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Asus Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition (Review)

Asus has a tradition of creating innovative products, and the company recently launched a new special-edition laptop – Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition to celebrate the silver anniversary of the Asus P6300, the first Asus laptop to be sent to the Mir space station. The P6300 laptop spent about 600 days in orbit and made its way back to earth in mint condition. Let’s see what the new Asus device holds within.

Design & Build Quality

The special-edition laptop has unique space-themed packaging, and though it has an almost identical shape and looks like Asus P6300, it stands apart due to the notable changes in the design. The 14X OLED Space Edition has a tiny 3.5-inch monochrome OLED ZenVision display mounted on the lid which shows battery status, animated space graphics and allows you to add/edit a customised message of your choice like WhatsApp about.

On the outside, it has a Morse code along with arc lines that state “Ad Astra Per Aspera”, which means “Through the hardships to the stars”. The aluminium built 14-inch Asus laptop is 15.9mm thick and weighs 1.4 kg. Once you open the lid, the Space Edition laptop looks the same as the regular Zenbook except for the space theme graphics near the sides of the trackpad and copper hue painted spacebar.

Display

The Zenbook Space Edition laptop is designed for young professionals, tech-savvy trendsetters, storytellers, space and science enthusiasts. The Zenbook 14X laptop has one of the most excellent displays, and Asus has taken care of your binge-watching with a 2.8K resolution, 100-per cent DCI-P3 colours, and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The laptop has a punchy OLED touchscreen display with a 90-Hz screen refresh rate.

The Zenbook 14X laptop has a 92% screen-to-body ratio, HDR support, a 720p HD camera, and a 10-bit OLED panel that displays sharp images even during sunlight, helping you while working outdoors. The display of the laptop comes with Pantone validation for colour accuracy and has perfect viewing angles. The Zenbook 14X is best for content creators, gamers, movie lovers and designers who need accurate colours while working.

Keyboard, Trackpad, Ports & Battery

The Zenbook 14X Space Edition laptop has perfect keyboard ergonomics as it comes with an ErgoLift hinge design which is best suited for the people who type on a regular basis. The keyboard layout is slightly raised to offer a perfect palm rest to the users, and it also provides 1.4mm key travel, which is one of the longest in this class of laptops. The trackpad comes with a NumberPad 2.0 integrated for a better multitasking experience.

Along with the spacebar key, it has a power key with a copper hue colour painted on it which comes with an integrated fingerprint sensor. In terms of connectivity, the Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition offers two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card support. The laptop is powered by a 63WHrs battery with 100W Type-C fast charging support.

Performance

Our review unit was powered by a top-notch 12th Gen Intel® Core(TM) i9-12900H processor, which helps you balance power and battery life perfectly. It has Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 32 GB of LPDDR5-4800 memory, NVMe SAMSUNG MZVL21T0HCLR-00B00 disk, and a very fast 1 TB gen4 SSD. The laptop has a hybrid design with 6 Performance and 8 Efficiency Cores, as well as 20 combined threads.

The Zenbook 14X laptop is made for creative professionals, offering a decent gaming experience. However, when you play high-end games for long hours, try to transfer multiple heavy files simultaneously, and when the battery meter hits below 30% of charging, the laptop starts lagging and turns into a heater. Overall, performance-wise it is a good machine, and I hope Asus will improve the software in future updates.

Verdict

I fell in love with this special-edition laptop at first sight, but it has flaws like every other love story. When it comes to special-edition laptops, companies usually don’t invest much time in them, but Asus has worked hard on this special edition, and one can easily notice it. The price of the laptop starts at ₹1,14,990, and the review unit we received was priced at ₹1,69,990. If you’re a creative professional and into cool gadgets, go for it.

ASUS Celebrates 25 years of the MIR Space Mission with ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition laptop

Taiwanese tech giant ASUS is a multinational company known for the world’s best motherboards, PCs, monitors, graphics cards, and routers. The company recently announced the launch of the Zenbook 14X OLED Space edition as they commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first ASUS laptop sent into space in India. The ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is a special edition laptop never seen before with outstanding features. The laptop is designed for young professionals, tech-savvy trendsetters, storytellers, space and science enthusiasts.

