will normally have it docked and use an external keyboard and mouse.
Camera
The camera is excellent and much better than many laptop cameras I have used in the past. The image quality is very sharp and low light performance is very good. The ASUS Zenbook A14 would make an excellent laptop for video conferencing..
Performance
Overall performance was very zippy. I can have multiple tabs on Microsoft Edge, playing a YouTube video in the background, reconciling financial accounts with Quicken, and working on a document in Google Docs all at the same time without any noticeable slowdowns.
Compatibility was also very good. For the majority of my time, If I didn’t know the laptop was using an ARM-based SOC, I wouldn’t have suspected anything.
While not 100% perfect, many of the x86/x64 applications that I often use (KeePass 2, Quicken, etc.) worked perfectly.
Unfortunately, there were also some applications (such as Kofax PaperPort) that I often use that weren't completely compatible. The x86/x64 applications that seem to have the most problems are ones that use specialized low level device drivers.
Copilot
The ASUS Zenbook A14 is a Copilot+PC with a dedicated NPU capable of providing 45 TOPS for AI.
This helps power the Windows Studio Effects in the Camera app that allows you to select effects such as Automatic Framing, Portrait Lighting, Eye Contact, Background Effects (Standard/Portrait Blur) and Creative Effects (Illustrated, Water Color, and Animated).
Some of these effects can be useful (i.e. automatic framing, background blurring etc.) but others seem like they are just there for something fun to play around with or to help give us an idea of what might be possible in the future.
I haven’t played around much with other Copilot features, but I did ask Copilot to help me write a letter to the county regarding an inspection process for a building that my elderly parents own.
I have no past experience with the inspection process but Copilot helped me by providing a good starting point for the letter and from there, I manually tweaked it for my situation.
I was very impressed with Copilot in this task and hopefully, I will learn to be able to use and trust Copilot more for any future similar tasks.
Summary
Overall, I think the ASUS Zenbook A14 is an ideal travel laptop for light productivity use and media consumption. It’s super light and has great battery life making it ideal for remote work.
Right now, I can strongly recommend the ASUS Zenbook A14 as a companion Windows device since it isn’t fully compatible with all Windows applications.
Current Windows compatibility is very impressive and as developers write more ARM native Windows applications, I can imagine a day when it can become the only Windows machine you need.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Ideal travel laptop for light productivity
type: REVIEWS
items 13: content: I love my new laptop! The touchpad stopped working on my old one, and I really needed a replacement for work, but I was trying to save up for the newer model from the previous brand. A whopping $2,000, which has been hard to do between rent, car note and every day expenses. Being that my very first tablet was an Asus model, they really were the company who introduced me to personal devices. I loved that tablet so much, I'd gifted it to a few people close to me! That said, I'd stayed loyal to the other brand for my last three laptops, wasn't sure if this one would compare. This Zenbook was a GREAT choice! For one, it's just so fun to hold and to look at. Super cute! Smooth surface and upscale neutral color. It's light as a feather, too, which is very important to me as I'm a hybrid office worker. I have the option of using a company issued laptop, but they're so flippin' heavy! I didn't want anything that hurt to carry on one arm, and this one fit that bill perfectly. I did expect the touchpad to be a larger, across the entire bottom of the unit beneath the keyboard, I guess I just didn't pay close enough attention to the photos online, but this pad is still a step up from my older one. Very smooth and sensitive, which is adjustable, so another plus. The screen is clear with crisp type and colors. The icons / widgets pop, the UI is also smooth, I haven't experienced any lag, even on not so great wifi networks. I'm still a novice with using AI, mainly because I don't quite trust it fully. On my other devices, I find AI can often not have accurate results? However, I have used CoPilot to help me with summarizing long email threads and a huge lease document for work, saving me a lot of time. Several hours of reading for sure. Just yesterday, I asked for ideas for decorating a baby shower and sourcing the products at low prices and was impressed with the results. The only thing I wish this model had, which some people might not care about either way, is that the screen isn't a touchscreen. I got so used to having that feature on my old one, and I find myself tapping the screen out of habit, and feeling let down! Lol Honestly, this is such a great value for the high quality of this unit, I'll get over it.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 4
title: Great choice, fun to hold and look at
type: REVIEWS
items 14: content: I’ve been using the Asus Zenbook A14 for about a week now, and in that time, I’ve put this little laptop through the ringer just for you.
