Over the past four year , theMacBook Airhas been the primary gadget driver of my computing duties . My prerequisite for find out a light , hefty , and authentic laptop computer that suits my digital nomad lifestyle often led me to the Apple Store , despite test my fair share of Windows laptops over the days .
Things set out to look hopeful when I tested my first Windows on Arm machines power by the Snapdragon X series processors . After spending some prison term with the stunningDell XPS 13andAsus ProArt PZ13 tablet , I switched to theAsus ZenBook A14 .
It ’s the well anti - MacBook Air I ’ve amount across so far . But this stunning laptop has a lot locomote for it besides eyeball - snaffle looks . In fact , it eclipses the Apple rival in a few virtual expanse that make or break buying decisions . Plus , the price tatter attached to the laptop computer in my dwelling grocery store is even lower than Apple ’s machine , so there ’s that important reward .
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It’s a breath of fresh air
By far , the best - keep virtue of the ZenBook A14 is its fantastic frame and featherweight bulk visibility . The ZenBook A14 is over 23 % lighter than the MacBook Air . That ’s no small effort , but you really need to defy this laptop in your mitt to realize the plain engineering excellency here .
You almost do n’t feel the weightiness of this laptop computer in a packsack . It ’s so thin and spark that I exclusively carry it like a notebook everywhere I survive . Asus has experiment with some sheer laptop designs over the years , but for the ZenBook A14 , it has taken a unique route to reductivism .
Complementing the looks is the cloth and the one - of - a - form surface finish . The fabric is hollo Ceraluminum . Technically , a specialized alloy of Magnesium , this material is 30 % lighter than aluminum , but nearly thrice as strong .
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I was worried that this lightweight laptop would n’t be able-bodied to take mechanical stress or inadvertent extrusion . I am particularly concerned about this look due to my on - the - move work flow . Moreover , every MacBook I have have so far has endure flattened corners , chafe paint , and scuff marks .
With the ZenBook A14 , I have n’t seen any such battle scars so far . And I am sure it will make out a lot well owe to its US MIL - STD-810H military - grade build . The control surface cultivation is another standout aspect . The trimness I used had a beautiful composition board - like color with a lovely mat texture over it .
It does a better job of avoiding blot than my MacBook Air in its lite blue tint . Asus says it performed a test entailing 18,000 school term of rub to see to it that the surface colour does n’t fade off , so there ’s that assurance .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Overall , this is one of the nicest - looking laptop computer out there , which also happens to be extremely light , yet surprisingly resilient . There is nothing quite like it in the laptop ecosystem out there .
A nice dose of practicality
One of the biggest win that Asus landed with the ZenBook A14 is the centering on practicality . Despite its slender waistline , the laptop computer offers a brace of USB - C ( v4.0 ) embrasure , a USB - A larboard with 10 Gbps output signal , and an HDMI 2.1 port . The Apple competitor restricts users to a couple of USB - C ports .
It ’s not just the number of ports that matters here , but also the versatility . I late find oneself myself in a state of affairs where I had to plug in a much larger dock so that I could utilize my wireless mouse and keyboard while the MacBook Air was connect to an external gimmick .
With the ZenBook , two of the most common type of peripherals — external projection screen and 2.4GHz wireless input — are severally cover . That imply even if one of the USB - C ports is permanently occupied for business leader draw , the other one is still vacant for hook up more devices .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
I also know the keyboard . The cay are well spaced out , offer a springy feedback , and extend a nice amount of locomotion . In fact , I managed to stumble a high typing speed on the ZenBook A14 than I have achieved on my MacBook Air , the13 - inch Magic Keyboard , or even theSatechi SM3 Slim mechanically skillful keyboard .
I just wish the push layout were a bit different , with just one Ctrl headstone in the far left over corner . However , I quick got used to this format within a day . The touchpad is also broad and offer a proper physical click experience across each half .
Then we have the Windows Hello authentication system powered by an infrared camera raiment . It put to work just as well as the Face ID organisation on Apple hardware . I really find it more convenient than having to reach out for a fingerprint detector embedded in the power button .
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I rely heavily onPasskeysfor all my web logarithm - ins , and some of the aboriginal Windows lineament , such asRecall , are also now shut up behind biometric authentication . Even in a completely dismal way where my grimace was lit only by the video display at nearly 40 % brightness , the face unlock worked cleanly .
Delivers where it matters
The strongest branch - up that the Asus ZenBook A14 has over its Apple rival and a clump of other x86 - free-base Windows laptop is the CRT screen . The laptop offer a 14 - inch OLED showing with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels . It ’s a gorgeous screen , also happens to be less brooding than the IPS LCD jury on motorcar such as the MacBook Air .
It bring out beautiful colors , deep blacks , and offers wide-eyed viewing angles . Thankfully , the bezel flanking it are also quite slim , and there is no nick to contend with . I only wish this were a faster panel , but for my day - to - twenty-four hour period work , a 60Hz refresh rate work just fine .
blab about workflow , this machine manage mine smoothly . All the apps that I need on a day-to-day basis piece of work without any stutter across the Microsoft 365 portfolio and Google Workspace ecosystems . Irrespective of whether they are now native on Arm or run atop the Prism emulation layer , the performance was usually without any red flags .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
The dual - fan design emphatically lends a bridge player , especially when Chrome was sharply corrode into the memory , while other apps such as Slack , Teams , Trello , Outlook , and Copilot were break away in the background knowledge . Compared to the MacBook Air or the Snapdragon X Elite - powered Dell XPS 13 , the Asus machine ran nerveless
Single - burden carrying into action , thanks to the Oryon cores , is quite impressive . Under sustained load , however , the multicore carrying into action takes a dip . The Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite make out much better , though their nontextual matter public presentation still has some enchant up to do .
Editing tasks across the Adobe suite run all right , and you wo n’t have much fuss edit out full - HD clips across AV1 and H. 264 codecs . Technically , you could go up to 4 super acid 60fps decipher and encoding at 30fps , but the organisation memory originate becoming a bottleneck and creative effects addition show signs of fatigue .
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I tried edit a few curt time for social media , and things were mostly suave . However , for some intellect , Da Vinci Resolve kept crashing when I install it for heavy workloads . An overwhelming majority of Adobe ’s apps are now run natively on Windows , so you ’re covered on that front .
What I get laid the most was that the inner fans run pleasingly restrained in the default mode . barrage life is another look that I jazz about the laptop . I was able to well get eight minute of sustained work , and baseless mogul draw is also on the humble side .
For its target interview , this motorcar can easily last a full day . Asus also provides a neat battery care mode that limits turn on to the 80 % Gospel According to Mark . Apple offers this battery health toilet facility on its new iPhones , but not on the MacBook batting order .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
On the software side , this is aCopilot+machine , so you are getting meaningful welfare such as Live Captions , image propagation and editing , native AI - assisted search , to name a few . Asus also offer up its own set of touchpad and related shortcut customizations within the MyAsus app that add up in handy . ,
Overall , there is a destiny to like about the Asus ZenBook A14 . For my workflow , which is heavily dependent on the web and cloud - based applications , it got the job done without any major hiccough . But it ’s the phenomenal build and blowy weight profile that truly won me over . And to such an extent that every other Windows laptop now seems wearisome to me .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
