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Asus Zenbook A14: Two-minute review
The Asus Zenbook A14 is a light and compact laptop that promises to be the ideal travel companion.
That aesthetic is complimented by the extremely light and slender frame, which helps to make the Zenbook A14 one of the best laptops around in terms of portability.
Not only that, but the build quality of the Zenbook A14 is also commendable. The base feels solid, while the materials used feel premium to the touch. The lid has considerably more flex, but this is excused somewhat by its sheer thinness and ease of use. What’s more, it’s as stable as you could wish for once open.
It’s pleasing to see this many ports on such a thin device. There are two USB-C ports, both of which support external monitors and charging. However, they’re both on the left-hand side of the unit, along with all the other ports (barring a single USB-A). This may hamper convenience, depending on your particular setup and preferences.
I have fewer gripes with the performance of the Zenbook A14. It remained composed during every task I threw at it, even handling light gaming well, which is doubly impressive given it has no dedicated GPU. Heat and fan noise are noticeable when such workloads are undertaken, but I didn’t find either of these aspects too disruptive.
The 1200p OLED display is sharp and vibrant, although it’s not quite as impressive as some of the best monitors around. And while it’s bright enough to lay pesky reflections to rest, it’s still wanting in this department.
The keyboard is excellent, facilitating quick typing thanks to the generous spacing and snappy nature of the keys. They also have more travel and dampening than I was expecting, which only adds to the satisfaction of using them. The touchpad feels equally tactile, thanks to its smooth-as-silk surface, although its small size can hamper navigation.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Zenbook A14, though, is its battery life. It lasted over 28 hours in our movie playback test, which is longer than its larger sibling, the A16, managed to achieve. Many other 14-inch laptops failed to beat this time as well.
The Zenbook A14 isn’t exactly a cheap laptop, but it hardly puts a foot wrong. If you want a 14-inch laptop that’s easy to travel, performs well in most areas, and lasts all day, it should be at the top of your list.
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Specs
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Base |
Review |
|
Price |
$1,599.99 / £769.99/ AU$1,999 |
$1,799.99 / AU$3,699 (about £1,300) |
|
CPU |
Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) (2.97GHz, 8 Cores) Aus: Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) (3.2GHz, 8 Cores) |
Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) (4.0GHz, 18 Cores) |
|
GPU |
Qualcomm Adreno (integrated) |
Qualcomm Adreno (integrated) |
|
RAM |
16GB LPDDR5X |
32GB LPDDR5X |
|
Storage |
1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD Aus: 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
|
Display |
14-inch WUXGA 3K (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10, 60Hz |
14-inch WUXGA 3K (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10, 60Hz |
|
Ports and Connectivity |
2x USB-C (4.0 Gen 3, display / power delivery support, 40Gbps) 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2, 10Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 |
2x USB-C (4.0 Gen 3, display / power delivery support, 40Gbps) 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2, 10Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
|
Battery |
70Wh |
70Wh |
|
Dimensions |
311 x 214 x 16mm (12.2 x 8.4 x 0.6in) |
311 x 214 x 16mm (12.2 x 8.4 x 0.6in) |
|
Weight |
2.16lbs (0.98kg) |
2.16lbs (0.98kg) |
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Price & availability
- Starting from $1,599.99 / £769.99 / AU$1,999
- Available now
- Higher end of the market
The Asus Zenbook A14 starts from $1,599.99 / £769.99/ AU$1,999 and is available now in two colorways: grey and beige.
This is undeniably an expensive laptop, and many rivals undercut it. The HP Omnibook 7 14-inch is one such example. It’s similarly high-end and handles most tasks well, as well as featuring an excellent battery life, although it’s not quite as enduring as the Zenbook A14, nor is it as light.
For about the same price as the Zenbook A14, you could also get the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14. As the name suggests, this is a convertible laptop, featuring a 360-degree rotating lid and touchscreen display for tablet style use. It even includes a stylus.
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Design
- Very light and thin
- Unique finish and materials
- Sufficient port selection
There are several aspects of the Zenbook A14’s design that set it apart from the crowd. First, its finishes are more interesting, with the grey model featuring a slightly marbled texture and the beige a slightly mottled one, both of which run counter to the sterile nature of many modern laptops.
Its form is minimal in every sense. All sides are flat with no unsightly bulges, and the whole unit is impressively thin and ultra light, making it great for those who need a portable machine.
Despite the lithe construction, build quality doesn’t appear to have been compromised. The Ceraluminium chassis material feels smooth and premium, and there’s little flex to the base.
The Zenbook A14’s display enclosure is a more flimsy affair, but given how incredibly thin it is, this is hardly surprising. The lid is also incredibly easy to open yet still offers plenty of stability, preventing the screen from wobbling during use.
Its keyboard also feels premium, and features bright backlighting. This is always a positive aspect, and one I feel should be mandatory on pretty much any laptop.
There are enough ports on the Zenbook A14 to make it practical. The selection includes two USB-C ports, both of which are capable of supporting external monitor connections and charging.
It’s a shame, however, that both are located on the same side (left), as I typically prefer such ports to be split across both sides, to allow for greater versatility when connecting to power sources and displays.