For as long as I can remember, Windows machines were either Intel or AMD-based, and you are likely familiar with these processors in your existing laptop or desktop. Now, Windows runs on ARM, the same type of processors that your phone and Apple M series laptops use. They are power-efficient processors that get the job done. This is the first iteration of a Windows on ARM laptop running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, and I was quite excited to get my hands dirty.
Let's start with the basics. Windows on ARM is new, so there should be some tempered expectations. My original goal was to see if the Windows on ARM ecosystem had enough that I could live with an ARM Windows laptop. The short answer is yes, an enthusiastic yes. Outright, I’ll say if you are looking to play video games or use esoteric software, be prepared to be disappointed. While Microsoft does a great job building in a translation layer, ultimately, all programs for Windows would also have to be compiled for ARM.
The great thing is that almost all the programs you would normally use today are available for ARM. About 90% of the apps I use are available for Windows on ARM, which is a relief. Having seen what Apple went through the two times they changed processors, I’ll say the Microsoft experience is a tad bit smoother. Most programs you would use are available in the Microsoft Store app, and I understand that Microsoft is installing the ARM version of a given software if available. So what if you don't have an ARM version of a particular software, will it run? Well, that’s a yes or no question. Generally, any programs that require specialized drivers or hardware probes will not work, including a vast majority of games, and specific hardware with older software drivers, like printers and scanners. Most legacy software runs a tad bit slower. There is a marked slower response from non-ARM native applications when loading, and they tend to use more RAM. The good thing is that this laptop does come with 16 gb of RAM.
Microsoft actually has a pretty detailed support page on what software is compatible with your new laptop. Head on over to worksonwoa.com, which is listed on Microsoft’s support page, for a list of compatible software. There is a similarly comprehensive list on windowsonarm.org. For the most part, if you aren't an extreme bell curve user, this Windows on ARM will meet your needs.
So, how is it to live with? After a week of carrying to work, the coffee shop, and the local pub, I have concluded that this laptop is excellent! First, the laptop's weight of less than 2.5 lb is very telling in how you carry it. The screen is amazingly clear, the touchpad and keyboard are fantastic, and the webcam supports Windows Hello. It reminds me of a MacBook Air, but with a bigger, clearer screen. The battery life on the laptop is fantastic. I went almost 18 hours between charges on a multi-day use. Depending on what you are doing and what brightness level your screen is at, you can probably get to the 32-hour battery life that Asus claims this laptop can do. The speakers on the laptop are a bit tinny for my liking, but they are clear and work well. The wifi chip on the laptop is fantastic, with great range and pickup.
So what is the bad on this? Well, in my extended testing, there were a few gotcha’s that I ran into. First off, like I said, not all software is compatible. I found that a few of my legacy programs would not run, and my DVD burner would not be recognised. Qualcomm, which makes the Snapdragon X Plus processor, claims the processor to be 8-threaded, but time and time again, I found it running only six cores out of the eight at 50% when doing critical burn-in testing. The CPU throttles when it gets warm, and the ‘whisper’ mode of the fan needs to be bumped up to performance mode to increase performance. This did not solve the problem of CPU throttling every time, but it did make the laptop more snappy. I never figured out why it did that, but that is not something most users would even find to be an issue. If you weren't looking, you’d think the laptop is very speedy, and yes, it is, just not as fast as the competing M4-based MacBooks.
So, where do I stand on this? Do I love it? YES! This has replaced my travel laptop. With summer coming, a lighter laptop goes a long way in making me happy. The laptop is easy to live with, and I love that it's Windows. My previous travel laptop was a Chromebook, which isn't bad but has limitations. Running Windows gives me a familiar experience without the added heft. ARM on Windows shows promise. As the first commercial iteration of an ARM laptop, this is great. I know I’ve seen some other ARM-based servers for the enterprise market, but this was the first consumer-level device that runs ARM on Windows that I have seen on the market.
Pros:
Battery Life - pushed 18+ hours easily
Amazingly clear OLED screen
Weight and feel of the laptop
Cons
Lacks processing power, no comparison to the M4 chip, which is way faster
Thermal throttles badly for high CPU activities, needs to set the fan to a higher setting
Slow to load and run non-ARM native apps
Wish it came with a laptop sleeve
No gaming, limited driver issues due to lack of ARM support.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Excellent! Windows on ARM shows promise
type: REVIEWS
items 15: content: This laptop packs a ton of features in a very light weight package. To achieve this light weight, you will of course forfeit any medal in the laptop housing. Even though it is all plastic, it feels really well made and durable. The light brown color looks amazing, and the keys are backlit for ease of use in low light conditions. The screen hinge seems heavy duty and the screen is bright and crisp.
