Foldable touchscreen laptops may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they are incredibly fun to work with. Here is our review of the newly launched Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED.
Asus arguably has the strongest notebook catalogue out of all the laptop manufacturers out there. The brand is the go-to choice for many Windows users, and it’s easy to understand why. The company isn’t afraid to experiment in terms of design as well as functionality. The recently launched Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED proves this point. This 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop is currently available for Rs 1,09,990. We have been using the laptop for about 2 weeks, putting it through a series of tests. So, does this device justify the price tag? Find out in our Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED review.
Read Also: Poco F5 5G powered by Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 SoC launched in India
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED review: Design and Display
As soon as you take the laptop out of its sleeve, you will notice the incredible build quality of this machine. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Asus users as Zenbooks rarely compromise on the materials. The alloy chassis of the laptop feels sturdy and meets the US MIL-STD-810H military-grade standard.
The back panel has a matte finish and sports angular lines to give a unique look. The ‘Asus Zenbook’ branding has been embossed on top of the left hinge. While not strictly a fingerprint magnet, the back panel can accumulate some smudges after a few days of use. Nothing that a microfibre cloth can’t take care of.
The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED weighs 1.5kg and has dimensions of 12.26in x 8.80in x 0.63in. We travelled with this laptop and didn’t have any issues working on it on flights and bus rides. The compactness of the laptop ensures that you don’t face any hurdles opening it in cramped seats.
The 360-degree ErgoLift hinges work phenomenally well on this Zenbook. The motion to flip the display is smooth and can be carried out with just one finger when the laptop is positioned on the desk. The two small rubber feet placed at the bottom of the back panel ensure the laptop stays in place when the display is being adjusted. There are no annoying wobbles or flexes anywhere on the laptop. When you are in laptop mode, the two hinges slightly lift up the keyboard, offering a better typing position.
The display can be flipped around completely and used as a tablet. You can prop the laptop up as a tent and use the display to watch content. For a more stable position, you can turn the display by 180 degrees and use the keyboard as a stand. Due to very slim bezels, the display is prone to accidental touches when it’s being placed in different positions. Larger bezels would have given a better grip on the display, but taken away the impressiveness.
Tablet Mode
On the right side of the bottom casing, you will find two USB Type-C Thunderbolt ports 4 for power delivery or connecting to an external storage or display. Right below these ports are the two notification lights, while the 3.5mm headphone jack and HDMI 2.1 port find their way to the top of the array. On the left lies a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port.
The backlit keyboard on this Zenbook is satisfying to type on. The keys offer 1.4mm of travel, which we found to be optimum. There isn’t a lot of noise generated while typing and the clickiness is not overwhelming. Our primary tasks involved a lot of typing, and we can safely say that the seamless typing experience offered by the keyboard does boost productivity.
The sensitivity level on the touch trackpad is tuned perfectly. You can browse web pages and switch between different windows and tabs with ease. Long pressing the top right corner of the trackpad overlays a backlit virtual numpad on it. While it looks pretty cool we didn’t find much use for it. It also has the tendency to get triggered accidentally. Luckily, you can disable it from the settings.
The 14-inch OLED display is an absolute delight and something that separates this device from other premium laptops in its category. This display has a resolution of 2,880 x 1,800p and a 16:10 aspect ratio. A peak brightness of 550 nits is optimum for indoor usage but leaves a little more to be desired when you’re working on the laptop in bright outdoor conditions. Surrounding the display are very slim bezels. The screen-to-body ratio on offer here is 87%. The screen refresh rate has been capped at 90Hz.
Watching video content on the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED was a very pleasant experience. The richness of colours produced on this display is absolutely stunning. The blacks were really deep and the colour contrast was very punchy and fun. The level of detail produced in the images was also impressive. Since there are minimal bezels surrounding the display, the viewing experience is very immersive. But our favourite part about using this Zenbook is the sheer versatility that comes with a foldable display. You can prop the laptop in the tent position and rest it on any surface you want. Moving from the bed to the couch? Simply fold the display all the way around and use it like a tablet. The bottom-firing Harmon Kardon speakers produce good-quality audio output. We didn’t have to reach for our headphones every time played content on the laptop.
