Asus has launched its latest ASUS Zenbook 14 UX425JA in India and it’s the thinnest 14-inch laptop in the world that comes with full I/O Ports. The ASUS Zenbook 14 is a productivity laptop made for business users and it starts from Rs.79,990 in India. It’s 13.9mm thin and weighs only 1.13kg which makes it really lightweight and super portable.
The Zenbook 14 is powered by a 10th Generation Intel Core i7 processor which is coupled with 16 GB of RAM. In addition to this, the laptop packs a massive 67Wh battery which comes with support for USB Type-C charging. Is the ASUS Zenbook 14 worth your money? Let’s find out.
ASUS Zenbook 14 Specifications
- Display: 14-inch (35.56 cm) Full HD display (1920 x 1080 pixels), Anti-glare protection, 90% screen-to-body ratio, 300nits brightness display
- Software: Windows 10 Home
- CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7 processor, 1.30GHz quad-core with Turbo Boost (up to 3.90GHz) and 8MB cache
- GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics
- Memory: 16 GB LPDDR4X RAM 3200MHz
- Storage: 512 GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x2 M.2 SSD
- Keyboard: Edge-to-edge design, full-size backlit keyboard, with 1.4mm key travel
- Audio: ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound and smart amplifier. Sound powered by Harman Kardon.
- Connectivity: Intel WiFi 6 with Gig+ performance (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5.0
- Camera: 3D IR HD camera with support for Face Unlock
- Other: MyASUS and McAfee Antivirus Preinstalled
- Battery: 67 Wh battery, up to 22 hours of battery life
- Power Adapter: 65 Watts Type-C Adaptor
- Weight: 1.13kg
- Price: Rs 79,999 starting price.
- Included in Box: ZenBook 14 (UX425), Power adaptor with power cord (65W), Protective sleeve, USB-C to audio jack dongle, USB-A to LAN dongle
Design, Display, & Build
The ASUS Zenbook 14 comes with a minimalistic design and an all-metal body which makes it look premium. We got the Pine Grey color to play around with and it has a brushed metal finish on the top with the ASUS logo on the middle left corner. Along with this, you also have the Zenbook Series branding right at the end of the upper panel however it isn’t visible until you take a closer look.
As mentioned above, the ASUS Zenbook 14 weighs just 1.13kg and it’s 13.9mm thin which makes it the thinnest laptop available right now. The overall design looks very clean and thanks to it’s thin and light form factor, the Zenbook 14 becomes a great choice for users who travel with their laptops daily. The build quality is really good and the laptop passes MIL-STD-810G U.S. military test which means that you won’t have any problems with the body even after using it for a long time.
Even after it’s slim form factor the Zenbook 14 comes with two Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports and an HDMI port on the left. On the right, there’s a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port along with a MicroSD card reader. ASUS gives a Type C to 3.5mm cable in the box which can be used to connect your headphones to the laptop. However, if someone forgets to carry the cable along with them it can become an issue hence it would have been nice if we had a 3.5mm headphone jack on the laptop.
Moving on to the bottom, the Zenbook 14 features 4 rubber pads on the back which help to lift up the laptop, and thanks to this you get a better typing experience. In addition to this, there are two speakers on the back which provide excellent audio output. If you are a bass lover, then you will definitely enjoy the speakers on the Zenbook 14. The laptop model information is also printed on the back and along with that, you get the Windows and ASUS Stickers.
Opening up the lid, you see a nice four-sided NanoEdge display, and thanks to this, the ASUS Zenbook 14 offers a 90% screen-to-body ratio. The Zenbook 14 uses a 14-inch (35.56 cm) Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) with a matte finish anti-glare protection. It comes with 300nits of maximum brightness and you won’t face any reading issues even when you use it in harsh lighting conditions. The display is great for media streaming and the speakers on this laptop just make the overall experience better.
Even after the slim form factor, ASUS has managed to fit a 3D IR HD camera on the top which can be used for face unlock and video calls. The keyboard comes with a pretty good key distance and it gives you a really clicky feedback while you are typing. You get three levels of backlighting which you can adjust according to your needs and thanks to this, you’ll be able to work late at night without actually disturbing anyone around you. It comes with an Ergolift hinge which lifts up the laptop slightly when you open it and offers a better typing position and also helps in cooling.
Moving on, the Touchpad on the ASUS Zenbook 14 is quite unique as it comes with an integrated number pad. The touchpad is really large and it takes some time before you get used to it. The integrated LED-illuminated numeric keypad can be used to perform calculations and to do various other tasks. It works really well and we hardly faced any issues while we were testing it out.
Software & Features
The ASUS Zenbook 14 comes with Windows 10 Home pre-installed and In addition to this, you get three preinstalled apps which include McAfee Antivirus, Microsoft Office Suite, and MyASUS. The MyASUS Software helps you to optimize your laptop performance, allows you to make changes to your battery plans and fan profiles and besides this, it also shows you your Warranty information and allows you to contact support straight from the app.
The boot speed on this laptop is crazy as it literally boots up in 2 seconds even after some startup programs enabled and all credit for this goes to the superfast SSD it comes with. We used this laptop regularly and didn’t face any issues or lags with the Windows 10 on it. You can multitask with ease, and the laptop is capable of handling heavy spreadsheets along with other programs in the background without any problems. The App launch time on this is also good enough and mostly everything you run starts within a second.