Startup is fast and setup was quick and easy. It comes with no bloatware and the only added programs are what comes built into Windows. There is no included anti-virus software so you can either use Microsoft's free Defender or add an existing subscription or purchase a security suite. The CPU is powerful yet efficient to maximize battery life. 16gb of RAM gives plenty of memory for multi-tasking and the 512gb hard drive is sufficient for loading a lot of programs and an external backup drive can be added for storing larger documents and picture files.
My son is using it currently for his home schooling and he really likes the looks and the ease of portability. Co-Pilot can be launched easily with a hotkey and the CPU is built for AI. This computer provides just the right mix of power, energy efficiency and portability that works perfect for everyday tasks.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Lightweight package, powerful yet efficient CPU
type: REVIEWS
items 16: content: First and always of importance to me in regards to sustainability. The laptop was packaged in cardboard, even the pull up handle on the box was cardboard. Way to go!
I really love the small size and weight, it almost feels like I'm carrying around a tablet. Even when it's closed the profile on it is very thin.
Start up is a simple step by step that most will know the drill, also if you have Gmail it takes care of a lot. I was impressed to have the option of downloading data from my current computer, but because I chose not to I can't tell you the process. Security options are also given during this time, ex. Pin or biometrics.
I had to look up how to turn on the power, I guess I had been so used to a side I/O that I did't even think to look at the keyboard. LOL. The keys are super quiet which in my book is a plus and backlit for non typers like me, in a dim room.
The display is crystal clear while watching a movie, no lag or pixelation.
Which brings me to my last observations, I have been using touchscreens for the last 5 years yet for some reason I thought that a laptop without would be ok. Boy was I wrong! Once you go touch, it's really hard to go back and I'm not really sure (unless this is just an entry level machine) why Asus chose not to incorporate it. And my second kind of gripe. The speakers are on the bottom of the computer, which is fine if it's sitting on a flat surface because the bottom has a bit of a riser that lifts it. However if you're like me and like to watch TV, play on your phone and have your laptop on your lap...well the sound gets a bit muffled. That said, although the speakers don't get really loud, they don't have that metallic like sound to them and are actually pretty decent.
I'm still on the fence about the touchscreen, which I understood when requesting the laptop and will continue to try working with. But it just may be a deal breaker for me
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 4
title: Love the small size and weight
type: REVIEWS
items 17: content: The Asus Zenbook A14 Laptop comes nicely packaged. It comes with a printed User Guide but there are minimal instructions in the booklet. I needed to review the keyboard layout since I could not find the power button. It does tell you how to charge the laptop, along with a diagram. Once charged, I then got it turned on. The laptop is very lightweight and easy to hold. You can sit with it on your lap for long periods of time and unlike older devices, it does not get hot. The display screen colors are beautiful. The keyboard is very nice and many of the controls are in the function keys and I suddenly found one the lights up the keyboard since they are hard to see in soft lighting in the evening. This versions of brightness stays on for several minutes and then shuts off which I am sure helps to preserve the battery. Then I found the key that showed me how to create a Asus account. I mainly use an Apple IPad so I tend to revert to touching the screen rather than using the mouse so I find it frustrating to use a device that has a screen that doesn’t respond to touch. The mouse pad also seems slow so adding an external mouse may help. Overall, this is a nice compact laptop and the battery life seems very good since I inadvertently left it on for 2 days and it was still charged.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Very lightweight, beautiful display colors
type: REVIEWS
items 18: content: This laptop has many wonderful features but let me start with the best one...The Sand Beige color of this laptop is outstanding and is unlike any other color option that I have seen for a piece of tech. It is pretty spectacular.
The unboxing of the device was a premium unboxing for a windows computer and was package very well. Ever since Microsoft released the Copilot + PC I have been intrigued by these devices and like others, this Asus is fantastic. It has a projected battery life of 32 hours which is incredible for travel. From my use case, which has generally been email, power point and internet surfing, I have only had to charge the device one or two times. It noticeably last all day. The Built in copilot AI is also a wonderful thing and I like the ease in which you can interact with it. The device is very light and weighs close to 1000 grams and its very light. It is mostly due to the new Ceramic / Aluminum hybrid that is ASUS proprietary mixture. It is both lightweight and durable. This is a good trend and I am glad that ASUS is leading it. The snapdragon processor is also very reliable and very fast for my day to day needs. I am really glad with this product and highly recommend it.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Outstanding Sand Beige color, incredible battery life
type: REVIEWS
items 19: content: TL;DR:
SETUP: It takes some time, like all Windows computers, but follow the onscreen directions, connect to a power supply, and to Wi-Fi.
