I've Tested Dozens Of Ultralight Laptops This Year, But I Keep Coming Back To This One

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Asus Zenbook A14 pinch 16GB of representation is connected waste astatine Best Buy for $799.
• It's a awesome equilibrium of invention and worth pinch an OLED display, competitory hardware, and a satisfying beingness form.
• While its usage lawsuit is intelligibly defined, nan laptop has its limits erstwhile it comes to high-end performance.

The Asus Zenbook A14 is connected waste for $799 astatine Best Buy for nan 16GB model.  

When Asus officially announced nan Zenbook A14 astatine CES this year, I wasn't nan only 1 to beryllium low-key enamored pinch it. It's a great laptop successful its ain right, but it stands retired arsenic a successful balancing enactment betwixt capacity and affordability while hitting each nan correct notes that consumers attraction about. 

Made of Asus' proprietary ceraluminum material, nan Zenbook A14 almost feels for illustration a prototype exemplary that's quiet inside, arsenic it's exceedingly ray astatine conscionable 2.1 pounds (for reference, nan 13-inch MacBook Air is 2.7 pounds). When you group it down, nan instrumentality opens easy pinch nan assistance of a azygous finger, revealing nan superb OLED display. 

Also: One of nan astir battery-efficient laptops I've tested this twelvemonth is besides 1 of nan astir affordable

Asus committed to a neutral-forward artistic pinch nan A14. The marque messaging features muted tones and quiet, blase imagery punctuated by earthy motifs, and, overall, it useful to shape a cohesive identity. 

This artistic highlights Asus' determination to present a cohesive marque connection while balancing invention and cost. For example, nan show connected nan Zenbook A14 looks bully correct retired of nan box. It's bright, crisp, and efficient. But person inspection reveals that it's not arsenic premium a show arsenic you'd find on, say, Asus' ProArt P16. 

The show is framed by integrative bezels cautiously designed not to look cheap, but again… this isn't nan ProArt. Additionally, nan sheet complete nan FHD show has immoderate flimsy warping that tin springiness a funhouse reflector effect erstwhile you drawback your reflection connected nan glossy surface.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Once nan show is turned on, however, immoderate jumpscare you conscionable saw is quickly forgotten, arsenic it delivers a superb image: opposition is crisp, colors are vivid, and it's bright, astatine 600 nits and a afloat HD+ (1920 x 1200) solution that pairs good pinch nan speedy performance. 

Also: I urge this low-cost ThinkPad to astir professionals - and it's connected waste for 19% off

Speaking of performance, let's talk nan tech that powers this device. Asus again focused connected balance, pairing nan base-level Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor pinch nan 32GB RAM configuration and nan somewhat faster Snapdragon X Plus pinch nan lower-end, 16GB RAM configuration. 

This balancing enactment results successful a somewhat unintuitive pricing structure: nan laptop pinch nan higher-end processor is cheaper ($999) arsenic it comes pinch half nan representation (which is what you're really paying for). The type pinch much RAM and nan lower-end Snapdragon X processor starts astatine $1,099. 

The quality betwixt nan 2 processors is yet not that massive, some are eight-core chips, but nan Snapdragon X spot is constricted to 3.0 GHz timepiece speed, putting a capacity headdress connected this laptop. 

That headdress is good because this instrumentality isn't made to tackle intensive workloads. It's for nan modern master who lives successful nan cloud, useful remotely, and values a bully display. 

Also: The hybrid Windows laptop I urge astir for activity recreation besides has an OLED display

That being said, nan capacity is solid. It's a accelerated laptop: it boots quickly, loads apps swiftly, and navigates nan web without lag. It runs silent and cool, generating almost nary power -- moreover pinch nan slim shape factor. 

In our benchmarking tests, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor performed amended than I expected against much premium devices pinch Intel's Core Ultra 7 "Lunar Lake" chip, peculiarly successful its higher-end sibling, nan Zenbook S14, and Dell's XPS 13 successful multi-core performance. The processor moreover surpassed nan second successful single-core performance. 

Comparing this laptop's numbers to HP's OmniBook X pinch nan Snapdragon X Elite, for example, suggests nan instrumentality is outclassed astatine nan higher extremity of capacity but is highly optimized for mundane tasks and capable to present a faster, much businesslike acquisition successful those usage cases.

The laptop's beardown capacity is allied to an enjoyable beingness shape factor. The keyboard is awesome -- it's 1 of nan astir comfortable laptop keyboards I've used. I make this declare without exaggeration and statement its occurrence isn't owed to thing peculiarly costly aliases high-end. Asus conscionable deed nan people erstwhile balancing creation and cost.

Also: I urge this Asus laptop to imaginative professionals and business users alike. Here's why

The keys are soft and matte, pinch a slick texture that borders connected ASMR. I besides emotion really nan laptop's ceramic assemblage is fingerprint-resistant and easy to clean, moreover erstwhile splashed successful nan room aliases java shop. 

For distant aliases hybrid workers who move from spot to place, nan laptop besides features nan correct number of ports (an HDMI, 2 USB-Cs, and 1 USB-A) to grip immoderate accessories you transportation successful tow aliases to complaint nan battery. I'm (sort of) kidding, but that leads maine to my past point.  

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Hands down, nan champion portion of this laptop is nan outstanding artillery life. Asus advertises up to 32 hours connected a azygous charge. Although that's nan apical extremity of nan estimation, it's not acold disconnected from what you tin expect pinch mundane use. During my testing, a day's activity successful nan agency didn't return maine down past 50%. 

The Snapdragon X processor reduces powerfulness depletion to a trickle erstwhile it's not successful use. If you do request juice, nan A14 charges quickly, reaching adjacent to 75% aft conscionable an hr of charging. This capacity translates to a laptop that tin past a mates of days' activity connected 1 charge, moreover if that includes aggregate video calls. 

Also: I'm a Windows user, but nan MacBook Air M4 could beryllium my caller superior laptop astatine this price

I'll besides mention a fewer of nan drawbacks of this laptop (but location aren't many). The first is that nan Qualcomm Adreno GPU connected this strategy is not designed for high-end gaming. Sure, it tin surely grip casual games. But this isn't a instrumentality made for nan latest FPS.

Also, nan display, while it looks great, is still capped astatine a 60Hz refresh rate, which keeps nan artillery (and value point) debased but further limits immoderate aspirations of high-end gaming. Ultimately, while nan Zenbook A14 is competitively priced, this is not a $1,500 laptop.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Zenbook A14 has a coherent identity: it's a lightweight, artistic instrumentality for nan modern professional, effortlessly mobile successful some shape facet and artillery life, but trades immoderate earthy powerfulness for each that endurance. That being said, nan Snapdragon X processor punches good supra its weight and competes handily pinch chips that are, connected paper, much powerful. 

Because of its cohesive identity, really good it balances invention and value, and nan hardware performance, nan Zenbook A14 is 1 of nan champion laptops I've reviewed successful nan past twelvemonth and 1 I'd powerfully urge arsenic agelong arsenic its strengths align pinch your needs. 

To apical it each off, nan starting value of $999 is competitory -- if Asus succeeds successful trading this laptop's marque communicative successful a measurement that positions it arsenic an replacement to different ultraportable, specified arsenic Apple's MacBook Air.