With the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED, you also get the Asus Pen 2.0. There is neither a dedicated slot nor a magnetic clip for this pen on the laptop. You will have to carry it around with you if you intend to use it while you’re on the go. Not having a special compartment for the pen means no compromises on the size of the pen. It fits in the hand like an actual pen would. The pen has 4090 pressure levels and offers ultra-low latency. The low latency is noticeable when you use the pen to write or draw. The response is incredibly quick and there are no lags whatsoever. The pressure sensitivity is also tuned to perfection. This is something that artists and creators will particularly enjoy. The pen comes with four switchable tips and has a multi-function button that can be customised by the user.
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED review: Performance
Powering the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED is Intel’s 13th generation of P-series processors. The Zenbook 14 Flip is available with 1.9 GHz Intel Core i5 1340P and 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 1360P processors. We used the latter variant for this review. There is no dedicated GPU on this laptop, it uses integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. Storage options include 512GB or 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD along with 8GB or 16GB LPDDR5 RAM. Talking about connectivity, the Zenbook 14 Flip comes with WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support.
Tent Position
The Zenbook breezed past any of the routine everyday tasks we threw at it. We used the laptop for two weeks and used it as our primary work device. Daily tasks included extensive web usage, using Word and Google Docs for writing, photo editing, constantly checking emails, and playing music in the background.
There were absolutely no problems performing all these tasks at once. The laptop breezed past these activities like they were nothing. Even with dozens of tabs open on Chrome, we were able to pick up exactly where we left off. The bottom panel did warm up after a while, but that is to be expected when you’re using the laptop throughout the day.
We used the Asus Pen for light photo editing and taking notes. It is remarkable how well the software is optimised for the pen. While we didn’t use it to its maximum potential (you’re gonna need an artist to tap into that), the pen still is a very handy device that you won’t forget about after initial use. The lack of a dedicated GPU is pretty noticeable when you put this laptop to the gaming test. While it handled games like CS:GO pretty well, more graphic-intensive games were only playable in lower resolution. On Geekbench 6, the laptop attained a single-core score of 1,849 points and a multi-core score of 7,294 points. The GPU benchmark test revealed an OpenCL score of 15126 points.
Geekbench 6 Results
The Windows 11 experience on this Zenbook is pretty standard. There is some bloatware to be found, which is not a good look on a device that you’re paying upwards of Rs 1,00,000 for. The McAfee antivirus software comes preloaded on the laptop and can get annoying with constant popups. Once you open the start menu, you will notice a lot of apps like WhatsApp, ESPN, and Instagram on the screen, but you will have to tap on them to install them on the device. A cleaner look would have been much better.
Using the Keyboard as a stand
Moving on, the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED is packed with a 75 Wh battery. Over a regular workday, we got up to 8 hours of battery backup on this device. This included light gaming and an hour of video streaming on top of regular tasks. We should also mention that we used the OLED display is the highest brightness possible with the backlit keyboard turned on at all times. Fully charging the laptop took almost 2 hours.
Read Also: Mother’s Day 2023: Top 8 Tech Gifts For Mothers
Verdict
The Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED manages to strike a fine balance between design and functionality. The coolness factor is massively hyped by the slim form factor and the flexible display. At Rs 1,0,990 you’re getting the best device in this genre, and if you plan on using it for everyday tasks, you don’t have to think twice about buying it. However, if you want your laptop to handle graphic-intensive games, this may not be the device for you.
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: Pros
Remarkable form factor
Rich and vibrant display
Perfect for productivity
Asus Pen works very well with the device
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: Cons
Not the most powerful laptop around
Could’ve been a little less pricey
<--- Copyright (C) 'Gadget Bridge' Read full article at... https://www.gadgetbridge.com/gadget-reviews/asus-zenbook-14-flip-oled-up3404-review-an-absolute-stunner/
No comments yet