USE: It works well. I like the Copilot integration.
USABILITY: It’s a Windows laptop with some Zen and a clear screen. It’s also very light.
OVERALL: It works well, battery life is good, it’s lightweight, it uses the full 14” of screen very well, and so far, it’s minimalistic and durable.
REVIEW:
The unboxing is very Zen…and very appropriate to the name ASUS Zenbook. The outer box contains the laptop in a thick cardboard box that’s well protected, as well as the USB-C charger. Inside the Zenbook box is a postcard and additional information, warranty, etc. It’s a REALLY NICE unboxing experience. Very Apple-like, but maybe even a shade bit nicer (and Apple is always special).
The actual, physical laptop feels very durable. The keys have a full “suspension feel” to them, and it almost feels like an external keyboard. The screen is very nice and, comparing to Apple, has a very similar feel in overall quality and nearly in brightness. I like that it has facial recognition, as well. That makes it easier to log on and keep the screen on while using and dim or go into standby when not. Battery life seems good in my tests. I haven’t noticed it lagging in my usage so far (at home and in the car). I have used Word and some smaller Excel files (I haven’t needed to use anything very large since getting the Zenbook). I haven’t used PowerPoint yet. I wish it would have the built-in camera cover, like they have on their Chromebooks, but that’s a minor gripe. As for the overall operating system, it’s very Windows 11. That’s to say good, if you like Windows. I like it, so I’m happy with it.
This is a solid laptop that will do most anything you want, is lightweight (which makes it ever more portable). I really like it. It seems like it will be a reliable companion that will give me several years of solid use.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 4
title: Solid laptop, lightweight, reliable companion
type: REVIEWS
items 20: content: WEIGHT 10/10:
It comes in at 2.4 lbs. Making it one of the lightest laptops on the market. Lighter than the MacBook Air 13” and just a bit heavier than the LG Gram. Which is immediately noticeable and for a portable, productivity machine makes way more difference than I would think. For my job I walk all over the place with my laptop. At times standing and having to do work on it. And manipulating this is truly a treat and provides heavy bias on me continuing to use it over my other more powerful and slightly bigger laptop I was using before. Along with it nailing the screen, trackpad, battery life, compact, non-sharp edges, smudge-resistance, and typing. I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a better portable machine than this one.
SCREEN 9/10:
It comes with a 14” Lumina OLED WUXGA (1920x1200, 16:10), 600-nit peak HDR, 60Hz, Pantone Validated Display. It does NOT have a touch screen. Which translates to a high-quality display. With it being OLED blacks are stellar. Pantone Validation means very accurate colors. I think the DCI-P3 coverage is like 95 – 100%. Which is excellent. That’s the mode I used it on, and everything was a delight to see. HDR looked great. It is not matte, so reflections are noticeable. But you get increased sharpness which I’ll personally take. Overall, excellent display.
KEYBOARD 9/10:
It comes with a backlit ErgoSense keyboard with smudge-free keycaps. It’s excellent. I think it is a sweet spot for typing, which I do all day at work. The travel is deep enough to be satisfying, with a nice solid tactile bump at the bottom, pops back up quickly and has just the right amount of mild/moderate activation pressure where you aren’t accidentally making presses. Spacing is excellent. Forces you to be very deliberate. They keys are full size (for the most part). I’m getting about 130 – 150 WPM. Backlight for the keyboard is white, comes in three brightness modes, and is mostly uniform. Have the same kind of soft-rubber feel to them that the whole device has. Which I enjoy the feel of. But the best part is they do an excellent job at minimizing smudges. So, the keyboard, where you rest your palm, the trackpad, and laptops body (such as the lid) all appear clean almost all the time. Making it so you don’t have to constantly wipe it down.