In fact, every port save for the single USB-A port is located here, which could further impede practicality. At least they’re in a sensible order: the headset jack is the foremost interface, while the HDMI port — an increasingly rare sight on today’s laptops — is at the far end.
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Performance
- Capable all-round performance
- Some heat and noise generated
- Not the brightest display
Asus Zenbook A14 benchmarks
3DMark: Night Raid: 44,546; Fire Strike: 9,579; Steel Nomad: 1,071; Solar Bay: 20,836; Solar Bay Unlimited: 22,429; Solar Bay Extreme: 2,157; Solar Bay Extreme Unlimited: 2,450
Geekbench 6.5: Multicore: 20,134; Single-core: 3,798
Cinebench R23: Multi Core: 14,476; Cinebench R24: Single Core: 90; Multi Core: 820
Crossmark: Overall: 1,920; Productivity: 1,731; Creativity: 2,157; Responsiveness: 1,848
Passmark Overall: 7,591; CPU: 30,623.6; 2D Graphics: 464.2; 3D Graphics: 6,547.8; Memory: 3,473.7; Disk: 44,120
BlackMagicDisk: Read: 4154MB/s; Write: 4698MB/s
HandBrake 4K to 1080p: 70.09fps
Total War: Warhammer III: 1080p, Medium: 44fps
Total War: Warhammer III: 1200p, Ultra: 23fps
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 28 hours and 25 minutes
The overall performance of the Zenbook A14 is admirable indeed for such a compact device. Browsing and light productivity are processed smoothly, as is streaming in resolutions above 1080p. Since my review unit was packed with 32GB of RAM, it handled multitasking very well, too.
What’s more, I was pleasantly surprised by the gaming chops of the Zenbook A14, considering it has no dedicated GPU. It managed to run Cyberpunk 2077 at the Ray Tracing: Low preset in a playable state. Granted, visuals were rough around the edges, and I experienced the occasional stutter and momentary lockups, but it was still smooth enough for a casual session.
However, such workloads do elicit a fair amount of fan noise from the Zenbook A14 which, while not disruptive, is certainly noticeable. Heat is also generated, but temperatures are modest and localized to the back of the unit, far from where your fingers might stray.
The display in the Zenbook A14 is quite good. The 1920 x 1200 resolution offers enough clarity for the screen’s dimensions, and colors are rendered well enough to enjoy all kinds of content. However, this isn’t the most vibrant OLED display I’ve encountered, nor is it the most radiant; there’s enough brightness to combat reflections effectively, but it doesn’t quite match the sheer luminosity of the best OLED displays I’ve experienced.
I have less gripes with the keyboard in the Zenbook A14, though. The keys are light, snappy, and well-spaced, all of which allows for quick typing. They’re also incredibly satisfying to press, owing to their dampening and long travel relative to their low profile.
However, the layout is compromised somewhat, lacking as it does a number pad and all navigation keys, save for a delete/ insert one. At least there are a number of useful shortcuts on the F row, such as those for screenshotting, opening various utility apps, and disabling the touchpad, microphone, and camera.
The touchpad is gloriously smooth, which makes swipes and gestures easy and enjoyable to perform. The added slider functions on the edges for controlling various parameters, such as volume and brightness, also work well; I never triggered them accidentally during my time with the Zenbook A14, as I have done with other implementations of this feature. However, the surface area of the pad is a little too small for efficient navigation; I often found myself running out of space when dragging and dropping items around the screen, for instance.
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Battery life
- Best in class
- Outlasts larger model
The battery life of the Zenbook A14 is very impressive. When I ran a movie on a continuous loop, the laptop lasted over 28 hours, which puts it at the top of its class.
The larger Zenbook A16 lasted just over 24 hours in the same test. The Zenbook A14 also outlasts other premium 14-inch laptops, such as the HP OmniBook 7, which managed about 26 hours.
Should I buy the Asus Zenbook A14?
Scorecard
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Value |
The Zenbook A14 is expensive in absolute terms, and there are laptops that perform almost as well for significantly less. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Design |
Incredibly light, thin, and good looking, with a unique and premium construction. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Performance |
Handles most tasks well, and is even capable of some light gaming. The OLED display is good, but not the best I’ve seen in a laptop. |
4 / 5 |
|
Battery Life |
Among the best in its class; it can outlast most of its rivals. |
5 / 5 |
|
Final Score |
The Zenbook A14 gets most things right. There are only a few drawbacks, chief among which is its high price tag. Certainly one to consider if you need a portable machine, though. |
4 / 5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
Asus Zenbook A14 review: Also consider
How I tested the Asus Zenbook A14
- Tested for several days
- Used for various tasks
- Experienced laptop reviewer
I spent several days with the Asus Zenbook A14 and used it for various tasks, from web browsing and light productivity to streaming video and gaming.
I also ran our series of benchmark tests, to comprehensively assess every facet of its performance. This included running a movie on a continuous loop unplugged to test the battery life.
I’ve reviewed a whole host of laptops before, across a broad range of price points, form factors, and use cases, from budget devices to gaming machines. I’ve also used laptops and all kinds of similar computing devices in my personal life for decades.
