ASUS Zenbook 14 review: Compact, practical, and future-proof
I walk the road of shifting between PCs at least once a month. Not because I want to, it is a work hazard. It is my job to test the latest innovations in the PC market. This time around, it was the Zenbook 14 (UX3405CA), the latest Evo Edition ultrabook from ASUS, powered by the Intel Core Ultra 9.
With a starting price of Rs 1,27,990, is this the all-rounder PC that professionals can depend on? Here is my review answering that very question.
Slim, practical, and dependable
Thanks to the metal build, the laptop feels solid and sturdy. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
The Asus Zenbook 14 is a compact laptop that's light and easy to carry around. I appreciate the fact that the laptop has a 14-inch OLED touch 3K resolution, 120Hz display that is sharp, colour-accurate, and even gets adequately bright, ensuring visibility even under direct sunlight. While the bezels aren't the thinnest in the segment, they blend into the system well, especially on the Ponder Blue variant.
Coming to the practical aspects of this machine, it has almost every port that one would expect from a much bulkier laptop, including a full-sized HDMI port, USB-A port, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a couple of USB-C ports. Although it does miss out on a microSD slot, the rest of the I/O options ensure that the laptop is ready for almost any professional task, such as delivering a keynote presentation or connecting to an external monitor.
The trackpad on the ASUS Zenbook 14 doubles as a num-pad, a nifty feature, especially for those who tend to crunch a lot of numbers on their PC. Overall, the laptop has everything one needs from a modern laptop and a bit more.
One of the best screens on a laptop
The OLED screen is sharp, bright, and colour-accurate. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
One of the highlights of the Zenbook 14 is definitely its display, which has something for everyone. It is sharp for content consumption with a 3K resolution, fast for gaming with a 120Hz refresh rate, and with up to 600 nits of brightness, it remains adequately bright even for outdoor usage. This is also a 16:9 aspect ratio display, which is best suited for content consumption.
A secure webcam
Web camera with physical privacy shutter. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
The Zenbook 14 has an FHD-resolution webcam. Assisted by an IR sensor, it also supports Windows Hello-powered face unlock. During my usage, not once did the camera fail to recognise and authenticate me. In fact, even in pitch-dark lighting, the biometric authentication did not disappoint. On top of that, the camera also has a privacy shutter, which physically blocks the camera from accessing any visuals, adding an additional layer of unbreachable privacy.
Plenty of performance, even for the future
The integrated Arc can even handle AAA titles. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
Powered by the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, this laptop can handle almost any task you throw at it, including compute-heavy tasks like video rendering, processing complex Excel sheets, and even gaming, thanks to the integrated Intel Arc graphics.
In almost all the laptops that I have tested recently, memory—commonly known as RAM—is a bottleneck, and even having 16 GB of it doesn't cut it anymore. If you are someone like me who keeps tens of tabs open on Chrome, PCs running on Windows 11 tend to run out of memory, which causes the device to slow down or even crash. In this case, I did not experience that issue, which is a clear indicator of the importance of memory in a PC, especially because most ultrabooks do not allow users to upgrade it post-purchase.
If you are spending over a lakh on a Windows laptop, I definitely recommend getting a laptop with 32 GB RAM to ensure it is ready to handle future computing demands.
All-day battery life
More than all-day battery life. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
The ASUS Zenbook 14, like most Intel Lunar Lake-powered laptops, offers excellent battery backup. The 75W battery, according to Asus, can provide over 18 hours of video playback time. In real-world use cases, the laptop can offer anywhere between 8 to 9 hours of battery life, and the best part is that it uses a USB-C charger—the same charger as your phone, headphones, or almost any modern gadget.
An easy recommendation
A highly practical Windows PC. (Image credit: Vivek Umashankar/The Indian Express)
If you are looking for a PC in the Rs 1,20,000 price range, the ASUS Zenbook 14 is clearly a good choice. In fact, it is among the better options in this price segment. Features like a touchscreen display, a high-resolution webcam, and an extensive range of I/O options make the Zenbook 14 a perfect work PC.
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ASUS Zenbook 14 review
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| Pros | Cons |
| Light & Portable | No microSD slot |
| Great Screen | Average bezels |
| Lots of Ports | |
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Good Performance
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Long Battery Life
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