Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3402) Review: Never stops your hustle

Asus has launched a slew of Zenbook and Vivobook laptops as a part of their celebration to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the 1^st Asus laptop sent into space in India. Among these, the company has launched Asus Zenbook 14 OLED which comes in an aluminum body and sports a 14-inch OLED display. The laptop comes with premium specs like 12th Gen Intel Core processors, large battery life, fast charging, and a variety of ports, but is it really suitable for creators as well as gamers? Let’s find out.

OnePlus has recently launched the first TWS product in their Nord line-up and officially named it – OnePlus Nord Buds. The Buds are placed in the under Rs. 3000 category and come with a different approach towards the TWS market. The Buds claim to give best-in-class features for an affordable price point and come in 2 basic colors- black and white. So, can Nord Buds be your choice as your first TWS product? Read our review to find out.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: Design

The Zenbook laptops are known for their thing and sleek design and it’s no different in the case of the new Zenbook 14 OLED. It comes in 2 unique colors- Aqua Celadon and Ponder Blue. The variant Asus loaned to me was in Ponder Blue color and it did look different from regular laptops. The laptop has a new zen-capped hinge (which crosses the frame from side to side) and a monogram logo which gives it a premium look and feel.

The display screen can open all the way back to 180-degrees which means the laptop can screen can be adjusted as per one’s convenience. Even if I was working while standing or using a high chair, the display screen could be opened at any angle for proper view. The display hinge follows the ego-lift principle, it lifts the bottom half of your laptop slightly to allow proper air circulation while offering a better typing angle at the same time.

The 14-inch screen is surrounded by slim 2.8mm bezels which Asus prefers to address as a nano edge design. Everything is kept at minimal yet managing to offer modern and minuscule design thanks to The aluminum alloy built that also features a redesigned Asus logo. It weighs less than 1.4kg.

The laptop measures 16.9mm at the thickest points with ports but is otherwise one of the thinnest and lightest laptops on the market. The good part is that this slim design still comes with loads of ports and a strong battery. The only issue is that its blue paint catches smudges easily. The backlit keyboard lights up on 3 levels depending upon the brightness of light you need. The start button at the top right of the keyboard opens the device with a simple press of a finger and it houses a fingerprint reader as well serving a dual function. When you press to start the device for the first time, your fingerprint automatically gets stored so you don’t need to do it manually.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: I/O Ports & Connectivity

Zenbook 14 OLED is a slim and compact device, but still has a host of ports available for connectivity. The right side of the device sees quite a number of ports including 1 HDMI 2.0 port, 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, a mini-jack, and a microSD card reader. The left side has a USB 3.2 port which is placed between the hinge and the cooling system air outlet. Though options are adequate, the distribution of ports is very unbalanced and might be annoying for right-handers, especially when some ports are occupied.

As for wireless connectivity, the laptop supports Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6E which means all the latest devices can connect to it seamlessly. It comes with WiFi Smart Connect as well which auto switches source without hassles.

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Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: Display

Zenbook 14 OLED has a 14-inch display with slight bezels and the screen gives decent quality visuals when you stream any kind of content on it. The laptop has a 90Hz refresh rate with a 2.8K HDR OLED screen, and a 16:10 aspect ratio It’s a Pantone validated screen offering 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. The 90hz panel offers a response time of 0.2ms response time which makes a buttery smooth experience.

It offers 600 nits of peak brightness to ensure that the screen was clearly visible even when the sun’s rays were falling on it directly. We really enjoyed consuming content on this OLED screen while streaming content on OTT platforms like Netflix. They offered accurate colors with deep blacks. Since it’s an OLED, Asus has added Pixel Shift technology to prevent it from any screen burn-in issue. The display has been TUV Rheinland certified for low-blue light emissions and this made sure there was no strain on my eyes even after a long day’s work.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: Audio, Keyboard & Track Pad

The Zenbook 14 OLED has Numpad 2.0 which transforms the trackpad into a Numpad with a touch. Pressing the upper right corner displays a numeric keypad overlaid on the touchpad. The responsiveness is good and makes use fun. Even while the NumPad is activated, it continues to function as a trackpad. The cursor control is too fluid which meant I lost control over the arrow a few times in the beginning, but it gets better with use.

The keyboard has an ergonomic design which enables ease of use. The spacing between keys is appropriate and there is good air circulation that makes long hours of typing less stressful and sweaty. The keys are made 1.4mm in size which is apt even if one has slightly larger fingers. Dished 0.2mm key caps make typing more comfortable.

As for the audio, the audio combined with a good display gives an immersive experience. Watching a movie with dim lights and full volume gave a theatre-like experience, considering there are no other distractions. This is because Zenbook 14 OLED features dual stereo speakers with the new SmartAmp technology which increases volume output without allowing the sound to get distorted. There is Dolby Atmos and Harman-Kardon support as well. Overall, it has a good sound experience.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: Performance

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is powered by Intel Core i7 12^th-gen 1260P (8efficicent + 4performance core) CPU and has 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB PCIe4.0x4 SSD. The RAM along with the CPU makes sure that the programs load quickly, files open up swiftly, multiple windows can be used without any hiccups and there is no crashing or lags. Mind you, it’s not a machine meant for gaming. Still, we are able to do some minor image corrects, regular day work which involves spreadsheets, and Google Docs with several Google Chrome tabs opened at once.

For thermal performance, the Zenbook 14 doesn’t get hot as such but it does blow out warm areas from the sides. Since it’s a compact and slim machine you will often hear fans blowing out hot areas which is not a bad sign as it means your CPU won’t throttle and you will be able to experience better performance for long sessions.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Review: Battery

Asus claims one can leave their charger as well as worries behind while traveling with the new Zenbook 14 OLED. This is because the laptop has a 75Whrs battery which easily lasts for around 8-9 hours, even if your usage is moderately high. My usage included watching a 2.5-hour movie, 45 minutes of photo editing, and 2 hours of listening to music. It can be quickly charged with a 65W USB Type-C port adapter so you can use a single charger for charging your smartphone as well as a laptop. This is very convenient when you are traveling as it would mean one less attachment to carry.

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Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Verdict: Should you buy it?

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is a lightweight laptop that is convenient to carry around. It has a powerful battery, good sound quality, and fast CPU which make it perfect for creators, gamers as well as other working professionals. It has drawbacks like a smudge attractive design and unbalanced port placement, but that can be overlooked if everything else fits your bill. Its display screen can be angled up to 180-degrees and the trackpad cum Numpad works well too. The webcam is below average but it is Wi-Fi 6E ready. So all in all it can be a smart buy if it fits your budget and suits your needs.