ASUS also unveiled ZenBook 14 OLED – the flagship model for 2022, along with the new VivoBook S series – VivoBook S14/15 OLED. The product pricing for ZenBook 14X OLED Space edition starts from INR 114,990, ZenBook 14 OLED (UX 3402) – INR 89,990, and VivoBook S Series INR 74,990 will be sold online (ASUS e-shop/ Amazon/ Flipkart) and offline (ASUS Exclusive Stores/ ROG Stores/Croma/Vijay Sales/Reliance Digital). 25 years ago, the ASUS P6300 laptop spent 600 days in orbit on the famous MIR space station, the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in space. While the ASUS laptop was on board, MIR faced power outages and fires, but the laptop lasted the entire mission without defect.

Commenting on the launch, Arnold Su, Business Head, Consumer and Gaming PC, System Business Group, ASUS India, said, “At ASUS, we are constantly striving to design products that are not only functional but also provide our customers with a unique user experience. We are happy to partner with Intel to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of our innovation with the new Zenbook Space Edition and are thrilled to bring our vision of the modern-day laptop to life. Our newest addition to our already extensive line of products will keep the ASUS promise of empowering everyone with superior quality technology. Additionally, we are also delighted to introduce our latest ZenBook series and extend our mainstream Notebook line up with VivoBook S series 14/15 OLED.”

Rahul Malhotra, Director, Consumer Sales, Intel India, said, “The Asus Zenbook 14x OLED Space Edition is powered by the very best of our 12th Generation Intel Core H-series processors, which redefine multi-core architecture by combining two different core architectures into a single processor. With our 12th Gen Intel Core processors, consumers not only get class-leading performance and industry firsts such as DDR5 memory support, but also the fastest connectivity options such as Thunderbolt™ 4 and WiFi6E. We’re also very proud of our long-standing collaboration with Asus to deliver innovative computing platforms that deliver world-class mobile computing experiences.”

Product Details:

ZenBook 14X OLED Space edition (UX5401)

The ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition is powered by the top-of-the-line 12th Generation Intel® Core™ H-series gaming-grade processors, combining performance cores and efficiency cores for the ultimate balance between power and battery life. The new platform also brings features like WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and Thunderbolt™ 4, along with dual fans and dual heat pipes allowing sustained 45W TDP. It also comes with blazing-fast PCIe Gen 4 Performance SSDs with speeds of up to 6.5 Gbps as well as LPDDR5 RAM.

The lid of the ASUS ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition features the exclusive ZenVision display, a fully customizable 3.5″ OLED panel that is inspired by a datasheet of a spaceship. This latest laptop is very compact, coming in with a weight of just 1.4 kg and a thickness of 15.9 mm, and has a brilliant 14″ 2.8K OLED touchscreen with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate with a taller 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2880 x 1800. There are also hints of morse code around the design, reading ad Astra per Aspera (Latin), which means “Through Hardships, to the Stars”, a keyboard deck that resembles a space capsule cockpit, with multiple easter eggs.

ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition has not only been tested to meet the ultra-demanding MIL-STD-810H U.S. military standard for reliability and durability, which very few laptops pass but is also certified to pass (SMC-S-016A) standard Space-Grade tests such as extreme vibration of 2,000Hz, low-temperature test at -25°C and high temperate test at 61°C. So, even with its innovative design and petite form factor, the laptop will always be by your side.

ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition (UX5401ZAS) –

CPU – Intel® Core™ i9-12900H / Intel® Core™ i7-12700H / Intel® Core™ i5-12500H

RAM – 16GB/32GB LPDDR5

Storage – 512GB/1TB PCIe 4.0 Performance SSD

Graphics – Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics

Display – 14″ 2.8K OLED 90Hz touchscreen with 16:10 aspect ratio

OS – Windows 11 Home

Features – NumberPad, fingerprint scanner, WiFi 6E

Ports – 2 x Thunderbolt 4.0 (data, display, power) + 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A) + HDMI 2.0b, 3.5mm combo jack, micro SD

Battery – 63 WHrs, 100W fast charging (Type-C)

Colour – Zero-G Titanium

Design – Aluminum chassis, 15.9 mm, 1.4 kg

Camera – 720p webcam, privacy shutter

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3402ZA) OLED Displays Should Be Mainstream!

Intel’s 12th generation processors are a giant leap forward in performance, and many brands are soon adopting newer processors. Intel is still the preferred choice of many professionals for its hassle-free operations and no unnecessary need to update BIOS to get the best performance out of their hardware. We have been using the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED for about a month, and here is our take.