TRACKPAD 8/10:
It comes with an enlarged trackpad with smart gestures. Which includes unique features such as adjust screen brightness on the right side of the trackpad, volume levels on the left side of the trackpad, and across the top to rewind/fast forward. It is a mechanical trackpad. No glass top. Yet, the material they are using is still very smooth and easy to move your finger on. Avoids smudges well, and it is accurate. Click force is mild/moderate with it being easier the closer to the bottom you get. With that said still not as good as Apple’s trackpad or Surface Laptop 7’s precision haptic trackpad. Which I wish all laptops would adopt.
SPEAKERS 7/10:
It comes with Dual Super Linear Harman/Kardon speakers. They are on the sides of the laptop near the front, down firing. If you have it on a desk or your lap, they sound a lot better than other scenarios. Sound quality can be dramatically different depending on how you have it setup. I could easily understand speech. They got plenty loud. Music listening was enjoyable depending on the surface. More treble focused, mids were adequate, bass was light but present. There is some vibration in the laptop itself from them. Overall, I’m impressed for a laptop this size and weight.
BATTERY LIFE 10/10:
It comes with a 70Wh battery that they report will last for 32 hours. I was not getting anywhere near that level of battery. I was getting closer to the 12 – 15 hour mark. That was with mixed usage (watching videos, some demanding tasks, adjusting video brightness from 30 – 100%, backlit keyboard on, balanced profile for battery, outlook, word (white background over black), multiple chrome tabs open, notepad, google chat, and my software for work). Which included me not doing ANYTHING to try and maximize battery life. Which is excellent. But not close to 32 hours. But they report 19.5 hours with mixed usage. Which is closer. To me anything in that 12 – 15 hour mark is stellar. As that will get you through a whole day. Supports 60% in 49 minutes with fast charging.
PERFORMANCE 7/10:
It comes with a Snapdragon X Plus X1P (8-core, 3.4GHz) processor, 45 NPU TOPS for AI, 16GB LPDDR5X (8533MHz) soldered RAM, Integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU, Wi-Fi 6E, Fan for cooling, 65W Power Supply, Energy Star Certified, MIL-STD 810H, Copilot+ PC w/ Asus AI Apps (StoryCube, Adaptive Lock & Dimming, AI Noise Cancelling).
This scores medium to low high-end on my testing with Cinebench R23 testing and how it feels to use in normal operation compared to my very high-end computers. It does feel noticeably slower than my Snapdragon X Elite laptop, but they are scoring similar in Cinebench R23 which just proves there is more going on behind the scenes than synthetic benchmarks show. But with that said we live in a time where slower is still capable of doing the things most people do on a laptop such as word, emails, video streaming, research, and the ability to run most programs most people will use for work/play without any problems. And this chip is likely at minimum as powerful if not moreso, while also being far more power efficient, than most laptops that are older than 2 years. Making it a very nice upgrade for many. With it being an ARM chip there is some compatibility issues so you’ll want to double check. If you are doing more demanding tasks (video editing, video rendering, gaming, etc.) this isn’t what this laptop was built for. While it may be able to do those things, you’d be better suited going for another laptop. As the cooling for this laptop is limited, as the fan just simply cannot keep up when under extreme load for long periods I can see the processor ramping down to thermal limit.
Cinebench R23 Scores:
Balanced Battery: Multi-Core: 7832 Single: 1090
Balanced Powered: Multi-Core: 7270 Single: 1111
High Performance Battery: Multi-Core: 7392 Single: 1096
High Performance Powered: Multi-Core: 7344 Single: 1108
(yes balanced and on battery scored higher, I triple checked).
I do recommend going into the settings and changing the fan profile from "whisper" to "performance" as my multicore jumped from 5391 to 7832 due to that setting. Single core score was the same. Fan only turned on when stress testing. Otherwise, it was off for normal use. And the fan isn't all that loud and is at the right pitch where it isn't annoying or irksome.
It also comes with a quality 512 GB SSD. Actual Gen 4 Speeds. See posted picture for that. RAM is not upgradable. But speedy. 16 GB is a good sweet spot right now. Wi-Fi 6E is slightly behind Wi-Fi 7. Performance showed 1337 down and 1665 up which scores similar to my other Wi-Fi 6E devices but below my 2500/2500 that I’m paying for.
BUILD QUALITY/COLOR WAY 10/10:
It comes with an EasyLift hinge allowing you to open the laptop with a single finger without lifting up the bottom. Works VERY well. It also stays in place and doesn’t wobble when typing. It is made from Ceraluminum allowing it to be lightweight at 2.4 lbs. The Zabriskie Beige color is attractive. But most importantly help prevent any smudges making the device look clean even under heavy use. This includes the entire laptop (keys and trackpad included).