We updated the laptop to Windows 10 version 2004 and doing that changed the Display driver for us. Hence, if you plan to update the laptop after you get it make sure you download and Install the Intel Iris Plus display drivers for a better experience.
On the connectivity features, the ASUS Zenbook 14 comes with Intel WiFi 6 with Gig+ performance (802.11ax) and the new Bluetooth 5.0. We used Bluetooth for file sharing to a different Bluetooth enabled laptop and a smartphone and the transfer speeds were really good. The WiFi also works well but we did face some connection drops while using it for a longer period of time.
Hardware, Performance & Gaming
Talking about the Hardware, the ASUS Zenbook 14 is powered by a 10th Generation 1.30GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor, with Turbo Boost (up to 3.90GHz) and 8MB cache. This is further coupled with 16 GB of 3200MHz LPDDR4X RAM and a 512 GB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x2 M.2 SSD.
Everyday performance on the ASUS Zenbook 14 is just great. You can browse through the internet, make PowerPoint presentations, edit your spreadsheets, and stream your favorite shows online without any issues. The laptop doesn’t hang or get slow even when you are running multiple apps as the processor handles everything you throw at it.
You can check out the detailed hardware info provided by the HWiNFO64 as well as the CPU-Z app in the below screenshots. We also did a DirectX Diagnostic Tool check by running the dxdiag command to check the display driver dates and versions.
As this is a productivity laptop made for students and business users it doesn’t have a high-performance GPU and comes equipped with Intel Iris Plus Graphics. We would have loved to see a dedicated GPU on this one but it isn’t present there. However, thanks to the 16 GB RAM and the 10th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor the laptop manages to run titles like PUBG Lite and Valorant with ease.
We tried playing both the games on this one and got like a maximum of 90 FPS and a minimum of 50 FPS while playing PUBG Lite with everything set to Ultra and High. Valorant runs pretty smoothly as well and you don’t get any issues or frame drops while playing the game even after a long period of time.
As this isn’t a gaming laptop the temperatures go up and the laptop heats up a lot while you run these games so that’s a problem. However, you won’t face any heating issues in your everyday usage even with some heavy apps running in the background.
Coming to the Benchmarks, we ran PCMark 10, Geekbench, and CrystalDiskMark for the SSD Test, and the results we got were surely impressive. Starting up, the ASUS Zenbook 14 gets a single-core score of 1276 and a multicore score of 3414 on Geekbench. The Integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics Card scored 4005 points using the OpenCL API. In PCMark 10 Benchmarks the Zenbook 14 managed to get a maximum score of 3850 and a minimum score of 3195 when we ran the PCMark Extended test which includes some Gaming scores too.
The SSD, on the other hand, managed to get some impressive numbers on the CrystalDiskMark 8, and it’s one of the reasons why the ASUS Zenbook 14 feels fast and snappy. You can have a detailed look at the benchmarks score in the images attached below.
Battery Life
The ASUS Zenbook 14 comes with a massive 67Wh battery and to charge that you get a 65 Watts Type-C Adaptor in the box. As it supports fast charging, the Zenbook 14 takes around 1hrs 45mins for a full charge and goes up to 60% charge level in 50 mins.
ASUS is promising that the Zenbook 14 can offer up to 22 hours of battery life however that highly depends on how you are using the laptop. We easily got 16 hours of battery life even after using the laptop on the maximum brightness for everyday tasks like surfing the internet, playing music, working with documents, and more.
The people who’ll be running light games on the ASUS Zenbook 14 won’t be disappointed either as the laptop managed to give us 7 hours of battery life even after 2 hours of Gaming. This is truly impressive as most of the other productivity laptops in the market usually give up in 3-4 hours when you run games on them using Battery power.
Overall, the Battery on the ASUS Zenbook 14 is perfect and it can easily get you through the day without charging.
Verdict
The ASUS Zenbook 14 UX425JA leaves a good impression with its thin and light form factor and clean minimalistic design. This is the lightest laptop you can get in the market right now and it’s impressive to see that it manages to fit a webcam inside even after being so slim and offering a 90% screen to body ratio. It’s a great laptop for the people who travel every day as its really portable and fits easily in your bag. The build quality is great and it surely feels premium. In addition to this, the LED Numberpad on the touchpad is something unique and gives the laptop a more premium feel.
It’s a complete powerhouse as it packs the latest 10th Generation Intel Core i7 1065G7 processor which is further coupled with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD Storage. However, a better GPU at this price tag could have made things much better but since it’s a productivity laptop made for students and business users I don’t think many users will care about the GPU. The cooling system on the laptop is good but you see some heating issues while running programs that take up a lot of resources.
Overall, if you are looking for a future-proof productivity laptop that’s thin and light then the ASUS Zenbook 14 is one of the best laptops that you can get right now. It has everything you need and it easily gets you through the day.
Strength
- All metal build, lightweight & compact design
- Bright & crisp Full HD display
- Non-reflective anti-glare screen
- Amazing sound output from the speakers
- SSD storage performance is good
- Impressive battery life
- Fast charging
- Backlit Keyboard
Weakness
- Heating issues
- GPU Performance
- No dedicated 3.5mm Audio Jack