Designed to be casually professional

The design is professional yet classy, with design elements finished in matte and glossed geometric lines. Overall, it is lightweight at 1.4Kgs with an all-metal chassis. It is still bottom heavy like most non-touchscreen laptops, but overall weight distribution is even across the computer. The gloss metal hinge looks interesting in real life. There’s also a 180-degree ergo-lift hinge. Two Thunderbolt 4 Type C USB ports, a Type A USB port, a full-fledged HDMI 2.0 port, a MicroSD card reader, two status lights, a 3.5mm headset jack, and Kensington lock ports complete the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED’s good I/O selection.

The display is glossy, unlike the entire matte finish feel of the laptop. The keyboard is a highlight with contoured keys and a clicky feel. Three levels of illumination with TKL design make it ample space for typing and a biometric fingerprint scanner in a subtle thin chrome bezel is fast. There’s a large touchpad with Asus NumericPad 2.0 and two brightness levels on this, along with usual gesture recognition. Both the camera and mic get a dedicated one tap manual access for privacy and hardware-level control.

OLED beauty

The USP of this laptop has to be an insane 550nits bright 2.8k OLED display featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio. With 100% DCI P3 and 109% sRGB colour calibration, this display is bright, colour accurate for professionals, and display nerds would be more than happy staring at this laptop all day long. The brightness levels are ample for outdoor viewing, but the glossy panel will have you staring at your face while using this laptop outdoors. Indoors, this is one of the best displays money can buy. Adding to the credibility of this laptop is Pantone validation.

Performance – Fast and Furious!

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED’s performance is top-notch thanks to their integration of Intel’s latest 12th gen processors. Ours was an i7 1260p with 12 cores and 16 threads paired with 16GB DDR5 RAM at 4800mhz and 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD by Samsung. Productivity is snappier than any Zenbook series we’ve ever tested. The only downside is the heat it produces. It can get warm enough to be uncomfortable on your lap, and fans tend to get audible enough to notice.

What surprised us was the efficiency level of this chip. This laptop is like a sprinter with a marathon runner’s stamina with normal work usage on multiple chrome tabs, including videos and audio. Throw any task apart from graphics-intensive tasks, and the laptop simply flies through the task. Over a week, we charged it only twice. At 75kWh and new-gen processing efficiency, this laptop is a thoroughbred business companion. Bundled inside the box is a Type C 65W USB fast charger, and the most exciting part of this laptop is its innate capability to charge through chargers with as low as 5W-20W output. Theoretically, it can charge over any normal power bank as well. This eliminated the need to carry multiple chargers, especially while travelling. It does take forever to charge on mobile phone chargers, but heck, it charges, and that is what matters. Video conferencing was a pleasant experience thanks to a better 3D NR camera, and noise cancellation featured mics with Dolby Atmos configured speakers. Nothing too impressive but definitely way above average.

Verdict

A relatively higher MSRP could be a deal-breaker when this amount of money could get you something like the Samsung pro book 2 360, an AMOLED 2k display with similar hardware, and spare you enough money to get a basic Asus laptop while weighing a mere 870 gms instead of a 1.4kg Asus Zenbook 14 OLED. In isolation, this OLED laptop is beautiful, powerful and classy, bundled with all the necessary Office suite and Windows seamlessness.

Specs

Processor – Intel 12th Gen i7 1260P (12C 16T)

Ram – 16GB LPDDR5 4800MHz

Storage – 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 Samsung SSD

Display – 14-inch 2880×1880 2K OLED 90Hz refresh rate 550 nits brightness 16:10 aspect ratio

Wifi 6E

Good – OLED display and brightness

Bad – Intel 12th Gen i7 1260P runs warms

Ugly – The price tag

Asus Zenbook Duo 14 (2021) Review – A Stand Apart Ultrabook

Two-screen or dual-screen gadgets are becoming a trivial trend, but keeping aside the audience’s interests, several top-notch companies are investing in the idea and developing two-screen devices. We have witnessed the launch of two-screen products such as Galaxy Fold 3, Galaxy Flip 3, Asus ZenBook Duo 14, and Lenovo ThinkBook Plus in the past few months.

Amongst all of these gadgets, we’ve reviewed some and sent them back to the places. However, to our luck, we got a chance to keep the Asus ZenBook Duo 14 for a bit longer, and that’s why we decided to come up with a long-term review where we can assist you to understand the complete details of the 14-inch Asus ZenBook Duo 14.

Design & Build Quality

Asus is known for offering the world’s best motherboards and innovative gadgets such as high-quality personal computers, graphics cards, and other technology solutions. The company’s latest addition, the uniquely designed Asus ZenBook Duo 14, is an update to last year’s Zenbook Duo 14, and it arrives with a massive slab of a second screen.