AI FEATURES:
Windows is getting more and more AI Features built-in. I think there is great potential here. But also risk. The webcam is improved with this as you have attention features where it will see if you’re looking at the screen, dim it if looking away, or turn off your screen if it notices you walked away and then turn back on when you get near. Also, provides background blur, auto framing, eye-tracking. Webcam quality was solid. Not great, lots of grain, but clear image. As was the microphone. I’d use it for calls. But isn’t premium quality. AI features also include other things like improved search function and all the other features you have seen marketing for with AI. I find the adjustment of battery, screen brightness, camera features, etc. to actually be beneficial. Whereas, the others not as much. But interested to see how this develops over time.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Best portable machine, excellent display and keyboard
type: REVIEWS
items 21: content: This ASUS Zenbook A14 replaces a 16” laptop I’ve had for about four years. My old laptop and Android phone are the two most used devices in my tech arsenal, so the A14 is going to get a good workout.
I wasn’t sure if the A14’s smaller 14” screen size was going to be a problem for me having used a larger screen for years, but thus far it has been an easy transition. In fact, the A14 has been a nice change in general.
From a weight perspective, the A14 is incredibly light weight and has been like playing with a kid’s toy. I never feel like I’m going to drop the unit, plus it fits in my backpack with plenty of room to spare. Even the power brick is more compact than my old laptop.
The A14 is also runs much cooler than I’m used to. The older one put out so much heat that sitting it on my lap felt like I was burning my skin. The A14 does put out some heat when plugged in but it’s minor in comparison.
The keyboard on the A14 has a good tactile feel to it, and its smaller form factor has been a non-issue.
Getting the A14 set up and running was uneventful. The only issue I had was getting my BT mouse working. It wasn’t a huge issue but was somewhat problematic because I kept touching the screen forgetting that it’s not a touch-screen monitor. I know, I know. But since I never ever used the mouse pad on my older unit, I had to fumble around with the A14’s mouse pad until I remembered what I was doing. Not a big issue, for sure.
Getting the A14 set up and running was a simple process as it walked me through all the necessary steps. Other than having to enter my credentials for many apps, it was a breeze.
Before I forget, the A14 is outfitted with the following:
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 8 cores
• 16gb Ram
• 2 USB-type C charging ports
• 1 HDMI 2.1 Thunderbolt 4
• 512 GB solid State Drive. Note that available storage space dropped after getting everything
installed and configured, close to 100gb was used.
• Battery life can be up to 32 hrs
• Comes with Windows 11 Home Edition
• It also has a headphone jack for wired headphones
• It supports WiFi and Bluetooth
• It also supports facial recognition when logging in
I have the battery saver turned on, so it only charges to 80% full capacity versus 100%. You can change this to 100% easily. I was on the A14 for hours and still found adequate battery remaining. As noted above, it has a claimed battery of up to 32 hours.
Since receiving the A14, I have decided to put my old laptop to rest. I may have to look into donating it to a worthy cause.
Thus far, I’ve used the A14 for a number of different tasks. Included are the following:
• Word processing
• Youtube videos
• Spreadsheets
• Gmail
• Calendaring
I’ve also been using CoPilot a ton more and the A14 has been impressive in its responsiveness handling these queries. Heck, I’m even using CoPilot to do day-to-day math calculations.
I’m very pleased with this ZenBook. As such, I’m rating the Asus ZenBook A14 5-stars.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Incredibly light weight, easy transition
type: REVIEWS
items 22: content: I just purchased it so this review is not comprehensive but I have some initial thoughts about it. It's well packaged and presented. The design, chassis material, oled screen and weight makes it seem premium. It has a good selection of i/o ports. I'm trusting that the arm architecture won't be a challenge with the mostly basic business and minimal creative work I'll use it for. It's very fast. So far I'm really liking it. Two things I'm not happy with. When I took the computer out of the box there were black smudges around the keyboard. They wouldn't come off with mild cleaners so I think they're permanent. It's really not a big deal but it's disappointing Asus doesn't have better qc. The other issue is the computer isn't a touchscreen. I bought it on sale and it's a great computer at that price but if I'd paid the regular price I think I would have considered returning it for not having a touchscreen.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 4
title: Premium feel, fast, but not touchscreen
type: REVIEWS