On the outside, the ZenBook Duo 14 features a concentric circle pattern etched on top, and it looks elegant. The glossy silver Asus logo stands apart and strikes a laptop with a classy look. On the inside, it features two screens, as mentioned in the name, and it is as wide as the main screen, but it makes the laptop sacrifice its ergonomics.

Along with a head-turning design, the Asus ZenBook Duo 14 endures a well-built form. The full-HD laptop features sturdy and robust screens, tough enough to take a hard punch. The Duo 14 is not a lap-friendly laptop, and most of the credit goes to its raised bottom panel and the second screen, as it doesn’t sit flush and changes the conventional wrist-rest space.

Display

The ZenBook Duo 14 features two stylish, seamless and steady displays, which are unquestionably beneficial if you prefer working on a laptop while commuting in a car. The laptop features a primary display of 14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) and an additional compact display of 12.65-inch (1920 x 515), dubbed as the ScreenPad Plus. The Zenbook Duo 14 offers an immersive viewing experience with a four-sided frameless NanoEdge display and its second screen automatically tilts up to an angle of 7° which reduces glare and reflections for improved readability.

The dual display is best for journalists, writers or students who like to open/switch various windows/tabs at a time. They can use the ScreenPad Plus to track the latest news/articles and use the primary one to write their own. The Duo 14 is the best option for users who want more than one display. The laptop also features a handy button above the touchpad that immediately swaps the contents of your primary and secondary screen. The ScreenPad Plus is beneficial for gaming, especially when you like to play games and run video references side by side.

Ergonomics & Ports

One of the flaws of the Zenbook Duo 14 is its keyboard and mousepad. The company has done a decent job adjusting both of these essential aspects in a tiny space, but somewhere deep down, we all know we’re not satisfied with it. The secondary screen, ScreenPad Plus, leaves extremely little room for the touchpad, which forces Asus to create a vertical mousepad.

Also, as mentioned earlier, one can not rest their palms while typing; it’s a bit of a task in itself and a hard one to follow. Along with the mousepad, the keyboard also looks cramped and compromised for the second screen. Centre-aligned mousepads and empty keyboard decks are comfortable for every individual, whether right-handed or left-handed.

One aspect that doesn’t suffer due to the secondary screen is the ports. The Zenbook Duo 14 features a range of ports, including USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, a full-size HDMI 1.4, an HDMI connection, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio port. The dynamic laptop also emphasises support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth.

Performance

Performance and endurance are two departments that one should not worry about if you’re planning to buy the Asus Zenbook Duo 14. The performance is in line with the competition, and with an 11th gen Core i7 processor lying inside, paired with 2GB Nvidia MX450 GPU, 16GB DDR4x RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD, the ZenBook Duo 14 is assuredly more than enough to handle a number of heavy tasks.

The Duo 14 is equipped with the new ScreenXpert 2 software and offers a plethora of built-in apps, including a new Control Panel app, which comes with customisable commands and shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro and After Effects. The base model arrives with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. The 1.6 kg laptop scores 5,330 points on n Geekbench 5.3.

Battery Life

The Asus Zenbook Duo’s battery life is surprisingly decent, and it can pull enough juice from its 70Whr battery to provide you with a solid six hours of working time. Naturally, laptops in this category tend to last a long time but in the case of Zenbook Duo, the second display is a vital culprit on battery drain. The bundled USB-C charger takes about an hour and 20 minutes to fully charge the Duo 14. After fully recharging the laptop and putting it in power saver mode, it offers over 10 hours of standby time. The fans only fired up during gaming, but you can turn them down by visiting Asus’ control centre. Overall, throughout the use, the Zenbook Duo 14 stays cool and provides wholesome enjoyment.

Verdict

Finally, we’ve arrived at the question, is the Asus ZenBook Duo really worth your time and money? Well, Yes. The Asus ZenBook Duo 14 is a pretty unique ultrabook that provides a number of innovative features, including audio equipment certified by Harman Kardon but surrenders ergonomics for a big second screen. With the price starting from ₹99,990 and going up to ₹1,34,990, it’s a decent choice and durable enough even with its dubious hinge. The Asus ZenBook Duo 14 continues to redefine what a laptop should build like, but at the end of the day, it ultimately depends on the user’s preference and whether it adds value to the user’s life or not?